Letters 83 & 84
London. Sunday Jan. 9th 1966. As you can see from the photos I sent, the four of us had a great time in Paris. Robin is as mad as Noel, and Roger is more like me so we all get along well together, with Noel and Robin always producing the laughter. .It was a much different Paris this time than my first visit, as it was the middle of winter and all the trees were bare, and there were no blossoms on the trees or beds of flowers. Because we all get along so well together we are now planning to go Amsterdam for Easter and the Tulip Festival. Noel says we will get pictures of the four of us together sitting on a dyke!...Well, we had quite a night, last night, with three parties to go to. Originally we were only going to John's engagement party in Kensington, but we had to drop in on a 21st party at St John's Wood(a friend of Judy's) and we also got an invite to Connie's flat at Earl's Court for another party. Unfortunately Desley didn't come as she has a cold coming on, and Roger also was on the sick list, so it left only Noel, Jan, Judy, Robin and myself. It was a funny night and we felt like members of London's frivolous party society. Unfortunately we didn't get to Connie's party until about 2am, when they were just winding down(but we did have coffee with them). Ironically all parties were full of Australians and New Zealanders, especially John's, which seemed to be overflowing with Aussies from all the states. John was tremendously pleased to see us, as he has asked me many times to his parties and I have never gone. Noel and I seem to be the only Aussies who have English friends. The other Aussies all appear to stick together, and only mix with fellow Aussies or Kiwis. Maybe it's because they all live together in Earl's Court. John's fiancée, Carol, however, is English, and is a very nice girl who comes from Cheshire. We arrived home from our partying about 4am. Tonight Noel and I are going to the Albert Hall for a Tchaikovsky concert. The 1812 Overture is being performed again, complete with canons. It is tremendously exciting, and I will be interested in Noel's reactions. Last Wednesday the four of us went over to Hammersmith to see the new bond film "Thunderball". The James Bond movies are very popular here and this one was the biggest yet, with spectacular underwater scenes. Sean Connery, who plays James Bond, is the husband of Diane Cilento, Sir Raphael's daughter. We also saw a movie called "King Rat" at the Odeon in Kensington. It dealt with the P.O.W's in Singapore during W.W.2 and was very good. Sunday 16th Jan. I wish you could see our view of the street at the present moment. It is all white, and masses of snowflakes are falling and drifting past our windows. The old red brick mansions opposite are again outlined in white. So far it is only a light fall, but if it continues it will get thicker on the ground and begin to cause problems for people and traffic. Noel is getting ready to go to mass, and in a short while I will have to go out in it to go to the shop. People are hurrying past, mostly holding up umbrellas that now have a light covering of snow on top. Yesterday was absolutely freezing, and one of the coldest days I have ever known. Even with gloves on my fingers ached with the cold and my ears were so cold I thought they would freeze solid, become brittle, and fall off! The temperature never rose above freezing point, and it's been much the same all week. Fortunately, now that it is snowing it is a bit warmer, as is always the case - so I am told. I am now having second thoughts about Canada, because it can get to as much as twenty below freezing point where we are going. It is a different type of cold they say, and easier to bear - but I am not convinced! Cold is Cold! I dream of sunlit beaches and warm seas! I saw the slides of Bob's wedding last week. Wendy is a very striking young woman, as is her mother and her sister. They have both now returned to New York. I am very sorry that I missed the wedding, as I was the only person from Humphries that Bob invited. Wendy is in London studying cinema at the London School of Film Technique and has re-arranged Bob's thinking, for the better, on how to get ahead in movies. She is Jewish and has all sorts of connections - and money, so I think they will be a famous husband and wife team one day. The movie "Fonebone" has been held up on the dubbing, and other matters, like weddings..We went to see Lionel Bart's new show "Twang" on Tuesday. He is the guy who wrote "Oliver" and this is his long awaited new show. It has been universally savaged by all the critics and is expected to close soon, so we, the four of us, went along out of curiosity. Yes, it is really bad, but so bad, it is very funny. It is supposed to be a satirical musical on Robin Hood. We laughed in all the wrong places, and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. It is a shame that the show is doomed, because it has a very good, big name cast, colourful costumes, jolly dances and scenes, and a couple of nice songs. However, in the precarious theatrical world of London's West End if a show doesn't shape up, it ships out and a lot of investors lose their money. That's showbiz! Yesterday we went to see another live show, a revue called, "Wait a Minum", before it goes to Broadway. It is a South African anti-apartheid musical with some extremely good African dances and songs. Sunday 11pm We are just back from the Odeon, Swiss Cottage where we saw a Doris Day/Rod Taylor comedy called "Do Not Disturb". It was okay, but I think we had more laughs trying to get home after the show. Because of the snow, the pavements were very slippery and tended to be iced over, which made the walk home rather hazardous as it is mostly down hill. As we were saying to each other how careful we would have to be, I suddenly slipped, made a grab at Noel for support and unbalanced him too, so we both went down and finished up sliding down the footpath together on our backsides. We must have looked terribly funny! Noel then grabbed a handful of snow and threw it in my face - so I made a snowball and threw it back in his face. We continued in this fashion all the way home. The streets actually looked very beautiful covered in snow and lit up by the street lights. We are hoping the snow continues. Next Saturday we are all going to see the ice show at Wembley Stadium with Noel's School.(I hope we don’t lose any of the children again!). Robin and Roger are coming too. The show is "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" on ice. Then on the Sunday Miss Smith is giving a party for all us Australians, including the two honorary Australians, Robin And Roger.
"Twang" - The Musical & Greencroft Gardens in Winter
Letters 85 , 86 & 87
London.Sunday Jan 23rd 1966, We are going over to Miss Smith's today for lunch and dinner, and then a party afterwards. Robin, Roger, Desley, Jan and Judy are also coming, as well as Peter, Dan and a few others for the party. I don't feel much like partying today as I think I may be getting a dose of something, probably the 'flu. The weather has been foul with temperatures of 12 degrees below freezing. We have had snow, ice, sleet, fog and of course rain, power cuts and transport chaos. Noel's school has been half closed because of heating failures and frozen toilets. A few kids fell on the frozen grounds and have broken wrists, as well as Mrs McNeil, one of the teachers, who also fell and broke both wrists. Apart from all these things life isn't too bad really as our little flat is quite warm and cosy, with no frozen water pipes or frozen toilets - yet!. I guess we have been pretty lucky. The newspapers are saying this is the coldest winter for three years, and we have not seen the sun for months. So, my dear Mother, pause and reflect on how fortunate you are to live in such a wonderful country like Australia, with none of these problems to bother you. Little wonder why thousands of Britons are clamoring to emigrate. Yesterday we went to the big ice spectacular at Wembley, "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs", with Noel's school. Two coaches carried all the kids, teachers, Robin and me. The show was a brilliant, glittering spectacle with glorious costumes, lighting and intricate skating. The orchestra, singers, and dialogue people were housed in a big glass paneled studio that overlooked the scene. The artists mime the words as they are spoken and sung, from the control centre. Quite a complex production! The kids very much enjoyed it and were quite excited and sang all the songs in the coaches on the way home. (Miss Smith had some barley wine at interval, which put her in a singing mood too, on the way home!!). We then went to Robin's where his Mother had tea ready for us, and when Roger joined us later(he worked at the Lab all day), we all went to the Edgeware A.B.C. cinema to see a movie called "Lady L". It was a comedy with Sophia Loren, David Niven, Paul Newman & Peter Ustinov. On Friday night the four of us went to the Whitehall Theatre to see the Brian Rix political farce "Chase Me Comrade". The play was extremely funny and provided many laughs. The Whitehall Theatre is just off Trafalgar Square, along Whitehall, which leads to the Houses of Parliament and Westminster Abbey. I don't think I told you that we went to Westminster Abbey last weekend for a look around. It is full of memorials and statues of famous people, and all sorts of weird things. Some parts are quite grand, but it is more like a museum than a church. On Tuesday evening we are going to the Houses of Parliament to sit in on a debate........Sunday afternoon: Now at Miss Smiths. Just washed up with the three boys helping. Miss Smith's drawing the curtains. Roger's James Bond records are playing on the record player.("Goldfinger") The fireplace is crackling with burning coke. Lunch was enormous, with lamb and beef, together with both cranberry and mint sauces, plus all the usual vegies. We are now playing our Xmas gift to Miss Smith - a record of Leonard Bernstein conducting Xmas Carols in New York, and have also given her a good laugh relating the story of how the four of us sang Xmas Carols in Regent Street, and Roger held his hands out to passes by and got tuppence!.. Next Saturday night I am going to Isobel's for a dinner party. Audrey will be there as well, so it will be good to see her again. Miss Smith is now bringing in more food! The girls should be arriving soon. Noel and Miss Smith are now making savouries. My cold is much better now....
London. Saturday 29th Jan. 1966 Well, it's a mild Saturday morning! Quite a change from the freezing conditions that we have been experiencing for the past few weeks. Of course there's no sun yet, but then one can't expect everything. I don't know if it's been because of the dreadful weather conditions of the past few weeks, but there has been a lot of talk going on about Australia this week - mostly between Roger and me. Canada has almost been crossed off my list because I find the pull of Australia, and its better climate, too strong. Of all my friends who want to go to Aussie, the one you will most likely be seeing in the not too distant future is Roger. Plans are not too easy to make as we are not too sure who else will come. Noel seems quite happy to remain where he is and does not have any thoughts on leaving yet. His whole life revolves around the school, which he practically runs anyway. My tip is that if Roger and I go, Robin and Noel might follow the next year. I don't think Robin is quite ready to leave home yet, as his ties there are too strong. Roger, on the other hand seems very enthusiastic about travelling to Australia. He could possibly emigrate for 10 pounds, but he is then obligated to stay for least 18 months. If we do go together I said that he could come home to Mount Morgan with me first, before we later sought jobs in the film industry in Sydney. Alan is still keen on going to Canada. Somehow I can't really imagine Alan in Australia. Yesterday afternoon, Geoff said to me "Barry, how about we buy an Austin Van and drive to Australia?"..I think I might have made half of Humphries restless for the big land "Down Under". If all the ones go, who have talked about it with me, they will have to close the Lab! The management really can't blame me however, for I think the recent appalling weather has made a lot of people restless. Anyway, I definitely think you will be meeting Roger one day. We had an evening at the girls Hampstead flat last night. They wanted to show slides of Mount Morgan and Past Pupils outings to Judy and Miss Smith. Naturally Robin and Roger came along too, and Robin also brought his cousin David as well. We all had a good laugh at the P.P slides, especially ones of Bette and Frank Golding. Afterwards I showed a few of my English slides, and some even got a round of applause. I am dying to show them at home. Then we may have Aussies wanting to emigrate to England!..We went to the House of Commons last Wednesday evening, but it was pretty dull. We had hoped for some fiery debating but Heath and Wilson were not even there. However we did see a few political figures that we knew by reading about them in the newspapers. Yesterday in the lab there was a big rush job called "This England, Take It or Leave It". Sylvia had to correct the sound synchronisation on it because it had all come up out of sync and there were cars and planes on stand by to fly it to Australia for Australian Television. Sylvia said that I should have asked Jim(the boss) if he would like me to deliver it personally. Anyway, watch for it on T.V. and think of us here at the lab and Sylvia working like mad to get it back in sync. Tonight I am going to Isobel's for dinner. Audrey will be there as well, hopefully. Poor Audrey has had some troubles. Her fiancee, John, has been ill in hospital in Brisbane. They thought he had a stroke, but it was discovered that he had brain tumor. Fortunately it was not greatly developed and the wedding is still going ahead in May, I think, when he comes over. He will go into hospital six months later to have it removed. As if that is not bad enough, Audrey has lost all her money when the film she had invested in back home went bankrupt. Audrey said to me "Only for Isobel, I would have gone out of my mind!" and added "Isobel was a tower of strength to me!" Poor Aud! I have always had a soft spot for her, and to know that she has had to go through all that makes my heart ache. All this news hit her at Xmas time too. Anyway I will see her tonight. My 'flu is much better, although I am still not 100%. I had the day off on Monday, but managed the rest of the week okay. Robin has been off all the week on doctor's orders, but was in good form last night at Desley’s. Noel has gone down with it today, and is sleeping at the moment. His stomach hasn't bothered him since his visit to the hospital, so that's something. Tomorrow night we are all going ten pin bowling. Miss Smith's party was much fun last Sunday night and I have some photos to send home. She loves to see young people enjoying themselves and goes to a lot of trouble for us all...Sunday Another mild day today and surprise! surprise! we had a teeny bit of actual sunshine - just to remind us what sunshine looked like as we had practically forgotten! We raced outside to stand in it but it disappeared again. I had a good night at Isobel's last night. She really turned it on, starting with prawn cocktail, then chicken casserole and a dessert of ice cream with cherries soaked in cognac. Of course we had the right wines, before and during and finished up with coffee and champignon cheese from Switzerland. Audrey was there bright and beaming, and we had a great old talk. I had them laughing recounting my experiences in Paris. The pair of them tend to act a little poshy though, and they both seem to have acquired English accents. Apart from that they are still both the same. We are going bowling tonight with Rob and Roger. I guess I will have to show them how to make a few strikes!...
Sat 5th Feb. Another week and nothing much has changed weatherwise. It is miserably cold with drizzling rain and an icy wind. I haven't been out much today, and plan on having an easy day at home, doing mostly reading, some tidying up and a bit of shopping. Noel went into the city today to go hunting up some things for the school's Easter passion play with Miss Smith and Peter. He went early but I stayed in bed for we had a party last night at John's, and naturally we didn't get home until late. I thought the rest might help my cold as it is still present, mainly in the form of a cough, which is unusual for me, but at the present time almost everyone has coughs, colds or 'flu. The biggest news this week is the plans for returning home .As I told you last week it will probably only be Roger and me. We are starting to work on a plan and have decided to fly home via the States later in the year, maybe October or November. I am very pleased about it as I wasn't too keen about traveling home by myself. Noel seems content to stay where he is, but I find the call of Australia too great. Flying is the cheaper way in the long run, and the journey can be broken at any point and resumed at leisure any time within a year. Roger is definitely coming, and when we land in Brisbane he is coming home with me for a couple of weeks.(if it is okay with you). We will then seek jobs in the movie or T.V. industry in Brisbane or Sydney. Our first stop will be New York for a week, then Chicago, Denver and San Francisco. We are thinking of trying to get jobs for a while in Los Angeles to try and absorb a bit of the culture of the States. If we can work there in the movie trade we may stay about six months. Against that idea, though is that it is very difficult to get work permits in the U.S.A. Roger is saving frantically and I will have to get some money transferred over from my account at home. I have been excited about it all week, and am tremendously looking forward to returning home. As I said previously, we went to a party last night at John's flat in Kensington. It was for one of his mates, David, who was returning home to New Zealand. We went to the party with Brian this time, in his car. Brian comes from Trinidad and his car was given to him by his mother, who, it seems, is terribly rich and attends parties in New York one day and Paris the next. His family is involved in the oil business and he has a curious West Indies accent. The party was full of Kiwis and Aussies...(.What Barry fails to tell his mother is that this is the second party they visit. As John's flat is in the Kensington - Earls Court area the whole district is one mass of Aussies and New Zealanders - and they are always having parties, particularly on Friday and Saturday nights. By the time the five of us arrived in Kensington many parties were in full swing, and we finished up at the wrong party. It was easy enough to do for as we looked about for John's address, we came upon a place where a party was in full swing and said to guests outside "Is this John's party?" "Yeah! Yeah!" came the numerous replies with slurred Aussie accents "Yeah! up the stairs! Getchaselvesabeer!" So we went up and squeezed through the noisy crowd, put our bottles of beer that we brought on the table and, as we did so, someone said "Getchaselves a cold tinny outathabath!"...So we went into the bathroom as directed and sure enough there was a bathtub full of beer cans and ice. We grabbed ourselves a can each, cracked it open and proceeded to mix with the crowd, to find John and Carol. "I don't know anyone here" says Noel, and I said "Neither do I, and I can't find John anywhere" The other three had mixed in well and were contributing to the noise and laughter all around us. "What was the address of this place?" I said "I don't know" Noel replied "they just invited us in." "Oh! shit!" I said "I'll bet were in the wrong bloody party!" "What does it matter?" said Noel "It's a pretty swinging party!" "But we don't know anyone!" said I "Doesn't matter!" said Noel. "Yes, but we're invited to John's party! Not this one." I sneaked downstairs and checked the address, sure enough, wrong address. John's flat was in the next block down the road. I went up and told the others. "I wondered why I hadn't seen John about." said Robin "Grab our bottles. We have to leave." I said "We can't just walk up to the table and pick up some bottles and walk out" said Robin "There our bottles!" said I "and they're for John's party, not this one!"....embarrassed as we were, we did manage to furtively sneak up to the table, remove our bottles and make a sort of coy retreat. We eventually found the right address, and sure enough John was there to greet us "G'Day" he called out loudly "What kept ya?".. "You don't want to know!" said I....) It was a very musical party, as one of the Kiwi boys had his guitar and played away while we all sang. The Kiwis sang a lot of their National songs too which I found very enjoyable - a sort of Maori/South Seas blend. The highlight of the evening was Robin attempting to do the traditional Maori Haka. He had no idea really, but simply followed the rest and bluffed his way through it. Traditionally the dance is done by fierce, dark, stocky,well built Maoris, not tall, thin,pale, passive looking Englishmen, but you have to give it to Robin for trying. I wouldn't be surprised if Noel egged him into doing it. They are both mad, and when the pair of them get together, anything can happen. One of the Kiwis asked Robin which part of New Zealand he came from. He answered dryly "Paddington".....(I will add another footnote here to the original letter. A common feature to both parties was the bathtub full of beer. It is an Aussie rule that beer must be served cold. English beer at that time was always served at room temperature - warm. It was a very sore point with Aussies and Kiwis in England, who insisted on drinking only cold beer. Because very few flats and bed sitters had a fridge a new use was found for the humble bath tub. Many years later, when working at a Film Lab in Sydney, a young film director came in wanting someone to help recut part of his new film. The film was "The Adventures of Barry McKenzie" a very funny film about a young Aussie male's confrontation with the more refined English culture. I was assigned to cut the original negative as instructed by the director, Bruce Beresford. He had to make some cuts to try and reduce its length, as he was told to tighten it up more, for overseas sales. I had already seen it in its original version and thought it hilarious. One of the scenes he wanted taken out was a party scene with all the of beer in the bath tub. He must have sensed my hesitation, for he said "What do you think?" I answered "That's one of the best scenes! That's exactly how it was!" He looked at me, and thought for a few minutes, then said "No! take it out!" - so I did as directed(reluctantly). Bruce later went on to make some top movies including "Driving Miss Daisy" ,"Tender Mercies" and recently the wonderful "Mao's Last Dancer",all without any further advice from me!).
Sunday. Another quiet day today. We shopped at the big supermarket at Swiss Cottage this morning and were fortunate enough to buy steak at only 10/- a pound. By the way, how much is steak at home now, and pork chops? and mince too? I am always being asked how much food is at home and find it difficult now to remember prices. Steak is a real luxury here, but we let our heads go occasionally and buy some. Most of the meat comes from Argentina. Noel has gone all scientific this weekend, and at the moment is collecting moon pictures from the papers. We even bought "The Times" this morning for the latest news. He plans to give a lesson tomorrow on the subject. Both of us think it is terribly exciting that a man made object is now sitting up there on the moon taking pictures and sending them back to Earth. Soon the first man could be there! It is absolutely mind boggling to think that it is now even possible. The four of us went into the West End last night to see a Japanese movie called "Tokyo Olympiad" - a film about the Olympic Games in Japan. It has won many awards and has been praised for its magnificent camera work. It was an extremely good movie, and we found it totally absorbing. Next Monday we are taking, Des, Jan and Judy to a Ball. Robin's Parents are coming along too so it should be a good night...
Letter 88
London. Saturday, Feb 12th 1966 Noel has gone to school today to work on his Passion Play again with Peter, so it looks like another day on my own. He is completely wrapped up in the play and has rehearsals every afternoon after school. He has made an enormous difference to the school which seems to dominate his life completely, and he has become the headmaster's right hand man.(and the school's golden haired boy!). Fortunately I have all my new friends at the Lab. It is such a happy place to work in - though somehow the word "work" does not seem entirely appropriate. We do more laughing than anything else. The girls don't appear to take work seriously at all. This week Sylvia decided to teach Geoff ballet dancing. Talk about laugh! Poor old Geoff couldn't seem to get the hang of the pas de deux! The only time anyone seems to work is when Jim or Alan are about. One day Robin and I broke out into an impromptu tap duet, which brought the house down. We will all get caught out one day. Actually, my job is to keep the printers supplied with work and if I am well ahead of them I can relax anyway.This week has actually been very busy for me, with about two dozen feature films to prepare for printing which will be sent all over the world. I have organised my section to be more efficient than it was, and I think Jim appreciates it. There used to be lots of hitches and troubles before, but I now have things running much better. Of course, I still have lots to learn, and occasionally make the odd mistake because of the change over to computers and high speed printing machines, but Jim just cracks a joke about "these Australians" and explains in a good natured way what I should have done. I have never had so many friends before, and I feel for the very first time ever, as if I fit in somewhere. Anywhere I go in the Lab, someone always greets me and cracks a joke or two. All this will be very hard to leave behind. I wish I could bring all of Humphries back with me to Australia. A lot have said they are coming with me anyway! Fortunately I will have Roger with me for a mate, but I think we may be a couple of lost souls for a while. I have been talking a lot with Jerry, the Kiwi in the cleaning room, about the differences between Australia and England and he understands perfectly how I feel. He said that he would face the prospect of returning to New Zealand with terror, on the intellectual level. However I feel Australia is my home country and despite its short comings, I feel I should return and start making a life there. Sunday I have just arrived back after phoning Desley about tomorrow nights arrangements for the Ball. The three girls will be accompanied by five guys, Roger, Robin, Noel, David and self! All of us are about the same height, with both Roger and Robin over the 6 ft mark, which is unusual for Englishmen. It looks like being a good night. Roger has just left actually. We had a mad idea of going swimming this morning at the new Swiss Cottage centre. The pools are all heated of course, but when Roger arrived it was snowing lightly, and we chickened out. Somehow it didn't seem right to drive through falling snow to go swimming. Last night we went to the Scala theatre to see "Brigadoon" on stage. It was very good with colourful costumes, great singing and wonderful dancing. It is really terrific to be able to catch up with so many of the great musicals on stage, as they are often different from the movie versions, which frequently have scenes and songs eliminated - as was the case with "Brigadoon". On Tuesday Roger and I went to see the latest "In" movie craze in London. It is the original "Batman and Robin" serial that has now had all the episodes joined up to make one movie, about four hours long. All the London "In" crowd were there wearing the latest trendy fashions - short skirts and lots of leather, as well as heavy duffel coats for the cold!. The movie was a real hoot! So corny it was hilarious. The crowd were laughing, and hissing or booing the villains at first, then in the second half they began hissing and booing Batman. Some even yelled out funny comments which made it even more hilarious. I don't think this was the original intention of the makers of the serial, but in these changing times it sure gave us a fun night out. Even Roger and I hissed, booed and cheered with everyone else! Did I tell you that Robin and Noel are learning to play the piano? They have now progressed on to "Baa Baa Black Sheep". I would think that Rachmaninoff's 2nd Piano Concerto is well down the track yet!....London is threatened with a transport strike, which has everyone extremely worried. We had an emergency meeting about it on Friday because it is supposed to begin tomorrow, Monday. It has the potential to paralyse the city, as the Underground is the nerve centre of the system. Some people at the Lab could not possibly get to work. Fortunately I could walk to the Lab, but Roger has offered to pick me up anyway. Many people live 10 to 20 miles out of London and depend on the transport system entirely, because not many people have cars here like they do in Australia. Normally they are not necessary as London has an excellent public transport system that normally works very well - except in times like this. In the Lab they were saying "Oh! I'm not going to bother to come in. They should pay us anyway, after all it is not our fault!". I said "Where's that old Dunkirk spirit?" - and ended up shoved in the waste film bin - again! My gosh though! This country is in a state! Old Britannia is surely sinking below the waves. Anyone who can think can see why, but no one can do anything about it. Wilson is trying, but no one will support him. The T.V. just said that the maximum temperature tomorrow will be 37 degrees F. with a minimum of 20 degrees F. Spring is still a long way off...
