An idiots guide to an idiot: My favourite castle.

An idiots guide to an idiot: My favourite castle.: Do you have a favourite castle?  I do. It's Old Wardour Castle in Wiltshire. It's not the grandest or biggest or best preserved but ...

My favourite castle.

Do you have a favourite castle?  I do. It's Old Wardour Castle in Wiltshire.

It's not the grandest or biggest or best preserved but I like it. I think it was my Mum & Dad who told us about it, they'd found it on  a trip to nearby Shaftesbury. It's been used in films, probably the most famous one being Robin Hood, Prince of Thieves starring Kevin Costner in 1991. For ages they had the sword that Costner had used, I've got photos of the boys holding it. I understand this sword was given to curator when he retired so although they still have a sword that  they say is Robin Hoods, its not! It's a castle that's been knocked about abit. It was laid siege to twice during the English Civil War and that rather sealed it's fate as a castle to live in as it took alot of damage. Later New Wardour Castle was built, though not a castle but a house ( now a school) with the old castle as more or less a folly in the grounds. It's now owned by English Heritage. As I said my Mum & Dad introduced us to the castle and there's a confession I have to make. My Dad carved his name on the wall  of the tower! Strangely enough a while later a sheet of perspex was put over some  old graffiti near his name and it covered his graffiti too!

Some claim to fame, you won't tell anyone will you!  The land around the castle is really nice too. There's a walk encircling it that the nobs from the house would have  ridden their carriages around and also a walk down to the villages of Donhead St Andrew & Donhead St Mary. The latter has links to my family history as my Great Grandfather, George Morgan was born there in 1859 along with most of his five brothers and sisters, and also his Mum Emily (nee Fanner) in 1829.She married my Great Great Grandfather James  Morgan at the church of St Mary's on 23rd October  1858. They must have known the castle and its more than likely they walked the same paths as we have.

So there you have it, my favourite castle. What's yours?

I have lots of photos of us at the castle but can't find one at the moment!

An idiots guide to an idiot: Musical dearth

An idiots guide to an idiot: Musical dearth:  We had, like everyone else, gigs bounced from last year to this because of Covid  so this year we were expecting most to go ahead. Sadly no...

Musical dearth

 We had, like everyone else, gigs bounced from last year to this because of Covid  so this year we were expecting most to go ahead. Sadly not. Six gigs and a  festival we were set to go to all got bounced to next year with one being cancelled. Actually the festive did go ahead but we couldn't go due to the crap firm I worked for at the time. 

Our last hope for a gig this year was Snake Oil & Harmony ( with Danny Vaughn) in November but that's been cancelled altogether. There are music  events going ahead this year of course  and we'd have gone if the ones we'd booked went ahead ,though  not entirely sold on the idea of going to venues yet to be fair  but never thought I'd get two year of no live music!

Roll on 2022! 

An idiots guide to an idiot: Walking the ground.

An idiots guide to an idiot: Walking the ground.: I drove past road signs to Naseby the other day and it got me thinking about battlefields I've walked round.  Not very many to be honest...

Walking the ground.

I drove past road signs to Naseby the other day and it got me thinking about battlefields I've walked round.  Not very many to be honest and all in England at that! 

So what is it about walking the ground? I'd say I'm quite unimaginative generally but give me a battlefield and it comes to life!  You can read book after book  but to stand at the hedge where Okey's Dragoons  fired  into the Royalist cavalry flanks at Naseby and understand the terrain is something else.  The very streets of St Albans were the battlefield at the First Battle of St Albans during the Wars of the Roses in 1455 and  the road  layout and  alot of the buildings  still exist! 

You can still find your way round the Battle of Barnet (1471) and understand why certain things happened the way they happened. It's my ambition to walk more battlefields in the UK & in Europe. With such a wealth of records available now I could find  where my Grandad was on the first day of the Somme in 1916, I could walk the ground at Bullecourt where Tara's Grt Uncle disappeared on 3rd May 1917 and of course I'd love to see and explore the D-Day beaches plus the earlier battles like Waterloo, Agincourt, Crecy et al.

Walking the ground is vitally important to grasp and understand what happened, not to mention the fact that in no small measure you are walking the path of heroes. There's really nothing like it!

