Letters 29, 30 & 31 : Colonials on the Continent
London. Monday. Jan 4th,1965. I am writing at work once again in the Lab, and if we're not too busy I will be able to post this at lunch time. The three Ultra Sonic Machines are warming up at the moment and take about 45mins. John arrived about half an hour late as he got tangled up in traffic and took a detour to avoid the snarl and ended up getting lost.(an easy thing to do in London). He lives in Kent. It's still very cold and there was a lot of ice about this morning, but I think I am now getting used to the cold. I wear a jersey, a jacket, and an overcoat to work in the morning, as well as a scarf and gloves. Well the big news is that Noel is back. As you can imagine I am very pleased to have him return, and he is also pleased to be home. He said that two weeks was too long in the one place and that a week would have been better. He didn't do much skiing, and Marg has a few bruises to show for her efforts. They didn't like the food much. Austrians don't eat breakfast, only a roll and a cup of coffee, don't eat sweets with their meals and don't drink beverages with their meals either. Noel said the quality of their food was okay, but there was not enough of it. They went to Munich for two days with some friends and liked it very much, although they had trouble with the language. One funny story that they tell is about wanting to go to the toilets in a Munich Hotel. There were toilets but, because of the language, they could not work out which was which, so they had to stand outside and wait patiently until a man or woman came along and see which door they entered. They also went to Innsbruck, but did not like it saying that it was too old, and not as big as they expected. Noel said that he only had one bath in two weeks. The bathroom at the Hotel was kept locked, and if you wanted a bath(which no one bothers about on the Continent), you had to get a key and pay 5 shillings. Last night we had dinner at Margies. She also asked two south African friends that they palled up with in Austria. Their names were Anna and Colin, both very nice people. Anna was on her way to England, when she got word to say her Father had been shot and killed by natives. He was pretty high up in the Government, and he answered a knock at the door one night, and was shot by three tribesmen. She appears to have got over the shock now though. Margie gave us chicken and vegetables. The chicken was in a can and all it required was heating. The same with the carrots and the peas. It's amazing what you can buy here ready cooked. Noel, sort of, complemented Margie on her cooking(in a tongue in cheek way!) and she thought he was serious and said he should tell her Mother that she was a good cook now!!..Maybe I should tell her about the new accelerated freeze dried food available. It is actually better than canned food and frozen food. You just empty the dry contents of the packet into water and boil, then simmer for 20 mins. The dehydrated meat and vegetables absorb the water and become just like they were originally. I bought a complete frozen Chinese meal last week. Sweet and sour pork, fried rice and chow mein chicken for 6 shillings. It just had to be heated up in the oven and then you peeled back the foil cover and there it was all ready to eat. Delicious! Bob was around all yesterday afternoon. We had the projector going showing slides. We showed him ones of Hong Kong, Cairo, England and Australia - and a few taken in Scotland. Quite a mixture! Gee, the Topcon takes beautiful slides. You should see the Autumn shots.(you will in a year or two!) The colours are breathtaking. By the way, can you see Desley and ask her if she can possibly bring over my photo album when she comes and any photo enlargements that you find lying around. I want some pictures to show around here, but I left all my black and white stuff at home. I'm sure Des could fit the album in somewhere. I particularly want the big 10x8 of Bet, self and the gang dressed for the P.P.play where we sang the "Hikers Song". Bet is in the middle and we are all holding on to her. Andy is leaving this week to sail to Australia!!?! No one actually believes he will do it. My two mates, Harry and Robin have been in and out all morning. Robin has invited me to his 21st birthday party in May. He believes in getting in early. He's a real nut! Crazy on pop music and plays the drums in a group. Pat and Connie arrive this week. Quite excited about seeing them.
London. Thursday Jan7th 1965. Well the girls have arrived.(Connie and Pat) We went around last night to the O.V.C. where they are staying, but missed Pat as she had gone out with an officer from the ship. Trust Pat! However we took Connie and Mary (Mary is a friend from Rocky who came over with them on the ship) into Piccadilly to have drinks at the Captain's Cabin. It is one of our favourite places in London and very popular with tourists. It is a very, very old drinking and eating house laid out like the interior of a ship. The girls were fascinated and we all talked and talked. Both Noel and I have always thought that Connie is a lovely girl, and we have always had a soft spot for her. She looked very attractive in a new dress that she had bought in the Strand that morning. They are very lucky coming now as the big sales are on. Mary is a very nice girl and very good looking as well. They are both thrilled to be in London and can't really believe that they are actually here at last. Today they are all going job hunting and flat hunting. They are coming over one night next week for dinner. Sunday.. I am writing in the kitchen where we are cooking tarts. We bought some ready to roll pastry mixture yesterday and decided to make a cherry pie, as the girls are coming for dinner tomorrow night(Monday). The only trouble is it is puff pastry so we don't know what will happen. We had a lot of pastry left so we have made an apple and pineapple tart, and two jam turnovers. They're all in the oven now and the suspense is killing us. Pat, Mary and Connie are coming for tea and we have a big hunk of pork that Noel is going to roast when he comes home from school. We got our cherry pie filling out of a tin. It's our first attempt at cooking tarts!!?! Last night we went to see "Peter Pan" at the Scala - a live show pantomime starring Dawn Adams as Peter Pan, and Alistair Sim as Captain Hook. It was terrific entertainment, especially the flying scenes. Peter Pan's entrance on stage was when the kids were in bed, in dim lighting, and the big window burst open in a billow of curtains to reveal rooftops and snow falling, and in "flew" Peter Pan(Dawn Adams). She actually appeared to fly about the room, alighting here and there with fantastic grace, and ease - and control. She was suspended by an extremely thin wire that was invisible in the subdued lighting, and at the end of the scene, where she teaches the kids to fly, the three kids rose and they all "flew" out the window into the night. It was fantastic! How they managed to control them so perfectly, I do not know. We cheered and clapped with all the kids. The final scene had Peter Pan saying good-bye to Wendy against a sky that swirled and raced rapidly behind them. Even the dog, Nana, flew at the end. As you can guess we enjoyed it immensely.. Well the tarts are out of the oven and they look beaut. The pastry has risen up nicely on top. We are going to cut them now. Sunday night. 11.30pm. Have just come home from seeing "The Fall of the Roman Empire" at the Astoria. The story of Rome, that was, fell in 70m.m Ultra Panavision and six track stereophonic sound and was accompanied by a Dimitri Tiomkins music score, which assisted the acting talents of Sophia Loren. It took three hours to fall and we ate a half block of chocolate and two Harlequin ice creams as it did so. Also ate half an apple/pineapple tart when we got home. The weather has been pretty good. Well, anyway, it is not as cold as it has been. Of course it is always overcast, but one gets used to it. Peter, Noel and I went over to Miss Smith's for tea on Friday night. A few friends turned up afterwards, including Margie - much to Noel's dismay. Both of us are pretty disgusted with Margie as she sets a bad example for others to judge Aussie girls by as she swears all the time and behaves pretty badly. All the English girls and women we mix with act like ladies, and are pretty appalled by old Marg. Reckon we better quickly introduce them to Connie and Pat so they will get a better perspective of Aussie girls. One of Margie's sayings is "Like bloody hell!".. I am getting more photos organised to send to you. We have just had another cup of coffee and eaten all the apple tart...........
Jan. 15th 1965. Friday Once again the end of a very hectic week. At work here in the Lab, things are in a pretty bad way as the staff in my department are down to just one - me! Andy has left to prepare for his assault on Australia, and so far no replacement has arrived. John has been down to see Williams, the personnel manager, about it and he said that two new chaps were starting in a week or so. Union rules say that I can only run two machines at a time, but as the work is piling up hopelessly, I decided to work overtime last night and made a full scale attack on it working all four machines. I worked solidly without a break until 9pm and managed to clear a lot of it. During the daytime it's impossible to work solid because the Union is very much against anyone working too hard. One of the Union stooges even came into the room yesterday on some excuse or other, but I knew he was checking up to see how many machines I was running. Because of the shortsightedness of the management, films have been accumulating in my room, and the next department in progression, the printing room, has had nothing to do. There's been hell to play all week, but it's the management's own fault. John and I have been secretly enjoying it all. Yesterday I told off the head of the 8m.m. department. He is really a rude ignorant fellow, but I have always managed to tolerate him. Yesterday however, he really said the wrong thing("Why aren't these cleaned?") and I let him have it!. Without hesitation I hit him with a verbal barrage, without a stammer even, and he finished up almost slinking away with his tail between his legs. When he left I gulped and thought "Did I say that!" and couldn't help smiling to myself seeing the humour of the situation. Bob came in just then and said "What are you grinning about?". "I just told off George Edwards!" I said. "Congratulations Barry" said Bob. "I'm so proud of you.!" Bob is always saying "Barry, don't be so nice to people." He has this theory that if I let them know who's boss, my ego will get a lift and my speech will improve. Although I am running the Lab alone, it never gets lonely here as people are in and out all the time. Robin has been in about four times, Sheila came in all smiles saying "Well done Barry!"(Sheila is section head of 16mm and had heard about George Edwards). Colin brought in his copy of Mad Magazine for me, Bob's been in for a chat and John, of course, has been in and out all morning. Even last night, before they went home, everyone popped their head around the door to say "good night". When the new chaps get the feel of the cleaning Lab I will be up for a transfer and promotion to another department. John is trying hard for a transfer as he is tired of polishing. I still enjoy the work very much. Through the window in front of me I can see blue sky and sunshine. It looks glorious! The weather has been rather mild lately. The girls came for tea Monday night. We gave them roast pork, brussel sprouts, potatoes, cauliflower, turnips and carrots as well as apple sauce for the pork. We also had prawn cocktails to start with and cherry pie for dessert. Pat has a tracing job with the B.B.C. Connie hasn't a job as yet, but Mary has a secretarial job somewhere. Pat also has a boyfriend - the officer she met on the ship. He is a very nice fellow. The girls have a flat in South London. We all talked like mad about home, our voyages and London. …continued Sunday On the Wednesday night Noel and I went to the ballet. It was Tchaikovsky's "The Nutcracker" and was staged at the New Victoria theatre. I had seen "The Nutcracker" before in Brisbane, but Noel hadn't. Actually it was his first Ballet and he really enjoyed it. Only cost us 7/6. Friday and Saturday, Noel's school staged a concert. It was actually the one they prepared for Xmas, and decided to stage it later for the parents. We all went on the Saturday night, which was a busy day for us as Miss Smith had asked us to accompany her, and two Swiss girls to Madam Tussauds and The Planetarium. We met them at the Baker Street tube station, had lunch at the Dutch Inn and spent the afternoon at the Waxworks and the Planetarium. It was all quite fantastic! In the Waxworks one looked at historical and famous contemporary figures, as well as the Chamber of Horrors, and in the Planetarium one journeyed to the stars and glimpsed the future. I was tremendously interested in the Planetarium. We sat in seats around this fantastic machine that threw complete pictures of the heavens on to the domed roof above. Suns and moons spun about above us. We saw close up movies of the Sun's surface with gases erupting, we saw the moon as a space traveller would coming in for a landing, saw other Galaxies, meteor showers, and even the stars as one sees them in the southern hemisphere. Really, it was terribly thrilling and exciting. It was just like sitting in an open paddock on a brilliant starry night and having all the stars come down to meet you. Then that night we went to the concert and a party at Miss Smith's afterwards. I really enjoyed watching the kids performing. Some of them were a scream. Margie, Anna(from Swaziland, South Africa) and the two Swiss girls came too. I met all Noel's teaching associates. All very nice people. Forgot to tell you. I went to the movies at Swiss Cottage on Friday night, and on with the main feature was a short on the Northern Territory. Scenes showing the cattle being dipped really had the audience in. There wasn't a murmur! I even recognised many of the places, as Noel And I had been to them during our big trip with the caravan....
London.Thursday Jan 21st 1965. Well, the biggest news this week is that yesterday it snowed in London. When I was going to the Lab sleet was falling, which is horrible. It is a bit like snow, only it is wet and freezing. Later on, about 11am, it began to snow, but ended up more like a blizzard, with wind, rain, sleet and snow. I watched it from our window in the Lab as John Spence come up to tell me that it was snowing. So we both stood at the window and watched the strange sight together. In the city it didn't hang around much and the rain washed most of it away, but when I went home in the evening all the cars in Hampstead were covered and it was lying about all over the place. At lunchtime John and I dashed out, bought some rolls, and dashed back again as it was not nice to be in at all. The snow in Scotland was dry snow, but this is all too wet! Noel said that they had a heavy snow fall at school and it didn't rain either. One of the pictures I am sending shows me standing in the falling snow in Aberdeen. Nice dry snow can be brushed off easily and it does not leave you wet. Last night we had dinner at a friend of Margies. We met at a party at Margies before Xmas, and she asked the three of us around for dinner. She is a school teacher and her husband is a journalist. They own a Diamler car, a nice suburban home, a dachshund puppy, a beaut hi-fi radiogram and a beautiful daughter called Nanette. She cooked a superb dinner - chicken curry, and we all had a most enjoyable evening. When we came out afterwards to walk to the tube station, the snow and slush had all frozen and we slipped about everywhere trying to walk.......continued on Friday. Bob went to the press premier of "My Fair Lady" on Tuesday. He mysteriously acquired a ticket and had the day off.(sick!). It's quite impossible for an ordinary person to get to a press preview, but somehow he managed it. The big gala premier was last night(Thursday) with Princess Alexandra, and all the stars attending. I was going to go in to watch all the stars arrive, but thought it would be far too crowded. Bob said the movie was okay, but had no "pizazz". That means that it had no special magic that the old time musicals had, and that all Stanley Donen's movies have. It is more something you feel. He said that "M.F.L." was too perfect with too much attention to detail and he did not care for the dubbing of Audrey Hepburn's singing voice at all. The papers are full of nothing but praise for "M.F.L" today. Bob tends to be a over critical at times. We'll have to see it at first opportunity. Seats are hard to get at the moment as it is booked up months in advance. Last night it snowed again. When I woke up and looked out the window everything was white. I walked up to the tube station crunching snow all the way and leaving a trail of footprints behind me. It did not feel very cold either. At the Lab, not long after I started the machines going, John(Spence) came in with a beaming face and said "Hey! did you see all the snow this morning? Great isn't it!". I got a letter from Alan Jones last week. He said that the temperature at the office weather station was 105 degrees one day and when he put the thermometer in the sun on the grass it rose to 135 degrees. I told the boys at work. Their mouths dropped open in disbelief!......... Saturday.....Last night we went to the London Palladium. Wow! We saw Cliff Richards and the Shadows in "Aladdin". What a spectacular! It evens rivals "Camelot" for sheer spectacle and music. All the music was written by the Shadows. We were lucky to get seats - and good seats too. They had two cancellations so we got them. The show is booked out until March. Now we know why. It had fantastic costumes, sets, and of course Cliff Richard's smooth and mellow voice. It began with a street scene in ancient Peking, with the Shadows and all their equipment, making their entrance in an old oriental wagon, while Cliff entered pulling a rickshaw. The whole show was accompanied by a terrific orchestra with arrangements by Lorrie Paramour. All the cast of singers and dancers were Cliff's young people that he has with him in his movies, except Arthur Askey who was his mother!!?!. Both Noel and I reckon it is one of the best shows we have seen in London. I am going to buy the record as the music was delightful. If the opportunity arises we are going to go again if we can. We shopped in Camden Town this morning and bought some things we will need for a dinner we are cooking at Miss Smith's on Sunday week. She goes home to Ware(?) every weekend and Noel and I are moving into her house on the Sunday to start cooking and she will arrive home in the evening, as well as five other friends who are coming for tea. We are giving them a Chinese dinner for the main course, so we bought a few things this morning. When we got home we surveyed our purchases and had a laugh at their International flavour. Lychee nuts and noodles from the People's Republic of China, canned pineapple from South Africa, a tube of tomato paste from Italy, sweet corn from the U.S.A., Canadian cheese and some New Zealand beef, and Argentina chops. How about that! Pity we did not buy some Kangaroo butter! ........
London. Thursday Jan 28th 1965 It seems that it always snows on Thursdays. Once again it's been snowing, and this morning I walked from the Regents Park tube station to the laboratory in gently falling snow. On the way I bought my usual Daily Mirror from the paper stall and had my usual cup of coffee from the small shop on the corner. The paper seller sees me coming and always has my paper ready, as does the polish couple who run the coffee shop. Seem as if I have now slipped into the London routine. All I lack now is a bowler hat and a rolled umbrella. As you can imagine the newspapers and T.V. are full of Churchill's death. Noel and I will be part of the milling thousands watching the procession on Saturday. No doubt you will see it on T.V. at home. I.T.V. are covering the procession with 45 cameras, while the B.B.C. has 40 cameras. It's still snowing lightly. A while ago it was snowing heavily and Sheila, John and I just stood at the window and watched it fall and cover the street below us. I arrived at the lab this morning with a light covering of snow, but it just brushed off. I have a new chap in the Lab now name of Alan Weddup - or something. Anyway he's a very nice fellow, very quiet and rather shy. He has had experience with operating Ultra Sonic machines before at Rank Studios, so I don't have to teach him much, which is good. Yesterday Alan, John(Spence) and I had lunch together at a German restaurant in Tottenham Court Road. We all had Wiener Schnitzels and it was all very nice. On Sunday night Noel and I are cooking our six or seven course dinner at Miss Smiths for about eight people. The main course will be a Chinese dish. English people don't eat Chinese food like Australians do. The only different food available here is Indian. We only found one restaurant that does Chinese and that was in Soho, and it was terrible. Soho is where all the International restaurants are. So we are going to introduce some of our London friends to some real Chinese home cooking. Miss Smith will be away Sunday and she said we can have her house.(she will be home for dinner, of course!). I took Isobel out on Tuesday. She had never seen "West Side Story" so I took her to the Metropole cinema in Victoria. It is my fourth time for "West Side", but I enjoyed it thoroughly again. Afterwards I took her home and we had coffee at her flat in Chelsea...
.Saturday 5p.m. Well, Mum, today has been a day I'll remember for the rest of my life. Today I stood near the great people of the world and watched the closing chapter of the era of Britain's greatness. Today I was present at the funeral of Winston Churchill - the great man whose name will forever live in history. The man that stood up against Adolph Hitler and saved Britain. That is what Britain needs badly now - someone to rally them and stop their decline. His powerful words helped turn the tide of history during Britain’s darkest hours. We are both very tired, and Noel is asleep now, but I want to finish this letter and tell you what I can about it. Our day began at 4 a.m, when we got up ,dressed in all our warm clothes, ate a hurried breakfast, picked up our sandwiches that we had prepared the night before, and set forth. At Finchley Road station we got the first train into the city and made our way to St Paul’s Cathedral, which we thought would give us the best vantage point for the funeral, and all the V.I.P's.. Already there were crowds there, and many people still sleeping on the footpaths. Fortunately we were able to take up a position near the West Entrance, which was the main entrance, and then we settled down for a four hour wait.(we were there, actually, about six hours.) In no time at all the entire area around St Paul’s was packed with people, who like us chose St Paul's because it was the only place where it was possible to witness the funeral procession and see all the dignitaries. The whole area was alive with cameras. Huge television cameras with monstrous lenses like canons loomed from every vantage point. Even at the very peak of the great dome of St Paul's there were two cameras, that, because of the great height of the dome, looked tiny. We watched dawn come, watched the antics of the crowd, observed all the preparations being made, and before long the people (not ordinary people like us)began to arrive. We watched people from all corners of the globe arrive in their big stately cars, many with police escort, and Embassy flags flying. They walked up the stairs, some in top hats and tails, some in flowing national robes of exotic nations, a great many in imposing service uniforms with glittering brass, and of course all the formal uniforms that decorate the upper classes and various local services of London. It was very colourful, but at the same time, very dignified. I guess the drab, dull coloration of St Paul's made the colours of all the pomp and pageantry stand out more. We saw the Royal Family arrive. The Queen mother, Margaret, Tony, Ann, Princes Charles & Edward, Philip, and of course the Queen herself. The grand, stately dignity of it all was overwhelming. Why, I wondered, is it that people like that look so impressive. Is it how they walk? How they wear their clothes? The quality of their clothes? I could walk up those great stairs, wearing my best clothes, and people would just know that I was a scrubber from the bush! ..After a while the funeral procession began arriving with the powerful bands and muffled drums. What a magnificent sight it was slow funeral marching down the Strand to St Paul's with the gun carriage and coffin, and all the mourning coaches. The gun carriage stopped near us, while the family alighted at the stairs of the main entrance. Lady Churchill wore a black veil, but behind it I could see her face. It looked rather ghost like. We saw Bob Menzies, Macmillan, Eden and Atlee who were pall bearers. The service was broadcast to those of us outside, with the crowd joining in the hymn singing. I was particularly moved by the singing of the American one that begins "My eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord."( I think they call it "The Battle Hymn of the Republic") One of the sailors pulling the gun carriage had tears trickling down his face. I must admit that I was almost in the same predicament. The bells all tolled, the guns boomed and the pomp and ceremony was quite overwhelming. We are now both exhausted, but will remember it forever. Must go now and catch up on some sleep............
Letters 34 & 35
London. Sat Feb 6th 1965. I will be sending some photos to you this week. Theyr'e not much really, but will be something. I had some colour prints of a few of the New Forest slides done, but the colour is a bit disappointing, as all the rich colours and golden hues have been almost lost. They still look pretty, however, so I will be sending them. I am also sending a couple of copies of the Daily Telegraph Sunday supplement that featured Churchill's funeral. One for you, and one copy for Claude. I hope you were able to read my last letter telling you about the funeral as it was rather rushed and scribbled. Noel and I find it difficult to understand how these people in Britain ever organised themselves to fight a war. It took a great man like Churchill to rally them and help them perform the miracle I guess....Sunday: Yesterday we went to the movies to see the Peter Sellers movie "A Shot in the Dark". We decided to catch the early morning session starting at 12 o'clock and were fully prepared to line up in the queue as you always have to do if you have no reservations. However we found that there was no queue, and, in fact we were the only ones in the huge cinema. There we were surrounded by hundreds of seats, beneath an elaborately lit ceiling in the New Victoria theatre, about to have our own special screening. Well, anyway we had this chocolate bar to eat and I had the job of tearing it open. It was then that we both got the giggles, because the sound of the paper tearing and silver paper crunching echoed all round the empty theatre. Noel kept saying "Shussh!" Then of course when we bit into the chocolate and it was rock hard and that also made a loud cracking sound that echoed around the theatre. We felt all the usherettes watching us but we couldn't stop giggling. The movie was hilarious too!.. On Friday night we saw "The Mousetrap" a play by Agatha Christie that has been running for 13years. It has become a tourist attraction like the Tower of London, or Buckingham Palace. When we got the seats Noel said "Well it should be pretty good now as they've had lots of practice." It was okay - good enough for an Agatha Christie play, though she has written better ones. I had a letter from Audrey Taylor this week. She has just arrived and wants me to look her up sometime. I met Isobel after work on Thursday evening and arranged to take her to the Albert Hall next Sunday night for a Tchaikovsky concert. They are doing the "1812 Overture" complete with cannons. It should be very exciting. We haven't seen Susie for a while. When we had a phone she was always ringing up, but now we seem to be losing touch. Noel is all for his school crowd now, and doesn't bother about anyone else - not even Margie. She wanted us to go down to Agnews for the weekend with her, but Noel said that he couldn't go. I would have liked to see Shirley, but I guess there will be another opportunity. Noel said that he has had enough of Margie! Poor old Margie. She has even stopped swearing too!( I think Miss Smith whispered in her ear!). Our dinner went well on Sunday night. Ten people were around the table. How about that! We have never catered for ten people before. At least half of them are now converted to Chinese food. One of the courses was sweet corn soup. It was really beaut. For tea tonight we have a chicken... Work is going fine. I still like it very much, but it is very, very busy and rather tricky, as now John(the boss) is off for a month in hospital, and there's only Alan and myself left in the department. John wrote to me last week, but didn't say why he was in hospital. I am going down to see him next week. Alan is a terrific chap and we get along fine. Together we get through a massive amount of work. I miss John though. No snow this week, but it has been rather drizzly..............
London. Sunday Feb14th 1965 Today is bright and sunny. We can hardly believe it!. It looks nice, but the sun has no warmth in it and there is an icy wind. When the sun comes out it is very low in the sky, not like it is back home, and the shadows, even in the middle of the day are very long. Anyway, as I said, it looks nice. The Aarons, our landlady and landlord, are in the garden planting roses. They are Jewish, and have a son called David, about 16yrs old. She is very good looking, and Nat. her husband is a very nice bloke. He is always laughing and cracking jokes. All the flower stalls about London are full of daffodils and tulips. I noticed, in a florists near Humphries, blue carnations. That is something I have never seen before. They were a soft pale blue shade, and very beautiful. The flowers one sees here are quite spectacular, and with spring around the corner, they seem to be everywhere. We were very surprised that Miss Smith, who is a flower lover, did not know what a Gerbera was, nor what a Zinnia was. We had to show her pictures of them. Guess they only grow in hot climates. In another florists, one day, I saw a potted Prickly Pear, just like the horrible things that are absolute pests in our paddock. I would like to have found out how much it was, but it was a very exclusive shop and did not show prices. So, next time, dear mother, when you are gazing from the back stairs upon the glorious paddock, just think that growing up there, especially in the bottom corner, you have some very exclusive plants. Plants that decorate the gracious homes and apartments of Mayfair and Park Lane in London.. Yesterday we went to the movies in Leicester Square. The main feature was "The High Bright Sun", a dramatic story set in Cyprus, but on with it was "Homage to Churchill". It was a colour record of the funeral and was very good. You must try and see it if it comes to Mount Morgan. It's terrific in colour and I feel pretty sure that old Dick will get the colour film at home. You can even see the crowd at St Paul's where we were, but the shot was not held long enough to enable us to find ourselves. We have even seen a movie on Churchill's life called "The Finest Hours". I am glad you saw a bit of the funeral on the T.V., but really try and see the film if it comes to Mount Morgan as you will be very impressed by it. Tonight Isobel and I are going to the Albert Hall for an orchestral concert. I am going around for tea, as Is. has promised something special. Noel is off to Miss Smiths for a party. I could have gone too, but I would much rather go to the concert with Isobel. This will be my first visit to the Albert Hall and I am very much looking forward to it. On Friday night, Noel and I went to the Cambridge theatre to see a show called "Little Me". It was supposed to be one of the best musicals in London at the present time and we certainly weren't disappointed by it. It was the fastest musical I have ever seen and spanned a period from the first world war to the present time, jumping about between America, London and France. One scene showed the "Titanic" sinking with the stern of the ship actually rising as the ship sank. It was a mad comedy show and as the ship sank the hero and heroine sang a love duet on the stern of the sinking ship. The heroine was born in Camden Town in the story. The big hit song from the show is a song called "A Real Live Girl" so you might hear it at home sometime as it is always on the wireless here. It was sung by the soldiers in a war scene, and was wonderful, as were all the other songs from the show. I am going to buy the record. There's a big Royal Premiere in Leicester Square on Monday night. It is Peter O'Toole's latest film called "Lord Jim". It was made by Richard Brooks, one of the great directors. The Queen Mother will be there too, so I may go in and watch them all arriving. I am getting along really well with my new mate Alan here in the Lab. He is taking driving lessons at one pound an hour. Teaching people to drive is a big business here. I wish I could have gotten one pound an hour for all the people that I have taught to drive. Alan lives in a house out of London with a mate and they pay four pounds a week rent. He even has a garden that he grows vegetables in. The catch is it costs him two pounds a week in fares. We are both still running the lab as John hasn't come out of hospital yet. It also costs them about two pounds a week for coke to heat the house, as it does every English house owner. That is a problem that we don't have back home in Queensland!...........
