The Silver Jubilee of 1977

I've never been much of a royalist but watching the wedding of William and Kate recently made me proud to be British. It reminded me of an England that I thought had long been forgotten. It also reminded me of the Silver Jubilee of 1977. The royal family were extremely popular at the time and thousands of people turned out to see the Queen and Prince Phillip when they visited Plymouth. Being a kid, I headed off into town on the bus to take some photos. I remember as I got off the bus, the driver said to me, 'You off to see the Queen then?' which was funny because he hadn't said it to anyone else! The whole route of the Queen's journey was packed with people. I found a spot down by The Walrus in Notte Street and waited with many other people for the Queen's car to drive by. My photos never were going to be very good, I just had an old pocket Kodak 126 camera and some Magicubes (remember them?). Anyway, the Queen was driven by and Prince Philip waved and I took a photo. The crowd then headed up towards the Hoe and I followed them. There was a ceremony on the promenade and I manage to get a few more photos although from a long way away. Later, I got back home, told my parents about it all and then sent off my film to be developed. Three weeks later, I got the photos back. There was a good one of Prince Philip's hand and another of a figure, dressed in blue, well in the distance. I thought it was probably the Queen but it could have just as easily been a lamp post.
In those days, at the end of programming on Westward Television, 'God Save the Queen' was always played before the station shut down for the night. The film of the Queen visiting Plymouth was shown in this slot for many years afterwards.
It's funny that I'd gone out of my way to see the Queen and had got nowhere near her. Years later, in 1988, I was crossing the road down by the Theatre Royal and we were all told to wait a minute. The Queen was driven right by me, she looked at me, and waved. I was inches away from her. Another time, I was driving by HMS Drake and I saw some kids from the local nursery waving flags. As I drove, I looked to my right and there again was the Queen being driven by me, slowly, in the opposite direction. As our cars passed, we both turned and looked at each other and she waved again! If our windows had been open, we could have shook hands. On both occasions, I hadn't even realised that she was visiting the city. Perhaps she was stalking me.
Anyway, my photo of Prince Philip's hand and the lamp post went in the bin many years ago and the photo that illustrates this piece was kindly lent to me by Gillian Long.
It seemed a great year - lots of flag waving, street parties and daily news about the royals. I thought that the England I remembered in the 1970s as a kid had gone forever but, then again, perhaps not!

(Photo credit : Gill Long).

Plymouth Zoo

I loved visiting Plymouth Zoo when I was a kid in the 1960s and 1970s. I think it was a shilling to get in at the time. We'd buy big bags of popcorn, which were very sweet, and feed it to all of the animals. I'm sure that it couldn't have been very good for them! My favourites were the chimpanzees but there were a whole range of exotic wildlife including polar bears, giraffes, camels, seals, other types of bears, a hippo and an elephant. When we first visited in 1968, a pelican followed us all around the zoo until we left. It was like he was showing us around!
A few years ago, I collected together as many photos of the zoo as possible and put them on a website at
http://www.derektait.co.uk/zoo.htm (now gone unfortunately).
Recently, I read a letter in the Herald written by Vina Shaddick (pictured) who worked at the zoo in 1965. She was writing down her memories and wondered if she appeared in the background of anybody's photos. I wrote to Vina and told her about my website and amazingly, she found herself on the site! She's pictured here leading the pony and cart ride.
Vina wrote:
'That's me with the pony and cart on your website! It was a delight to see this and other photos of the animals that I looked after so long ago.
In case you are interested, the name of the baby Indian elephant (who died 1965) was Tammy, the pony in the photo with me was Mandy, I knew the girl holding the donkeys but have forgotten her name, and one of the donkeys was called Jenny. The Bengal tiger, retired from Chipperfields Circus, was Bengy. One of the Russian brown bears, Honey, was also from the circus and was brought in to be mated by the zoo's male bears.
I was filmed with my friend Adele by Pathe, looking over the fence at the tortoise, and thanks to your site was able to see the footage for the first time. My son bought it for me for Mother's Day, so I now have it on a DVD.'
I've very fond memories of our visits to Plymouth Zoo and there's more about it on my blog at
http://plymouthlocalhistory.blogspot.com/2009/03/plymouth-zoo.html

