Guided Tour part 4 – My Dad’s Life

By shendyNo Comments
This section of the site is a bit more personal, but will still have something to interest people. While not everyone will necessarily be that interested in student life at Imperial College in the mid 1950s, or the productions of the Imperial College Drama Society, I have found them fascinating to see how differently people lived and even looked back then. Look at the parties, and how everyone seemed to sit on the floor. The "Early Life" section even has some colour photos from the 1930s - look at the swimming trunks my dad is wearing in this one! The "National Service" section has some great shots of his time in the Army - he was in REME and I believe he ended up lecturing about radar for a time. Some of it just shows the sheer mundanity of service life!...
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Some time travel experimentation

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I had an email the other day from a chap called Paul Campbell, who had been looking at the King's Road photos and had bit of a play with Google Street View - and look what he came up with. I've seen this sort of thing done before with things like wartime scenes, but these are really cool. Thank you Paul, and do please let me know if you do any more and I'll happily share them....
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Exhibition

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A few months ago I was contacted by the Proud Gallery in Chelsea to ask if they could use some of my dad's photos in an upcoming exhibition based around Ossie Clark, the 1960's fashion designer. I am very pleased to say that from the 21st February to the 10th March, Proud Chelsea will be hosting "Ossie Clark: The King of the King’s Road Reigns Again", featuring four of my dad's photos. He would have been thrilled / stunned / gobsmacked to know that some of his pictures are being exhibited alongside the likes of Norman Parkinson's, someone whose work he most definitely knew and liked. There's also a bit about it in Time Out. The pictures are being made available to buy in a limited edition of 25 each - these are only available via the gallery....
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1978 Travels

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We got around quite a bit in the summer of 1978 as we had a French lad over to stay with us, arrange through Abington Vale Middle School. His name was Bertrand Lazard-Peillon - there is someone of that name who appears to be a journalist in France, but I have no idea if it's the same person. So here we have Downing Street - in the days when you could get close to it At my aunt's in Peterborough (Bertrand, me and cousin Liz) What is probably the Nene Valley Railway Me feeding the pigeons in Trafalgar Square Me resting after a busy day out Imperial War Museum in South London Hampton Court A Boeing 747 landing at Heathrow, from the days when they had public viewing platforms....
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London 1976

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The other part of the summer holiday was a stay with my dad's sister in London. This involved meeting a new cousin (hello Mike!), a trip down the river to Greenwich and the Cutty Sark, London Zoo and a day trip to Brighton. It has to be said that what the young lady from the beach at Brighton is wearing would probably raise eyebrows now - 36 years later. Well, maybe not in Brighton....
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Odds and Sods 1975

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A slightly random selection from 1975. This was taken in June 1975 at a Masque Theatre production at Easton Neston - home of Lord Hesketh. Through the gate was the home of his Formula 1 racing team, whose main driver at the time was one James Hunt. March 1975, London Zoo. This is Guy The Gorilla. Especially memorable for me because for some reason he charged the window me and The Brother were looking at him through. Scared the bejesus out of us - let's face it, who wouldn't be spooked when a bloody huge gorilla charges you - and I was a skinny and weedy 6 1/2 year old. Personally, I think he took a dislike to The Brother - perfectly understandable... And this is one for the social historians out there - my mother's parents kitchen in Pembroke Gardens. At least that's where I assume it is - looks vaguely familiar, but I was probably last there around 35 years ago!...
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London 1974

By shendy1 Comment
These are from our usual summer trip to see my father's sister's family in London. The first ones are from a Thames boat trip, featuring riverside London that's completely changed over the last 40 years. And these are from a trip up St Paul's Cathedral. I remember one of these where we went up further than I've been on any other trip - right up to the top-most round windows just below the golden ball and cross, up some very steep (for a small child) metal steps.  No idea whether you can actually get that far nowadays....
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Bentley website

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A new website has just gone live, featuring the John Lennon Bentley that my dad photographed on King's Road in the late 1960s (see previous post). Rather than just focus on the car, the site also looks into the Swinging 60's scene, and rather wonderfully it features a few of my dad's photos. Take a look at http://beatlesbentley.com/, and my dad's pics are in "The Place" and "The Time" sections, including the B&W shots of the car. Thanks to Tanner and Marshall at the Slaughter Group in Birmingham, Alabama for finding the photos on Google and getting in touch....
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