Letter 36
London. Wednesday,Feb 17th 1965. I am going to start this letter early again as the past couple have been rather hurried weekend scribbles. Work here at the lab is rather slack this week, and at last our department is up to full strength as another chap started on Monday. I now have two fellows under me, and once the new chap gets to know the job I hope to get a shift up. John is still in hospital and Alan and I are going down to see him tonight after work. We are catching a Green Line bus from Victoria to the hospital in Kent, which is about ten or twelve miles away.. Sunday night at the Royal Albert Hall was terrific. I've never seen a place so huge, and actually got a fright when I walked through the door. Our seats were right up high in the top balcony and the other side of the hall looked about a mile away, while people shuffling about on the ground floor below looked like ants. The inside of the hall is all plush red and gold and was opened by Queen Victoria in 1871. It was designed to hold 8,000 people, but in fact at one stage held 9,000 people.(so the guide book says) That's almost twice the population of Mount Morgan! The outside is perfectly round with a big dome on top. It was designed to have the Albert Memorial on top of the dome, but they couldn't figure how to get it up there so they put it in the little park opposite. They apparently didn't have the use of helicopters back in 1871. The London Philharmonic Orchestra performed Tchaikovsky's "Romeo and Juliet" overture, Rachmaninoff's Second Piano Concerto(my favourite), Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto, and for a finale, the "1812 Overture". - and what a finale', Wow! Besides the full London Philharmonic Orchestra, they had the Band of the Grenadier Guards, the massive Albert Hall organ, and a canon. They all came in at the end for a musical depiction of Napoleon's defeat. As you can imagine the volume of sound was terrific. Isobel jumped up from her seat and grabbed my arm when the canon began firing . Although I knew the point where the canon would fire first, it still made me jump too. The canon was actually on the upper level right where we were, so we were actually in the midst of the "battle" so to speak. Bob was there in the audience as well with his friend Elizabeth and said she shot about 6 feet into the air with the first canon blast too. Elizabeth, by the way is the daughter of a filthy rich family who have a home complete with servants in very upper class Hyde Park. She, herself has an annual income of thousands of pounds. Bob says "We're just good friends!"..Thursday : It snowed lightly last night. When we were coming out of the lab at 5pm, it was falling everywhere and we had to walk through it to the tube station. I haven't got over the novelty yet and still think it's fun. Alan thinks I'm crazy. We caught the Green Line bus to Farnborough in Kent and arrived at the hospital at 7pm. John was exceptionally pleased to see us and we talked solidly for the whole visitor's hour. John looks well, but is having treatment for an ulcer. When we came out there was a layer of snow over all the cars. We headed back to London then and had something to eat at a restaurant in Oxford Street - a real poshy one too! Alan was a commercial artist and used to work in advertising, but said that there was not enough money in it. The work he was doing necessitated working with the same materials and equipment that I did as a draughtsman, so we have a similar background. He is an exceptionally nice fellow and we really get along fine. Saturday: I woke this morning and looked out the window and saw snow everywhere. Even the branches of the trees were outlined in white. Gee!, it sure changes the look of the place. Noel has gone away for the weekend - actually until Tuesday as it is mid term and his school has Monday and Tuesday off. One of the elderly lady teachers asked him to come with her to visit her relations in the north of England. He describes her as a bit of a nut case(her name is Mrs McNeil), and says if her relatives are the same it should be an interesting few days. Today I went into Oxford street and bought myself a heavy overcoat. I have been prowling about in my lunch breaks looking for one. The one I really wanted was in Simpsons in Saville Row for 27 pounds - but(don't faint yet!) I settled for a 8pounds 19shillings and 6pence job from a Men's shop in Oxford Street. It was a pretty good buy as they are usually around 15 pounds. It is a dark one with a half black velvet collar, and looks quite elegant. The other coat that I have is really a rain coat, and I have to wear too much under it to keep warm. This new overcoat is really warm. I have been a bit off colour lately with a very painful throat, but today I feel fine. I will now be nice and warm in my new coat when I go out. We went to the Scala again last night to see "South Pacific".It was staged by the Stock Exchange Operatic Society. Naturally we both enjoyed it immensely. On Thursday we had tea at Miss Smiths. Margie cooked most of it.(steak! yum.yum!). Bette's parcel arrived last week, and when I opened it up I just sat on the floor and laughed. It contained a very weird assortment of things to remind me of a Australia. From gum leaves to a jar of Vegemite(and an Aussie flag). How it got through customs I will never know! They're a mad lot! But I love them all. Tomorrow I want to look up Pat, and Isobel wants me to come for lunch. I also have to go to the Laundromat to do some washing, and ring up a friend of Margie's and write to Bette, so I look like being very busy..........
Letter 37 (A & B )
Sat. Feb. 27th London. 1965 . The water shortage must be serious if one of the mills has closed. Fancy the Big Dam being dry. I wouldn't be surprised if it rained like mad next month. It's been dry for too many years, so it must rain soon. Be good to see the road to Rocky underwater again wouldn't it. I've been pretty busy today. Noel has gone to Liverpool with Mrs McNeil this weekend, as they did not go last week, because she slept in and missed the train. She says she has bought a car and wants him to drive it down to London. I have been tidying up, vacuumed the floor, and just come back from the Laundromat where I did the washing. Sitting on the table by the window is a beautiful bunch of yellow Daffodils that I couldn't resist buying this morning when I went shopping at Swiss Cottage. They had beautiful Tulips too, but the Daffodils were only 2/- a bunch. Standing by the window with the pale sunlight coming through them they seem to glow with a dazzling yellow light. I have decided to have a day at home today as I have had a rather hectic week.(out every night!). There's just so much to see, and so many great movies to go to that every night is occupied. Tonight, however, Alan is coming for tea, and afterwards we are going to look at the Australian slides. I bought a chook this morning for 6/9, so guess what's for tea? Thanks once again for your stuffing recipe, we always use it. I saw a terrific new musical on Thursday night called "Robert and Elizabeth" and it starred two Australians in the leading roles - June Bronhill and Keith Mitchell. Even the music was composed by an Aussie, and a Queenslander no less, Ron Grainer. He has achieved fame here by composing music for T.V. shows. The play is based on the book "The Barrets of Wimpole Street". It so wonderful, that I am going to go again. Ron Grainer's music is really great. Some of the shows that he has done the music for are "DrWho","Maigret", and "Steptoe and Son" as well as doing the score for "The Finest Hours", the movie on Churchill. I hope you like the pictures that I sent. I am thinking of taking the camera in to work so I can get some shots of everyone. If I could only catch Robin unawares when he is acting up, the results would be hilarious. He is a very funny fellow. He sometimes dances across the floor in front of the machines. He is a bit of a nut case, but extremely likeable. Sometimes we sing a duet and pretend to tap dance - I guess that makes me a bit of a nut case too! Alan and I are thinking of going to Paris for Easter. Noel has three weeks off and is thinking of going to Rome. Alan knows Paris, and I have always wanted to see it, so as we have four days off, we might give it a go. Margie and Connie went to Paris last weekend. I haven't seen Margie yet, so I might drop over tomorrow to see how she is. Got to give Pat and Isobel a call tomorrow too. Audrey Taylor has arrived and has written me a note giving me her address and phone number, so I will have to give her a call too. Gee! the place is crawling with Mount Morganites now! John(Spence) said yesterday "Mum said in her last letter that Auntie so and so was talking to some joker named Smith in Mount Morgan who knows you." John said that he is going to write to his Auntie in Baree to find out all about me! Isn't it amazing, all this way to the other side of the world, and one still can't get away from Mount Morgan. John always sits with me during tea breaks at work and the other guys are always having a go at we Aussies. We tell them what we think of them too! Luckily we're all the best of mates.
London. Thurs. Mar 4th 1965 I wish you could look out of the window with me. I am sitting in the canteen at Humphries and outside the snow is falling, gently drifting into the courtyard below. The roof of the building opposite is white and covered completely. It is the heaviest snowfall in London this year. We have had light falls, but nothing like this. It's been snowing all day, and when I woke up this morning the snow covered everything. I was going to catch the tube all the way to the lab(Goodge Street), but I couldn't resist it and got out at my usual place(the stop before - Regents Park) and had my usual 10 minute walk to the lab. The cars looked quite fantastic covered in snow. It is much heavier in the north. In Aberdeen they have had to abandon the snow ploughs, as the snow is too deep. People have had to also abandon their cars in Scotland and Wales, and shelter in places like Town Halls. They have been spreading sand about on the roads here in an effort to keep the traffic moving. I am going to bring the camera to work tomorrow to get some shots. John(Spence) had his camera at work today and took some shots from the cleaning room window. This morning Alan and I went down to the courtyard to get some cleaning fluid for the machines and ended up throwing snowballs at each other. At the roof at the spray ponds there are rows of icicles.(I had one shoved down my back!) It's been terrifically cold all week - the coldest so far, and when I venture out I am well and truly rugged up. The new overcoat is sure getting some use now. Today I had lunch (pork sausages and chips) at the "Express" Restaurant in Goodge street. Usually Alan and I have lunch together, but Jerry the new guy did not show up at all today(snowbound I guess), so we had to split our meal breaks. Alan did not get in until 9.30am because all trains had to stop until they cleared the snow from the line. I was out with Pat and Mary on Sunday arvo. I took them to Speakers Corner in Hyde Park and the Tower of London. I felt like a father taking his two little girls out walking, for both girls are the same height, in fact Pat seems to be growing smaller! I met them at Marble Arch and hardly recognised them in their big coats and long hair. Pat talked non-stop the whole time. She seems very happy here and has settled in well. Mary says she gets a bit homesick sometimes. Mary is a pretty blonde girl and comes from Rocky. I received letters from Desley and Alan Jones this week. Have answered Desley's, and also sent Bette a birthday card and letter. Gosh, things seem bad in Mount Morgan with the lack of rain. At least you won't have to worry about weeds. We were going to have a night at home, watching T.V. last night, but Margie dropped in so we just sat talking. Marg was telling us all about her trip to Paris. Friday: The snow is beginning to melt today, though there is still a heck of a lot about. There is, however, a little bit of very weak sunshine so that might eventually cause it to disappear. It was very slippery walking to work this morning for the snow had frozen into ice and one had to be very careful. I wear my ripple soul boots for the snow and ice and they are very good. Jerry is here today. He fell off his scooter on the slippery road and bumped his head. Fortunately he was not seriously hurt though. I came to the Lab today dressed for a night out in London tonight. Alan and I plan to eat out in a nice restaurant and then go to a movie in Leicester Square. Noel is going out with the teachers to a party. I am sick of going out with them as all they talk about is school. Last night I was home watching T.V.(Noel was at a Priest's for tea) and I answered a knock at the door, and when I opened it I got hit in the face with a snowball - accompanied by much girlish laughter. It was Margie and Ann, her new room mate. It was Ann who threw the snowball and said "Gee! I didn't know I was such a good shot." Had I have known that I wouldn't have opened the door!..They just happened to be passing and saw the light on and decided to say "Hello".I told them that they had a funny way of saying hello, and then chased them up the road with snowballs flying everywhere!.. Saturday: Your letter just arrived with the lunch time delivery. Glad you liked the photos. I have just come back from Earl's Court where I was checking up on some business for Desley. The sun is shining today, but there is still a lot of snow about. Alan and I had a good night out last night. We ate in a Restaurant in Soho. We both had steak, mushrooms, tomato and chips for 7/6 - cheap! and then went to a movie that was supposed to be gruesome, but our warped sense of humour had us laughing all the time. I am much happier these days as I have discovered that I have many wonderful friends and don't have to depend on Noel - who isn't much company now as he always seems to be involved in something or other to do with the school. I am going around to Margie's on Wednesday night for a slide show evening with Pat, Connie and Mary, and I am taking Aussie John to meet them. I am always telling John about them at work, so he is keen to meet them. Isobel seems to have recovered from her broken heart and is arranging a party for all us Mount Morganites and Audrey Taylor at her Chelsea flat. The wireless is playing "Oh What a Beautiful Morning". I guess it is really. There is snow everywhere and it is sunny, and the Daffodils in the window are glowing yellow in the sunlight. Hope the town gets some rain soon.
Letters 38 & 39
London,Fri. Mar 12th 1965 I am writing at the Lab again. Outside it's a beautiful day, still cold, but the sun is shining brightly - as it has been for three days now. All the snow disappeared on Monday. Robin has just been in and asked me to go swimming with them next Thursday lunchtime. The mob from the 16mm section, Rob, Harry, Roger, Sheila and Anita are going. I said I would. Should be fun. The pool is a big indoor one down Tottenham Court Road near Oxford Street. Heated of course, as are all the pools in England. Not like home where we swim under the sunny blue sky. Robin said "Sheila will teach you how to swim if you can't!" I am looking forward to it already. Ted, our new boss, said this morning that next week he is going to teach me polishing, and later on lacquering and numbering. I think I told you earlier that I was hoping for a shift into something else, but I think I will stay here a while longer and learn as much as I can. Ted is an excellent fellow, and is here until John returns. He is actually the floor superintendent and he said to me the other day "The reason why you have never seen much of me is because I know you run the department well and there's no need for me to be looking over your shoulder". What a nice man. I had a big discussion(or argument) about the Australian Aborigines at work yesterday. Mike saw a T.V. programme on the treatment of Abos and John, Jerry, Mike and I all got involved in a terrific discussion. There's always something about Australia on T.V. here, or the movies. I saw "Brisbane - City of Sunshine" as a short at the movies this week. Last Sunday at Miss Smith's, we saw a T.V. programme on British immigrants in Australia. The Newspapers, too, always have articles on Australia. Naturally we are often asked for our opinions, and whether it is true, etc, etc. It is also giving us a much broader picture of Australia than we had at home, as we are now looking at it from a distance, and seeing it as it is perceived by others who live elsewhere. We had our night at Margie's on Wednesday night and I took John(Spence) along to meet the girls. Marg showed her slides, and John showed some of his which were extremely good. Gosh, it was a noisy night with everyone talking at once. It sounded just like the Hong Kong markets! Connie and I got the giggles. Margie had two teaching friends there too. They had just arrived from Australia and also had a lot to say. By a strange coincidence I bumped into Pat again yesterday. Alan and I were going to Hammersmith after work to see a movie and were waiting to catch the tube to Earl's Court at the Notting Hill Gate station, when along the platform walked Pat, a mass of smiles saying "What are you doing here?" I replied with the same question! It was her route home from where she worked at the B.B.C. Centre at White City. I introduced her to Alan and we all chatted until our trains came along. Sunday: Your letter arrived yesterday. Can't understand why mine hasn't arrived yet, as I posted it at the usual time. Undoubtedly you will have it now. Today it is raining heavily outside which is a very rare thing for London, as it is usually only very light drizzly type rain. We have just come back from the movies at Camden Town, where we saw Roger Corman's "The Pit and the Pendulum". He is now one of my favourite directors, and Bob knows him personally. Corman makes weird colourful cinema illustrations of the stories by Edgar Allan Poe. We have just had supper of toasted sandwiches - bacon and sweet corn relish. You should try it, it's very nice. It is now around midnight, but I'm not tired as we slept in this morning until 11am. Noel took his class to see "Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves" at Wembley Stadium yesterday. I went along as well with Miss Smith, Gerry, Frankie, Peter and Jimmy. It was actually a pantomime version, on ice, of the operetta "Chu Chin Chow", which I saw once in Atherton. Everyone enjoyed it thoroughly, especially the kids. We all went out in a special bus. The kids didn't know what to make of me, and decided I must have been a visiting teacher, and kept calling me "Sir". Coming out of the stadium was absolutely chaotic, as we lost the bus and a few of the kids too, as well as Miss Smith. There were thousands of people and the buses, all parked together, looked the same as our bus. It was a bit of a nightmare! I shepherded one group of kids with Gerry. She got into a bit of trouble when she tried to round up a group of kids that belonged to another man. He became quite indignant! We had a laugh about it afterwards when we eventually managed to find the right bus - and all the kids, and Miss Smith. When the kids were all deposited safely at their destination, we all went home for tea at Miss Smith's. Dear Miss Smith, I am so glad that we managed to find her again as she is a real darling! I would have liked to have gone back to see the show again, as it was so spectacular, but it finished on Saturday. I am, however, off to see "Aladdin" the Cliff Richards show again on the 31st March with John. He hasn't seen the show, so I said that I would go with him. Luckily, he managed to get two cancellations, as the show is completely booked out. The weather is starting to warm up now, and the spring bulbs in the gardens are all flowering. Some are quite spectacular. We sure don't have flowers like these in Mount Morgan. Time now to go to bed I guess. I hope you keep improving. Give our regards to Kate. It seems we might be seeing her over here in the not too distant future. Bye for now.
London. Thurs Mar 18th 1965. Just sitting watching "Dr Kildare" on the T.V., but it is a bit boring so I thought I would start this letter. Actually I have just come back from phoning Isobel, and I tuned in to the good doctor half way through, which doesn't help. Noel is in bed sleeping. He says he doesn't feel well, but I think it is because of the big night out last night. They all went to the St Patrick's Day Ball, and partied on at Miss Smith's afterwards. I was asked too, but I am afraid that I would feel very much the odd one out in that crowd. Alan and I booked our trip to Paris today. We are going by coach and air, leaving on the Easter Friday, and returning on the Monday. It will be great to see Paris. It is something I have always dreamed of, but I never thought that I would ever really get there. All the songs about Paris have been going through my head all day. It should even be Spring there for us. Fortunately Alan said he can speak a little French, so we will see how we go....Yesterday we all went swimming. It was a cold drizzly day, but the pool and building were heated and the water was great. I went with Roger, Robin, Harry and Bob. Sheila and Anita were coming too, but Anita's husband wouldn't let her, and Sheila wouldn't go without her, so all the boys went without the girls. We must have thought that we could misbehave without the girls, so the five of us skylarked all the way down Tottenham Court Road, with the big new 32 story building on the corner and the hustle and bustle of inner London all around us. Somewhat different from going swimming at home in Aussie! I did the length of the pool underwater with Bob, and tried to teach the art of underwater swimming to Robin - who almost drowned! Poor old Robin! He will have to stick with his tap dancing! On Saturday night we are having the party at Isobel's for all of us from Mount Morgan. John is coming too as I have bestowed upon him the title of Honorary Mount Morganite as his aunt lives there anyway! Mary will be a guest also as she comes from that outer suburb of Mount Morgan, called Rocky! As Audrey Taylor has just arrived, she will be the guest of honour! It will be good to see old Aud. again! A bit of a worry though is that Isobel is currently in bed with the 'flu, but she says she will be okay by Saturday. I have really amazed myself as I feel really fit, and have only had one slight dose of the wog since we arrived, despite the bitterly cold weather. Let's hope it continues that way.....Just watched the Russian Spaceman leave his ship and float in space on the T.V. The evening papers were full of the exciting news. It sure makes America's efforts look sick! The scenes shown on T.V. showed the Earth moving past underneath. Do you have any of the following programmes on T.V.? "Coronation Street","No Hiding Place","Sullivan Brothers","Forest Rangers","Botsie and Smudge","Crane","H.M.S. Paradise", or "Survival". They are some of the programmes that pass through my hands daily. Robin says that they are sent to Australian television, and in fact, he does the preparation of the negatives. I am still waiting to learn polishing, but Ted has been too busy with 16mm developing this week to teach me. There's been no news of John Wilson for a while. I thought he may be back this week, but no one has heard from him. I hope he's okay. Saturday: Well, now, I have some good news to tell you. Yesterday, George Williams sent for me to come and see him in his office. He wants me to take over the lacquering from Mike Kaye, who is moving on to the Optical Dept. It means a rise of 1 pound a week, which is the equivalent of an extra 2pounds 10 shillings in my fortnightly pay packet back home. It also means my own room, and lots of free time, and naturally a lot less work than in the cleaning room.(although I liked it in the cleaning room). I will still be in the treating department, and involved in the cleaning room, though to what extent has yet to be determined, as Ted intends to reorganise the section. At the moment lacquering is it's own independent section, with the operator being his own boss. Lacquering consists of coating the negatives with a protective coating to help them withstand all the handling they get within the lab. It was rather funny. Within half an hour of my interview with Williams, everyone seemed to know about it, and kept dropping in to say "I hear you're moving into lacquering!". Humphries is almost as bad as the General Office back home. Alan will now be the boss of the cleaning dept. Somehow I don't think that he is going to like that extra responsibility. Yesterday Sheila paid me a compliment when she said "How you always know who belongs to which cans amazes me!". In the lacquering dept I will be dealing mostly with the Colour Dept, which is Harry and Bob, which of course will make things much easier....It is raining again today. I went up to the shops a while ago, and met Nat (Aarons) our land lord, on the way back. He scolded me for not having an umbrella. He is a terrific fellow, quite young, as is his glamorous wife. They are a very nice couple with a son, David, who has a room upstairs near us. They live downstairs and never trouble us at all. You asked about our place here. Well, it is what is called a "bed sitting room", or "bed-sitter" for short. It is similar to a flat, but beds, dining, and lounge are all in the one large room. There are no cooking facilities or bathroom. These are down stairs and shared with two others. One is a girl Julie, who we seldom see, but is very nice, and an Irish fellow, also seldom seen. I think he spends most of his free time in one, or more of the Irish pubs that abound in Kilburn. Noel and I seem to be the only ones who use the kitchen. What makes our bed-sitter really nice is it has a big bay window that, when the curtains are opened, the sunlight just pours in. We forgot to open the curtains one day, and there was a knock on the door. It was Mrs Aarons all rather concerned, requesting us to open the curtains, as closed curtains here means that there has been a death in the family. Not wishing to make a false announcement like that to the neighbours, we did as she requested. I will take a picture of the street when the trees all get their leaves again, as they are very bare looking at the moment..
Letters 40 & 41
London. Friday March26th 1965. To-day I am in the lacquering room with Mike. We have been on the job all morning practicing - doing it over and over again. It is not a difficult job, just a bit tricky as its success depends on timing and quickness in lowering the lacquering bead, and removing the film at the end. So far we have only been working on rolls of junk negative. Mike is a very good teacher and I have grasped it all okay, so now we are waiting for some commercials to come in so I can have a go at them. It is a nice quiet room, with big windows that overlook Whitfield Street. Alan likes to make paper aeroplanes and launch them out the window. One almost landed on top of a ladies hat the other day. I have my own rewind bench, which will serve as a table when writing your letters - and the sun has been shining all morning......We had a wonderful night at Isobel's last Saturday night. Fortunately she had recovered in time for the party. She cooked a beautiful meal that was a combination of chicken, rice, capsicums, mushrooms and sweet corn, with a red wine sauce. Audrey was there and it was terrific to see her again. When I walked in(late), she and Pat threw cushions at me, and I raced over, grabbed Aud. gave her a hug, and swept her up into the air. Audrey said to me "Gee, you look well!", and Pat said "Yes, doesn't he!" - so you see London is not having any ill effects, so you don't have to worry about me. (They also said I looked "Swishy" - a London term for stylishly dressed.) We all talked like mad and ended up catching the last trains home to our various destinations. John stayed behind to help with the washing up as he lives nearby. All the girls thought John was a "darling". John very much enjoyed the night and passed the comment "You Mount Morganites sure can talk!" Mind you, he didn't do so badly himself!. Isobel, despite her dose of the 'flu earlier, was quite well and sparkling as she entertained all her guests. On Wednesday night we had an evening at Miss Smiths showing our slides to Noel's teacher friends. We worked hard the night before getting them in order, and checking the tape. I placed all the slides in sequence in the carriers of the automatic projector, so all I had to do was to feed the carriers into the projector and push a button on the control cable to change them. Focusing is also done from the cable, so I can operate the projector while sitting comfortably ten feet away. The slides of Australia were a tremendous success. Everyone was amazed at the way the country changed, and how varied were the fantastic colours. Miss Smith was in raptures over the red soil of Central Australia. Naturally everyone was very interested in Mount Morgan, and we had to show them where our homes were. Our house was visible in one or two of the shots, while Margie's house was very plain in one of the aerial shots. It must have impressed them because after it was all over there was much talk about migrating. On Monday night we had dinner with Mrs Hiley, the teaching friend of Margie's whose husband is a foreign correspondent with "The Times". We were there once before if you remember. We took a few of our slides to show them too.
Saturday: Just received your last letter. You sound as if you are rather lonely. The thing you have to do is to get out more, and mix with people. Invite someone in for afternoon tea or something. Please don't say "I can't be bothered!" either. I've heard that before. Make the most of our nice home by having people in it. The majority of Londoners don't have anything like the nice home and surroundings that we have. They live in pokey little rooms, in overcrowded conditions, paying extremely high rents to greedy landlords. They breathe foul air, pay high prices for essential things like food, heating, clothing and suffer all sorts of things brought about by the overcrowded conditions. The trouble is they suffer it because they don't know a better life. There in Australia, we have a better life, particularly in Mount Morgan. So please make the most of it. Don't get me wrong, I'm still quite happy here, but it appals me to see the way some people live. Many homes don't even have bathrooms. Most of them will never have a home like we have. They will live and die in their overcrowded tenements, with never a garden to walk in, never a nice home to invite people in to. They will never have that free and easy, carefree, great to be alive feeling, because they think living is only about various degrees of suffering. So please, dear Mother, make the most of what you have and always look on the bright side.. Last night Alan and I were at the movies, and in the Piccadilly underground station afterwards we looked at the large map of the world with the various time zones shown. In Mount Morgan it was a quarter to seven Saturday morning, and everyone would be just waking up, or having an early morning cup of tea. The fruit in the garden sound beaut. I was telling Alan about all our fruit trees, especially the Avocado. ...Sunday: The sun is shining brilliantly today. The best for months. It even has a bit of warmth in it now. The peach tree up the street has burst forth in a shower of pink blossoms so Spring must be here. Bravo!. Isobel and I are going for a walk in Hyde Park this afternoon. She has been sick again and the doctor has told her to get out into the sunshine. Better dash now! If I post this now it will catch the 4 o'clock post........
London. Tuesday March 30th,1965 Today is only Tuesday, but as I have time on my hands I thought I would begin your letter today. I am now in my new job and going solo, as Mike has now gone into the Optical Dept. He was with me yesterday, but said that I had grasped the work, so he has now moved on. This morning I successfully lacquered my first negative. Outside it is a beautiful day with bright sunshine and a blue sky. The papers are all full of the "Heatwave". Yesterday was the hottest March day on record with the temperature "soaring" to 74 degrees! Of course I told everyone that would be a typical Winter's day temperature back home! It really does feel like a nice winter's day back home with the cold early morning, followed by a warm day with brilliant blue skies. Sunday was a glorious day as well. Isobel and I went walking in beautiful Hyde Park and sat on the grass absorbing the warm sunshine, and watching the ducks, swans and boats gliding about the Serpentine. The Serpentine is a lake in Hyde park where people can swim or go boating. Hyde Park adjoins the exclusive Mayfair and Park Lane areas, where the London Hilton rises many stories high...Thursday: John and I went to see "Aladdin" last night. It was my second time for this Cliff Richards spectacular and John's first. John thought it was great and I thoroughly enjoyed it for the second time, especially the music by the Shadows. The show is going to be made into a movie soon. The final scene has all the characters, dressed in red and black Chinese costumes, adopting various poses on the revolving stage that carries them past the audience. The design of the set was that of an old world Chinese painting. At one point in the show, the wicked magician, having obtained the lamp, escapes with the Princess by commanding that the palace be transported with them. The palace then rises into the air with much smoke and noise and then disappears to land later against a background of swirling clouds racing past like a dream sequence. When Cliff was in the cave, the Genie of the lamp took him to show him the riches of the cave. This then leads into the "Jewel Ballet" which was the finale of the first act. Columns opened slowly into fans, lit by multi coloured lights, glittering dancers were everywhere as a central portion of the stage rose up carrying brilliantly costumed people, all accompanied by the great Palladium orchestra. All very colourful, and very spectacular. No wonder it is playing to packed houses. I might even go again - if I can get a ticket!....Tonight Noel and I are going to Miss Smith's for another slide evening. She is having a doctor and his family over, and we are showing them our slides of Australia. I am going direct from work as she is having early tea. She is a fantastic cook, and we always look forward to her meals. We had dinner one day there in the middle of winter, and while we ate we could see the snow on the ground outside, as we tucked into our roast beef with the works, beside the lovely warm open fireplace...Here at the lab, life is great. I have my own room, but it sure isn't lonely as there is always someone in here talking to me. The cleaning room is right next door and Alan comes in to chat every chance he gets. I got a lift with Harry to work this morning on the back of his scooter. He picked me up just as I walked out of the station...Friday: It was foggy earlier this morning, but has disappeared now. The top of the G.P.O. Tower was hidden in the mist as I was passing it on my way to the Lab. Up until today, we have had sunshine all the week. The slide show at Miss Smiths went well. The Doctor and his family were interested in everything and asked questions all the time. The shots of the burning sugar cane always causes a discussion. Noel insists on telling people that they burn the cane to chase the snakes out - which has everyone gasping in horror!. I then have to step in and give the real reason why it's burnt. Unfortunately we have almost nothing on Australian animals. The Brits are fascinated with Aussie animals, and there was a big film on the T.V. last week on just that subject. We take them for granted, and don't think to take pictures of them. Tonight Alan and I are dining in the West End, and then going to see a James Bond movie. James Bond is all the rage here at the moment, with tailors making James Bond suits, for the young men who want that James Bond look. Alan reckons I have a 007 haircut! I will forgo the suit bit though, as I am quite happy with my Ah Chuk look!...Saturday: Beaut day here today, with a clear blue sky, and warming sunshine. I am sitting by our window in bare feet and shorts. The first time in months that I have been able to dress that way. I have done the household chores and am now off to the Laundromat. No mail this morning. It must have been delayed somewhere...Sunday: Just had Sunday dinner with Miss Smith. Noel is sick again and staying at her place. I have been home for some of his things and am now returning on the bus. It seems like the 'flu again. When it hits him, it sure hits hard. He was at a party last night, and up until 4.30a.m., so he can expect to get a bad dose after that. I didn't go partying, but went to the movies instead to see a French film called "The Red Desert" at a new cinema in Oxford Street called Academy One. It's very plush and well set up. The movie was the usual obscure continental type, but the photography was terrific. I talked to Miss Smith all afternoon about what we grow in our garden, and I told her about "Bobsie" the budgerigar and all the things he says. She was fascinated, especially about the fact that he can give his own name and address if he flies out the window and gets lost!........
