Fishfinger

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Posts posted by Fishfinger

  1. On 10/10/2018 at 12:18 PM, DJ360 said:

    My late Father in Law was a music hall 'artiste'.  Self taught as a young man in Everton.. Liverpool.   He worked on the Moss Empires circuit from the 1930s until the 1960s when 'Variety' pretty much died.  Even then he did occasional work in 'Olde Tyme Music Hall' shows put on by 'impresarios' such as Don Ellis , who organised 'Old Tyme' shows well into the 1970s.. maybe later..  Don would do the same sort of 'interlocution' that Andrew Sachs did at the Leeds Variety Theatre.... his favourite being to introduce the next act 'At enoooooormous expense..'.  Father in Law also did some TV work... mostly non speaking parts.  He was in 'Domby and Son', 'The Boys From the Blackstuff' and a play called 'Somewhere More Central', as I recall.

     

    Not Andrew (Manuel) Sachs, but his father, Leonard.

     

    The Sachs escaped from the Nazis  in pre-war Germany on the same boat as a friend’s father and grandparents. The rest of the family weren’t so lucky :(

    • Like 1
  2. On 3/6/2020 at 8:00 PM, mercurydancer said:

    Its worth bearing in mind that the Luftwaffe did not always rely on visual targetting. They used beams of radio impulses to accurately target places. knickebein was one of them. X-gerat was another, and due to the way they worked, the midlands were geographically perfect for good ranging. It is one reason why Coventry got such a pasting. 

    Once British intelligence had the frequencies for Knickebein, and later X-gerat, they broadcast jamming signals on the same frequency, which made the German system effectively useless (one of the jamming stations, codenamed ‘aspirins’, was located in Charnwood, not far from Coalville). This resulted in the Luftwaffe having to fall back on visual targeting.

     

    In the case of Coventry, whoever ordered the jamming frequency got it completely wrong, so the Luftwaffe crews were able to recognise it, and ignore it. After the initial fires were started, of course, visual target location was all that was needed!

  3. There were several Starfish (decoy fires) sites around Nottingham - the best known was called the Cropwell Butler site, though some distance away. There was also one at Diseworth (now under M1Jn24), and also just outside Cotgrave, which earnt its keep, judging by the craters in the woodland there!

     

    The Starfish sites were very different from the decoy trucks, etc (some of which were made by Nottingham’s rag trade!) in that they were live fires, lit after the first wave of German pathfinder bombers had bombed their target, and intended to deceive the Luftwaffe main force into bombing the decoy fires rather than the target. There were a variety of fire types, that duplicated the appearance - on a small scale - of the unique features of the target. So the Nottingham decoys would, for example, have a device that looked like tram cables sparking, while the Diseworth decoy had a layout that mimicked Toton marshalling yard.

     

    If you want to know more, there’s a very good book on the whole decoy programme, called ‘Fields of Deception’ by Dr Colin Dobinton :)

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  4. The safety of the caves was psychological rather than physical! I used to work with Nottingham caves expert Tony Waltham, and so was able to get into places not generally open at the time. When we went on a tour of the Peel St caves/air raid shelter, Tony pointed out that the top end of the caves (sand mine) was so near the surface, and the rock so porous, that if anything of any size had been dropped on the shelter, it would have gone straight through and exploded IN the shelter, similar to the Co-Op bakery incident, but the number of casualties would have been far higher. Indeed, a bomb dropping quite near did penetrate a fair way through the sandstone, but didn’t go off immediately: it went off at midday on the 9th, killing several people (?sightseers?).

     

    The belief that anywhere underground was safe resulted in some nasty incidents in London, notably Coronation Ave shelter, Balham and Bank tube stations, and the Cafe de Paris in Piccadilly, which though 20’ below the surface was only protected by the roof and floor of the building above it. Although advertised as ‘the safest restaurant in London’, it was anything but, and many people - including the most famous swing band leader of the day, Ken Johnson - were killed when two bombs went straight through the building above and exploded on the packed dance floor, in March 1941 :(

  5. If the ‘huts’ were there c.1920, they were probably “recycled” Army huts from 1914-18. They could have been from a local base, or even possibly from the Machine Gun Corps camp at Belton near Grantham, which was huge! These huts were well-built and some lasted well into the 1970s at least - my school in Grantham had one which housed the domestic science classroom and dinner hall, and others had new lives as village halls, so it’s entirely possible that’s what these ‘huts’ were (I saw one still in existence, but showing its age, a year or two back in Co. Durham - not bad for ‘temporary’ structures to reach 100 years old!)

