Westward Television's Roger Shaw

 

I read today in Plymouth's Herald newspaper online that Roger Shaw had died (24.5.24). Back in January 1968, we returned to England  after spending three lovely years in Singapore where my dad was serving in the navy.

British tv was new to me then. I remembered shows from the early 1960s such as Andy Pandy, Bill and Ben, Fireball XL5 etc before we left for Singapore and were fed an array of wonderful American programmes such as The Time Tunnel, Star Trek, Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, Lost in Space, Batman, The Monkees and wonderfully coloured comedy and dramas.

When we returned to England, we lived for a year at Healy Place opposite the dockyard in Devonport. I loved living there exploring the cobbled streets, building dens in Devonport Park, playing in the streets at night and generally exploring the area in the evening. The area wasn't tame however. I remember my brother getting punched full in the face by drinkers (he was 11 years old) while dressed up for penny for the guy. Another time, we were attacked by a group of lads with a machete knife. Amazingly, no-one thought to call the police. Lots happened but no-one thought anything of it.

We played in the streets, fought mock wars, threw fireworks about, made toy radios, played in parks, searched for birds eggs, collected butterflies, built dens and go-karts, dressed as cowboys, batman and commandos.

We swopped bubblegum cards, played with cereal boxes and toys and visited anywhere we could.

Kids stayed away from the police and had little to do with them if possible. They patrolled the streets on foot, looking for any minor misdemeanour. I remember getting told off for crossing the road without looking (there was no traffic) before being marched off back home and told off again!

The television programmes I remember were Westward Television with all their presenters including Roger Shaw, Stuart Hutchison, Lawrie Quayle, Kenneth MacLeod and others I've long forgotten. Doctor Who was on also featuring Patrick Troughton being chased by yetis somewhere in Wales. I loved it!

Roger Shaw was listed in the paper yesterday under his real name, Roger Ollerearnshaw. He'd died on Saturday 18th May 2024 aged 92. I liked all the Westward television presenters but I particularly remembered Roger because he read out my 7th birthday during the Gus Honeybun Show in August 1968.

The last time that I saw Roger, he was sitting in his car with his wife in the car park at Lambhay Hill. It was probably a long time ago now, many years anyway!

Hope to update my blog from time to time (does anyone still read it?) and add any new bits and pieces occasionally.

I promise to edit this better soon.

The Obelisk at Mount Edgcumbe

There is a story that the Obelisk was erected to celebrate the life of the Countess of Mount Edgcumbe's pet pig, Cupid. However, other sources say that the Obelisk was erected, in its current position, by Timothy Brett in 1770 in honour of his friend, George, the 3rd Baron of Edgcumbe. Brett was a former Commissioner of the Navy. The Obelisk was originally sited where the Folly now stands. The 50 ft monument has been used as a navigational point by various shipping in the Sound over the years. Cupid the pig was said to have been buried in a gold casket beneath the obelisk when he died in 1768. In the book, 'Animals Graves and Memorials' by Jan Toms (Shire Publications 2006), it says that when the obelisk was moved to its present position, in 1770, nothing was found. However, the date of 1770 may be misleading as the obelisk appears in its present position on shipping maps as early as 1768. As this was the year that Cupid died, it might be reasonable to assume that he is buried beneath the obelisk in its present position. It is known that Fern Dell once contained an urn that commemorated Cupid but this has since disappeared. However, it is also recorded that Cupid was buried at Fern Dell and this was noted by George III and Queen Charlotte. The dates prove confusing. For instance, the Folly was said to be erected on the spot where the Obelisk originally stood. However, the folly was erected in 1747 so how could Cupid have died and been buried beneath the obelisk, in its original position, in 1768? Research shows that the obelisk in its original position had already collapsed when the work to build the folly got underway. Cupid led a charmed life eating at the dinner table of the Edgcumbes and even accompanying the Countess, Emma Gilbert, on trips to London. The Edgcumbes love of their pets can be seen at Fern Dell where many of them are buried. When a later Countess of Mount Edgcumbe, Caroline Georgia, died in 1909, she requested that a fountain be erected near the shore at Cremyll which bore the inscription, 'For the Doggies'. In ' A Complete Parochial History of the County', published in 1870, it states, 'In the Cypress Grove is a monument to the memory of Timothy Brett Esq, one of the commissioners of the Navy, who, about the year 1770 erected the obelisk on the knoll near Cremyll as a memorial for his regard of his friend, George, the 3rd Baron of Edgcumbe.' At the time, George was still alive and serving in the Royal Navy. During 1770, he was promoted to Vice Admiral and was appointed Vice Treasurer of Ireland. Today, the obelisk is almost hidden away on a hill behind the Mount Edgcumbe Arms. There is no plaque on the monument to say who it is dedicated to and it's probably seen better days. It's hard to imagine now that it once stood where the folly stands. To add to the confusion, the date, '1st July,1867', has been carved into the base of the obelisk. Beside the date is the name, 'R F Crowther'. This mystery has, however, since been solved. Richard Crowther was in training during the 1860s on the boy's training ship, 'HMS Impregnable' which was moored off Cremyll. One day, Richard wandered towards the obelisk from the training ship armed with a hammer and chisel and left the inscription and date. He was born in 1853 so would have been 14 years old in 1867 when he left his mark. Cupid's remains may or may not be buried beneath the Obelisk but please don't go looking for them!

There is more information about the history of the Mount Edgcumbe estate in my book here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Mount-Edgcumbe-Derek-Tait/dp/0956078117/ref=sr_1_3?keywords=derek+tait&qid=1691880496&sr=8-3

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle assisted at a medical practice at Durnford Street and Sherlock Holmes was said to be based on his colleague, Dr Budd.Conan Doyle achieved the titles of Bachelor of Medicine and Master of Surgery in 1881 and had studied with George Turnavine Budd at Edinburgh. When Budd opened a practice in Durnford Street in 1882, he asked Conan Doyle to join him. The partnership didn't last long. Although Budd and Conan Doyle were friends, Conan Doyle found his partner over prescribed drugs for his patients, for which he charged them, and was unorthodox in the extreme. He wrote and told his mother, Mary, about Budd's ways. She had never been an admirer of his. After two months, the partnership was dissolved because Budd said that it was short of both finances and patients. Conan Doyle discovered later that Budd had found one of his letters to his mother and the real reason for the break up of the partnership was that he had been upset by what he had read.

