Foreword
The materials assembled below represent a 'work in progress' whereby I aim to preserve certain memories that may be of interest to family members and other readers.
Grammar School
Here is a picture of the author's first photograph at King Edward VI Grammar School ('KEGS'), Nuneaton. It includes a new boy who joined the class in the second form. This, together with the fact that we all seem to be wearing pullovers, suggests the date was some time in autumn 1966.
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| Form 2C. KEGS c1966 |
The author is seated immediately to the left of Mr Chetwynd.
Here is a second photograph, undated, of another class, demurely posing for the school photographer.
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| Nuneaton High School for Girls ?1966 or 1967 |
I recognise one or two of the girls who were later to play important roles in this story. Confirmation is, however, awaited to avoid any innocent mistakes of the memory.
Dramatic opening
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| Arms of Richard II. Sodacan [CC BY-SA 3.0] |
KING RICHARD II
I have been studying how I may compareEnter a Groom of the Stable
This prison where I live unto the world:
And for because the world is populous
And here is not a creature but myself,
I cannot do it; yet I'll hammer it out.
My brain I'll prove the female to my soul,
My soul the father; and these two beget
A generation of still-breeding thoughts,
And these same thoughts people this little world,
In humours like the people of this world,
For no thought is contented. The better sort,
As thoughts of things divine, are intermix'd
With scruples and do set the word itself
Against the word:
As thus, 'Come, little ones,' and then again,
'It is as hard to come as for a camel
To thread the postern of a needle's eye.'
Thoughts tending to ambition, they do plot
Unlikely wonders; how these vain weak nails
May tear a passage through the flinty ribs
Of this hard world, my ragged prison walls,
And, for they cannot, die in their own pride.
Thoughts tending to content flatter themselves
That they are not the first of fortune's slaves,
Nor shall not be the last; like silly beggars
Who sitting in the stocks refuge their shame,
That many have and others must sit there;
And in this thought they find a kind of ease,
Bearing their own misfortunes on the back
Of such as have before endured the like.
Thus play I in one person many people,
And none contented: sometimes am I king;
Then treasons make me wish myself a beggar,
And so I am: then crushing penury
Persuades me I was better when a king;
Then am I king'd again: and by and by
Think that I am unking'd by Bolingbroke,
And straight am nothing: but whate'er I be,
Nor I nor any man that but man is
With nothing shall be pleased, till he be eased
With being nothing. Music do I hear?
Music
Ha, ha! keep time: how sour sweet music is,
When time is broke and no proportion kept!
So is it in the music of men's lives.
And here have I the daintiness of ear
To cheque time broke in a disorder'd string;
But for the concord of my state and time
Had not an ear to hear my true time broke.
I wasted time, and now doth time waste me;
For now hath time made me his numbering clock:
My thoughts are minutes; and with sighs they jar
Their watches on unto mine eyes, the outward watch,
Whereto my finger, like a dial's point,
Is pointing still, in cleansing them from tears.
Now sir, the sound that tells what hour it is
Are clamorous groans, which strike upon my heart,
Which is the bell: so sighs and tears and groans
Show minutes, times, and hours: but my time
Runs posting on in Bolingbroke's proud joy,
While I stand fooling here, his Jack o' the clock.
This music mads me; let it sound no more;
For though it have holp madmen to their wits,
In me it seems it will make wise men mad.
Yet blessing on his heart that gives it me!
For 'tis a sign of love; and love to Richard
Is a strange brooch in this all-hating world.
Groom
Hail, royal prince!
KING RICHARD II
Thanks, noble peer;Groom
The cheapest of us is ten groats too dear.
What art thou? and how comest thou hither,
Where no man never comes but that sad dog
That brings me food to make misfortune live?
I was a poor groom of thy stable, king,KING RICHARD II
When thou wert king; who, travelling towards York,
With much ado at length have gotten leave
To look upon my sometimes royal master's face.
