The Red Phone Box

The red telephone box was designed by Sir Giles Gilbert Scott (1880- 1960) and, along with the red post box and the red London bus, is an instantly recognizable symbols of Britain.  This first picture is nephew Joshua Howarth with Heather in London.

 

Scott's design of the K2 cast iron telephone kiosk won a Post Office sponsored competition in 1924. His updated K6 design followed in 1935. A leading architect, Scott is famous not only for his telephone boxes. His achievements include producing the winning design for Liverpool Cathedral and overseeing the rebuilding work required at the Houses of Parliament after the Second World War.  This next picture is Coreen Sauriol, on a trip from Canada and in Westminster as part of a guided tour.

The red K2 telephone box was introduced to the streets of London in 1926. It was used solely in the capital and only a few were erected elsewhere under special circumstances.

The red phone box was a standard for me growing up in Greater London right from the early days of press button A and press button B.  I can even remember some Cub Scout badge work with instructions on how to use the red phone box in emergencies.  Different times!  The abiding memory is not of an age of communication but sadly the stale smell of public convenience.  Red phone boxes may well have been used as often for a quick pee as a quick call.  They were always cold and unwelcoming and packed with phone directories.  Picture below is taken from London open top bus tour and with things British in mind.

I remember the red phone box in the Saracens Head in Little Brington and right here in Mission BC and New Westminster BC two red phone boxes on the street.

The K2 is both impressive and imposing, weighing over an imperial tonne. On top of the kiosk, on all four sides is the Royal crest of King George V formed from a series of holes to provide ventilation. K2 telephone kiosks are older and larger than the more widely used K6 telephone box and are very rare. Only about 1500 K2 kiosks were produced and only a few remain today.

The K2 telephone box was too big and expensive to be used nationally. The Post Office, once responsible for public telephone boxes in Britain, discontinued production of the K2 kiosk in favour of other designs. In 1935, the Post Office commissioned a new kiosk from Scott to celebrate the Jubilee of King George V. The K6 Jubilee Kiosk, as it is known, was similar to the K2, being made of cast iron and painted red but was 25% lighter in weight at around three quarters of a ton. By the end of the 1930s there were 20,000 K6 telephone boxes in use all over the UK.  This picture is taken outside the Dirty Duck Pub in Stratford Upon Avon.

In the 1970s and 80s, as public telephone boxes began to age, sadly problems with vandalism and a failure to repair damage quickly resulted in the demise of the classic red telephone box. In 1985 a newly privatised BT announced sweeping changes to improve the condition of kiosks. There was a lot of experimentation with new designs to prevent vandalism, which resulted in many K6 telephone boxes being removed from our streets and sold off. The replacement boxes were less pleasing to the eye and had little design merit. Fortunately, however, about 2000 red telephone boxes were declared listed buildings and remain in place.

Only Fools and Horses

There could be nothing more 'British' than Rodney, Dell Boy, Trigger and the cast of only Fools and Horses.  Classic and Golden British Comedy.

It was written by John Sullivan. Seven series were originally broadcast on BBC One in the United Kingdom from 1981 to 1991, with sporadic Christmas specials until 2003. Episodes are regularly repeated on UKTV comedy channel Gold and occasionally repeated on BBC One.

Set in Peckham in south London, it stars David Jason as ambitious market trader Derek "Del Boy" Trotter, Nicholas Lyndhurst as his younger brother Rodney, and Lennard Pearce as their elderly Grandad. After Pearce's death in 1984, his character was replaced by Uncle Albert (Buster Merryfield).  Backed by a strong supporting cast, the series follows the Trotters' highs and lows in life, in particular their attempts to get rich.

The three wheeled yellow car that provided transport for the run of the comedy became synonymous.  I had the pleasure of being able to use the actual vehicle from the show for a crime prevention campaign in 2000.  I can even remember saying ‘mange tout’ in the radio interview with BBC Radio Northampton, God help me!

It would be wrong for me not to include two magical clips from the show.  First the falling through the bar clip and second the chandelier clip.  Two from many dozens of laugh till you cry clips.  I have all the episodes.

After a relatively slow start, the show went on to achieve consistently high ratings, and the 1996 episode "Time On Our Hands" holds the record for the highest UK audience for a sitcom episode, attracting 24.3 million viewers (over a third of the population).  Critically and popularly acclaimed, the series received numerous awards, including recognition from BAFTA, the National Television Awards and the Royal Television Society, as well as winning individual accolades for both Sullivan and Jason.  It was voted Britain's Best Sitcom in a 2004 BBC poll.