Conan Doyle left and set up a practice in Southsea with just £10 to his name. At first, it wasn't very successful and, while he was waiting for patients, he wrote his first story featuring Sherlock Holmes, 'A Study in Scarlet.'

Conan Doyle died on the 7th July 1930 (aged 71). Today, passages from his works featuring Sherlock Holmes can be found on brass plaques set into the pavement at Durnford Street.

Plymouth Sound

Nowadays, with endless television and radio stations, it's hard to imagine the excitement when Plymouth got its own radio station. At the time, the main stations were all broadcast by the BBC.
Almost 40 years ago, Plymouth Sound was launched and it soon had a huge following. The station was based in a former organ factory at Earl's Acre off Alma Road in Pennycomequick and was launched on 19th May 1975. The first song broadcast was Cat Stevens' Morning Has Broken.
Andrew Knight, who was aged nine at the time, won a competition to be the first voice heard on the new station. With prompting from station controller, David Bassett, Andrew went live on air at 6am on the morning of Monday 19th May.

Popular presenters at the time included Ian Calvert, Louise Churchill, Carmella McKenzie, Brian Measures, Peter Greig and David Bassett. There were many more in later years.

I was thirteen and at school at the time when the station opened. It's hard to believe now but there was a big thing about how to find the station and how to tune into it (much the same as there was when Channel 4 was launched). There was a show at the Guildhall to find out more about the station and to meet some of the people behind it.

Me and a school friend went along in the hope there would be some free records (we didn't get any). Like everyone else, we came away with souvenirs such as free car stickers and mugs. It seemed a big thing at the time.
Everyone at school listened to the station and by far the most popular presenter was Ian Calvert whose evening show was broadcast just at the time when we were all doing our homework. In between records, Ian talked about his girlfriend, his dogs, his horses and anything else that was going on at the time. I remember him being the first DJ to play David Soul's single when it first came out and also remember he'd sent a tape to Radio One of his show. There were nightly phone-in competitions and the prize was inevitably 6 singles. I'd recognise some of the kids from my class entering the competitions (I won a few) and once we'd collected our prize singles from the station, we'd take them to school and try and swap them. They were always by artists you had never heard of and were, mostly, terrible but the fun was just in winning them.

David Bassett broadcast a talk show at 10am every morning and would have conversations about topical subjects or just anything anyone wanted to talk about. Some of the people who phoned in were unintentionally hilarious which made the show even more entertaining. In the summer holidays, most of the kids at school listened to it and many of them also took part.
Brian Measures hosted an easy listening show in the evening which attracted a large audience. I won a Frank Sinatra LP on his show and my mum went to collect it. While she was waiting at the reception, she said that there was a bloke beside her who didn't stop nattering on and telling jokes. She thought that he was just there to collect a prize but it turned out to be Frank Carson!
Adverts needing an American sounding voice-over were done by my old guitar teacher, Pete Martin (he was actually Canadian). I wonder what happened to him?

The DJs were very popular at the time and I remember Ian Calvert bringing a football team to our school in the 1970s to play the teachers. Our teachers were hopeless (even the sports ones) so they inevitably lost!
The station was a big thing in the 1970s and 1980s and was eventually re-branded Heart Plymouth in 2009 before being amalgamated into Heart Devon in 2010. For me, the best time to listen to it was in the 1970s when it all seemed so new and there were few other radio stations about. As the station grew older, there was suddenly a huge choice of other stations to listen to. By then, I'd moved on to the crackly fading broadcasts of Radio Luxembourg!
Like Westward Television, there seems something very nostalgic about the early days of Plymouth Sound. Today, we're overloaded with stations, many of which are listened to on the internet. Somehow, it just doesn't seem to be the same and a lot of the appeal of the smaller radio stations, where we felt that we knew all the presenters, seems to have been lost over the years.

The ABC advertising hoarding at West Park

I noticed today that the billboard hoarding, on the side of the Peter Goord building, at West Park, has been taken down. Underneath has been revealed an old advert for the ABC Cinema. It's obviously quite old and wasn't there in my lifetime so I'm guessing that it dates from the 1950s or early 1960s.

Unlike modern bill posters, it has been painted onto the side of the building. I think there's more of it but this has been covered with modern spar dash probably some time in the 1970s.

I don't suppose it will be too long before it's covered up and disppears for another fifty years so if you want to see it and take a photo, now's the time.

Footnote: I contacted the Herald about the advertisement and they've written a piece about it here: http://www.plymouthherald.co.uk/Plymouth-agents-travel-time-ABC-poster/story-26430435-detail/story.html

 

Films shot in and around Plymouth

After my article appeared in the Shopper, a couple of months ago, about David Soul filming in Plymouth, several people wrote to me about other films that had been made in the area.

In the 1940s, 'The Way We Live' was shot in the city. It was directed by Jill Craigie who later married Michael Foot, whom she'd met while making the film.

It told the tale of Alice Copperwheat and her family, whose house had been destroyed in the blitz and who were then billeted to Horrabridge before becoming the owners of a brand new pre-fab in the city. There are various interesting scenes showing Plymouth as it was in 1945. Patsy Scantlebury, who lived in St Budeaux, was chosen for the role of Alice after being seen on Plymouth Hoe jitterbugging with an American sailor. At the time, she was just 17. She had previously worked in a post office. Patsy went on to sign a seven year contract with the J Arthur Rank Organization and appeared as an air hostess in the film 'Blind Goddess' as Patsy Drake (her stage name).