Letters 42 & 43
London. Friday, April 9th.1965. I am writing in my room at Humphries while a reel is running through the lacquering machine. There's no lack of work today as I am doing a twelve reel Cinemascope colour feature called "The Mongols". I have to wind each reel through by hand on the inspection table to check it, and I always have a look at a few scenes. This one looks pretty gory! I told the gang here that you and your friends watch "Coronation Street" every Saturday night, and they were tickled pink! Robin said to tell you that not all English people talk that way. There's 200feet of "Coronation Street" that you won't see however as it was chewed up by one of the cleaning machines, and the scenes had to be reshot at the cost of 1,000 pounds. Accidents often happen, and are referred to as "smash ups". If a "smash up" happens because of a fault in the machine, then the machine is fixed up and all is forgotten. If an operator makes a mistake, however, then he or she is in big trouble.(no one can be sacked, though, as the Union wouldn't allow it!). Unfortunately, something is always happening to "Coronation Street". A complete episode was lost(as in misplaced!) for over a week at Humphries once, so I am told.. On Wednesday the mob of us went swimming again, during the lunch break. We had a race. I won!. Poor old Robin just floundered and sank. It's fairly sunny today. We had drizzly rain most of the week, and a storm last night. Rain is considered to be a horrible nuisance here. How different from home. There's wild daffodils flowering in all the parks now. They seem to be everywhere, just like weeds, but unlike weeds, they are very, very beautiful. Miss Smith has tulips and daffodils in her garden. The trees are all coming to life again. It's great to see them getting their new green leaves. We showed the slides at Miss Smith's again last night. She had two parish priests there. Yes, she is a Catholic. All Noel's friends are. I feel a bit of an outsider sometimes, especially with the priests. Miss Smith is a real sweetheart though. Noel is still unwell, but has been going to school regardless, and, I think, it has made him worse. Miss Smith has been looking after him at her place, but he is home now, no better than he was. He should see a doctor but refuses to do so. He says he hasn't eaten since the weekend...Just saw Bob at lunchtime. He says that his mother got a card from you and is quite thrilled. It was wonderful of you to remember her. Many thanks! Alan and I spent lunchtime wandering about Oxford Street. He wanted to buy some clothes. It's amazing how backward men's fashions are here. All the old broad ties that I refused to wear back home are worn here. The ties I do wear to work usually draw comments about how slick and modern they look. Alan tried to buy some narrow ones like I wear but couldn't. The only ones you can buy here are the horrible broad things. Even men's trousers still have cuffs. - and the suits! They still have double breasters! Imagine anyone at home getting about in a double breasted suit!. Women's clothes, though, are far more modern, with patterned stockings, boots, and short skirts. Saturday: Noel very much improved today. He ate a whole bowl of porridge for breakfast, and later a hamburger in Leicester Square, where we went to the movies this afternoon. At present we are home watching T.V. He is off on two weeks holiday, and is now saying that he feels like a bowl of soup. Sunday: Talk about April showers! It's sunny one moment, then raining the next. The tree outside the window is glistening with sunlit rain drops and little green leaf buds, while the daffodils in the next door garden are positively glowing. Birds, Thrushes I think, are singing all about the street. The wireless is playing a mad song called "The Leader of the Laundromat" - which reminds me of washing to do later. We have just had breakfast, and Noel is downstairs having a bath. Time is 12o'clock.I intended finishing this last night, but got involved in watching the T.V...Noel has to go over to Miss Smith's this afternoon as she is going to be the Godmother and has asked him to be the Godfather to someone's baby this afternoon. The chap who was to be the Godfather is sick, so Noel has agreed to be his replacement. It all sounds a bit odd!....There was a big football match in London yesterday. Scotland versus England. Gosh! Piccadilly was crawling with Scots in tartans, kilts and berets, all singing and pouring into the underground to go to the stadium. Bob's father came down, and they both went to the match together. It ended in a draw. 2-2. Eros, the statue in the middle of Piccadilly circus, was all walled in, as it seems the Scots get a bit unruly and try to climb it. There is a lot of ill feeling between the various countries that form the United Kingdom of Britain. The English hate the Welsh, the Welsh despise the English and want their independence, likewise Scotland, and everyone dislikes the Irish, who want nothing more than to blow up England and Northern Ireland. It doesn't sound like a very United Kingdom to me.................
London. Thurs. April 15th.1965. It is Thursday afternoon. Tomorrow we leave for Paris. Imagine it! Wow! Such a long way from Mount Morgan. Alan and I have been having French lessons from Bob in the canteen. He has been trying to teach us how to ask for things in French. Alan knows a few words, but I am hopeless. Bob was in hysterics. All he kept saying was "No, Barry. Not that way! - Give it a nasal tone!".or "The J is a soft J, Barry!" ..Damn French! Why can't they learn to speak a proper language like English!. Anyway we had much fun, and amused Bob no end. Fortunately, most of Paris is English speaking because of its prominence as a tourist centre.- so I am told!. Margie and the girls had no trouble, but it does not hurt to learn a few phrases of French, just in case...The weather is quite warm, but drizzly. Hope Paris is better. Robin and Roger are driving to Cornwall for the Easter. They say Cornwall(in the south of England) is very pretty, with nice beaches and coastal scenery. Connie and Margie have gone to Lourdes for a pilgrimage. Lourdes is the place in the south of France where Bernadette saw visions of something or other. Noel isn't going anywhere. At least not as yet! The Rome trip didn't come off, but Peter wants him to go home with him. He seems to be recovering from his illness now, though very slowly. He has lost a bit of weight and looks quite thin. His trousers seem to just hang on him. On Tuesday he broke out into a rash all over his body. Big red blotches all over him, which finally caused him to go to the Doctor. The Doc said it was an allergy, and gave him some pills and medicine. The whole trouble is that he hasn't been eating, and the tablets are supposed to make him do just that. We went to the movies last night to see "Lord Jim", a terrific action adventure movie starring Peter O'Toole. It was filmed in Hong Kong and Cambodia. The colour photography was great, and we even recognised some of the places in Hong Kong. I haven't gone out much at all lately, as I have been staying at home with Noel. We may go touring somewhere on the weekend after Easter, as it is the last weekend of his school holidays. I wish he would get away from that school, as it seems to be worrying him. There seems to be quite a few undercurrents amongst the staff that directly concern Noel and I suspect it is having a bad effect on him....Work at Humphries is going fine and I have slipped into my new job with ease. The past week has been extremely busy, which is unusual for the lacquering Dept. At the moment the Lab is printing a copy of Churchill's obituary which is going to the Queen. The film was just in for ultra sonic cleaning, and the boys were told to make an extra good job it for Her Majesty.. Your letter arrived on Monday again. Glad to hear about the rain. I enjoyed reading the little drama about Bobsie and that dreadful Butcher Bird. I read it out to Noel and we could just imagine you rushing to the rescue. Knowing Bobsie, I'll bet you were more shocked than he was. I hope he told that Butcher Bird exactly what he thought of him. Nothing seems to bother that little Budgie. He seems amazingly well adjusted, and able to cope with anything that happens to him. You will have to be very careful from now on because the Butcher Bird will probably come back.. Bob just came in with some more French phrases, spoke madly to me in French, and walked out again. I think he expected me to know what he said!....I didn't!.. Friday: Still very cloudy, but not cold. I am all dressed and packed to go. Noel has gone around to the Presbytery for the morning. He is much better now and ate a hearty meal last night. I have a different hairstyle which I got yesterday at a Wardour Street stylist, and he teased me about it all night - so that is a good sign that he is recovering. Our kitchen here has all been repainted and looks very nice. The walls are blue, and the cupboards white, with grey formica tops. Mrs Aarons had some friends in last night, and, while I was down there cleaning my teeth, wearing only my rather worse for wear pyjama bottoms, I heard her say "In here is the boy's kitchen." Before she could get the dividing door open and bring her guests in, I made a frantic leap and dashed up the stairs, and burst breathless into our room. "What the hell's wrong with you?" says Noel. When I told him we both had a good laugh. "Maybe it's about time you bought yourself some new pyjamas!" said Noel. Mrs Aarons is really good and very rarely comes into our section. I guess she wanted to show her guests the nice repainted kitchen. Well I had better go now. I have to meet Alan at 12 o'clock at the world map in the Piccadilly tube station. I told him to wait at the Eastern Standard Time end(Australia). Our bus leaves for the airport at 3o'clock, so we are going to have lunch first. It will be the first time I have flown since we all hired the D.C.3 to fly home when I was doing my Nasho at Amberley Air Force base. I hope this plane is a bit better than that old D.C.3..........
LETTER 44. Paris.
London. Tues. April 20th. 1965 I thought I had better write straight away as I suppose you were worrying about my trip to Paris in that flying machine contraption. Well, as you may have assumed by now, all went well and we are back safely in London. Actually I am now sitting at my desk at the Lab. No one seems very anxious to start work this morning as they all appear to be suffering from the effects of the Easter holiday weekend. I am feeling a little weary, and have sore feet(from walking), but am otherwise okay. I have been talking like mad since I arrived, and have just unlocked my Lab and entered it at 8.40am. How was Paris you ask ? Well it was fantastic! It is very,very beautiful with great wide tree lined boulevards lined with sidewalk restaurants. Everywhere there are tulips and daffodils, beautifully dressed people, gorgeous shops, magnificent cathedrals and monuments, and, of course, the Eiffel Tower. Our trip across the Channel, both ways was in a gleaming new Fokker Friendship aircraft trimmed with blue and silver. It was wonderful to fly in, and we landed at the airport at Beauvious and went the rest of the way into Paris by coach. The countryside we drove through was very pretty and very flat, with farms and orchards everywhere. All the orchards were just masses of spring blossoms in various shades of pink and white. Where the grasses grew, the colour was a deep green and the old, quaint villages we passed through looked like something out of a story book. It seemed like a land frozen in time. I guess the same could be said about the city of Paris as well. The first impression is that it is not a big city. Certainly there are no big blocks of skyscrapers, just nicely laid out streets bordered by beautiful old buildings, and lots of trees. The architecture of the old buildings was stunning, very grand and very elegant. The Seine river winds through the centre of Paris and is very picturesque with tree lined avenues and parks on both sides....At this point in Barry's narrative there is something that he omits to tell his mother- again! He knows the Seine very well indeed, having gazed at it for most of that first night as he tried to sleep on one of the park benches that are placed upon it's banks. As it was the Easter weekend all the hotels were full. After trudging around for what seemed like hours we were in a pretty desperate situation. Then we came across a nice looking place with an inviting entrance door and a lady sitting at the desk as you entered. "It's one of those pensiones" I said to Alan. (The French equivalent to guest houses). So in we marched, carrying our suitcases, and Alan did the talking as he claimed to speak a little French. "Tell her we want to book in for the Easter weekend" I said. Then Alan, using his fractured French began trying to explain what we wanted, which seemed to delight the lady. As I stood behind him my eyes gazed about the interior which had a staircase leading to the upper floors. On the upper level balcony a number of ladies had gathered and were looking down upon us, smiling. One or two were wearing negligees. I turned to Alan who was attempting to negotiate a price and I heard the lady say something like - " Oui Monsieur, many mademoiselle....." . It did not need an Einstein brain to figure out what sort of establishment we had walked into!" "Psst! ...Alan! ..Let's go.." "What! Huh" says Alan perplexed. With his back to the stairs he had not seen what I had seen. The young ladies were getting quite excited, smiling and now waving. "Alan!" I said in a loud whisper "This is not a hotel!." Finally he turned and saw what I was seeing. He blushed, thanked the lady, and we grabbed our suitcases and hurried out into the night. We then gave up all hope of finding accommodation and walked about until we found ourselves on the banks of the Seine, with its numerous parks and benches. We picked one bench each and tried to get some shuteye until Paris awoke, and we could go to a place that the guide book said handles accommodation for visitors. It was where we should have gone in the first place. Fortunately it was a mild night, and, in those days, like London, Paris was still safe to walk around in, day and night. It was really quite nice to watch the dawn arrive and observe Paris awakening. All we needed was a bit if George Gershwin music to go with it. We had breakfast at a little cafe that opened early, then made our way to the accommodation bureau who were able to get us a nice room, in a tree line avenue, not far from the magnificent building that was the Paris Opera House. Now read on......... The first thing that hits you about Paris is it's cleanliness. It is spotlessly clean with not one bit of paper littering the boulevards anywhere. We stayed at a hotel on the Boulevards Des Capucines, not far from the Paris Grand Opera in the heart of the city. A further walk along the Rue Royale was the wonderful Place De La Concorde, used as a centre piece for the "American in Paris" ballet. Leading away from this place is the famous Avenue Des Champs-Elysees which leads into the Arc De Triomph. This tree lined avenue is lined all the way with sidewalk restaurants where people sit eating or drinking, reading, chatting or just people watching. All this just within walking distance from our hotel. Of course the main attraction was the Eiffel Tower. We went up there on the Sunday. I never imagined it to be so huge. It contains two restaurants, bars and many shops, and people are carried up to the viewing platforms by lifts and stairs. We chose the lift! From the top the view is fantastic, and one looks out over all of Paris. Directly below us was the Seine, where long perspex covered launches carry tourists up and down the river that flows through the heart of the city. Fortunately the day was sunny and clear so we could see for miles around. The Tower was set in a park which had many trees covered in pink and white blossoms. Down the Seine a short distance, and situated on an island, is the great Notre Dame Cathedral. I have always been fascinated by this cathedral, with its guardian gargoyles, that has been the centrepiece of many movies. When we arrived, there was a service in progress with a choir singing beautifully, so we watched and listened for a while from the balcony above, then went up to the tower. It is up here that the gargoyles gaze out over the city, and from there we climbed up to the bell tower. We looked, but there was no hunchback hiding anywhere! On our way back we walked along the left bank, noted for it's bohemian atmosphere, and bought a couple of souvenir paintings. The most lively area of Paris is Montmarte, where all the big night spots are. Here we saw the Moulin Rouge, with its big red windmill, and the Follies Pigalle. We looked at them but did not venture inside as they were, like Paris, very expensive. There were, however, numerous cinemas around and one was showing a great classic movie called "King Kong", which I had never seen because it was banned outright by our censors in 1939.(and still is). I suggested that we go, and Alan, although he had seen it, agreed saying that he could easily see it again. The only slight problem was that all the English dialogue had been dubbed in French. It was quite easy to figure out what they were saying and King Kong's roar was the same whether it was in English or French. I was quite impressed by the great animation and the terrific musical score by Max Steiner. Eating was no problem as we used to eat at a self service restaurant not far from our hotel. Here we could get very good food at reasonable prices, without having to try and translate a French menu. The food is on display, so you know what you are getting - almost. We chose crumbed steak(we thought) with spaghetti one time, and although it was very nice and tender, I was a bit suspicious about the slightly sweet taste the meat had. I saw where it was in the cafeteria and thought about it's name tag, and realised that we had just eaten horse steak, not beef steak. I told Alan who said "Oh well! we've eaten it now, and it was very nice, so we won't worry about it." The French people love their food and, boy, do they know how to serve it up. We had wine with every main meal, and, when we did eat at a higher class restaurant we had hors de ouvres first. A waiter brought a selection to our table in a double layered serving trolley. We didn't quite know what was going on at first. Alan looked at the splendid assortment of dishes and, thinking he was choosing his entire meal said, pointing, "I'll have one of those, and that there, and that one, and..." The waiter then started waving his arms around saying "Non! Non! monsieur, choisissez un.. choisissez un!"...I got the message somehow and whispered to Alan "I think we're only supposed to choose one!" The one I chose was absolutely delicious, and it would have suited me just fine, if the waiter had have left his little trolley of goodies with us. Never mind the main course Sir, we'll stick with the hors de ouvres! I can't even remember what we had for the main course, but it wasn't horse steak! I flew in from Paris yesterday afternoon, met Noel at a restaurant in Leicester Square, had a late lunch, went to Trafalgar Square for the "Ban the Bomb" rally, and afterwards went to the theatre to see a play called 'Hostile Witness".When I eventually got home the first thing I did was to have a bath, as it seems no one bathes on the continent, so consequently few hotels have those facilities. We did have something in our hotel room in Paris that looked like a toilet bowl on wheels, but we did not know what to do with it. I have been told since that it is called a "bidet" and that is what you're supposed to bathe in. My answer to that was "You've got to be joking!" On the flight back from Paris, we had rain, sunshine, snow, hail, wind, sleet and fog. How's that for European weather? Wednesday: Somehow the trouble we had with accommodation in Paris got around the lab and I was teased about it without mercy - especially by the girls who said things like “Oh Barry! shame on you wanting to spend the weekend in one of those naughty places -and the Easter weekend too! What would your mother say?" Your letter arrived last night. Noel also got one from his parents, and Margaret Hickey, so we really had lots of news from home. Noel is now fully recovered from his illness. I'll try and write again at the weekend in reply to your letter.
Scenes of Paris 1965
Letters 45 & 46
London. Sat. April 24th. 1965 It is 8.15 p.m. Saturday night. Outside it is still quite light and the green leaves on the tree are still clearly visible. We have just come home after wandering about the town, seeing two films in the process, one a Terry Thomas -Peter Sellers movie in Baker Street, and the other called "She" in Oxford Street. "She" is a Humphries movie, and for months we handled the rushes that came in from the studio. Back home in Aussie it will be the early hours of Sunday morning, and you will still be asleep, I suppose. I have been posting Paris postcards all week, because I did not have the time or the opportunity to write and post them from there. Noel didn't go anywhere and has been home all the time. He goes back to school on Tuesday and is looking forward to it. We have been to the theatre twice this week. Saw "Hostile Witness" on Monday, as I mentioned, and last night at the Apollo in Shaftesbury Avenue we saw "Boeing Boeing" a riotous comedy. Noel and I almost split our sides laughing. The play was about a fellow who lives in Paris, and has three fiancées, all air hostesses. He had it all timed so that when one left on her trip, another would arrive to stay a couple of days, and when her plane left, another would arrive. Of course none of them knew about the others until the airlines changed their schedules, with the introduction of the new faster Boeing jets. This, of course, was disastrous for the philandering fellow, played by Leslie Phillips - an actor we have always liked. We intend going to the theatre more often, as believe or not, it can be cheaper than going to the movies. Gallery seats in the live theatre can be as low as 4/- each. These gallery seats are referred to as "the Gods" and very popular with tourists on limited budgets.....We have just finished watching T.V. and had supper. Coffee, cheese, pickled onions and cold pork sausage - and Noel ate half a chocolate cake. I often cook rissoles and cook a heap so we can have them cold any time we fancy one. The same with pork sausages. Here we don't have a fridge, so all meat has to be cooked within two or three days. Actually, it's no problem not having a fridge, and most English homes don't have one. The only fridges you can buy are very small ones, not even half the size of yours. We keep our larder well stocked with canned goods, and always have freeze dried peas and beans in stock. These are really good, as I think I mentioned before. All you do is place them in water and simmer for twenty minutes, and "hey presto!" yummy vegies. Freeze dried food is replacing frozen stuff here, for what use is frozen food if you don't have a fridge freezer to keep it in. Tomorrow we are having chicken, frozen, but now thawing. Our newly tarted up kitchen looks really nice, in its blue and white decor. We almost never see the other two tenants that we are supposed to be sharing the kitchen with. At work I have begun the mammoth task of lacquering a movie called "Tom Jones". You may have heard of it. It won an award a year ago, and the Lab is doing more copies - perhaps to send to Australia. It is a fifteen reeler and, before putting it through the printing machines, it has to be lacquered to protect it as it is a valuable piece of property. All that means that I will be very busy next week. Last week I didn't have much to do so I was helping Alan in the cleaning lab as Jerry is off sick...Sorry to hear that things are still bad at home, as regards water. That is an on going problem with Mount Morgan isn't it. Just think, last Monday Alan and I were cursing the rain as we were hurrying to the bus terminal in Paris, and it began to pour. It's often raining here now. Sort of on and off April showers all the time. Sun one moment, rain the next. Everyone curses it. No one wants it! If only I could send some over to Mount Morgan.. Thanks for reminding me about Aunty Mill. I had completely forgot. One tends to forget things easily here. You know I forgot how to spell Noel Batchelor's name last week when I sent him a postcard. We both find that faces, names and addresses are beginning to dim a little. It is almost a year since we left home. That's the reason why your letters are so important to me, as I do not want to forget anything about home, and your weekly letter keeps that important link. Especially when you tell me about people and things that happen........Sunday: Today is quite cloudy, but certainly not cold. The weather seems to have remained stable for the past 24 hours, which is quite remarkable. We have just had breakfast,(time is 12.30pm) and Noel is at Mass. This afternoon we are going to Hyde Park to see what's happening. I am taking the camera to get some shots of the daffodils. Well time to go I guess. I hope you are still keeping well. Gosh! I am. I never felt better. I never have the slightest trouble sleeping now. No worries now, I guess.......
London. Friday. April 30th 1965. Friday morning at the Lab again. It's a mild misty morning outside. In the park opposite the trees are full of little green splotches that herald their awakening from their winter sleep. Mike has just walked in and, at the moment, is reading my newspaper.(the Daily Mirror). The machine is humming away with reel 9 of "Tom Jones" being lacquered. Ted, our sort of boss, has also been in to see how I was going. He saw the camera sitting on my desk, and, once again, ticked me off for buying film. He told me a few weeks back that any film I wanted, to tell him and he would get it for me from the Lab free of charge, processing and all. I explained that I wanted a high speed film for some pictures in the Lab. He said that he would let it go this time, but next time be sure to come to him first. The people at this place are so nice. Next time I am shooting colour I will do just what he said, and see him first. It will save me some money. The Lab uses Eastman Colour film, the same film that all movies are shot on now and gives a very nice colour. Everyone likes my camera that would cost 210 pounds to buy here. I had it here yesterday and Bob came in, picked it up and said "Stand over there Barry, and I'll take some pictures of you to send home to your mother". If they're okay I will do just that. I am sending a colour print of one of me in Paris that Alan took with the Eiffel Tower sticking out of my head. All the Paris slides are really nice, and I also have some nice black and white shots. I will send some prints to you when I get them all organised. John, my mate from Brisbane, leaves today to go touring on the Continent for three months. I will miss John as we have become good mates. At lunchtime we are going to say goodbye in the true Aussie tradition and have a drink together. He intends to return to London to work again, but doubts if he will be back at Humphries. I met Isobel after work on Tuesday and we went and had a good chat over a cup of coffee. She works at a huge new building in Piccadilly called the Economics Building, and all her bosses are American. She likes it very much and is now there on a permanent basis. We hope to go to the big Commonwealth Institute dinner together at the Guild Hall, if we can get tickets. She went last year and says it's fantastic. A real glittering affair. I'm not real keen as it means I will have to borrow or hire a dinner suit. I guess it's a once in a lifetime thing, and a "Posh" do in London should be something to remember. Saturday: Received your letter this morning. I am absolutely amazed at the state of things in Mount Morgan. Fancy the Company being so desperate for water that they are engaged in rain making experiments. You are lucky we have all those tanks to keep you supplied. ....Noel and I went to the Scala again last night to see a production of "Annie Get Your Gun". The singing by the leading players was terrific. The hero sounded just like Howard Keel, and when Annie sang "Doin' What Comes Natcherly" it reminded me of the time Margaret Hickey sang it one of the Past Pupils shows. Noel is at the Regents Park Zoo this morning with Gerry and the kids from the school.(Gerry- Geraldine is one of the young married teachers there). Regents Park is not far from Swiss Cottage. It forms the southern edge of Hampstead, and is a huge, beautiful parkland area, with the zoo in one corner. I catch the train to Regents Park station, and from there it is only 10mins walk to the Lab. The inner city is only about another five minutes away. Everything is so convenient here. One can even go to Regents Park by boat as it is part of London's network of canals. Camden town is also on the canal system and we like to watch the boats going through the Camden Town locks. The flower stalls at Swiss Cottage were full of tulips this morning and all the trees in our street are now covered completely in new green leaves, which has changed the look of the street entirely. I hope we can now say goodbye to winter. In its favour, well, I guess that it was a new experience for me, and certainly seeing snow covering everything was, well, very different from our winters at home - and the snow scenes have a beauty of their own. What I found the most difficult to handle was having to go for weeks, or months, without seeing the sun...........Sunday: It's quite warm today and almost sunny. Noel's gone to Mass, and I am about to wash up the breakfast things. We didn't go anywhere last night as Peter Longstaff (another of the teachers)came around and we watched the Telly ("Gideon's Way", "Hollywood and the Stars", "Sherlock Holmes" and "The Rogues")....Hope Mount Morgan gets some rain soon. Let's know how the rain making experiments go. Maybe they should get some Abos to do their Rain Dance!.............
Letters 47, 48, 49, 50, & 51
London. Thurs. May 6th. 1965 Well today the sun is shining brightly - for a change! It was very cool coming to the Lab this morning, but providing the wind drops, it should be a warm day. We had an interesting walk this week. On Sunday we went to Hyde Park and walked through it to Green Park, and then on to Buckingham Palace. Hyde Park was a riot of colour with beds of massed tulips in colours that would shame a rainbow. I never knew tulips were so beautiful and so colourful. My only knowledge of tulips up to this point were those funny ornamental glass things we had in a vase at home. Now I am gazing at massed beds of them for real. When we got to the Palace there were television cameras mounted everywhere on the island outside the gates. Naturally we investigated and found that it was for the "Early Bird" satellite T.V. link with America. After a while the cameras turned to shoot a big Rolls Royce that drove up and stopped, to allow a distinguished looking gentleman to get out. After a lot more messing about he stepped in front of a camera saying something like "...Here at Buckingham Palace with the Mall behind me." at this point he turned and looked up the Mall with the cameras swinging around for the Mall shot which brought us fair and square into the frame causing Noel to make funny faces at the camera(naturally!). I don't know if we actually came out on the T.V., but it gave us a thrill to be in the first direct trans Atlantic television link up. We didn't watch T.V. at all on Sunday night, but on Monday we watched and saw, via the Early Bird Satellite, programmes direct from America. They say that one day soon the whole world will be linked direct via these satellites, which have been planned to span the globe. "Early Bird" is the first to go up. On Sunday night we went to the movies and saw a terrific movie called "Fail Safe" about the U.S.A. almost starting a nuclear war, when one of its bombers accidentally destroys Moscow. Tuesday night we went to the New Lyric Theatre at Hammersmith to see a Revue called "Guarding the Change" by an all Australian cast. We laughed like mad because it was a dig at the British, and we found that the Australians who wrote the show had exactly the same sense of humour that we have, and found the same things funny about England. The show opens with the sung cries of street hawkers (as in "Oliver"). "Lovely Roses" sings a flower seller "only one pound twelve and six pence a bunch". "Strawberries!" sings another, and they wander about singing with another who is selling milk until a slick chick comes in crying out "Pineapples - lovely canned Australian pineapples - picked and pickled this morning!". Then a fellow comes in driving an imaginary car and screams out "Get out of the way yer flaming nits!".........Last night I cooked the tea. Guess what it was? - Steak and Kidney pie!. I bought the pastry ready to roll and it turned out fine - almost as good as yours.(almost!). Alan came around after work to compare cameras. He has just bought a twin lens reflex camera, like my Rollie. We wanted him to stay for tea, but he said he wouldn't "risk it!".Cheeky!. Sunday: No letter today. Must have been held up somewhere. Today Alan and I have been wandering around London taking photos. Noel went away for the weekend with Gerry, her husband Mike and their kids, and Miss Smith. Gerry and Mike have a caravan on the coast somewhere, so they all went off for the weekend. I went to the B.B.C. on Friday afternoon to meet with Pat as I hadn't seen her for a while. She took me on a tour of White City, the B.B.C. centre, and we looked in on all the studios. It was fantastic. One studio had a big show in rehearsal, and we were able to watch it from the large glass observation deck. Their largest studio, Studio 1, was a mass of sets of streets, and other props. After our tour we dined in the restaurant, with all sorts of funny people about, in various costumes. Pat picked out a few of the personalities , but I didn't know them. She said she often sees the "cops" from "Z Cars" there. As you can imagine we talked like mad the whole time. Afterwards we went home to her place to see the other girls, and to meet her landlady. Apparently I made a favourable impression on her landlady at a previous meeting and she wanted to say hello again. It seems she is rather particular about who the girls bring home. We sat around reading copies of the Morning Bulletin and all agreed that the "Bullie" carried more news than the English papers. On Saturday I slept in, tidied up and ran the vacuum over the place, then went out to see a movie called "The Satan Bug" directed by John Sturgess. Later I went around to a friend's place to listen to a new recording of Leonard Bernstein's Mass. He is the music critic for the "Evening Standard". Today has been a beautiful day, warm and sunny. I met Alan at Marble Arch and we wandered off through Hyde Park to the Palace where we saw bands marching around everywhere. Don't know what the occasion was but there were also more bands at Whitehall near the Houses of Parliament. We even wandered along The Strand to St Paul's and went inside. St Paul’s is really beautiful inside, which is unusual because most Cathedrals here are very cold and empty. St Paul’s echoes with grand memories of the glory days of the British Empire. Outside we sat in a park for a while absorbing the sunshine. A few yards away was an old bomb ruin which looked as if it had been part of St Paul’s once. Only an old bell tower was left. The whole area around St Paul’s was heavily bombed and is now an area of new buildings. It is absolutely amazing that this grand old Cathedral survived the bombing. That's about all for now. I am a little exhausted after a busy weekend. Early to bed tonight! Hope all is well with you........
