Posts

Showing posts from June, 2012

Interesting People From The Past...

Image
This rare picture of stage and screen actress Enid Stamp Taylor comes from her daughter Robin Anne’s own private collection. It shows a more unguarded Enid relaxing in the spring sunshine of 1935 in the back garden of her home in West London. The picture is thought to have been taken by Robin Anne’s Nanny. There are many more images of Actress Enid Stamp Taylor, and much more information to be found by clicking Enid Stamp Taylor in the search box. Posted in Enid Stamp Taylor , Patrick's Words

Salvation In The Park...

Image
Despite the downpours of rain we have had lately, this bold group of Salvation Army musicians brought a much needed ray of sunshine to the Grove Gardens in Bedfordshire UK recently. Founded in East London By William Booth in 1865, The Salvation Army is one of the largest, most diverse providers of social services in the United Kingdom. A visionary social reformer ahead of his time, William Booth believed that charity demeaned the individual and people should be offered a ‘hand up' and not ‘hand outs' to get them back on their feet.

Interesting Buildings From The Past...

Minster Lovell Hall… Oxfordshire England The ruins of this once imposing manor house lay testament to a frightening and strange tale known as ‘The Mistletoe Bough’ One Christmas many, many years ago the house enjoyed the wedding of young William Lovell, eldest son of the Lovall family, and his attractive young bride. Everyone danced throughout the evening and as it became late and no-one yet wanted to retire, it was suggested that they all play a game of ‘Hide and Seek’ William’s bride offered to hide first, and dared William to find her before the others. Well, time passed and she could not be found. They searched all through the night and into the next day, but without any luck. For a further one week they searched, but never found her. William did not recover from his great loss and died just a few years later from despondency. It was soon after when a servant found an old oak chest that had lay hidden in the attic from some years before, and when

Interesting People From The Past...

Image
‘Rex and Biz’ Actress Enid Stamp Taylor… And friends! Enid and two cherished companions on holiday at Portmeirion North Wales in the August of 1937. I thought it would be nice to open-up this wet June with a bright and breezy summer shot of Enid Stamp Taylor. The holiday village of Portmeirion was the setting for the famous TV series of ’The Prisoner’ starring Patrick McGoohan. Enid is pictured snapped by family members ‘The Poritts’… The architect Clough Williams-Ellis was the brainchild behind ‘Portmeirion’ – the Italianate village known as ‘The Xanadu of Wales’…  and it’s likely he was a friend to Enid.

Interesting Buildings From The Past...

Image
  The Dramatic Stairway of St. Pancras Railway Station in North London. Robert Morey’s camera is deep and dark with this period evoking stairway shot inside the famous North London Victorian Railway Station of St. Pancras. Built in 1868 as The Midland Grand Hotel and Railway Station it served travellers to and from The East Midlands and Yorkshire. It’s a beautiful vision of Victorian gothic architecture. During the 2000s it was renovated and given a new lease of life as a terminal area for Eurostar Trains to Europe.

Interesting Movies From The Past...

POOL OF LONDON – 1950  A wonderfully evocative film drama of London and The London Docklands in 1950. Shot almost entirely with locations on The Thames and around Central London - it’s a look into a times past world! There are so many dramatic and nostalgic locations in the production- that it’s near-impossible to keep up with them! Released by Britain’s famous Ealing Studios…it features a strong cast in Bonar Colleano  and wife Susan Shaw, Renee Asherson, and Earl Cameron. The screenplay was written by Jack Whittingham and John Eldridge, and the direction was handled by the master Basil Dearden.

Bedfordshire UK Classic Car Rally...

Image
Owned by William and Rosemary Doyle, this Ford Popular is sixty years old and is still in regular use. Its name is Bumpy Herby, and when new cost 275 English pounds plus purchase tax, that made a grand total to the then owner of 390 pounds. At the time this Ford model was thought to be the lowest priced car in the World, and was sold on comfort, performance and economy!

Interesting Movies From The Past...

Smokescreen 1964 A very tight absorbing little screenplay from British  second feature movie maker  Butcher Films, set in and around Brighton, Sussex, England. It features Peter Vaughan and John Carson as two Insurance men on the trail of a very clever deception… also includes some wonderful moments from Deryck (Korky) Guyler, David Gregory , Romo Gorrara, Gerald Flood, John Glyn-Jones and Glynn Edwards. Of the movie the British Film Institute said: “…From its arresting pre-credits sequence of a blazing 1953 Hillman Minx Convertible hurtling over Beach Head and the off-beat promise of Johnny Gregory’s minor key theme, Smokescreen is an utterly charming B-film comedy-thriller that emphasises character as much as plot and makes full use of extensive location footage…”

Actress Enid Stamp Taylor...

Image
  Enid Stamp Taylor was born on Sunday the 12 th of June 1904 in the agreeable, late Victorian, seaside town of Whitley Bay in the North East corner of England. She was the only daughter of Army Major George Stamp Taylor and his wife Agnes. Some years later they had a son and named him Robin Geoffrey. But tragically, he died at the very young age of only ten years whilst away from home and at boarding school. Regretfully, the distraught parents separated in 1918, and Enid and her mother moved to London in order to stay with friends. It was here, that Enid’s interest in the stage began to blossom. She had reluctantly entered a beauty contest and then won the first prize of a part in the chorus line of a top West End show. The quality of her voice and exacting diction soon led her to stage training under Rosina Filippi, and in 1923 she toured in the ‘The Lady of the Rose’. During the thirties and forties, along with her agent Al Parker, she successfully bu

Jubilee Celebration...

Image
A party of visitors to my weblog enjoying a First Class Jubilee Dinner at The Halfway House in Bedfordshire, UK

Interesting Movies From The Past...

WHISKY GALORE… It was in the summer of 1948 when the Ealing crew arrived on the beautiful Island of Barra in the Western Isles of Scotland. Michael Balcon, head of Ealing Studios had not been happy about the production, saying as he looked at the story board, he just did not understand it!  “It holds few laughs” he was heard to comment. Based on a Compton Mackenzie novel, shooting almost entirely on location presented huge problems, everything, including cast and crew, and a huge amount of camera equipment, had to be shipped from mainland Scotland. Actors were billited with a number of the Islanders, and in fact, many of the inhabitants appear in the production. Their view of the film people was… That they were quite mad! Prefabricated sets were constructed at Ealing Studios in London then shipped for assembly on Barra. Under the brilliant direction of Alexander Mackendrick, an American born Scot, the film gently eases you into a world of warmth, gentility