John Tozer wrote and asked if I remembered anything about the film 'The Uncle,' part of which was shot at Whitleigh. The film starred Rupert Davies who was very popular during the 1960s for his role as the tv detective 'Maigret.'
John wrote: 'The camera crew stopped outside where we lived and soon drove off toward Aylesbury Crescent with me and two pals cycling behind the car waving our hands! They then filmed an indoor scene in a house on Taunton Avenue, opposite the west end of Aylesbury Crescent.'
The Uncle was made in 1965 and Davies played David Morton, the father of a boy, Gus, played by Robert Duncan. The story concerned the boy's life over one summer. Like many films made in Plymouth, it hasn't been shown much over the years and many people probably won't have heard of it.
In the late 1970s, Tatum O'Neal was in the area shooting 'International Velvet' which also starred Christopher Plummer and Anthony Hopkins. Several of the scenes were shot on the beach at Mothecombe. Tatum was interviewed by Westward Television several times and other scenes for the film were also shot at Newton Abbot racecourse. The movie received mixed reviews.

Also in the late 1970s, Force 10 From Navarone, starring Harrison Ford, Robert Shaw and Edward Fox, was partly shot in the dockyard. Ford was just finding fame at the time as Han Solo in Star Wars.

In 1982, the film 'Remembrance' was released. It featured the story of a group of Royal Naval ratings based at Devonport and their exploits in Plymouth before setting sail for America.

Much of the film was shot in Union Street and featured Timothy Spall, Gary Oldman and John Altman as well as many other stars who have since become far more famous. Timothy Spall recently returned to the area to shoot 'Mr Turner' which was partly filmed at Kingsand.
Remembrance was shown on Channel 4 soon after but, again, hasn't been shown much since. It's good to watch it just to see how Union Street once looked and how it's all changed over the years.

In 1985, Goldcrest advertised in the local papers for extras to appear in their film 'Revolution' which was shot mainly at Burrator and starred Al Pacino, Donald Sutherland, Nastassja Kinski and a host of other well-known stars. I went to the auditions at Ballard House but didn't get a part. If I remember rightly, they were paying £20 a day which seemed a lot back then. Even with a huge budget and many big names, the film was again a flop but can be seen regularly on one of the Freeview channels.

In 1994, 'Sense and Sensibility' was shot at Saltram and starred Emma Thompson, Kate Winslet, Alan Rickman and Hugh Grant in a lavish period drama.

'Tomorrow Never Dies' (1997), starring Pierce Brosnan as James Bond, featured action shot, again, in Devonport Dockyard as well as scenes filmed on several naval ships.

In 2009, 'Alice in Wonderland' was shot partly at Antony House and starred Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham Carter and Anne Hathaway and was directed by Tim Burton. A follow up is to be released shortly. Many local people appeared in the background.
There have been many more movies shot in the area over the years such as 'War Horse,' 'We Bought a Zoo' etc and many people in Plymouth will have fond memories of appearing in them as extras.
Of course, there have also been endless tv shows shot in the area and these include Doctor Who, Hornblower, Casualty and, more recently across the Tamar, Poldark. Perhaps people reading this blog have appeared in one of the many productions mentioned? It would be good to feature their memories in a later post.
Update: Richenda kindly wrote to me with her memories of appearing in 'The Uncle:'

Dear Derek

A friend drew my attention to your article on films shot in and around Plymouth in The Shopper.

I was an 'extra' for a day for The Uncle. I was one of at least six teenage girls who had to run across the beach at Tinside. I think involved a lot of waiting around and a few takes until the camera man was happy with the shots. We were each paid £1 for the day. I was about 14 or 15 years old at the time and I seem to remember that the film wasn't put out on general release at the time. Was it a bit controversial?  I did see the film many years later and only our legs were in shot. Very disappointing and difficult to spot my own legs as they dashed across the screen.

There must have been a lot more of a beach at Tinside in those days. Summers were also different. We all had season tickets to the round swimming pool and swam from March to October. We spent most of our summer holidays on the seafront and were joined by large numbers of French students who came and went for two weeks at a time. We helped them with their English speaking.

Best wishes,

Richenda .

Footnote:

As from July 2015, The Uncle will be available on DVD. Here it is on Amazon:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Uncle-DVD-Rupert-Davies/dp/B00WABZW7I/ref=sr_1_1?s=dvd&ie=UTF8&qid=1434047549&sr=1-1&keywords=the+uncle

Inclement weather



Long before global warming was ever mentioned, Plymouth was being hit by inclement weather.
In the great storm of January 1814, the snowfall in Plymouth fell to a depth of twenty inches in just six hours. The snow lasted for six weeks.
During the great blizzard of March 1891, the people of Plymouth had a rare opportunity for skating when the Chelson Meadows flooded and froze over. Water supplies to the city were halted as underground pipes froze.
The photos shown here show a flood in Tamerton Foliot in November 1929. The heavy rains flooded much of Devon and Cornwall during the month and the story of Tamerton Foliot was reported in the Western Morning News of Friday 29th November 1929. It read:
'Waters invaded Tamerton Foliot yesterday and entered many of the cottages, the occupants of which had to move their furniture to drier quarters.
The river, which has swollen to a lake, is partially restrained from the flooded main road by a high wall, and on the stream side it is said that the water is about six feet deep. Planks span the gardens as improvised bridges.

The general traffic to and from the village is diverted to another road but several cars came to grief yesterday on the flooded main road.'
By Monday 2nd November 1929, the Western Morning News was reporting the ongoing plight of Plymouth residents under the headline 'Beleaguered by Floods.' The story read:
'A serious situation faces some of the residents in the Laira district of Plymouth as a result of the floods. They have been besieged in their upper rooms and have had to be conveyed to and fro in a large boat requisitioned for the purpose. Provisions and newspapers were brought to them by the same means. Today, two large lorries provided by the corporation will replace the boat.
Throughout yesterday, pumping operations were carried out by the fire engine.
The rainfall, which has caused so much flooding to the Westcountry during November, has broken all previous records. In the Plymouth area, the fall has been the heaviest since 1914.
In the lower part of Stenlake Terrace, Prince Rock, during the floods, the local postman carried out his duties wheeled in a bath-chair. Thanks to fine spells experienced this weekend, the floods have subsided in most districts.'
After the heavy rain, serious gales hit the area during December bringing down trees and causing much disruption.

