paul croxson
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I RAN FOR A BUSI ran to catch a bus today, about 100yards.
What's so strange about that?
There was another one along in about 10 minutes which was roughly the length of time that it took to get my breath back. So why did I bother when I have so much spare time?
Even though it isn't Lent I have now decided that I am giving running for buses for ever. Is there anything anyone else has given up due to old age, once and for all, recently?
Oh, by the way I caught it.
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Gordon
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Orthodoxy, Paul, though I was never very good at it.
Gordon
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paul croxson
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I was never much good at that orthodoxy business ever Gordon. To paraphrase Peter Cook 'I would have been but (unlike you) I didn't have the Greek'
Fossicking - as we do - in the local charity shop I came across the original Beyond the Fringe' record from about 1961. We played it the other night expecting to be rolling in the aisles since, as we remember so well, they were uproariously funny. Oh no they weren't! Not a smile crossed our lips, again to paraphrase Frankie Howard 'not a titter was heard'. Is it that comics are only funny in their own time, I wonder?
Chaps of the ilk of Gordon and I (and one or two others I reckon) will remember comics such as 'Radio Fun' and 'Film Fun'. Did we really laugh at Arthur Askey and Tommy Trinder? Did the audience really convulse themselves when some old woman would say "Can I do you now sir".
ITMA was for me the least funny of them all.
Oh, one last thing before I go back to the housework, can anyone tell me why, on the cover of 'Beyond the Fringe' did Alan Bennett's BIo say that he had served for two years in one of England's finest infantry regiments? Yes, he did serve, but only for his basic training for 6 weeks. (He was said to have been a 'hot shot' on the bren gun) After that he served in the Intelligence Corps as a Linguist. Now, if he had said that it would probably have attracted the biggest laugh of all. It usually does when I admit to it, blushing prettily. Can you imagine it? Russian with a broad Yorkshire accent.
T.T.F.N to all you ITMA lovers, and 'don't forget the diver'.
"I thank Yew".
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RonB
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Forgive the diversion, Paul, but the last line of your first note (Oh, by the way I caught it) set my mind on a completely different track.
In Coventry in the 1970’s there was an unfortunate juxtaposition of advertisements on a roadside hoarding. the first poster called upon the reader to
"HELP COVENTRY BEAT V. D. "
and the second informed us
"I GOT IT AT THE CO-OP"
Are there any other examples out there?
Regarding the second post, it's amazing how our tastes change over the years. The digital channels are full of old programmes we used to enjoy - but when we watch them now we wonder why.
Membership of the I Corps. I used to repeat Michael Bentine's (I think) qote from a Goon Show - "They only put me there to make all the others look intelligent!".
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paul croxson
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I have just checked, Michael Bentine was in the RAF and never 'called to greatness' like wot you and me was.
What many people do not know is that Michael's next door neighbour in Esher, Barry Knight, was in the Corps and a great mate of mine.
Love the juxtaposition story. Can't beat it!
say 'Hello' to Bob.
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kerby
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Ron, Does this mean you are a 'Coventry Kid'? I left there in 1970 going down to North Essex before coming up to Geordie Land in 1976
Keith
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paul croxson
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You were on the VW visit weren't you Keith in '55. Your first chance to see a real car factory. Ouch
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kerby
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Paul, Stop stirring up old memories. Yes I went on the VW trip. I cannot help but keep thinking about the old cars that were made in Coventry. My father worked at Daimler for over 20 years. We lived about a mile from the Alvis factory. Others made in the area were Armstrong Siddley, Lea Francis, and of course the Jaguar. My first wife used to be secretary to the son of Whittaker who was one of the original Directors involved in the start-up in Blackpool under the heading of Swallow Sidecars before moving to Coventry. Standard Triumph were also made in Coventry and Morris had a plant there. I went to a school which was originally a house that Godliebe Daimler had built in Coventry. Hilmans were built just outside Coventry. I don't think hardly any are left. Keith
PS Incidentally, Tony Whittaker was a founder member of the Green Party.
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RonB
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No, Keith, I only made a couple of trips to Coventry - spent most of my life in Liverpool. A photograph of the offending adverts appeared in the Amateur Photographer. It's much funnier when you see the picture - pity I didn't keep it.
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paul croxson
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I thought that might wake the slumbering giant of Newcastle up, and it did.
Before I forget, Keith, you omitted one of the finest UK carmakers of all time which was actually based in Coventry too. !00 lines Kerby!
Riley Motors actually started as the Bonnick Cycle Co in Coventry and made what were for me some of the most beautiful British cars.
my memory of the Vw factory Keith was going into the office block and seeing the corridor with all the offices coming off it which disappeared into a dot as it was 1/3mile long. I also recall a woman sitting just dropping bolts into a hole (cylinder head studs?) I had been to Fords factory in Dagenham and there was no way at that time women were allowed on the production line.
My favourite British car story? When the Japanese came over to look at the British car industry they asked 'why are there trays under the engines?' This was standard practice in those days.even in the new car showrooms 'To catch the leaks from the engine' was the answer. The japanese delegation were totally bewildered as the thought of building a leaky engine had never occurred to them. How thick can one get.