The series had an impact on British culture, contributing several words and phrases to the English language including the aforementioned mange tout!

Althorp and the Spencers

Althorp is a Grade I listed stately home, estate and small civil parish in Daventry District, Northamptonshire, England of about 13,000 acres (50 km²)  By road it is about 6 miles (9.7 km) northwest of the county town of Northampton and about 75 miles (121 km) northwest of central London.  It has been held by the prominent aristocratic Spencer family for more than 500 years, and has been owned by Charles Spencer, 9th Earl Spencer since 1992. It was also the home of his sister, Diana, before her marriage to Charles, Prince of Wales.

We have many memories of Althorp together and separately.  My earliest memory is a formal policing event in the Stables at Althorp before Diana’s death.  This event was attended by Charles Spencer. 

Other memories are of excellent open air concerts in the Althorp grounds; Bjorn Again an outstanding band that even played covers of SOS by the Police and another massive non-Abba hit that apparently did not stick in the memory.  I remember the Gypsy Kings and Kim wrapped in a large green blanket to stay warm.  I can also remember walking down the Carriage Drive to the back wall of Althorp and in the company of Jerry and Lesley and a drove of others listening to Bryan Adams playing live inside the grounds.  For some reason we did not have tickets that year to see the performance.

Althorp is a wonderful stately home and Earl Spencer was our landlord when at Middle Barn in Little Brington.  

We are not aristocrats but we hung out with the country set.  The Althorp Gamekeeper was a regular in the Fox and Hounds and we did shoot clays with local farmer and friend Nigel where he availed himself of a couple of Althorp Pheasants in between clays.  This apparently an acceptable allowance where the estate turned a blind eye.

I was also involved in a major police exercise which had Althorp at its centre.  Mostly Althorp was our neighbour and the gates made famous globally because of the flowers and the entrance for the funeral cortège of Diana in 1997.  I do remember the mass of Pheasants on the estate walls.  'Johnny Pheasant's Heather used to call them.

Althorp is mentioned as a small hamlet in the Domesday Book as "Olletorp", and by 1377 it had become a village with a population of more than fifty people. By 1505 there were no longer any tenants living there, and in 1508, John Spencer purchased Althorp estate with the handsome funds generated from his family's sheep-rearing business. Althorp became one of the prominent stately homes in England. The mansion dates to 1688, replacing an earlier house that was once visited by Charles I. The Spencer family amassed an extensive art collection and other valuable household items. During the 18th century, the house became a major cultural hub in England, and parties were regularly held, attracting many prominent members of Great Britain's ruling class. George John, 2nd Earl Spencer, who owned Althorp between 1783 and his death in 1834, developed one of the largest private libraries in Europe at the house, which grew to over 100,000 books by the 1830s.   After falling on hard times, John Spencer, 5th Earl Spencer, known as the Red Earl, in 1892 sold much of the collection to Enriqueta Rylands, who was building the University of Manchester Library. Many of Althorp's furnishings were sold off during the twentieth century, and between 1975 and 1992 alone approximately 20% of the contents were auctioned.

The house at Althorp was a "classically beautiful" red brick Tudor building, but its appearance was radically altered, starting in 1788, when the architect Henry Holland was commissioned to make extensive changes. Mathematical tiles were added to the exterior, encasing the brick, and four Corinthian pilasters were added to the front. The grand hall entrance to the house, Wootton Hall,  was cited by Sir Nikolaus Pevsner as "the noblest Georgian room in the county". The Great Dining Room in the east wing extension of the house was added in 1877 to designs by John Macvicar Anderson, its walls hung with faded, red damask silk. Numerous fireplaces and furnishings were brought to Althorp from Spencer House in London during the Blitz for safekeeping and still remain. The Picture Gallery stretches for 115 feet (35 m) on the first floor of the west wing, and is one of the best remaining examples of the original Tudor oak woodwork and ambiance in the mansion. It has an extensive collection of portraits, including Anthony van Dyck's War and Peace, a John de Critz portrait of James I, a Mary Beale portrait of Charles II, and many others. Some £2 million was spent on redecorating the house in the 1980s, during which time most of the religious paintings of Althorp were sold off.