Letter 89 - St Valentine's Day Ball
..Saturday Feb 19th Another Saturday, and as usual, it is grey, damp and cold. The sun actually shone for about five minutes last Wednesday, and Sylvia and I went out on to the balcony of the fire escape and stood in it. However, the sun here in winter has no warmth in it(unlike home) and the warming effect is purely psychological. The days are beginning to draw out now so a change in the weather must eventually come. The main thing to tell you about this week is the fantastic Ball that we went to last Monday night(14th Feb). It was a St Valentines Day Ball and we enjoyed ourselves immensely. Gosh! You should have heard the orchestra - seventeen pieces of the best! The band leader used to play in the Glen Miller orchestra, and this orchestra had the same Miller sound. When they played things like 'In The Mood","Tuxedo Junction", "Moonlight Serenade", "Pennsylvania 6. 5,000", Des and I just went wild. At first my dancing was a little rusty, but once we got caught up in the spell of the terrific music, we were soon sweeping about the dance floor like a couple of pros. When a line of golden saxophones stood up Glen Miller style to emphasise a section of music Des said to me "Oh! Barry, Isn't this exciting!". The Ball was held in St Josephs College, a new modern college in South London, and the hall had all sorts of coloured lighting effects. There were even a few movie and television personalities there. One the movie actors present was Derek Gyler, a favourite comedian of ours, who has just made a movie called "The Big Job". Our three girls were the prettiest girls there(no kidding!) - all with very smart hairstyles and "chic" dresses. Unfortunately Noel didn't go as his stomach is playing up again, and David was unwell also, so it left Roger, Robin and I with the three girls. Roger and Robin could only twist and shake, which seems to be the standard with young people in London today. However the girls took them in hand and everyone thoroughly enjoyed themselves. The next day Roger said "Gee, they're grand girls, so easy to talk to." We danced everything from the Modern Waltz, Valleta, Twist, and even the Charleston. I must admit my Charleston isn't the best but I tried. We were really surprised at the standard of dancing and were forced to come to the conclusion that we had seen much better dancers back in Mount Morgan at the Show Balls and the Mount Morgan reunions. Of course people here who can dance, can really dance, and Britain leads the world in Ballroom dancing competitions. Desley said "Wait until we get Roger to Mount Morgan and the girls grab him at a Past Pupils dance". Both of us got to talking about the P.P. and the way it gives young people a chance to express themselves and take their place anywhere in the social world. But for the good old Past Pupils we would not be dancing so enjoyably at a Grand Ball in London on St Valentines Night in 1966. All of us agreed that we must go dancing again soon. In the Lab this week Sylvia decided to take me under her wing and teach me sound synchronisation of 16mm and 35mm films. She is actually a negative cutter, and what she is teaching me now will be of great help when I return. Sylvia is always looking after me in some way or another. She wants to make me a sports jacket now, and also says that I should get an English made Saville Row suit before I go back, as these suits have the best cut in the world.(even better than Ah Chuk in Hong Kong!). I told her that I would think about it..........Sunday20th We went to the theatre last night and saw a J.B. Priestly comedy called "A Severed Head". It was in the Criterion one of the oddest theatres we have ever been in, hidden away underneath Piccadilly Circus. We got the giggles trying to find it, as we felt like rabbits lost in a burrow. Afterwards we let our heads go and ate out at a Chinese Restaurant in Piccadilly, a stones throw from statue of Eros. Unfortunately all the Chinese Restaurants we have eaten at in London are not a match on the good old Oriental in Rocky. This weeks edition of the American "Newsweek" magazine has a big feature on Australia. It calls the country "restless" and "dynamic" and in a "golden age of prosperity" and it is "becoming a major force in the Pacific". It gave all the reasons why Australia could become one of the greatest Nations in the World. It said it already had the American way of life, with none of its drawbacks. The article was titled "Australia on the March". It was very exciting to read and more or less backed up what I have been saying here for months. Everyone at the Lab has read it. When you have seen so many other countries, as I have, it makes you realise what a great country Australia is. The papers here have been full of Australia's "D" Day as they are calling it. Changing over to decimal currency is another big step forward for the Nation. It should be pretty easy. All Europe has decimal currency, except Britain. They will resist change until the bitter end! I met Pat after work last Thursday. She rang me at the Lab and said it is a while since we had seen each other, so we agreed to meet after work in Piccadilly Circus. We had a drink and coffee and just talked and talked, or mostly Pat talked and I listened. It's funny, Pat is longing to get back to "dear old Mount Morgan" - I never thought I would hear her say that! She was always saying "I hate Mount Morgan etc, etc," but is now longing to go back. Both of us have a date to go walking in the bush when I return.! She is sailing on the "Oriana" in November via Suez. I think that's about all for now. Roger will be arriving soon to take us over to Kensington to the movies, where we are all going to see the latest spy comedy "Our Man Flint"..
Letters 90 & 91- Desley Visits Lab!
. Saturday Feb 25th 1966. Today I am writing this at Robin’s, where we are spending the afternoon, and having tea. Robin and Noel are practicing their piano lessons. I wish you could hear them! Noel is playing(or attempting to play "The Ashgrove"). A while ago they were playing a duet, although it really sounded like each was playing something different. As you can imagine there has been more laughter than anything else. I have been mounting the Paris slides as we hope to show them soon - probably at a party at Robin's some time. (A pause here to watch "Dr Who"!) The weather this week has been all over the place. Fortunately it has been quite mild, with brief bursts of sunshine from a bit of blue sky, before the grey mass overtakes it again to produce more rain. Still, the icy winds and fogs seem to have abated, so that's something. (A pause here for "Thunderbirds"). Last night we,(Robin, Roger & us) all went to the Palladium for this years pantomime. Remember, last year we saw "Aladdin" with Cliff Richards. This year it was "Babes in the Wood" with the Aussie/Pom, Frank Ifield as Robin Hood, and Arthur Askey, Sid James and Ken Connors as supporting players. Ifield’s acting was pretty bad, but he sang some good songs written by the Shadows, and sang them well. Naturally the show had much spectacle and slap stick comedy. Sid James and Ken Conners were great. There was one outstanding song called "Nottingham Fair" which we kept singing as went home. There is a new musical show opening on Tuesday called "The Matchgirls" and the word is out that it is the greatest show since "West Side Story". Jerry went to the dress rehearsal on Thursday and said it was marvellous. I would like to get a seat for opening night but that would be impossible, so I will wait for a better time. The West End sadly lacks good musicals at present, and needs a new big hit musical. Maybe this will be the one. Sunday: April showers in February. Rain one moment, sun the next. The odd weather didn't bother us as we went swimming at the new Swiss Cottage Centre. Roger collected me about 10am and we had quite an enjoyable time at the big heated complex. Roger said he is getting in trim for Australia. This afternoon we are going skating on ice. Can you imagine it? Oh! well, I'm for trying anything new. It should be fun. The big news event this week was Desley's visit to Humphries. I was over at their place on Tuesday night and found out that Des was on a week's school holiday and working in a part time job not far from the Lab, so she asked if she could drop in to the Lab to see it. I agreed, but said that she would have to look like a customer to get in - like someone who works in movies, as visitors are not allowed.(except at the invitation of the bosses!). However, we often get customers in the Lab, especially Roger, so we couldn't see it being a problem. Anyway we arranged that she arrive by 2.30pm, and Roger and I would meet her. Well! when she arrived I could hardly believe my eyes. Gone was the Desley that I was familiar with, and in her place was a glamorous movie star. She looked gorgeous! Like a stylish Audrey Hepburn!. She wore a fawn suede coat, an all round black head scarf, a blue green floppy hat sweeping down one side of her face and dark glasses, and as she came slowly up the stairs to reception, she had a big grin on her face as if to say "Well you told me to and here I am!". Her half hour at Humphries will be remembered for a long, long time. Everywhere we went she caused a disturbance. People stopped what they were doing and stared. Everyone thought she was a movie star. Even the bosses were falling over themselves to meet her. It was not supposed to happen that way!. Desley is a very attractive girl at any time, but dressed like that she looked absolutely fantastic, and every inch the glamorous movie star. As Roger and I chaperoned her about, I heard remarks like "Cor! Look at that!", "Who's the bird?" and "Why aren't all customers like that?" When I said to her "dress like a movie person" I had in mind her "blending in" so she would not be noticed. For some reason those who work behind the scenes in movies always dress down and give themselves the “scruffy” look. Unfortunately I did not convey this information to Desley. The furtive, low key visit turned into the exact opposite. In my section Desley caused chaos! The girls all refused to speak to me afterwards, and Sylvia hasn't spoken to me at all since. All the males, however, dashed over to be introduced to her. They told me afterwards that they thought she was in movies, or a model at least. I introduced her to Jerry in the cleaning room and he hasn't stopped talking about her since. I also told him about the trouble I was having with the girls, with them thinking I did it deliberately to make Sylvia jealous..and he just laughed. Desley seemed completely unaware of the turmoil she caused. I must drop by one evening this week and tell her all about it. It should give her a good laugh. She might be able to give me some advice on how to get the girls speaking to me again!. ….. I worked on Saturday morning and Alan, the charge hand, has also asked me to work some evenings as well. The work is in negative breakdown, which is something new for me. It seems the Lab is taking on too much work and hasn't the staff to cope. I could do with the extra money, as is the case with Roger, who works all the overtime he can. We almost had big trouble at the Lab on Friday - an overtime ban! Fortunately a special meeting between management and the union agreed to a compromise measure and it was all sorted out. I am glad that trouble was averted as there are far too many strikes in Britain.
London. Thursday. March 3rd 1966 It's 10pm Thursday and I thought I might make a start on this letter as I may not have much time over the weekend. I haven't been home from the Lab long as I worked back tonight, and every night this week. I have decided to start working overtime, mainly to get some money to travel home. Money is the major problem now as I cannot save much on my normal salary. The Lab is snowed under with work and Alan, the boss, cannot cope and seems to be on the verge of a nervous breakdown(more so than usual!). I said no to his request at first, but as Noel now doesn't get home until late, it meant I only go home to an empty flat, or spend money going out, so, after considering these things, I agreed with Alan's request. I have worked until 8pm every night this week, as has Roger, so I usually end up getting a lift home with him as well. Roger lives up the road a bit in Hendon, not far from Noel's school. Despite the later hours, I feel better for it as I like working at the Lab and the overtime often involves learning new stuff that I would not do in my normal working hours. This week I have been doing neg breakdown, which is the first stage of negative cutting with Sylvia. She asked Alan if I could help her today, so I have been.(Yes, she is speaking to me again now!) All in all, it's been a very busy week. Usually after we knock off at 8pm, Roger and I drop in to the pub down the road for a beer and sit talking about Australia. He is tremendously keen and saving like mad. His enthusiasm for saving has now rubbed off on to me. I hope it lasts, as I do not want to have to drain too much cash from my account at home…..Friday: March 4th. Jerry and I were comparing family backgrounds at morning tea this morning. He has now become a very good friend and we always have our tea breaks together. Jerry comes from New Zealand where his family has a big farm and breeds horses. His brother represented New Zealand in the horse trials in the Olympics. I have learnt a lot of things from Jerry. I guess he is best described as an intellectual and knows a lot of stuff. We may be able to see him on television soon as the "Robin Hood" series is being repeated, and he has a role in it. I am trying to get him to emigrate to Australia as I believe he would have a better chance there. He agrees too, especially for the sake of his young son.. Spirits are pretty high at the Lab today. Must be because it is now almost Spring, and there is a little bit of warm sunshine about. John and I were singing some old Aussie folk songs in the canteen at lunchtime, until the gang threatened to throw us out the windows. Earlier, when out for a lunchtime walk with Colin, Roger and Robin, we all broke out into our version of the Jets dance from "West Side Story". This is in the middle of London, and we were acting crazily and having fun, and getting odd looks from other people on the street, but we didn't care! Spring is a coming!.. We haven't seen the sun for months and here it is. Everyone's entitled to act a little bit crazy at the feel of warm sunshine. Mike had his camera and took a few shots. If they come out okay I'll send some to you. Tonight we are all off to the theatre to see the new musical "The Matchgirls". Roger and I are working until 7.30pm, then going from the Lab, to meet Noel and Robin at the theatre. The show does not start until 8.45pm and we are very much looking forward to it.........
Letters92 & 93: X-Rated
London .Saturday March5th.1966 Well today is wonderful! We have a beautiful blue sky and warm sunshine. I have just read your letter, and in answer to your questions - Pat is returning in November. I don't know about Connie or Mary, and as for Margie, well we haven't seen much of her, although she keeps asking us over for dinner, but Noel won't go. Yes, Judy is an Aussie, from Melbourne, and is an extremely nice girl. I worked at the Lab until 1pm,today. It is always interesting to work overtime as it is a good opportunity to learn new things.. You bet it is! Had Barry been completely honest with his mother he would have said - Well Mum, today I saw my first pornographic movie. While I was working, Colin came in to the room rather breathless, whispering, "I've got hold of a porno movie, come downstairs to the theatres and we'll run it". "In the theatre?" I said "Won't we get caught?". "No" replied Colin "We'll run it in one of the booths!" . I felt rather cautious and suspicious as I had never seen a pornographic movie before. I had read about such things in the newspapers and magazines, and in fact not long ago one of our great orchestra conductors was found with pornography in his luggage and it got him into a lot of trouble and destroyed his career, so it is seriously bad stuff.. . As if reading my thoughts Colin said "Roger and Robin are coming too!".... Well If I refuse, these guys are going to think I am a coward I thought .."Okay" I said "when?" Colin replied "Now! I'll give the others a call!" Anyway, Roger and Robin arrived and then we all sneaked downstairs towards the theatres, with me feeling very apprehensive and thinking - does this mean I am going to be changed forever, and sent on a downward spiral into the depths of depravity?.. We arrived at the theatre area and Colin made towards one of the small booths there. He opened the door and we all just managed to squeeze in as he threaded up the projector. "This is it!" I thought, "I am about to become a lascivious sinner"…. "As we don't want to get caught here, I'll run it faster" said Colin and switched on the projector, and upped the speed. I will spare you the detail, but what followed was one of the funniest movies that I have ever seen. The sex act and all its variations has never been particularly dignified, and with all the action now sped up, it was hilarious. All it needed was an old time piano to accompany it like in the silent movies.. All of us burst out laughing, except Colin who perhaps thought that this was not the reaction that the movie should be getting. The plot involved a postman delivering a sex toy to a hotel room occupied by two ladies. Only the postman isn't a postman but a super stud in disguise. .A few minutes later we walked out of that booth with tears streaming down our cheeks from laughing. Fortunately no one else was around in that area, or they would have wondered what all the laughter was about. As for being corrupted, well I am not really sure what that means. All I know is I had a jolly good laugh and felt much better for it…...Noel is at the moment working at school on his play. Gosh! It's a beautiful day! The daffodils and tulips are already in the florists shops. With winter, hopefully, behind us now we can now look forward to the magic of summer. It reminds me of a poem that we had in our poetry book at school written by old Wil. Shakespeare I think.. The poem began "Shall I compare thee to a summer's day". Well to me that meant, hot, sweaty, and covered in flies!. It always puzzled me why he should make such an off putting comparison. It's certainly not romantic if that was his intention.. If he said that to a girl in Australia she would most likely thump him and walk off in a huff. Now, being in England, I understand what he meant. It is all about feeling good and joyful, combined with the spirit of rejuvenation of life. Robin and I led our group singing and dancing down the street again today, when we went out for our break. If my letters cease I will be locked up in jail for causing a disturbance. Have the bail money ready!.. Well "The Matchgirls" was really terrific last night. I told Jerry this morning that I thought it was like a "West Side Oliver". It had the wild dancing of "West Side" and the olde English atmosphere of "Oliver" and like those two, it had a serious story to tell. This was about the Bryant and May matchgirls strike of 1888. Serious subject matter, but a bright and breezy play. The music was great - sort of jazz score that sometimes swung into Latin American rhythms. All of us enjoyed it immensely. I want to go again!.. I haven't seen "Devasting Desley" since the other week when she caused chaos at the Lab. Maybe she isn't speaking to me either! Gosh! She looked smashing. I have been wanting to drop up and see them, but I haven't had the time. The girls, and Sylvia are now speaking to me again. Don't know what got into Sylvia. There's been much discussion all round about Desley's visit. Anyway Sylvia has forgiven me for I don't know what, so all is peaceful again... I am glad Mr and Mrs Simmonds dropped in to see you. That was very nice of them.Were they concerned about Noel's lack of communication?.. I am always nagging him to write to them more often, but he never seems to want to. I will definitely post some photos this week. Hope you are well. I am 100% plus. I am getting the urge to leap and sing again. Maybe I will go over to Robin's and see what crazy stuff we can get up to!............
Saturday March 12th. I am just home after working at the Lab this morning, and having a swim with Roger and Alan at the Swiss Cottage pool. Today I was swimming much better and am beginning to feel at home again in the water, after an absence of almost a couple of years. After our swim, Roger dropped me off at the girls flat but they weren't home. I wanted to see them to ask them to a dinner party at Robin's place on April 2nd. We are having a "cook up" first, then a slide evening to show our Paris slides. It won't be a large gathering just our close friends. I am hoping that Jerry can come too. We figure it out to be about a dozen people...Well, I banked 8 pounds this week - a remarkable achievement!. It's the first time I have ever actually put some money in to my bank account since I have been here. I worked back every night except Wednesday this week, and ended up with 18 hours overtime - possibly an extra 5 or 6 pounds in my pay. Almost half of what one earns in overtime here, goes in taxes. It's pretty rotten and hardly encourages anyone to work that extra bit to save the country. If one earns 10 pounds extra, the Government takes almost half of that. Australians don't know how lucky they are. I thought, at first, that I would get sick of working overtime, but the reality is that I don't mind it at all. The work is so different to my normal work, and there is no pressure on me, and the Lab is quiet and peaceful at night. I have also made a new friend - the cleaner. He is a very pleasant, happy, elderly fellow who chats and sings away. On the first night he asked me where I came from, and when I told him he said "I'm a foreigner too!"."Where do you come from?" I asked "Wales" was his reply. He then proceeded to tell me all about Wales and the things the English had done to the Welsh. Apparently there have been a few riots there recently over a dam the English built and flooded a valley. When I told him that I was half Welsh, he was very interested. Roger has been working the same hours that I have so it has not been lonely at all. Tonight I finished my work ahead of time and Roger invited me into the theatre to help him do some viewing. So, I sat in the theatre with Roger and watched prints of a new T.V. series called "Sea Ways". Roger does a lot of viewing. He has to check prints going out to clients for faults. I have been doing the neg breakdown on the rushes for a new T.V. series called "This England". So, in all, life is very busy for me now, but that's how I like it. Noel is also very busy these days with his passion play. It looks like being a very big thing. He and Peter have been writing hymns for it, and it will be on in two weeks time. The other week we went to see a movie called "Bunny Lake is Missing" with Sir Laurence Oliver and Carol Linley, and processed by Humphries. The action takes place in Hampstead, and a lot of the locations were just up the road a bit from where we live. Carol Linley even catches the train at the Finchley Road tube station, the same one as I go to. Good old Hampstead seems to be the favourite location for movie makers these days. Incidentally, it was a very good movie too. Sunday: 13th. We were just having tea last night when the three girls, Desley, Jan, and Judy dropped in. They had been visiting friends in Kilburn and called in on their way home. I told them I stopped by to see them earlier, but they weren't home.(great minds etc etc.) They are off on a tour of the British Isles in April, and then in July going off touring the continent again for a couple of months. All three were as bright and breezy as always. I told Des about the sensation she caused at the Lab, and we all had a good laugh.. Today is sunny again, as it has been for most of the week. A remarkable achievement! The beautiful weather is causing a marvelous transformation to occur, with life pouring back into the gardens and trees. Roger is calling in this evening and we are going off to the movies. He said his parents are actually beginning to believe he is serious about leaving. He has been on the verge of going to Australia many times before, so they did not take him seriously this time, at first. We should be in Australia either very early 1967, or late 1967. It will depend whether we can get jobs in Canada or the States. If we can get jobs we may stay six to nine months...