More about the prehistoric caverns at Stonehouse

Further to my earlier posting about prehistoric caverns at Stonehouse, I heard from Ernie Stanton who told me about a publication that he'd discovered called the 'South Devon Monthly Museum'. Within its pages is an article that was published in 1796 and includes a letter to the then Lord Edgcumbe concerning the caverns. It makes very interesting reading and I've reproduced it below. It's a long-winded account of the caverns, and you might not get to the end, but it's interesting to think that all this possibly exists under Stonehouse today. From the measurements given, it would probably be possible to work out the exact position of the caverns today.

For more information about the caverns, please read my previous posting at

http://plymouthlocalhistory.blogspot.com/2010/05/prehistoric-caverns-at-stonehouse.html

Here's the complete article as it appears within the publication:

The following account of an extraordinary cave discovered at Stonehouse
is extracted from the 'Weekly Entertainer', for July I6th, 1796.

AN ACCOUNT OF A SUBTERRANEAN CAVERN AT STONEHOUSE, NEAR PLYMOUTH.

By the late ingenious Dr. Geach,

To the Right Hon. Lord Edgecumbe.

Plymouth-Dock, March 1st., 1776.  

My Lord,
I have the honour of communicating to your lordship an account, which I took on the spot, of a subterranean cavern, lately discovered in your Lordship's demesnes at Stonehouse. The place, at a considerable extent round, as your Lordship well knows, belonged formerly to the monks : part of the wall that inclosed their garden is still to be seen. The cavern was accidentally discovered by some miners in blowing up a contiguous rock of marble. The aperture, disclosed by the explosion, was about four feet in diameter, and looked not unlike a hole bored with an auger. It was covered with a broad flat stone cemented with lime and sand ; and twelve feet above it, the ground seemed to have been made with rubbish brought thither, for what purpose I know not, unless it were for that of concealment. Here indeed, but here only, we saw some appearance of art, and vestige of masonry. The hill itself, at the northern side of which this vault was found, consists, for the most part, of lime-stone, or rather marble. From the mouth of this cave (through which we descended by a ladder) to the first base, or landing place, is twenty-six feet. At this base is an opening, bearing N. W. by W. to which we have given the name of Tent Cave. It resembles a tent at its base, and in its circumference, and stretches upwards, somewhat pyramidically, to an invisible point. It is, as far as we can measure, about ten feet high, seven broad, twenty-two long : though there is an opening, which, on account of its narrowness we could not well examine, and in all probability it has a dangerous flexure. In each side of this Tent Cave is a cleft; the right runs horizontally inwards ten feet, the left measures six by four. The sides of the cave are everywhere deeply and uncouthly indented, and here and there strengthened with ribs, naturally formed, which, placed at a due distance from each other, give some ideas of fluted pillars in old churches.
In a direct line from this cave to the opposite point is a road thirty feet long. The descent is steep and rugged, either from stones thrown into it from above, since the discovery, or from frailments that have fallen off at different times, from different places below. This road is very strongly but rudely arched over, and many holes on both sides are to be seen ; but being very narrow, do not admit of remote inspection or critical scrutiny.
Having scrambled down this deep descent, we arrive at a natural arch of Gothic-like structure, which is four feet from side to side, and six feet high. Here some petrefactions are seen depending. On the right of this arch is an opening like a funnel, into which a slender person might creep ; on the left is another correspondent funnel, the course of which is oblique, and the end unknown.
Beyond this Gothic pile is a large space, to which the arch is an entrance. This space, or inner room (for so we have termed it) is eleven feet long, ten broad twenty-five high. Its sides have many large excavations, and here two columns, which seem to be a mass of petrefactions, project considerably. On the surfaces of those pillars below, are seen some fantastic protuberances, and on the hanging roofs above, some crystal drops that have been petrified in their progress. Between those columns is a chasm capable of containing three or four men.