In total, the grounds of Althorp estate contain 28 listed buildings and structures, including nine planting stones. The former falconry, now a Grade I listed building, was built in 1613. Gardener's House is listed as a Grade II* listed building in its own right, as are the Grade II listed West and East Lodges. The mustard-yellow Grade II listed Stable Block, designed by architect Roger Morris with a Palladian influence, was ordered by Charles, Fifth Earl of Sutherland in the early 1730s. The French landscape architect André Le Nôtre was commissioned to lay out the park and grounds in the 1660s, and further alterations were made during the late 18th century under Henry Holland. Following the death of Princess Diana in 1997, she was interred on a small island in the middle of the ornamental Round Oval lake. A Doric-style temple with Diana's name inscribed on top, situated across from the lake, is a tourist attraction during July and August when the house and estate are open to the public, although the exhibition centre, situated in the old stable block, closed permanently in 2013.

Palace Pier Brighton

The Brighton Marine Palace and Pier is a pleasure pier in Brighton, England. It is generally known as the Palace Pier for short, but has been informally renamed Brighton Pier since 2000 by its owners, the Noble Organisation, as it is now Brighton's only non-derelict pier.

I grew up visiting the Palace Pier.  It was a feature of my relationship and my siblings relationship with the Franklin family; our family.  Grandad Frank, Nana Hannah, Christine and Richard.  To use its current moniker Brighton Pier is and was always a happy place.  Fresh Doughnuts; Fish and Chips; wind swept and salt watered on the promenade.  Cheap as chips amusements and rides and glancing down through the gaps in the planking to watch the surf.

The picture at Picture 5 is Kim and myself in Summer 2004.  It was a beautiful day and in the company of the whole family and Amanda Buchan from Maple Ridge in Canada.  We gorged on all that is traditional seaside at the original seaside location.  Ice creams and the lot.

  

The West Pier was its rival but was closed in 1975 and was subsequently severely damaged by fires and storms, with the remaining iron structure being partially demolished in 2010. Historically, the now destroyed Royal Suspension Chain Pier was the first pier structure built in Brighton.

Work began on the Palace Pier in 1891, the inaugural ceremony for laying of the first pile was held on 7 November 1891, overseen by Mayor Samuel Henry Soper. The pier opened in May 1899 after costing a record £27,000 to build. This was Brighton's third pier. A condition to be met by its builders, in exchange for permission to build, was that the first, the Royal Suspension Chain Pier of 1823, which had fallen into a state of disrepair, was to be demolished.  They were saved this task by a storm which largely destroyed the Chain Pier.

A concert hall opened two years later, and by 1911 this had become a theatre.  During World War II the pier as closed and some decking removed as a security precaution.  Summer shows with stars such as Dick Emery, Tommy Trinder and Doris and Elsie Waters were held in the theatre until the 1970s.  During a storm in 1973, a 70-ton barge moored at the pier's landing stage broke loose and began to damage the pier head, particularly the theatre.  Despite fears that the pier would be destroyed, the storm eased and the barge was removed.  The damaged theatre was never used again.

In 1986 the theatre was removed, on the understanding that it would be replaced.   This has not happened, and the present seaward end building looks fairly modern in comparison with the rest of the structure, supporting a domed amusement arcade and several fairground rides, including several thrill rides, children's rides and roller coasters.

A bomb planted by the IRA near the pier in 1994 was defused by a controlled explosion.

The pier had signs reading "Brighton Pier" attached to it in 2000, although this change is not recognised by the National Piers Society or many of the residents of Brighton and Hove.  The local newspaper, The Argus, still generally refers to the structure as the Palace Pier.

The Palace Pier suffered a large fire on 4 February 2003 but the damage was limited and most of the pier was able to reopen the next day. This was a fraught period for Brighton's piers, with much damage occurring to the West Pier (of 1866) shortly before and after this event.

The pier features prominently in the 1971 film, Carry on at Your Convenience, and it is frequently shown iconically to "set" film and television features in Brighton, for example in scenes in Mirrormask, The Persuaders, the Doctor Who serial The Leisure Hive (1980), the 1979 film Quadrophenia and the 2007 film, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, The End of the Affair (1999 film) and Neil Jordan's Mona Lisa. Much earlier on in 1896 the pier was also shown in many silent films. R.W. Paul shot the iconic film, On Brighton Beach, which included both the Palace Pier and the West Pier. Palace Pier is a novel by Keith Waterhouse, set in Brighton, and it is the setting for a scene in the Graham Greene novel Brighton Rock. The pier was also featured in Lynda la Plante's 1998 thriller Killer Net.

