On this day in history : 5th November 1967 – A passenger train derails at Hither Green in South East London…. 49 people are killed and a further 78 injured….
It was a Sunday evening, the packed 12 coach 7.43pm express train was travelling from Hastings to Charing Cross…. At just after 9.15pm disaster was to strike when moving at a speed of approximately 70mph the train derailed…. It happened just before the St. Mildred’s Road railway bridge, close to the Hither Green maintenance depot – a little over a mile from the scene of another rail-crash killing 90 people in Lewisham ten years before….
Hither Green maintenance depot – Image credit : Leaozinho – own work – Public domain
The Hastings to London derailment occurred when the leading pair of wheels of the third coach hit a broken rail and came off the tracks…. The train carried on for a quarter of a mile until it came to a set of points – causing eleven of the coaches to derail…. Four of them turned on to their sides, with two jack-knifing….
It was a busy train, many of the passengers were standing – most of the casualties were in the over-turned carriages…. The emergency services arrived within five minutes and rescuers worked through the night under floodlights to free survivors – among them Robin Gibb of the Bee Gees and his wife, Molly….
An investigation found a rail had fractured at its joint – a triangular piece of metal had fallen out of the bolt hole…. Consequently maintenance of the line was improved, along with inspection procedures – and future rail joints made to a different specification….
A plaque at Hither Green commemorates those who died and on each anniversary flowers and wreaths are laid….
Hither Green Station, 1992 – Image credit : Ben Brooksbank CC BY-SA 2.0
On this day in history : 4th November 1987 – Multi-millionaire English entrepreneur Peter de Savary buys Land’s End, Cornwall….
Image credit : Louis Segal – own work CC BY-SA 3.0
During the 1980s de Savary had been in the process of building up his property portfolio…. As well as purchasing Land’s End he also bought John O’Groats and Skibo Castle in the Scottish Highlands….
Land’s End, part of the village of Sennen and located eight miles west of Penzance, at the end of the A30, has attracted tourists for over 300 years…. It was owned by a Cornish family until 1982, who then sold it to David Goldstone…. He then sold it to de Savary for almost £7m, who bought it after outbidding the National Trust, who also wanted to buy it and who own the cliffs to the east and west of Land’s End….
Image credit : Jakemete – own work – CC BY 3.0
De Savary built two new buildings and began work on the theme park that is now there before selling it on, along with John O’Groats, to businessman Graham Ferguson in 1991…. A company named Heritage Attractions Ltd was formed….
Nowadays the Land’s End tourist complex includes a visitor centre and indoor attractions such as an air-sea rescue motion theatre, galleries, shops, restaurants and cafes…. It has an RSPB wildlife discovery club and a farm…. Its hotel is a hugely popular wedding venue….
On this day in history : 3rd November 1839 – The first Opium War between China and Britain begins – after British warships destroy several Chinese junks forming a blockade of the Pearl River….
Artist : Edward Duncan – Public domain
Foreign traders – but predominantly British – had been illegally exporting opium, mainly from India, to China since the 18th century…. The 1820s saw a dramatic increase in this ‘trade’…. In exchange for fuelling widespread opium addiction in China these unscrupulous merchants would demand silver, with which they would then buy tea, silk and other Chinese goods…. With the rise in addiction came moral decay, causing social and economic problems…. Something had to be done….
Chinese opium smokers – Wellcome Images CC BY 4.0
In the Spring of 1839 the Chinese government enforced a shutdown and blockade of the trading companies; over 20,000 barrels of opium stored in one warehouse alone in Canton were destroyed….
European factories, Canton – by William Daniell – Public domain
Then in July 1939 matters were made even worse when drunken British sailors murdered a Chinese villager…. The British refused to hand the sailors over to the Chinese authorities, escalating tensions…. Hostilities broke out in the November when British frigates blew up Chinese vessels forming a blockade in the Kowloon Estuary….
In June 1840 a British fleet arrived in Hong Kong and then travelled up the Pearl River to Canton…. Months of negotiations followed but then in May 1841 the British attacked and occupied the city…. Over the next year more British campaigns followed – the inferior Chinese forces were no match for the British troops – although they did put up a strong counter attack in the Spring of 1842…. However, the British eventually captured Nanking in August 1842 and this brought an end to the fighting (for now)….
Battleships approaching Canton in May 1841 – by Edward H Cree – Public domain
Following peace negotiations the Treaty of Nanking was signed on the 29th of August 1842…. Hong Kong was ceded to the British and an agreement was made to increase the number of ports in which merchants could be based to trade from…. Previously it had only been Canton but now four others were added, including Shanghai….
On this day in history : 2nd November 2014 – The death of English clarinetist and vocalist Acker Bilk – who has in the past been described as ‘the Great Master of the Clarinet’….