London.Thurs.May 13th 1965 Well this week London is sweltering! The temperature has soared to 78 degrees and the sun has been blazing from a cloudless sky that reminds me of a drought sky at home. It hasn't rained for a week, so I guess that is almost a drought here. Actually I do feel rather hot myself. Funny isn't it! 78degrees is just a warm winters day at home. The trouble is that all buildings built here, are built to keep the warmth in, and the cold air out, so that when the temperature does climb it can get very uncomfortable. Not that I mind in the slightest. I have taken off my Lab coat and am sitting here in an open neck shirt with sleeves rolled up. I have just come back from lunch, and from doing a bit of shopping around Goodge Street. I bought some steak for 9/- a pound(11/3 Aust). We rarely buy steak as it is rather expensive, but thought it about time that we lashed out and bought some as we do miss our steaks. Noel said that he would even be delighted to chew into one of Fred Moller's steaks. It is possible to buy steak cheaper at the markets, but it is always frozen and hasn't a nice flavour - and it is always tough! Ironically it is cheaper to buy a steak cooked in a cafe or restaurant than to buy it at the butchers. We know a place in Leicester Square where we can get a steak meal for only 5/-..Your letter arrived on Monday. I hope that it is still raining and that the dam is full. All the boys here were pleased to hear about the rain too. I am always being asked how things are at home, so naturally I told them how dry it was, and now I often get asked "Has it rained yet?". I told them it has and it was because the Abos did a rain dance. I don't think they believed me! I am frequently telling someone about some aspect of Australia. They are always interested in the clothes I wear, and often ask "Did you buy that in Australia?". I think they assume that Australia is well behind them in the fashion world, and are amazed to find that this isn't so.. I imagine that your weather is now beginning to cool off a little. Gee I wish I could go to the beach now. We are talking about getting the van operational again and going to Cornwall for the Whitsun holiday weekend which is in June sometime. When winter set in we had to drain the radiator, and disconnect everything, and have not bothered to get it going again yet. Now that summer is practically here we will have to get mobile again. Bob has just been here. He walked in saying "G'day cobber!". He reckoned I looked a real Aussie sitting here with my sleeves rolled up and no tie on. "Just when I thought we were making a cultured Englishman out of you, you revert to this uncivilised behaviour." he said. "Next thing you will be coming in here with one of those bush hats with the corks dangling from it!". "Only if the blue bottles are bad!" I answered.(blue bottles are what they call flies here)..Friday: Noel and I went to the theatre in Victoria last night to see "The Black and White Minstrel Show". It was our second visit and we enjoyed it as much again, as the first time. It's one of the best general musical shows in London. The singing and musical arrangements are really great. We can practically sing all the songs now. Must tell Desley and Jan to see it when they arrive. Tonight we are going to the Scala to see "The Desert Song". It's being done by "The Laundry and Dry Cleaning Operatic Society". On Thursday night, on the way to Victoria, we rode on the bus through Park Lane and Mayfair and on the way past the London Hilton we saw a lot of cops and a big black car flying the American flag. We couldn't see in the car but we thought it was probably Jackie Kennedy as she is here for the unveiling of a memorial to her late husband. Yesterday she, and her family went walking down the Mall to join the crowd outside the Palace to watch the Changing of the Guard. Today the Queen unveils the J.F.K. memorial at Runnymede. Saturday Just had breakfast(chippola sausages, fried egg, mushrooms and toast) and am now sitting by the window on my second cup of coffee. Noel has gone to the British Museum with his kids and Miss Smith. Usually I sleep in at weekends, but Noel was up early and wiped shaving cream all over my face. It's a sunny day again - almost. I am waiting to see what it makes its mind up to do. If it ends up hot and sunny, as it has been, I am going swimming and sunbaking at the Serpentine. The Serpentine is the popular lake on the Chelsea edge of Hyde Park, where one can go swimming, sailing or rowing. Harry is coming too if it is sunny and we are going to have a lazy day in the sunshine. All I have on now are shorts and a T Shirt. Robin is planning for his 21st birthday party in 2 weeks time. He wants me to bring Desley and Jan. All the gang from the Lab will be there so it would be a good opportunity for them to meet some nice English people. "The Desert Song" was really great. We both enjoyed it immensely, and walked to the Regents Park tube station singing "The Riff Song", and a couple of others. On the way we passed the Radio Tower lit by an eerie blue light against the moonlit sky. Did I tell you that Alan and I went to the top of New Zealand house on Tuesday to take pictures. N.Z. House is an ultra modern building 17 stories high that overlooks central London. It actually looks down on Trafalgar Square. Will send some pictures when they are processed. By the way, I sent Claude a postcard of Paris a couple of weeks ago. I hope he receives it okay. If you see my beloved Bette tell her to hurry up and write, or I will think she has found another boyfriend...........
London. Friday May21st. 1965 I have just come back from lunch, which consisted of sweet & sour pork, fried rice and chicken chow mein at the Nam Ting restaurant just off Oxford Street. (I have finally found a Chinese restaurant that is okay). Today is payday so Alan and I thought we would treat ourselves to a nice Chinese meal. Usually I just have a ham and salad roll for 7pence. The weather this week has returned to winter, and it has been quite cold, especially in the mornings. Last night Isobel and I went to Covent Garden to see the Royal Ballet in "Swan Lake". It was absolutely magnificent, with breath taking sets and great, skilful dancing. We had very good seats in the centre of the theatre, with plush red and gold private boxes rising in four layers above us. The boxes cover the three sides and seem to rise hundreds of feet in glittering layers. The huge curtain appeared to be made of heavy red velvet with gold embroidery, and had the Queens coat of arms suspended above it. Some of the women in the audience wore long evening gowns. Isobel looked smashing in a black, square neck, tight fitting dress with a flared hemline. Her hair had been styled, and it framed her face, but was, sort of over to one side. I wore my suit with white pocket hankerchief, and top coat of course, which I checked into the cloak room. The Ballet was a new production, with some new choreography, and new sets. The lakeside setting was all in Autumn tones, which made it much more colourful and the various costumes throughout were fantastic. The audience went wild at the end cheering and calling "Bravo!" They called the lead dancers back for about seven or eight curtain calls. The production itself must have had about a dozen curtain calls. It was terribly exciting and afterwards we caught the tube to Sloane Square and had coffee at her flat with Sue and her friend Hugh. Hugh is also an Opera fan and talked about Joan Southerland's latest performance at Covent Garden. Joan Southerland is the great Australian Opera singer starting to make a name for herself here. I just managed to catch the last train home at 12.45am.
Sunday: Bright and sunny today. The street is really beautiful and living up to its name of Greencroft Gardens. Walking from our place to the Finchley Road tube station one passes lavender flowering lilac trees, riotous yellow laburnums, white conical flowering horse chestnuts and other trees with tiny red rose like blossoms. Mrs Aarons is out in the garden now planting stocks and other things. We had quite a discussion on gardening yesterday. Your letter didn't arrive today, but one for Desley and Jan did from their Mother. We have arranged their accommodation. When they arrive we are taking them to Miss Smiths for a few days, as she wanted to put them up, and then we have booked them into an inexpensive hotel at Earl's Court. Accommodation is really difficult now as it is the tourist season, but they will be right at this hotel from Sunday onwards.(Isobel has stayed there). Noel has a holiday on Thursday and I am taking the day off. We are going to meet the boat as it comes in at Tilbury Docks. I am really excited about seeing them. We are making plans to all go to a West End show on Friday night, hopefully "Robert and Elizabeth". Robin wants me to bring them to his party on Saturday night. I am very much looking forward to showing them London. I had a letter from Bette on Monday. She has been away on company business in Cootamundra. We went to a West End show last night and saw Kenneth Moore in "Our Man Crichton", a musical based on the play "The Admirable Crichton". He had Millicent Martin as "Tweeny",his co-star. It was most enjoyable and very funny with some nice songs. I also saw the movie "The Sound of Music" last weekend. It was fantastic and Julie Andrews was terrific! It is slightly different from the play with two new songs added - which makes a change as they usually take songs out of the film version. A lot of it was filmed on location and the widescreen colour photography was absolutely spectacular..
Monday morning I couldn't get this finished last night as planned, as our mate from the boat, Bruce Smith, dropped around so we sat talking until late. I went to a band concert on Sunday afternoon in Regent's Park, while Noel went to a football match with Father Harris, a priest from St Agnes. The band concert was given by the Coldstream Guards and was really excellent. They played selections from "Carousel" as well as many other pieces. It was a warm sparkling sunny afternoon in a very beautiful park, with all the trees sporting their new bright green spring foliage surrounded by beds of colourful tulips. It is ironic how the sun back home is most often cursed, and, because of its ferocity, is something people mostly avoid. Here the sun is a magical thing that transforms a dull, cold environment into something so warm and welcoming that it has people rushing out to embrace it. And what better way is there to enjoy it than lying on the lush green grass listening to a band, dressed in their bright red uniforms, playing "The Carousel Waltz", while sailboats glide silently past on the lake beyond. Afterwards I went into Piccadilly and saw a movie, a French comedy, and intended getting home and finishing this letter, but on my arrival Bruce was there, which then kinda changed the plans for the evening. Bruce wants us to go down to Rye with him one weekend to stay with his parents. I will be okay, but Noel is acting a bit odd these days with church and school matters always taking priority. It's a quiet morning, so far, at the lab. Alan has bounced in bright and breezy a few times. I expect visits from Bob and Harry soon. After all the socialising, maybe we will be able to get down to actually doing some work!...........
London. Friday May 28th 1965 : Desley & Jan Arrive
Well the girls have arrived! Traveling to Tilbury was impractical, so we met the boat train as it pulled into Liverpool St Station. It was very exciting to see them again as they stepped off the train beaming brightly with masses of smiles. I thought they might have changed in the past twelve months but they are just the same. They said the same about us. Desley wanted to introduce me to some people on the platform with her. They were friends of hers from the ship. Des said to them "I'd like you to meet a friend of mine, Barry McKnight". "Not Claude McKnight's son!" the man said. "Yes!" I answered. "I am". "Well" he continued "I knew your father well, and Joe, Paddy and Mrs Hoad. I read where you were over here in the paper". Desley laughed and said "This is the middle of London, England!". We all had a laugh and agreed that it was indeed a very small world!!. The man's name was Dempsey, and he and his wife originally came from Mount Morgan, but now live in Rocky. The fellow would know more about my father and his siblings than I ever would......From Liverpool Street we caught the underground to Golders Green, carrying as many suitcases as we could manage, and left the rest at the left luggage department at the station. From there we caught a taxi to Miss Smiths who was eagerly awaiting our arrival. She had a big tea waiting for us - steaks and the works! The girls were very excited to be in a real English home, and kept saying "Oh Miss Smith, your home is lovely, and terribly English!" We all laughed at their enthusiasm. We ate tea beside the big bay window that looks out over the garden, with its masses of flowers and beautiful tulips. They also loved the stairs going up to their bedroom where Desley stood beside the window looking out over the street to the Welsh Harp Lake in the distance, and exclaimed "This is wonderful!". That night we all went on a bus ride to the city to see a few of the sights. It was a terrible night, cold, wet and windy. The worst weather in weeks! Anyway we showed them Marble Arch, walked up Oxford Street, down Regents Street to Piccadilly where we stood in the centre, near the fountain and the Eros statue and watched the lights. From there it was a nice walk down to Leicester Square, and then on to Trafalgar Square. After all this walking we went and had coffee at a Lyons Corner House. They, like us, loved riding up top in the double decker buses and skipped about everywhere looking at the shops. Miss Smith came along as well, and she appeared to really enjoy the night out too. Tonight, Friday, we are all going to the theatre to see "Robert and Elizabeth"... A card arrived from Claude this week. It showed the curtain tree fig, and he typed a few funny lines on the back. It was good to hear from him. I also got a letter from Allan Jones.....
Friday Night: I have just come back from the theatre where we saw "Robert and Elizabeth" (me for the second time). I took the girls along and they thoroughly enjoyed it. It was a wonderful, exciting performance, with great dance numbers and I was again thrilled by the music. Des loved it! I whispered to her during the show "You know the music is by Ron Grainer". "Oh! I didn't know. That's why it is so wonderful" she replied. It's great to know that she remembered him because I used to talk about him at home. During one of our talks I said "You know Ron Grainer is a great composer, and one day the world will be hearing a lot more of him". Now he has done this marvellous show. Ron is an Aussie, and a Queenslander by the way. I have decided that I am going to see it again, and Des and Jan said that they will come too! Must tell Allan Jones about it. Saturday: The weather is still pretty grim. Tonight is Robin's 21st Birthday party. Noel and the girls are coming along. All the gang from Humphries will be there and are dying to meet the girls. The party starts at 6pm and is at Southfields, near Wimbledon. I have told Bob so much about Desley, so their meeting should be interesting. I have told Desley that when she meets Bob she has to say "Stone the crows! A true blue pommie! Ow yer goin' mate?" Desley said she will practice an accent like Mabel in "Dad and Dave" They are going touring on the continent this summer, then coming back to London to get jobs. They said that Bette is coming over next year. There won't be anyone left in Mount Morgan!. ...........
Letters 52 & 53: Robin's Party
London. Friday June 4th. 1965 Sunny at last!. I have been hoping for sunshine this week because of the girls, as cold and wet can be rather miserable for newly arrived Australians. Desley said that she has been getting about with her entire winter wardrobe on. She said "If this is summer, what is winter like?". They came for tea on Wednesday night. We had roast chicken and the works! They were very surprised as they said they were expecting something like sausages and beans. Also said that our coffee was the best they have ever tasted. We get freshly roasted, ground blended coffee and percolate it. They brought some slides with them of our outings at home. Well did we laugh! I screened them on the projector, blowing them up big on the light coloured wall. One hilarious shot shows Bette at Struck Oil all sopping wet and dancing on one foot after the hike when we all got wet. Another shows me sitting in the boot of Bette's car reading a comic. I am saturated and am poking my tongue out at Bette who looks as if she just opened the boot and found me sitting there. The girls had lots of slides showing the glorious Australian bush, with gum trees, black boy grass trees, old charred logs, blue skies and mountains. I think I will have to borrow them to show the boys at work...Des and Jan have now moved into digs at Golders Green. I helped them with their ports on Sunday. They have a bed sitter but will only be there a few weeks before they go touring on the Continent. The high cost of living here rather shocked them, but we have got them shopping at Camden Town, and have drawn up a map of the shops showing them where to buy what, and how much it should cost. On Wednesday they raced about like tourists. They saw the changing of the guard, followed by the "showy" Horse Guards riding down the Mall where they goggled at their red tunics and white plumed hats, and ended up in the Old Bailey watching a court case. Robin's party was enjoyed by everyone, especially the girls. The joke of all time was that Des and I won a competition, in which the girl had to wrap a roll of toilet paper around the boy making him into a "Mummy". Going home on the tube afterwards Noel kept saying rather loudly "Doesn't Barry make a good Mummy!". I introduced the girls to Robin, Harry and Roger - and Alan of course, but the big disappointment was that Bob failed to show up. He said he was too shy! I do believe him though. He is not the party type - quite the opposite to Noel. I will arrange another time for him to meet the girls. He said he would attend Isobel's party on the 12th though. Robin said people kept asking him "Who were the two pretty girls with the two Australians?". Desley and I showed them a bit of our dancing prowess too. Harry said on Monday at the lab "How did you learn to dance like that?" Alan also said "You'll have to teach me how to quickstep". It was fun to be dancing again, as I had not danced since the voyage over. Today my room is rather quiet for a change. Yesterday I had visitors all day. The lacquer supply ran out last week, and as I had no lacquer, I was in helping Alan. Yesterday, however, two cans arrived, so I am back in business again. I brought some photos from the album in yesterday, and everyone was looking at them. All who saw them agreed that I lived a varied life back home. They were particularly interested in pictures of the Holden. Isobel is buying a car - a friend's red Mini Minor. She hopes to get it this weekend and I have to phone her tonight to see what's what, as she is too nervous to drive it and wants me to help her with it until she is used to it.
Saturday: . Today is slightly overcast and misty, and much cooler. It is a complete reversal of yesterday's glorious day.. I didn't ring Isobel last night as I said I would. Pat rang me at work to say she was leaving for the Continent this Sunday and would miss Isobel's party. Her affair with Michael, the ship's officer, is all off and she has a chance of touring the continent with two New Zealand friends, so she is taking it. I met her for coffee after work and we ended up at the movies in Leicester Square. She doesn't seem too broken hearted, just resigned to the fact and realises that she must get over it. Poor old Pat, she always has love troubles. Sunday: I rang Isobel yesterday. She is very well but has dropped plans of owning a car, saying she would be too nervous to drive it in London. Wise move!. Besides, it costs a heck of a lot more to put a car on the road here than it does back home. Petrol is 6/8 (Aust) a gallon and all the taxes and insurances are much higher. Anyway, she asked me around on Saturday night as she and Audrey are going to a movie in the afternoon and then going back to her place. I went to a movie at the Empire, a fabulous modern theatre in Leicester Square. I saw "Operation Crossbow", a movie about London and the attacks of the flying bombs and V2 rockets. It was very good and afterwards I went to Isobel's place where the two girls were cooking spaghetti bolognaise - so I supervised them. Audrey's engagement is now back on again. He's a fellow from Brisbane and apparently he is coming over here to marry her next year. How about that! Well I am now going over to Desley and Jan's to pick them up and take them into Regents Park for the afternoon band concert - so I have to dash off now.....................
London. Friday, June 11th 1965 The end of the week again, and time to begin the weekly newsletter or, as they might say on the Telly, "This Week in Review!"...Well, last night I received mail from two people - a letter from Beth McMurtrie telling me all about their trip to Central Australia, and a card from John telling me about his trip around Europe. Beth's was a three page travelogue , but John's, of course was short, but it swept across many countries. I will quote a little from his card........"Hi Barry, I often think of you and Humphries. I hope you are having better weather than I am having. It's been cloudy and raining for the last week, but the trip is going very good. So far I have seen all of Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Germany & Switzerland. I have seen parts of France, Belgium and Holland. So far Norway is the best, with Switzerland almost as good. We had perfect weather in Norway and saw plenty of snow. I went to Bergen and had a three and a half hour Fjord trip. It was great! I went to West Berlin for two days. It was terrific in there, but getting in takes time. We went through check points and our car was searched twice. Tomorrow we go to Innsbruck and through the Austrian ski resorts. I am looking forward to Italy and Spain. Hoping you are keeping in good health. Regards to all at Humphries. / John"..... Beth's letter was all about visiting Darwin, Alice Springs, Ayers Rock and Kingoonya. Beth would have had a total mileage far greater than John's, yet John travelled through about ten countries and Beth only one. There lies the comparison between our two vastly different worlds.........Noel and I had tea at Desley and Jan's last night. We were a bit late as I went to the school after work to use their piano to write some music. The school is staging another concert in July. It should be quite spectacular, as the stage has all new lighting and curtains, and the head of the school is crazy about concerts. Noel is producing, on my suggestion, "The Wedding of the Painted Doll". I have written some additional music and lyrics, so that now it becomes a little drama piece. I fixed it up with Peter, who is the pianist, yesterday afternoon. He picked it up immediately and played it, and it sounded really good. Des and Jan have bought a van and are getting into the preparations for their European tour. They seem very well organised, and are very self sufficient sensible young ladies. Mrs Smith has no need to worry about that pair. After tea (fish mornay) we took the girls to "The Spaniards Inn", one of the famous, old historical inns on Hampstead Heath. This particular Inn has a history that goes back to 1585. There are three Inns on the Heath, with the other two being "Jack Straws Castle" and "The Bull and Bush". Remember the song "Come, come, come and make eyes at me, down at the old Bull and Bush". Anyway "The Spaniards Inn" was associated with Dick Turpin, the highwayman, and it's low ceiling, heavy oak beam rooms are decorated with old muskets , blunderbusses, ancient drawings and etchings, and other things about early London. In the old days these Inns were very much in the country, and London was many miles away, consequently this area abounded in robbers and highwaymen. When London expanded the city fathers of the time fortunately decided to preserve the original countryside and the three old Inns, and it was incorporated into a large area called Hampstead Heath. The girls loved this fine old relic of the past, and also the glorious area of old original countryside. We sat out in the rose garden with our "pints of bitter", and the girls drank their ginger beers, while we talked and laughed about our experiences in London. Afterwards, we put the girls on their bus home, and, because it was such a nice night we decided to walk the distance to our home in Swiss Cottage. It was a very nice walk. Firstly along the tree lined roadway through the Heath, then on to the quaint old village of Hampstead where no buses are allowed because the streets are too narrow, along the olde worlde Fitz Johns Avenue, then down to Swiss Cottage and home. In all, a most enjoyable evening. I sometimes pause to think how incredible it is that such a large proportion of the old gang from Mount Morgan, are now here on the other side of the world. Saturday night is our gathering at Isobel's flat, where Desley and Jan will be guests of honour. Unfortunately Pat, Margie and Connie are away touring, with Pat being in France and the other two in Scotland. I know they will be with us in spirit though! I am taking Alan and Bob, while Noel is bringing Peter.. Saturday: I have just come back from the "Trooping of the Colour" ceremony and thought I would tell you about it now. Noel had school sports practice this morning early but we agreed to meet at the Strand tube station at 10.45am. I waited an hour but he didn't turn up, so I wandered down the Mall myself. There were thousands of people lining both sides of the long, broad tree lined avenue. The actual ceremony took place in the Horse Guards parade ground nearby, but it was a reservations only affair. However, the general crowd can still watch them parade down the Mall with all their pomp and pageantry. After waiting around for a short time, finally the the big moment came. The bands, the Horse Guards, and the Queen, all arrived in a blaze of colour and stirring music. I couldn't help thinking that the Queen looked a very lonely figure, riding past on her horse all on her own, and side saddle as well. She passed just a few yards from me. I madly took a couple of shots and after the last one I lowered the camera and just watched her, and you know what! - she turned her head and smiled at the section of the crowd where I was. I nearly dropped the camera and felt all funny. She rode perfectly, and when the horse's head dropped a little she pulled gently on the reins to tell it to lift its head up - which it did. She looked perfectly at ease, and was dressed in a bright red uniform(as chief officer of the Horse Guards, I guess). When I first saw her coming on the horse I thought of you and Lester. The Queen Mother was also in the procession, with Princess Alexandra in an open coach. I am still feeling quite thrilled because I was so close to her. I hope the photos come out. It was raining slightly before the parade started, but stopped just in time. The trees in St James Park, bordering the Mall, had a faint mistiness about them, and when combined with the reds and golds of the Guards it was ever so beautiful. ..Sunday: Last night we had a wonderful evening at Isobels. She cooked a magnificent dinner with all sorts of Oriental dishes etc..Bob has finally met the girls. I will probably have a good chat with him tomorrow. We are meeting Des and Jan this afternoon and taking them to Hyde Park to the Speakers Corner. There's a big communist rally on there about the Vietnamese war. After the Speakers Corner we will show them the Serpentine. They leave on Saturday for their tour of the Continent. I will miss their happy bright faces!. Peter and Alan slept here last night. We got the mattress in out of the van for Alan. He left early this morning as he had a trip on a mate's cabin cruiser planned for today. They are going up the Thames from Runnymede to Oxford, and invited me to join them. I had to decline but said I would go next time if they invited me. That's about all for the present.................
Letter 53A DESLEY'S LETTER to Mum.
London. Whit Monday. June 7th 1965.
Dear Mrs Mc Knight,
Just a letter to say "Hello" and "How are you?". We've heard that you haven't been very well and hope you are feeling better now. He,(Barry, that is) has been terrific! He and Noel met us at Liverpool Street Station, and took us to Miss Smith's - Kathleen's - where we all had dinner and then stayed a few days. She's such a nice person. I guess Barry has told you all the news anyway. He called in yesterday but we must have just missed him, unfortunately. He and Noel are coming to dinner on Thursday night. It's going to be fun trying to cook a meal on our single gas jet. Those two can certainly cook!!!! Always knew they could, though I guess after one years batching anyone could get by. We had, when we went to dinner at their flat, roast chicken with stuffing, pots, beans & carrots, all done to perfection. We should be in London for two more weeks & then we hope to tour South England for a week in our car(we have to buy it yet) & then go across to the continent for 4 months - until October, when it gets cooler. London looks so pretty when the sun shines - and it has been out the last few days. There's certainly a million things to see and do here. We go out every day and most nights, consequently our feet are killing us - corns, bruises, and sore bumps of all descriptions. Those are from all of the walking which we've been doing. So far we've seen the Duke and we hope to see the Queen next Saturday at the Trooping of the Colour. We find the twilight really fascinating. The sun sets about 10 past 9 at night, but it is light until 10pm. Then it is light again at 3.30 am, and the birds start singing!! We don't know what sort they are, but they can certainly make a racket. The streets in Central London all have tall green trees growing along the footpaths, and there are many green, green parks. These all make the city so pretty and fresh, despite the old black picturesque buildings. We've been to see quite a few of the tourist attractions. I nearly died of fright in Westminster Abbey when I looked down at the floor in a passage way, and found that I was standing on Robert Browning's grave. The graves of poets and famous people are under the floors in the Abbey, and everyone walks on top of them as they pass down the aisles from chapel to chapel. Even the pews, in some places, are on top of them. To buy potatoes and onions here we have to have a shopping basket. The first time Jan and I went shopping we asked for 3pounds of potatoes and one pound of onions. The cockney woman seller - it was at a barrow seller's - said "Where's yer bag luv?" Jan and I looked blank. "Wot - er, what bag?" "The bag fer yer taters an onyons!". "Do we need one?". "Of course yer do!, We nhever gif papar bags wif taters an onyons! - we may wif to marters an mushrooms, but nhever wif taters and onions!" Jan "We haven't a bag & we have to travel by tube".. woman "I sharn't help year luv, yore must 'ave a bag. That's all there his to it!". She eventually relented & gave us a paper bag for out pots and onions, but we got the impression that London Bridge would come tumbling down because she did. We laughed though when we looked back on her later on. She was pointing us out to everyone at her stall, telling them, no doubt, about we stupid Horsetralians. Jan and I went to the Planetarium yesterday, and I share Barry's views on how marvellous it is. We also went to Petticoat Lane, where we were fascinated by the variety of interesting things on sale at the stalls. Some were bargains, but others were not worth buying. Had better close. No room to write any more. Hope you are well again. - Oh! and Barry - he's as mad as ever! Love from Desley & Jan.