Returning from this room, we perceive on the left hand side, an avenue thirty feet long naturally floored with clay, and vaulted with stone. It bears S. S. W. and before we have crept through it, we see a passage of difficult access and dangerous investigation. It runs forward twenty-five feet, and opens over the vault thirty feet high near the largest well. Opposite to this passage are two caverns, both on the right hand. The first bears N. W. by W. and running forwards in a strait line about twenty feet, forms a curve that verges somewhat to the N. E. Here we walk and creep in a winding course from cell to cell, till we are stopped by a well of water, the breadth and depth of which are as yet not fully known. This winding cavern is three feet wide, in some parts five feet high, in some eight. Returning to the avenue we find adjoining to this cavern, but separated by a large and massy partition of stone, the second cavern running west ; and by descending over some small piles of lime-stone, or rather broken rocks, the bottom here being shelvy slate, or more properly a combination of slate and lime-stone, we discovered another well of water. This is the largest; the depth of it is, in one place, twenty-three feet, the width uncertain. Opposite to this well, on the left hand, by mounting over a small ridge of rocks, covered with wet and slippery clay, we enter a vault eight feet broad, eighteen long, thirty high. Here, towards the S. E., a road, not easy of ascent, runs upwards seventy-two feet towards the surface of the earth, and so near to it, that the sound of the voice, or of a mallet within, might be distinctly heard without, in consequence of which a very large opening has been made into it. At the bottom of this vault, in a place not readily observed, is another well of water, the depth of which, on account of its situation, cannot be well fathomed, nor the breadth of it ascertained.
While the miners were exploring those gloomy and grotesque regions, they were alarmed at a murmuring sound, that seemed to come from the hollows of the cave, and one of them, who chanced to be near the largest well with a candle in his hand, saw at that instant the water rise about half a foot.
This phenomenon then could not be explained ; but now we think that the several wells are nearly on a level, and that the waters shape their course towards the sea, and mix with it in Mill Bay, at the distance of four hundred and twelve feet. It is not certain whether those wells, though they lie below the extremity of the lime-stone, have a mutual communication or not : but it is highly probable, as the bottom of the largest well is clay, and its sides are shelvy slate, that there are sprinos, and it is certain that this shelvy vein of slate, nearly of the same kind and colour with some seen at Mount Edgecumbe on the opposite shore, is continued even to the sea, where two openings at low water have been found, through which it is probable the water of the great well discharges itself. When the tide rises, it is presumed that the pressure of the sea without retards the course of the water within, and this may account for the rise and fall so manifest at different times of sounding : and the same circumstance is observed also in a well near the old French prison, in the environs of Plymouth.
Each cavern has its arch, each arch is strong, and in general curious. The way to the largest well is, in one part, roofed with solid and smooth stone, not unlike the arch of an oven. No one seemed to be affected by the damps till he came hither, and then the candles grew dim, and one of the investigators, as well as myself, felt unusual and uneasy sensations.
However, since an opening has been made near the arch of the great well, and the air has had a much freer access, no such sympoms have been perceived. It is very likely that the hill itself is hollow ; some of the caverns have reciprocal communications, but the clefts are often too narrow for accurate inspection or minute enquiry. The water here and there is still dripping, and incrustations, usual in such grottos, coat the surface of the walls in some places. There are some whimsical likenesses, which the pen need not describe nor the pencil dehneate. Mr. Cookworthy, of Plymouth, a very ingenious man, and an excellent chemist, has been so obliging as to analyze the water of the three wells, and has found by many experiments, that it is very soft, and fit for every purpose. I therefore beg leave to congratulate your lordship on the discovery of this water, which, though there was no want before, cannot fail to be a valuable acquisition to your town of Stonehouse ; a place very delightful, and superior to most for the beauty of its prospects, and the elegance of its situation, and what is still better, for the goodness of the air, as the longevity of the inhabitants sufficiently evinces.
I have the honour to be, my Lord,
Your Lordship's most obedient,
and obliged humble servant,
FRANCIS GEACH.

Westward Television - Where are they now?

In 1974, Westward Television had an open day and, as a kid, I got to meet many of the presenters and got their autographs.

