That was the Year that Wasn’t

2020 started brightly enough for Janice and I with a wonderful 2 weeks in Egypt, cruising the Nile and site seeing then relaxing for a week by the Red Sea..

On our return we went back to Tenerife for 6 weeks but just before we were due to fly home The Curse of the COVID hit Tenerife.

We had only been back at Cotswold Towers for a few days before England also descended into doom and gloom with panic buying, social distancing and lock down.

Janice and I made the most of it and helped by the beautiful spring and early summer weather undertook the massive task of tidying up and re-landscaping our overgrown back garden which had been totally neglected due to our many absences over the last 6 – 7 years. I had already decided to give up a large part of my two allotment plots and create a “mini” allotment plot at the bottom of our garden.

By the end of May all had been achieved and we could once again enjoy spending most of our time basking in the summer sun in our revitalised garden. We even got to know and have conversations with our neighbours with whom previously we just used to politely pass the time of day before rushing off somewhere.

Sadly many people were not so fortunate and departed this world.

I have listed some of the more notable people who leave me with such good memories from my youth and adolescent years.

Sir Sean Connery (August 25 1930 –October 31 2020)

He will always be remembered as the ultimate James Bond although he appeared in over 60 feature films as well as countless TV dramas.

Originally Cary Grant was cast in the role but he would only agree to appear in one film. Several “refined” English actors including David Niven, Richard Johnson, Richard Burton, Stanley Baker, Rex Harrison, James Mason, Trevor Howard, Patrick McGoohan and Roger Moore were also considered but were either rejected or turned the role down. Producer Chubby Broccoli, persuaded by his wife Dana, chose Connery, whose physical prowess and sexual magnetism became closely identified with the 007 character. Ian Fleming, whose preferred choice was Richard Todd, was appalled at the selection of the uncouth 31-year-old former local milkman considering him the antithesis of his character but ultimately changed his view and incorporated aspects of Connery’s portrayal into the books.

The first film, Dr. No, became at overnight success. I remember leaving my cinema seat at the end of the film with the 007 theme ringing through my head imagining I was James Bond.

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Honor Blackman (August 22, 1925 –  April 5, 2020) 

Blackman started acting on television in the recurring role of "Nicole", secretary to Dan Dailey's character of Tim Collier in the television series The Four Just Men in 1959. But it was as Dr. Cathy Gale in the Avengers in 1962 that she shot to fame quickly followed by her role in Goldfinger.

Goldfinger is my favourite Bond movie with Shirley Bassey belting out the theme song, Shirley Eaton painted in gold and Honor Blackman as Pussy Galore along with her Flying Circus.

Trini Lopez (May 15, 1937 - Aug. 11, 2020)

Born in Dallas he formed his first band at the age of 15 in 1955. His first album included a cover version of "If I Had a Hammer" which was released as a single and reached number one in 36 countries selling over one million copies and earning him a Golden Disc. He later went on the design two guitars for the Gibson Corporation which are now collector’s items.

When I started work in 1963 I used to buy a single every week. Part of the excitement when playing the record for the first time was discovering what was on the “B” side. I remember buying “If I had a hammer” and after playing it for the first time turning it over and playing the “B” side. I don’t think I played the “A” side again! I have it on my Jukebox and still play it regularly.

Spencer Davis (July 17, 1939 - Oct. 19, 2020)

Spencer David Nelson Davies was born in Swansea moving  to London when he was 16 and began working in the civil service as a clerical officer at the Post Office Savings Bank in Hammersmith and then for HM Customs and Excise. He soon went back to his old school to study for A-levels in languages, becoming head boy in 1959. In 1960, he moved to Birmingham, to read German at the University of Birmingham. In music circles, Davis was later known as "The Professor".

In 1963 he formed the Spencer Davis Group with Pete York on drums, Muff Winwood on bass and the young Stevie Winwood on keyboards and guitar.