  6. Thanks all for the information. As mentioned, there is so much conflicting material about as to which was the actual building - you’d have thought it was something so literally burnt into the city’s psyche it would be well known!

     

    Mega thanks to Clif Ton for the aerial shot - I have seen several, but this one is new to me, and really helped in sorting out the bakery location. Presumably the little vehicles dotted about are the ‘new electric delivery vans’ mentioned by Una?

     

    I can’t remember now if I asked this elsewhere, but does anyone know where the online eye witness account of the bomb might be? I know I read it online, but on my phone, so I haven’t been able to retrace my steps to find it.

     

    Yes, gruesome interest, I know, but I’m working on a novel set in WWII in a fictionalised Vale of Belvoir, so Nottingham features quite a bit :)

     

    Totally unrelated, but something that came out of looking at the aerial photis - when were the Cattle Market gates at the County Road entrance (Anchor end) put up? They are definitely Victorian-looking, but in the 1920s photos I’ve seen, the road goes straight into the top of the Cattle Market and no gates. Were they perhaps removed, then re-installed later?

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  7. I know this topic is mentioned on several threads, but the dire “search” facility won’t find them for me!

     

    I’m trying to find out *exactly* where the building was that was hit - was it the building that still exists that is painted blue, that was recently the Stephen Jenkins bed/bathroom place, or was it a separate one? I’ve been looking at old aerial photos, but am

    no wiser. Also, I’ve seen a sketch map of the layout, but can’t now find it - was it on Nottstalgia, or a different site? Thirdly, I know I’ve read an eye-witness account online, but again, can’t now find it.

     

    I’m also trying to find out more about the Dakeyne St shelter incident, but can only find snippets.

     

    Help, please, from them as knows!

  8. On 12/11/2015 at 8:08 AM, BeestonMick said:

    Southwell is Southwell, my sister will kill you if you say it otherwise, which every BBC racing blokey pronounces suthall (and you have Southall in London) and Colwick (COLLICK) which is often pronounced COL WICK. I would say 'Renn oth' and 'Blidd eth' are correct pronunciations. There's a place I have to deal with in Norfolk called Costessey and the locals call it 'kossy'.

    Gudinit!

    It was Suthell when I lived there briefly as a kid - never heard of 'Southwell' until the 1990s and poncy London incomers!

     

    Mansfield friend born and bred insists it is Rennoth!

  9. Fascinating stuff - only coming to this part of the city in the 80s, I never realised Bilbie Walk had a previous existence, nor knew Arkwright Building as anything other than educational facilities (the Fashion Dept dye technology labs were in the top floor at the Bilbie end in my day).

     

    Terrace Royal at the bottom of Clarendon Street is now Grade1 listed externally, but the ghastly object plonked on what for years was a car park between there and the Chaucer Building can't be said to complement it!

  10. Having intimate acquaintance with the goods lift in Newton, and how much kit would fit in it (not), I imagine most bands would take their gear up in the public lifts at the front! I have to say though that I never realised how many great names had hallowed the old Refectory area with their presence - in my time in Newton, it was just an empty space my department would have loved to occupy!

  11. It was bloody difficult to get to see bands in Nottingham when you lived in Grantham, but luckily for me, my Dad allowed his arm to be twisted and he took a carload of us to see our favourite band at the Portland - Horslips, then the biggest band in Ireland after Thin Lizzy, and inventors of Celtic rock. I won't go into how we got into the dressing room, but we did, and have stayed friends with the band ever since! We saw them again there the following year (invited into the dressing room that time!), and later I saw the Italian prog band PFM at the Portland, but had to leave early in order to get the last train back to Grantham. That particular gig was prefaced by drinks in the Flying Horse, another massive loss to the city.

  12. I'm one of those who intensely dislike the vandalism perpetrated on Slab Square, particularly the 'Weeing Wall', which bears no relationship to its surroundings in scale, purpose or materials, and which meant the destruction of a far more useful 'weeing facility'!