O, how it yearn'd my heart when I beheld
In London streets, that coronation-day,
When Bolingbroke rode on roan Barbary,
That horse that thou so often hast bestrid,
That horse that I so carefully have dress'd!
Rode he on Barbary? Tell me, gentle friend,Groom
How went he under him?
So proudly as if he disdain'd the ground.KING RICHARD II
So proud that Bolingbroke was on his back!Enter Keeper, with a dish
That jade hath eat bread from my royal hand;
This hand hath made him proud with clapping him.
Would he not stumble? would he not fall down,
Since pride must have a fall, and break the neck
Of that proud man that did usurp his back?
Forgiveness, horse! why do I rail on thee,
Since thou, created to be awed by man,
Wast born to bear? I was not made a horse;
And yet I bear a burthen like an ass,
Spurr'd, gall'd and tired by jouncing Bolingbroke.
Keeper
Fellow, give place; here is no longer stay.KING RICHARD II
If thou love me, 'tis time thou wert away.Groom
What my tongue dares not, that my heart shall say.Exit
Keeper
My lord, will't please you to fall to?KING RICHARD II
Taste of it first, as thou art wont to do.Keeper
My lord, I dare not: Sir Pierce of Exton, whoKING RICHARD II
lately came from the king, commands the contrary.
The devil take Henry of Lancaster and thee!Beats the keeper
Patience is stale, and I am weary of it.
Keeper
Help, help, help!Enter EXTON and Servants, armed.
KING RICHARD II
How now! what means death in this rude assault?Snatching an axe from a Servant and killing him
Villain, thy own hand yields thy death's instrument.
Go thou, and fill another room in hell. [At this point I slipped a 'blood' capsule into my mouth so that blood would trickle out as I declaimed my final lines...]He kills another. Then Exton strikes him down.
That hand shall burn in never-quenching fireDies
That staggers thus my person. Exton, thy fierce hand
Hath with the king's blood stain'd the king's own land.
Mount, mount, my soul! thy seat is up on high;
Whilst my gross flesh sinks downward, here to die.
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| Richard II (1377-99) |
Richard is buried in Westminster Abbey. This portrait is also in the Abbey and is the oldest portrait by a contemporary painter (André Beauneveu)
French Interlude
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| Table de Nuit. 23 April 1969. PB |
We had a mini tour of Paris before taking a train from Paris to Roanne where we arrived around midnight. I went to Mass with my penfriend on Easter Sunday. A week later, I fell ill in Le Café des Promenades and I was rushed to hospital on the following day, Sunday 13th of April. Diagnosis: meningitis.
You can read the salient points of this story elsewhere.
After about four weeks in hospital. my sister collected me and we made our way by ambulance to Orly airport; and thence to Birmingham and back home for tea-time. After two weeks of convalescence at home, I went back to school on Monday 26th of May. I had missed five weeks of school. I did not know at the time and we never met, but EC had also been on this trip.
The play's the thing: Oberon
A new English master, Keith Parsons, had arrived at KEGS; he was young and passionate about drama. He had seen my Richard and decided to cast me in the role of Oberon. At 15, I was one of the younger players in this joint production of A Midsummer Night's Dream by KEGS and the Nuneaton High School for Girls. It ran for three nights in December 1969. I found Shakespeare's comedy enormous fun and began a lifelong love affair with his poetry. Here are a couple of examples I remember quite vividly and with deep affection:
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| Oberon and Puck |
Where oxlips and the nodding violet grows,
Quite over-canopied with luscious woodbine,
With sweet musk-roses and with eglantine:
There sleeps Titania sometime of the night,
Lull’d in these flowers with dances and delight;
And there the snake throws her enamell’d skin,
Weed wide enough to wrap a fairy in:
And with the juice of this I’ll streak her eyes,
And make her full of hateful fantasies.
Take thou some of it, and seek through this grove:
A sweet Athenian lady is in love
With a disdainful youth: anoint his eyes;
But do it when the next thing he espies
May be the lady: thou shalt know the man
By the Athenian garments he hath on.