   

The perils of a pub dinner.

 There was two pubs in the village of Saltfleet, both walkable from the cottage we were staying in. Happy days!

The New Inn backed onto a caravan/mobile home/holiday park site so they've pretty well got a  captured market. It was OK. We were amused to be asked  to sit in a different bar as we had Ida with us. The bar we could sit in was just as tatty & underwhelming as the non dog bar! Anyway, bit of a wait on food  but we were told this from the off so no problem there. Tara had her  two choices off the menu, even though I'd contacted them prior to see whether they did  gluten free and veggie. Two choices isn't exactly much of a choice! Tara had mushroom stroganoff  which was  fine and I steak & stilton pie......there're still looking for the stilton, there certainly wasn't any in my pie!  Choice of beer wasn't great either. A thoroughly underwhelming experience but worse was to come. 

As I said there was another pub in the village so all was not lost, or so we thought. On going up to the bar in The Crown  first of all the handpump beers were off, not a very inspiring start that just got worse. Pretty basic menu, only item flagged as gluten free & veggie was a pizza. Fine! pizza it is......'Sorry! Not doing pizzas tonight.' Anything else gluten free & veggie? 'Well there's chicken salad' said  our waitress who looked like she had Groucho Marx moustache as an eyebrow. I kid you not. What a dismal experience. Mission  abandoned  we went back to the cottage and rustled up  some grub that was both gluten free & veggie, with a very acceptable red wine.  

We'd just about given up on eating out but found a pub in nearby North Somercotes called the Axe & Cleaver.  I'd   phoned to book, went through our usual rigmarole of asking about their food and making sure we could take Ida. All good, we booked for  that evening. Though bizarrely when we got there, we were told someone had phoned an hour before and cancelled the booking! Even quoting the gluten free needs  etc, well it wasn't us!    However the staff couldn't have been more helpful and friendly and we were quickly found a table. Great food, a  good selection for Tara to choose from, all the staff just a delight. Had we been staying longer we'd have gone there  again, a sumptuous three sausage  ( Lincolnshire sausages of course!) mash and onion gravy for me and quorn shepherds pie for Tara  followed by sticky toffee pud and custard for me and Tara had probably the biggest Pavlova I've ever seen!  Here's the link to their website if you are ever in that area.https://www.axeandcleaver.com/ Well worth it! 

Ida and I had a pleasant walk along the sand dunes just before the weather broke on the last full day of our stay. We walked inland to a place called Hardy's Pullover, walking from the beach towards a red flag  in the car park. Next to the red flag was a sign  that stated not to go past this point if the red flag is flying it's an RAF gunnery range..... the direction from which we had just come! 

 We'd had a pleasant time in Lincolnshire though the roads even by Bedfordshire's low standards were pretty potholed and uneven  all adding greatly to T's discomfort. There's not a great amount to see or do on the Lincolnshire coast, we made the mistake of driving through Mablethorpe that seemed to be full of obese families  eating fish n chips, drinking Watney's Red Barrel & wearing Kiss me quick hats.   Absolutely great if you like that kind of thing. Saltfleet was a pleasant little place  but had a main road running through it which was a shame.

 

An idiots guide to an idiot: The perils of a pub dinner.

An idiots guide to an idiot: The perils of a pub dinner.:  There was two pubs in the village of Saltfleet, both walkable from the cottage we were staying in. Happy days! The New Inn backed onto a ca...

An idiots guide to an idiot: Church

An idiots guide to an idiot: Church:  Walked to a disused church today. Very pleasant walk to it over fields and along what they call drains but are streams of varying size. The...

Church

 Walked to a disused church today. Very pleasant walk to it over fields and along what they call drains but are streams of varying size. The church of St Botolph's was closed n the 1970's though it appears burials still take place here, strangely the building has been completely gutted. I thought maybe the altar and font may be in situ but they've gone as well. As have the windows, this could be to deter vandals though there's some graffiti on the inner walls.