     

    What I want to know, though, is has anyone improved it by the addition of Fairy Liquid, as regularly happened with its predecessors?

  13. 22 hours ago, Jill Sparrow said:

    Pity it wasn't there when the Luftwaffe paid a visit to that area but, had it been, I suppose we would now have something even worse!

    Oh, you would! I've had the dubious pleasure of seeing the proposals made in the 1960s for the new 'civic centre', which would have stretched from Newton up to the crossroads with the St Ann's Road on Mansfield Rd, along the bottom of the Arboretum, and back up Goldsmith St. They make Maid Marian Way look like a model of sympathic planning in scale with the rest of the city - horrendous! :(

     

    I personally rather like Newton myself - I always think it's like a big dog that's so ugly you can't help being fond of it, and certainly, there are far worse monstrosities in the city from the Brutalist era, definitely designed with malice aforethought, and mostly already decaying badly!

  14. It's actually a rather positive addition to Beeston, for a change - it covers the massive, depressing, blank side wall of the Square buildings on the side of Station Rd, and depicts Richard Beckinsale, Edwin Starr and Sir Paul Smith. The same artist has created other pieces of art around Beeston centre, including a portrait of Boon and Rocky on the side of The Star :)

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  15. On 12/13/2018 at 12:10 PM, IAN123. said:

    Fogrider might recognise these?67635592-carvings.jpg

    Yep, on the sides of the Central Fire Station door! I believe the lizard is a salamander, which in its mythical form is supposed to be impervious to fires, hence appropriate for a fire station.

     

    The unit in the lower of the previous photos I have seen identified as Beeston Fire Brigade, taken at the old firemen's housing on Villa St.

     

    Is there a specific thread on the Dakin's fire? I have only been on Nottstalgia a few days, but have seen several references to it, and am curious. I always thought that end of Talbot St. looked a mess - is that why?

  16. Interested in any memories of Trent's Newton Building prior to the 1980s, when I worked there - I was told it was originally designed in the 1930s, but the plans had to be mothballed due to the war/lack of finance after, hence construction being delayed until the late 1950s. Previous to starting at Trent Poly, I worked at Loughborough University; my boss there had trained at Nottingham Tech, and told me that in the city it was known as 'the Kulturpalast' due to being thought similar to Stalinist architecture of the period! I was also told that originally it was planned to be the centre one of triplets, with the buildings on either side being angled so the 3 formed an arrowhead. Given the topography of that bit of Nottingham, I doubt this last, but I would certainly like to hear any stories anyone has about the place!

  17. I remember Nonsuch - as 'Hairy' kids in Grantham (anyone remember Hairies? A now-forgotten youth culture between the hippy and punk eras), Nottingham was the 'promised land', and Nonsuch and 'the hippy shop' on the first floor of the Viccy were our primary targets, though Miss Selfridge in the Viccy and the original Chelsea Girl on Wheeler gate, as well as Sisson & Parker's and Blackwell's bookshops, and the original (tiny) Token House were also on our shopping itinerary. We ate in a first floor 'Tudor' restaurant on Upper Parliament St, on the north side of the road, can't recall the name.

     

    In later years, I knew a guy who worked on the concrete shuttering when the Viccy was being built: according to him, someone misread the plans and the rear stairs were positioned the wrong way round (should have faced the rear entrance, not the front, as they did) - the concrete had been poured and had gone off before the error was found, so they were just left: I was highly amused that the replacements were put in correctly during the big revamp when the bus station went!

     

    I personally liked the Food Court - working at Trent Poly at the time, it was handy for a variety of grub, especially Edward's Patisserie, which did a lot of Polish cakes, and which moved there from a dreadful street in Hockley (Broad or George, forget which), so I didn't have so far to go for lunch! Still miss both Edwards and the Food Court, though I no longer work in the city centre.

    • Like 1
  18. 2 hours ago, Cliff Ton said:

    I know nothing about this subject but I'm intrigued. This is the Google view of College Road and there is clearly a large Victorian house at the top end, as well as what seems to be the remains of the 'arboretum'.  Maybe Jill or fishfinger can identify a few more points.

    fYu97KO.jpg

    Clif Ton, the large white building behind the modern school (College House/The Lanes) is College House itself. It has a huge copper beech and a yew which are apparently from the arboretum, as are the large dark trees on 'Goodacre St'. College House was part of the original school, despite being architecturally different, as I have a print in the prospectus showing it joined to the school building by a covered walkway, part of which apparently remains. The brick building behind College House is the college itself, now divided into 2 private houses. The tower where the spire should have been is the lighter square part at the right hand end of the college as you view the photo.