Letters 53, 54 & 55
London. Friday, June 18th 1965. I am a bit tired this morning as it was about 1.30 am before I got to bed last night. The girls came around for tea and afterwards we ended up racing around London in their little Standard van. They came about seven, dressed in their smart suits and announced proudly "We drove here! Come and see the van". It is a nice little Standard van with a raised cabin at the back, which is ideal for camping in. They have only had it a couple of days and have been engaged in preparations for their trip. After tea, which I cooked - a mixed grill of pork chops, apple sauce, chipolla sausage, bacon slice, roast potatoes, peas ,carrots and sweet corn flapjack(they loved the flapjack) , we all piled into the van and ended up at the London Airport. Desley drove out, with us directing and advising, and Jan drove back. They want to get used to driving in London, so we passed on all the knowledge that we had gained. They both handled the van well, and once they get to know it, and they way traffic works here, they should have no trouble at all. Both are amazingly competent young ladies, and certainly have what it takes when it comes to common sense and looking after themselves. Mr and Mrs Smith should feel very proud of them. Anyway at the Airport we had a great old time. As Noel and I know it well, we were able to show them everything, including the Europa building, Britannia building, and the Oceanic building. These are fantastic modern centres with sweeping staircases, murals that light up, shops, coffee bars, restaurants and reception centres filled with every kind of person and nationality, arriving and departing. We all went out on to the observation decks of the Oceanic building and watched the huge jets thundering off into the night sky, and also watched the arrival of the Super V.C.10 from Johannesburg. As the girls were not originally dressed for the cool night I lent them a couple of my jackets. Desley had on my grey woolen one that I bought in London, and Jan wore my waterproof Hong Kong jacket. Naturally the coats were a little bit big, but they were totally unconcerned about what they looked like. Jan said "I feel like a Beatnik!". A couple of times when looking about they said "Hey! I've seen this in the movies". We drove home via the big Chiswick flyover, which is an elevated motorway right into Kensington, then up Park Lane past Marble Arch to the Edgeware Road which took us to Finchley Road and home. We then had some nice hot coffee, talked for a bit more, until, with a shock we realised what the time was. The girls leave on Sunday and are having a two week tour of Southern England first, then they head off for the continent. They are going to call in here before they leave on Sunday morning... Saturday: A beautiful day. Sunny and warm. In Mrs Aaron's garden outside the roses are blooming, and there's a gorgeous peony flower out. It is pink, and looks something like an enormous carnation. She has asked me if I would mind watering her garden for a couple of weeks in August as they are going away. Naturally I reassured her that I would not mind in the least - in fact I would love to. The other evening I was cooking myself a couple of pork chops for tea, and she breezed in for a chat. She left after a while and returned later with a plate of chips. She said that she cut up too many and would I like some. Naturally I couldn't refuse, although I really was not that hungry and intended having the chops with just a fried egg and sauce. However,it was all very nice and I thanked her again later. Your letter arrived this morning. I knew you would solve the mystery of who those people were at the station with Desley and Jan. Amazing wasn't it that they should turn up like that - in London of all places! Noel is at church today, as is often the case, and I am having a domestic sort of day. I have just been to Camden Town and shopped around as Alan is coming for tea and I am teaching him how to make sweet and sour sauce, and sweet corn soup. Alan loves cooking too.(and eating even more so) After tea I am going to show him Desley's slides that she left with me. They will get him laughing as they are all about out Past Pupil's adventures at home. They will be coming here for lunch before they depart tomorrow. I am going to make sure they depart with full tummies! They intend taking a lot of canned provisions(bought at Camden Town) with them as food is expensive on the continent. They expect to be away about four months. I will miss them, but no doubt we will have a big celebration when they return...I rang Isobel last night. She is fine and we are going to a party next Friday night. It is a send off and pre wedding party for Hugh and Hillary, who is one of Isobel's flat mates. After the wedding, Hugh, who is a typical English gentleman and a doctor, is then taking her to New Zealand. They are a wonderful couple and seem ideally suited.....Margie called in last Sunday. She has just arrived back from Scotland and has asked us for tea next Wednesday night. It seems she has a new boyfriend to display. Noel and I went to the theatre last Tuesday night to see the play "Whose Afraid of Virginia Wolf". It was a heavily dramatic play, with fantastic acting, that had the audience involved the whole time. We both thought it was terrific. Robin and Roger are going to Australia House on Saturday to see about immigrating to Australia. I have a feeling that sometime in the future the McKnight residence will have a lot of English callers. Alan says that he is coming back with me when I go. I would love you to hear the way they talk , especially Alan who has a northern English accent. There was a programme on Australia and Bob Menzies on the T.V. last week. Bob is here for the Prime Minister's conference. I saw a Holden in Leicester Square yesterday. Alan and I were going to the Strand to see a movie after work, and Alan said "Hey! There's a Holden". I had been telling them at work all about Holdens and am often teased about them, and I thought Alan was pulling my leg at first, but I looked over, and sure enough, a nice new silver Special was parked there with some people just getting into it. We hurried over to look at it and as it was driving off the chap in the front saw me and gave me a grin and that Aussie nod that is a silent "G'Day!". Both of us started laughing with Alan saying "I saw a Holden!"..I seem to have run out of room with this letter. I had better go then.
London.Friday June 25th 1965 Well this time twelve months ago we were sailing on the high seas towards Hong Kong. Now I feel very much a part of English life. A year ago it was all very remote and something to wonder about. Now it is Australia that is beginning to seem a little remote. I am getting a better understanding of the English way of life, and no longer feel the green colonial. Names that I had never heard of before have now become familiar. I am also taking an interest in English politics, more so than I did in politics at home. I guess when you see so much that you feel is wrong, you hope that there is someone in a position of power who wants to do something about it. That is wishful thinking I guess! It is just that the people here are so wonderful that I would like to see things improve for them....At the Lab today it is rather busy as big orders have come in for "No Hiding Place","Forest Rangers" and a lot of ITN stuff, as well as reels of film from Hammer Studios who are shooting "The Nanny", a thriller with Betty Davis.....Saturday 26th: Didn't get far with this yesterday. Work interrupted it. Your letter arrived this morning, as did Birthday cards from Audrey, Desley and Jan. Also from D&J, came a little package containing two jars of Vegemite that they bought in the Australian gift shop in the Strand. During the week I also received cards from Bette, Chris Cole, and of course dear old Auntie Dine. Isobel is giving me a night at Covent Garden on Wednesday, where we are going to see the "Sylvia" ballet. So Claude is going to Monto. It will be good for you to have them nearer home. If there are no appeals, that is. I don't suppose Claude will be too keen to leave the Tablelands though. I have never been to Monto, but I have heard that it is a very nice place. I went to the party last night for Hugh and Hillary. It was very nice. The people there were quite fascinating and all talked with that "plum in the mouth" upper class English accent. I got the silent giggles a bit listening to them. Everything was "absolutelah chaarrrming!" and "terriblah divine". One poshy sort said to another "Oh my daar, but you lock positivelah devine!". Audrey was there and she bunged it on a bit too! I think she's been practicing! We all drank cocktails (NO Fosters!) and a fellow from Switzerland played the guitar and sang. He was really good too! A friend of Isobel's, called Mavora, is going away for the weekend and has given us her car, a mini, for the weekend. So tomorrow Is an I going some where in it. Isobel is thrilled about it. I will ring her later to arrange things. This afternoon Noel and I are off to Kew gardens by boat up the Thames. Last Wednesday night we went to Margie's for tea. She is okay now and seems to have got over Noel. She is flatting with a nurse who works in Harley street. Her name is Mary, and she comes from Australia too. She said that they have all sorts of interesting people come in there. A few weeks ago she said that they had Elizabeth Taylor come in, and that she is very beautiful. Harley street is the street of medical specialists and is not far from Humphries....Monday: I didn't get time to finish this yesterday so will try today. Actually I am sitting at home with a great wad of cotton wool in my mouth. I got home last night and a tooth that has been troubling me on and off for some time began aching violently. Consequently I had little sleep. It would have been no use going into the Lab, so I went around the corner to see the dentist. He was booked out all day but made room for me almost immediately. You wouldn't believe it, but he was an Aussie too, quite young and very nice. Fortunately the problem tooth was a back one, so he pulled it out and I said good riddance. It is still hurting a bit and bleeding but that will soon stop. He is going to fix all my teeth up and it is free after the first 1 pound under the National Health scheme. It's about time I got something back out of the 15/- I pay each week..........We had a beaut day yesterday. Before we left, I helped shift some of Isobel's gear into their new flat off King's Road, Chelsea. They are moving there next weekend, but as Isobel and I are going to a wedding on Saturday, she decided to shift most of her luggage today. Afterwards we set off in Mavora's mini for a drive about the Southern Counties. First place we visited was the church yard at Stoke Poges where Grey wrote his famous "Elegy in a Country Courtyard". It was very, very old and pretty, as the churchyard was full of roses. We had a beautiful lunch beside the road, surrounded by great horse chestnut trees. Isobel packed a gorgeous lunch and even had a bottle of red wine to go with it. Afterwards we drove to Windsor, saw the great park where the Duke plays polo, and had afternoon tea on the beautiful banks of the Thames, with all sorts of pleasure boats sailing by. Here Isobel produced a birthday cake complete with candles, which I had to blow out. We then followed the Thames eastward and visited Runnymede where we saw the Magna Carta memorial, and the Kennedy Memorial. It was a beautiful drive and we both enjoyed it immensely. When we got back to Isobel's flat we made ourselves an omelete and put anything that we could find into it. On Wednesday night we are off to the ballet... I think I forgot to tell you about Desley and Jan's departure last Sunday. They dropped in about 12.30pm to say good-bye, but did not leave until 4.30pm! We had numerous cups of coffee, and I gave them lunch, and we all talked madly for four hours. Gosh! they're a funny pair. They had the Australian flag flying from their radiator, and all sorts of things in their van. That's about all the news for now. I had better go and get this posted. It is a beautiful day outside, as was the weekend.
London. Friday, July 2nd 1965: Wedding No 1....Pat & David
I am starting this at the lab again and hope that I can get a fair bit of it done today. Your card arrived yesterday. Much thanks! Gee! it is my second birthday away from home. From now on I will start going backwards with my birthdays. Next year I will be 29! (no one believes me when I say I am 30, they think I am pulling their legs!).. Well the biggest event this week was the ballet "Sylvia" at Covent Garden. As you can imagine it was terrific! The two leading dancers were the same two leads as in "Swan Lake".The Opera House was packed, but we had very good seats in one of the upper circle rows in the centre, so we looked slightly down on the stage. Again the sets were magnificent, really breathtaking. I have always had a recording of the music, and have wondered what it would look like on stage. Now I know, thanks to Isobel. It was the best birthday treat ever...Sunday: .The wedding. Now I would like to tell you all I can about the wedding as I know that you would be interested. It was a very beautiful wedding, with the service in an old stone church in Bromley, which is in south east London. The church inside was all high stone arches and big stained glass windows. The bride was led in first by the choir boys in their purple robes, then the choir girls in blue, followed by the Deacons, and then the Minister in front of the bride. All to the beautiful voices of the young choirs. It was the Church of England, and the service was much the same as at home. Everything was printed out, including the hymns, on a gilt edged folder. All the men in the wedding party wore morning dress - grey pin striped trousers, with black tails and white bow ties. Each of them had a red carnation in their button hole. The bride wore a cream embroidered tight fitting dress, with the same material in her train. The bridesmaids wore long deep green dresses. It was all very beautiful. Afterwards the reception was at the Bromley Court Hotel - a huge hotel on Bromley Hill surrounded by lawns and rose gardens. There was no sit down meal like at home, instead guests stood, or sat about in a big elegantly carpeted Reception Lounge, where we were served by red coated waiters, with cocktails, wines and champagne(no Fosters!). Eats were in the form of all sorts of savoury tid-bits, exotic sandwiches and hot things like small scotch eggs. It was a very happy wedding as both Pat and David are quite funny, and were laughing all the time. When the photographer was posing them in the garden for pictures, he wanted one of them on the stairs, so David picked up Pat's train to help her walk up the stairs, so Pat immediately turned, picked up David's tails and carried them too.. David is in Scotland Yard, and his most recent assignment was to be the bodyguard for President Sukarno's wife who was visiting London. He had to be with her the whole time, even to the extent of eating with her. She is really very beautiful and had her pictures in all the papers when she was recently here, and David was responsible for her safety the whole time. Pat works with Isobel at the American Management Consultation firm in Piccadilly. We were talking with an American couple at the reception, as well as an Englishman who has been to Port Alma. We were comparing weddings in America, Australia and England. When it was all over we caught the train back to the city, and Chelsea and dined out at a nice Chinese restaurant on the Kings Road. Isobel looked great, as always, in a dress in sort of Autumn tones and a hat, all made herself. Naturally I wore my suit, with a white pocket handkerchief, and a new tie that Alan gave me for my birthday. Isobel has now moved into her new flat..The weather is once again cold and rainy. I have a thick jersey on this morning. It's now the peak of summer, but so far we have had only a few days that I would call hot-ish. Monday last, after I had my tooth pulled, I grabbed a book and went down to Regents Park. It was a nice warm day and I peeled off to my togs and sunbaked, and even got a little bit sunburnt, believe it or not. On Friday afternoon, Alan and I went down to Kingston with a mate from work to see his houseboat and ended up tearing about on the Thames in his speedboat. It was great speeding along the river, under old stone bridges, passing green weeping willow strewn banks, upsetting the occasional flock of white swans and waving back to the odd pretty girl or two walking along on the pathways that run beside the river. A lot of people live here on the river, and it is considered quite trendy. John only has a small houseboat but it is very cosy and neat. I am glad Mrs Simmonds came to see you. Noel actually wrote to her last week. His school concert is on next week. Here's hoping it's a success. He wants me to take pictures for him. I think Alan and Robin are coming too. Alan and I went to a show in a hotel last week with Robin. He has been telling us about this show for weeks and saying we must see it. So we went along and thoroughly enjoyed it. It was an old fashioned Musical Hall type show complete with a theatrical stage. I was amazed. A little theatre in a pub complete with old street gas lights. They, and we, sang all the great old songs like "Henry the Eighth" and "Goodbye Dolly Grey". Wow! what a night...I haven't heard anything yet from Jan & Desley, but a card arrived from Pat, in Spain. I saw a really terrific movie last weekend, and you must see it if you can. It's called "Mary Poppins" and is the latest from the Disney Studios. Tell Claude that I said to take the kids to see it. It is truly marvellous and contains so much of the special magic that one feels in London. It is one of Disney's best ever and stars my favourite singer/actress Julie Andrews. She won the best actress award for her performance in this movie. It is full of wonderful songs, and dancing. Her singing is brilliant and the special effects dazzling. I am going to go again............
Letters56, 57 & 58
London, Sat. July 10th 1965. At the moment we are having a quiet laugh about Mrs Aarons and a problem she is having with her son David. He is sixteen and sleeps in the room next to ours and hates getting out of bed. She has been calling him for an hour, and just called out again saying "David this is ridiculous! I've called you nine times!". Noel is about to ask her if she wants any assistance. A few weeks back she charged into David's room and threw a cup of water into his face. "What did you do that for?" David spluttered. Mrs Aarons often confides in us about David "I don't know what we're going to do with him!" she says. Actually he is a nice lad, but a typically teenager. We are wondering if he is going to get the water treatment again this morning...Well, the school concert went very well last night. Everyone said that "The Wedding of the Paper Doll" was the best. Noel and Miss Smith produced it, Peter played the music and I supplied some additional music and lyrics. One class sang it, and another class acted it out. Mr Sheil, the headmaster, was exceptionally pleased. Noel apparently talked him into getting new curtains and lighting, as he is not that much interested in the school, as he is very much involved in civic affairs, and the school comes second. Miss Smith wants to take us to the big combined forces tournament at Earl's Court next week. It's like the military tattoo, I think, and is very spectacular. Last Sunday afternoon we went to the Commonwealth Institute at Kensington. It is a fantastic ultra modern building set amid lawns and flowing streams, with an entrance bordered by dozens of flag poles all bearing flags of the Commonwealth nations. Inside it is breathtaking. I have never seen anything like it. It was like stepping into the next century. The idea of it is to show displays from all the Commonwealth countries. Naturally we made a bee line for Australia and pressed buttons marked "Outback" and "People" etc and then saw a series of colour slides, that were representative of these subjects, projected on to various screens. They had all sorts of things on display from coral to stuffed Aussie animals, and pictures painted by Australian artists. Also in the Institute is a full size cinema that screens movies about the Commonwealth countries. We are going again tomorrow as there is a movie screening on the Great Barrier Reef. There was a programme on the Gold Coast on T.V. a week or so ago. I missed it, but all who saw it said it was very good. As I have said before there is tremendous interest in Australia, and all things Australian here. I think it is looked upon by some as being the new "Promised Land". However, all the articles in the papers and on the T.V. are not flattering. Just last week I was reading about a British family that migrated to Australia and found cockroaches "as big as a fist" in the hostel, and demanded to be returned to England. I read it and had a chuckle thinking about the many times I have seen you charging about the kitchen whacking at a fleeing cocky with your slipper. "As big as a fist" seems to be somewhat of an exaggeration though. Oh! and sharks! The newspapers here love shark attacks, or even shark alarms, because they can paint pictures of Australians fleeing in terror from the monstrous man-eaters that stalk our beaches. They usually whack it on the front page too! The weather is still pretty lousy. Dull cold and rainy. Although it is now the peak of Summer, I always go out with a jersey and a jacket on, which is more than I would wear for a winter's day back home. I haven't heard from the girls yet. I hope they are having better weather than we are. Sunday : A great day today! We went to the Windsor Castle pub for their morning show. It is the old time musical hall pub that I went to with Alan and Robin about a week or two ago. As I told Noel all about it he was very keen to go there. It was really terrific again. One guy(we suspect he must be a top professional actor) came on and sang, and performed a series of old English songs. He was absolutely brilliant and had the crowd laughing and singing along with him. Any wonder the place was very crowded. Noel enjoyed it thoroughly and wants to go back again. He'll get no argument from me. After that we caught the 31 bus to Kensington to go to the Commonwealth Institute again. This time we looked over the top floor, which we hadn't seen before. We looked at exhibits on the Bahamas, West Indies, Hong Kong, etc. After that we went to the cinema and saw a film on the Barrier Reef, made by Noel Monkman, the guy who has the Lab on Green Island. When we were finished there, we had something to eat at a Lyons Corner House, and then went to the Kensington Odeon cinema to see a movie called "Von Ryan's Express" starring Frank Sinatra in a dramatic roll. It was a great action film and both enjoyed it thoroughly. We arrived home again via the 31 bus and now have a chicken cooking for tea, and watching "Blackpool Night Out" on the telly. It is similar to the "London Palladium Show". Alan and I went to a part of London called "The Elephant and Castle" last Wednesday to see a movie. We emerged from the tube and walked past all the new buildings and construction sites and I said to Alan "This is a whole new London going up here. It is all going to be ultra modern and will replace the cockney London that used to be here before the area was severely bombed during the war".."How do you know so much about London?" said Alan....Like all local people who live in a place, they rarely get to know, or see things that outsiders do. Alan only saw Buckingham Palace for the first time when I took him there recently. One funny thing about Noel's concert that I forgot to mention was the "Black and White Minstrel Show" segment. Noel coached the singers, and so they unknowingly copied him, and all sang with Aussie accents - much to everyone's amusement!.....
Royal Tournament
London. Saturday,July 17th. 1965. On Friday night Miss Smith took us to the Royal Tournament at Earl's Court. The huge building, which usually houses exhibitions, had been completely transformed into an arena, covered in soil, and surrounded by tiers of seats which rose up to the roof, a couple of hundred feet above. One entire wall was covered by the biggest backdrop I have ever seen. It must have been hundreds of feet wide and depicted a cliff scene with houses and jungle on top. Everything entered the arena through giant doors at its base. This backdrop was so huge it made everything coming in through the opening in its base look like little toys. It was a terrific show with mock battles, massed bands of 200 Air Force bandsmen, parachutes dropping men from the roof, cannon races, Hovercraft, explosions galore, and all done with such precision and timing that it left the audience gasping. One act went straight into the other. The lighting was excellent, with dozens of huge spotlights sweeping the arena, sometimes in various colours. One act that you would have liked was the horse jumping. They placed hurdles about the arena and men with their horses, from the various services competed against each other. One horse came out and I said to Noel "Gosh! What a beautiful animal!" I had never seen such beauty in a horse before. Even I could recognise it. It flew over the hurdles as if it had wings. You should have seen how it walked and carried itself. Naturally it won the event. One of the most popular items was the band from Fiji. They were dressed in red tops, white sarongs and silver sandals. As well as playing beautifully, they sang and danced giving the very British show a touch of Polynesian splendour. There was also the band of the Gurkhas who were very popular as well. The B.B.C. was televising it so it may turn up on Aussie television.. The weather is still pretty miserable. Friday was the first day we had seen the sun for two weeks, but it has gone again now. It is the peak of summer, but so far it has not come. The maximum temperature for the weekend is only going to be 66dgres(19c) which is a Winter temp back home. Oh, well, we had a good Summer for our arrival 12 months ago.. Sunday We have just come back from the Commonwealth Institute where the Fijian band was playing on the lawn. It was quite crowded and the poor old ducks on the pond got a terrible fright when the band started up. They all took off in a panic and flew down to the bottom lake. The concert was very good and now we are at home watching motor racing in Holland and cooking tea. It's roast veal and the works tonight. Later we are going down to Camden Town to see Otto Preminger's latest movie called "In Harms Way". Mr Preminger considers Humphries the best Lab in Europe and sends all his footage here to be processed. He is at present shooting his latest movie "A Child is Missing", in London and we are handling all the footage. This morning we again went to the Windsor Castle, this time with Robin. He wanted us to go again with him tonight as the B.B.C. is televising it, but we dipped out as we wanted to go to the movies. Noel's school holidays start at the end of this week and he is going to Ireland for a week with Peter and Danny, a friend of Peter's. They are all staying at Danny's home in Ireland which should be very nice for him. When he gets back we hope to go off somewhere as I now have two weeks holidays due from the beginning of August... I think that's about all for this week. How is your weather? The papers here had a bit on the drought last week, datelined Brisbane. It sounded grim! It said that 80% of the state's breeding cattle were expected to die. How is Ron, and his cattle? I had to describe what a drought was at morning tea this morning. People here find it hard to understand, as in this country the grass is always green and the streams are always running. I told them that in some areas a child can reach the age of two or three, or more, without ever seeing rain. It can cause them to panic as they don't know what it is. They really thought I was pulling their legs on that one and would not believe otherwise!! They think that I come from the planet Mars now!..................
London. Friday 23rd July. 1965 I am starting this at the Lab again, but don't know how far I will get as things look like getting busy. Outside it is raining as usual and is quite heavy which is most unusual. On Tuesday we had a really heavy storm about mid day. It pelted down for an hour and gave the city an inch of rain. Alan and I were caught out in it and it was rather weird as it got quite dark and all the neon lights were reflecting in the water as if it was night. Anyway the outcome of that, because the city is not used to that amount of rain falling in one hit, was absolute chaos. It completely disrupted the Underground, flooded many basements and roads, and caused an airliner to overshoot the runway at the Airport.(no one hurt) The water flooded three main stations, Kings Cross, Baker Street and Paddington, and in the afternoon I had difficulties getting home, which made me half an hour late for my 5.30pm dental appointment. I know an inch of rain is nothing much back home, but here in London the city just can't cope with that amount of rain - because it almost never rains with that intensity. Watching it pouring down I was thinking "If only I could send some of this back home". Everyone is saying that this is the worst summer for a long while. Noel goes to Ireland tomorrow for a week, and the next weekend we are off on holidays. We have decided not to tour the continent, but to go off in the van and tour as much of England as we can. We have been told that Cornwall, Devon, Wales and the Lake District are very picturesque. A lot depends on how the weather is of course. Cornwall apparently has some nice beaches and it would be so good to be able to go swimming at the beach and sunbaking again - the things we miss most about home. This morning everyone is talking about a new T.V. show called "The Man From U.N.C.L.E.". It is a James Bond type send-up and comes from America and must cost a fortune to produce. Also on the T.V. news was a big splash on the Hume resignation and the political upheaval in the Tories camp. Gosh! Poor Britain is in a mess. Alan and I went up to Hampstead Village the other afternoon to see a movie. The village is just off the Heath and is typical Olde Worlde English. The prices of things in the shops, however, are not "olde worlde", as it has become a rather a fashionable area and has prices to match. Another odd fact about it is that it has the deepest underground station in London. When coming up in the lift, it takes such a long time to reach the top, one thinks that the lift must have stopped!
A Little Flooding!
Monday morning: I didn't have much time to finish this over the weekend I'm afraid. What with getting Noel off to Ireland, and getting flooded, things have been pretty busy. Alan was over all day yesterday and in the afternoon, while cooking dinner, a big storm hit. The rain just bucketed down accompanied by great claps of thunder and hail. We were upstairs watching T.V. while it was going on, with a roast cooking in the oven downstairs. Suddenly there was knocking on our door. It was Alan, the Irish chappie who shares our kitchen. He said "Barry come and have a look at this!". We followed him downstairs to the kitchen and looked at it in disbelief! It was under about a foot of water, and floating about in the water was the garbage bin and a few plastic dishes and bowls. Although it was quite serious, especially for the Aarons who live downstairs, I couldn't help laughing. It all looked quite surreal - especially as our roast dinner was still cooking away happily in the oven, fortunately, just above the flood level. Thank heavens for gas! What to do! What could we do! Unfortunately the Aarons were out for the day and were uncontactable. All these types of homes have basements which are used mostly for living in, and the Aarons have made theirs very nice with thick carpeting throughout. The water was pouring in through the connecting door that leads out into the Aaron's sunken patio. Now it was well and truly sunk! Obviously the drainage couldn't handle that amount of water or a drain was blocked. Luckily the storm ceased after a while and the three of us started bailing out the kitchen and bathroom. David came home a short time later and said "Hey! Come and have a look at this!" Inside their home all the nice carpets were saturated and water had penetrated everything. When Mrs Aarons came home she almost fainted. When you walked on their carpet it now squelched and oozed water. Nat said that they are covered by insurance so that's some consolation for them. We got the kitchen and bathroom cleaned up, but the Aarons were working most of the night - and that roast dinner that survived the flood - it was delicious........................
Letters 59 & 60 : "Help" - The Beatles Premiere
London. Friday July 30th 1965, Well it is now one year since out arrival in England - often referred to as "the Mother Country!" by we colonials who alight on her shores like a flock of migrating seabirds. The biggest news from me this week is that I may be getting transferred to another department. Shelia has left the 16mm department and now that section needs a replacement and about five people have applied for it. The boss of that section said "Look chaps it's important that you operate in here as a team and I don't want anyone that you don't like, so can you find someone that you would like in here?". Robin and Roger then came down and asked me if I would like the job. I said okay, so we will see what happens. .Bob was acting in a movie last weekend. He is friends with the director, so he gave Bob a part of a soldier firing a bren gun. Not a very big part, but Bob says he is just thrilled to be doing something in a movie. I am thrilled for him too.. Yesterday was Beatles day here. The evening newspapers even ran special souvenir editions on the Beatles, and their new movie "Help". The premiere was held at the London Pavilion in Piccadilly Circus and attended by all the film business notables, as well Princess Margaret and Tony. I went with Robin and Roger to join the crowd at Piccadilly, and boy! what a night. The place was crawling with cops and ten thousand people. Many girls were screaming hysterically even before the Beatles arrived. Some carried big banners saying "Well Done Beatles" etc. One section of the crowd even burst through the barricades which upset the cops immensely and they blew their whistles and called for reinforcements. We all had cameras, but poor old Robin ran out of film just as the big Rolls Royce carrying the Beatles came past. John Lennon was looking out the window smiling and waving at the crowd. I don't know if I got a shot or not in all the excitement. There were television cameras and press photographers everywhere, and many fans were carried off on stretchers. Talk about madness and mayhem! Thirty were treated for hysteria(how do you treat hysteria?) I am quoting from the next day's papers. However, the police managed to avert a full scale riot and got the crowd back under control again. I found it all highly amusing. "Help" opens at the Swiss Cottage Odeon on Sunday night. We can see it there. Hope it's quieter than Piccadilly was. Sunday: Sunshine at last. It is pouring in the window as I write this now, and gaze out on Mrs Aarons' beautiful roses. I have been talking to Mrs Aarons all morning. She is still cleaning up after last Sunday's deluge. All the carpets have been removed and sent to Harrods for cleaning and she said that she is going to get new lino for the kitchen and bathroom. Your letter arrived yesterday. I was absolutely amazed at the reports of snow falling on the town. Such a thing has never happened before has it? I know it was in the "if you blinked you missed it" category, but still it must have been very cold for such a rare event like that to happen. I hope you were able to keep warm. The trouble with our houses is that they are built for the tropics, to keep the heat out. Here it is the reverse, and all homes have open fireplaces and are lovely and cosy when the outside is covered in snow and ice...John Spence turned up on Thursday. We were just going down for afternoon tea when I heard a voice from the stairs above saying "Hey! Where's Barry?", and down he came all full of beans and bubbling over. It was good to see him again after his three month tour of the continent. Naturally we talked like mad for about half an hour. He doubts if he will be working at Humphries, and at the moment is flat hunting. He asked me if I would like to share a flat with them. He says that they have a nice flat at Hammersmith, but they need another guy. Alan is also thinking of getting a flat in London and wants me to share with him. I had a card from Noel on Friday from Ireland, and a letter from Pat Fitz. from Norway. Pat is having a great time and has even been to the Arctic Circle. She loves Norway and Sweden. Nothing from Des and Jan yet, although all their slides are coming here to me, so I can track their route...Bob announced on Monday that he is making a movie with his American friend Brian. It will be a twenty minute comedy in colour and 16mm, with provision for enlarging it to 35mm later if they can sell it. He asked me to help him. "You can be in the crowd scenes, Barry" he said. I think I told you last weekend that he was in a movie himself, and was blown up, shot at and had to fire a bren gun madly at attacking terrorists. Sounds fun doesn't it! One of his friends is an assistant director on a new Stanley Kubrik film being made at the M.G.M. studios at Boreham Wood. It is a big science fiction film in Cinerama called “A Space Odssey“ . Kubrik is one of the world's greatest film directors... On Tuesday night I went to (Irish)Gerry's home for tea. His parents have a lovely home in South London. Gerry is very artistic and showed me all his paintings. We dragged them down and scattered them all about the floor and we had a great time analysing them. He also showed me over his darkroom that he has just built. I thought I would be in for some Irish cooking, but his mother turned on a beautiful meal of steak and mushrooms etc. Gerry is another one who is keen on emigrating to Australia.... I saw some good movies this week, mostly with Alan. At the Swiss Cottage Odeon we saw a beautiful French film called "War of the Buttons" and an English movie by the polish director Raymond Polanski, called "Repulsion". The latter was a bit like "Psycho". It was filmed in London and as usual it was fun to recognise the places where some scenes were shot. Another English film that we saw was " Seance on a Wet Afternoon", an excellently made movie, and on Friday night it was "John Goldfab Please Come Home", a way out American comedy starring my favourite American actress Shirley MacLaine. After seeing a movie I always discuss it with Bob the next day at work. He is usually able to tell me a lot more about it, and analyse it with me. His father rang me at work on Friday to say "Hello". He was in London, and thought he would give me a call. Wasn't that nice of him?. I also had a call from Audrey to ask me if I knew when Pat was returning as she had a tracing job for her. I couldn't help her I'm afraid. Noel returns tomorrow and then we hope to get away on our two weeks tour of England. Send your letters here as usual as Mrs Aarons will keep them for me to collect on my return.