I was lucky to be around in the mid 60’s and experience first-hand the dramatic and exciting change in the music scene in the UK with skiffle, trad jazz and folk music being replaced by American influenced R&B and Blues.

In the late 50’s, in Ipswich, Nanda and Ron Lesley ran the very successful Ipswich Jazz Club, held on a Monday evening. By 1962 the club had become The Bluesville Club hosting artists such as Alexis Korner, Cyril Davies and John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers. In the years that followed the club regularly hosted the young and upcoming bands including Georgie Fame and the Blue Flames, Long John Baldry and his Hoochie Coochie Men with Rod Stewart (then nicknamed ‘Rod the Mod’) & Julie Driscoll, The Steampacket, Fleetwood Mac, Chris Farlowe and the Thunderbirds, Jeff Beck, Spencer Davis Group, Graham Bond Organisation, The Downliners Sect and Zoot Money and his Big Roll Band. I had never heard music like it and never missed a Monday night at the Manor Ballroom. The bar was upstairs and the band members used to drink and chat with us before they started and during the interval. I remember one night the Spencer Davis Group joined us at our table. Muff Winwood went to the bar and bought the drinks - three pints and a coke for his brother Stevie who was not old enough to drink at the time! Much later in the 90’s I met Spencer Davis at a gig in Camberley and reminisced with him about those heady days in the 60’s.

Peter Green (Oct. 29, 1946 - July 25, 2020)

Peter Allen Greenbaum was one of the most talented blues singer and guitarist I have ever seen. He took over from Eric Clapton in John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers in 1966. When asked what was he going to do without Clapton, Mayall said, "Don't worry, we got someone better. He might not be better now, but wait, in a couple of years he's going to be the best."

B.B. King commented, "He has the sweetest tone I ever heard; he was the only one who gave me the cold sweats”.

In 1967 Green left Mayall to form Fleetwood Mac and it was in that year that I first saw them at the Bluesville Club. We had never heard of them and just didn’t know what to expect although we recognised Peter Green from his time with John Mayall. They set up and went straight in with this number:

It just blew me away I was hooked on electric blues from that moment.

Nicknamed "The Green God" by his fellow musicians Green was more interested in expressing emotion in his songs and guitar playing, rather than showing off how fast he could play, demonstrated in this selection of songs:

We have been back in Tenerife since the beginning of October enjoying the winter sun and not due to return until the end of Ferbruary. 

So here we are approaching the start of another year in a similar situation as we were in March, but at least the vaccination roll-out programme does give us the hope that sooner rather than later things will get better and life can once again return to “Normal”, always assuming that you can remember what “Normal” was!

So let’s kick 2020 into touch and look forward to 2021 and all be thankful for our lives:

Hey Ho!

The Great Bunker Beer Off

After nearly 7 weeks of extensive and exhaustive testing it was finals weekend here at the Cotswold Bunker. 

All was to be revealed on Monday!

These were the contenders:

Saturday night saw two brews fall by the wayside and Sunday's finals session would decide the winner.

However Sundays' final was such a close run thing that it was to require a tie break on Monday evening to decide the winner,

Two contenders had been eliminated leaving these little beauties to fight another day!

It was a close run thing and took five bottles before a decision was arrived at,

Those of you with your money on Timothy Taylors Landlord would have been dissapointed as it was the first to go and it required a further drink off before The Golden Champion from Hall & Woodhouse was declared the winner.

(Try setting that up after 5 pints!)

Described as "a bright, crisp golden beer with floral hints of elderflower" it is brewed by Hall and Woodhouse at the 240 year old Blandford Brewery on the banks of the River Stour in Blandford, Dorset.

A worthy winner!

Well I'm off to Tesco Express to replenish my stocks of The Golden Champion (3 for £5) so I'll leave you with this "Don't try this at home" sketch:

Hey Ho!

2019 - The Year of the Pig

A Happy, Healthy and Prosperous New Year to you all.