Letters 94. 95 & 96
London. Sunday March 20th 1966 It is Sunday, once again, and again - sunshine! The weather has gone mad! We have had almost as many sunny days as we have had grey days. It was sunny yesterday, but there was an icy wind from the Arctic regions blowing across from the North Sea. Today there is no wind and the place seems unusually quiet for this time. It is 11.30 am, but maybe everyone has forgotten to put their clocks on, and think it's still 10.30am. Today is the day we go on to summertime - a type of daylight saving that's been in since the war. Consequently we now start the period of glorious evenings when, at the height of summer, it does not get dark until after 10.30 pm. The trees will soon be green again, and the flower stalls already have masses of daffodils on display. Soon the tulips will be in full bloom. Yesterday morning I went to the dress rehearsal of Noel's Passion Play, mainly to take some pictures for them. It was the first time they had put it all together, and to complicate things, Mr Sheil, the headmaster was there. It was all pretty chaotic, and much fun to watch. The hall was a mass of colourful costumes, little Biblical characters, and Roman soldiers - with a Christ that kept shoving a shield into a centurion’s face, and pushing the disciples off the end of the stage. Everyone was giving directions, with Mr Sheil roaring the loudest of all, and not knowing what he was talking about. We had a good laugh about it afterwards, when we went home for lunch with Miss Smith. The play opens on Friday night, with performances on the Saturday and following Wednesday nights. I am going on the Wednesday with Des, Jan, Judy, Robin and Roger. Gary, Joan's husband is also sitting with us.(Joan is the other Aussie on the staff). Miss Smith has a car now, a Mini Minor. She drove us home in it after lunch, much to our consternation. She has been taking lessons for two years and sat her test two weeks ago and failed, but bought a car anyway and has been driving on her learners permit. Noel says she has hit her garage and fence post about five times, and when on the road she crawls along so that a big line of cars forms behind her, all blowing their horns. It's always amusing to drive home with Miss Smith, but we would really prefer to walk. We went into the West End to see a movie last night. Leicester Square and Piccadilly really come alive on Saturday nights with crowds of theatre goers, sight seers, buskers singing and dancing, and odd gentlemen parading about holding up signs saying "The End is at Hand" or "Repent Ye Sins". We went window shopping in Carnaby Street, mainly for laughs, as it is the centre of modern men's fashion clothes. It has fancy shops with names like "Male Boutique", "Domino Male" or just "His". Carnaby is for the extreme in men's fashion, with some clothes bordering on the ridiculous. We play the game "You'd look good in that!" - "No! You'd look good in that!" and bust our sides laughing. I think some young "mods" actually wear them. I am keeping my eyes open these days for some new clothes to take home with me as clothes are cheaper, and now more stylish here than in Australia. Already I have bought a lightweight cotton check jacket that would be ideal for summer at home. I also plan on getting a suit made here, on Sylvia's advice. It's been a busy week at the Lab again. I worked back every night except Friday, which I had off due to a sudden bout of mild 'flu. It seemed to hit hard on Thursday, much to everyone's concern - especially Sylvia, so I had Friday in bed, and today it's seems entirely gone. One of my negatives was damaged on a machine on Friday, and because I wasn't there it was in danger of being left and shoved aside(which would delay the printing further), but Robin and Roger stepped in and fixed things up. It's great to have friends like that to work with. Roger will be around later and then we are all off to the movies. This morning Noel and I went shopping in the supermarket up the road in Swiss Cottage. It was hilarious! We bought some spaghetti which comes in long blue packets about 2 feet long. Noel was carrying the basket with this long blue packet poking out and as we were strolling along a lady in front of us bent over to pick up her poodle. As she did so a man from behind ran into Noel and bumped his trolley into Noel's basket which was then knocked forward with the protruding spaghetti whacking this lady fair up the backside. She sprang up and abused him in French or something, with the dog barking furiously as well. I was in fits of laughter! Noel had a good laugh later, but was a bit embarrassed at the time.....
London. Saturday Mar 26th 1966. I am at home this morning having decided that I have had enough O/T this week as I worked back every night. We did our usual shopping this morning(no dramas this time), and I even made a deposit in my Barclays Bank account, which is beginning to look healthy. It is a pretty horrible day today. Damp and very cold, with an icy wind. I knew our premature spring weather would not last. Finchley Road, Swiss Cottage is in election fever with pamphlets being handed out, people everywhere, and candidates driving about, speaking from their cars. We are going to vote this time - not that we believe any one party can save Britain, but just to give some backing to Wilson. At least he has the right ideas, but putting them into practice will be almost impossible. One would have to say that any form of Government would not be able to save Britain, as this once mighty Nation has had it - although the people don't know it yet! The ones that do, see Australia as their only hope for a better life. Do you know that this country owes other countries nine hundred billion pounds? Until Britain pays off her debts, she cannot hold her head up in the Nations of the world. She is living on past glories and seems unable to face the future. Of course it's the people themselves where the basic problem lies. It all boils down to the fact that they don't want to work - and if they do the unions won't let them. A lot of it has to do with this class thing. They say "Why should I work hard to put money in the pockets of the lords and the gentry!" I could write pages on what's wrong with Britain but I won't bore you any more. It's just a shame to see what was once a great country going down the gurgler. Many, many people die here every year because they can't afford proper heating for their homes. Noel's play opened last night and was a big success. It is on again Tuesday and Wednesday. We are all going on the Wednesday. Noel is quite exhausted and has gone back to bed again. He has been going flat out for weeks. Roger and I went to the movies last night to see a science fiction show, as we have discovered that we are both sci-fi. fans. Tomorrow the four of us are going for a drive to Egham, Staines, about fifteen miles south of the airport to see Robin's cousin David, where we have been invited for tea. Although far to the south, Staines is still part of London and will take about an hour to reach. Talk about the devil!.. Roger just called in to give me a pair of trousers that I left in his car last night. I collected them from the dry cleaners yesterday and forgot about them when he dropped me home last night. Roger was on his way home from working in the lab this morning. He lives not too away in Hendon, with his Mum and Dad, and like me is the youngest in the family. They have a nice semi detached home like miss Smith has, and he has a brother and sister, both married. His last name is Cowland, a somewhat unusual name, but it seems all my friends here have odd names.e.g. Robin Langer, Harry Kyle, Alan Weddup, Bob Megginson. Sylvia's surname is "Waters", and she has a sister called Crystal! The other girls that I work with are Joan Rivert, Anita Tofield and Anne Dorset. Miss Smith has the only surname that we are familiar with. Saturday night: Just arrived home to find a note under the door. It was from Kevin Langford, who called this afternoon when we weren't home. He is living not far away in Belsize Park, Hampstead, near the girls I think. He left his address, so we will have to look him up. We are getting a little colony here in Hampstead. Tell Judy that she has to live in Hampstead too, when she comes over. It's quite a trendy place to live, as it is considered to be the "arty" part of London. Quite a few top movie people live here...On Thursday I was shopping at the markets near the Lab during lunch break, and it was very cold, but the sun was shining when I walked out, but on the way back all of a sudden snow began to cascade down, like a burst feather pillow. I ran like mad to the lab and dashed in covered in snow to be greeted with much laughter and things like "Hey! Aus! bet it's not like this back home 'eh!" The other afternoon Sylvia was doing some neg assembly and ran into trouble with a neg break. She was in a bit of a fluster over it and kept on working after five trying to fix it. She asked for my help saying that the job of repairing it was beyond her. I worked with her and showed her a simple technique that I had thought up for better repairs and cutting the work involved by half. We rejoined the neg perfectly and the next day she went around everyone in the section showing them the new technique that I had taught her.....
London .Saturday, April 2nd. It's Saturday night and I am having a night at home for a change. Noel has gone to a party, but I wasn't feeling up to it as it's been a hectic week. The television news is full of scenes of snow in the north. Roads are closed and people are being stranded everywhere, and many have had to abandon their cars. Gosh! I am pleased that Bob and I didn't cop that when we drove north for Xmas '64. This is April! Just think of the possible blizzard that could have hit us that December. So far there has been no snow here, as it is fairly mild, but I guess that could quickly change. It doesn't look too hopeful for Easter. We don't know where we are going yet as arrangements haven't been finalised. Actually we are not long home from Robin's place, where we finished up after a shopping spree for the dinner party tomorrow night. Des, Jan, Judy, John and Carol plus Jerry and his wife will all be coming. Not a very big gathering, so it should be a nice evening. The Langers have just installed a second kitchen, upstairs near Robin's Den, for our use. Well not really for our party, but they hurried it up so we could use it tomorrow night. Sunday morning I'm just up and washed my hair. There seems to be a lot of it these days. I must be getting that English look! All the fellows here wear their hair much longer than at home. Noel has been contemplating getting out of bed - as he has been for the last hour! It's quite a cold day with a grey drizzly sky. Noel's Passion Play went off extremely well. We all went on the Wednesday night and I must admit that I was really surprised at how good it was. It had touches of being really great. The music was exceedingly good, with a lot of it being written by Peter & Noel. They had all kinds of lighting effects and a lot of gimmicks with music. I helped a little bit and tossed in a few ideas, and everyone was pleased with the photos I took and pinned them up on the notice board. Afterwards we all went to the party in the staff room. It was Joan's last week at the school as she and Gary are off on a tour of the Continent. Roger was with them a fair bit at the party, presumably discussing Roger's future arrival in Australia. Sunday, April 3rd I went to the Opera on Thursday night. The three girls were going, but both Desley and Judy felt unwell because of colds, so they asked my if I would like a ticket and accompany Jan. Naturally I said "You bet!". The opera was "The Tales of Hoffman" one of my favourites. It was absolutely terrific, with splendid singing. The set for the second act was great - sort of semi abstract, with trick lighting effects. Both of us enjoyed it immensely. When we came out of the grand Covent Garden opera house, the place was in election fever with big scenes in Trafalgar Square where people were jumping into the fountains. There were television sets everywhere with one big colour set that showed footage that was being beamed to the U.S.A. Piccadilly Circus also had big lighting arrangements flashing out the news of the landslide to Wilson. Monday morning: At the lab. It's not long before lunch, so I will quickly finish this so I can post it. Our evening at Robin's was a big success. We gave our guests Spaghetti Bolognaise and Chicken Casserole with Corn and Mushrooms served up with Fried Rice. It was something new we tried and it was very tasty. Everyone had a bit of everything, and complimented us on our cooking. I must admit that I was surprised at how well it all turned out. John had some slides of his European trip and we showed our Paris ones. Robin also showed a couple of his movies. We got back home about 1am. It's reasonably quiet today, except for the chaos caused by the installation of air-conditioning. Everyone looks so neat and white in their freshly laundered Lab coats. Sylvia has just produced a box of chocolates that a client gave her, so now we are all eating chocolates.. It looks like we are off to Amsterdam for Easter.....
Letter 97 - Holland
London. Saturday April 16th. 1966. As mentioned in the post card the four of us did go to Amsterdam(with visits to Germany and Belgium) for Easter. Because we left it all until the last minute to organise, we were told that there was no accommodation available, but we decided to go anyway. We got into the first hotel that we tried without any problem. We made the journey to Dover in Roger's car, then caught the midnight ferry to Ostend, Belgium, where we caught a train to Amsterdam. We had a fantastic time and loved Amsterdam. It is becoming the place to go to now, replacing Paris which is very expensive and unfriendly to tourists.(particularly English) Amsterdam is the opposite. Prices are low, and the people are wonderful and most are able to speak English - though with an American accent. Even if they can't, we all have fun trying to communicate - us, with a few words of Dutch, and them, with a few words of English. One fellow in a little country pub taught us how to count to ten in the Dutch language. It is very similar to German, and Noel did the best at it. Oddly, everyone mistook him for a German, and would start speaking to him in German first. This worked against us at one place in Amsterdam. Our original idea was to hire bicycles to go sight seeing around the city, but the fellow who hired out the bicycles took one look at Noel and absolutely refused to give us bikes, because he said Noel was German, and he obviously hated Germans. We tried and tried and explained that Noel was Australian, but there was no way he was going to give us our bicycles, so we set off walking. Amsterdam is called the "Venice of the North", because of its many canals. All the canals are tree lined, and the city itself is very clean with an old world charm. It is very flat, and ideal for bicycles and walking - except care must be taken with the canals. We nearly lost Roger in one, when he jumped sideways to avoid the splashes of a passing car, and almost jumped into the canal. We went for a boat ride about Amsterdam in a beautiful modern launch with a completely transparent perspex roof. The real sight seeing started when we hired a car, a Volkswagen, and set off to explore the Dutch countryside. As we didn't plan on hiring a car I didn't have my International Driver's License, but fortunately Noel had his so he did all the driving. It was chaotic at first, as they drive on the other side of the road, but Noel soon got used to it and we were soon away. We whizzed along past tramcars, drove by the side of canals, over the numerous bridges and soon we were out into the very flat countryside with colourful fields of daffodils and tulips. On the way to Noordwijk Aan Zee, a seaside village, we stopped and bought a huge garland of daffodils and draped them over the bonnet of the car. It was at Noordwijk that I fell in love with a cute windmill that plays "Tulips in Amsterdam" that will be soon on its way home to you. The first day with the car we visited The Hague(the capital), and Rotterdam the new ultra modern city that has risen from the ashes of the old that was heavily bombed in WW2. Rotterdam is fantastic and now calls itself "The City of Tomorrow". The main shopping centre is built around enclosed walkways and gardens, free of cars. Here also is the Euromast, a modernistic tower soaring hundreds of feet above the city, and overlooking the harbour which is the busiest in the world. Here one can dine or have a beer and gaze through the huge slanted windows at one of the world's most fascinating cities spread out below. The next day we toured north Holland, driving for miles and miles, at one stage along the top of a dyke. We wanted to take a picture of the four of us sitting on the dyke, but the road was a bit too narrow for stopping, and we would hate to have an epitaph that said "Killed While Sitting on a Dyke!"... I must say it is a rather scary place though, when you realise that so much of the country is below sea level. Later in the day we crossed the German border and arrived at a small German town called Rees, situated on the banks of the Rhine. The impression of this town was one of cold formality with square clean cut buildings set around the formal town square at the end of which was a church, its stonework full of crater like holes made by blasting shells. There were no trees or flowers anywhere.(quite the opposite to London). We stood on the banks of the Rhine as the setting sun became a blood red disc and slowly sank into the black horizon. The boatman then began hanging up their lanterns against the backdrop of the evening sky that had now turned to an eerie pink. On the way back to Holland we flashed along a great German motorway. There was no speed limit so Noel just put the foot down and we sang non stop for two hours until we arrived in the town of Utrecht (famous for some sort of treaty) to refuel. We also refueled ourselves with Bifsteck and Pommes Frits(steak and chips). All Monday was then spent traveling home. The channel crossing took about 5 and half hours. We all had a fantastic time and seemed to be laughing all the time - especially when Robin used the wrong shower and flooded the reception area of the hotel. There was a sign on the door that said "do not use" but it was in Dutch, so Robin couldn't read it. I said to the guys we were lucky to have proper showers, and not a silly toilet bowl on wheels like the French have. I think what we will remember the most is the friendliness of the Dutch people and their willingness to make visitors feel at home. Okay, so they guy wouldn't hire out his bicycles to us because of Noel. That was probably a good thing as Robin confessed to us later that he couldn't ride a bicycle, but was willing to give it a go! That could have ended in disaster! We would have been fishing Robin out of a canal for sure! It was certainly an Easter I will always remember.
Letters 98 & 99
London. Friday April 22nd. 1966 I trust all the news of Amsterdam has reached you by now. What an Easter that was! We enjoyed ourselves so much that we are now looking for somewhere to go for the Whitsun holiday weekend. Berlin has been mentioned. We might fly to Amsterdam, and hire a car there for the 400 mile drive to Berlin. We don't expect the German people to be anywhere near as friendly as the Dutch, but all four of us are keen to go there, and return via Hamburg, Bremen and Hanover. It is so amazing how well the four of us get along with each other. I keep thinking of poor old Rob, when we all eventually leave for Australia. Sometimes I think of trying to talk him into coming with us, but Rob is too English, and I'm sure he would feel like a fish out of water. Roger is different, and I am positive he will settle in to the Aussie way of life in no time at all. Roger needs Australia, as much as Australia needs people like Roger. He is a very, very hard worker and very friendly, though is inclined to be a bit too serious. However, under our influence, he is beginning to lighten up more. Sometimes he is mistaken for an Aussie, until he begins talking and his northern London accent gives him away. He talks all the time about Australia, and seems concerned that I may get it into my head to dash off without him, as he hasn't enough money together yet. It's begun snowing again, with overcast skies and drizzle forecast for the next thirty days. Spring flowers are lying dead and people are getting about again in their heavy coats, all hunched up beneath umbrellas. Kevin Langford came over on Tuesday night and we had a good talk about old times and impressions of London. Saturday night : I worked again this morning until twelve, then went into the West End to meet Noel in Leicester Square and go to the movies. Leicester Square is coming to life again now, with the leaves returning on the trees and the daffodils, despite the inclement weather, have started blossoming. The movie that we saw was the controversial Tony Richardson film called "The Loved One" that he shot in the U.S.A. We saw it in the Empire cinema, one of the few modern cinemas in London. It is a plush, new cinema in the heart of Leicester Square, and on Tuesday night they are having the Royal premiere of David Lean's new film "Dr Zhivago"... We are now at home watching T.V. and have just seen Aussie troops marching through Sydney on their way to Vietnam. It seems odd to be watching things happening in Australia on a T.V. set in London.. Sunday: The weather has improved a bit. There is the odd patch of blue sky and the temperature is rather mild. It will probably rain, but at least it isn't really cold. Did you by chance see the Queen opening Parliament this week? It's the first time that cameras have been allowed in to the House of Commons. It's a big breakthrough for the Government, and Wilson has said that he intends to streamline the workings of Government. A rather daring move on his part, as it has been the same for hundreds of years and is like a Gilbert and Sullivan opera. Even the opening of Parliament was hilarious. It just needed a few G&S type songs to make it really entertaining. British Government is like a creaking old rusty machine. They call the rust "tradition"....I received an invitation to Audrey's wedding this week. It is being held at St Columbia's church, Chelsea at 4 pm on Saturday, May 7th. Seems as if it is going to be a very posh affair. She wants me to do the photographs, but I explained that I no longer had the facilities of a darkroom like I had at home, and for the type of shots that she wanted she would be better getting a commercial photographer to do the job. I offered to bring my camera along anyway to take casual shots.. Noel's school has been on holidays for the past three weeks so he has become a little bit bored and anxious to get back to school again, as he is tired of doing nothing....We have just had lunch and are now awaiting the arrival of Roger and Robin as we are off to the movies in Hampstead village. We were going to the Spaniards Inn on the Heath this morning, but it began to rain so we did the washing instead. Rob just arrived and we have been having digs at him about his Chelsea football team losing the big match for the F.A. cup. Everyone here in England seems to support some club or another. Roger has just arrived as Robin and Noel are discussing their piano lessons and the appropriate finger movements…(I tried not to laugh!)
Saturday. April 30th The main news this week is the weather. It has been headlines in all the papers and people are doing all sorts of mad things. It is all because the sun is shining from a clear blue sky. Yes, I know you have that type of sky practically all the time, and certainly don't see it as a cause for celebration. But here everything is the opposite. Rain pouring from the sky makes everyone want to celebrate in Mount Morgan, but here it can cause a lot of problems and everyone complains about it. A bright blue sky, however is a cause for celebration for a population that has been deprived of warmth and sunshine for months.. A sun shining from a clear blue sky is classed as an "unnatural event". It is remarkable and somewhat unnerving, similar to the sighting of a flying saucer. It has such an effect on people that they feel compelled to take advantage of it and grab picnic hampers to rush to the parks, or if they have a car, dash out to join the other cars caught in traffic jams on roads going to the seaside....It is now Sunday and when Noel returns from mass we are going up to Hampstead Heath. We might even get daring and do some sunbaking. There is a possibility that Roger may come over, in which case we will probably do something else. All at once London is green again. For weeks the trees have had leaf buds, but suddenly, yesterday we noticed that all the buds had opened out and the trees were all green again. Some are even blossoming. I saw Nat when I was cooking breakfast this morning and he was telling me about a squirrel he just saw in the garden. He said it was so tame that he even fed it some bread. London would be a very beautiful city if it was always like this. As you can imagine, seeing the bright blue sky and feeling the warm sunshine reminds me so much of Australia...I dined at Isobel's on Friday night. It's been a while since I have seen from her. She is just the same and looking well. Naturally we discussed the wedding next Saturday. She is quite worried about it all, and thinks Audrey is making a big mistake, but at the same time she is hoping that she is wrong. Isobel is one of two bridesmaids, and the men will be all wearing morning dress. I will be taking photos, so you will be able to see them later. After the wedding John has the operation for his tumor, so goodness knows what will happen. I sincerely hope that it all turns out okay, for I think a lot of Audrey as she has had to battle all her life - and it seem as if she may have more difficulties ahead of her still... Sunday afternoon. We are now all lying on the rich green grassy banks of the Thames, not far from Windsor. Roger came this morning and we collected Robin and drove south to the Thames at Windsor as it is really a beautiful place. We hired a motor boat for two hours and cavorted up and down the Thames, disturbing the peaceful waters and scattering the swans. After this, we dined in the garden of a little restaurant in the beautiful warm sunshine. We have had our shirts off all day and have even managed to get a little bit sunburnt. There is not a cloud in sight, no wind and the temperature is about 70degrees F. Across the road are the fields of Runnymede where the Magna Carta was signed about 150 years ago and down the road a bit is Windsor Castle. The area is quite crowded with Londoners in search of open spaces and sunshine. Truly a remarkable week weather-wise...... Sunday, April 31st. 1966. I have been working late at the Lab again. There's a lot of breakdown to do in the 16mm section. We have our own air-conditioning working now. It was switched on this week, and in true British workmanship, it would not work. All it would do was to put the place into deep freeze and blow a gale. Sylvia said we should all huddle together to keep warm. It was quite funny, but I think it has given me a cold again. It seems to be fixed now, so we are hoping nothing else happens. I forgot to mention earlier, but on Friday we looked out of the Lab windows and there was a barrage balloon floating not far from the Post Office Tower. It was tethered by a cable from somewhere in Regents Park, and it looked just like a scene from W.W.2 when the barrage balloons used to hang above the rooftops of London. It touched off some old war memories for Jim and Alan and they began to tell us about some of the things that happened to them in the war, which was very interesting for me to hear first hand accounts of the German blitz on London....It is now 11.30 pm and we are just home after our day in the sunshine. We called in at Robin's to hear a record of Australian folk Songs, lent to me by Sylvia and to see Rob's movie on our Amsterdam trip, which was quite good.