On a brighter note, during the previous summer, in July 1928, Plymouth was enjoying a heatwave, which can be seen in the final photo, shown here, of two girls, complete with drinks and a parasol. There was much written in the newspapers about the warm, hot summer of 1928 including this article from the Western Morning News of 20th July:

'In Plymouth, the weather was brilliant. Bathing was popular among holidaymakers. The scene from the Hoe could not have been equalled. In the blue distance could be seen the white-sailed yachts drifting on a sapphire sea. The maximum temperature for the day was 75 degrees comparing favourable with the 80 degrees in the shade in London.'
Fashion also got a mention in the article:
'Noticeable this year at south-western seaside resorts is the variety of summer frocks worn. A feature is the large number of sunshades. Two or three years ago, sunshades went completely out of fashion, but have quickly come back into fashion again.'
Little seems to have changed over the years. Today's weather may seem balmy but, it appears, that it's nothing new!

More David Soul

After my article appeared in Plymouth's Shopper newspaper, about David Soul's visit to Plymouth in 1977, Sheila Hodgson kindly wrote to me with an update:
'I was interested to read your piece about David Soul in the Plymouth Shopper. The film production company took over the Moorland Links Hotel for the duration of the filming. The Director, Producer etc. and the main stars all stayed there, including David and his then girlfriend - I don't think it was Julia - who stayed in the Manager's flat within the hotel. The Manager moved out and stayed with friends for the whole time. The car park was used for their production wagons and consequently the bar became the meeting point for all the crew. It was a very busy time for all the staff but also a very enjoyable occasion. Unfortunately we didn't get the opportunity to see Mud - although from all accounts we didn't miss much! The interior scenes were shot at the Astor Hotel which was in fact closed at that time. How do I know all this? I was the Manager's PA at the Links at the time, and was on duty on the Sunday when the company first visited the Hotel to discuss the possibility of taking it over, and using the car park for their production wagons. After further discussions with the Manager, the rest as they say is history.'

Drake Circus in the 1970s

I love this photo from the 1970s showing the area in front of Marks and Spencers. At the time, many people met up in the spot after shopping or for a chat as can be seen on the right of the photo. The benches were a good place to sit and watch the world go by. Occasionally, buskers would set up in the area often raising money for charity. Nearby, the Salvation Army Band would play at Christmas.
In the background is the old Drake Circus with C&A on the ground and first floors. Up the escalator was Arcadia which was a newsagents as well as a seller of toys, stationery and those wonderful Pace posters that you used to get in the 1970s featuring your favourite pop and television stars.
Today, the area in this photograph is hard to recognise and has been replaced with the new, always busy, Drake Mall.
I sort of miss the way the town once was and it seems like it was a far more relaxing place to sit, have your lunch or just have a rest from shopping.
I think the photographer of this photo is probably Steve Johnson (Cyberheritage) who took some excellent photos of the town in the 1970s.


Colin Preston

Keen fans of the rock group Queen will know the name Colin Preston who lived all his life in Plymouth. A story on the fansite 'Queenpedia.com' (which is wrong, by the way) reads:

"Keep Smilin'" was written for Colin Preston, a young Queen fan who considered himself a Freddie look-alike. Colin was involved in a car accident and slipped into a coma, and Colin's parents asked if Freddie could visit their son. Instead, the vocalist took opportunity of studio time and wrote and recorded a song especially for Colin, then sent the tape to his family, who reported back that it made a difference; sadly, Colin died shortly afterward, and the family reassured Freddie that the tape would be buried with him so that no one could make a copy.
I knew Colin when I was about 10 years old (in 1971) and we both went to Knowle Primary School in West Park. For a while, we were best friends and would spend evenings searching for conkers and in the day, playing marbles, building dens and playing cowboys and Indians. He lived with his gran at the bottom of the road behind the fish and chip shop at West Park and I'd call for him on some days after school and we'd go out exploring the area (as kids did in those days). We ocassionally got into trouble like the time some lads set upon us while we were cutting through Honicknowle School. I had a bleeding nose so we went back to Colin's house and his gran then blamed me!
It's odd, when the school decided that, because my birthday fell in the summer holidays, that I'd be moved up a year, we were no longer in the same class and, from then on, hardly hung around with each other. I soon left for Southway Comprehensive ( which was dire to say the least) and I never saw Colin again. It's funny, when you're a kid, you can be such good friends with someone and then just move on.

Anyway, in about 1986, I had been seriously ill in hospital and when I came out, I read about Colin in the paper soon after and his battle with cancer (he hadn't been in a car crash as mentioned on many Queen sites on the net). I read in the Plymouth Star that pool and darts players at the Victory Inn had raised £580 for him. I looked in future papers for more news but never saw anything and assumed that he'd recovered. It wasn't until about 2010 that I'd heard that he died. He was certainly a great kid and a lot of fun and, even though I hadn't seen him for a very long time, I was upset to hear the news.

Recently his brother, Philip, kindly sent me the photos, shown here, as well as the newspaper story that I remembered reading all those years ago. Colin would have been about 26 when he died and not a boy as reported on some sites. Although it was also reported that Colin had the only version of 'Keep Smilin' the song can be heard on YouTube and elsewhere.

Finally, here's a photo of me and Colin Preston in Mr Thompson's class in about 1970. I'm fourth from the right in the back row and Colin is second from the right. The flame-haired Mr Thompson had a fiery temper to match but he looks quite harmless in this photo!

Universal Book Stores, Frankfort Gate

After my article about the various shops at the bottom end of town in the 1960s and 1970s, Mike Evans, the owner of Universal Book Stores, kindly wrote to me. I loved the bookstore when I was a boy but, for some reason, in my article, I mistakenly called it 'Bonus Books.'
Mike wrote:
'I've always enjoyed reading your articles in the Shopper newspaper but I must bring to your attention the second-hand bookshop you mentioned. The only bookshop in Frankfort Gate was Universal Book Stores which was owned by my father and myself.

My father opened his shop there in 1960, and I joined him in 1969, and we dealt in all kinds of second hand books. By the middle of the 1970s, we were selling new remainder and last of run books as well as second-hand. Sadly my father passed away in 1990 and I carried on with the business until 1997.The rent and rates had escalated so much by then that I had no choice but to finish with the business.

My father started the business in 1947 in Tin Pan Alley in Plymouth, wheeling his books down there every day from his basement flat, eventually finding shops to run his business from. The shop he was mostly known for was in York Street. I can remember, in the early 1950s, working as his Saturday boy and people would be queueing outside the door for opening time at 8.30am.