Effect it with some care, that he may prove
More fond on her than she upon her love:
And look thou meet me ere the first cock crow.
Act 2, Scene 1
[Enter Oberon and Titania with all their train]
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| Oberon and Titania |
Through this house each fairy stray.
To the best bride-bed will we,
Which by us shall blessed be;
And the issue there create
Ever shall be fortunate.
So shall all the couples three
Ever true in loving be;
And the blots of Nature's hand
Shall not in their issue stand;
Never mole, hare lip, nor scar,
Nor mark prodigious, such as are
Despised in nativity,
Shall upon their children be.
With this field-dew consecrate,
Every fairy take his gait;
And each several chamber bless,
Through this palace, with sweet peace;
And the owner of it blest
Ever shall in safety rest.
Trip away; make no stay;
Meet me all by break of day.
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| Penguin Books 1967. Edited by Stanley Wells. |
Other roles followed, including John Proctor in The Crucible (staged at the High School for Girls in December 1970), and Lord Brockhurst in The Boyfriend by Sandy Wilson (back at KEGS in March 1971).
My big number as Lord Brockhurst involved playing opposite Dulcie, played by EC.
Here are Sandy Wilson's lyrics for our song and dance routine: 'It's never too late'.
Fed up with boys? Well then, why not try something older?Oh, I'm fed up with boys.
Something older?Yes, like me, for instance...
I may be too old to run a mile
Run a mile?Yes, run a mile,
But there's one thing I still do very well.
I may be too old to climb a stile.
Climb a stile?Yes, climb a stile,
But there's one thing at which I still excel.
Although my hair is turning grey,
Yes, it's rather grey!I still believe it when I say...
Well, what do you say?It's never too late to have a fling,
For Autumn is just as nice as Spring
And it's never too late to fall in love.
Boop-a-Doop, Boop-a-Doop, Boop-a-Doop!It's never too late to wink an eye
I'll do it until the day I die
And it's never too late to fall in love.
Boop-a-Doop, Boop-a-Doop, Boop-a-Doop!If they say I'm too old for you
Then I shall answer "Why, sir,A gentleman never feels too weak
One never drinks the wine that's new;
The old wine tastes much nicer!"
To pat a pink arm or pinch a cheek
And it's never too late to fall in love.
Sez who?Sez me.
Sez you?Sez we.
Sez both of us together!It's never too late to whisper words,
Concerning the way of bees and birds,And it's never too late to fall in love.
Whack-a-do, Whack-a-do, Whack-a-do!
It's never too late to flirt and spoonA fiddle that's old is more in tune
And it's never too late to fall in loveWhack-a-do, Whack-a-do, Whack-a-do!
The modern artists of todayYou can't beat an old master!
May paint their picture faster,
But when it comes to skill, I say
It's never too late to bill and coo,At any age one and one make two
And it's never too late to fall in love.
It's never too late to blow a kissAnd it's never too late to fall in love
Especially at a time like this
Vo-de-o, Vo-de-o, Vo-de-oIt's never too late for fun and larks,
A jolly old flame has lots of sparks
And it's never too late to fall in love.Vo-de-o, Vo-de-o, Vo-de-o!
The modern buildings that you seeBut I am sure that you'll agree
Are often most alarming
A ruin can be charming!
It's never too late to be a beauExperience counts a lot, you know
And it's never too late to fall in...
Lord Brockhurst & Dulcie finishing their number.
Never too late to fall in...
Never too late to fall in...
Love!
For a flavour of the period, see: It's Never Too Late to Fall in Love ·(Maria Charles · John Rutland · Sandy Wilson).
Back to France
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| La Baule, 1971. ^ The author is standing slightly left of centre, holding an exercise book. |
Robert Graves in his autobiographical Goodbye to all that had observed how many British officers and men thought we were on the wrong side in the First World War and that the Germans were our natural allies.