On Tour
London.Thursday, Aug 5th, 1965 We are still in London, but hope to leave tomorrow for a bit of a tour around Southern England. There's been a hold up in renewing the registration on the van. That's one of the real minuses of England. Nothing's simple. Before a vehicle is registered it has to pass a test to see if it is mechanically sound. That is fair enough - but all the people who do the tests are away on holidays, because everyone here goes on holidays at the same time.(Summer olidees!) It has taken us three days to find a place to test it. This morning we finally got our test certificate and this afternoon we went in to Waterloo to the G.L.C. offices to pay for the registration. To get a vehicle on the road here costs the earth!. Registration is around 18 pounds a year, plus third party which is anywhere between 15 to 20 pounds. Then there is car insurance which you would be lucky to get for anything under 50 pounds per year. We are not bothering about that as it is not worth it for a van we bought for 20 pounds. As it is, the cost of just keeping it on the road is about 40 pounds a year,(50 pounds Aust) which is about twice as much as we pay in Australia...We did some shopping today. Noel bought two pairs of slimline trousers.(I talked him into it at last!) and I have a new sports jacket - a sort of dark tan with yellow flecks,(it's really nice) a pair of slimline grey trousers, and a pair of laceless suede shoes - priced respectively 5pounds 10,3 pounds 10 and 33/-, so as you can see clothes are fairly cheap - it's about the only thing that is! When we came home, we were out front sticking on the registration label and laughing at something when Mrs Aarons came out and said "Oh boys!, would you like some spaghetti? I made too much so I left some in the kitchen with some sauce and cheese if you would like it". So! guess what we're having for tea tonight? She keeps asking us if we have finished our packing for our holiday. We say "What packing?"........Saturday: Dorset. Well we are here for the weekend at a Saxon hill top town called Shaftesbury. We drove down from London and dropped in to see some friends and decided to stay the weekend. .....Well! Barry has decided to tell his mother a "whopper" this time. What really happened was that on the way from London the van decided to have a serious engine malfunction and we just made it to the nearest garage which happened to be on the outskirts of Shaftesbury. The problem was diagnosed and it was decided that the engine would require a new part, which would have come from the supplier in London. The trouble was that it was the weekend and the supplier was closed until Monday. We then found ourselves stuck on the outskirts of this small town without transport and accommodation. The travellers guide book had told us that many farmhouses in Britain had accommodation for travellers so it was time to put this advice to the test. This is where The Lady of Good Fortune smiled upon us for we discovered that not only were we on the door step of a farmhouse that more than welcomed us, the town of Shaftesbury, a short bus ride away, was one of the most picturesque, and historical places in England. Now read on ....Shaftesbury is a fascinating town and I have gone mad taking pictures. It is a place of narrow twisting streets, thatched cottages, ancient churches, a ruined abbey and magnificent views. It is also, as legend has it, supposed to be the place where King Alfred watched the spider and burnt the cakes. Robin and Pat live on his parents farm, not far out of town, in a small very modern bungalow style home with big glass windows that overlook a heavily wooded valley. Robin once spent eighteen months in Australia, and Pat, his wife, is an extremely good modern painter. Last night we talked for hours after tea, about the two countries, England and Australia. They are thinking about emigrating and Pat was keen to find out something about "cultural" Australia. We had a laugh when Pat said that the locals disapprove of their little modern bungalow.(they gave us the guest room). Robin's parents live in a lovely thatched cottage next door. I am completely in love with this place. The people here have a different accent than the rest of England and tend to roll their "Rs". Naturally Noel and I have been trying to imitate the accent. I must say that the people here are very friendly, and it is a most beautiful part of England with lush green countryside, hedgerows, sheep, black and white cattle, wildflowers everywhere and roads that are lined with red poppies. Shaftesbury's history goes back as far as the ninth century and it has an old Roman wall that twists down into the valley below. From the hilltop town the amazing view takes in three counties. Today the sun is blazing from a clear blue sky and we are making the most of it by sunbathing in a meadow on the farm beside an old stone wall with sheep scattered around us. Tonight we are going into the town to go to the movies. We will probably go to Cornwall on Monday or Tuesday as Pat has recommended some good beaches for us. I hope the pictures that I sent of Isobel’s party turn out okay. Bob took most of them as he hates having his picture taken “You get in the picture Barry, your mother wants to see pictures of you , not me” he said. I was talking to Isobel before I left and she said the she and Audrey were going to Belgium for the August Bank holiday weekend. Still no news of Des or Jan but their slides keep arriving. We took ourselves to see the new Beatles movie “Help” last week. It’s a triumph for director Richard Lester who is the latest “in” director of the movie world at the moment. I think he is great. Incidentally, some of the filming was done at Salisbury, not far from where we are now.
Letters 61 & 62
London. Monday Aug. 16th 1965 Well we are home again after out tour of Dorset, Cornwall and Devon. We ended up spending a few days in Shaftsbury as we had to have something done on the van. On the Saturday night after we dined, Robin and Pat took us sightseeing in their Mini. In summer here it does not get really dark until after about 10.30pm, so there is this long twilight period. We went to an old ruined castle for the sunset. It was absolutely fascinating, as was all of the Shaftesbury area with its 13th century inns and churches, abbey ruins, old Roman walls and, of course, beautiful scenery. We wandered around everywhere during our stay there. One day we took the bus into Salisbury, 20 miles away. Another we went to Bournemouth on the coast. On the Wednesday Pat and Robin gave us their Mini, and, after delivering Pat to an art exhibition at Blandford, we took their advice, and drove down south to see the thatched village of Milton Abbas and the old ruins of Corf Castle. After collecting the van on the Wednesday afternoon, we then set off for Northern Devon, where we arrived that evening and found a good place to camp in a wood outside the cliff top town of Bucks Mills. Our first place to visit the next day was the amazing village of Clovelly, which spreads itself precariously down a cliff side. Definitely No buses here! It's donkeys only allowed on these steep, cobblestone streets. It is actually a fishing village with a small harbour at the bottom of the cliff. One can do the village tour riding a donkey if one wishes. We walked! Cornwall was all picturesque fishing villages and high cliffs, with many natural beaches and beautiful wildflowers lining the roads. The flowers were in every conceivable colour, with Devon having masses of red poppies. In Tintagel, on the Cornish coast, we visited what were said to be the ruins of King Arthur's castle high up on a cliff top. On the south Cornish coast, after we visited Land's End, Britains most southerly point, we travelled through more beautiful coastal scenery, and, what we called the "Pirate Ports". These are small coastal villages that are protected by sea walls that were built to make it easier to defend them against raids by the pirates. Their history goes back to the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. Fortunately strict preservation laws guarantees they will be forever frozen in time. Unfortunately the same cannot be said about nearby Plymouth, for we were very much surprised to find it to be very modern looking town. This was because, as a naval base, it was blitzed heavily during the war, and has now been rebuilt, modern style. It is a shame because the town has such a great history, for it was here that Drake played bowls while he awaited news of the French fleet, which was about to attack England. We arrived back in Dorset via the weird, treeless Dartmoor plain which had a beauty of its own, as it was covered in purple heather. As promised, we arrived back in Shaftesbury to have lunch with Pat and Robin, and to tell them about our experiences. We left them in the afternoon, and arrived back in London later that Sunday evening. My reception back at the Lab today was overwhelming. Everyone was glad to see me and we talked all day. So very different from working at Mount Morgan Ltd!. John Spence was back at the Lab again and has his old job back. He wants me to leave with him in July to go touring America for four months. He intends buying a car there for travelling and then wants to book a passage home on the "Iberia" which sails from there in October '66. It goes to Australia via Japan, Hong Kong and Manila. It sounds great, but I will have to give it some thought as I want to go touring on the Continent before I leave. The weather is summery at last. They're saying that I brought the summer weather back with me, as it was obvious we had the sunshine with us on our holiday because we both got quite brown. - well not really brown, just lost that pale London look!. We are even wearing shorts about again. Last night we went to the movies at Camden Town in our shorts, and got quite a few funny looks, as no one gets about in shorts here. How long is this little burst of summer going to last - that is the intriguing question!.........
..London Monday 23rd Aug I am in the lacquering lab today and, as I have a fair amount of time waiting for the reels to come off, I thought I would begin this letter. There is only Alan and me to handle this section as Gerry and Mac are on holidays. Unlike Australia, where people holiday the whole year round, here in Britain everyone takes their holidays between May and September. It's called "summer olidees" and everyone races towards the sunshine, be it in Britain, or more likely Italy or Spain, and there they sit in deck chairs with knotted handkerchiefs on their heads and long trousers rolled up. They may venture timidly to the water's edge for a paddle, but no one in their right mind would actually enter the water for a swim - except perhaps if they did go to Spain or Italy. Everyone told us how nice the beaches were in Cornwall, and yes, they had a more natural look than the pier plagued, fun fair bordered, muddy ones of the east coast, but the water temperature was barely above freezing. Of course everyone taking holidays at much the same time causes absolute chaos(even more than usual!) and makes it very difficult to get anything done. But that's England I guess!..On Saturday we were going to Brighton for the weekend, but didn't go because the weather changed and went back to the normal "lousy", so we went shopping in Camden Town instead. We bought a second hand coffee percolator that makes eight cups at a time for only 2/- at the markets. Our present one holds only four cups, not enough when friends drop in. That evening, after a run to the airport to watch the planes and have coffee and do-nuts, we went into the city to see a Cinerama movie called "The Hallelujah Trail". It was a comedy, directed by John Sturgess with music by the great Elmer Bernstein and starred Burt Lancaster. We both enjoyed it immensely, watching it on the huge screen, with excellent sound. Sunday was a better day, weather wise, so we thought we would take a drive to Coventry, near Birmingham about 100 miles away. It is an easy drive however, as both cities are linked by the six lane M1 Motorway. Without sharp bends, hills, intersections or traffic lights it is possible to get their within the hour, but in our van we just roared along at our usual 35mph. There are service centres along the way where it is possible to get fuel, repairs or food, and we stopped at one for coffee, pies and do-nuts. While eating we sat beside a huge plate glass window that overlooked the motorway and watched, fascinated, as all the cars, trucks and buses raced along below at such high speeds. It would be terrific if Australia had a few roads like this. At Coventry we made straight for the cathedral that we had heard so much about. There are actually two Coventry cathedrals. One is the remains of the beautiful old cathedral that was bombed during the war, and beside it is the new one that replaced it. The new Coventry cathedral is absolutely breathtaking in its modern design, both inside and out. It is one of the foremost modern cathedrals in the world. Here in Britain they think that nothing is beautiful unless it is few hundred years old. Inside, the new cathedral is even more beautiful, with soaring stained glass windows letting in lots of light and an unusual multiple arched ceiling. All the old cathedrals in Britain leave me feeling cold, literally, and they are more like musty museums, but this has a lovely warmth about it. I hope our new opera house is as wonderful as this cathedral is. Both buildings challenge the old architectural concepts. Bob has been in talking. He has asked me to take a part in his film. I think I told you about it previously. He and his American friend are making a madcap comedy movie called "Fonebone". He wants me to play one of the villains who ties the heroine to the railway tracks of the children's train at the Battersea Fun Fair. I also have to pursue a speedboat while riding a bicycle along the towpath of the Thames. It is being shot silent and then post synced later.(That means the sound will be added later in the studio) It sounds pretty crazy to me! So far preparations are well under way and they expect to begin shooting in a few weeks. The British Film Institute is going to help with some of the cost so it is more than just an amateur fun film. Bob also says that they are guaranteed a showing at the New York Modern Film Institute. So! all that remains is to shoot the film.... Friday: Lacquering again today. The past few days have been busy in the Ultra Sonic lab as well, with the new Otto Preminger movie "Bunny Lake is Missing" coming in, together with a couple of other features, so I have been helping out in there too. In order to do so I have been neglecting my own work, so today I hope to get a lot of it cleared. Last night we had a bit of a party. A few of my friends from the lab came over, as well as a couple of Noel's friends, and we showed them some slides. Noel worked all day yesterday making things to eat and tidying up. We had a really good night. Harry, Robin, and Roger came from the lab, but Alan had yesterday off as his father had a heart attack, but is now okay. I showed firstly my Eastman colour slides that were done at Humphries. I used Eastman Colour negative which, after processing, was then graded by Bob to make a colour print. This colour print was then cut up and put in slide mounts. After those slides of England, everyone wanted to see Australia so we screened our Aussie ones. In the shots of Mount Morgan I had to point out our house. (Noel said that he could see you standing on the front steps!!). As this weekend is the bank holiday weekend, we are going off in the van to a beach resort called Great Yarmouth somewhere north of London near "The Wash" - whatever that is. Robin and Roger are coming as well, as Roger has a Ford Consul. We are going to meet them there as they can travel faster than we can in our van. They will be camping out in their tent, while we fortunately, have our van to camp in.....Your letter came on Tuesday. I got a great thrill to see Claude's handwritting on the front. Please thank him for me for those few lines. I passed on the information regarding Holdens to the gang here.(I love to earbash them about Holdens).I hope they both have a good holiday in Brisbane. Tell me what the kids get up to at home........Pat arrived back this week. We drove over to see her on Wednesday evening. She looks well and has had a good time touring the Continent. Despite the hectic schedule of her trip, she had no turns at all. Which is great! She talked solid for three hours. I got a card from Des and Jan who are now heading for Italy and Spain. Isobel hasn't been too well lately. I went over to see her on Tuesday but she is in Hampshire for a week. The doctor said she is anaemic. Noel still has another week off, but I think he is keen to get back to school. Both of us are extremely well despite a total absence of early nights. I saw "Mary Poppins" again this week. It is definitely Disney's best ever. I will end here so I can post this when Alan and I go out for lunch. Might try some nice Italian food today............
Letter 63: Nautical Nonsense
London. Wed. Sept 1st. 1965 We have just arrived back from our bank holiday weekend. Boy! What a weekend. We went to Great Yarmouth as planned in the van, and met Robin and Roger there. Originally Noel and I planned to just tour around East Anglia as all the beaches here are really lousy,(I don't know what's "Great" about Great Yarmouth, but it sure ain't the beach!) but we ended up camping in Yarmouth with the other two. Robin is a complete nut! One of those types that does everything wrong. Consequently, thanks to Robin's "nuttiness", we had a hilarious time. Roger has a maroon Ford Consul, and we drove about sometimes in his car, and sometimes in our van. One of the funniest episodes was when we drove up to the Norfolk Broads, which is a series of lakes and waterways, and hired a motor launch for an hour. Robin said he could drive one, so we let him have first go at it. He hit everything in the boat yard getting out, and had the bad habit of putting it in reverse instead of forward. He caused boats to scatter everywhere on the broads, and, at one stage, we even shot out of the water, up a bank, and ended up in some blokes backyard. Noel laughed so much I thought he was going to have convulsions! So did we all! Naturally, as soon as we could, we staged a mutiny and took Robin away from the wheel. The Broads cover a very large area and have many towns and villages. Our base was a town called Wroxham, which was like a miniature Venice with all the homes and everything built about the water. We even pulled in at a shop beside the water and bought ice creams. In Yarmouth we went to "Ye Olde Tyme English Musical Hall" on the Saturday night, and a big pop show on the Sunday night. In the Music Hall one sings all the songs with the performers with drinks being served throughout the show. We knew a lot of the songs and all sang along merrily. Songs like "Let's all go down the Strand", "Down at the Old Bull and Bush", etc... The pop show didn't appeal much despite such big stars as Billy Fury and Diane Berry, but one number was exceedingly good. It was by a group called "The Gamblers" who wore lavender tights, black waistcoats with white shirts and they played on a golden saxophone and trumpet, backed by the usual twangy guitars. They played a piece called "The Lonely Bull", which is one of my favourites, and it was really beautiful. Another thing we did was to go ten pin bowling. Noel had played before, but I hadn't. In the first game Noel got a fantastic score, and I even managed a few strikes. At one time I got two in a row, and other times I hit nothing. Great Yarmouth is about 130 miles North East of London near an area known as "The Wash" and "The Fens". It is all very low lying and occasionally one sees a windmill. The town or city of Yarmouth has all the things that are associated with a typical English seaside town - like amusement piers, amusement arcades, slot machines, bingo halls and bingo stalls, fun fairs, pony rides, festoon lighting, big shows with big name stars, deck chairs for the beach, in fact one can do almost anything there EXCEPT SWIM!!... This time we didn't mind that because we had a good time anyway - but gee! we miss the Aussie beaches. English beaches are more places for the older people to go to - unlike Australia, where they are the Mecca for the young folk. The only reason the younger set go to the beach here is to cause trouble. We witnessed a few near riots in Yarmouth involving cops and long haired, leather jacketed "Rockers" and their mousy, sickly looking girl friends. All the older folk dress up for the occasion with the men in suits and ties and women in their best dresses with hats and handbags. If anyone ever asks me what is the greatest difference between Australia and England, I would have to say it is the beaches, and beach culture. The nearest we got to the actual sea at Great Yarmouth was to have a very brief paddle, and to throw some stones into it(after we pushed our way through all the deck chairs!). On the Monday we went to Cambridge, the university city. Here we watched people punting along the gently flowing river with its banks lined with beautiful green weeping willow trees whose leaves dipped low into the water. It was the very essence of tranquility. We decided, because punting looked so easy, we would give it a go ourselves. It might have looked easy, but once in the punt with nothing for propulsion other than a silly damn pole, we discovered that this was even worse than boating on the broads. At least the boat there had a steering wheel and a motor! Here we had no control at all, and ,at first, simply went from one bank to the other. There was obviously a technique to this, but we did not have it. Again we terrorised all and sundry on the water, and after about half an hour, we had only managed to move about a hundred yards downstream, mostly bouncing from bank to bank. Noel even managed to get the pole stuck under a low arched bridge, and I had a vision of him clinging to the pole as the punt drifted away beneath him, leaving us poleless (and him puntless). Perhaps we are just not nautically minded! At least we provided some jolly entertainment for those watching us from the safety of the shore. You will never guess what Robin wants to do next Sunday? He wants to go sailing on Regents Park lake!!!!
Thursday: We went to the Windsor Castle again last night with Robin and Roger. The show was very good, with a couple of celebrities appearing. One of them was the American film actor, Ken Millar. We recognised him but could not remember what movies we saw him in. Our favourite entertainer, Henry Champion, sang and we all sang with him, getting into all our favourites like "Good-bye Dolly" "Henry 8" and "Any Old Iron"..I am really getting to love all these old English songs. I was talking to Bob this morning and he expects to start shooting his movie the weekend after this. So probably next Sunday week we will all have to be up at the crack of dawn to head for the location in South London. Friday: Big news! I just heard from personnel that I will be going up into the 16mm department doing neg. prep. That means I will be handling the preparation of negatives, splicing, cutting etc prior to them being sent in for printing. A years experience at this will enable me to get a job as an assistant film editor when I get back home. All the 16mm bunch are very happy about it, particularly Rob. I have to wait here until a replacement is found for me.. Sunday: Your letter arrived yesterday. The house must be quiet again with the kids all gone. I hope Claude and Ailsa had a good holiday. It's a nice sunny day here today - for a change. The Aarons are working in the garden outside our window. They have just complained about our record player. They said that the music is too SOFT, and would we please turn it up louder so they can hear it better. We are playing the "Mary Poppins" soundtrack. This afternoon we are going sailing in Regents Park. Somehow I think that this is not a very good idea!..............
Letters 64 & 65
London. Monday Sept 6th, 1965, We had a whale of a time yesterday as we fined tuned our nautical skills boating on the lake at Regents Park. This time we went rowing, and sometimes we actually managed to row in a straight line(well, sort of). During the process we somehow got ourselves soaked though. After we dried off we went to the movies at Swiss Cottage and saw "You Must Be Joking"(a Humphries film) and "Cat Ballou" with Lee Marvin. Both most enjoyable movies. On Wednesday night we are going to Robin's place to show the slides to his parents and friends. Thursday night I am going out with Isobel, and on Sunday I will be filming with Bob. That's the week so far, but no doubt more will happen in between. Noel starts school tomorrow, and Alan comes back from his holiday. I guess I will start cooking again now. Noel has been doing most of it, and each afternoon when I come home from the lab he usually has all the tea cooking. When he is at school he sometimes comes home late, and our policy is whoever is home first, starts the cooking - and that's usually me. Mrs Aarons gave us a pressure cooker a few days ago. All it needs is a valve at the top to get it going again, so we are going to buy one. She is always giving us something. Usually it's things to eat. They had a good holiday in Venice, and both talked excitedly about their adventures.(she thanked me for looking after her garden). Having the van going again has made an enormous difference to us. We are always in it and now drive effortlessly around London. Once you know where you want to go, and how to get there, and what lanes to use, it's a breeze. The van is running really well now, and seems to be getting better each time we drive it. Bob wants to film some scenes with it in. He says it has character...There was a big feature article in the Daily Telegraph supplement yesterday called "A Walk in Australia". The Telegraph is second to The Times for highbrow reading. I usually don't buy it, but Mike showed me his copy at work, so I went out and managed to get a copy. I almost had a fit reading it! The article is about two young Englishmen who, in a matter of weeks, hitch hiked around Australia. They recount their experiences and give their opinions of various places. They describe Mackay as being "colonial" and "almost African" with a smelly river! The Caves, where they were looking for the Tropic of Capricorn!?, was "a two dog dump, with one motor car without an engine". They were given a lift near Rockhampton by a lady wearing a hat marked "Rockhampton's Ladies Bowling Club" who ran over an "iguana" while they were in her car. They described Australians as "friendly","earthbound" and "materialistic". The article also made us look primitive, totally lacking in artistic merit and rather odd. Noel read it and had hysterics!. The trouble is that people here are so keenly interested in Australia that all sorts of stuff gets printed. Some, like these guys, take an intentionally provocative attitude merely to get published....
Sunday. Sept 12th Quite a cool day today. Overcast with the likelihood of rain. Everyone is now saying the summer has gone - what little summer there was! It was nothing like last year. We were so lucky to have all that nice summer weather to welcome us when we arrived. Filming at Hampton Court has been postponed today as one of the main costumes failed to arrive. Bob rang up at 11pm last night to tell us. We didn't mind as it necessitated us getting up at 5am. He is off on two weeks holiday and has already shot some of it on 16mm reversal stock. I am using 35mm Eastman colour negative in my Topcon, but at the moment it is having the exposure meter fixed as it had a fall last weekend when the camera strap broke. The photos that I took during our holiday weekend up north all look pretty good, so I will send you some prints. They should give you a bit of a laugh. Noel is sending quite a few home to his parents, and to Queenie and Linda also. Robin and Roger are off on two weeks holiday to the lake district.. They say they are going mountain climbing!!!! (another of Robin's mad ideas I guess). We went around to Robin's home on Wednesday to show our slides and play records. He has lovely parents, and a very nice home, and we were made to feel most welcome. We also went back there on Friday night as well, to do the same thing again, only different slides. Yesterday we all went to see "Oklahoma" on the giant Cinerama screen at the Coliseum. It was the 70mm version that they screened and it was fantastic. Bob explained to me that they actually shot the movie twice. Once in 35mm and again in 70mm. There are subtle differences between the two versions and he told me what to watch for. It was quite fascinating to be able to pick them up. I have lost count of the number of times that I have seen it now, but I still thoroughly enjoyed it again. On the way home in the van, Noel, Robin and I sang all the songs, as you can probably imagine.. A letter arrived from Desley and Jan last week. They are in Madrid, Spain soaking up the sunshine. So far they have travelled 6,000 miles through Belgium, Germany, Denmark, Austria, France, Italy and Spain. They are going extra well and have had no trouble at all, and don't look like being back in London for some time yet. Connie and Mary are off to Russia, of all places! Isobel is going to Jersey this week for a couple of weeks. Jersey is one of the Channel Islands, just off France, and is a favourite holiday spot for Britons. I met Is on Thursday night and we dined out in a place in Chelsea. She is not very well and is suffering from anaemia. I hope the holiday will improve her. After our meal at the Chelsea Kitchen we went to her place where we had many laughs at some articles that she had cut out of a paper on "Strine", the Australian language. "Strine" is the way we Aussies are supposed to talk and is highly amusing when you see the words written out as we Aussies are supposed to say them. e.g - "owyergoinmateawrite" is actually "How are you going, mate? - All right?". There we many examples like that. All hilarious, and unfortunately, mostly true! There is a big Commonwealth Festival in London soon. Part of it is devoted to movies made in the Commonwealth countries. Australia has a couple of entries that we hope to see. One is called "A Funny Thing Happened Down Under" and is a musical. Sounds interesting. Sunday night . I have just been watching "Blackpool Night Out" on the telly. In a week or two all the winter shows begin. In summer time the T.V. is pretty crook, but picks up in the winter. Next week "Blackpool Night Out" is replaced with "The New London Palladium Show". In summer we get Blackpool(the pits!), and in winter we get London (more classy!) - that's the thinking anyhow. Today we drove in to Hyde Park to check out speakers corner. We had lunch first at a Fortes restaurant(Pizza pie), then strolled over to the corner to see what was happening. Most of our old favourites were still there, as well as hundreds of tourists with cameras. Later in the afternoon we went to Hammersmith to see a movie that has caused a bit of a stir here, called "What's New Pussycat". It is a crazy comedy with Peter Sellers and Peter O'Toole. It was good, but not as funny as one we saw last week called "Rotten to the Core". (a Humphries movie). I just asked Noel if he could think of anything else to tell you. He said "Have you told your mum that we are going to see the flying saucers?". Well, when Robin and Roger come back from their holidays we are going down to Warminster for a weekend to see if we can see the flying saucers that everyone has been seeing there. The papers have been full of stories about them, even with pictures. We find the subject intriguing. Don't worry, should I see any I won't I won't accept a lift with any of them!.............
Letters 66 & 67
Friday. Sept 17th 1965 I haven't done much this week. Noel hasn't been too well, but he seems okay now. Alan and I went to the movies a couple of times after work to see two French films, "Yoyo" and "Le Boneur", and he came for tea last night. The three of us cooked it, and the kitchen was a hive of industry. The menu was steak and kidney pie, with Alan making the pastry, which turned out very good. He is an excellent cook, and has given me quite a few hints to help me with my cooking. The meal was great and disproves the theory about too many cooks spoiling the broth.. We had an interesting evening with the Aarons on Sunday night. Noel and I were in the kitchen, getting ready to go to bed, when they both came in. Mrs A was hunting for a mouse, and we all got to talking, and finished up in their lounge drinking tea, and talking until almost 2am. They both love to talk and often both talk together at the same time which can be rather confusing. We talked about Australia, English politics, flying saucers, Venice, food, cooking and the war. Nat went through the whole war, and was in the Dunkirk evacuation. Mrs A talked about how they existed on two bacon rashers, powdered egg and one pound of meat a week. They are an extremely interesting couple and it is really good that they seem to like us. Noel was in his pyjamas too, but no one seemed to worry about it.(least of all Noel!)......Saturday evening We went down to Camden town this morning in the van to restock our larder, and have now just come back from the movies at Kilburn. It is a lovely evening with the sun shining and the wind now dropped. "Dr Who" is on the telly, and David has just brought in a bowl of grapes. We already have so much food, I don't know how we are going to eat it all. Noel is going to a party at Miss Smith's with all the teachers, but I think I might have a night at home as we have to be up at 5am to go to Hampton Court for Bob's movie. I must tell you about some of the scenes that they have already done. One of the main characters in the movie is played by this beautiful girl, a friend of Jerry's. I asked him if she told him how it was going. "She loves it" he said "She spent most of yesterday in a sack with her legs sticking out, driving up and down the embankment in a Jaguar".We both agreed that it was hardly the way to treat a beautiful girl! Wait until she gets tied to the railway tracks! Somehow I don't think this is going to be a very "highbrow" movie . . Next week is my last week in the treating lab. The week after I go up to the 16mm section. George Williams asked Ted if he could spare me. Ted said "No I can't, but I won't hold him back". Jerry and Alan will have to manage until a replacement comes. It will be highly beneficial for me as I will be working on all types of film and will learn a lot. We looked up all the film jobs available in Australia and there is no lack of them and they all pay well. A film editor gets paid 40 pounds a week. That is what I could earn if I stick with it...Sunday evening Just arrived back after our day's filming at Hampton Court Palace. (We weren't filming in the actual Palace area, but the woods nearby). It was not highly successful and Bob is a bit disappointed at the footage obtained. The main problem was that the speedboat broke down and had to be towed by another boat for the scenes. The weather, however, was absolutely perfect, with a clear blue sky and very warm, almost hot!. Probably the last little burst of summer. The drive through London at sunrise was incredibly beautiful. Mist hung about the trees in the parks and drifted close to the river's surface. The occasional skyscraper was silhouetted against the pink/orange wash of the dawn sky and the streets were almost deserted. The river at Hampton Court Palace was quite wonderful, with grass and trees on the Palace side and lovely homes with landscaped gardens on the opposite bank. The river's surface was like shimmering glass with a faint veil of mist. What did I do in the movie? Well I was one of the bad guys who gets chased through the woods. There was a lot of chasing and a lot of running to do and I finished up tied to a tree by the action hero wearing his action hero suit. Like I said "This ain't no highbrow movie!"....You asked about Desley and Jan in Germany, well they have had a few adventures, but nothing to worry about. All cars are searched at the East German border, and it's not uncommon for tourists to unknowingly commit traffic offences. Des and Jan were chased by cops in Saltzburg for doing a "U" turn in the wrong place. They managed to get out of it because they couldn't speak German, and the cops couldn't speak English. I would say that being two very attractive girls with nice personalities would have helped a lot too. In Spain they had a bit of trouble getting in and out of Gibralta as a hostile situation exists between the two countries, particularly at the border crossing. However, they are two very smart girls who can really take care of themselves, and they can always see the funny side of anything that happens to them. I wouldn't imagine that they have told their Mother all these things, so if you see her don't mention that the girls had any problems! I received their letter this week from Barcelona in Spain, as well as three boxes of slides. The slides are very good. They even went to a bullfight! They are certainly going to have some stories to tell when they eventually return to Mother England........