Letters 100 & 101 : Wedding No 2 -Audrey & John & Noel's Announcement
Sunday: May 7th Well the biggest news this week is Audrey's wedding yesterday. It all went off extremely well. The Ceremony was held in St Columba's Church Chelsea, a lovely new Presbyterian church. The two bridesmaids, Isobel & Avril, wore long, simple beige coloured dresses(made themselves) and as for Audrey well she looked really beautiful. I don't know how to describe her dress, but you will see it in the photographs. The men all had morning dress, with grey top hats and red carnations. When I got up to go to the Lab in the morning it looked a dreadful day, cold ,windy and showery, but by lunch time it had cleared up a bit, then by the afternoon we had sunshine. When I got home from the Lab about 12.30, Noel had dinner ready, and had been drying my shirt out on the heater, because I had washed it the previous night and it was still damp. I had to fix up all my camera equipment, press my trousers and do lots of other things, so it was lucky that Noel was there to help me. He went to the stock car racing last night with Roger and Robin in Wimbleton. I was disappointed at not being able to go as I worked back, but we are all going again soon. The reception was held in the Ivy Restaurant in the heart of the West End theatreland. It was an extremely elegant place, very posh with beautiful decor. One of the most attractive features were the Italian stained glass windows, and the walls had many original Italian old masters hanging on them. We had sherry and all sorts of savoury things first, and then sat down to a cold soup called Vichyssoise. I didn't think that cold potato soup could be very nice, but it was very, very good!. Salmon and chicken dishes followed next, served with a Russian salad, and a wide range of wines to suit. We finished up with chocolate mousse, coffee and of course champagne. At the reception they received a phone call from Brisbane from the two mothers who were having their own reception - at 3 am in the morning Ql'd time. I met some very nice people there, one of whom, Earl, is in the cast of the new Grainer/Millar smash hit musical "On The Level". It hasn't been open for long and has had very good reviews. Ron Grainer is my hero of the contemporary music world, and his other show on the West End "Robert and Elizabeth" is still going strong. Like Grainer, Earl is a fellow Queenslander and a friend of Audrey's and John's from their days in the Brisbane Rep.Theatre. Earl has promised us some complimentary tickets and a visit backstage afterwards. I will be thrilled if it comes off. After the reception I took Isobel and Aviril (the other bridesmaid) home to Isobel's flat in a cab, and felt quite proud to be escorting two pretty bridesmaids home, especially when we drove down the Mall, past Buckingham Palace. There's always something special about driving down the beautiful red paved, tree lined Mall with Buckingham Palace ahead and Admiralty Arch behind. Naturally back at the flat we were able to put our feet up and relax and discuss the wedding. Audrey and John are going to live in a charming little cottage on Bishops road, Hampstead..
Monday. Roger came over yesterday and we went out, ending up at the Planetarium. We had other plans if it was fine and sunny, but it wasn't, so romping in the outdoors was off. On Friday night we went to see a controversial movie called "The War Game". It was actually made for television, but the B.B.C. decided not to show it because of its powerful impact and horror. It deals with the subject of a nuclear attack on Britain, and shows how possible it is, and how unprepared Britain is for such a catastrophic event. We found it quite disturbing in its reality, and was movie making at its best... I am going out for tea tomorrow night at Jerry White's.(the Kiwi). He has been asking me for some time to come and meet his wife and baby son David, so this time I am going..
Sunday May 20th. I am surprised to hear that the town is still in need of rain. I thought that things had got better, but of course I understand that only a flood will really break the long drought. Fancy Elaine winning the best actress award. I always tipped that she would one day. She must be very excited about it. If you see her give her my congratulations, and tell her how pleased I am for her. I am also surprised to hear that young Rick will be twenty in march. My! how he is growing up!....It is a very nice day here today with a clear blue sky and warm sunshine. Outside the birds are all singing in the trees, now proudly sporting their new glossy green spring leaves. Noel is trying to sort out photos of the school Passion Play. I had 238 printed for the kids. He took two busloads of them to Littlehampton yesterday for an outing. It is a beach town in Sussex, and he said that he even had a swim, although the water was freezing. The kids had a great time at the fun fair riding the dodgem cars and whirly gigs etc.. .. Now for the shock news of the week! Noel has resigned from the school, as from July and is thinking of leaving London. He says he has gained all he can from the school and wants a change. Now that is a huge turnaround as he was so involved with the school and doing so well there. Beside all his friends are there . He says my intention of leaving London at the end of the year will put him in the position where he will be on his own . Surely then, that is when he needs his other friends and he would soon find someone else to flat with. Besides, Miss Smith will be heart broken if he leaves as she treats him like her own son. I am sure that she would love him to come and stay with her. She has a lovely big home.So, anyway, our break up will be at the end of summer. I thought something was in the wind, as I have been quizzing him on our summer holiday plans and he would not commit himself to anything. He said that during the summer holidays he will probably be looking for new accommodation, and a teaching job, elsewhere in England. Admittedly I haven't been much company lately with all the extra work hours, but I explained that I needed the money to get to Canada, and home again.......With the Berlin trip now off, Roger and I prefer to save our money and are thinking about a trip to Italy for a couple of weeks instead. I have been extremely busy at the Lab lately in my usual job, and in my overtime job. Alan, the boss, said on Friday that the manager, Mr Vingue, may phone me up next week to ask me if I will do 35mm breakdown and indexing. Alan is going on holidays for two weeks, and has left me in charge of 16mm breakdown and has also said that Vingue wanted me on 35mm breakdown full time. Alan told him that it was impossible, as he needed me with him during ordinary working days. Alan seems to be depending on me more and more these days. Sylvia said last week that she can't understand my "Pollyanna" attitude. "All this good fellowship that surrounds you", she said, "surely you must dislike someone!. How can you be friendly with so many people? You're even friends with the cleaner!" I don't know if she is upset with me again or what! There was a big football match yesterday. Everton versus Sheffield Wednesday for the F.A. Cup. Everywhere in the city today one saw supporters of the teams dressed in blue and white everything including scarfs, hats,ribbons etc.. and carrying noisy rattles and other odd things. Everton won. The G.P.O. Tower opens to the public next week, with Her Majesty The Queen doing the honours. Up until now it has been only doing transmissions, but now will be open to all, with a revolving restaurant at the top. I can't wait to go up and take some photos.. Roger was over all day yesterday. After working in the Lab in the morning we went shopping at Camden Town, then with Alan W, we all went for a swim at the Swiss Cottage pool. Later we came home and had lunch(steak, mushrooms etc.) and Roger and I tried to organise something for our Summer holidays. "Summer holidays" are such a big tradition here, and in Europe in general. No one goes on holidays in Winter!. It's like in the movie "Summer Holiday". Holidaymakers flee wet rainy Britain and travel to the sunshine and the beaches of southern Europe. That is exactly how we feel. We are both keen for some sunshine and nice beaches too, so it looks like it may be Southern Italy. I would certainly love to see Rome and Venice. However, having said that - as it is such a nice day here today so we are off to Regents Park for some sunbathing and later perhaps a movie............
Letters 102 & 103 : Wales
London, Sunday May 22nd. 1966. Sunday again, in this odd country, sometimes referred to as "Mother England". She has a beating heart called London and is now referred to as "Swinging London" in the latest copy of "Time" magazine. "London - where it is all happening, has happened, or will happen" writes the magazine. I don't know about all that, but Mother England may be paralysed for a while with the seaman's strike starting. This cannot help but be disastrous for this island nation that depends so much on its shipping. Tomatoes are already at 5/- a lb. Outside it is overcast and drizzling. The pirate radio station, Radio Caroline, transmitting from a ship permanently moored in the British Channel, is playing the latest hit song "Pretty Flamingo" sung by Manfred Mann. I guess that we may be losing "Caroline" as well, if their staff are classified as seamen!. It is all too much for Noel who has gone back to bed, leaving me in peace to sit here and write by the window. The calendar on the wall says "View from Mt Oldfield, Linderman Island, Queensland". I look at it longingly wishing that I was at that exact spot now. The four of us are going on a trip to Wales for the Whitsun holiday, and Roger and I are going to Italy for our summer holidays. On Wednesday night we are going over to Desley and Jan's to show slides of Spain, Italy, Ireland and Holland. It will be a combined effort with all there contributing slides for the show. Within the next month or so I am invited to two weddings, both Lab friends, John Spence and Colin Chandler. In the world around us Cassius Clay is triumphant in the boxing ring and Vanessa Redgrave is the toast of the theatrical world, while the West End cinemas are full of James Bond type spy movies. Prince Charles has been photographed eating barbecue steaks in Eidsvold, Queensland, which the newspapers inform us is "Down Under", and the people who come from that strange land, inhabited by kangaroos, are called "colonials". They come to England seeking a "centre", as life in Australia is like living in a vast suburbia. British people emigrate there seeking a better life....So sayeth the newspapers here!. In London now it is the season of cup finals, where, every Saturday thousands of football fans from all over Britain flock to London, bedecked in their teams colours, singing team songs, jamming up the underground stations and riding on the escalators. All this in search of some sort of identity, in this anonymous world. Even in the Lab we cannot escape football fever, as it is the Humphries versus Technicolour cup final on Thursday night, and to make sure I go my Lab friends have invited Desley, Jan and Noel along too. So it seems I must don a blue and white hat, hold a blue and white balloon, rattle a rattle and chant "H.U.M.P.H.R.I.E.S - Humphries! Rah! Rah! Rah!"- I can't wait!.........Last night was Robin's big party. It really swung - with a brief interruption for the fight - which was a forgone conclusion anyway. Everyone was there. Mike and his wife(who wore the latest fashion in hipster trousers), Colin(in suit) and wife to be(in a chic black cocktail dress), Harry and Carol(a wonderful couple), Desley and Jan(full of tales of Ireland), Frank and his girl(in a trouser suit), Brian from Trinidad, Roger(white jeans with a two inch wide black belt), Robin(white shirt, tie, new shoes and faded jeans),Noel(baggy trousers and open neck shirt), Barry(beige roll neck and continental slacks)...etc, etc... Noel and I made up the savoury snacks. It was a good night, with Mike making the two girls promise to go to the football match as his guests. Somehow I don't think I am going to be able to get out of going to it!....Sunday evening . We had a quiet day today. A day all to ourselves for a change. We have just come back from the West End where we went in for a wander around, and to see a movie called "It Happened Here". It was about England under German occupation - a "what if" movie that goes down the path of what life would be like if the Germans had have won the war, and occupied Britain. It was a very good film, but it had Noel and I joking that if it did happen, and Britain was anything like it is today, they wouldn't want it and they would all pull out and go back to Germany. Monday. I am finishing this at the Lab. There has been lots of laughter here this morning over Robin's party and sorting out arrangements made at the party. Mike is still taking Desley and Jan to the football match on Thursday, and Sylvia is furious with me as she thinks it was my plan to embarrass her. She called me "mean, nasty, horrid, cruel etc,etc.".. And I don't even want to go to the boring football match.. She also said that she is going to emigrate to Australia when I go back. Which seems a silly thing to do after calling me all those names! All this trouble because of a few kisses at a Christmas party!!! Mike and his wife are intending to emigrate to Australia in about six months time... John Spence dropped in today. I haven't seen him for some time as he has been working on the night shift. He said he had just been up the G.P.O. Tower and decided to call in and say hello. His wedding is in seven weeks. Colin said today "Is Desley coming to my wedding?" (Desley sure is a big hit here with the boys). I told him that she was, and he said "Don't forget Jan too!". When we go to Italy in August we are going to meet up with the girls, as we discovered that we will all be in Italy at the same time. I hope we can see Rome together - won't that be fantastic! If I can find the address that Aunty Mill gave me I will call in and see our relatives if we go anywhere near that part of Wales. I have no idea where the address is though. It is now 7.45pm at the Lab, and time to go home. It's been a mad, mad day, and a mad, mad weekend. The prospects of it being a mad week are pretty high too!.....
Aberystwyth, Wales. Sat. May 28th 1966 If you looked at the address, you will know that I am now in Wales. We journeyed up from London today and crossed the Welsh border around lunch time, then drove through the towns of Monmouth, Abvergavenny, Brecon, Rhoyader to here, the seaside town of Aberystwyth. (We have all been trying hard to pronounce the name!) Before we left, friends advised us to stick to the northern part of Wales as it is the most scenic, and so far we have not been disappointed. We drove up through the Wye valley, with its rolling hills, sparkling streams and high mountains. It's been mostly sheep country as the mines are in the south. The beach here is rather grim looking with no sand, only black pebbles and freezing water. I would describe it as a very safe beach, as you wouldn't have any deaths by drowning because you would have to be crazy to venture into the water. To the north of the beach are some high barren mountains. Tomorrow we hope to go to Harlech and northwards up the coast...Whit Monday As it is such a beautiful day, we have decided to take a break from driving and absorb some of the warm sunshine, by sunbathing on the grass verge beside the car parked in a quiet country road. Beside us is a field full of dandelions and small white daisies, while in the distance, through the oak trees, is the spire of an old Norman church. A farmer is doing something with his tractor in another field, hidden by a hedge. Rob, Noel, and Roger are lying sprawled in their togs worshipping the sun. A ye olde English lady has just ridden past on her bicycle, seen all the bare male flesh displayed on the verge, and narrowly avoided riding her bicycle into a hedge...............
Letter104
On tour. Monday 30th May. 1966.. The weather for our tour couldn't have been better, with brilliant warm sunshine for the entire three days. We have all thoroughly enjoyed our visit to the land of the Red Dragon. Wales is quite spectacular, with green sheep strewn valleys, high mountains and glorious coastal scenery. Today, after spending the night in a hotel in Bangor we drove to Conway where we spent some time taking photos of the castle by the river, and the fishing fleet. We then drove on around the coast through towns like Llanfairfechan, Colwyn Bay, Penmaenmawr, etc....We gave up trying to pronounce the names of the places we visited - particularly after we visited the little village which has the longest name in the world, which I won't even attempt to write down! It surprised all of us to observe the Welsh language being used so much. All the road signs are in Welsh and one frequently hears the Welsh language being spoken in the towns and villages. It really made us feel like outsiders. Yesterday we visited Harlech with its big ancient castle overlooking the valley, the sea and the mountains. Tuesday night We didn't arrive home until about midnight last night. Our tour was really great, and we saw a part of Britain that was vastly different from the portion of England that we were used to.. Maybe we will be able to do the southern part of Wales before we leave. (perhaps I will find that address of my relatives). Quite a few photos were taken, so I hope to be able to send you a selection of shots later. When we were coming back into London last night, all the main roads were jam packed with traffic returning after the holiday weekend, but Noel and I managed to navigate around it by using the country roads, which was a relief to Roger who was our driver. While all the other motorists sat impatiently crawling along at snail's pace on the main highways, we just breezed into London without any trouble using the “B“ roads.. This past week has been a very busy one for me. Last Tuesday night I went to the Mermaid theatre on a free ticket given to me by Jerry. He was to go with a friend, Trevor who got the free tickets, but he was unable to go so he gave me his ticket to go with Trevor instead. He was a very nice guy who works at the Queens Theatre, Shaftesbury, where a Noel Coward play is currently running. On Wednesday night we had a party at Desley's to show slides. Harry and Carol came along, as well as Roger and Robin, and, as usual the girls cooked up an excellent dinner, and we all had a most enjoyable evening, which lasted until about 1am.. Thursday was the big football match Humphries versus Technicolor, and Humphries won!( Bob was in the Humphries team) Jan, Desley and Noel came along and we all travelled to the field with the team, and all the Humphries supporters. Naturally we all sang going there and back. They even sang "Waltzing Matilda" for us Aussies! Everyone seemed very glad that we went and the Captain of the team even thanked the Aussies for our support. Jim Skipper, as team manager was also very pleased because almost all of his 16mm staff were there.
London. Sunday June 4th 1966. Too bad that the old town is still waiting on that much needed rain. I don't like the chances of you getting rain in the winter though. Here in London it is almost a drought, as we haven't had rain for over a week. In fact it has been very sunny and almost hot - well if you can convince yourself that a temperature of 74 degrees is actually hot. At lunchtime the parks are full of people basking in the sunshine. Noel and I have been disturbing everyone by walking about in our shorts. I nearly wore my shorts to work one morning, but chickened out as my legs looked rather pale, and besides it would have been too much for Sylvia!. I actually have a 10/- bet on at the Lab that I win if I do wear my shorts in. Maybe after Italy, if I can get a bit of a tan on my legs, I will. The reaction of people to anyone wearing shorts is very odd. It's as if you are suddenly walking down the street naked. We get wolf whistles and comments from both sexes when we go out wearing them. Noel and I find it difficult to understand. This is a city where anything goes in the fashion world - except shorts! Even at the beach all the males wear their long trousers and just roll the bottoms up a little bit. You would find it highly amusing if you could see what people get around in here. Roger and I were in the big park in the back of the London University at lunchtime last Thursday. It's a lovely place with huge trees, rose gardens and fountains, and while we were there relaxing along comes this rather plump girl wearing a mini skirt and pushing a pram. The skirt was just enough to cover her bottom. It did not look very elegant at all! We both burst out laughing! The place to see "swinging London" is Kings Road, Chelsea, where both sexes parade themselves in all there trendy finery or "fab gear" as it is sometimes referred to. Noel said we should walk down Kings Road in our shorts! Now that would gets the heads turning. We might even end up in a fashion magazine, and start a new trend. I am spending this weekend relaxing and catching up on some sleep.(I slept all yesterday afternoon on arrival home from the Lab). I now work overtime every night when I don't have a prior engagement, and Saturday mornings. Noel and I went to the Palladium on Wednesday night to catch their new show. It starred Harry Secombe, Russ Conway, Jimmy Tarbuck, Thora Hird, and Freddie Frenton(of "Meet the Wife" T.V.series). The resident show on there now is called "London Laughs" and is designed mainly for the tourists with olde English pub scenes and songs, and then the new swinging London with emphasis on the Carnaby Street scene. The band concerts in the parks have started again, and we were going in this afternoon, but the weather changed and has clouded up with rain threatening. So things are back to normal!. Isobel has gone to Yugoslavia for two weeks. She is rather worried about Audrey as things are not going too well, and has asked me to keep an eye on her.........(What Barry does not tell his mother in any future letters, is that a short time later this marriage breaks up. Audrey’s happiness was short lived as everything was not as she had been led to believe........... Roger is sick again. He is taking some tablets, but I think he drives himself too hard at the Lab, and doesn't relax enough. He takes everything way too seriously, so our holiday in Italy should be good for him. Robin also suffers from nerves and had a breakdown at the age of 16. His cousin David, aged 26, is in and out of hospital with his nerves too. I guess that I must be the healthiest of all of us!. I don't know what they all have to worry about. The cost of living here is rocketing upwards because of the seaman's strike. I paid 1/- a lb for potatoes today. They have been 4d. And this is only the beginning! Billy Graham is here in the Earl's Court Olympia, thundering with fire and damnation, and predictions of doom for the multitudes of sinners in London while waving a Bible in his hand and smiling for the television cameras. The Queen is star performer at the Trooping the Colour ceremony next Saturday. Alan W. and I took advantage of the fine weather and took a ride up to the top of the nearby Post Office Tower in our lunch break on Thursday. The view from the top is quite breathtaking as one gets a a birds eye view of this rambling city. We could even gaze down on Humphries and look right into their courtyard.. Sunday afternoon: Been sleeping all afternoon again after a big lunch of roast pork etc. It hasn't been a very nice day up until now, but the clouds seem to have dispersed, and there's even a bit of sunshine about. I would love to be able to show you the roses in our street. They are everywhere, in all sizes and colours. There are several big blooms in Mrs Aaron's garden, right outside our window...Midnight: We have just arrived back from the movies where we saw the film of the play "Boeing, Boeing". In was only about a year ago that we saw the play. It was quite enjoyable, and, as it was set in Paris, we were able to recognise some of the places where we had recently been....
G.P.O. Tower Views
Letters 105 & 106
London. Sat. June11th 1966. It is a quiet summer evening, almost, dare I say it - hot! No one is thinking of going to bed yet, especially the birds, who are twittering away like mad in the multitude of green trees that abound here, while the fragrance of blossoming roses wafts about in the air. Noel is at school for the afternoon preparing for some big religious service tomorrow where the kids are served breakfast. He said his job is to make the jellies. Noel has surprised me a bit, because since he has come to London his religious views have become more liberal. What he has seen here has made him think quite a bit and it is good to see him opening up. We often discuss controversial topics quite openly now, and he mostly agrees with me. He even manages to sneak a bit of meat on Fridays occasionally. The main news topic this week has been the weather. We have had a few "scorchers" this week where the temperature actually reached 80degrees (26.7C). You may laugh at that and say that's not hot, but to us Londoners it is! To make it worse there has been very high humidity to go with it. Thursday night we had a big storm, and I got caught up in it as I emerged from the tube station, so I ran home. When I arrived I was quite wet, but not from rain - from sweat. It was that humid! Last night we had two big storms, and I would say there is more to come. We startled Londoners again this morning by getting into our shorts to go into the city to see the Trooping of the Colour. As it was a more formal occasion, we left the scuffs behind, and wore shoes with long socks. The mall was jammed with visitors from all over the world, though Americans seemed to dominate. It was lined on both sides with guardsmen in their red uniforms and black bushy hats, which contrasted beautifully with the bright green trees. It looked terrific to stand in the middle of the Mall and look right down to the Palace, then turn the opposite way and look towards Admiralty Arch in the other direction. The Queen Mother, Margaret, and the Princes rode past in an open coach, and then, after many Guardsmen and assorted other odd characters, the Queen came along riding her horse with the Duke beside her wearing the uniform of the Guardsmen with a big funny hat. As usual I ran out of film at that moment, as the Lab loaded cassette of Eastman Colour was only a short length. After the procession passed, we wandered down, across St James Park to the Horseguards Parade ground where the main ceremony was taking place. We even managed to see some of it, and were able to listen to the various bands playing. The Queen was there on her horse, while the rest of the Royal Family watched from the balcony overlooking the parade ground. It was all interesting stuff, and would be an absolute delight for the thousands of tourists who come to Britain to see all this pomp and ceremony, in such good weather too. After lunch, when Noel went to school, Roger came over and we went to the swimming pool and had a good hour or so there. It's amusing to see the pool attendants. They are practically all Aussies, and look it. Roger said "Hey! they're wearing those funny things that you wear!" (he means scuffs.) He returned to work on Thursday as he had been off sick earlier in the week. I went over to Hendon to see him on Monday. He has the gastric 'flu and looked pretty sick, but is okay now. We heard on the grapevine that Humphries have bought out Pathe De Luxe Lab in Toronto. Might leave London now in the Autumn and get a transfer to Toronto. Depends how bad things get in Britain with this seaman's strike. Prices are going up everywhere, and it is only the start. It would be good to work a few months in the States or Canada, before going to Aussie land. We are going over to John's tonight for his farewell party. He gets married the week or so after and then he sets the sails for home.
