Col d’Izoard, 1953

In 1953, my dad went cycling in the Alps with a friend (I don't know his name unfortunately). It seems that they read an article about a tour over some of the Cols that the Tour de France used, and they decided to do it - without really knowing that much about what they were letting themselves in for. Information about the Tour was pretty scarce in those days, although he did have some wonderful French Tour magazines from the 50s.They got the train down to Grenoble, then cycled over the Lautaret, down to Briancon, over the Izoard, then the Col du Vars and the Col de la Cayolle - one Col per day - and then about a 50 mile coast down to Nice.They obviously passed very close to the bottom of Alpe d'Huez as they went through Bourg d'Oisons, but didn't really know that it existed or what a famous climb it would become. The Tour went up...
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Tennis Player

Spring 1951. Who even knew that he ever played tennis? There is a really old tennis racket at home, which me and my brother used to use when we were children in the 70s and early 80s, and it's quite possible that it's the same one. Given his hoarding instinct, I think it's very likely!...
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"Malham, 1950"

From a trip to Malham in the Yorkshire Dales in 1950, quite possibly Youth Hostelling.Not really sure where this waterfall is, as a quick Google search for waterfalls in Malham doesn't come back with anything looking much like this. It would seem that Malham is close to Gordale Scar (it's not an area I know at all), but there is a different photo that looks like the waterfall there. Any ideas anyone?...
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Bike Race

Once again, I have no idea when this is from as it's part of another series of unlabelled half-plate images. Late 1940s/early 1950s is the best guess for most of these. But, I think it's in Hull - one of the other images with it has a sign for "Cream Cabs" in the background, and a quick Google search shows that there's only one Cream Cabs, and they're in Hull (and still going). That would make complete sense, as my grandfather was a doctor there....
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Rugby Player

This is from my dad's first labelled film (half-plate, not 35mm), which just says "Early Home". Given that the next one is from summer 1949, this must be from the 1948/49 rugby season at Towcester Grammar School.I assume this is the forwards, and that my dad played at lock forward - he was tall and thin so it would make sense. I had no idea he ever actually played until I saw this photo, although he was always a rugby fan and my parents used to watch the Saints in the 1960s....
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