Othello
Our English master KP surprised some of us by his ambitious choice of Shakespeare's Othello for our school play for 1971. I was quite taken by the challenge when he asked me to play the lead. I had immersed myself in An Actor Prepares, by Konstantin Sergeievich Stanislavski (1963-1938) and I studied very closely Olivier's Othello, playing opposite Frank Finlay's Iago. Finlay had been a personal friend of our lodger and my headmaster, John Boland, when I was a boy.
Othello was a 1965 film based on the National Theatre Company's staging of Shakespeare's Othello (1964-1966) staged by John Dexter. The film starred Laurence Olivier, Maggie Smith, Joyce Redman, and Frank Finlay, who all received Academy Award nominations, and provided film debuts for both Derek Jacobi and Michael Gambon. It was at the time the only Shakespeare film in which all the principals were nominated for Oscars. I discovered today that Olivier had managed to knock out Maggie Smith on stage when slapping her cheek during a performance. I had quite forgotten that I had to deliver a convincing slap to the face of my Desdemona, poor Pamela Mason. She is shown looking somewhat apprehensive in the photograph below!
All the official photographs taken were lost. The following images are all I have. They appeared in the local newspaper and were taken at the costume rehearsal. I had on full make-up, except for my hair!
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| Look in my face... PB as Othello (1971) |
My lord, what is your will?
OTHELLO
Pray, chuck, come hither.
DESDEMONA
What is your pleasure?
OTHELLO
Let me see your eyes;
Look in my face.
DESDEMONA
What horrible fancy's this?
[Act IV, scene 2]
The next two excerpts proved in time to be a fearful portent of tragedy that was to strike me personally several years later:
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| Farewell the tranquil mind... PB as Othello (1971) |
Farewell the plumed troop, and the big wars,
That make ambition virtue! O, farewell!
Farewell the neighing steed, and the shrill trump,
The spirit-stirring drum, the ear-piercing fife,
The royal banner, and all quality,
Pride, pomp and circumstance of glorious war!
And, O you mortal engines, whose rude throats
The immortal Jove's dead clamours counterfeit,
Farewell! Othello's occupation's gone!
[Act III, Scene 3]
Othello's last speech is reproduced below, with emphasis added. I find the words 'threw a pearl away / Richer than all his tribe' are deeply haunting.
OTHELLO
Soft you; a word or two before you go.
I have done the state some service, and they know't.
No more of that. I pray you, in your letters,
When you shall these unlucky deeds relate,
Speak of me as I am; nothing extenuate,
Nor set down aught in malice: then must you speak
Of one that loved not wisely but too well;
Of one not easily jealous, but being wrought
Perplex'd in the extreme; of one whose hand,
Like the base Indian, threw a pearl away
Richer than all his tribe; of one whose subdued eyes,
Albeit unused to the melting mood,
Drop tears as fast as the Arabian trees
Their medicinal gum. Set you down this;
And say besides, that in Aleppo once,
Where a malignant and a turban'd Turk
Beat a Venetian and traduced the state,
I took by the throat the circumcised dog,
And smote him, thus.
[Stabs himself]
LODOVICO
O bloody period!
GRATIANO
All that's spoke is marr'd.
OTHELLO
I kiss'd thee ere I kill'd thee: no way but this; [Falling upon Desdemona]
Killing myself, to die upon a kiss.
[Dies]
[Act V, scene 2]
Whatever happened to...?
Part 1:
Whatever happened to Pamela Mason (Desdemona)? She married my producer and English teacher, Keith Parsons.
See below for screenshots from the website of Wroxton College Campus (Fairleigh Dickinson University).
Part 2:
From the the website of Wroxton College Campus (Fairleigh Dickinson University).