     

    The college building was owned by a builder briefly c.1970, and all sorts of terrible things done to turn it into flats, as was the norm in those days, which is why I was wondering if the spire was there up to it passing into the builder's hands. From Jill's memories, it would appear it wasn't, which begs 2 questions - one, when was it removed, then; two - was it ever actually built, given that Goodacre's school failed within 3 years, due to 'straightened circumstances'?

  19. On 8/21/2018 at 4:29 PM, philmayfield said:

    That Lancaster now lives at East Kirkby airfield and is undergoing a full recommissioning. The intention is to get it back to full flying condition. You can have taxi rides in it at an enormous cost and I believe they are booked well into next year.

    She is called 'Just Jane', and is privately owned. She is currently restricted to taxi runs, as the airframe is not airworthy, but the owners are trying to raise enough to get her flying again.

     

    Before her days as 'gate guard' at Scampton, they had one of Barnes Wallis's blockbuster bombs there. Everyone assumed it wasn't filled, but when they came to remove it they discovered - it was! Nice mess that would have made of anything on the A15...

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  20. Yes, Richard Beckinsale went to College House School - there is a Beeston Blue Plaque there now, as well as the stunning huge mural on the side of the Beeston Square precinct buildings.

     

    There are 4 'modern' houses on College Road itself - a 1960s-70s Vicarage next to the church, then at the top, a pair of 1950s semis constructed as police housing, then a large 1960s detached. There's also a set of 3 'couldn't swing a cat' terraced houses technically on the jittyway between College Road and Lime Grove Ave - which is actually called Goodacre Street, after the original school founder - but they have College Road addresses. The garages to them are built separately, on what was the garden to one of the houses in the college itself, and there is apparently something dodgy regarding the planning permission! Certainly, you can't get a car bigger than an original Mini in them, and still get out!

  21. I used to work with with a guy who trained as a TV engineer at Rediffusion, as did his brother. Rediffusion did also have an electrical goods rental side, which operated all over the country (my Gran in Yorkshire got her tellys from them), and also sold reconditioned ex rental tellys.

     

    My colleague's brother once had an 'experience' at Balloon Wood flats (whereabouts were they? Before my time in Nottingham, I think). He was sent to reclaim a telly on which the rental was outstanding. As he got out of his van, the defaulting renter appeared on one of the balconies holding the telly in his arms and shouted, "Want yer telly back? Avit - it dun't f-g work anyweh!", and dropped it!

     

    It certainly didn't work after that, so my colleague's brother swept the pieces up, put them in his van, and took them back to Rediffusion. Sadly, I have no idea what was said to him when he returned!

  22. Thanks, Jill. Besides the College building, there is also College House, which is also part of the original boarding school, and is on the opposite side to the side your aunt would have lived. It belonged at one time to the local education authority, but was sold off around 2000, and is now a private house. Perhaps this was the house your aunt meant? Lots of people would have worked there.

  23. Thanks, Jill! Can you remember if the building still had its spire then? It would have been quite a dominant feature!

     

    Incidentally, College Road was originally the private driveway up to the College, and where College House School was built was the cricket ground! The large number of unusual trees were intended as an arboretum to further educate the boys of the original school, and pre-1950s maps also show what appears to be a belt of woodland extending from behind College House to the High Road.

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  24. Many will no doubt have memories of the former College House School on College Road in Chilwell (now called The Lanes Primary). However, does anyone have memories - or better still, photos - of the Victorian College itself, at the very top of College Road? Apparently in Victorian times and at least the first part of the 20thC, it had a big spire on top of the tower, with another floor beyond the 3 remaining now. It was easily visible from the railway before all the development between there and Chilwell High Road was built up, so must have been a striking building!

     

    I'm looking for any and all info on the building from becoming the Baptist College in 1861 to the 1980s, but especially when the spire and top of the tower were removed. I do have a copy of the original prospectus for the school - as it first was - from Angel Row, but haven't been able to find anything else!