Feliz año nuevo para ustedes dos:



Hey Ho!

It's Christmas in the Sun!

Christmas and New Year greetings to my bloggees:



Normal blogging service will be resumed in the New Year!

Hey Ho!

A Tale of Two Cakes

Most of you will remember, as I do, where you were and what you were doing when you heard the news of the assassination of JFK on 22nd November 1963 , the death of Elvis on 16th August 1977 and the shooting of John Lennon on 8th December 1980. The older among you will also probably remember, as I do, watching the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II on June 2nd 1953 on a small screen black and white TV in the rich family’s’ house along with a room full of neighbours.

It is extremely unlikely, though, that any of you, with the exception of my best man David, will remember where you were and what you were doing exactly 50 years ago today at 1.45 pm on Saturday March 30th 1968.

David and I, having rushed from The Golden Lion where we had partaken of the “the one” to calm our nerves, were just sitting down in the front pew of St. Clements Parish Church, Ipswich, as Mendelssohn's Wedding March heralded the entrance of my beautiful wife to be and her father.

The wedding was originally planned to be held at St Johns’ Church, Felixstowe but the vicar wouldn’t conduct wedding ceremonies during lent so we decided on my family's church in Ipswich. 

The vicar, Rev. Canon F. Tucker-Harvey, was a quintessential old school eccentric and long standing season ticket holder at Portman Road infamous for his long rambling sermons which always featured at least one anecdote concerning his beloved Ipswich Town. We met him in his large office in the rectory to arrange the detail of the ceremony planned for 3.00 pm and were about to leave when he opened his desk draw, took out his ITFC fixture list and exclaimed, “Oh goodness me my dear people, would you mind terribly bringing the time forward to 1.45? The Town are at home on the 30th and that should give me just enough time to get changed and get to the ground!”.

The day itself passed without a hitch and along with the wedding days of our daughters Karen and Lorna and that magic day at Wembley in 1978 when Mick Mills lifted the FA Cup aloft after Ipswich had  beaten Arsenal 1 – 0, was the happiest day of my life.

Not much else of significance happened in the world that day -

The 122nd Grand National was won by Red Alligator ridden by Brian Fletcher

General Ludvik Svoboda was elected president of Czechoslovakia

Celine Marie Claudette Dion was born in Charlemagne, Quebec, Canada

Young Girl by Union Gap featuring Gary Puckett topped the US charts

and this song topped the UK Charts:

And, of course, the weather was much the same as it is today!

Hey Ho!

Close Encounters of the Hampshire Kind

In the late 50’s and early 60’s, for most school boys like myself, flying saucers were small spherical capsules of rice paper filled with sherbet.

However by the late 60's, with all the tensions from the Cold War and the Space Race, paranoia about new technologies and innovations was at its height.

Further fueled by TV programs such as Quatermass and Dr. Who, the UK was in the grip of UFO fever and not a week went by without multiple reported sightings of saucers, flying cigar-shaped objects and strange lights across the country.

In 1967 alone there were 360 reported British ‘sightings’ nearly one a day, and extraterrestrials were regularly making headline news in the papers and on TV.

Fifty years ago this week, on September 4, 1967, a flying saucer shaped object was discovered on a golf course near Bromley. Within a couple of hours five similar objects had been discovered.

They had big metal domes, emitted a piercing wail and were discovered in the early morning in a straight line, the same distance apart, across the country from the Bristol Channel to the Kent coast.

Believing that alien spaceships had landed the army's southern command, four police forces, bomb disposal units, RAF helicopters and the MoD's intelligence branch were all mobilised in the early hours to meet the threat.

One of the "saucers" was sent to be examined by Home Office scientists at Aldermaston and another was inspected by the chief designer of the guided weapons division of the British Aircraft Corporation.