London Sat 18th June: I have been sleeping again this afternoon, and now have about half an hour to spare before getting ready to go to the theatre(first), then to John's party(second). I worked again at the Lab this morning until 12.30, not because I intended to but because Alan asked me to come in as he wanted me take the edge numbers of a cutting copy for Granada T.V. Granada is a big television company and we handle all their work, including the neg. cutting. Luckily it was a fairly straight forward job and I whizzed through it and finished it so the neg cutting can begin on it first thing on Monday. I asked Alan this week if there was any chance of me doing some synchronizing and neg cutting, and he said that he had been thinking about it, and is going to see what he can do. I hope that I can learn negative cutting before I arrive back home as it would be a big advantage for me. Sylvia left yesterday. There were many tears all around(amongst the girls). It seems she wanted to marry me! Why, I don't know!...Sunday: We went to John's party last night, thinking it would be a riotous affair like the last one, but it was rather sophisticated, and dull, so we left early. John's wedding is in two weeks time, in a place called Macclesfield, in the Midlands, about 200 miles away. We are going up for the weekend, and will take advantage of the M1 and M6 motorways. After the wedding they will have two weeks in England, and then sail off to Aussie land - if the seaman's strike is over. Noel got a letter from Margaret Hickey this week and she said that at the time of writing it was raining heavily. That is certainly good news! It should make Ron happy. I am going over to Roger's tonight and we are going to plan out our trip to Italy, as it is only six weeks off. We think we will concentrate mainly on the Italian Riviera, Rome, Naples, Pompeii and Venice. Of course a lot will depend on the weather, so we are keeping our fingers crossed. We fly to Milan, then collect a Fiat hire car, and go where we please from there. The big strike here has wrecked havoc on the Brit's holiday plans as the ports have been virtually closed. There have been violent clashes at the ferry ports where motorists have been queued up for days hoping to get on board a Belgian or French ferry, as they are the only ones operating. Today the weather is pretty lousy. It began sunny, then clouded up, so we cancelled a planned visit to Golder's Green for the band concert. Noel is going to Bristol tomorrow for a job interview with a Catholic Secondary school. If he gets the job he will be starting there in September. In a way I am looking forward to being independent, though, naturally will miss Noel very much. However with all my new friends in London I shouldn't be lonely at all. I often get asked to places, but mostly I refuse because of Noel. I think I told you that Isobel is in Yugoslavia. Pat Fitz. has gone to work at a Butlin's holiday camp somewhere for the summer, then I think she is returning home at the end of the year.. Sunday night: I have just returned from Roger's. He has very nice parents and a lovely home with a garden full of roses. Roger is the last of his siblings to leave home. He has an older brother and sister, both married. His mother kept bringing in tea and cakes, and coffee and sandwiches, as we were busily sorting through the maps of Italy. He said that his mum doesn't really believe he is going to Australia.
Letters 107 & 108 : Wedding No3. Aussie John's
London. Sat. June 25th 1966 Sorry for the hold up with the Wales prints. They were to be done on Thursday but they had a stoppage in the bath, which means that they have to be done again. Luckily we have friends in the colour dept.(Bob is there) Once I get the pos strips done I can pick out the best ones to get prints done to send home to you. Roger is the prime mover in the lab as he races about getting it all organised and I don't really have much to do. He is the "get up and go" type, a bit similar to Noel. He drove me home from the lab today, and our conversation drifted, as it often does to Australia. I got to talking about the people there and how different life is and he listened intently. I hope he won't be disappointed. There was a programme on T.V. about immigrants in Australia on Wednesday called "Pommies". We actually did it at the lab, but there were problems because of the end titles. However they got it out on time to get to air, and it was very good. In fact one of the best I have seen. The editing was marvellous. It captured the atmosphere of Sydney and the outback very well. All who watched it here said it was very good. Most of the immigrants they interviewed were for Australia. Only a couple of wives felt a bit lonely and missing their English friends and relations, which is understandable. Australia was called "character building" had "friendly people" were "all action" with a "classless society". It was quite exciting to watch. We had big discussions on it the next day. I told Tom, the grader, that the end titles were a bit light, and he said something rude about Australians, and we all laughed. Today Alan had me on something that is as close to neg cutting as I can go at this stage, so I think he means what he says about working me up to neg cutting. If I can get into neg cutting, then the next stage on is film editing. Finger crossed! Noel is taking me out to dinner tomorrow night for my birthday. He got the teaching position in Bristol and is heavily involved in preparations to leave the school. Gee! They are going to miss him!. Roger and I went swimming last night at the Swiss Cottage pool, then went and picked Robin up and went to a party near Parliament Hill, Hampstead. It was given by Ross, one of the New Zealanders who used to work at Humphries. He is a very nice guy who now has a job as a production assistant with firm making commercials. The party was mostly Aussies and Kiwis, with a lot of trendy London girls wearing the latest "with it" creations - trouser suits and mini skirts, etc.. One bright eyed young thing came up to me and said "You're Australian aren't you. Which part do you come from?". I answered "North of Brisbane"(I always say that because no one has heard of Mount Morgan!). Then she said "Is that anywhere near Perth?".. I took Isobel out for dinner last Monday night. She rang me up and said she wanted to see me, so I went over and we dined at a nice restaurant on the Kings Road. She told me all about her recent holiday in Yugoslavia. On Tuesday night Desley, Jan and Kate Irving dropped in. Kate had just arrived after traveling through Asia and Europe. Roger and I went over to their flat on Thursday night to see some slides. Kate's parents, who come from Melbourne, were also there as they are here on holidays. They showed us a few slides that they took when traveling in South Africa, so we ended up with a great mixture of slides to screen. Kate's just the same, as bright and as funny as ever. It's not a bad day here today. The sun is actually shining a bit and it is quite warm. We had a lousy week though, cold and rainy...
.Wednesday: June 29th: I am starting this earlier because of the busy weekend ahead, which is not going to leave me with much time to write anything. Well, last Monday was my Birthday, much to my dismay and I would rather have forgotten it. However it was remembered by others and I was forced to celebrate it anyway. I received cards from Des, Jan, Kate, Auntie Dine(bless her!) and Nerida. A letter came from Bette, and, of course one from you. Isobel gave me a present - a mango!. It came from India and was quite large and orange, and although it was quite nice, it did not have the flavour of ours. Noel and I celebrated my birthday Monday night. He collected me at the Lab, drove to a restaurant in Soho where we dined, and then he took me to the Drury Lane Theatre to see "Hello Dolly". It starred Dora Bryan, one of our favourite comedy actresses,as Dolly. She was terrific, and the show had many great song and dance numbers, and spectacular sets - and of course, marvelous costumes. The Drury Lane Theatre, near Covent Garden, is one of London's most elegant theatres, with great sweeping red carpeted staircases and statues, busts and paintings all over the place. It even has a doorman wearing white tights, buckled shoes and a red jacket trimmed with gold, looking like something out of elegant Elizabethan England.
. Monday:4th July It is evening at the lab. Sorry I didn't have time to finish this at the weekend, but you can imagine how little time I had. We arrived back in London about midnight last night after a wonderful weekend up with the Northerners, who just smothered us with hospitality. The wedding went off fine and John and Carol are now honeymooning in Cornwall for a week, then returning to say all their good-byes, before departing for the great land DownUnder. When they were leaving, Noel and I sang "Waltzing Matilda", and everyone started crying. I don't know whether it was because we were so awful, or whether they were caught up in the emotion of the event. I hope it was the latter. It must be difficult for Carol to leave all her family and friends behind, and for them as well, knowing that she is going to a far off corner of the world. We stayed with Carol's parents who live at Payton, just south of Manchester, in a lovely little brick semi detached home with roses and irises everywhere in the garden. The wedding was at an old, old church in Payton, with a tall spire and ringing bells, and an ancient graveyard surrounding it. The reception was at a Hotel in Macclesfield, 12 miles away. Afterwards, Noel organised up parties in the homes of Auntie Joyce and Auntie Peg who lived opposite each other. (We were their adopted nephews for the weekend). If there is one thing Noel adores, it is a party, and he had those Aunties, and everybody else, following him in his merry dance until the wee hours. I hardly remember any of it, except the weirdness of walking(or staggering) back and forth between two houses. (What I do remember though is that it was the crème de menthe that finished me off). The people there all talked in that northern accent that is familiar with those who watch "Coronation Street". Unfortunately I don't, and some of the people I just couldn't understand at all, so I just nodded my head, and hoped it was appropriate to the "conversation". We traveled up in Roger's car via the M1 and M6 motorways. It took us about 4 hours for the 200 miles, with a stop at one of the motorway centres for coffee etc. On the way back we went into Manchester, Birmingham and Stoke on Trent, and had a look at the huge radio telescope at Jordrell Bank - "The Ear to the Heavens". I've never seen anything as horrible as Manchester and Stoke - except perhaps Bombay! It's the heart of the industrial Midlands and everything is old and filthy, with many derelict areas and ruins left over from the war. Birmingham was a little better and, at least, it had a modern shopping centre called "The Bullring", which nobody will use. Odd these English! Unpleasant as these cities and towns were, at least the hospitality and warmth of the people of Payton left us with a happy glow, to carry with us on our journey back to London.. ( I also carried a vicious hangover headache with me, a legacy from the party the previous night when I rather stupidly thought that I could keep up with Noel!). Next Saturday is Colin's wedding, which we will be going to with Desley and Jan.
Letters 109 & 110 Wedding No4. Colin
London. Sat. July9th 1966: I am just home after the usual Saturday morning work. Today, however, was not quite the usual type of work as things were quite mad and hectic. Luckily my sense of humour prevailed and I could hardly stop myself from laughing. All the senior staff of Humphries are nut cases, and my boss Alan must be the nuttiest of all. The trouble is he has so much to do, and overloads himself with work, which then causes him to usually make a mess of everything. I am getting more involved now because Alan is getting confidence in me and has begun giving me jobs that he would normally do. The trouble is he gives me about six to do at once and only half explains things, often giving me wrong reels etc. However, I usually sort things out myself, under Roger's watchful eye, and we have a good laugh at Alan. Last night I started a job that I have been after - synchronizing sound to picture. I have to sync up a whole T.V.programme called "Ancient Britons". I was working on it today, in between other jobs that he gave me, and then ended up in the theatre viewing, because Alan had to dash off and catch the train. He left me this particular reel to view before being sending it out to a customer. After a while Roger came into the theatre and saw me sitting there all by myself watching the movie and said "You doing viewing now?"."Yes" I answered. "What are you viewing?" he asked again. "Don't know!" I replied. "Do you know what to look for?".."No!" said I....We both had a bit of a laugh and then Roger sat beside me and explained what to watch for and what faults could occur. Roger is one of the leading lights of the Lab and so far has managed to retain his sanity. However I watch over him to see that he does not take things too seriously and end up a nut case like everyone else. The Lab is typical of Britain, very disorganised, no communication or co-operation between departments, a mixture of the new and the ancient, no planning or foresight, confusion everywhere, blunders, mistakes, with everyone trying to avoid working, except the senior management who are always running about like chooks with the heads chopped off. There is also class distinction between departments, with the 35mm section on top, followed by the 16mm section and then the 8mm section at the bottom. That is why the guy that runs the 8mm section likes to run around making a lot of noise simply to make his presence felt. And this is how Europe's biggest independent film Lab operates.. Today is Colin's wedding. There will be a lot of Lab people present as Colin's Mum and Dad both work at the Lab.(Yep! It’s that kinda place too.) Colin works in the16mm T.V. department with Roger, Robin and Mike and their boss is a nice guy called Bill Woods.... Sunday July 10th: I had a really great time at the wedding last night. We were "after seven" guests and Colin was anxiously awaiting our arrival as he was worried that we may not be able to find the place, because it was in South London. However, we were with Roger in his car, so Roger had a good idea of where to go. I had every dance, sweeping across the dance floor with the girls in our best dancing class style. We did our cha chas, quicksteps, modern waltzes, etc, and even joined all the guests in a "Knees Up Mother Brown". Afterwards we took the girls home and ended up in their flat drinking coffee, eating Vegemite on toast and talking until about 2am. Last Tuesday I went home with Jerry(White) the Kiwi, to meet his wife and son, David, and to dine with them. He has been asking me over for some time, but I have always been so busy, especially with Lab work. I took over some slides and the record of "Corroboree", the aboriginal dance ballet that you hate. It was a most enjoyable evening, and I met his wife Jo, who is a painter, and little David, who seems to have the talents of both of them.(Jerry is an actor by profession). Jerry said, the next day, that Jo loved the slides and that they had a great effect on her, as the great broad sweeping landscapes, and vast spaces acted as a tonic on her over cluttered, crammed, English mind. Now she wants to go there. We also watched the first episode of the "Batman" TV series, the new show that is sweeping the States, and is bound to do the same here. Next week I am invited over to Roger's home for tea, and on Thursday night we are all going over to the girl's flat to show slides. We have all our Welsh slides now. You asked about Noel going back home with me? Naturally when I first began to plan for the return I consulted with him, but he was never interested, so I knew if I was really serious, I had to go ahead and plan without him. Naturally the split up will be hard, but I have lots of friends here now, all of whom have expressed concern about me being left alone when he goes to Bristol. All have said something like "Don't worry Barry, we'll look after you". It's funny, here I am a grown man, now getting on a bit, yet people always want to look after me, and concern themselves with my welfare. Aren't they marvelous! The fact is I don't think I will be in London long after we come back from Italy, as Roger and I are still thinking of going to Canada first. Humphries now has a branch in Canada, so it shouldn't be difficult to get jobs there for a few months. My expenses will be almost doubled when Noel leaves the flat, so the sooner I leave the better. We are thinking of departing in October, and basing ourselves in Toronto which will give us the opportunity to see a bit of both countries.
Sunday, July 17th For a change it's a nice day today. The sun is shining and perhaps one can be really daring and venture outdoors without a coat or jacket. I am on my own today as Noel has gone over to Miss Smith's to help her prepare for a children's party this afternoon, and Roger has reluctantly gone with his parents to Surrey to visit relations. It is the end of term for Noel, which means his severance from the school that he put so much work into. It is surprising that there is no big farewell party for him after all that he has done for the school. He is going to Bristol next Monday to hunt up accommodation, and might even have left the flat by the time I get back from Italy. Poor Miss Smith will be shattered. He came home, last week, with two more sweaters that she has knitted him. It now brings the total up to five. She must think that Bristol is going to be cold. It won't make that much difference when he goes as I don't see much of him these days anyway. I am working back at the Lab a lot and he is/was always involved in some school business or out with his school friends.. Monday At the Lab. Been busy again as always. I am working late again on some negative examination that Alan asked me to do. There was quite a panic on that first sound synchronization job ("Ancient Britons") that I did last Wednesday. Apparently it was a top priority job and very important and very urgent, but nobody told Alan. Jim, the big boss knew about it, but he was off sick last week and did not pass on the information. No one knew anything about it until Anglia Television got in touch with the Manager of Humphries, Mr Ellis, who promptly informed Alan that they were coming in to the Lab that afternoon to view it, and that it better be ready- or else!!! Alan, never the calmest person at the best of times, then went into full scale panic mode! Fortunately I had finished synchronizing it and a check reel had been done, but there wasn't time to view it, so we just had to go ahead and print the rest of it and hope it was okay. Mr Ellis was coming up to the theatre that afternoon, with the representatives of Anglia Television, to view the film and if it was not satisfactory Anglia Television would withdraw all their business. Alan passed a bit of his panic on to me, as I now realised that so much depended on my very first synching job. I saw myself joining Noel in Bristol looking for work!. However, I did it all correctly, and both Alan and I breathed sighs of relief. Unfortunately that is not an isolated incident in life in the Lab for barely a week passes that there is not some full scale crisis, or emergency...I watched our "Warship Eagle" on T.V. last week. It is a documentary on life aboard H.M.S Eagle, the aircraft carrier. It was only finished here the afternoon before, and it went to air the next night. Again, there was no margin for error. Crazy!. Roger and I have an invitation to stay in a villa in the south of France, on the Riviera. One of the ladies here, who we are friendly with, comes from there and is going home to her parents at the same time that we go. We probably won't though, as we have all our arrangements made for Italy. Mike Flynn and his wife Joy, will be sailing off to Australia on the 21st September. All it is costing them is 10 pounds each. I have given him your address as he can write to me care of you, so we don't lose touch. Jan and Desley leave for another tour of the continent this weekend. We still plan on meeting each other in Rome and I am going over to see them on Wednesday to finalise details. I went over to Jerry's place yesterday and spent a very pleasant afternoon with them. He is quite concerned about me returning to Australia, and does not want me to go, so he puts up long intellectual arguments about why I should stay in England. I keep telling him that my heart is in Australia...
Letters 111 & 112
Sunday July 24th It's been a busy weekend. I worked Saturday morning, went swimming with Roger Sat afternoon and later went shopping in Kilburn, and then Roger and I went to the movies. Sunday was a hot sunny day, so Roger said that we should go to Bournemouth today(100 miles away) for a swim and a sun bake. Well we went, and it rained all day. It didn't matter anyway as we had a good day and have just returned and had something to eat. We began watching T.V.("Blackpool Night Out"), but Roger has fallen asleep, so I am taking the opportunity to start this letter. I think Roger thought I would be lonely with Noel's departure, so he has stuck by me. On Friday night we were up late with the girls helping them load the van. We dropped around to finalise arrangements for Italy, and as they were battling to get things done, we stayed to help them. They left Saturday morning for Dover, where they were going to catch the cross channel ferry. They are taking some of our canned food with them as we decided to take food over with us to cut expenses - and because we didn't fancy eating spaghetti for two weeks. (as much as we like it!). The girls carry a lot of food with them too, as meat is very expensive on the Continent. Roger and I have a small hiker's tent and gear to do a small amount of cooking. Naturally we are both looking forward to the big adventure and are hoping that the weather is good. We have arranged to meet the girls on the steps of the Capitol in Rome at 12 noon on Friday the 5th of August. Then we have the weekend in Rome with them. Exciting isn't it! Judy is leaving for Australia from Rome on the 3rd or 4th, and will be traveling there with the girls in their van.. We will be driving a little Fiat 500 in Italy. Monday 25th I am working back at the Lab at the moment, and have some good news to tell you. I have been promoted. Alan is shifting me up into sound synchronization. He has a new fellow in and I am teaching him my job, so that when I come back from holidays I will be going into syncing full time...(The newcomer's name is Keith Madge. See separate note.) I will also become Alan's assistant. I feel a little bad about it in one way, because John, who is one of my mates, should have been promoted before me. However it was Alan's and Jim's decision, and John doesn't seem to mind anyway. All Jim wants is for the department to run smoothly, because if one little thing goes wrong it can cause chaos. It seems that you may be seeing one of our programmes called "Pommies" in Australia. If you get the opportunity, watch it because it is very good..... I have just come back from Roger's where I had tea. He insisted that I come, so I went home with him when we finished work at the Lab. Gee! his parents are nice people. Mrs Cowland said to me tonight " Barry, is Roger really going to Australia?" then after I said that he was, she added " He has always been talking about going, but I never believe him!".. I am taking the slides of Australia over one night to show them. Maybe after they have seen them they may want to come too. Guess it's time for bed now. It's been a big week for me. As you can imagine Noel's departure has left quite a gap, but probably not as much as you think, as we have each been going our own way for some time now, except for weekends. The break had to come eventually and I hope with all my heart that he will be happy in the path he has chosen. Both of us were sad when the time came, but he had to make certain decisions for his future to encompass the changes in his life. The next few months will see changes for me as I make the decisions that will lead to my return to Australia.
Friday July 29th. Just home from the Lab. Now it is all systems go as we get ready to depart for Italy on Monday. I probably won't have time to write, but I will send a couple of postcards (written as I sunbake on the beaches - IF we have good weather). Italy has been having atrocious weather with floods and the works. Hope it is all over by the time we get there. We are catching the night flight to Milan from Gatwick on Monday night(1st August) and, when we arrive in the wee hours of the morning, a Fiat car with a sunroof will be waiting for us at the airport. We will leave Milan almost immediately and head for the coast at Genoa and the Italian Riviera. By Friday, if all goes well, we will reach Rome for our date with the girls on the steps of the Capitol. You asked if Robin was going as well. No, just Roger. Robin is going on holidays in a couple of weeks with his family. This week at the Lab I have been in transition from my old job to my new job as I taught the new fellow my old job. When I come back from Italy I will be well and truly in my new job, as Alan's assistant - and in line for a pay rise. Sunday 31st I am taking a break from "getting things done" to add a few more lines over a cup of coffee. I have been tidying up etc, etc all morning. You would be proud of me as I like to keep things tidy now. I did a heap of washing yesterday at the laundromat so everything is now clean and ready to pack for Italy. Roger will be here within the hour so I haven't much time left. I happened to mention yesterday that I had never seen a stock car race, so, as good as done Roger looked up the "What's On" and said we'd go to Brand's Hatch today where there is a world champion meet on. Should be lots of thrills and smash ups!. London went mad last night. England won the World's Cup for football. They beat West Germany, and it is the first time that England has won it. Consequently the place has gone mad. Gosh! they take their football seriously here. I saw the last part of the game on the telly, but it failed to raise any emotions in me. When driving to the movies last night crowds were lining the pavements along Finchley Road hoping to catch a glimpse of the players. All had Union Jacks to wave, and we even got a few waves, so we waved regally back. When we come back from the stock car racing tonight we are going to get to and organise the packing in an effort to keep things to an absolute minimum. When I was talking to Nat this morning he said that it will be hot in Rome. He seemed a bit startled when I said "Wonderful!". Tomorrow will be spent getting last minute things like travellers checks and some camping equipment, then I am going to Roger's for tea, and later we will leave from there for the airport.