Changing of the Guard

Picture Four from the collage below.  The men you will see on guard at Buckingham Palace, (and other locations), are not just ceremonial guards but first and foremost professional infantry soldiers.  Interesting that just yesterday the first Sikh guard wearing a Turban was pictured on duty outside Buckingham Palace.

While upholding the traditions of the past, the guards also perform duties around the world as professional soldiers, who in their infantry role, have a reputation as some of the most elite and skilled soldiers in the British Army.  This is one of the reasons changes may occur, in the guard change ceremony schedule, when the guards are required for operational duties.

The Household Division comprise two regiments of the Household Cavalry, The Life Guards and The Blues and Royals plus five Regiments of Foot Guards:

·         The Grenadier Guards - The Coldstream Guards - The Scots Guards - The Irish Guards - The Welsh Guards

h    Changing of the Guard This video includes the RAF Regiment Band and just reeks of precision and pageantry.

Most of the time it is soldiers from one of these regiments that will be standing guard outside Buckingham Palace.  However, do not be surprised if on some occasions you do not see the traditional guardsmen, in their scarlet tunics, particularly in August when other regiments often guard 'The Queen'.  One of these regiments is the RAF Regiment and my colleagues in the Queens Colour Squadron at RAF Uxbridge performed this function from time to time. 

Recalling the gray greatcoats and ceremonial dress I am reminded of my one major ceremonial duty at Runnymede.  Runnymede is a water-meadow alongside the River Thames in the English county of Surrey, and just over 20 miles (32 km) west of central London. It is notable for its association with the sealing of Magna Carta, and as a consequence is, with its adjoining hillside, the site of memorials. Runnymede Borough is named after the area, Runnymede being at its northernmost point. It was a sunset ceremony at the Commonwealth Air Forces Memorial, full ceremonial dress, No 1 Uniform, greatcoat, white gloves, bayonet fixed and boots shining like glass.  The ceremony was for commonwealth dignitaries.  A proud moment and a rare opportunity to push out the chest and look extraordinary; to be part of the pomp and circumstance.

Sunset Ceremony to commemorate the 70th Anniversary of the Dambusters Raid.  I served at RAF Marham between 1989 and 1991 while 617 Squadron was based there.   This video contains so much that I remember of ceremony.  

The responsibility of guarding the Sovereign by the Household Troops (as they were known at the time) dates back to the time of Henry VII (1485 - 1509).

As some of the best soldiers in the British Army guardsmen have fought in virtually every major area of conflict with great distinction since the 17th Century.

The guards do not just perform ceremonial duties at Buckingham Palace; they also take an active role in protecting their Sovereign. At night they patrol the grounds of both Buckingham Palace and St. James's Palace.

Piccadilly Circus

Piccadilly Circus is a road junction and public space of London's West End in the City of Westminster, built in 1819 to connect Regent Street with Piccadilly. In this context, a circus, from the Latin word meaning "circle", is a round open space at a street junction.

Piccadilly now links directly to the theatres on Shaftesbury Avenue, as well as the Haymarket, Coventry Street (onward to Leicester Square), and Glasshouse Street. The Circus is close to major shopping and entertainment areas in the West End. Its status as a major traffic junction has made Piccadilly Circus a busy meeting place and a tourist attraction in its own right. The Circus is particularly known for its video display and neon signs mounted on the corner building on the northern side, as well as the Shaftesbury memorial fountain and statue of Eros. 

It is surrounded by several notable buildings, including the London Pavilion, Criterion Restaurant and Criterion Theatre. Directly underneath the plaza is Piccadilly Circus tube station, part of the London Underground system.

My memories of Piccadilly Circus are manifold; I have been here more times than I can remember a sometimes when imbibing helped me forget.  I recall a wild night in Wards Irish Bar off the Circus and the best pint of Guinness outside of Ireland on offer.  It was with a mass of mates from RAF Northolt on one of our regular trips down into London which culminated in a London show and a stopover at the Nuffield Centre where show tickets were also available at give away price of 50 pence.  I went to see the Thoughts of Chairman Alf with Alf Garnett the actor Warren Mitchell in 1976 in my first year of RAF service.  It would have been later in that year well after my basic training completed in July.  I saw five of him for most of the night and even managed to heckle and get heckled back.  He asked if there were any colonials in the audience and I shouted out that I was from Omaha (for some ill advised reason).  I seem to recall being told to bugger off back to where I came from!