Image credit : Bradford Timeline via Flickr
Bilk’s most famous track, instrumental Stranger on the Shore, reached No.2 and stayed 55 weeks in the charts…. It was kept off the No.1 position by Cliff Richard’s The Young Ones but was to become the biggest selling single of 1962…. However, it did reach No.1 in the USA; Bilk always claimed that it would be his pension fund….
Image credit : Bradford Timeline via Flickr
Born Bernard Stanley Bilk in Pensford, Somerset on the 28th of January 1929, he acquired the nickname ‘Acker’ as it is Somerset slang for ‘mate’ or ‘friend’….
He learned to play the clarinet whilst doing his National Service with the Royal Engineers in the Suez Canal…. His first clarinet was one a friend had bought on a bazaar – it had no reed so they made one from a piece of wood…. He later ‘borrowed’ a clarinet from the army’s orchestra – and managed to keep hold of it after being demobbed…. After completing his National Service Bilk joined his uncle’s blacksmith business and became qualified in the trade himself…. He married his childhood sweetheart, Jean Hawkins, whom he had been at school with – and they went on to have two children, a boy and a girl….
Bilk began to play on the Bristol jazz circuit with a group of friends…. He then moved to London and joined the band of trumpet and cornet player Ken Colyer…. However, he didn’t care much for London and so returned to Pensford and formed his own band The Chew Valley Jazzmen…
But to achieve success meant having to return to London….which the band did in 1951, renaming themselves The Bristol Paramount Jazz Band…. They landed themselves a six week job in a Düsseldorf beer keller – and it was during this time that the band developed their own unique style and image, complete with bowler hats and striped waistcoats…. Along with his goaty beard this look stayed with Bilk throughout his career…. The band returned to the UK and the London jazz circuit and became part of the traditional jazz scene that was so popular in the late 1950s…. In 1960 their first hit single Summer Set was released and reached No.5; a string of hit singles were to follow….
Mr Acker Bilk & His Paramount Jazz Band – Image credit : Hans-Michael Tappan via Flickr
In 1962 Bilk composed Jenny; a melody he named for his daughter – he reputedly thought it up whilst travelling in the back of a taxi…. He was then asked to change the title so it could be used for a BBC children’s television series about a French au pair living in Brighton – the series was entitled Stranger on the Shore…. He then recorded it as the title track for his new album – it made him an international star, selling over a million copies and earning a gold disc…. The track was so successful that it had no need for lyrics…. Soon he had become such a big star that his PR operation became known as the Bilk Marketing Board – a humorous play on the work ‘Milk’….
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Bilk’s last chart appearance was in 1978 with the album Evergreen…. He continued to tour with his band and was awarded an MBE in 2001…. He said, in 2012, that after 50 years he was fed up with playing Stranger on the Shore…. However, I don’t think we, the public, will ever tire of hearing it….
Bilk died in Bath in 2014 at the age of 85… He had been treated for throat cancer in 1997 but had then developed bladder cancer and suffered a minor stroke….
Image credit : Bradford Timeline via FlickrAcker Bilk performing in the Duke of Clarence Assembly Rooms during the 1960s – Image credit : Marquisofqueensbury at English Wikipedia CC BY-SA 3.0
On this day in history : 31st October 1971 – A bomb explodes in the revolving restaurant at the top of London’s Post Office Tower….
The Tower had been open for six years and the restaurant, situated on the 34th floor and with its panoramic views across the city, proved popular with London’s fashionable diners….
Panoramic view from the Tower – Image credit : Colin – own work – CC BY-SA 3.0
According to the Manager of the restaurant around 100 hoax bomb threats had been made over the previous five years or so…. Only this time the threat was for real…. A warning had been given and the building searched – but nothing was found…. At 4.30am an explosion blasted holes in the outer walls of the restaurant and viewing galleries…. Buildings and parked cars up to 400m away were damaged and local residents were woken in their beds…. Thankfully nobody was hurt…. The police received a call shortly after from a man claiming to be from the Kilburn Battalion of the IRA…. The bombing had all the hallmarks of the IRA – although far left anarchist organisation the Angry Brigade also later claimed responsibility….
The bomb had been planted in the roof space of the men’s toilets on the lowest of the public viewing galleries…. It was thought a diner may have gained access to a restricted internal staircase in order to plant it….
The restaurant was closed to the public – and when the owner’s lease expired in 1980 it was closed permanently…. The revolving floor still remains functioning and nowadays the restaurant is used for occasional corporate entertaining….and is also used for part of the filming of the BBC’s annual Children in Need fundraising event….
Image credit : David Castor – own work – Public domain
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