It was not until a Scotland Yard bomb disposal squad arrived at Bromley police station with orders to check one of the objects with portable X-ray equipment, that “the saucer” was found to contain Ever Ready batteries and the whole episode was exposed as Britain’s most successful UFO hoax after putting Britain on alert for a full-scale interstellar invasion.

The ringleaders, aged just 21 at the time, were a handful of clever, mischievous trainee engineers from the MoD’s Royal Aircraft Establishment at Farnborough in Hampshire. They came up with the idea to raise money for charity as part of the college’s Rag Week. They also wanted to see how the authorities would react if there was an alien invasion, and to find out just how prepared Britain was.

The students built six oval objects, moulded from fibreglass and laced with artist’s graphite to give them an eerie sheen. 

The extra-terrestrial crafts were filled with “alien goo” made from boiled bread dough. Each saucer was fitted with electronic sound equipment which was activated when the saucers were turned over allowing them to be quietly transported during the night to their resting place.

The authorities tried to keep the discoveries a secret, but the hoaxers’ cover was blown by a newspaper reporter who knew the RAE students were renowned for pranks.

At a time before mobile phones or email where the only form of communication was the postal system, telegrams and telephones it was surprising how rapid the official response was, but in true Brian Rix fashion, it quickly descended into farce.

Once the MoD was involved, intelligence staff and a senior unnamed flight lieutenant, later to become a missile security adviser to the Thatcher government, took charge.

The first thoughts in Whitehall were not of an alien invasion but of a Soviet attack thinking the Russians had sent a fleet of robots, possibly loaded with nuclear warheads or chemical weapons, as the first wave of an invasion of the West.

The MoD asked Britain’s radar stations if they had spotted anything unusual the night before, but drew a blank.

Britain’s top intelligence officers and policemen were mobilised and decided to keep the saucers secret, but news had already broken.

A senior London detective arrived at Bromley only to find the police station mobbed with reporters and two TV crews filming the policemen, all happily posing with what might be a Soviet weapon of mass-destruction or an alien spacecraft. The detective exploded with rage.

Intelligence agents with Geiger counters followed from Whitehall and found the saucer was not radioactive. 

By this time the police had already drilled into the saucer discovering the rotting, smelly goo inside and for a while it looked as if Bromley would have to be put into quarantine. 

A Ministry of Defence helicopter was expedited to the Isle of Sheppey “saucer”.

Meanwhile the “saucer in Winkfield which was no longer making any noise was stored in the lost property office of the police station.

To top it all bomb-disposal experts blew up the “saucer” in Chippenham in a controlled explosion.

Had they contained anthrax, smallpox or some deadly Soviet material, never mind alien technology, it could have been a catastrophe.

At the end of a day that just couldn’t be scripted, the RAE apprentices held a press conference admitting their guilt saying they believed that flying saucers would land one day, so they landed their own to give the authorities some practice.

The police and government bodies were made to look stupid and inept and they were furious threatening prosecution. 

However, in the end, they backed down, probably realising that dragging the whole episode through the courts would bring more adverse publicity and subject the Establishment to more ridicule.

The hoax, costing the students £30, exposed the fact that at the height of the Cold War, the British authorities had no idea how to respond to an alien invasion or to an attack by a hostile nation using unconventional weapons.

As a result of all the publicity, the students raised around £2,000 for charity.

"The chances of anything coming from Mars are a million to one," he said.

"The chances of anything coming from Mars are a million to one - but still they

come!"

Hey Ho!

The Mystery of the Foul Fowl - Prologue

The Year of the Partridge - 1931

Winston Churchill resigned from Stanley Baldwin's shadow cabinet after disagreeing with the policy of conciliation with Indian nationalism.

Oswald Mosley formed the New Party which was to become the National Union of Fascists having resigned from the Labour Party.

The Socialist Government resigned and a National Administration was formed, with Ramsey MacDonald as Prime Minister, as well as including Stanley Baldwin and Neville Chamberlain.

English writer Arnold Bennett died of typhoid in London shortly after returning from a visit to Paris, where he drank local water to prove it was safe.