Letter 113 - ITALY
London. Saturday, August 13th 1966. Well, I have just arrived back from one of the best, and most exciting holidays that I have ever had. We arrived back in London this morning after a night flight from Milan, breakfasting high above the clouds as dawn broke over the English coastline. The day before we were in the Swiss Alps, the day before that, in Venice, before that we were swimming and sunbaking on the Adriatic coast. Then there was the excitement of Rome, and our laughable hi-jinks in the ruins of the Forum before that...Where do I start to tell you about it!! How do I fit it all in. Maybe I will make a start today and continue tomorrow as I am very tired after a night without sleep - which is where it all started I guess. We arrived at Gatwick okay and boarded the DC 6 Skymaster plane on time, and as we are racing along the runway about to take off, I looked out of the window and turned to Roger and said "Hey, do you know that we're on fire?" He thought I was joking until he turned and looked out the window and saw flames leaping from one of the engines. " Oh!.."(his face seemed to pale a little) "Do you think we should tell anyone?" "I guess by now someone would have noticed it!" I replied. Then came the announcement "Ladies and Gentlemen, we have encounted a problem and will be returning to the terminal. Thank you!" When we returned we were all ushered off the plane and into the terminal and told to wait there until the problem was fixed. The trouble was, because it was now late at night, all the proper day maintenance staff had gone home, leaving only a few apprentices to carry out any maintenance that had to be done at night. In other words our engine was going to be fixed up by the apprentices. Now it was my turn to pale. "Look! I said to Roger "I am not too keen to fly off in a plane patched up by apprentices!". "Why?" said Roger "Well all the apprentices I have known were always one step away from being charged with juvenile delinquency - and I would not like to put my life in their hands". We argued back and forth for a while, with me trying to convince Roger that it was a "sign" that we should not board that plane. In the end we just tried to make ourselves comfortable on the seats, and get some sleep. Sometime after dawn we got ourselves something to eat and later it was announced that we could once again board the plane. As we roared down the runway for the second time my eyes we on that engine, but this time there were no flames and the plane lifted effortlessly into the sky. Everyone breathed a sigh of relief and the hostess was soon going around offering passengers free drinks. We thought, well, if we are going to crash into the Alps we may as well try and numb the pain as much as we can. When we reached the Alps it was a clear day and we were pleased to see that we were well above them, and then sat back to enjoy our very nice steaks for lunch. We eventually reached Milan late that afternoon, instead of early morning, and it was great stepping off the plane into the heat and sunshine of Italy, and the smell of - garlic!. It was really strong in the air. The distinct smell of garlic. How strange I thought. There must be garlic farms near the airport. The little Fiat was there waiting for us, with its roll back roof, and, fortunately, it was an estate van. Changing quickly into shorts, and discarding shoes and socks, all the conventions of London, we then headed for the coast at Genoa. Of course driving on the right hand side of the road was rather confusing at first, but we soon got the knack of it. Besides, once on the excellent motorways, it was hardly a bother at all. The first night we camped in the small tent at the coast and it rained slightly, but the next afternoon the sky cleared and we were able to have our first swim. It was at a charming seaside town of Lerici and the first swim I have had in the sea since leaving Australia. The beautiful blue sky that had appeared was to stay with us for the duration of our holiday, and as for the temperature, it was just what I asked for. Hot! - but pleasantly hot. We then made our way down the Mediterranean coast for the next couple of days, averaging about 150 miles a day, heading for Rome to keep our date with the girls.(on the steps of the Capitol at 12 noon on the 5th). On the way we called into Pisa to check the tower out and were amazed at the lean that it had. If it was in Australia it would have been condemned. We had some funny moments with the slanting floor when trying to take photographs from the top. We reached Rome early Friday morning and drove in to park at the Capitol. Rome traffic was just as we had heard - chaotic! We survived, however, but I don't know how pedestrians do. It just seems to be a case of every man for himself. There's just cars going everywhere! Rules, you say - What rules! 12 noon approached and we set off to find the girls, hoping that they had made it okay. The Capitol building is an imposing structure in the heart of Rome. Like all the old buildings of Rome, they are so magnificent that they make one feel very small and insignificant. The fantastic thing about them is that many were built a couple of thousand years ago. If we look at them in awe now, what must a person have felt gazing at them in the age that they were built. Anyway, we started climbing the long, long rows of stairs to the Capitol building, and as we neared the summit we saw three familiar figures enter the area from the side. The girls had made it too. Naturally when we met at the top there was an excited exchange of greetings, and much general chatter. Judy was with them too, but was leaving for Australia the next day. So there we were. Five friends in Rome. What to do first. The girls decided to take us on a tour, with the first stop being the Forum, the fantastic ruins of what was once the centre of government of ancient Rome. Overwhelmed with the sense history, and the fact that perhaps we could be walking in the footsteps of the Caesars, our playful spirits emerged. What did we do you ask? We just grabbed ourselves some vines and made laurel wreaths out of them, and set about behaving as the ancient Romans did. Roger and Judy were a bit startled at first, as they were not used to this sort of misbehaviour, but they soon got the hang of things and joined in the fun. Desley assassinated me, with my tripod on the steps of the forum, with me saying "Et Tu Desley!" as I crumbled to the stairs. Fortunately we left the bottle of tomato sauce in the car, as I am sure that someone would have thought of pouring it over me to complete the effect!.. We kept on exploring the place, and, when inspiration hit, posed for more shots for the camera. From the Forum we walked on down the hill to the Colosseum, successfully crossed the road, and entered the huge, ancient games arena. Now this building is truly awesome. Construction started on it around 70 A.D. and was finished about 80 A.D. It could seat 50,000 people and it is estimated that around 500,000 people died there. I guess that because of all the books that I have read on ancient Rome, this place had quite an effect on me. Suddenly I could see things as they were. I could hear the roar of the crowd, see the gladiators and the chariots below, and smell the blood being spilt. The amazing thing is that these glorious ruins have managed to survive to this day, and here in Rome the Twentieth Century flows around them, and protects them. How marvelous it is that the city fathers of the past have never allowed these priceless sites to fall into the hands of greedy developers. We walked around many more old ruins, including the Parthenon and the Trevi Fountain, where our three girls each threw a coin in, and made a wish. We threw our coins in too, and made a wish. Mine was quite a modest one, wishing for the sunny weather to continue. Jan contributed immensely to our knowledge of the ancient relics, as she had her guide book with her and, when we would arrive at a site, we would sit down and Jan would read us a story about it from her little book. It was just like being at school again and we were a well behaved class. (well almost!). There was so much to see, and so much to learn. When we exhausted ourselves from walking, and our brains were fizzing and popping from information overload, we decided to return with the girls to their campsite on one of Rome's seven hills. As the girls had traveled in by bus, we told them to climb aboard the Fiat. Somehow we all managed to squeeze into our tiny Italian limousine, and more amazing still, we managed to survive the maniacal Roman traffic to deliver ourselves, and the car, to the safety of the campsite. We parked the Fiat beside the girl's van, and after refreshing ourselves with cold showers, the girls prepared the evening meal, after which we ate quantities of grapes and red/golden peaches dripping with sweetness and flavour. These two fruits were in plentiful supply in Italy, and it became our practice when travelling, to visit the morning markets in whatever town we happened to be passing through. The quality of the fruit and vegetables was excellent, and cheap, and provided an ideal balance to the canned food we had brought with us from London. That night we drove into Rome again to have a look at it by night. The most impressive place was the very fasionable Via Veneto, the centre of Roman high society. We found that we could just afford a cup of coffee, and sat at one of the pavement tables waiting for the celebrities to walk by. They must have heard that we were there that night and none came. Mind you, none of us were quite sure what a celebrity looked like. I knew what Marcello Mastroianni and Gina Lollobrigida looked like, but that's about all! After we rubbed shoulders with Roman high society we returned to the campsite, and we amazed the girls by telling them that we were going to sleep in the Fiat that night. Unconvinced, we had to show them what we had discovered that made our little tent superfluous. All the interior seating folded flat to give us a space just over 6 feet in length, and all we had to do was to lay out air beds on top, to make a comfy, weather proof space for us. It was quite an amazing little van. The next day Judy left to return to London, where she intended leaving for Australia, via a coach to India. We then took the girls for a drive to the beaches of Rome and went swimming at Fiumicino and Lido di Roma. Both beaches had rough surf where we were joyfully battered - just like home!. I didn't think much of their black sandy beaches though. At the morning markets we bought heaps more fruit and a great big watermelon. That night we again pooled our resources and Desley fixed dinner, finishing up with watermelon - which was absolutely delicious. It was really marvelous, the four of us sitting there eating, surrounded by the pines of Rome, dressed as we would for a warm summer's night back home. It was so magical that we all sat there talking until 1am in the morning. We talked about everything - home, England, Italy, other countries we had been to, the people, the Past Pupils - almost anything we could think of, we talked about. It was such a special night that none of us wanted to go to bed...Roger thinks Desley and Jan are a terrific pair - and of course, so do I. I shall always remember that night as the four of us sat talking with the city of Rome, past and present all around us and the stars twinkling in the sky above.......... The next day we left, with each vehicle heading off in a different direction, though before doing so, we made a date to meet again in Venice. We drove down the hillside into Rome again to see St Peter's and take a few shots, before heading inland up to Florence. Here, however, we had a change of plans and decided that the call of the sea, and the beaches had a stronger pull for us than another old city, so we decided to spend the night in Perugia. This was not a very good idea for the camp site owner threw us out because he said we came from "Napoli". Apparently the northern Italians hate the southern Italians and vice versa. We tried to explain that we were tourists from Australia, but nothing would make him relent and he(and his friends) kept pointing at the "Na" on the numberplate and crying "Napoli!".. We could see this situation getting out of hand so we turned around and drove back out. That night saw us camping in a forest. The next day, instead of traveling northward as we had originally planned, we switched direction to head for the Adriatic coast.(probably a good idea under the circumstances). The inland part of Italy is entirely different from the coast as it seemed to have a mountainous spine down the middle, giving the towns and cities there the odd appearance of having been built on top of, or clinging precariously to the sides of those rugged mountain outcrops. At the Adriatic coast our first campsite was right at the beach, and we parked our van at the edge so we gazed out over the sea. The next morning we had a swim before breakfast, which was marvelous. Even more marvelous still was to be able to come back and cook ourselves a breakfast of sizzling bacon and eggs - with chips to follow. Life in England was never like this. Mostly our evening meal is out of cans as a way to cut expenses, and it proved to be highly successful. My favourite memory is of Roger getting all the cans out in the evening and setting them all up, like children's building blocks, and saying "Right! what will we have tonight?". The canned meals that we brought with us were very good, and, when combined with the fresh vegetables and fruit that we bought locally, we had ourselves some quite delicious meals. Roger thinks I am a wonderful cook, but he probably contributes more than me on the labour side as he opens the cans!. I think, too, that the excellent Italian wines and champagne helped a lot! These items were much cheaper than in England. (champagne 6/- a bottle).This is probably due to the fact that here it is the custom to have wine with all meals, and, of course there are vineyards all over the place. Talking about local customs, we find it very odd that one rarely seems women on the streets at night when traveling in the country areas. Certainly never, ever, any young women. The meeting places, cafe's etc are only full of men! After a couple of days lounging about the beaches of the Adriatic, and getting browner and browner we headed for our next date with the girls. Venice!. We had arranged to go to the same campsite, and if we missed each other there, we would meet at noon on the Rialto Bridge. As we drove into the campsite we looked around but could not see them, so we decided to go for a swim at the Lido de Jesolo. When we came back from our swim, there they were. The next day we all went into Venice, driving in our car, as far as we could go, then we walked in to the water bus station where we caught the bus/boat into the heart of Venice. Of course there are no cars in Venice, and all the transport is by water only. As the girls had been there before they took us around again. I must say it is a very strange place. Why they built it there in the first place beats me! It is supposed to be sinking gradually, so is definitely not the place to buy any real estate in. If you did buy a house here you could forget the vegie patch out the back, as you could also forget a game of cricket in the street - because there aren't any, only canals! Not a good place to live, but definitely a good place to visit. The main place to visit is St Mark's Square, a huge square with shops and restaurants on three sides with a very ornate Cathedral and bell tower on the fourth side which leads into a lesser square and the sea. The square is full of tourists and pigeons. You can buy bags of seed to feed the pigeons, and a pizza to feed the tourists, which is what we did. We then sat listening to the orchestra play while we chomped away at our pizzas and drank cold drinks. The afternoon was spent wandering about the place, seeing attractions like the Rialto Bridge, and the Bridge of Sighs. Venice is a lot more pedestrian friendly than Rome, in that you can't be hit by a car! You can, however, slip off the footpath and drown! We made our way back to the campsite by water bus and car, and Roger and I decided to treat the girls to a night out. It felt strange to be putting on long trousers again, with shoes and socks, as we had not dressed this way since leaving England. The hassels of getting into Venice itself didn't appeal to us, so we went to the opposite mainland town of Mestre. We had a wonderful night and the meal was great. We all had a spaghetti entree, Roger and I had Steak Italian Style, and the girls had Chicken. Naturally we had wine and finished up with a desert of fresh peaches and cream. The next day, our last, we had to return to Milan, and the girls were off to Yugoslavia. We would have loved to have gone with them, but we had a film lab in London waiting for our return. However, we thought we would pack in as much as we could into our last day, and decided to return to Milan via the Alps, a journey of around 400 miles. The Fiat gave us a little cause for concern as it tended to leak oil a bit, or, as the Italians would say to us, it left "oileo on the roadeo". However the little car made it okay and we looked across to Switzerland, saw magnificent snow covered mountain peaks, and, in fact drove between them. The scenery was absolutely awesome. Because of the cold, for the first time since leaving England, we had to put sweaters on, but it was worth it. We even saw a bit of Milan city and, because we took a wrong turn or two, ended up driving past the imposing gothic Milan Opera house. When we parked at the Milan airport, and turned off the engine, I'll swear the little Fiat let out a sigh and sagged a little. We had asked a lot of it on that final day, and it did all we demanded of it. It was our home for two weeks and now we had to say good-bye! We had an uneventful flight back which suited us just fine!....
Letters 114 & 115
London. Saturday, Aug. 20th 1966. This is going to be a hurried start, as I have to meet Roger at Golders Green and we are going to see "The Great Race", a big colour comedy movie. I thought I would have more time these days, but I seem to be as rushed as ever. We worked this morning and went swimming this afternoon, and after that I had to go shopping, etc. The weather is unusually hot and sunny. Everyone says we brought the sunshine back with us from Italy - in more ways than one. Both of us have benefited greatly from our exciting two weeks adventure. We both got nice and brown, and the change in Roger is remarkable. He is much more relaxed and happy, and can only talk of going to Canada, the States, and Aussieland. He is a fine fellow, and I know you will like him very much when we arrive home. I'll never forget they way he stood by me over the past few weeks. I needed a friend badly, and there he was. Jerry, too is a good friend, and I owe him a debt of gratitude as well. I am very fortunate to have so many friends who concern themselves with my well being. Naturally, I have been talking like mad all week about our holiday, as everyone wants to know how it was. Even people I hardly know want to know all about it and are amazed at the things we did. Apparently here the custom is to go on a holiday to one place and do nothing. They all say "Did you do all that in two weeks?" We have had our holiday films developed, but not printed yet. The negs look pretty good, and when we get the pos strips done I will organize up some prints to send home. Sunday: I am now at the Laundromat doing the washing. Roger is coming for dinner, then we are going over to his home in Hendon for tea in the evening. I have to ring Isobel later as we are going to the theatre tomorrow night. We haven't seen each other for a while, so we will have a lot to talk about. Alan is going on holidays next week and is leaving Joan and me in charge of the department. With Joan's experience, and my enthusiasm, we should be able to look after things pretty well. Bob has now formed his own production company. It is with someone else's money (as Bob says he is broke) and they have just shot their first commercial costing, so far, 3,500 pounds. It is a new type commercial with all new techniques and they hope to be able to break through into the highly competitive commercial field. It's all quite exciting! Jerry has bought himself a car - a Fiat 500 would you believe! On the Monday that I returned to work, I was telling him all about our holiday and our funny experiences with the Fiat 500 and the odd things that it sometimes did. He sort of smiled and said "Barry, before you go any further I would like to tell you that I have bought a car!" Of course there was much laughter when he told me what kind it was. Jerry looks like coming into quite a bit of money from the sale of his property in New Zealand. His family has a fantastic history in New Zealand. His grandfather owned a big freezing works and a fleet of ships in Napier, but lost the lot in the massive earthquake of 1931. Sunday night . I am just home after a very nice evening at Roger's. It's been raining heavily all afternoon and night. The morning began with a beautiful blue sky, but it all reversed around lunchtime. Oh well!, this is London. Roger and I have been planning animation movies that we are going to make in Australia - for T.V. We have discovered that we are both crazy about science fiction.
London. Sunday ,August 28th 1966: I am extremely pleased with all holiday shots, and will organize prints to send home to you. One of the negatives had a bad scratch on it but Ted polished it out for me. It's great having Europe's largest independent film laboratory looking after my holiday photos! Now, to answer the questions that you asked in your last letter - No, I am not lonely. I really don't have the time to be. I work until 8pm almost every week night and on Saturday mornings, and during the weekends Roger is almost my constant companion. Here in the flat I often see the other two girls with whom I share the kitchen and bathroom. They are Julie and Marion, both very nice girls. Then there is David, the Aaron's son who sometimes drops in for a chat. The other evening when I was cooking tea, he came in with his guitar and gave me a demonstration how to play it. He was pretty terrible! Mrs Aaron and Nat always have a chat with me at every opportunity. If Roger thinks I am showing signs of being lonely, or missing Noel, he quickly organises something. As I mentioned earlier I am going over to his place this afternoon and having tea there. Tomorrow, as it is August Bank Holiday here. I am taking Roger on an excursion to see London and take a few shots. As I have said before, people who live in a place, seldom bother to see the sights that other people travel across the oceans to see. We will go to the Palace for the Changing of the Guard, Westminster Abbey, St Paul’s, Petticoat Lane, Tower of London, etc, etc. All the things that he hasn't bothered to see, and things he should see before he leaves London. It will also be a photographic expedition, so hopefully I will able to send some shots of London to you too. My Australian bank account is all organised now. I can draw on it, and in fact, I have done so to the extent of 20 pounds to cover a few extra holiday expenses.(10 pounds has already gone back in).It takes about three weeks though as it entails red tape with Australia, as the money has to come from there. If I need cash urgently they say I can always cable for it. To get to Canada I will need only about 100 pounds to cover everything and I hope to be able to save that here. Isobel and I had our night out together last Monday. We went to the Queen's Theatre in Shaftesbury Avenue to see "A Flea in Her Ear", a French farce, which we both enjoyed immensely. She commented on how well I look with my suntan and slightly bleached hair from the Italian sunshine. Monday. Roger and I went around the sights of London today and ended up at the Tate Gallery, a showcase for modern art. Both of us almost got thrown out for laughing so much at the so called "works of art!". It was full of very odd paintings and weird sculptures. One piece was a giant thumb, about six feet high. Another was a huge canvas with nothing on it!. It rained on and off all day, and is raining now. A soggy end to the August Bank holiday weekend!.
Letters 116 & 117
London Sat. Sept 3rd 1966 I am having quiet day today - the first for some time. Actually, now, it is a form of marking time until Roger and I leave for Canada, the States or Australia direct. We are both saving all we can, but the major hurdle at the moment is Roger's car which he has to sell. When he has finished the payments(this month), he is going to try to sell it, then we are going to write to Canada, and possibly the States for jobs. Both of us are now anxious to get moving and leave this country behind. The situation here has worsened dramatically with a disastrous new tax coming into force this month. Employers are now going to be taxed on the number of employees they have. It can only worsen the unemployment situation, and push prices up even further. We also heard that, because of this tax, no major movies are going into production, which could lead to redundancies in the labs. It's a terrible shame how bad things are in Britain. This once great, glorious country is crumbling away. Some day, when this country is reduced to nothing, I can say that I was there and understand why. Roger and I will be escaping in the nick of time, as the good ship Britannia sinks below the waves...Once again, dear Mother, thank your lucky stars you are in Australia. It's being referred to here as "The Lucky Country"... Sunday Sept 4th 1966 . Grey, overcast, and drizzly today. In other words, a normal London day. I had an evening at home last night. Roger had to take his mother to his brother's in South London, and he also had to collect a muffler for his car. Julie invited me to a party in Kensington last night, but I didn't feel like going. I went around to the Laundromat in the evening and met Ross, the Kiwi who used to work at Humphries, but is now a production assistant making commercials. He recently moved into a flat nearby. We sat talking for some time about what we were going to do when we arrived back home. He thinks he will head for Sydney, so we are going to keep in touch. I am going to end up with a lot of friends in Sydney when I go back. Mike leaves for Australia in two weeks time. I think he is in for a helluva shock. He tends to be rather lazy and thinks the world owes him a living. I have made a bet with myself that he returns! We should have the Italy prints ready to send to you by next weekend. Both of us are eagerly awaiting their return from the printing lab. These photos will add another world capital city to my list. The list is getting impressive with Hong Kong, Singapore, Penang, Cairo, London, Paris, Amsterdam, and now Rome. I hope to be able to add New York and maybe Tokyo to that list before I return home. We are going to have some fun sorting the pictures out when I return. Mrs Cowland asked me over for Sunday dinner today so I will have to be leaving soon. They are really marvelous to me. Afterwards Roger and I are going to continue our tour of London. It will be the Tower and the Crown Jewels today, followed by a Science Fiction movie, then we will return to my place for a late supper. Must go now and catch the No 2 bus to Golder's Green, and then the 83 to Hendon. It is a very pretty bus ride as it goes up tree lined Finchley Road, with its flashy shops and nice old homes to poshy Golder's Green, a Jewish suburb. The number 83 then takes a route through picturesque Hendon, with more beautiful old homes, more tree lined streets, rose gardens and lush green parks. Roger's home is a lovely brick semi-detached with rose gardens front and back.... I am now at Roger's. When I arrived he was under his car trying to fix on the muffler and it was raining. He is now upstairs getting cleaned up and Mr Cowland is doing something electrical under the staircase. He is a carpenter by trade, and is always working about the house doing something. All the beautiful rose gardens are due to his hard work, as he is also a keen gardener. They are a really nice couple. I think they may be approaching 60 or older, but do not look it. Roger, like me is the "baby" of the family with a brother, Brian, and a sister Doris, who is the eldest. Mrs Cowland was just showing me her new fridge, the first they have ever owned, and is quite proud of it. She asked me if you had a fridge, and I said that a fridge was a necessity where I came from, as food would spoil quickly in the tropical heat. Here they are considered a luxury item and very few people own one. If they do, it will most likely be a little half size one. Did I mention that you cannot buy electric frypans here? They have never heard of them. Noel and I tried several times but it was useless. On looking about the room here, I see that Roger is like me. The lounge room table is scattered with records and slides and his pick-up is in the corner. So you see I am not the only one who makes lounge rooms untidy. After Lunch .. We had a lovely dinner of roast beef and Yorkshire pudding. It looks like our sight seeing trip is off because of the rain. No matter, we are sitting here playing orchestral soundtracks from the movies and sketching scenes for our animation movies that we are going to make in Australia. Roger is an extremely good artist.