There's six graves of Merchant Seaman washed up during World War Two, only one of them has been named. This is to Ordinary Seaman Roderick John McPhee McDonald an 18 year old Glaswegian killed on 21st Oct 1939 when his ship the SS Orsa hit a mine off Flamborough Head. She was taking coal from from the Tyne to Bordeaux. 16 sailors perished.

Continued our walk, only about 3 miles but it was nice and peaceful.

     

Took another walk later in the date over toward the sea. Its too far out to walk to so we just walked the edge by the dunes. Very pleasant.

An idiots guide to an idiot: Lincolnshire

An idiots guide to an idiot: Lincolnshire:  A few days away in a coastguards cottage in Saltfleet on the Lincolnshire coast. We can enjoy it properly this time too as there's no p...

Lincolnshire

 A few days away in a coastguards cottage in Saltfleet on the Lincolnshire coast. We can enjoy it properly this time too as there's no pressure of being out of a job, its also far nicer than the place we had in the Peaks a month or so ago, in fact things are looking up. It was a long drive and there's no doubt more people are holidaying in the UK  as there was queues to get into both service areas we tried to stop at!

Had a nice walk from the cottage yesterday that took us over countryside and coastline and much to my pleasure we happened upon a World War Two pillbox. A Lincolnshire 3 chamber pillbox to be exact. Containing a central open area for a light anti aircraft gun and two chambers either side for Bren guns. There is loopholes facing the sea and facing inland. Never used in anger of course but these things do fascinate me. 

An idiots guide to an idiot: Another old gig

An idiots guide to an idiot: Another old gig:  Another extract from The Morgan  Good Gig Guide this time from 1980.Rainbow was the first rock gig I'd gone to so here's what my id...

Another old gig

 Another extract from The Morgan  Good Gig Guide this time from 1980.Rainbow was the first rock gig I'd gone to so here's what my idiot 18 year old self thought:

Friday 29th Feb 1980. Wembley Arena. Price £4.00.

Rainbow supported  by Samson.

So begins the Heavy Metal saga. Went with Mark and Alan (known as The Priest &  Axeman)Samson were bril, they knew their stuff,  even to their  own 'Roadhouse Blues' number, there's was  'Inside Out." A grand support. Even the records played during the interval were good. 'I'm part of the union'(Strawbs)& 'All you need is love' (Beatles) got everyone singing. Then on stormed  a magnificent Rainbow, really spot on, especially Don Airey's (keyboards) & Cozy Powell's (drums ) solos. But they went off after only 90 minutes-no encore. That left some bad feeling , but it really was a magical gig. The best ever!!

Another review that won't be winning the Pulitzer Prize for literature! I also seem to have left alot out as far as  can remember. At one point I remember 'Land of Hope & Glory' pumping out of the PA system & everyone was singing! More like last night of the Proms that a rock gig! 

Samson then had an unknown vocalist  called Bruce Dickinson, though in Samson he was called Bruce Bruce. Even he doesn't seem to know why ( from his later bio  'What does this button do?') .Within a year he would be singing with Iron Maiden.  

Rainbow's line up was their very best as far as I'm concerned. Ritchie Blackmore is a great guitarist,  Graham Bonnet had such a powerful voice though not originally from a rock background, Roger Glovers bass line just kept the whole thing rocking, Don Airey's keyboards was sublime. His solo included classic, pop, old songs all sorts of stuff & of course the legend that was Cozy Powell on drums just blew us away.

The evening was cut short , I believe Blackmore threw a moody  & wouldn't come back on. Not on really, we were the mugs who paid to see him!  There was newspaper reports of a riot after because of this, well it's another time  the press  just  seemed to make things up, as we saw no such thing and we didn't rush out either. Have you seen the ticket price? £4.00!!   Wow!

I also bought an album there (vinyl that is, its all we had then!) 'Long Live Rock n Roll' their third album. I wrote a longer slightly more in depth review that is complete cobblers, I tried to wax lyrical & failed dismally. One day I'll transcribe the whole thing. Just be gentle with me !   

Shortened though it was  this gig lives in my memory as one of the greatest. There's more to come! 

An idiots guide to an idiot: War films

An idiots guide to an idiot: War films: A good friend of mine awhile back went through his favourite films & put his thoughts on Instagram & FaceBook, so cribbing his idea ...