Meet Your ProfessorsDr. Pamela MasonMr. Keith ParsonsPamela Mason and Keith Parsons have lived and worked together for a very long time. Both products of single-sex secondary schools, they both read English at the University of Birmingham, albeit not at the same time. Pamela will insist that she is so much younger!On graduating Keith immediately went to teach in a boys’ grammar school [King Edward VI Grammar School, Nuneaton] where he built on his experience as a member of the National Youth Theatre to direct a wide range of plays. He moved on as Head of English to a large comprehensive school where he again established a strong Dramatic Society and became a Senior Teacher. Pamela won a Major State Studentship and stayed in Birmingham to study at the Shakespeare Institute where her MA thesis dealt with productions of Much Ado About Nothing. For her PhD thesis she focused upon Olivier’s Shakespeare. She completed both within three years.They married [1977] between theses and partly because Pamela wanted to ensure that the two volumes would be next to each other on the library shelves (though feminism may also have been a factor), she retained her maiden name. It wasn’t easy in those days: ‘They’ll think you’re not married or an actress, dear’. She had done some acting at school, most memorably as Helena (Dream) [cf Oberon!], Desdemona [cf Othello!], Maisie in The Boy Friend [cf Lord Brockhurst!]and Mona (Moan) Kent in Dames at Sea, so she didn’t think it would make her entirely disreputable. However, her first academic job as Dean’s Relief would prove difficult to explain.Keith regarded the introduction of the National Curriculum as kiss of death for innovative English teaching and shocked his colleagues by resigning to become the primary carer for their growing family. This enabled Pamela to be the first woman to be appointed as a Fellow of the Shakespeare Institute, the world centre for post-graduate Shakespeare studies which had relocated (appropriately enough) to Mason Croft in Stratford-upon- Avon. As is the delight of young academics, Pamela was able to travel the world to give lectures and attend conferences.Some post-doctoral freelance work had led to a part-time appointment at Wroxton (an embarrassingly long time ago) where Pamela relished a very different challenge. Keith would eventually join her there and the two of them now run all the College’s English Literature and Drama and Theatre Arts courses. Performance schedules and an eagerness to extend their own experience means that courses are never simply repeated from semester to semester. But both tutors resolutely insist that they teach students rather than texts.Pamela and Keith often teach together. It entertains their audience if there can be disagreement! When the Open University introduced a Shakespeare course, Pamela was one of its first tutors and chose to supplement the distance-learning module with Keith’s support on Study Days. The Study Days continue, now on a fortnightly pattern at the Birmingham and Midland Institute, where an eclectic range of topics appeals to a lively, intelligent and knowledgeable group of adults.One consequence of co-editing a lavishly illustrated book on Shakespeare in Performance (London, 1995) was that Keith and Pamela were invited by Rose Bruford College (one of our leading drama schools) to co-author and teach the foundation module for what was perhaps the first distance-learning post-graduate course in England. It was validated by the University of Manchester and proved very successful. Pamela is also the author of several influential articles as well as Text and Performance: Much Ado About Nothing (London, 1992), Shakespeare’s Early Comedies: A Casebook (London, 1995) and the best-selling Cambridge Shakespeare Student Guide to ‘Othello’ (Cambridge, 2002). The New Arden edition of Macbeth (London, 2015) consumed far too many years of family life. It’s difficult to erase the memory of a five-week discussion about a single comma.Seven years ago Pamela, Keith and two of their daughters became founder members (and the driving force) of Arden RDA, a registered charity and one of the youngest Member Groups of the national Riding for the Disabled Association. Being presented with a saddle by Princess Anne recently was a particularly proud moment.Rather than subject their young children to an unremitting theatrical diet of Shakespeare, an interest in ballet rapidly developed into a continuing and consuming passion. Conversations about television programmes come to a juddering halt when people eventually realise that Pamela and Keith prefer to spend their summers watching cricket and their evenings in the theatre or reading. In recent years their theatrical horizons have expanded to embrace an enthusiasm for opera while still being eager to seek out the best of new writing. Their work is their relaxation, though they also enjoy collecting grandchildren, already having enough for a cricket team (one day!) and a twelfth man or woman.