London. Saturday, Sept 10th, 1966. Today it is bright and sunny, and quite warm. I have just been up to the corner shops in my shorts, and raised a few eyebrows, as usual! It's amazing! Londoners don't bat an eyelid at all sorts of crazy apparel, yet a guy in shorts gets all sorts of funny looks and, sometimes, wolf whistles! In the paper this week a fashion designer was trying to introduce a new fashion for men - shorts.. They had pictures of a male model walking through Hyde Park in a shorts suit, and then pictures of the shocked looks on people's faces. It was quite funny. These pommies, they definitely are a little bit odd! Roger hasn't been gone long. We were working this morning at the lab, then went swimming and afterwards came home here for a snack and a cup of coffee. I was checking the sound sync of the movie "Carousel" this morning. It is one of my all time favourites, and we are getting ready to print copies for television. Yesterday evening Jim Skipper, the boss, was talking about plans to re-organise the department. He said that I could take over most of Alan's work, which would leave him free for other things. It would mean taking on a lot more responsibility on my part, and is rather flattering to know that Jim has so much confidence in me. I have been noticing that Jim has been getting me in direct contact with clients lately. I was quite proud of myself yesterday afternoon when Jim told me to take a call from the BBC. "I have to go" said Jim, "You can handle it Barry, you know all about it!". I panicked a bit at first at the thought of having to deal with the BBC types, but I pulled myself together, and told myself that I could do, and I did so without any problem. They even phoned me back later about a different matter. Of course Roger's doing it all the time, but I have always avoided contact with clients. Roger's baby at the moment is "The Saint" series.. Mike left the lab yesterday and leaves for Australia in a weeks time. We gave him a farewell at lunchtime and later again after work. Roger and I joined them after we finished at the lab. It was held at the "White Hart", a popular modern pub just off Oxford Street. They are sailing via Panama, and the Pacific Ocean. He said he hopes to see us there. I said "Not if we see you first!". Everyone keeps asking us when we are going. So much for keeping it secret!!.. Isobel phoned on Thursday. She said there's a big ball for Australia House on the 4th of November. It is a very grand and elegant affair and she is keen to go. However I don't know if I will be in London at that time.. Sunday Still warm, and it looks as if it may be sunny. Today Roger and I are off to Southend. It is London's nearest beach and apparently it is pretty awful, but Roger says I should go and see it before we depart, so we are going today. Last night we went stock car racing at the Harringay Stadium. It was quite exciting. A few cars rolled over and many got smashed up. One car even caught fire...Sunday night 1am. I am just going off to bed, after being downstairs talking to everyone. The lights in the kitchen and bathroom fused and Nat was fixing them - with Julie's and David's help. I had a laugh with Julie when I was telling her about our day at Southend, and the disturbance that my shorts caused. Everyone stared, and I got called "sexy" by a group of girls. Julie thought it was a great joke, as she always teases me when I walk about in shorts. You should see Southend! It is the absolute pits. I burst out laughing when we arrived at the "beach". There's all these people sitting in deck chairs on the "shore", gazing out at mud flats as far as the eye can see. Sea! What sea?. There is none!. Rog said "I told you you'd laugh!" Of course there's all the usual amusement arcades, fun fairs and bingo halls, etc. You can do anything at this beach, except swim in the sea.(or wear shorts!).It is pronounced "Sarfend-on-Sea"... Roger hasn't been gone long. When we arrived home we had a big tea(steak, pineapple, fried rice) and watched a Hitchcock movie on T.V......
Letters 118 & 119
London. Sunday,18th Sept. 1966.Thanks for your newsy letter. Fancy Helen sitting atop a float in the procession. She must have grown into a beautiful young lady. Still, her parents are pretty good sorts aren't they?. Can't wait to see them all again. It was interesting to hear about Margaret and her love of horses. That must be the McKnight blood coming out in her. If Ron gives her a pony when she gets older, she can come down and stay with you for school holidays and ride it. The colours for the new paint job on the house sound fine. The other evening at the lab, during our coffee break, I drew Roger a plan of our house and the fruit trees. We both laughed, as it looked like a jungle. I didn't realise that we had so many varieties of fruit trees. There's the three mango trees, orange and lemon trees, custard apple, two mulberry trees, guava tree, banana and of course the avocado tree. If they all fruited at once you could open up a fruit stall on the footpath - which is what we may have to do if we arrive home broke! The Cowlands have apple trees in their garden, as do most homes in England. Roger is staying over this weekend. I was over at his place yesterday helping him to clean and polish the car, prior to selling it. It is going to be tough as people just haven't the money now. The banks can't lend money anymore, and hire purchase companies have had to tighten up considerably. Thousands of workers are being put off from the big car factories and there are people being made redundant all over the place. Prices are going up and wages have been frozen. What a mess! Until Roger sells his car we can't do anything about getting out of the country.. On the lighter side - we went to see "The Sound of Music" on Friday night. It was the third time for me, but the first for him, and he loved it. It's a marvelous movie, especially when seen in 70mm on the giant screen with full stereo sound. Julie Andrews is terrific, and the fact that it was shot mostly on location makes it so much better. We have been singing the songs all weekend. You must make the effort to see it when it comes to Mount Morgan. Tonight we plan to see a science fiction movie that has just opened called "The Fantastic Voyage". It is about an extremely miniature submarine that can cruise about inside the veins of a person's body. It sounds interesting, and we are both looking forward to it. Roger is sitting by the window drawing. He draws quite a lot and is very good at it. Actually, the similarity in us is quite amazing. Although worlds apart, we grew up with the same feelings, likes and dislikes. We are both the youngest in the family with two older siblings and Mums and Dads who really cared about us and looked after us. I am sure we would have got together sooner but for the fact that we were 13,000 miles apart. Another of my good friends left the lab this week. His name is Mike Kaye, and he has been given a grant to study at the London School of Film Technique. So he is on his way now to achieving something in the film world. The other Mike leaves for Australia next Thursday. One of the 16mm colour graders said to me this week "In another twelve months you will be in charge of this department, Barry!" .Interesting thought, considering that just a little over two years ago I knew nothing about film labs!...We bumped into one of the "Coronation Street" actors, Barry Keegan, at the local pub this morning. I often see T.V. or movie actors around Swiss Cottage. John Mellion is one of the regulars at the Swiss Cottage pub. I am now at the Laundromat doing the washing. Roger is watching enthralled - It's his first visit to a Laundromat. I said "You better get used to it Rog!". Dinner is scheduled for 4pm(roast pork & apple sauce, etc), then we go into the city.
London. Saturday 24th Sept. 1966 Things are getting geared up for colour T.V. here now. Most of the big programmes like "The Saint", "Danger Man", "Thunderbirds" etc, are all being shot in colour. Humphries is handling the prints, which are mostly going to America, but next year Britain will have some colour T.V. programmes running - if they can stop arguing about it. As usual the BBC will have the monopoly of it. I had to write a report yesterday on the condition of a film that I examined, called "The White Feather", and Alan had to pass it on to the manager for his okay. I must have written it well, for Alan was full of praise saying "That was a smashing report, Barry, just what I wanted!". When he came back from handing it in to the big boss, Mr Bailey, he thanked me again. I now have a feeling that I am going to get all the reports to write up! Oh well!...Sunday At the Laundromat again. I am writing whenever I can find the time. I have a rather full day today. I am going over to Roger's place for dinner at 1pm, after which we were going swimming at Swiss Cottage, and then going on to the National Film Theatre at 6.30pm for a special screening of a H.G. Wells movie. However, on arriving home last night from the Stock Car Racing we found a note under the door from the girls saying they are back and called in but, of course we weren't home. So, we are going around to their place for the afternoon instead. It will be good to see them again. Saturday. This week has been very hectic. I was out almost every night. We work at the lab until 7 or 8, get a bite to eat at the nice pub opposite Humps(all the pubs here serve meals), and then dash off to a movie or something. On Friday night we went to the National Film Theatre to see "The War of the Worlds" directed by George Pal. As it is now a rather old movie, we found the script a bit corny, but the effects were great. Isobel rang on Thursday. She is off to Paris for a week, next week, so I have arranged to take her to a movie on the 8th October, when she comes back. It will be "Dr Zhivago" the new film by David Lean that is opening at the Empire in 70mm. Sunday: I am now at 34 Sunningfields Road, Hendon, Roger's home, and the time is 12noon - and he has just got out of bed and is now mending a hole in the radiator of his car. Mrs Cowland has been joking with us about our busy week. Roger wasn't home for one meal last week, except breakfasts. Because of our busy schedule, we ate out every night before going somewhere. Roger's record player is playing my copy of "The Sound of Music", and outside it is sort of foggy. Probably more a heavy mist. Now is the time of fogs again, and the leaves on the trees are beginning to change colour, as summer draws to a close. Mrs Aarons came out of hospital this week. She had a double operation for gallstones and something else. Poor thing looks awfully thin and pale. She can't do any work for some time, which will hurt her as she likes to keep busy. She came in to talk to me yesterday while I cooked my dinner. Nat has been marvelous. He is really a devoted husband. Mrs Aarons was chuckling because she was the only one in the family who was allowed to eat yesterday, as it was the Jewish New Year. Everyone else had to spend the day in the Synagogue and fast. It seems, because she was under doctor's orders to eat, she was exempt. Gosh! I am so glad we are Baptist and not of the Jewish faith!. Imagine spending the whole day in the Synagogue and not eating! Swiss Cottage and Golder's Green were practically deserted yesterday, now I know why. Monday morning . I saw Des and Jan yesterday afternoon and they look fine. They had a wonderful trip, with no problems at all with the van. We are having a slide evening at their flat on Tuesday night, to show them our Italy slides, and hopefully, some of theirs.
Letters 120, 121, 122, & 123
London. Saturday 1st October 1966. I am just home after working at the Lab this morning, swimming at the pool with Roger, and doing some shopping at Kilburn. I went over there to buy a pair of shoes, as it is a cheaper area than Swiss Cottage, being mostly an Irish suburb. London is hard on shoes, as one has to wear them all the time, and because, I guess, I do a lot of walking. This is about the fourth pair that I have bought in London. I also bought a pair of trousers yesterday from connections at the Lab. Roger bought a pair as well, but the bottoms have to be taken up after the sale, so his Mum has offered to do mine as well as Roger's. Isn't she wonderful. Mine are check hipsters with a wide belt - the latest fashion. Roger said they "fell off the back of a truck". There’s often things for sale here that somehow fell carelessly by the roadside!?!?. Sunday This morning we are going on a photographic tour of the city, but will be home in the afternoon. We are going to write letters to Canada. The manager of Humphries, Mr Ellis, is going to help us all he can. Roger was in with him for half an hour the other evening. He has just come back from the States and Canada. Alan asked me this morning if I was leaving soon. He said he heard that I was leaving within a month. I explained that there was nothing definite as yet, but it could be within the next couple of months. He then went on to ask me all sorts of things, especially about my family back in Australia. He is a nice guy, Alan, but always in a frantic hurry. I help him out all I can, especially in the evenings so he can get away and go home to his family. I have helped him out of a few scrapes, and he has helped cover up any mistakes that I have made. He never gets mad at me. If I do make a mistake, he just tells me, and leaves it at that. Jim, the big boss, carries on like mad if anyone makes a mistake. Everyone is saying "What will Alan do when you leave?" as they are saying to Roger "What will Bill(his boss) do when you leave?".Roger now has his car up for sale, so here's hoping. With all that has happened, I am so lucky to have a friend like Roger. With our combined talents, the skies the limit. My knowledge has increased enormously over the past couple of years. Bob wants us to act as agents for his company in Australia when it expands. His company is due to burst forth in a big publicity campaign on October 18th. They have taken over the front page of one of the big television trade magazines. I hope it is successful. Sunday: We spent the morning in the Epping forest. It is a beautiful place with wonderful old trees, many of them changing into their Autumn colours. It drizzled a bit, but it was okay. Only our feet got a little bit wet. We managed to lose ourselves for a while, or I should say the car got lost, but we eventually found it again. Roger is downstairs doing the washing up after our big dinner. He has told me to stay here and finish my letter. Our evening with the girls last Tuesday went very well. We showed them our slides of Italy and we all had a good laugh. Kate was there as well and she showed some slides of Mount Morgan and the Past Pupils, which brought back memories. Don, their other Aussie friend, just back from Africa, was also present. Kate is soon to go to Liverpool to take up a job in a research lab. I had a post card from Isobel from Paris. She will be back sometime this week, so I will hear all about her Paris holiday when I take her to the movies on Friday night. Roger has now finished the washing up, and we are off into the city for a walk about and to grab a movie.
Saturday Oct 8th Thanks for the very informative letter. It strengthened my resolve to get back home. It is so nice to know that I still have people there who remember me. Suddenly I miss everyone, and most of all, Australia. Things are so different here. The people. The way they live. You described the deluge of rain, and I could picture it all, with water running around, and under the house. I remember the way I used to get about in it wearing my toy tin soldiers hat and Dad's post office raincape. And the dams! How I loved building dams. I never rains like that here. Just drizzles and drips, and is grey and foggy.......Sorry for the nostalgia. As you may have realised, suddenly I am missing home - or rather, wanting to get out of England. Sunday. I have just come back from dinner at Roger's. It was supposed to be a sort of family dinner, but they insisted that I come too. Guess I am being accepted as one of the family. It was a typical English dinner with roast beef and Yorkshire pudding, with vegetables all served in bowls on the table, and a garden of roses outside the bay window. Much of the talk at the table was about our plans to go to Canada and Australia. Monday It's still raining and starting to get colder. The leaves are all changing into their Autumn colours, and dropping on the footpaths. Yesterday was foggy all day. I had a busy weekend, mostly at the movies. On Friday night I went with Isobel to see "Dr Zhivago", which was extremely good, then Saturday night Rog and saw "The Chase", the new Marlon Brando film, and on Sunday night it was the newly premiered film "The Bible" - and last Wednesday night we saw Alfred Hitchcock's new film "Torn Curtain". After all those movies, we may have a spell off them this week. On Friday the 21st, Isobel has tickets for a concert in the Albert Hall. We will be sitting in the Royal Box. I don't know how she did that, but I hope that it is okay with Her Majesty. I would hate her to walk in and say "You are sitting in my seat!"....The concert is featuring the music of Beethoven and Stravinsky......
London. Saturday Oct 15th. A reply has arrived from one of our letters to Canada. We wrote to the fellow who used to work at Humphries, but now has his own Lab in Montreal. He said that skilled Lab staff were always required there and that he will be in London before Xmas and will be only too pleased to interview us for positions. He said that wages there are approximately one and a half times what they are in England. The only thing is that we wanted to be gone before Xmas. Anyway that is a good result for one of our first probes. I worked at the lab this morning on a thing for T.V. called "Pearl Harbour". Afterwards I helped Roger with "The Saint". His department is all keyed up for "The Saint" series, as is all others, because it is worth a lot of money to the Lab. It stars Roger Moore, who blinks his eyes every time he fires a gun, so they have to cut the "blinks" out. Today is a rather nice day - for London. It is cold, but fine, with even a little bit of sunshine. We had a swim on the way home from the Lab, and tonight we are off to Victoria to see a war movie called "The Blue Max". I was invited over to Roger's for dinner tomorrow, but I have so much to do I had to decline. His brother and sister are coming over with their families, so Mrs Cowland will have her hands full. I do sincerely hope that Roger makes it with me to Australia, and Mount Morgan, as I would love you to meet him - wait 'till you hear his(North London) pommie accent. Next Sunday we are both asked for dinner at my Welsh cleaner mate's home. We have become good friends, and he talks non stop to me while I am working at my desk at night - and sings too. He seems to be one of the most intelligent men at Humphries, and says the cleaning lark is just a front for the taxman. He wants me to meet his wife and two small children. His wife is also in the movie business, and is at present doing a script for Benny Hill. She is also friends with Dawn Lake and Bobby Limb. Anyway we accepted the invitation and are going over next Sunday. I may take the Australian slides with the taped commentary. Sunday. Weather is mild and overcast, with fallen Autumn leaves everywhere. This afternoon Rog and I are off to the Epping forest again to photograph the trees. We were hoping for some sunshine, but it seems to be all gone now. I was out shopping this morning and bumped into Ross again. Although he is a Kiwi, he sounds like a dinki di outback Aussie. I think New Zealanders are more like Aussies, than Aussies - or perhaps they want to be taken for Aussies, and not Kiwis. We had a great chat and he drove me home in his "new" car, bedecked with Aussie flags. I thought he might want us to sing "Waltzing Matilda" as we drove down Greencroft Gardens, but thankfully he didn't. We saw the girls again on Friday night. Kate also came down from Bristol for the weekend. Roger said "If there's one thing about you Aussies, you certainly stick together!". We just dropped in Roger's screen, as the girls want to show slides at the weekend...
London. Sunday Oct 23rd. I am again at my "office", the Laundromat around the corner. As offices go it is rather noisy, and leaves a lot to be desired in the way of decor. It has all these portholes where things can be seen going round and around! .We were over at the girl's flat yesterday and we all decided to go camping in the New Forest next weekend. Isobel and I went to the Albert Hall on Friday night with our complementary tickets for the Queen's Box. It was a concert given by the London Philharmonic Orchestra and the outstanding item was the performance they gave of Stravinsky's "Firebird". I have heard it many times on my record player, but to hear an orchestra perform it live was just so exciting. Afterwards we went home to Isobel's for coffee, and I showed her some of the Italian photos. Luckily I had spares as she insisted on keeping the one of us in the Alps. We have had more encouraging news from our probes that we sent to Canada. Skilled film lab technicians are very much in demand it seems. Roger still hasn't sold his car yet. Today we are going for lunch at the Evan's household. I am taking over the slides to show them...Monday I didn't get far yesterday! Anyway, we had a great meal with the Evan's family yesterday. They really turned it on, with sherry and wines and the works. Mrs Evans is a lovely woman, really quite beautiful. They have two children, a boy aged four, and a girl aged eight who had polio and now has no power in her feet from the knees down. She is as pretty as her mother, and seems quite happy though. They enjoyed the slides, especially central Australia.They were very interested in my Welsh heritage, but I couldn't really tell them much about it at all. We left about five and went in to Victoria to the movies. We saw the new Michael Powell film made entirely in Australia, called "They're a Weird Mob". I read the book, which was a huge success in Australia, and it should be on my bookshelf. We both thoroughly enjoyed it, and so did the audience. I didn't think that it would be so good, but it was very well made and acted. Of course I was able to get all the jokes, but surprisingly so did the audience. Naturally it gave me quite a few twinges of home sickness, and I dreamed about beaches all that night. I hope the movie is a big success, because it could lead to others being made in Australia. We made a mental note that it was handled by Ajax Laboratories in Sydney. Most exciting news of the week is that we saw Bob's first commercial. It runs 2 minutes and was made to advertise their company. He had a preview of it at lunchtime at the London School of Film Technique, and invited Roger and I along. Roger did not want to go at first, because he doesn't like Bob(nobody does!). Anyway, though rather skeptical, he came along anyway. It was terrific!. It was completely new, and highly original. Even Roger agreed that it was great. I am so excited for Bob. He has an appointment with one of the world's biggest advertising agencies tomorrow. So, with luck, the cinemas around the country could soon be screening commercials by Bob Megginson. One day he will also be directing feature films. I always had faith in Bob - my first friend in this country. Some day he will be well known in the film world.........
Letters 124 & 125 - New Forest Camping
London. Thursday Oct 27 1966 At the moment I am at home, having decided to take the day off to try and shake off a cold that I have had for most of the week. It's the first day off I have had in 6 months. It was great, because I slept in until 11am, had breakfast, then went shopping in Kilburn. I had a phone call from Pat Fitz. on Tuesday night. She is back in London, and staying with Connie and Mary until the following Tuesday, when she leaves for Australia. She wants to see me on Thursday night(tonight), so Roger is coming too because he is keen to meet more Aussie girls. He is coming at 7.30pm for tea (steak, kidney and mushroom pie), and then we are going over to Earl's Court. I forgot to tell you that Pat was in a car smash in Wales. She was lucky and survived it okay, but I believe she has a few scars. Anyway, more about that later after I see her. Today is very cold, as it has been all the week. A big change came through on Monday and scattered leaves everywhere. Saturday: Just time to dash off a few lines before Roger comes. I didn't go into the lab this morning, and it was quite wonderful to be able to sleep in a bit. This weekend, as I told you, we are going camping in the New Forest with the girls. The weather is rather grim, but we are hoping it will change once we are out of London. Anyway we will have lots of warm clothes and heaps of blankets. We had a nice evening with Pat and Connie last Thursday night. Both look well, although Pat has a few scars on her upper forehead from the accident but can manage to hide them with her hair. They will fade away in time anyway. She was lucky to survive the crash. Apart from that, she had a marvelous time, as an attendant at a Butlin's Holiday Camp. Naturally she talked non stop, as always - while Connie was writing out her Xmas cards.(which reminds me that I must do mine). I wanted to hear about Russia from Connie, but Pat didn't give any one else a chance. I gave her Claude's record and she said that she would put it in her suitcase. When she arrives she can contact you, and you can send it on to Claude. It is already packed up, so all you will have to do is put some string around it, address it, and post it off.
Sunday 12.30am. It is after midnight. Roger has left and I am surrounded by an assortment of things from the weekend - gas stoves, sleeping bags, tent hanging up drying out the dampness, photographic gear. I guess you can imagine it! We had a fantastic weekend. The main thing was the weather. Although quite cold, it was sunny and last night there was a full moon. We made our way independently from London, and met up with the girls at the village of Lyndhurst, in the heart of the New Forest. Kate drove all the way down from Liverpool. Then we all drove together to a place I knew in the midst of the forest by a little stream. The forest was glorious! Colour everywhere! It was a riot of yellows and golds, of reds and oranges, and all colours in between. Gnarled old oaks with twisted trunks stood about on a carpet of gold while a little brook gurgled and glittered in the soft sunshine. The girls were very excited. London seemed a million miles away. Indeed the man made world had disappeared, and we were deep in a forest untouched by the crassness of civilization. This is the forest, and this is as it has always been. We built a big campfire and cooked over it, ignoring our stoves, and even cooked potatoes in the coals. Roger was thrilled. It was the first time he had done anything like this. Today we wandered all about, taking photographs and exploring. We even caught a fleeting glimpse of a deer. It was a happy, happy time for all. Unfortunately we had to leave later in the afternoon, and even then, on the road out of the forest, we came across the occasional thatched cottage, that seemed not of this world, but more a relic of some past era. It was indeed a magical world that we were now reluctantly leaving behind for the hustle and bustle of the big city. We all finished up at the girl's flat in Hampstead, where Kate cooked up a big meal for us. The three girls were great companions, and, of course, Kate is as mad as always.