War films

A good friend of mine awhile back went through his favourite films & put his thoughts on Instagram & FaceBook, so cribbing his idea I thought I'd put on  my favourite war films. They aren't in any kind of order, I'd struggle to do that and I've chosen war films not only because its a subject that interests me but the last film we saw was 1917 so have been inspired to go with the war film theme. So here they are:

The Great Escape. A film that would deffo be in the top five of my list, this is a great film. Strangely I associate it with Christmas as that's when its usually on...again!  Made in 1963 it has a wealth of stars, |Richard Attenborough, Steve McQueen, Donald Pleasance, Charles Bronson and many more. It very loosely tells a true story of an escape from a Prisoner of War camp and the brutality of the Nazi Regime who murdered around 50 of the POW's on their recapture. The nonsense with Steve McQueen on his motorbike is entirely made up. McQueen would only do the film if he could sod about on a motorbike! The film has great music as well!

 

Zulu.  Its a brilliant film, not always historically correct but the same can be said of many films. I have very fond memories of having lunch behind the 'barricades' of the sofa and cushions whilst watching Zulu with Gary & Alec as little boys. Alec being totally captivated with the film, to this day (about twenty five years on) its one of his favourite films.

It stars Michael Caine in his first film as Lieutenant Gonville Bromhead and Stanley Baker as Lieutenant John Chard. In fact the film was a labour of love of Stanley Bakers. There are inaccuracies of course (not least the family of Private Henry Hook were outraged by how their ancestor was portrayed as a drunk layabout  when in reality he was not only tee total but an  but an exemplary soldier!) but  they are swamped by  it being edge of the seat daring do stuff! Sadly one of my favourite moments in the film when the garrison of Rorkes Drift sing 'Men of Harlech' after the Zulus have appeared and sung a series of battle cries, never happened!   Its a stirring part of the film.

The Dambusters. Could well be my number one to be honest, its a black and white film made in the 1950's when alot of the details of the 'Upkeep' bomb were still secret. It has a phenomenal  musical score making famous The Dambusters March, still beloved of RAF bands today. Michael Redgrave plays Barnes Wallis who invented the bouncing bomb and Richard Todd plays Wing Commander Guy Gibson who commanded 617 Squadron that carried out the attack. Three original Lancaster bombers were converted to look like the type that  were used, I think I'm right in saying two were scrapped after  filming (the fools!!) .The special effects of blowing up the dams are of course pretty ropey compared to todays wizardry so you do have to take that into consideration, though there is a little archive footage of prototype bombs being dropped and viewed from the seashore. Its a bloody good film and the Dambusters March still brings a lump to my throat. 

 

Bridge on the River Kwai  has the most brilliant opening scenes. The quiet of the jungle is broken by men whistling. It gradually gets louder then the orchestra takes up the strains of 'Colonel Bogey' and these  rag taggle Prisoners of War  march into the prison camp as if they were on Horse Guards Parade, a superb opening to the film which is actually abit annoying as its about the Colonel of the British played brilliantly by Alec Guinness remonstrating with their Jap captors that officers shouldn't work even though the men do. A compromise is made and the Colonel wants the bridge built to the best of their ability. Some documents only just released show that the War Office  wasn't very happy with the film as it makes the prisoners look like they are collaborating when in truth they sabotaged the railway at every opportunity, and an ex prisoner that I'd spoken to reckon the film made the Jap guards look like 'a load of nig-nogs' that could be influenced. Not so he said! For the slightest reason or no reason the guards would belt them with rifle butts, though as I've said before these are films for entertainment not documentaries.  It is however  a great film. 

  

     Waterloo.  Maybe Rod Steiger as Napoleon was a strange choice but Christopher Plummer as Wellington was spot on. It also stars 17000 soldiers of the Soviet Army who portrayed the troops in the battle. No CGI in 1970! It's an epic that sticks to the action and doesn't go off on tangents of characters love lives etc and is superbly done. From the charge of the Royal Scots Greys to the final assault by Napoleons Old Guard. A long film, but a great film.