Most of his stock came from service and merchant navy personnel returning home from abroad, hence the American comics and science fiction magazines, which are now collectors pieces.'

Mike kindly sent me some lovely photos which are shown here. I'm sure that many Plymothians will recognise both him and his father.
An article about the shop appeared in the Evening Herald of Christmas 1989 under the heading 'Heading for the Record Books.' It read:

A long established Plymouth shop proprietor is Peter Evans of Universal Book Stores who started his business during the dark days of World War Two.
He remembers the make-shift shops erected after most of Plymouth's city centre was bombed out in the blitz.
'I started a book stall in Tin Pan Alley (called Drake Street before the blitz). It led though from the bottom of Saltash Street to the old Plymouth Pannier Market.' he said. 'I used to wheel the books down in a couple of tin trucks and wheel them home again every night. The stalls in Tin Pan Alley were constructed out of sheets of galvanised steel, the same as was used for making air-raid shelters. As there was no covering to protect the stalls, everyone erected their own canvas awnings strung across the alley which gave pedestrians and stall holders a little protection from the rain. I used to advertise even then and always bought the Evening Herald. I used to buy my stock for the stall and eventually saved up for a car to collect my stock from houses. After several years and various shops (including many years at 30 York Street), due to the construction of Western Approach, I received a compulsory purchase order to move but luckily was offered a shop in Frankfort Gate. This was in December 1960. Business was fairly quiet for several years.
My son joined me in 1969 and through those last 20 years we have built up a really good selection of remainders and second-hand paperbacks.

Unfortunately, Peter died three months after the article appeared but Mike carried on with the shop for another seven years with the help of his wife.
Incidentally, I'd forgotten about the shop next door which sold remote controlled helicopters and planes, which can just be seen in the photo from the 1980s. My dad always wanted one back in the 1970s but they were hundreds of pounds which seemed a fortune back then (he never got one!).
I'm really pleased the Mike took the time to write to me and it was a a great reminder of the many happy times I'd spent visiting the shop, first as a boy buying comics and annuals and, later, buying photography and movie books in the 1970s and 1980s.

David Soul's appearance in Plymouth in 1977

Nowadays, it's hard to imagine  the excitement that took place in Plymouth when David Soul turned up one evening at a boxing match in the city early in 1977. The story was exclusively revealed in the following day's Sunday Independent. At the time, Starsky and Hutch was incredibly popular on the tv and any programme that featured David Soul or Paul Michael Glaser was watched by millions. The seventies was a time when thousands of fans would turn out at airports and bring everything to a standstill. Other acts who'd experienced this during the 1970s included the Osmonds, David Cassidy and, of course, the Bay City Rollers (who also appeared in Plymouth).
David was soon interviewed by Westward Television and it was revealed that he was in the city to make a movie, which was originally called 'Mud.' He was so popular at the time that it had to be kept secret where he was staying but, as Westward had interviewed him in his hotel room, it soon became apparent to many that he was staying at the Holiday Inn and soon the area was deluged by fans. He was quickly moved and stayed at the Devon Tors Hotel, just by the roundabout at Yelverton.
I was at school at the time and many kids said that their dads had been drinking at the Moorland Links Hotel in the evening and David had been there and had a chat with them and even sung a couple of songs.
The local papers were full of stories about the film and the Sunday Independent regular featured photos, one of which showed David skinny-dipping at Denham Bridge. Soon after, he contracted pneumonia and the story was reported in the Times of 20th May 1977. It read:
'Actor and singer David Soul, co-star of the television series Starsky and Hutch, has been admitted to a London hospital after suffering from pneumonia.
Work on the motion picture 'Mud,' in which the blonde actor is starring, came to a halt when he was taken from the film's South Devon location to London on Thursday.
Soul had been feeling ill throughout the week but said he thought he had been suffering only from influenza. On Wednesday he flew to Glasgow to top the bill in the Scottish Jubilee Royal Variety show attended by Queen Elizabeth.'
One newspaper story reported how a girl from Plymouth had begged her parents to take her to Hollywood and the set of Starsky and Hutch to hopefully meet her heroes. However, when they arrived, they discovered that Soul was filming just ten miles away from her home.
At the time, I would have loved to have seen the filming taking place. One day, I was out with my parents in our car and there was the film crew gathered near the cricket club at Yelverton. My dad wouldn't stop the car, so that's all I saw. The next day, I decided to catch the bus and travel to the same spot to see if filming was still taking place. There was nothing going on, so I stayed on the bus. A few seats away from me was the actor, 

Tony Melody. I recognised him from comedies on the television but, at the time, had no idea that he was also in the film. He got off the bus at Dousland presumably to continue filming and I missed my chance to see the film in production. From the newspaper reports, it appeared that shooting was taking place at Maristow, so I walked from Yelverton to Lopwell Dam, which seemed endless. I saw nothing, realised there was no bus service and had to walk all the way back home! It was certainly a long day.

Westward Television showed occasional clips from the movie, most of which showed David slipping up in cow manure!

As far as I remember, the movie had its premier in Plymouth the following year. By then, its name had been changed from 'Mud' to 'The Stick-Up.' Unfortunately, the movie was panned by critics and seemed to be hardly shown anywhere afterwards. I still have never seen it and, unusually, it's never been shown on tv in the 37 years since! I see recently, however, copies of the DVD, previously unavailable in the UK, have been popping up on ebay so perhaps, one day, I'll get around to watching it.

I never did get to meet David Soul but a few months later, my mum gave me a copy of his album which had been signed by him. The Music Box at St Budeaux had managed to get copies of his LP signed at the Moorland Links for various customers but several never picked them up for some reason. My copy said 'to Julie' but that never really bothered me! Like most things I had in the 1970s, it's long since disappeared!

Robert Lenkiewicz, a treasure hunt and a forgotten cannonball

I recently walked down to the Barbican to look at Robert Lenkiewicz's quickly deterioring mural, located close to the premises of the South West Image Bank. It seems a shame that the council didn't preserve the artwork or allow it to be restored while Lenkiewicz was still alive.