The following joke from an on line source, is quite pathetic but I can’t help but include it here - O'Connor was sitting in Ward's Irish bar, Piccadilly, London with a large Rottweiler at his feet.  'Does your dog bite?' asks Murphy. 'No,' replies O'Connor. So Murphy pats the dog who almost rips his arm off completely.  'Hey!' screams Murphy, 'you said your dog didn't bite, O'Connor.' 'That's not my dog Murphy,' concludes O'Connor.

My ex work colleague Sarah Kingsnorth when with Northamptonshire Police told me of the time Billy Connolly streaked naked around the statue of Eros and that she had been there also in Wards Bar for that event.  She had been there with her dad who was part of Billy Connolly’s Team.  Interesting that the video is no longer accessible through YouTube, I guess over exposure has its limits.

My last two times at Piccadilly were with my beloved wife Kim in 2012 and in 2009 with Coreen Sauriol when I was the semblance of sensible and a tour guide.

The Water Closet

Picture 2 - Water Closet in Bourton-on-the-Water

A flush toilet is a toilet that disposes of human liquid and solid waste, by using water to flush it through a drainpipe to another location for disposal. The sanitary fixture is distinctly different from a urinal, which is designed to handle only liquid waste.

Flushing mechanisms are found more often on sitting-style toilets, but many squat toilets also are made for automated flushing. Modern toilets incorporate an "S", "U", "J", or "P" shaped bend that causes the water in the toilet bowl to collect and act as a seal against sewer gases. Since flush toilets are typically not designed to handle waste on site, their drain pipes must be connected to waste conveyance and waste treatment systems.

A flush toilet may be euphemistically called a lavatory, a bog (UK), a pot (US), a loo, a dunny (AU/NZ), a john, a water closet (abbreviated "W.C."), or simply "toilet".  The other sign that probably also raises an eyebrow to outsiders is as shown below and coincidentally in the same village.  A bog is a bog I say!

This particular sign directing the bladder or bowel troubled is located in Bourton on the Water Bourton-on-the-Water is a village and civil parish in Gloucestershire, England that lies on a wide flat vale within the Cotswolds Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.  

It is also where I happened across Jackie Charlton the England centre back of football world cup winning fame in 1966 heading into a very English fish and chip shop.  He is the chap in the flat cap just to the left of the red phone box.  Phone boxes come later and as for the fish and chips that particular culinary delight is also a feature in a later blog.

St Mary The Virgin Great Brington

Picture One – St Mary’s Great Brington 

Kim and I lived in the neighbouring village of Little Brington for two years and visited the Church of St Mary a number of times.  

A short walk between the villages often with Chas our Bernese mountain dog found us at the Althorp Coaching Inn for refreshments, a bite or company.

I also remember attending the memorial service of police crime prevention colleague and friend Chris Dry in the church.  Chris had a large if secret military and Middle East background and I will always remember the dark suits with no-names that attended the service that day.  The story among locals is that Diana is indeed buried in the church alongside her father as that was her wish.  Further tales tell of a depth in the pond of only 18 inches, precluding her burial on the island inside the grounds of Althorp.

Further tales tell of the mausoleum brickwork mortar inside the church being damp the day following the internment.   Kim and I were both in Great Brington as recently as November 2014 and chewed the fat with an old friend in the pub.  To all intents and purposes he could have been sat there since we left over eight years previously.  Great Brington is a village in the Daventry district of the county of Northamptonshire, England. The village, in the civil parish of Brington, has a population of about 200. The parish church of Great Brington is dedicated to St Mary the Virgin and St John.

In 1508, John Spencer from Wormleighton in Warwickshire purchased the estate of Althorp outside Great Brington with its moated house and several hundred acres of farmland.  He had grazed sheep here from the 1480s. In 1508, impressed by the quality of the land, he eventually bought it and rebuilt the house.  In 1511 he made further purchases to acquire much of the surrounding countryside, including the villages of Little Brington and Great Brington as well their parish church of St Mary the Virgin, from Thomas Grey, 2nd Marquess of Dorset.

Just outside the village is Althorp, the home of the Spencer family and Diana, Princess of Wales. Several members of the Spencer family are buried at Great Brington church, including Diana's father the 8th Earl Spencer, who died in 1992.  The death of Diana had quite an effect on the village - the village pub was renamed from "The Fox and Hounds" to the "Althorp Coaching Inn" and the previously sleepy post office gained currency exchange facilities following the large increase in tourism to the area.

The Macmillan Way long distance footpath passes through Great Brington. The disc jockey and television presenter Jo Whiley is from the village.