Real drama enters from behind the arras
tbc
Reuben and my first job
1972: Scene shifts to PB and EC in the Nag's Head pub, Nuneaton; playing darts with two men. Chatting. I needed a job. 'Come and work with us'. Reuben was a traveller with a very large family and I did several jobs as a labourer with him, laying tarmac on the front drives of gullible householders who thought they were getting a great bargain. It was great fun after seven years at Grammar School, but... a bit of a scam, hovering between a breach of contract and outright fraud.
First home
An Indian paterfamilias with very long hair was our first landlord. He had seven children, I think, and I used to catch sight of his wife silently combing his wavy gray hair.
We were renting a bedroom overlooking Edward Streeted. We shared a kitchen, bathroom and toilet with Geoff, an ex-con, and some mice. There was a strong smell of gas and matches.smell of gas and matches.
Our bedroom had a fireplace and a walk-in cupboard. I ordered bags of coal to be delivered and I humped the bags upstairs to dump the coal in the cupboard. I stripped all the wallpaper with a view to decorating, but never proceeded any further before we eventually moved out in early 1973. We were based here over Christmas 1972 and we bought a little Christmas Tree. I had found a job...
The Plasterer's Apprentice
Actually, my title and role was a labourer. I'd found the job advertised in the local paper, the Evening Tribune. The Godiva Building Company employed a variety of tradesmen but I was allocated to Joe and Chris. Joe was an experienced plasterer in his early 60's who wore blue overalls and a flat cap. Chris was in his 20s and wore white overalls. He had auditioned for Opportunity Knocks and was a naturally gifted baritone. I learned the dark arts of mixing Carlite browning in an old zinc bath. When the mixture was ready, I'd tip buckets of it onto the 'spot' where Joe an dChris would transfer it onto their hand hawks for the 'roughing on', the first coat applied on a wall. For the finishing coat, I used Carlite finish, mixed with an old pram wheel in a bucket. For ceilings, it was Thistle finish. This mixture had to be totally smooth and free from any bits of grit or other impurities.
Music from late 1972 and early 1973
https://duckduckgo.com/?q=soft+machine+two&t=ffsb&ia=videos&iax=videos&iai=eDLt3lbejLg
I had a couple of 45s that I knew by heart:
cappricio+italien
https://duckduckgo.com/?q=cappricio+italien&t=ffsb&ia=videos&iax=videos&iai=eaU--vM_Ioo
eine+kleine+nachtmusik
https://duckduckgo.com/?q=eine+kleine+nachtmusik&t=ffsb&ia=videos&iax=videos&iai=U0kWvUNa_eg
These might have given me some defence against the worst excesses of banality in pop
UK Top Ten hits included:
Long+Haired+Lover+from+Liverpool
https://duckduckgo.com/?q=Long+Haired+Lover+from+Liverpool&t=ffnt&ia=videos&iax=videos&iai=X_Ybe1lihNA
Nights+in+White+Satin
https://duckduckgo.com/?q=Nights+in+White+Satin&t=ffnt&ia=videos&iax=videos&iai=9l59IPomH7Q
My-DingALing
https://playback.fm/charts/top-100-songs/video/1972/Chuck-Berry-My-DingALing
Like+to+Teach+the+World+to+Sing
https://duckduckgo.com/?q=I%27d+Like+to+Teach+the+World+to+Sing+(In+Perfect+Harmony)&t=ffnt&iax=videos&ia=videos&iai=ZWKznrEjJK4
Marriage and fatherhood
Early 1973 saw the arrival of M: I was 19 and EC was 18. Our bedsit was no place for a little baby girl and then... a miracle happened.Moving up in the world
By what I always considered a piece of pure good fortune, EC's grandfather, GW, offered to rent us his flat which had just become vacant. We moved up (literally) to his house located on on Camp Hill. GW lived downstairs where he spent most of his retirement and widowerhood chain-smoking and watching his colour TV (a rarity for most at this time). We had the first floor: living room, bedroom and bathroom. After being down and out in Edward Street, this was Paradise, angels included.