London. Sunday Sep 27th 1965 It's a sunny day so far, but I don't think it's going to last. On Friday night it rained heavily, and again last night. I have just come back from shopping at our new ultra modern supermarket that has opened at Swiss Cottage. It is open until 1pm on a Sunday, which makes it very popular. Unlike the rest of the shops in Swiss Cottage, its prices are pretty reasonable, and almost as cheap as the Camden Town markets. I didn't have much time to do the shopping yesterday as I went into the city you see some of the Commonwealth Festival films. The Festival is quite big here at the moment with native tribal dances in Trafalgar Square, a Jamaican festival in Kensington, big fireworks displays in Hyde Park and all the big theatres and halls have various concerts on. The Sydney Symphony Orchestra was playing in the Albert Hall last week. We went to see two Australian movies at the National Film Theatre, near the Festival Hall on Tuesday. Like the whole area around the Festival Hall, the National Film Theatre is very modern and quite beautiful inside. The movies we saw were "From Tropics to the Snows" and "A Funny Thing Happened Down Under". The first was a sort of satire on travelogues and was extremely good. It was filmed in colour and was actually a film about a film. It featured these three men discussing how a travelogue on Australia should be made and as each person talked about their version, it began happening on screen. Of course each had his own different ideas and it was quite funny. It was cleverly entertaining as well a being informative, and their different viewpoints gave the audience a comprehensive look at our great country. It made me feel a little bit homesick. When it was over the audience burst into enthusiastic applause. It made me feel very proud.. The second one, a full length feature movie in colour, was the opposite! It was so bad, it was embarrassing. It was about these kids who found a way to colour sheep, thus saving having to dye the wool later. The sight of all the multi coloured sheep running about the paddocks, and having to listen to the very broad Aussie accents singing terrible songs with silly lyrics had the audience giggling. We just squirmed!. When we were talking to someone later about the film, we tried to convince them that it was a New Zealand film! After the programme finished we wandered over to the Festival Hall for a look around. I have yet to go there for a concert, but now having seen the place I am very keen to go to one. It is really fantastic, and ultra modern. It contains restaurants, cafeterias, bars, display centres and great indoor gardens. The complex is situated on the south bank of the Thames, and, as we walked out on to one of the balconies, we gazed across the river to the embankment and the glittering city beyond. It was really very beautiful, and when we left, we walked over the Waterloo Bridge to the city side, and caught the train home from Charing Cross station. On Friday night we went to the big B.B.C. studios at White City to join the audience for a television show. It was the first of a new series starring Eric Sykes and Hattie Jacques. Both of them are favourite comedy stars of ours and we thought it as really great to be able to watch them at work. Eric even entertained the audience during costume changes and shooting breaks. We actually got there half an hour early, so I said to Noel that we may as well go and have a drink at the B.B.C. Club. "Where's that!" says Noel. "I don't know, but I've been there once with Pat - so just follow me and walk as if you know exactly where you're going!". "How do I do that if I don't KNOW where I'm going?". "It's called acting. Now shut up and follow me!". I did, however, manage to find the place again without getting us thrown out and we had an enjoyable drink with all the big wigs and actors of BBC Television.. Talking about Pat. I went to see her last Wednesday night. She is at the Y.W.C.A. hostel at Hampstead. When I walked in I got mobbed by girls. All mad mates of Pat's. They "absolutely adore tall Australians" - so they said anyway. In all, it was an interesting evening and we had lots of laughs. Pat is now working for an engineering firm...I have finally got around to seeing the award winning movie version of "My Fair Lady". It does not disappoint, as it is everything it should be, but one is conscious all the time that Julie Andrews would have been much better in the lead role than Audrey Hepburn. At least she could have sung all her own songs and not had to rely on the wonderful talented Marnie Nixon to do the singing for her. It is a very colourful, very lavish production and Rex Harrison and all the rest of the cast are superb. It must have been an enormous disappointment for Julie Andrews to be passed over for the lead role. Like they say - "That's showbiz" I guess......
Letters 68 & 69 : Promotion
London. Friday Oct 1st 1965, Well today is my last day in the treating Lab, as I start in the 16mm section on Monday. A new fellow is replacing me next week, so Ted will still have his full complement of staff. Ted knows all the ropes at Humphries and said if I get stuck with any problems not to hesitate in coming to see him. However as most of the 16mm mob are my mates, I don't think that I will have any lack of help with anything. I had tea at Isobel's last Wednesday night. Audrey was coming over too, but phoned to say she was sick in bed. She has the 'flu and sounded really croaky when we had a chat on the phone. The three of us are going to have another get together soon as I have not seen her for many weeks. Isobel is much better after her holiday in Jersey, and is even sporting a bit of a suntan. Sunday morning Overcast today. No fog though which is something. Yesterday, at 8am, it was so foggy that we could not see the houses opposite. From now on, so we are told, is the period of fogs. Noel has been sick again, so sick that the headmaster sent him home from school on Friday. He was foolish to go to school when he was so sick. The 'flu has hit him again, though he seems much better today. We went into the West End yesterday afternoon to see a movie at the New Victoria. It was called "The Saboteur" and starred Marlon Brando and Yul Brynner. It was a good action show! Today we are going for dinner at Jimmies, a teaching friend of Noel's. He was here for tea the other night.(and says that we are pretty good cooks). He lives with his parents in a nice home in Mill Hill, one of the outer suburbs..Thursday. Oct. 7th Well my first big week as a neg. preparation operative, in my new job is almost over. I am a little confused as there is so much to remember, and it is all so new to me. Geoff, the fellow that I am taking over from, has been in the job for three years, and keeps saying "Don't worry Barry, It will come to you!". We have lots of laughs, and I haven't made any boo-boos - yet. Geoff and I were friends before the change over, so we get along fine. My old mate Rob keeps wandering over to see how I am getting along. The others in the department are all great. The boss, overall, is Jim Skipper and is about 50, next is Alan Ford about 42, and then two other guys John and Nick, both very quiet and a couple of girls. The girls are Sylvia, who is very attractive with a great personality( I get along really well with her), Anita, tall, slim and very, very nice and lady like, Anne who has just come back from Australia(more about that later), and Joan, a glamour puss with blonde, pink, lavender, green or grey hair(depending on which dye can she picks up). Robin and Roger are next door in the television section. I should like it once I get to know what I am doing, and the experience will be invaluable when I return. Anne worked in Humphries before she went to Australia for two years, and she said that if you say you worked for Humphries you're IN because Humphries is considered the top movie Lab in Britain. Anne was earning 25pounds a week there as a negative cutter. We had a chat about Australia yesterday. She loved it and made everyone envious who was listening to us talking. The only reason she returned is because of her family here, but hopes to be able to go back again. She said that the film industry in Australia is expanding rapidly. I would very much like to be part of that expansion. Up until now Australia did not have a film industry as such, but one day I believe it will lead the world as Australians, for some strange reason, are amongst the world's most talented people. I want badly to help push Australia ahead in films, even if it is only being one small cog in the big machine I will be happy. Everyone here is interested in my ancestry for some strange reason, and I get asked many times where my grand parents came from, so I say one set came from Scotland, and the other from Wales. They then raise their hands in mock despair and say something like "Heavens forbid! A Scottish-Welsh Australian! What a mixture!" and then there's much laughter. Geoff said yesterday "You must have had a good education, Barry!" I said that it was just the average, but then he said "But you must have gone to Grammar school then!"(grammar school is the best schooling here - I think). I said I just had the usual primary education and then went on to High School, in a small country town. I think education here is linked a lot with class distinction, something we do not have in Australia. Saturday: I have just come back from doing the shopping in Camden Town, and I also went to Selfridges in Oxford Street to buy some Xmas cards. Noel is out with Peter this morning collecting a piano for him in the van. Tonight we are going to Robin's to see his holiday movies, and have a general get together. Alan and John are going too. I must tell you about Selfridges! It is London's No 1 Department Store and is situated at the top end of Oxford Street, near Marble Arch. It is a huge place with a front edifice of rows of Roman type columns, and the main entrance has a large statue of Britannia with a clock insert, as you walk in. Of course there is also Harrods, in Kensington, where the Queen shops, but that is more for the well off and the toffs! Selfridges caters for the masses, with goods from all over the world, at much better prices than Harrods. Inside, Selfridges it is alive with people from the world over, many in their National dress, circulating about the fantastically varied counters and marble columns. The other department stores in London are not really all that good and don't offer the variety of things that our Aussie department stores do. I bought a packet 10 Xmas cards with London scenes for 7/-. Last night we went to the Scala to see "The Bells Are Ringing" on stage. It was one of the best amateur productions we have seen so far with beautiful singing and great dancing. It has always been one of my favourite musicals, and it was really terrific to be able to see it on stage..It was a big day in London yesterday. The P.M. arrived nearby to open the Post Office Tower. In the afternoon Bob came in to see me saying "Hey the towers revolving!". We went to the windows and gazed upwards(it is just a short distance from Humps), and sure enough the bulging central section that will house a restaurant one day, was very slowly revolving.The tower was built to house all London's telecommunications gear and is 620 feet high, counting the aerial on top, and 581 feet if you don't. It isn't open to the general public yet, but when it does I will be one of the first up there. It will be a fast trip to the top as the central lifts move at 60 M.P.H. The papers here have condemned it and its architecture, saying it defaces the London skyline. Its modern lines are considered ugly - another case of only old buildings can look beautiful. I must agree that it is not exactly beautiful, but they can't fight progress at every step of the way, and the architects have done a pretty good job within their limitations. After all a tower has got to be tall, and tall things stand out!. Besides, because it stands out so prominently, it is a good landmark for those of us who sometimes have a tendency to get lost in London...
London showing Post Office Tower, with Hampstead in the distance
Letters70, 71 & 72 : "Fonebone" the movie
London. Saturday Oct 16th 1965 Noel is lying on the bed reading "The Daily Mirror", and is reading extracts aloud for my comment. We buy the "Mirror" because it is always good for a laugh. It is the largest selling newspaper and contains mostly rubbish, and large breasted ladies in swim suits. I always thought the British newspapers were supposed to be the world's best, published as they are on the hallowed ground of Fleet Street, but this obviously is not the case. There is "The Times" of course, but it is awkward to read on the train, as it is an old fashioned broadsheet, with old fashioned attitudes to match. At least one can get a laugh out of the Mirror, but with Noel reading out all the funny bits it is going to make things difficult as I try to write this letter!! Sunday Evening: Well I did not get far with this last night! I had to give up trying to write as there were too many distractions. I have just arrived back from spending the day in South London with Bob and crew filming. It made me rather tired, but now, with a hearty meal of steak, chips, onions, tomato, sweet corn and mushrooms, I now feel much better. There's all sorts of interesting things on T.V. tonight, but I am trying not to watch in an effort to get this written and I want to get all my Xmas cards fixed up too. Well today I became a movie actor, even to the extent of saying a few lines of dialogue, which I said perfectly without any hesitation. Bob said "Come on Barry, you can do it!" and I did. I am playing the part of a 1930's gangster in pursuit of Fonebone, the hero.(it is based on a popular comic strip called “Fonebone”, but I am afraid that I have never heard of it!). Together with my associate gangster, we pursued Fonebone through the glorious Autumn woods. It was all very beautiful with shafts of sunlight spilling through the colourful leaves above as our footsteps crunched upon the leaves strewn on the forest floor. The setting reminded me of Alfred Hitchcock's "The Trouble With Harry" which was also filmed in an Autumn forest. When we went to the wood it was deserted, but when Bob began shooting it seemed as if people appeared from everywhere, and even gathered around to watch the crazy goings on. One elderly gentleman even came up to us and told us not to shoot the birds. Bob explained to him that the guns were only toy guns, and that the birds were quite safe. He went away happy then. When we finished shooting in the wood, we began doing sequences with the van, which was fun. In the script we steal the van to pursue Fonebone who has escaped on a bicycle, and in our pursuit, we crash into a train at a level crossing and Fonebone escapes. (don't worry, we don't really crash into the train. Bob says it will be done with sound effects). The sight of Daniel, who plays Fonebone, pedaling furiously while wearing orange tights, yellow black spotted trunks, a long sleeve red T-shirt with the letter "F" on front, and a stars and stripes cape flowing out behind him, drew many a curious glance. So did we with our old time gangster hats, fake moustaches, dark suits, dark shirts and white ties. Bob even said our acting was great. I think he was just being kind. I thought I was lousy! I don't think I want to be an actor! Some time next week he is shooting some scenes in a studio that he has managed to get a lend of. The new job is going fine. I am beginning to get the hang of it now and am learning a lot. The gang that I work with are fine, and the girls real nut cases. We went to the theatre with Robin last Friday night to see Michael Flanders and David Swan. They are a comedy songsters, in a satirical sort of way, and have just arrived back after a tour of Australia. We ended up getting a box for the show which in the theatre world is the ultimate. All we paid was 12/6 each and we had a ringside seat above the stage where we could look out over all the auditorium. It was almost like being on the stage. We had lots of laughs and Robin even interacted with the comedians, which they love. Both Robin and Noel should have joined them on the stage! You may have heard them singing their most popular song "Mud, Mud Glorious Mud". We also went to the theatre on Wednesday night to see "The Passion Flower Hotel". It was all about the goings on between a boy's college and a girl's college, and was very bright and colourful, with a few good songs written by John Barry of "James Bond" fame. It was in the plush "Prince of Wales" theatre in Piccadilly. We may be going to Dorset next weekend as the Autumn is now at its best, and we promised to show Robin and Pat our slides of Australia....
Thursday 21st Oct I have a spare moment in the 16mm Dept, so I am taking the opportunity to add to this letter. Things seem a little slack all round as everyone is talking - or maybe the boss, Jim Skipper is at lunch. The girls are all talking like mad and entertaining everyone. Joan has just had us all laughing telling us about her experiences when she started work at Humphries as a raw beginner. Yesterday Sylvia was demonstrating the "blackbottom", a 1920's dance. She used to be a ballet dancer. They are a terrific lot here, and remind me of the mad crew of girls at the General Office at M.M.Ltd. The cleaning room now has their replacement. His name is Gerry(another Gerry!) and is a New Zealander, but has been here for twelve years. We are the same age, and he is one of the nicest fellows that I have ever met. He has done a lot of acting in the theatre and some television work, but because he is married, with a small child, he needs more permanent work...Friday 5.30pm This morning was very foggy, and even up until lunch time the G.P.O. tower was enveloped in fog completely. Geoff and I were up at the vaults on the roof early in the morning and the fog was swirling around us. I had a good day in the lab, with the girls, us usual, behaving in quite a mad manner. There's no worries with anyone there, and I seem to fit in perfectly.(being one who likes to laugh, helps a lot too!). I am, at the moment, still in the lab waiting for Bob to go with him to the preview theatre to view the rushes of the weekend's shooting. Friday evening. Another start! Well the preview at Humphries was very exciting. Bob ran a couple of hundred feet in the theatre. He said "Well Barry, what does it feel like to be a movie actor?". The chase sequence through the Autumn woods was very, very beautiful. I am the amateur villain who forgets to load the guns, thus allowing the hero to escape. We pursue him in the van, which we then crash into a train. Bob is very pleased with the rushes, and says that it will edit up nicely. Of my acting - well Richard Burton has nothing to worry about!. Even if this movie fails to go anywhere I know he will keep trying. It's funny, Bob is very much disliked at Humphries, and is described as brash, arrogant, deliberately bad mannered, and always trying to get "one up" on everyone. I think I must be the only one who likes Bob, and the only one he confides in. To me he is none of these things and I would describe him in terms that would be quite the opposite to those negative values. He has invited me to spend Xmas with them in Aberdeen again, and invited Noel as well if he wishes to come. I am very glad that you liked the photos. Sorry that there were not more of me, but there are some nice one of my friends. Robin and Roger are two very nice fellows. I wish you could meet them. Rob is very sincere, sentimental, sensitive and has a well developed sense of humour, is very kind and is crazy on pop music. Roger on the other hand is serious, quieter, sensible and also very sincere.. Desley and Jan should arrive back in London this week. I had a letter from Italy where they said they are heading back after they visit Greece. It will be great to see them again. I am so pleased that they have had a successful trip, without any major problems. I'll bet they will have some tales to tell.........
Saturday. Oct 28th I am up early this morning(9am) to get a few things done. Noel is still snoring in bed. He had a late night last night at Miss Smiths, working with Peter on the Xmas School Concert. I have been to bed early the last few nights(a first for me since our arrival!) as I have a bit of a cold. It came suddenly on Wednesday. Sylvia, at the lab, was very concerned and went out and got me some capsules which I take morning and evening. It is definitely getting better. Didn't go to Dorset this weekend. Noel rang Robin and he said that next weekend would be better as Pat is away in Wales this weekend. It will suit me better as I should be over my cold by then. We plan to leave Friday evening and travel to the New Forest, where we will camp the night in the van, and take a few shots about the forest in the morning.....I went up to Hampstead to see Pat last Wednesday. She is still in the Y.W.C.A. hostel with all her mad international friends, and seems really happy there, but says that she has overstayed the time limit, and will be getting a flat with one of the other girls. She looks well but is a little fatter, which shows on her because she is rather short. As for Isobel, I am taking her to the ballet at Covent Garden for her birthday on the 25th November. Noel and I went to the movies again this week, and had an unusual experience there. The movie was called "The Collector" and was a thriller about an art student who gets kidnapped. It is set in London and directed by the great William Wyler. The cinema we chose to see it in was the Odeon at Belsize Park in Hampstead. During the movie the art student emerges from an underground station, walks up the street and goes past a cinema. It is the same cinema that we are sitting in watching the movie. When the scenes came on you could hear a buzz of recognition by the audience. Noel wasn't so subtle and said quite loudly "Hey, that's here!". After the movie, it was quite eerie for we found ourselves retracing the victim's footsteps back to the underground. Noel began mucking around saying "He's gonna get you!" "No he's not!" I said "He's gonna get you!!" Then we ran down the hill to Swiss cottage........The latest ideas on my return home are that next September Alan and I are going to Canada to work for a year to get some cash together, and then both travel on to Australia. Robin and Roger said this week that they are coming too. Noel intends staying another year for he is making pretty good money now, especially after they all got good pay increases. When he gets his summer holidays next year we plan to tour Europe for six weeks. Working in Canada for a year sounds a good idea to me for it will give me wider experience, and an opportunity, hopefully, to see something of the States. Canada is a lot easier to get into than America, because it is still part of the Commonwealth. Colin(from the 16mm T.V. section) brought his camera in to work this week to take some pictures of us. I have enclosed one of them so you can see the people that I work with. If I look a little bit odd, it is because they were trying to shove me in a waste film bin beforehand........
Letters 73 & 74
London. Tuesday Nov 2nd 1965, I am starting writing early this week, because I won't have much time later, as we will be off to Dorset. It's lunch break here at the lab and for once I am on my own - or was! John has just arrived and is now reading the Daily Mirror and munching an apple. The weather has been much colder and there have been gales buffeting the country. The van is almost buried in fallen Autumn leaves outside the flat, as the high winds have been blowing them everywhere. Yesterday, Mrs Aarons swept them all off the pavement and as she was admiring her job well done, a big gust of wind came and blew them all over the place again. Noel, of course, thought it greatly hilarious. I think this weekend will see the last of the Autumn colours. I hope we catch the trees in Dorset before they all fall off. Des and Jan are now back and they spent the weekend at our place as they had nowhere else to go. We put the double mattress from the van on the floor for them and they slept on that. Luckily I anticipated their arrival and we got a lot of food in. We had a veal joint on Sunday, which happened to be Desley's favourite meat. She said that the last time they had veal was the day before they left when their mother cooked it especially for them. They both look well and, of course, had lots to tell us. I asked them about what happened in Germany, as it was "all over the town" that they got into trouble in East Germany. They both burst out laughing at that and said all that happened was that they took a wrong turn and did indeed end up behind the border in East Germany by mistake. However, when they managed to get the message across about what happened(after more than half an hour of red tape), they were allowed back out again. Both now think it rather funny! Yeah well....Both are now looking for jobs and a flat somewhere, and will be staying with some girls that they met on the Continent, in their flat, until they sort things out... Work is going fine. Yesterday when we returned from lunch, we had a bit of a birthday party as one of the boys, John who was 23, had brought in three big sponge cakes. We get back from lunch about 2.30pm, and as the bosses, Jim and Alan, don't get back until about 3pm, we always muck about a bit for half an hour. Sylvia and Joan are trying a bit of matchmaking with me and one of the girls in the lab. They are really mad and provide lots of laughs. They are always teasing me, but I tease them back. Yesterday Colin had his camera in again, and they made me pose for my picture so I could "send it home to Australia"... Wednesday Last night Roger, Robin, Alan, Noel and I went to the movies, and afterwards took Alan home to Hayes (about 10miles out)in Roger's car. On the way back we sang all the way in and even gave a rousing rendition of "Waltzing Matilda". Robin is very musically minded, and thinks it great that Noel and I are also. By the way, Sylvia thinks the way I talk is "mellow", and not at all typical Australian. She says that it is the Welsh influence that has mellowed my voice and given it that "musical" twang. Well all that sounds a little odd to me! Sylvia, by the way, is Welsh.......Sunday. I am now sitting in a stained wood paneled lounge, before an open fireplace with modern abstract paintings hanging on the walls and hand woven rugs on the floor. A small kitten has just lobbed itself into my lap. Outside the almost full length plate glass window, Robin is moving some sheep from the field beside the house to a lower one in the "coomb"(valley). He is being assisted by Jessie, the sheep dog, who wants him to play games and is not really interested in moving sheep. As you may have guessed, we are now in Dorset. Yesterday was sunny and really nice, but it rained all last night and is still rainy and foggy. We drove here via the New Forest and I got a few more shots of the Autumn trees. Here in Shaftesbury though, the Autumn colour has gone as they have had high winds that have stripped the trees of all their leaves. Robin said that soon the rain will turn to snow. It is very cold outside today. Last night we took Pat and Robin out to dine at a nearby country Inn. It was a very friendly place with much talking and laughter, and, I would say, a gathering place for all the local people on a Saturday night. We seemed to be getting introduced to people all the time. Afterwards we went home and showed them our slides of Australia. Robin was extremely interested as he had been to a lot of the places shown. Pat was a little amazed. She said "Everything looks so new, and clean and tidy and planned." All that is except Coober Pedy. "Do people really live there?" she asked. Noel has gone to mass wearing Robin's heavy duffel coat with hood and peg bottoms. He only brought a jersey with him....On Friday night(the 5th) we went into Trafalgar Square with Robin and Roger for the Guy Fawkes revels. Everyone was jumping into the fountains and throwing crackers at the Bobbies. Someone also let off a huge smoke bomb which filled the whole square with smoke. Noel was almost arrested, when he burst out laughing when a cracker exploded under this odd looking Copper's feet. It gave the Copper such a fright, and because Noel burst out laughing, he suspected Noel of throwing it, and came over and frisked him. We all thought it was a huge joke! The four of us also went to the Scala Theatre to see "How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying" a slick American musical, full of good songs and funny scenes...
Thursday Nov 11th At the moment I am preparing tea, but have some time to spare as it is Steak & Kidney with Mushrooms, and won't be done for a while. I haven't got around to making pastry yet, although Alan showed me how . It's much easier, and less messy, to buy the ready to roll pastry. Noel has tuition on Thursday night and doesn't get home until 8pm. He is privately tutoring a doctor's child. The weather is pretty bad, raining and cold. A letter from Marjorie arrived last week asking us over for tea on Tuesday night. However on that night we had an invitation to Desley and Jan's, so we had to arrange another night. Des and Jan have a fantastic flat. It's a modern top floor flat in Hampstead, not far from us. Gosh it's nice! and because of its height they look across the rooftops to the Heath. We went over on Tuesday night and all talked furiously until 12.30am.- and then drove home through a thick fog! Jan is teaching on supply and Desley is working at Harrods in the toy department. I think I told you before that Harrods is THE upper class department store where Royalty shops for their bangers and beans. Desley is there waiting for her teaching credentials to be accepted then she will move into a teaching job...The news tonight is all Rhodesia. The evening papers were all blazing with headlines about Ian Smith and his U.D.I… P.M. Wilson has been on the T.V. with other world leaders, and programes have all been featuring Rhodesia. The papers now have something else to write about other than Jean Shrimpton. "The Shrimp", as she is called here, made the headlines with the reaction of the "prudish" and "old fashioned" Australians to her manner of dress at their Melbourne cup. For days there have been letters in the papers, both for and against, but most were highly critical of fashion in Australia, and Aussie women. Some wrote as if they thought Britain should declare war on Australia to defend the model's honour. Now Britain can declare war on Rhodesia instead. Incidentally, she is in Bob's movie. Brian the co-director shot footage of her and other models being photographed for a fashion magazine on location. I can't see how that would fit into the plot - but then I'm not writing the movie!.. Just had tea and washed up. Noel even commented on how nice it was. He is not too well again with a bad cold that has gone to his chest. Work is going fine. All the gang are as mad as ever. Sylvia has been ballet dancing again and today grabbed Rob and made him partner her, which was quite hilarious as Robs legs are like telephone poles.(he is over six feet tall). A computer has been installed in the grading room, complete with flashing coloured lights and it seems as if I may be using it. Bob was up this afternoon to collect a reel that Sylvia was supposed to synchronize for him and had not done so. He came over and was talking to me and Sylvia said "You should have told me you were a friend of Barry's. I would have done it sooner for you!"....Friday Very cold today. I was out to lunch with Alan, but soon hurried back to the canteen where it is nice and warm. Alan has gone down to Soho shirt hunting. Tomorrow night Robin, Noel and I are going to the London Hilton for a drink. It is only to say that we have been there and to see what it's like. The Hilton hotel is a massive skyscraper in Park Lane, and overlooks Hyde Park and is London's number one hotel - apart from the Dorchester, which is also in Park Lane. On Sunday we are going over to Robin's to watch the Royal Palladium Show on T.V. It was on Tuesday, but the telecast show is on Sunday. I wonder if it will be on Aussie T.V.?.. Sunday Noel still not the best. Silly bugger won't wear warm enough clothing, though I finally got him to go out and buy himself a top coat this week. We really had a big day yesterday. In the morning we went in to see the Lord Mayor's show, which consists of a procession of pomp and pageantry from the Law Courts in the Strand, past St Clements church and Australia House, to then continue along the Embankment. It was a sunny day, but extremely cold, and I got quite a few pictures of Cavaliers, with their plumed hats, Horse Guards, Household Cavalry and odd looking fellows in armour carrying great axes. The Lord Mayor travelled in a golden coach, and there were many other coaches with their odd costumed coachmen and top hated gentlemen. There were also many floats from the Commonwealth countries, all on the food theme. We gave the Australian float a rousing cheer.. Last night we went with Robin and Roger to the Hilton Hotel, all dressed in our very best. We spared the doorman the indignity of parking our van, and parked it discreetly ourselves at the back of the Hilton. We got in okay(I told them to walk in as if they owned the place!), and took the lift up 28 floors to the rooftop, where we could gaze out on all the glittering lights of London. Next we went to the Polynesian Bar. This was fantastic with drums, masks, weird lighting and an outrigger canoe suspended from the ceiling. Here we had a South Seas drink concoction, a sort of Kava bowl for four with 18 inch straws to drink it through. It had a beautiful white gardenia floating in the middle. I was going to wear it in my buttonhole, but Noel ate it!. It was quite an experience to be in such a place rubbing shoulders with the high society of the world - only we did not see anyone we recognised to rub shoulders with. Anyway, we had a fun couple of hours and then went down to the Carving Room in the Strand. Here you pay a basic charge and then you can eat all you want, going back for seconds or thirds or whatever. You carve your own meat, with the choice of beef, pork or lamb and all sorts of vegies to go with it, followed by the choice of desserts, coffee or tea. It is a very popular place and we intend going back again, especially if we starve ourselves for a few days beforehand...............