I met Robert Lenkiewicz only twice and he was a man of a few words and was always accompanied by a girlfriend decades younger than himself. One meeting was in the queue for the ABC cinema in about 1989. It was evening and he was dressed in his familiar black smock and red scarf, complete with young girlfriend. I think the movie showing was John Cleese's 'Clockwise' (which was awful).
The first time I met him, though, involves a far more interesting (and ridiculous) story. It was about 1981 and I was still in my teens. My brother worked as a black cab taxi driver and said that he had had someone in his cab who was a film director. He was making a film, supposedly, about a treasure hunt featured in a booklet and, apparently, the clues led to Plymouth. He asked my brother if he knew anyone with a metal detector and he remembered that I had one so, without telling me, he sent him around to my parent's house. Anyway, an overweight man, with straggly grey hair and beard, a nylon mustard-coloured polo neck jumper, and a huge gold medallion around his neck, arrived in a clapped-out Mini. He looked all the part of a film director and, after he had a cup of coffee (with six sugars), I located my metal detector and we set off to the Barbican. Of course, now, with hindsight, I can see it would have been better to tell him that I was too busy! So, we drove towards the Barbican and he told me about the book and how the author had hidden buried treasure somewhere in the British Isles. He also told me that his company had filmed Mari Wilson's (long forgotten) first video. So, we arrived on the Barbican and parked by Lenkiewicz's mural (you could park anywhere, free, in those days). The film director (I don't think he ever did tell me his name) explained that the clues suggested that one of the characters in the painting pointed to the location of the treasure which, in this case, was the flower bed directly in front of the mural. At this point, Robert Lenkiewicz appeared (complete with young girlfriend) and it became apparent that he and the film director had some sort of history. As their conversation progressed, I learned that the film director had been digging in the flower bed the previous night, someone had called the police and he had ended up spending the night in a cell. Lenkiewicz thought that this was great fun, although he said little else. So, I was asked to turn on the metal detector and I waved it over the flower bed. Straightaway, I got a very loud signal and clearing away the dirt, discovered a cannon ball which measured about 4 inches in diameter. It was obviously hundreds of years old and must have been in the soil when the flower bed was first constructed (the flower bed appeared to have been built some time in the 1950s or 1960s). It would have been good to keep but the director 'bagged' it for himself and said that it would make a good paper weight for his desk back in London. By now, Lenkiewicz had got bored and had gone back to his studio. I was bored too but the director wanted to try one more location which was in the flower beds in Frankfort Gate. I refused to metal detect in the middle of the town but went with him anyway. He happily dug around one of the trees and some kids laughed as they went by and shouted, 'Look, it's Percy Thrower!'
After that, he dropped me home and set off to London in a Mini that didn't look like it would complete its journey. It seemed a very long day and I was very relieved to return back.
I never heard anymore about the director, the proposed treasure hunt film, or the cannon ball, and didn't meet Lenkiewicz again until I was behind him in the cinema queue in 1989.
This story is certainly ludicrous and I'm not sure how many people will find it interesting but it's the only Lenkiewicz related story I have!
Incidentally, I'm sure someone with a metal detector will think that the flower bed in front of Lenkiewicz's mural is worth checking out. I never went back to it and I'm sure no-one else, apart from a council gardener, has ever dug further than a few inches. Of course, I wouldn't suggest digging up council property so any secrets therein will, probably, remain hidden.
The moral of this story is, of course, never talk to strangers (especially if they tell you they're a film director).

The Sweeney comes to Plymouth

In the 1970s, one of the coolest programmes on British television was 'The Sweeney' starring John Thaw and Dennis Waterman. Both stars came to Plymouth in the 1980s. John Thaw filmed, mainly at Cawsand, a long-forgotten film from Westward Television about Francis Drake.
In the early 1980s, Dennis Waterman came to Plymouth, along with Rula Lenska, to take part in the poppy day remembrance ceremony during November. For some reason, the ceremony was held at the bottom of the escalator beside C&A's in the old Drake Circus shopping centre. I went along to see it all and there was quite a crowd of people waiting. I don't remember much about the day except that Rula looked very friendly and Dennis

looked a bit stern. Maybe he was just being sombre for the event. I took many photos which I've just found recently so here they are! I think that maybe they were both appearing at the Theatre Royal at the time so it should be easy to track down the exact date. 

           

Footnote: It appears that Dennis and Rula appeared in Cinderella in Plymouth in 1985 alongside Peter Purves.

The Santa Claus Ship 1914

In November 1914, America sent a ship full of Christmas gifts for war orphans in Plymouth. American newspapers reported on 26th November that the 'Santa Claus Ship' was met with much joy and that Plymouth and Devonport had been festooned with decorations to welcome the Americans. Huge crowds gathered to greet the Jason as warships directed it into the harbour. Lord Kitchener sent a message expressing the army's gratitude which was read at a banquet to the ship's officers. America, at the time, were still neutral and the Christmas gifts were supplied to orphaned children of all troops, on both sides. The ship was loaded with 8,000 tons of gifts comprising of 5,000,000 separate articles which had been donated by American children and were destined for British, Belgian, French, German and Austrian children whose fathers were away fighting in the war. The ship was officially welcomed by Earl Beauchamp, the president of the council, on behalf of the government. He was accompanied by Mr F D Acland, the Under-Secretary of Foreign Affairs, together with a large gathering of naval and military officers. Among the greetings awaiting the ship was one from the Queen to the wife of the American Ambassador. In her letter, the Queen wrote: ‘I am anxious to express, through you, my warm appreciation of this touching proof of generosity and sympathy and to ask you to be so kind as to convey my heartfelt thanks to all who have contributed towards these presents, which will, I am sure, be gladly welcomed by the children for whom they are intended and received with gratitude by their parents.' The scheme was initiated by the Chicago Herald and a Mr O'Loughlin, who represented the journal, stated that 200 other newspapers throughout the United States had assisted in the project. As well as an enormous collection of toys, gifts also included shoes, boots, clothing, sweaters and stockings. So much was collected that 100,000 tons of presents had to be left behind. While the Jason was at Plymouth, gifts were left for British and Belgian children before the ship carried on its journey to Marsailles to deliver presents to

German children. It then continued on to Genoa to distribute gifts to further German and Austrian children. Gifts heading for Russia were loaded on to a different vessel. This story and many others can be found in my new book, 'Plymouth in the Great War,' which is available at all good bookshops.