I had changed jobs and began a stint of the happiest days of my life. I looked forward to each day working for Ansley Garden Centre doing landscape gardening and civil engineering. Great camaraderie with Jass, Tery and Wally. Often travelling quite some distance to work on contracts. Out all day in the fresh air. Looking forward to 'going up' to Cambridge, en famille.
Fitzwilliam College in the University of Cambridge
Prestar, Luton: working in a car factory
172578: MPS. 121 N District
'I can say what I like in front of my own house!'
The following is taken from the Revolutionary Communist website and (mis)represents an incident I personally witnessed at first hand in 1979. My notes are in blue.
Defend The Earlington Family
Racist frame-ups, arrests and assaults are part of everyday life for black people in Britain. In Highbury and Islington, North London, police activity on this score is notorious. The Islington 18 only won their freedom from police trumped-up charges after a long campaign waged by the Defence Committee. Unabashed by this exposure of their racist activities during the case of the 18, local police have continued their harassment of black people in the area. Their racist activities have been highlighted this year by the arrest of five members of a single black family. In April 1979 a total of five members of the Earlington family were arrested by police. Where? In their own home. For what? because, allege the police, Mrs Earlington had been having an argument with a neighbour, it was necessary to arrest first her, then four more members of family in case a ‘breach of the peace' might occur. [The breach of the peace had occurred and continued in the presence of the officers despite several warnings. Mrs E finally shouted in the face of one of the officers: 'I can say what I want in front of my own house! 'I can say what I want in front of my own house!']
Arrest of the Earlington Family
On the afternoon of [Monday] April 9 1979, Mrs Earlington was at home on sick leave from work. She has been a ward orderly in the local hospital for the last eight years. Mrs Earlington's son, Trevor, on his return home from work, was involved in a short argument with a neighbour's son over a bicycle wheel, which had been removed from his bicycle. Mrs Earlington and the mother of the boy next door joined in. Neighbours have since stated that at this time, no noise or disturbance could be heard. [It was in fact a neighbour who had called police by telephone about the disturbance]
Then there arrived two policemen (the first of many). They had been 'called', they said in court, but they 'did not know by whom'. [Because the caller had stated she did not want to be identified because she and he family were frightened]. And in fact, according to police evidence in court, everyone in the nearby flats refused to speak to them when they arrived. [Neighbours were either out or unwilling to speak to policer, through fear of the E family] After trying one door, the police arrived at the Earlington's flat where Mrs Earlington was standing in the passage way inside the house. One of the policemen advanced towards Mrs Earlington and said: 'Did you phone for the police you black bastard. Any more noise from you and I'll have you nicked'. Mrs Earlington angered by this provocative racist abuse, protested that she was sick, that she was not doing anything and that the police had no right to be there. [Almost all of this is false. Mrs E was on the common passageway outside her flat. PC 343 N was extremely patient but Mrs E would not modify her loud behaviour. The other PC radioed for a van as an arrest had been made.] The policeman then grabbed hold of her. On hearing his mother calling out for a doctor and for help, Trevor came from upstairs where he had gone to watch TV. Seeing what was happening to his mother, he tried to prevent the policeman from manhandling her. Meanwhile, the second policeman had radioed for help to assist the two in the arrest of this sick woman. Audrey Earlington then arrived. She too was horrified by the scene. [Trevor was a very powerfully built 16 year old and he attacked PC 343 N, causing him ABH. Angela attacked the other PC from behind, biting him. He called for 'urgent assistance'. ]
Very quickly, an estimated 18 police in five cars and three meat wagons, arrived outside the flat. Having announced their arrival by knocking down the sitting room door, which was locked, they then proceeded to arrest the family. Mrs Earlington was hand-cuffed and dragged off down three flights of stone steps. It was at this point, neighbours state, that they first heard a disturbance and came out to look. That is, the peace of the neighbourhood was broken only by the activities of the police. Trevor was arrested and so was Audrey. Angela (14) who had just arrived home from school, protested at the sight of her handcuffed mother and tried to prevent her from being dragged off. For her trouble she was slapped on the face, handcuffed and dragged off too. Mr Earlington, who had been dozing in front of the TV, came downstairs and had hardly time to take in the scene before he was punched in the stomach and arrested.