  

 

Lawrence of Arabia.      Starring Peter  O'Toole as Lieut (later Colonel) Thomas Edward Lawrence. It's a 1962 epic that also stars Omar Sharif as Sherif Ali, Jack Hawkins as General Allenby and Anthony Quinn  and Alec Guinness  both playing Arabs (Auda Abu Tayi  & Prince Feisal). Not  something that would happen these days I think. The film is concerned with Lawrence's  involvement with the Arab  Revolt  against the Turks during World War One  though it starts with his death in a motorbike accident in 1935. The desert scenes are perhaps the most spectacular, the piece where  he meets Sherif Ali for the first  time is around four minutes of a figure a riding across the desert demonstrating the vastness of the desert I think. Peter O'Toole is good as Lawrence though there's an interesting historical anomaly. O'Toole was  6 ft 2in tall, Lawrence was only 5ft 5ins!   It's a long film running to nearly four hours but well worth an afternoon to watch it.

     

  A Bridge too far.  I saw this film when it first came out in  1977 with my friend Alan. Its a great film. Bit of an epic directed by Sir Richard Attenborough (most of his films were epics). It tells the story of the ill fated Operation Market Garden  to punch a way through to Arnhem by dropping paratroops ( British/US & Polish) to capture the all important bridges followed by XXX Armoured Corps roaring up to Arnhem. It  was a disaster and the bridge at Arnhem, the bridge too far, was never taken and many troops were killed , the remaining eventually having to  surrender.  Its got lots of big names of the time in. Dirk Bogarde, Anthony Hopkins, Gene Hackman,  Michael Caine, Sean Connery, Edward Fox, Ryan O'Neal, Lawrence Olivier  and more. Some say it was the last big war film made and was of course pre CGI technology . It also coined the immortal line from Anthony Hopkins playing Lieut Col Johnny Frost of 'Bring up the PAIT!' (Projector, Infantry, Anti Tank)  that is now in WW2 buffs vocabulary!

Journeys End.   A fine film that shows the harrowing side of war (World War One) and its effect on people. It is based an a play by RC Sherriff, himself a war veteran, though he had trouble getting the play off the ground in 1928 as people didn't want plays about the war. Memories were still too raw I think. The film of 2017  stars Asa Butterfield, Sam Clafin, Toby Jones and Stephen Graham and others of course. It shows the slow disintegration of four officers whilst waiting for the attack they know will come. A sombre but enthralling film.

1917. This latest World War One  release seems to be either loved or loathed. I thought it was a great film, it portrayed  the squalor & filth of the trenches and  was a powerful story. The purists will always complain of course....saluting without a hat on, belts worn incorrectly  etc but these are swamped by a by a good if simple story and some good acting. The military/historical adviser, a very knowledgeable chap called Andy Robertshaw asked Sam Mendes whether he could be in the film, just a small non speaking role in the background. He was refused on the grounds of he'd have been too old to be there in reality! Anyway, a very good film.         

I'll leave it at these nine films I think. I could add many more, and there are glaring omissions   such as Saving Private Ryan, Sink the Bismark, Cockleshell Heroes, Charge of the Light Brigade, Cromwell and more besides but I don't want to bore you dear reader. I might even do another instalment at a later date.

An idiots guide to an idiot: Carsington Water

An idiots guide to an idiot: Carsington Water:  On our first full day in the Peak District we went for a walk round part of Carsington Water. it was only   a couple of miles drive form wh...

Carsington Water

 On our first full day in the Peak District we went for a walk round part of Carsington Water. it was only   a couple of miles drive form where we were staying.

Weather was Ok but got  better as we walked. Pretty much all laid out proper paths which  helped Tara alot. We found a cabin with some over large carved wooden furniture which was fun. Did about 3 miles I think, then b ack to the cottage.

   

An idiots guide to an idiot: Ticket Stubs

An idiots guide to an idiot: Ticket Stubs:  I found another little gem in the loft as I continue to sort it out. Alot of ticket stubs from gigs I'd been to years ago! I thought I&...

Ticket Stubs

 I found another little gem in the loft as I continue to sort it out. Alot of ticket stubs from gigs I'd been to years ago! I thought I'd thrown them away years ago so was pleased to find them. I've even got the first gig I went to (  also blogged about) Penetration in  May 1979.