Mary Newman and Saltash Passage

There's no evidence whatsoever that Mary Newman, the wife of Sir Francis Drake, ever lived in Saltash and almost certainly didn't live in the house known as 'Mary Newman's Cottage.' Her connections with St Budeaux are well known and she was married to Drake at the church at Higher St Budeaux on 4th July, 1569. Perhaps an article in the Western Morning News of Friday 24th May 1935 offers a more plausible answer to where Mary Newman might have lived. Reverend T.A. Hancock, the then vicar at Higher St Budeaux, was interviewed for the article about forthcoming celebrations connected with Drake. Part of the article reads:
'As far as I know, there is no real evidence of the fact that Mary Newman was residing at Saltash at the time of her marriage, he added, and pointed out that in Mr Bracken's 'History of Plymouth' it states that 'the frequent occurrence of the name Newman in the registers indicates that her family were natives of St Budeaux, and accounts for her marriage in her own parish church.'
'My own personal opinion,' said Mr Hancock, 'is that Saltash in connection with Mary Newman, has been confused with Saltash Passage. Saltash Passage was in the ecclesiastical parish of St Budeaux, but in the civil parish of St Stephens-by-Saltash and in the county of Cornwall. Not only was Mary Newman married in St Budeaux Church but also her sister.'
There are two buildings that come to mind that date to this period. One is the Ferry House Inn, which was built in 1575(six years after her wedding) and the other is the old barn off Normandy Hill (shown in photo). Whether Mary Newman ever stayed at either will probably never be known as records relating to her life are generally sparse.

The Fair at Plymouth

Regular fairground attractions appear on Plymouth Hoe every year especially during the school holidays. The fair has been visiting this part of the city for well over 100 years. The original site was at West Hoe and popular rides back then included the Helter Skelter, the motor car switchback, the carousel and the swing boats. There were also rifle ranges, a coconut shy and stalls where you could throw a ball to win prizes. Many of the photos shown here come from Hancock's Fair which was touring in the late 1800s onwards. Hancock's Fair of 1910 included side-shows, roundabouts, switchbacks and competitions including a beauty show, a baby show and a wrestling match. Also appearing that year was Professor Bianchi who was described as 'the greatest foot equilibrist in the world.'

The fairground was destroyed by fire during 1913 as suffragettes protested against the arrest of Mrs Pankhurst. The Western Gazette of Friday 9th December 1913 reported:

'A large timber yard in Richmond Walk, Devonport, was totally destroyed by fire on Monday morning and great damage was done to property adjoining belonging to Hancock's World Fair. Suffragettes literature was found on the scene of the outbreak, which is the place where Mrs Drummond and other militants recently awaited the landing of Mrs Pankhurst from America, not knowing that she had already been arrested.

Some of the occupants of the World's Fair's vans had narrow escapes. Miss Hancock was in great distress on Monday. 'We are completely ruined,' she tearfully told a press representative. 'About £3,500 worth has gone and we have not a penny of insurance. Times have been very bad lately and we thought we might save the premiums. When the suffragettes were here to rescue Mrs Pankhurst, I said they were brave women and I got into trouble for it. I think now that they are only cruel, selfish women.'

Hancock's Fair must have recovered from their plight as reports in local papers show them still touring in the 1920s.

By the 1930s, the fair had a new venue but not all were in favour. In June 1935, the council deliberated about allowing the fair on the main part of the Hoe during Regatta week.
Alderman G Scoble stated: 'I have had a good experience of fairs and I have reached the conclusion that the public desires these fairs. Much of the sting of the old complaints has been removed. Instead of blaring trumpets, we will have the sweet music of amplifiers. There will be no nuisance except chip-potato paper and a few things like that. Seeing that we have a Lord Mayor now, we should celebrate the occasion properly with a fair on the Hoe. Nothing would be more enjoyable than to see members of this council on the hobby horses. If the fair is a necessary evil, let us have it on the Hoe.'

However, Alderman Cornish was less than happy with the proposal. He stated: 'If you have any sense of decency, you will not allow this orgy to be perpetrated on what visitors call one of the finest places in the world. An alternative would be to have the fair in the Guildhall Square.'

Alderman G P Dymond also objected stating: 'I remember the last time this fair was held on top of the Hoe, it was said 'Never again!' The disfigurement lasted so long that people were disgusted to think that we allowed the fair to take place on the Hoe at all.'
Other councillors protested about the 'hooliganism and loose play' at the fair on previous years but it was suggested that there should be full police supervision.

After listening to all of the arguments, the council, in its wisdom, decided to allow the fair to take place.
Over the years, the fair has lost none of its appeal and the rides featured are many and varied. Throughout the 1970s, one of the most popular touring fairs was Whiteleggs which will be remembered fondly by many.
As a kid I loved such rides as the dodgems, the cyclone, the waltzers, the big wheel and the big dipper but it would take a lot to get me on one of them nowadays!

Plymouth's Great War by Chris Robinson

My own book about Plymouth in the Great War came out recently and is now available in Waterstones, WH Smiths etc if you want to get a copy. It is also available at Amazon here.
In a day or so, Chris Robinson's book about the First World War, which is called 'Plymouth's Great War - The Three Towns in Conflict' is released and looks a stunning publication. It's packed with photos of Plymouth, the troops and the people of the city. Many of the photos haven't been seen in print before and, like all of Chris's books, it looks an incredible read.

I haven't seen a picture of the cover anywhere, so here's an exclusive. The book is 272 pages and will be published by Pen & Ink Publishing  on October 28, 2014, ISBN 978-0956985873.
I'm pleased to see another book, other than mine, about Plymouth and the First World War and I'm looking forward to reading it very much.