At the police station, all the family were charged with numerous counts of assault etc. Mrs Earlington's thumb had been twisted to a degree where she was unable to work for several weeks. She was refused medical attention at the police station. The blow to Angela's face has since reactivated a childhood illness in her jaw and she is due shortly to go into hospital.
Two of the family, Mrs Earlington and Trevor, charged with both Actual Bodily Harm and assault of a police officer with intent to resist arrest, elected to be tried at Crown Court. However, their belief that this would lead to a 'fairer' trial than at Highbury Magistrates Court, notorious for its racism and the heavy sentences meted out to black people, was shaken. The question of precisely why 18 police had found it necessary to beat up and arrest five members of one family in their own home was never an issue during the trial. The judge's summing up was devoted almost entirely to police evidence. As a result Mrs Earlington and Trevor were found guilty by the jury who failed, however, to reach a unanimous verdict on the second charge. Trevor Earlington lost the job which he had only just managed to get, due to having to take time off for the case. [Accused found guilty in Magistrates' Court and at Snarersbrook Crown Court. Mrs E was later to claim a truncheon had been drawn and used, despite police denials. She had wrapped it in a newspaper on the 9 April and produced it many months later at Highbury Corner Magistrates' Court. Unfortunately, it was not a truncheon, and the paper was dated to a few days before the court hearing]
Defence Committee Formed
Mrs Earlington and Trevor have since decided to appeal against this racist injustice. The cases of Mr Earlington, Angela and Audrey are still to come up at Highbury Corner Magistrates Court. The Earlington Family Defence Committee has been formed by the Earlington Family, friends, Hackney branch of the PNP and supporters of FRFI, to fight the charges and to raise money and support for the Earlington Family. The Defence Committee is determined that police victimisation of black people, in this case the Earlingtons, cannot go unchallenged in this area where such things happen week in week out. The Defence Committee is leafletting the area, holding meetings and other events and collecting money in support of the Earlington Family. Money is urgently needed to pay the fines already incurred, to pay any additional legal costs and to pay for publicity to build up support for the family. Please send money and make cheques payable to the Earlington Family Defence Fund.
A very rare recording of from 1982 or 1983 giving a very clear idea of a police pursuit in a semi-inner London borough. Note the consummate professionalism and calmness of those involved.
Key to language:
'November 4' : This is the call sign of the main car involved in ther chase.Each district had a letter. 'N' was the letter for Islington District. Each district had several 'area cars', fast response vehicles, in contrast to 'panda cars' used for other purposes.
'November 1': Kings Cross
'November 2': Islington
'November 3': Highbury Vale
'November 4': Holloway.
These 'area' or 'RT' cars were always double-manned and were able to provide the fastest response to emergency calls. Their drivers were 'advanced drivers' who had received specialised training at Hendon Driving School, including fast pursuits. I served as RT operator on both 'November 4' and 'November 3'.
'MP': This srands for 'Metropolitan Police' and was the call sign for the Information Room at New Scotland Yard where 999 calls were received, despatched and controlled. Pursduits were frequently recorded for future use in training.
11 April 1981: Brixton
Corpus Christi, Maiden Lane
Werst Harrow: c 1994-2000
The 17th Harrow Scout Troop
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| Divinum auxilium maneat semper eiscum... |
P, T & Ed were all involved in the scouts. It was a popular troop with girls (introduced in 1994) and boys. Weekly meetings were supplemented by weekends away, occasional camps and other activities.
In one year, I had the honour of coaching the scouts in the district competitions for athletics, football and swimming. We were victorious in all three! On the left is Tony Burke, seated at the front, the author and (to his left) Ed, with T at the top (wearing a white top) holding the Athletics Shield.
The picture is taken from A Potted History of The Church of Our Lady and St.Thomas of Canterbury, From October 1965 to June 2015, Compiled by Colin Hinton.
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