The Highway Code - with motor traffic becoming more and more common the first edition of the Highway Code was issued priced at 1d.

Les Dawson, Lonnie Donegan, Diana Dors and Lionel Blair entered the world.

In America, Al Capone, gang leader and public enemy number one, was sentenced to 11 years imprisonment, and a fine of £20,000 for evasion of the income tax laws.

Nearer home, in Camberley, the population was 13,676, (in 3,406 houses) and a four bed roomed detached house would cost you £1,000.

In Farnborough, Ellen Yeomans left the Fox Inn, where she had been landlady for 20 years. 

As Mrs. Yeomans called last orders for the final time she could never have imagined that she would soon be appearing as a principal witness to one of the most intriguing unsolved murders of the 20th century.

The Cast of Characters

Major George Thompson Trevelyan “Trev” Jackson

Major Jackson qualified as a veterinary surgeon in 1898 and the following year volunteered to serve as a civilian vet for the British Army in South Africa. In 1901 he accepted the post of Lieutenant in HM Armed forces where he remained for twenty years until he left the army, as a Major, in 1921 and set up a civilian veterinary practice in Eastbourne.

Major Jackson had married Mabel Palmer in 1909 but by now, with the long periods away from each other, their relationship had broken down and at the beginning of 1922, with Jackson already involved in a relationship with a young heiress, they separated and started divorce proceedings.

Frances Howard Chevis (nee Rollason)

Frances Rollason was born on March 10^th 1902, the daughter of two extremely wealthy parents whose families were extremely successful industrialists. Her father died on April 16^th 1902 and left his fortune to Frances, held in trust until she reached 25 or was married.

The six week old Frances had become heiress to a fortune worth today at least £16 million.

In 1918 Frances, now a lively, beautiful young lady, moved to Eastbourne with her mother.

Frances entered into a relationship with Major Jackson, a local married veterinary who was old enough to be her father. Very soon Frances, not yet 21, was with child.

Frances moved to a nursing home in Bournemouth where she gave birth to a daughter, Elizabeth Boden “Libby” Rollason on June 4^th 1922. There was no fathers name stated on the Birth Certificate.

18 months after the birth of Libby, on November 19th 1923, immediately after Jackson’s divorce finally came through, Frances, married Major Jackson.

Following a honeymoon in Monte Carlo, her husband gave up his veterinary practice in Eastbourne to concentrate on his sporting activities – he was a regular polo player, huntsman and golfer. The couple settled in Bournemouth wasting no time in having another daughter, Pauline Frances, the following year. In 1927 a son, Peter Hubert Howard, was born by which time Frances had already caught the eye of a dashing, handsome army lieutenant.

With the Major frequently away from home engaged in series of romantic adventures, Frances and the army lieutenant embarked on an affair. 

Frances filed for divorce on June 11^th 1928 alleging that Jackson had committed adultery with four women, two of whom were respectable married women, one the wife of a prominent local doctor.

To avoid the obvious scandal, the couple immediately left town - Frances to her London flat and Jackson moving back to Eastbourne.

The divorce, as was common at that time, was a costly, long drawn out affair with Jackson repeatedly denying the claims of adultery. 

With the evidence against him mounting and his money running out, Jackson finally withdrew his defence and the decree nisi was issued. Frances was granted custody of the three children and costs of £1666 6s 6d were awarded against Major Jackson.

Hubert George "Hugh" Chevis

Hubert George "Hugh" Chevis was born at Rawalpindi which was then part of British India but now is in Punjab Province, Pakistan. His father was a Divisional Judge who went on to become a Punjab High Court Judge and receive a knighthood. Hugh and his older brother William were sent to England to receive their education attending school in Boscombe then Stirling House Prep School, Bournemouth before going on to Charterhouse.

In 1922 Hugh Chevis graduated from the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich and took up a position as a 2nd Lieutenant in the Royal Artillery.