Letters 75 & 76
London. Saturday, Nov 20th 1965, What a contrast our weather is from Mount Morgan. There hot, dry and dusty, here it's been raining on and off for two weeks, and has been bitterly cold. Monday and Tuesday were freezing, something like 28F. Ice fell on Monday. They said it was too cold for snow although some areas of London had a very light fall. Today it is still raining and is extremely cold. Noel has gone shopping for props for their concert with Smithy, Gerry and Peter in Soho. I will probably have to venture out later to do some shopping as well.. You seem concerned about Canada. No need to. Canada needs lab technicians and was advertising in the papers and through the union here not long ago. The centre of the movie industry seems to be Toronto. No, I can't save much here. A couple of quid a week is about the limit, but that goes if we go somewhere or do something special.(It's costing me 3pounds to take us both to the Ballet on Saturday night). In Canada the margin between wages and cost of living is greater than here, so saving is easier. The only thing that has me worried is the intense cold, although I am told that it is a "dry" cold and easier to bear. We had tea with the girls on Tuesday night. Miss Smith came along too and they cooked up a beautiful three course meal. Des is still at Harrods and even had the pleasure of serving Princess Alexandra. Said she felt quite thrilled! But wait 'till I tell you this! Desley works in the toy department in the gifts under 1 pound section, and she told me she spent four hours arranging the puzzles, which were in a mess. Last night in one of the evening papers I saw the headline "Queen goes shopping at Harrods" - so I read on further to discover "The Queen went Christmas shopping in Harrods this morning, paying particular attention to the Toy Department and the gifts under 1pound section. Her interest was centred mainly on puzzles." I wonder if Desley served her! I might phone her later to find out. What an experience for her if she did. She could put that on any future job applications - "I served Her Majesty".. They were talking about accents at work the other day, and how you can tell a lot about someone by their accent and the way they talk. Naturally they got round to me! Sylvia said that back in Australia I must be considered "upper class Australian". They really do think that I come from an upper class family here. So, mother are the family jewels in a safe place? Have you polished up our coat of arms? Are you wearing your mink jacket and tiara to wogs on Thursday? Actually I find it highly amusing, as I still talk the way I always have. Some, like Audrey, might bung it on a bit, but I couldn't be bothered. I have enough trouble anyway without trying to change my accent. Here, in Britain though, you can most definitely tell a lot about a person by the way they talk, such as what type of education they had, and which part of London, or which part of the British Isles they grew up in. Professor Henry Higgins was so right. I find the various accents one encounters here quite fascinating, and often try to guess where a person comes from. I still get ribbed a lot about being half Scottish and half Welsh.. We went to see a play on Wednesday night - a comedy by George Bernard Shaw called "Too True to be Good". It had some big name movie stars in it like Alistair Sims, Dora Bryan and George Cole. Unfortunately it was not as funny as we thought it was going to be, but it was a lavish and well acted production. Everyone has been asking us how we got on at the Hilton last Saturday night. I had to tell the gang here all about it on Monday and Robin said all his relations we ringing him up on Sunday to ask him how he got on. I guess they felt quite excited that someone in their family had been to the Hilton. It seems we did quite a daring thing to barge into such a high society hang out! Maybe we should try the Dorchester next! We went over to Robin's place after going to the movies on Sunday afternoon and watched the Royal Palladium Show on T.V. Robin has his own den fitted out with nice comfortable chairs, thick carpet, big electric fireplace, cocktail bar and of course a T.V. set, and a record player...Monday morning Gotta get this finished by lunchtime, as I didn't have time yesterday, because we went to Miss Smith's for dinner. She wanted us to come over, so we did, and later Roger and Robin picked us up and we went off to Kensington to see a movie. As we had some time to spare before the movie began, we took them across the road to the Commonwealth Institute. Naturally we spent most of the time in the Australian section. Lunchtime You should see the snow! It has suddenly begun to cascade down like a feather pillow has burst in a pillow fight. It's a sure sign of a cold freezing winter to come, as it is only November. People are hurrying everywhere in the streets - all with a layer of snow on them. Luckily I have my waterproof topcoat. Fortunately, if you can catch it before melts, it just brushes off. News from John Spence today. He came and sat next to me at morning tea and said "You'll be here next June won't you?". "Why?" I said. "Getting Married" was his reply. Actually, I thought he might, as he is pretty gone on his English girlfriend. She seems a very nice girl and is going back to Australia with him when they marry. He is thrilled and is very happy about it. They're getting engaged in the new year. Wednesday: 24th Nov. I have just come back from Margie's where we had tea tonight. Noel has gone over to Miss Smith's to do some work on the concert, but I came home as I rather fancy an early night. It is very, very cold and more snow is predicted by the weekend. Monday's fall has cleared, but I don't know how long the streets will remain clear. We were home on Monday night, with Noel doing work on the concert, when the phone rang. It was Desley and Jan who said "Will you come and play in the snow with us?.. Naturally I was a bit hesitant at first as my habits these days are more in keeping with my age, and it was warm and cosy in our flat. However, under the combined persuasion of both girls, I gave in, donned some warm clothing and went out to meet them. Well! We became as mad as we were back home. It was the first time that they had seen snow and were tremendously excited. It was really beautiful coming home from work and walking down our street. Snow clung to the leafless branches of the trees, covered the tops of privet hedges and motor cars and outlined everything in a silvery white coating. In the front garden snow gathered in big clumps on the top of all the plants. As I walked up our front stairs I left a trail of footprints outlined in the snow. Anyway, on Monday night we chased each other all over Hampstead, furiously throwing snowballs. Desley even walked up to some passers by and said " Excuse me, can we throw snowballs at you?"....I think they must have thought we were some kind of nuts. Then the girls wanted to build a snowman - so we ended up in someone's front yard furiously building our snowman! One Hampstead family would get a surprise when they awoke the next morning! Later, after we cavorted about the Heath, we ended up in the girl's flat for hot coffee, and to collect the music for some Aussie Xmas carols that Noel hopes to include in the school's Xmas concert. Desley is still at Harrods, and yes, she did see the Queen, but did not serve her.(the department head did that). The Beatles came in the other day too.
Sunday We had our night at Covent Garden last night and saw the ballet "Romeo and Juliet" - one of my favourites. I wish you could have seen Isobel. She looked quite smashing! Her hair was in the latest bouffant style and she wore a long black embroidered evening dress with a white lacy top. The dress was cut in the latest narrow fashion, and she wore a fur stole sort of thing. I took her there and back by taxi, as it would not be fitting for someone who looked so elegant to travel in the underground. I didn't have to tell the cabbie where to take us either, for as soon as we walked out he took one look at us and said "Covent Garden Guv?". The ballet was terrific! Prokofiev's score is one of the greatest and most exciting ever written. All the dancing, costumes and massive sets made it all a wonderful experience for us both. I wore my good suit and the overcoat with the Edwardian half velvet collar. Back in the Chelsea flat afterwards, Isobel cooked up a beautiful supper, consisting of mushrooms and bacon on toast, with hot wine punch to follow. Tonight I am going to the Albert Hall with Noel and Peter for the Vienna Boy's Choir. We went over to Robin's on Friday night to see some of his movies, watch T.V. and have a general muck about. Noel went into town last night with Robin and Roger to see a movie and to look at the Xmas lights in Regent and Oxford streets. I haven't seen them yet but Noel said they are beaut. On Wednesday night we went over to Margie's for tea - much against Noel's better judgement. I said we had to go to be sociable, but he(and I) regard an invitation to Margie's for tea with dismay as, I think I told you, she is an awful cook. I said to Noel that she may have improved by now - but she hadn't! It was all half cooked. I should send her to Isobel's for some lessons. I don't think Marg will get Noel to go back again! We had a good laugh about it anyway. Noel received some Morning Bulletins from home last week. In one of them is a photograph of excavations in progress at the old traffic bridge, and also the Big Dam. I wonder how much longer that dreadful drought is going to last. It's good you have all those tanks. Bob was going to a party last night. Guests included Jean Shrimpton and Ron Grainer, the Aussie composer. Bob said she is keen to see his movie as he told her that she is in it. I guess that makes Jean Shrimpton and I co - stars(well sort of!)..Final shooting is completed and they are now starting to edit it. Well that's about it for today. Gotta get dressed to go to the Albert Hall. The weather is still cold and snow is falling in the north of England.
Letters 77, 78 & 79
Saturday. Dec 4th Just read your latest letter. Gosh! here the planes frequently get grounded because of fog. It must certainly be bad there if they are being grounded there because of dust! The dust certainly sounds bad. It must be coming from Central Australia if it is red dust. That reminds me of the time we arrived in Coober Pedy in the middle of a dust storm and everyone had red hair! My friends at the lab are always asking me how things are back in Australia. Wait 'till I tell them that Rocky Airport is closed because of dust. John said that his Mum told him that Brisbane has had about five inches of rain. I wish that M.M. could get that much. Poor old Ron would be rejoicing then, wouldn't he. It's been raining very lightly off and on here for weeks. More like a drizzle,I guess. Usually one can walk through it hurriedly without getting wet. I have only known it to pour, like it does at home, once here and that caused major flooding. Anything around one inch per hour causes chaos in London. I was very sorry to hear about Margot. I didn't know that she lost the first one. That's something that makes me mad. All the unwanted babies that are unfortunately born into the world to parents who don't give a damn, and a couple like Margot and Graham, who could give a child the best of everything, have this happen to them. I hope Margot is okay.. Noel is not very well at the moment. Remember those stomach pains that he used to get, well he still gets them and they sometimes last for days. He has been to a Doctor at last and is having an X-Ray next Thursday. He also still has his cold which has hung on for weeks. Of course he won't look after himself properly, and now this school concert is taking up a lot of his time. Roger, Robin, Alan and I went to the Canadian Embassy on Thursday afternoon after work to get some information on going to Canada. It is not that easy if one wants to work there, as applicants have to go through the whole emigration process and get accepted. That means having the qualifications for a job, passing a civil exam, then having an interview and a medical. I should be okay as I can always go as a draftsman, but the other three will have to find jobs before they can go. On the other hand if you are accepted, you can go on an emigrate fare which is only about 50 to 60 pounds. Don't worry, as one is not bound to remain there and can leave the country whenever one wishes. It would be good if we could all go as we get along really well together. For me it is just a stop on the way home, but for the other three it is a big break for them. We would all get a flat together. Robin is already organising it. He said "I'll do the housework" Alan volunteered to do the laundry and Roger said he will make the beds, and then Robin said ". and you Barry, can do the cooking!"......All we have to do is get to Canada! ..Saturday evening: Just had a visit from Ken and Erica. Remember, they are the two Aussies that we got the flat from(and the van). They went to Paris for Erica's voice tuition, but have now returned to England and plan to settle in London again. They called in a few times to see us, but said that we were always out.(that would be right!). Erica is now trying to get some solo voice work, and already has an audition lined up with Saddlers Wells. When I walked in(they were in with the Aarons) Erica said "Oh Barry, you look well!" - and Mrs Aarons said(bless her heart) "Yes, and he's got even more handsome since he came to England." I joked with her in reply and said "You're just after this weeks rent!"(and they all laughed). They said when they get settled in their flat they will ask us round for tea one night. I hope Erica gets her singing job. If she is lucky enough to get into Saddlers Wells she should feel at home, as there are a lot of Aussies there. Remember Donald Smith of MobileQuest fame, well he is one of their leading singers. We have free tickets for one of the West End plays on Friday night. It is a Noel Coward play called "Present Laughter" and was given to us by N.Z. Gerry who has connections in the theatre world. Sunday: Terrible day today! Completely overcast, drizzling and awfully cold. On the news in the cinemas last week, one of the items was the underwater festival at Heron Island. I watched the underwater swimmers amongst the beautiful coral gardens and tried to stifle the pangs of homesickness. When I return home I am going to spend days and days in the water and just lie about in the sand soaking up the sunshine. After such a long period of sunless days, a blokes starting to look like a pale skinned Englishman. I even noticed the other morning that after a walk to the Lab through the freezing air, my cheeks had that rosy flush! Last week at the Lab I had something said to me that, on thinking about it, was quite a compliment. The discussion was Australia, and Australians and Joan said "You know Barry, you have completely restored the Australian image at Humphries." I asked why and she told me that the Lab had another Australian there before me and he was a real B...... and disliked by everyone and eventually got the sack. They said it was a wonder that I got a job here. Actually, I had heard about him before from Bob, who initially was a bit rude to me at first on the basis of that other guy's legacy. Anyway it is nice to know that I perhaps have righted the wrong that he caused. The range of names I get called at the lab(besides Barry) are -"Barra, Barrow, Baz, Aussie, Aus, Hoppy(the kangaroo), Cobber, Mate, Sport, Twit, Ratbag, Convict(go rattle your chains) and "Darling and Luvie" from the girls - and you said that my father said the one name was enough for me!
London. Saturday 11th Dec. Thanks for the letter. News from home makes so much difference - like a breath of warm air and sunshine on a cold winter's day. That's very good news to hear that it has rained at last. I hope it keeps it up. One night on the news here they showed scenes of the drought in Australia, with dying buffalo herds, and cattle lying dead or dying in bogs. It looked really grim. It is rather ironic that the test match in Brisbane should be almost washed out. Everyone's saying to me "I thought it never rained in Queensland!" and, of course they want to talk to me about the cricket. As you can imagine I haven't a clue about what's going on, though I now am trying to keep track of the scores so they don't think I am a complete ignoramus. The English think all Australians are experts on the cricket. Sunday Fairly foggy today. It doesn't seem very cold, but we haven't been outside yet to really tell. We have just had breakfast(bacon, eggs, tomatoes, mushrooms, toast and toasted crumpets with honey). Last night, or yesterday really, we went "on the town" with Rob. First we went to the West End to see a movie at the Plaza called "The Sands of the Kalahari" - a big African desert adventure. After that we went for drinks at the Cockney Pub in Piccadilly. It is one of the great tourist establishments that cater for overseas tourists and it is a recreation of "Ye Olde Cockney London". The entrance has crazy mirrors, and inside all the old Cockney songs are played continuously and the staff are all dressed in the costumes of old London. They even had an Eliza Dolittle type flower girl coming around selling flowers from her basket. The atmosphere was very nice, very touristy, and very expensive! For an old time English atmosphere we still prefer the Windsor Castle. After that we had in mind eating in "The Carving Room" in the Strand, but bearing in mind the cost, and our casual dress, we settled for the "Silver Grill" in Leicester Square. It is a cheap, good food place that we always eat at. Then we ended up going to "Her Majesty's" theatre in the Haymarket to see a comedy show called "Say Who You Are". Carol singers are everywhere in the West End, mostly singing for charities, buskers entertain the cinema queues, and chestnuts are being roasted on street corners. Regent and Oxford streets are adorned with colourful Xmas lights and a giant Xmas tree is a blaze of lights in Trafalgar Square. This then is London as Christmas approaches...Tonight we are going over to Robin's for tea. Actually we are going over early, about 3pm so we can all watch "A Town Like Alice" on the T.V. .Noel and I haven't seen it, and I expect it will evoke past memories of Alice Springs for us. Noel is writing home at the moment - at last! .I had a go at him yesterday after reading your letter, and he agreed that a letter home was way overdue. You asked about Xmas and Scotland. Well, I think it's about time that I told you about Bob. The facts are that Bob is getting married. So much has happened with Bob, and he has changed so much, that I find it hard to keep track of things. About three of four weeks back he came to me and said "Barry, I'm getting married". Knowing Bob, a statement like that hasn't the impact that one would imagine as he likes dropping bombshells. "How long have you known Wendy?" I asked. "About a month!" he answered. We talked for some time then, and he told me that they would be getting married quietly before Xmas. Probably just in a registry office - in his lunch break! That's the way Bob is - very unconventional! No fuss, and at the moment, very much in love and on top of the world. Until Tuesday!. Then his world collapsed! Wendy is an American student and her parents were flying over from New York to meet Bob, and attend the wedding. However, her father had a sudden heart attack and died, so Wendy had to fly home to attend his funeral. Bob was really heartbroken and didn't know what was happening, but later in the week he was brighter as he had heard from Wendy who was flying back with her mother and sister for Xmas here. It now seems that they will still be able to go ahead with their plans. As for our Xmas plans things are uncertain. Bob still wants us to go up to Aberdeen. Noel also has a schoolteacher friend north of Aberdeen who has also invited us up to his place. However we will see what happens! I would imagine that Bob, if the pre Xmas wedding plans go ahead, would not really want us to join him on what would be his honeymoon. (I am sure that he is not that unconventional!). Noel has his school concert on next Friday and Saturday nights. Des and Jan, Robin and I are going on the Saturday night. He had his x-ray on Thursday and gets his results tomorrow. I hope that it is nothing serious that could necessitate going to hospital, as the hospitals here are really bad. They are always amputating a wrong limb or leaving something behind inside the patients when they sew them up. Pat just rang to ask me to a dinner and party on Thursday night at the hostel. She said they're having turkey and the works. I hope all my Xmas cards arrive for Xmas. I have a feeling this letter is a bit disjointed as it is all stops and starts. I have finished it here at Robin's where we are just about to watch "A Town Like Alice"!.Maybe we can get Robin to turn his heater on full blast to create the proper atmosphere......
.London. Thursday 16th Dec. It is Thursday night and I am just home from the Xmas dinner and party at Pat's Hostel. It was a special night where the girls could ask their male friends along. Pat had asked Noel too, but he couldn't come, so I took Rob. We had the traditional turkey with bread sauce and the works. And what did we do afterwards ? Well, we ended up walking all around Hampstead singing Christmas Carols. A group of carol singers called in at the hostel and asked us if we would like to join them as they heard us singing inside the hostel. They were collecting for Oxfam, a big children's charity here. Pat and I led the mob out of the hostel and we doubled the ranks of the singers. One scene was really touching. We arrived at a lovely home and sang, and this gentleman opened the door and gave us some money, and after finishing our carol we were about to go when three small children appeared at the door in their nightshirts. We stopped and sang them another carol, and their little faces beamed ever so happily. It was just like a Christmas card scene as we sang under the lanterns and our breaths condensed on the cold night air. We got a good amount of money for Oxfam too. Robin thoroughly enjoyed himself. He says we Aussies are a happy lot!.. I got a full Xmas hamper from Humphries this year. It's filled with all sorts of goodies - cakes, biscuits, chocolates, tinned ham, wines etc,etc. It will all come in very handy. I think we are having Xmas with Desley and Jan. I phoned them to arrange about Noel's concert this Saturday, and Jan mentioned Xmas with them so we will discuss it further on Saturday. Scotland is off because Bob's wedding is now the 1st of January. He wanted me to come, but I was already in arrangements that will see us being in Paris on that date. Wendy is arriving back from New York on the 23rd. They are being married in the Hampstead Registry office - all very low key, but that's how they want it. I said to Bob "It isn't one of those shotgun affairs is it ?" and he laughed and said "Good grief! I haven't known her long enough for that !". I hope things go well for them.....
Letters 80 & 81: Song & Dance
London Thurs.16th Dec. 1965, cont'd I went to the National Film Institute on Wednesday night with Bob to see a montage of early Hollywood musicals, all directed by Busby Berkley. The N.F.T. is an organisation for people keen on movies and the cinema is called "The Walk Theatre". It is near the Festival Hall, and, like that, it is very ultra modern in design. The sequences shown were amazing. We had two hours of spectacular song and dance, a lot of them starring Ruby Keeler, who, with Busby Berkley himself, came out afterwards on stage to chat with the audience and answer questions. It was wonderful to meet the great director, now in his 70's and his leading lady, as beautiful as ever, now in her 50's. She was once married to Al Jolson. They talked and answered questions from the audience and it was very exciting.. Sunday. Well, last night was the School concert. What a night! We took Des and Jan and their flat mate Judy, as well as Robin, but we had to go in the girl's van, as our's will only start sometimes in this cold weather. The concert was very, very good with beautiful lighting effects. The first half was a Xmas play about Santa Clause and a snowman, with songs, while the second half was a Nativity play. All of us enjoyed it immensely, and the kids were great. Afterwards we went up to the staff room for a bit of a party, though mainly because the girls wanted to see Miss Smith and meet Joan, the other Aussie teacher. Well! It was the funniest night! Everyone got into a party mood and we stayed for hours. We sang songs, mostly Irish and Australian, and the girls, Noel and I sang Aussie Xmas Carols. When Joan's Aussie husband, Garry, arrived there were lots of jokes about Australians "taking over the place". The headmaster, Mr Sheil, praised Noel highly, and thinks a lot of him. Peter had the school record player going and when some Latin American dances came on Desley said to me "It would be lovely to dance!" so I said "Why not!". It didn't take long to persuade Peter to roll the carpet back and we all began to dance. It was terrific to dance again. We "Cha- Chared" and "Sambaed" all over the staff room. During the party Robin and Noel entertained with their songs. Robin was terribly funny - very shy at first, but soon became as mad as Noel. He even palled up with Miss Smith and later announced that "we" Australians were going over to Miss Smith's for a party on the ninth. Robin now regards himself Australian by adoption. The party broke up about 3am and after much fun getting the girl's van going, we arrived home about 4am - singing all the way of course. Christmas day with Desley and Jan is definitely on as well as New Year in Paris with Robin and Roger. We are flying over on the Friday morning. I was talking to Isobel on the phone yesterday and she is fine. Noel's x-ray showed nothing serious wrong, so I think it must be something like stomach nerves affecting his digestion. Perhaps he is taking his school work too seriously.
London:Sunday 26th Dec. Well, Christmas day is over and the hectic Xmas week now passed. We had a very happy Xmas day with Des and the girls. As you can imagine, they turned on a terrific spread. There were six of us for dinner. Besides we Mount Morgan four there was Judy, their flat mate, and Don, another Aussie with whom they became friendly, on the boat over. We joked about being a gathering of "lost souls". Their flat looked very nice with decorations of real holly and candles. They had slid back the dividing wall between the lounge and bedroom to make it into one large room. From the rear windows we could see above the line of roofs and chimney pots to the lights of the city and, from the big window in the front, to the trees of Hampstead Heath. I call their rooftop view of things their "Mary Poppins" skyline, and we keep watching to see if we can see Mary Poppins dancing across the roof tops with all the chimney sweeps. We took over a record player and records, and gave the girls a present of a record of the first show the saw in London, "Robert and Elizabeth" as a souvenir to take home with them. It was a great day, we sang and even danced, finishing about midnight with hot spiced wine punch and roasted chestnuts. A real English Christmas, except there was no snow. Today, Sunday, is much colder than yesterday, with the morning beginning with a heavy frost. We are having an easy day today, mostly watching television. At the moment it is "Jack and the Beanstalk" with Abbot and Costello. Miss Smith gave us a complete Christmas dinner with a huge chicken, wine, pudding and the works. I also have my hamper from Humphries, so we have no lack of food. Roger and Robin are coming for late dinner tomorrow (to help us eat it all), so we are planning a huge spread. Last year we sent only a few Xmas cards locally, mostly to our Aussie friends. This year, however, we sent stacks to all our new English friends. Before Xmas I went to Australia house and bought a lot of nice Aussie cards showing our scenic landscapes. The girls at the lab were very interested in them, and I had to tell them all about the scenes shown. One of the scenes showed the Glasshouse Mountains at Caboolture, and I had to explain all about volcanic plugs - which they didn't know existed! Sunday night Just home from the movies in the West End. Gosh! the city is quiet. So unlike London. The traffic was moving about quite freely. Noel is doing some preliminary work on tomorrow's dinner and is now preparing a melon by soaking it in wine and sugar. It is a cold night, with frost on all the cars. Both of us are getting excited about Paris next weekend. Noel has never seen Paris, nor has Robin or Roger. Robin hasn't been further than Great Yarmouth. The lab had a big Xmas party last Thursday. It was a real wow! When lunchtime came the entire 16mm Neg Department went to a pub in Tottenham Court Road - the first time ever, so I was told, that such togetherness has been demonstrated. In the pub we had a whale of a time with an impromptu concert, and they all sang "Waltzing Matilda" for me. In the afternoon the party was in the 16mm lab, but it sorta grew with an influx of printers from the printing room. The boss, Jim, then tossed us all out and put us in one of the theatres. We all went in there, and then someone said "How about a bit of music!"- so Robin threaded up a projector with a new Beatles television film that was marked for scrapping due to technical faults, and we all began dancing to the Beatles music. Sylvia and I held the floor at one stage. We paired off early in the proceedings - I guessed it would happen, and I'm afraid we behaved a bit like soppy teenagers. I like Sylvia a lot, and I know she does me too, but it seems she is about to get married. (Robin seems to take delight in informing me that her boyfriend is a boxer!)..She is a terrific girl, extremely intelligent in a sharp feminine way, highly sophisticated and very attractive. It's going to be a bit awkward when we all go back to work on Tuesday. I expect I will get teased a bit. Just as well staff parties like that only happen once a year. That night, after a hurried tea that Noel had cooked, and had waiting in the oven, because I was home late, we went with Rob, Roger and Harry to the theatre to see Spike Milligan in "Oblomov". It was weird and funny, like Spike himself, and afterwards we joined the festive crowds and strolled about looking at all the spectacular Xmas lights that decorated this lovely city.
Letter 82 . Paris (2)
London. Thurs. Dec 30 1965 This is just a hasty letter started at work as I would like to send something before we leave for Paris tomorrow. We are all organised for the weekend and leave the coach station for the Airport at 9.30am tomorrow morning and arrive in Paris mid afternoon. Our Hotel is in the Place de la Republic, which is good and handy to everything…. Above the English Channel.. Well I did not get very far with this letter on Thursday as it is now Sunday, and we are flying over the coast of France on our way back from Paris. As I wanted to post this tomorrow I am writing on a sheet of paper using my passport for support. We are traveling in a Skyways Turboprop Viscount, with Roger and I together in one pair of seats, and Noel and Robin in the opposite seats across the aisle. As we are landing in Gatwick Airport, we have a longer flight…Well now, Paris was terrific and we had a fantastic time. Our hotel was a small one just off the Place de la Republic, and the staff were treasures. They could only speak French, however, and we had much fun trying to communicate with them. Fortunately Noel could speak a little French so he did the communicating for us. The hotel people were always smiling and wanting to shake our hands. I have heard it said that the French are very demonstrative and not afraid to show their feelings.(unlike the English!). Because of their friendliness, we all picked up a little of the French language. I wish you could hear me as I sound very odd, and it would probably cause you to burst out laughing. On the Friday night we went to the Follies Bergere. It was absolutely fantastic with one spectacular scene after another. It is supposed to be the greatest revue show in the world and it had us all gasping. The finale knocked us out!. Besides the spectacular scene on stage, a great carousel with gorgeously costumed girls and guys came down from the roof, with other smaller platforms with girls on them. In one scene the stage was a mass of tumbling waterfalls, with a pool on stage, where people either emerged from, or descended into. We were a bit worried about Roger at one stage as he went to the toilet and didn’t return. It appears the lady attendant there would not let him out until he paid her some money and he had no small change on him, so we had to go and rescue him. That is one thing that we did not like about Paris - the toilets are all mixed sexes. The little gold shoe that I put in the package was pinned on me by one of the Follies Bergere girls. As it was New Year’s eve all Paris was celebrating and at midnight everyone went wild. I lost count of the number of pretty girls who kissed me, or I kissed. The noise from car horns blaring was almost deafening. We kept our energy up by buying Pommes Frits (chips) and Crepes(small thin pancakes with various flavourings - very nice) from the numerous street vendors. As it was very cold it was good to have hot food to eat. Naturally we all went to the top tourist spots like the Eiffel Tower, Arc De Triomphe, Champs De Elysees, Notre Dame Cathedral, Sacre Couer Basilica and the Louvre. At the latter we joined the queue to gaze upon the Mona Lisa. It was an eerie feeling to be gazing upon the most famous painting in the world. It was quite nice I suppose, but not as beautiful(or moving) as the Aussie landscapes of Albert Namatjira. I guess I am biased, or as the guys at work would say, I am “an uncultured colonial”. Of course I had seen most of the tourist spots before with Alan, but it was great seeing them all again with the other three. This time we went up the Eiffel Tower at sunset time and it was quite spectacular. Robin and I took lots of photographs. We posed all over the place for Robin’s photographs, and then he announced while waiting for the plane that he forgot to put a film in the camera!. We almost left him sitting on the tarmac!..Roger has now gone to sleep, and Noel and Robin are looking at the lights of the little villages as we pass over the English coast..