Stanley Gibbon's postal origins

I recently received a very interesting email from Jonathan Hill in Exeter. Although it's known that Stanley Gibbons was from Plymouth, little seems to be known about the origins of his stamp collecting business although it's recorded that his father, William, owned a chemist shop in Treville Street and that Stanley had an interest in stamps from when he was a boy and joined his father's business after the death of his eldest brother. His father encouraged his stamp collecting hobby and a stamp desk was set up within the chemist's shop.
Jonathan's email adds to the story:
'Hello Derek,
I was very interested to read your information about Stanley Gibbons
on your blog (http://plymouthlocalhistory.blogspot.co.uk/2010/05/stanley-gibbons.html).
My father Geoffrey Hill, who was born in Plymouth in 1903, used to tell
me about the family's pawn broker's shop they had in Devonport. I
recall my father's grandfather (my great grandfather) was in partnership in the business with a man called Stanley Gibbons, when one day in the 1870s
a sailor came in through the door and threw a canvas kit bag onto the
counter. It was full of Cape triangular stamps. My great grandfather,
being only interested in jewellery, silver and similar antiques,
wasn't impressed, but Gibbons was. He bought the lot from the sailor,
eventually splitting from the business and going to London to set up
as a stamp dealer. I've never read this anywhere else. I haven't got
immediate access to the family tree (it's in storage somewhere), so I
can't say what my great grandfather's name was. I have no reason to suspect my father made this up and hope that one day I'll find out (and prove)
more! The family were antique dealers and pawn brokers in Plymouth
from Victorian times until the Blitz (where the family shop was totally destroyed!).
Best wishes, Jonathan Hill (Exeter).'

Frankfort Gate

The area of Frankfort Gate, together with the nearby premises, was once a bustling shopping area for all the family. Today, it has been 're-branded' as the West End (probably by the same committee that re-branded Plymouth as 'the Ocean City') but was previously just called the 'bottom end of town' by many people. It's still reasonably busy but not so much as it once was.
In the late 1970s, the area, where Toys R Us stands today, was just cleared land which was used as an open car park for most of the time and on certain days, as an open air market. It sold a variety of items such as household wares, shoes, clothes, prints and mirrors featuring the images of Elvis, the Fonz or Starsky and Hutch or, if you were more classy, Southern Comfort. I'm sure that Chris Dawson had a stall there selling items from a large lorry.
Walking across the stretch of land led you to the Odeon Cinema in Union Street which, at the time, had a huge mural of Marilyn Monroe on its side (I wish I had a photo of it). The cinema was hugely popular together with the Drake and the ABC by Derry's Cross.

A zebra crossing took you across the road from the car park to Jack Cohen's Joke Shop. Every boy loved the shop which sold itching powder, stink bombs, inky soap and a variety of other practical jokes and pranks which were played on teachers and parents daily by naughty schoolboys. Jack served in the shop and was lovely to everyone. Further down the street was the Green Shield Stamp shop. Green Shield stamps were given away with everything including shopping and petrol. These were then stuck in a booklet and when you had enough, you could redeem an item from the shop which included things like garden gnomes, clock radios and teasmades as well as many larger items such as lawn mowers. The Co-op also issued stamps which could be redeemed for cash (50p for each book filled).

At the bottom of Frankfort Gate, was a shop selling collectable stamps which stood there for many years. Boys were very keen to collect stamps, as were adults, and apart from stamps the shop also sold albums and other related items. Shops selling collectable coins also traded in the area. Many of the common hobbies of the 1960s and 1970s have now long since died off.

Nearby was Universal Book Stores . They sold second-hand books but also took your old ones in part exchange for others. The great draw for kids was that they had many annuals as well as comics, including endless American ones, which featured superheroes such as Spiderman and Superman.
Then there was the Poster Shop which always seemed to have a poster of Debbie Harry in the window. As well as posters, they sold badges featuring the names of all the latest bands as well as various other stuff, some relating to the cartoon dog, Snoopy. The shop was open for many years. Many shops sold posters at the time and Pace Posters, now long forgotten, were very popular. These could be found in newsagents everywhere and adorned all kids' bedroom walls.
Further up was the London Camera exchange where you could sell or trade-in your old camera for a better one or exchange it for various lenses or other equipment. They also sold films, developed photos and sold other camera accessories. The shop was always full of camera enthusiasts, as was the nearby Wightman photography shop in Market Avenue.
On the corner, nearest the market, was the only charity shop I can remember in town at the time. Oxfam wasn't quite like it is today. It sold clothes as they were donated, none were washed, and the shop had its own peculiar pong. For people who enjoyed visiting, it was easy to find items or clothing dating, sometimes, back to wartime. The whiff of someone's old clothes was always a givaway on the bus back home which mixed with the smell of endless cigarette smoke (sometimes from the driver).
On the other side of the street, as in Union Street, there were various second-hand shops selling things like old televisions, reel-to-reel tape recorders, cine projectors and records and record players. All redundant now due to the digital age.

Across the way, was the indoor market which was always incredibly busy and sold fruit and veg, clothes, pets, jewellery, collectables and knic-knacs. Many kids had a rabbit, hamster or budgie as a pet in the 1970s and the market was the place to get them. The second-hand record stall was very popular and records could be bought or traded in. The stall was there for at least thirty years and had a huge 'wanted' poster, featuring a cowboy and gun, requesting your old records.

Leaving the back door into Cornwall Street, a short walk took you to Woolworth's. Many items seemed to cost 6/6d and they sold everything you needed as well as paintings, one of the most popular being seagulls flying over a Cornish coast (only seen in doctor's waiting rooms nowadays!) I was reminded recently that Woolworth's also had its own photo booth and for 20p you could get a strip of four photos. There was always a queue for the machine but people weren't getting their photos taken for driving licences or passports, it was just the novelty of having your photo taken and seeing it instantly. The photo booth at Bretonside was equally as popular.
Leaving Woolworth's and heading back down to Frankfort Gate, there was just time to pop into Dewdney's to get a pasty. They came in one flavour (meat and potato) and there was always a cat sat in the window. A huge queue would lead out of the shop, which was always packed. It was one of the few fast-food shops of its day. It's just as popular today although the cat's long since gone.
Of course, the area has changed greatly over the years and many of the shops that were once there in the 1970s have gone forever. Today, there's more tattoo shops, takeaways, phone and computer shops and all the things needed for a modern life. Times change but many of the old shops are still fondly remembered.