He was a handsome, popular young officer of great physical strength – it was said that he could pick up a full grown man with his right hand and another with his left. He was an exceptional sportsman having played hockey at club and county level as well as rugby for Woolwich Garrison.

He was also an accomplished horseman and it was horse riding which first brought him into contact with Major George Jackson and his wife Frances (nee Rollason). 

While visiting his parents, who had returned from India in 1923 and settled in Bournemouth, Chevis was introduced to the Jacksons by a mutual army friend. Major Jackson, who kept several horses and a string of polo ponies, invited the lieutenant to ride with him on several occasions. During this time Hugh Chevis and Frances Jackson became infatuated with each other and their relationship blossomed.  

The couple planned to marry as soon as Frances got her divorce but by the time the decree absolute was granted, in June 1929, Hugh Chevis had been posted to India.

On 20^th December 1930, on his return from India, Hugh and Frances were finally married at Chelsea Register Office.

Ivy Thorne

Ivy Blanch Thorne was engaged as a nurse/midwife to Frances just prior to the birth of Peter Jackson in 1927. She remained with Frances after her marriage to Hugh Chevis becoming more of a companion/secretary as well as a live in nanny to Frances's three children residing in Frances's London flat.

Ellen Yeomans (nee Youmans)

In 1908 Ellen Youmans married Albert Yeomans of Cove who had served in the 50th (Hampshire) Company, Imperial Yeomanry during the Anglo-Boer War in South Africa, between 1900 and 1901.

Following the marriage Albert took up the position of licensee of The Fox Inn (Beer House) in what was then called Fox Lane, Farnborough. Assisted by his wife Ellen he ran the pub until he died suddenly on May 10th 1913 from a brain haemorrhage, aged 33.

Ellen Yeomans remained at the Fox, with her two young sons, taking over the licence and running the pub with help from Mrs. Vera Hayes, who also resided at the Fox.

In 1931, with her two sons grown up, Ellen Yeomans left the Fox and moved to Mychett, She took up a position of lady's maid and cook in the household of Lieutenant Hubert Chevis at Blackdown Camp, Deepcut.

Nicolas Bolger

Irish born Nicolas Bolger joined the British army prior to Irish independence.

Gunner Bolger married a local girl, Amy Parker, The couple lived in Lightwater and in March 1931, with his wife expecting their first child, Bolger took up the position of batman for Lieutenant Hubert Chevis at Blackdown Camp, Deepcut.  His duties involved serving at table, cleaning silver and acting as the officers's valet.

The Scene of the Crime - Blackdown Camp

Blackdown Camp much later to become Blackdown Barracks then the Princes Anne Barracks was established in the late 1903 initially to accommodate artillery and infantry.

In 1931, 28-year-old Lieutenant Herbert "Hugh" Chevis, now an instructor in the Royal Artillery, and his wife Frances were living at “D” hut, Aisne Road, Blackdown Camp, Deepcut.

Frances still had her London flat, where the three children from her previous marriage and her nanny/companion, Ivy Thorne, lived. Frances owned a motor car and employed a chauffeur to drive her between the flat and the military quarters in Deepcut. 

The Fateful Day - June 20th 1931

On the morning of June 20^th 1931, Hugh Chevis awoke in his bungalow a contented man.

Not only was Hugh happily married, in good health, prosperous and well-liked by everyone who knew him but he had no known enemies or any notable personal difficulties.

His life was as good as it gets.

The Chevis’s were looking forward to attending the Aldershot Tattoo later that evening, but by the next morning the following events would make headlines in the daily papers.

In less than 24 hours, just six months since marrying the wealthy and glamorous Frances, Lieutenant Chevis lay dead in Frimley Cottage Hospital.  

To Be Continued.

But in the meantime, here is Cab Calloway with his Cotton Club Orchestra performing the top selling song of 1931:

Hey Ho, Hey Ho, Hey Ho!