After writing about Keith Fordyce recently, I began to wonder whatever happened to all of the presenters from Westward Television. I know that Roger Shaw is still around because I saw him not too long ago parked in Lambhay Hill car park! But what about the others? Many, unfortunately, have passed away including Kenneth MacLeod (died on 31 January, 2003, aged 76), John Doyle (died 2001), Stuart Hutchison, Ian Stirling (died 30 June 2005) and Jon Miller (died Helston, Cornwall 30 July 2008).

The other presenters that I can recall were Angela Rippon (still presenting shows for the BBC), Judi Spiers (now on Radio Devon), Jeniffer Clulow (appeared in the Cointreau adverts until 1988), Lawrie Quayle (I think emigrated to New Zealand), Graham Danton (on Radio Devon until 2009), Topline Broadhurst (still giving gardening tips on the Heritage Gardening website), Ted Tuckerman (has his own website at www. tedtuckerman.com), Del Cooper (unknown), Clive Gunnell (unknown) and David Young who left TSW due to illness. Of course, Gus Honeybun is still around and living on Dartmoor somewhere!

If anyone remembers any other presenters or knows of their whereabouts nowadays, please let me know.

New columns

Thanks to everyone who regularly follows my local history blog. From April, I have a regular monthly column featured in the Plymouth Shopper newspaper, which is delivered to thousands of homes, which I hope many people will enjoy reading. I hope to include many new and interesting stories concerning the history of Plymouth and its surrounding areas. This month's edition contains an article about the Blitz.

Also, from April, I'll have a regular column in the Plymstock and Wembury Marketplace magazine. Articles will appear quarterly and the first one features rare photos and information showing HMS Cambridge at Wembury Point when it was a holiday camp back in the 1930s. I hope that people will enjoy the articles and will pick up a copy of the magazine or newspaper locally if it's not delivered to their homes.

My blog postings also continue weekly on the Devon Life site and also feature intermittently in the Herald. People ask me why they're not featured in the Herald more regularly. Who knows? Ask the Herald!

Anyway, I hope that a lot of people will find them very informative and I hope to include many interesting stories as well as many seldom-seen photos. I hope you'll all look out for, and enjoy, the articles in these publications.

Keith Fordyce

I was very sorry to hear that Keith Fordyce had died on 15th March, just a couple of weeks ago, aged 82. He was well known as the frontman to the pop show, 'Ready, Steady, Go!' in the early 1960s and also interviewed the Beatles when they appeared at the ABC in Plymouth.

Perhaps, though, he will be best remembered in the region as the host of Westward Television's game show, 'Treasure Hunt' in the 1960s and 1970s. The show was very popular and contestants had to answer various questions and then press a button and the amount that they won would flash up. If the 'key' symbol showed up, Keith would announce, 'It's the Golden Key!' which seemed to become, locally, his catchphrase and he probably had people shouting it out to him in the street! I can't remember what the top prize was but it was probably a few hundred pounds.

We'd all watched the show as a family. I think that it was on at 7pm. It went on for quite a while but when TSW took over the station, Keith was replaced by David Rogers and Jethro. It never seemed to have the same appeal after that and it seemed to struggle for sensible contestants. The audience seemed to be made up of OAPs who sat watching complete with overcoats, hats and handbags. I'm sure that many contestants were dragged from the audience minutes before the show started. I remember one old bloke was asked which actor played Lawrence of Arabia. After thinking about it, he gave his answer as 'Laurence of Olivier'! He was convinced he was right. Eventually, he won two gilted candlesticks and the female hostess plonked one in front of him. He looked disgruntled and shouted, as she walked away, 'No, two, dear!' I'm sure that the show couldn't have been recorded because it was awful. Eventually, it disappeared from our screens.

We had all enjoyed the show when Westward and Keith hosted it and perhaps TSW should never have resurrected it.

Keith went on to open an aircraft museum at Torbay.

It seems like only yesterday that we were all watching Westward Television and it seems very sad that many of the presenters have now passed away.

There's more about Keith's career at:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/culture-obituaries/8422224/Keith-Fordyce.html