And to think we thought ourselves to be great engineers! I remember as a schoolboy being taught that the Japanese couldn't build anything, they could only copy! How right that was too. That's why it's us and not them leading the world in electronics and carmaking.
I reckon we were conned!
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kerby
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Paul, Was it a Daimler bus you ran for? Keith
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paul croxson
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No Keith,
it was a Mercedes
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RonB
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Just noticed your post on the Guestbook, Keith. I arrived at Nelson Barracks, Muenster on 5th October ’54 together with Ivor Whitton, Alan Lawson and a lone signalman – was that you? During RSM Barnes’s introductory chat on life in the Regiment and in Germany we first met the then Capt. Baldwin, who apologised on behalf the CO because he couldn’t welcome us personally.
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paul croxson
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That's a name I recall well, Ron. Ivor Whitton and I were at Langeleben together. I was group 5412 and I think that you were a bit earlier. I got all out of synch by getting blepharitis just before going to Cyprus and ended up in Tidworth Mil Hosp. We still wore the white shirts and red ties just as my Grandfather had done in 1917 when he was there, blinded by a freakish accident. It was just before Xmas on the Somme and they had lit a bonfire only to find the hard way that it was on top of an ammunition dump. Instead of Cyprus on my return I got the dream posting of GCHQ only having that taken away abruptly to go to Munster. Do you, by any miracle remember the Geordie who had a degree in German? He and I went out together from Maresfield. He was a tremendous help in getting ourselves settled in. Funnily, though, Sigs and Int did not integrate nearly so well at the Regt as we did at Langeleben. If we had not it would have been bloody lonely if you were in the I Corps!
I have tried to trace Ivor over the years with no success
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paul croxson
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Keith,
Owing to my magnificent filing system I discovered that you were 5405 so, by my standards a 'real old soldier'.
Well, not quite a filing system to be honest. I googled 'Ivor Whitton' and one of the items that came up was a chat you and I had about previously. Still nothing on Ivor, sad to say.
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Tom Neal
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Probably of no interest to anyone but reading of the motor factories in Coventry I would like to add that when I was evacuated from Egypt in December 1952 we were all housed in Blackpool. Being the closed season the MOD took over all the hotels. We were there for a few months and then my father was posted from Egypt to go as a PSI (Permenant Staff Instructor) to the TA in Coventry and my first job was with Rootes Group in Stoke which made the Hillmans, Humbers etc.
As has been mentioned Coventry was full of motor factories.
At the time most of the shops had a very presentable frontage but when you went inside the rest of the building was a nissan hut. Perhaps Keith can remember this.
Tom
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kerby
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Hi Tom, One model I overlooked was the Humber. My first house was amongst the Rootes fraternity and so my first car was a Hilman Minx as I could get spare parts easily. The second a Super Minx, then an Imp folowed by a Singer Vogue Estate. By this time I had left Coventry. With regards to the Shops in Coventry, one has to remember that the centre was completely raised to the graound in 1940/1 and it took some time after 1945 to rebuild. I remember sitting on a window sill and counting over 400 planes flying over to Birmingham and half an hour later they were back. All history now.
Paul, I went looking for my photos again but no joy. I can only think that they went missing on my last move 7 years ago. I am gutted. However, I have found my Discharge card signed 21/2/1956, also my final pay advice showing I was owed 12pounds eight shillings and four pence. Also my final travel warrant dated 23/2/1956.
Rpn, I as not the Signalman in your group as I was in a party of guys who left Loughborough all together. I did have a photo of the group at Loughborough Station but along with the others, it has gone missing.
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paul croxson
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In 1960/.61 i worked on a contract to supply two tyre factories to Rumania, one in Bucharest and the other in Ploesti. When the equipment started to flow out there I was sent out to manage the admin, not the engineering. I inherited from my predecessor out there a Humber Super Snipe estate. despite its size it was for that time very quick despite the lousy Rumanian petrol. In fact it was faster than the Minister of Petroleum Industries Jaguar 2.4 and he kept on hinting that we should give the Humber to him. It was promised to him at the end of the contract but I did not stay that long having been found persona non grata. I came back to an Austin A30 which was a bit of a comedown. I had left my beloved Riley 1.5 RME in the hands of my best friend. When he met me at the airport he confessed that there 'one or two problems'. He was dead right. The car was virtually unusable. I had to climb in through the passenger door and the handbrake just hung loosely. Oil pressure? At 70mph it just about reached 18psi, I got £49 for it hence the A30.
Keith, you were a bright young lad to have been able to count to 400. At the time of the blitz I couldn't get much above 10 I reckon.
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Edward Vert
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I ran for a busHi Tom,
In December 1952 it was surely the War Office rather than the MOD. The latter - which unites the former War Office, Admiralty, and Air Ministry - was not established until 1964 or so.
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David Thomas
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OK Paul, You can tell us how much change you got from the £49.
Dave.
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Tom Neal
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Hi Ted, I knew I was wrong as soon as I had typed MOD but did not think you would be looking.
Regarding the Humber Snipes. When I did a DF course at Bletchley many moons ago we had two estate cars Reg Nos DF1 and DF2 for mobile DF and I am sure they were Snipes.
Tom
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