London. Saturday, Nov 5th Tomorrow morning we are going to Hyde Park to see the start of the London to Brighton Veteran Car Race. Something that I have always wanted to see.(ever since I saw the movie "Genevieve"). By the way Roger has sold his car, so now it is all systems go - well almost. It would be foolish to initiate any moves before Xmas, so we will now be looking at getting away after Xmas. Mr Dobbs from the Canadian Lab will be here in December and will interview us for jobs. Both of us are anxious to go as the pace here is getting us down a bit. Roger has been off the last three days with a cold, but is now quite okay. Despite the cold, he came over Thursday night(with car), and last night, by bus, and will be over tonight. I went into the Lab this morning. I couldn't let Alan down. Things are terribly busy, and we have more work than we can handle. One of the girls has been off for two weeks, and Joan and I are sharing her work. It is good for me to be learning all this extra stuff. Joan, Alan and I did a big rush job on "The Saint" last Thursday. It involved sound synchronisation and cutting titles. I was scared stiff that I would muck it up - but I didn't. "The Saint" gets top priority at Humps because the contract is worth a small fortune. The trouble is that the schedule is so tight, that it always has everyone in a panic. Joan has been a marvelous help to me, and I have great admiration for her. She is very attractive, and a devoted wife and mother. She said to me Friday, after Thursday's big rush job, "You know Barry, I was so tired last night, that when I got off the bus I couldn't find the energy to skip up the road with Tandy when she met me" (Tandy is her six year old daughter). I burst out laughing! "Joan" I said "I would give anything to see you skipping up the road with little Tandy!". "I have to do it almost every afternoon!", she replied laughing too. Joan is very ladylike and quite glamorous looking. We have a new girl in the department, Martine. She is a Maori,(and really looks it) and used to work in the Positive Room, and says that we are cousins. I am helping her settle in and with anything she needs to know about the job. She has been here with her husband and family for a number of years. Sorry I can't help you with any news of Noel. I can imagine how worried his parents must be. Father McCarthy is here in London trying to contact him also. He has phoned here a couple of times, but I have been out. Connie phoned yesterday to say that Father Mac wants to know if I can give him Noel's address. Noel was going to give me his new address, but he never has. Again, I could not help, but suggested that the only person that could possibly help him would be Miss Smith - and then again, she may not know either as Noel seemed to want to sever ties with London completely!. Anyway, it's best he talk to her first before he sees him - if he does! Isobel has invited me over for dinner next Tuesday night, and on the 24th I am taking her to the ballet for her birthday. Pat should be on the high seas now, heading home. The weather is very cold and rainy, but , thank goodness, my flat is warm and cosy, as is my office where I am writing from now. The tumble dryer has just stopped. Time to reclaim my washing!..............
Letters 126, 127, 128 & 129 - Vet. Car Rally
London. Saturday, Nov. 12th 1966. It's good to hear that Claude has got his transfer okay. It brings them a little nearer now doesn't it? I am not really sure where Mundubbera is though. I would give anything to be a fly on the wall and eavesdrop on those conversations that you have with Mrs Smith. Rest assured that all of us are well - and still the same as we were when we left home, although we have broadened our horizons and increased our knowledge. The old gang has stuck together - with one notable exception!...We have our pos strips of our Autumn in the forest photographs, and we are really pleased with the colour. They look great, so I will get busy and organise some prints to send to you. The London to Brighton Veteran Car Rally was quite fascinating. Never ever before have I seen such a weird collection of automobiles - if indeed they could be called automobiles. Some looked like mutant motor-cycles. We managed to get there for the 7am start and it was a pretty chilly, and damp morning. The last place I would wish to be would be sitting in one of those open air creations exposed to the freezing air and drizzly rain. However that did not deter those hardy souls who arrived sitting up proudly in their funny contraptions ready for the sixty mile run. Apparently the race began in 1896 to celebrate the emancipation of the automobile, when the law was changed to abolish the requirement that an automobile had to be proceeded by a person waving a red flag. The speed limit was also increased from 4mph to 14 mph. In the light of today's death toll on the roads, that was probably not a good idea! However this run brings together some very strange vehicles, all built prior to 1905. The absolutely amazing thing is that over sixty years later these ancient machines are still able chug along the road to Brighton. Conditions weren't exactly perfect for photography, but we hope to get a few okay shots... Roger and I have decided to set up a darkroom at his place. We have been preparing all week, and I have unpacked my enlarger to take over tomorrow. I am going to teach him all I know, then we are going into colour, then into professional photography. We have big plans for the future. It is all very exciting. Both of us are very enthusiastic and Roger seems to have unlimited energy. We have been stocking up on equipment all week. Originally we planned to wait until we had our own place in Canada, but we are both so keen we decided to make a start now. I am going over to his place all day tomorrow, and in the evening we are going to try our first enlargement together. We found out an interesting bit of news this week, and it is that Canada is staging a World Fair next year. It is called "Expo 67" and is being staged in Montreal and looks like being fantastic. Won't it be terrific if we can go to a World Fair! Sunday night 11.30pm Just home from Roger's. I had a great day, although a busy one, setting up the darkroom. Mr and Mrs Cowland are a wonderful couple. Perhaps you could send them a Xmas card, and thank them for looking after me. I know they would love it . Our day was very successful, and we made quite a few enlargements. Roger is tremendously keen. I think Kevin Langford called in today. He fits the description given by the girls. Too bad I missed him again. I had a nice evening with Isobel last Tuesday. She is a beautiful cook. We had veal casseroled in cider with mushrooms etc. We are going off to the ballet on the 24th for her birthday. I haven't seen the girls for a week or so. We must go around there soon with the Autumn slides. They should be quite thrilled with them.....
Friday Nov 18th 1966 The weeks roll by - and another week nearer to our departure date. I await that day anxiously. Both of us do, and we often sit talking excitedly about the things we are going to do in the countries that lie ahead. As you know, I am now tired of England, although I have very much enjoyed my stay here, and gained so much out of it. It would be easy to get trapped here as many do. We left the lab early tonight at 6.30 intending to have an early night, but got lost in discussions over a pint or two of ale, and ended up almost as late as if we worked until eight. There has been a bit of trouble in Roger's department this week. One fellow, a new guy, Dave Woods, has no interest in the job and mucks up everything he does. It came to a climax this week when he openly defied Bill and Roger. The matter ended up with the personnel officer who said that it was only a clash of personalities - as much as saying that, that piece of rubbish was as good as Roger. Roger is a keen conscientious worker who takes his job seriously, and often takes on the running of the department. The trouble is it is people like Dave Woods who are ruining Britain today. They think they rule, and of course do, via the trade unions. I wasn't going to go in tomorrow, but Alan has an urgent job that he wants me to do, so I can't let him down. Thank goodness our section is happy and always working in harmony. I've been feeling a bit "poorly"(as they say here) this week. Another cold, but I still carried on at the lab, and it has almost passed now. Monday .Sorry I couldn't get this finished at the weekend, but I was so busy. After I worked Saturday I went shopping. I am after a fur coat, but I haven't seen anything that I like yet, and also a wide cord jacket. I finished up buying some underwear at Marks and Spencer. They are a large department store chain that have quality clothes at reasonable prices. I had an amusing walk up Oxford Street to Carnarby street. It's like travelling from one fashion scene to the opposite end. Oxford Street is conservative old style, while Carnaby Street is way out, Mod extremism. Unfortunately there does not seem to be anything in the middle! It's either old conservative pin stripe suits and bowler hats, or purple suits with wide floral ties or bright check hipsters with buckle boots. This is contrasted with Saville Row, where the Upper Class shops and a mere dressing gown can cost about 240 pounds. Londoners are used to people wearing all sorts of outrageous clothes and never bat an eyelid or turn and stare - except if you are wearing shorts! We went to see the girls yesterday. Kate was there too, which was nice. Every time I go there they are always doing something odd. This time they were all making enameled jewellery. We showed them the New Forest slides, and they were greatly impressed. Roger is going to see Dave, in 8mm, to organise some prints for you. We are going down to the Canadian immigration department this week to see if we can organise something.
London Sat.Nov 26th 1966. As usual, not much to report these days. It's a waiting game now to see when we can get away from England. The rain is with us again. Fortunately it is always more like a heavy drizzle than real rain. If they have the kind of rain that we have at home it causes flooding everywhere and the transport system collapses. Anything over an inch of rain in one hit causes chaos. Most of the leaves have fallen now, leaving the trees all bare and ready for Winter. It is bitterly cold once again and the newspapers are making a comparison between the economic deep freeze, and the early winter freeze affecting the country. I heard on the news at lunchtime that Harold Holt's government looks like being returned again. That's good news for Australia anyway. If would have been terrible if Labor got in. Especially with their policy on Vietnam. At last Australia is taking on her role in the Pacific - a coming of age as it were. Australia has dodged her responsibilities for too long, too content to hide behind "Mother England". Well Mother England can't help us anymore. She can't even help herself! It's great to see Australia emerging as a Nation. As we say here "It's all happening!". There was a live telecast from Australia on Thursday morning at 6.30am., but I missed it as I was still asleep. It was 2.30 pm in Australia, and was a historical first, as the signal was bounced off two satellites ..Sunday We set off this morning to get some black and white photographs of London, so we could try some enlargements, but the weather got really bad. We just got some shots of the Tower of London and London Bridge and then had to give up and return home. Along the Embankment and Tower Pier there was a very cold wind blowing. A couple of barges went down the Thames and the big dome of St Paul’s was under scaffolding. So much for our tour of London - oh! and we walked past the Billingsgate fish market and it smelt horrible!.
Monday It's 7pm Monday night at the lab, and we hope to get away by 7.30. Roger isn't too well with a cold hanging around, similar to what I had. We have a medical exam in a few weeks time as part of immigrating to Canada, because we can only go there as immigrants, so it means a fair bit of red tape to go through. Also, of course, we have to have an interview before they will let us go there to work. If they won't allow us to do that, then we will go direct to Australia. Australia is in the news again here over the conscription of eighteen year olds. Are all the eighteen year olds being called up? It's making the headlines here with young men being dragged off by the cops. It looked very disturbing and it certainly is not good publicity for Australia. Have any gone from our town? Are they only conscripting 18year olds, or up to 25yrs old? Roger is a bit concerned as he will be 25 when he arrives there. There was a big discussion about it at the lab today. It seems that everyone saw the fellow being dragged off by the cops on the T.V. news. I am organising up my Xmas cards, and will probably write a few over at Roger's as I will be spending Sunday there.......
London. Saturday Dec 3rd 1966 You mentioned that you like watching the "Black and White Minstrel Show". It is one of our favourite shows in London and I have seen it three times at the Victoria Palace Theatre. Once we took the girls to see it and they loved it too. It's one of the best musicals in London, and when we used to get about in a foursome we used to sing all the songs when driving about in Roger's car. By the way, remember when we used to all go to a old time musical hall pub called "The Windsor Castle", well it was destroyed by fire a few weeks back. That was a very sad loss. A symbol of the changing times. It's not a bad day today, cold, but when I was walking to work from Regents Park Tube Station the sun was shining from a clear blue sky and as I walked into Cleveland Street the sun was glinting off the glass frontage of the G.P.O. Tower, with fleecy pink clouds behind it. Behind me was the almost completed ultra modern Euston Centre, with a United Nations type building as its centrepiece. The lab was pretty quiet today. Apart from Roger and I, there was only Alan and Ernie, my Welsh cleaner pal there. I viewed a reel of "The Saint" with Roger, because it was in a bad way, and he wanted me to see what it looked like. All part of my further education. Isobel has now moved to Hampstead, 46 King Henry's Road to be exact. Just down the road from 146, Noel's and my first flat in London and not far from where I am now.............
Sunday Now at Roger's sitting by the fire. I have been writing Xmas cards all afternoon. Roger's been taping some of his records and doing all sorts of things as he always does. Nothing much else to report. We should be having our interview for Canada soon. By the way, how do you make trifle and banana pudding?................
Letters 130 & 131
London. Sat Dec 10th 1966. I am just home from working at the lab and doing some shopping. Roger took me over to Wembley to a good men's shop that he knows to buy my corduroy jacket. He is good to take shopping when buying clothes as he knows exactly how things should look and won't be talked into anything else. Consequently I now have a light fawn cord jacket and a grey fur(acrilan) coat with hood and windproofing for Canada - if we get there. The first thing that Roger said this morning was that they got your card and calendar. He says that his Mum was thrilled with it, and he is too, and to pass on their thanks. It was a nice surprise for him when he got home last night and saw the things with the Mount Morgan post marks. I have been invited to spend Xmas with the Cowlands and have gratefully accepted. We had hoped that the girls would be in London, and that we could get together like last Xmas, but they are going to Aberdeen. However we are having a Xmas party at their place on the Thursday before, where we may be making a tape recording to send home. We were at their place last night. Roger and I decided to have a night out in Hampstead, so we ate out at a Chinese Restaurant there and then went down to see the girls. I gave them nice colour prints of our Autumn camping slides, and the Veteran Car Rally. Yours are on their way so I hope they arrive before Xmas..
Sunday: Now at 34 Sunningfields road. We have just had a lovely dinner. Roger did the washing up and I did the wiping up, and we are now sitting in the lounge with the stereo playing the 1812 Overture. Roger is doing a plasticine sculpture and is going to cast it in plaster of paris later. Tonight we are working in the darkroom on some enlargements. When I arrived the first thing that Mrs Cowland did was to show me the calendar and your letter. She is thrilled about them and keeps saying how nice it was of you to send them. At the lab yesterday Alan had me sitting in the theatre viewing.(another step further). He had some of the "Survival" series that he had to view, so he got me doing the other viewing. Last Thursday night he phoned me from his home in Kent about some urgent films that had to be dispatched to Tyne Tees T.V. in Manchester that he had overlooked. Lucky for him I was still at the lab and was able to complete the job. He said to me the next day "I was worried afterwards that you would not be able to find them, but then I knew that you would carry on until you did". Still no word from Canada House yet. We are now discussing what we will do if we get refused, as we have heard that there has been a tightening up on immigration to Canada. I hope we get the go ahead as we now are keen to get to Expo 67, the World Fair in Montreal.
London.Sat Dec 17th. Well, it's a week from Xmas and another one away from home. Fortunately, because of the kindness of the Cowland family, I will have all the comforts of a warm family Xmas. I will also be staying the night as there are no evening buses on Xmas night. The next day Roger is coming over to my place and staying the night. On Christmas Day, there will only be his brother and his family there, but the next day there will be about sixteen for dinner, so Roger is seeking sanctuary at my place. We are hoping that it snows. It would be great to be able to go out and shoot some snow scenes on Xmas day. The weather forecast for Xmas is snow, so let's hope it happens. Sunday Now at Sunningfields Road. It is quite cold, but not cold enough for snow yet. Golder's Green has its big Xmas Pantomime on now, so I noticed this morning. The Hippodrome is just by the tube station and bus depot, and is one of the major theatres of London. There are pantomimes on everywhere, as it is a big Xmas tradition here. The Scala has "Peter Pan" , as it has had every year since time began. Oxford street is a mass of hanging lights, as is Regent street, and in Leicester Square the chestnut roasters are there with their glowing hot braziers. Christmas comes to London once again.. At the Lab there are lines of Xmas cards hanging up over the girls tables, as it is the custom for all the women there to send cards to each other. I think it is rather stupid, but they say "It's traditional" and keep doing it. I didn't tell you about the mince tarts. Not meat mince, as we know mince, but dried mixed fruit soaked in brandy - they call that "mince". That's traditional too, as well as turkey, bread sauce(what ever that is?) "bangers", hats and holly, etc!. One thing they really don't fancy is a hot tropical Xmas - that is definitely not part of the tradition. I had a major job at the lab this week. The biggest I have had so far. I began on it the week before, and it involved neg cutting and synching of the sound tracks. I completed the cutting of the sections of optically enlarged scenes okay, but when it came to cutting the sound track and synching it all up we ran into all sorts of trouble. Naturally I was doing it all under Alan's supervision and even he was stumped. The picture and magnetic sound track were all done in Israel and we couldn't just phone them up as we would for a production in England. The film is called "Hadassim" and is about children in a Kibbutz who do all the farming, cooking, weaving and everything else that it takes to exist, and ends up with a show that they stage for visitors. I have seen all the reels of it, as Alan and I had to run the reels to see if we could tie in the sound. Anyway on Friday we finally finished it, and I even did some cutting on the sound track to sync it. The trouble with it was that it had not been recorded properly, as each reel was recorded separately with no sound overlaps. It was a very interesting job and I learnt a lot from it. I have also been helping Beryl Bristow, head neg cutter in the 16mm cutting room. Their neg cutting section is separate from our room, and is one floor below us. Alan is in charge of that as well. Beryl had some trouble finding some scenes in the material that they had, as the edge numbers that were written down by one of her staff, were incorrect. Alan knew that I had done some work on it previously and said to Beryl "Show Barry the scenes and he will find them!". I went down to Beryl, she showed me the scenes and I recognised the original material, and sorted it all out in ten minutes flat.. Roger is modelling in clay at the moment. His artistic hands are shaping the clay into the head of a prehistoric animal. I am encouraging Roger all I can with his art and modelling(not that he needs much prodding) as it will be of great value when we start movie making. On Xmas weekend we are going to see the movie of "Thunderbirds" now opening at the cinemas. On Friday night I am having a night out on Roger. We are dining out and going to a show afterwards. Thursday night is party night at the girls place. I am hoping that Jerry is able to come along as he is dying to meet Desley.
34 Sunningfields Road,
Hendon, London. N.W.4
Dec. 13 th 1966
Dear Mrs McKnight,
Thank you for your kind letter, also Calendar of which there are some beautiful scenes of your country. Barry has told us some interesting things of Australia. I think he is happy here in England. Roger and him have certainly been around a lot since they became friends. They enjoy themselves very much. We saw Barry on Sunday as he was here for the day. He enjoys a bit of home life as you say. He draws his chair up to the nice warm fire and writes his air mails etc. He will never get used to our cold weather though. The two of them will be here for most of their four days holiday at Christmas. They are hoping for some snow so they can have a game in the park. But at the moment it is too damp and wet to think of snow. We so seldom get a white Christmas. We shall miss the boys very much when they finally leave the country, but I would say it will be a few weeks yet. It must be lovely to have all that warm sunshine at Christmas. After Christmas we get our worst weather, and get hit with the lot then. Our summers are very poor and we are lucky to get one full week of sun. I must take this opportunity to wish you a Happy Christmas and also thank you again for the lovely calendar.
I remain,
Yours Sincerely,
Rene Cowland.
Letter 132 . Xmas 1966.
London. Sunday 25th Dec 1966. Well, here it is Christmas Day 1966. My third in a foreign country and, I hope, the last away from Australia. Today, on the way over to Roger's it was very cold, but sunny for a change. There were hardly any buses, but luckily I was able to catch a number 2 to Golder's Green, but from there on I had to go by taxi as there were no buses to Hendon. Yesterday, Christmas Eve, was terrible, and it was rainy all day. I had to go hunting around the shops in Kilburn, and came home all wet. Unlike the shops in Australia, very few English shops have awnings to protect the shoppers, and they have to cop what ever the weather throws at them. I received a good Xmas hamper from Humphries with two tinned hams, sherry, red wine, tinned fruit, cream, soup, biscuits, chocolates, tinned ox tongue etc, etc. The most handy will be the hams. Roger and I will be at my place tomorrow and he will stay over, and then we'll be returning to his place the next day for dinner, and I will staying the night there again. It's the best way to get around the lack of public transport during the Xmas period. Last night I had an evening out at Roger's expense. I was taken to dinner at a Chinese Restaurant in Hampstead, and then to the Mermaid theatre to see Spike Milligan and his crazy gang performing in "The Bed Sitting Room". It was about England after World War 3, when everyone who survives mutates into something else. Harold Wilson, the Prime Minister, turns into a green parrot, while Spike Milligan turns into the bed sitting room, and his doctor turns into a wardrobe. Slightly crazy? Sure is, but there's lots of laughs with Milligan's ad-libbing and weird sense of humour. Because it was a very cold night we both got dressed in our furs, and new jackets. I'm afraid we my have offended a few at the lab on Friday by not attending the lab Xmas parties and getting blotto. We went out at lunch time to have a drink with Jerry, then went and did some shopping and returned to the lab. My section was deserted, except for Alan who was surprised to see me. I helped him fix up a few things, and then he told me I could go home, so Rog and I left around 3pm, while the rest of the lab partied on. We went home, cooked tea, then went to the local Odeon to see "Thunderbirds". I had a phone call this week from the firm of David Naden Associates in Manchester. They do a lot of the editing for Granada T.V, and offered me a job as an assistant editor. One of the guys that I used to be friendly with at Humps went there as an assistant editor and has now risen up the ranks, and he was asked to recommend someone to fill the position that he vacated and he put my name forward. I thanked them very much, but explained that I would be leaving the country soon. How about that! An assistant editor, Wow! Ironically, Bob said to me just this week "Barry, you're a film technician now, and a damned good one!".. We all went up to the girls for dinner on Thursday night. Jerry came along too and we had a wonderful night. We began making the tape to send home, but there was so much laughter we didn't get much done, so we are going to finish it another time....Monday morning. Hendon Still very cold. Frost everywhere. I saw my first Robin this morning. He was hopping about in the frost covered garden just outside the big windows. I had a very nice Xmas day yesterday. Roger's brother, Brian came over for the day with his wife Hazel and two little girls. One is actually still a baby and is a real darling. Now we are waiting for his sister Doris and her family to come, then we are leaving for my place. After dinner yesterday we had a walk about and had much fun breaking the ice that had formed on top of all the puddles and pools about Hendon. It is nice and cosy here in the house with a fire burning in the big fireplace, and the thick frost, like snow, still on the ground outside
London 31st Dec. The last day of 1966. Tomorrow starts the New Year! The year of the next big leap. Where will I be, I wonder, for next Christmas?. Roger is staying the night and we are going to see the New Year in together, and celebrate by opening a bottle of Champagne that we brought back with us from Italy. We hope the new year will see our much discussed plans get off the ground. I have been busy writing a shooting script all week, and Roger has been making plans for his model construction, and is already in touch with the Dunlop Rubber Company in Birmingham who are sending down all the information on latex rubber moulding. They have even offered us, free of change, a gallon of the rubber compound to experiment with. Roger is creating our dinosaur models in plasticine first, then we are going to cast a rubber mould of them for animation. It is all very exciting! Remember the movie I made with a plasticine monster, well we will be doing a similar thing, only more professional. Our biggest problem is living separately as we are back and forth between homes. However, once we are away to Canada we should be free to do as we please. Mrs Cowland is a wonderfully good natured and patient woman, but I really don't think she would take kindly to her lounge room being full of prehistoric creatures, explosions, fires etc.I think you can identify with her there.... And so the old year ends! It has been a troubled year of shocks and revelations. However, for me, the holiday in Italy was the turning point and I have much to thank Roger and his parents for. With the coming New Year, I can now feel the excitement of new places, and new achievements to come...
Letter 133
London. Thurs 5th Jan.1967 Almost the end of the week again, and a very important week it has been too. Remember I told you we wrote to this guy in Canada called Fred Dobbs, and he said that he would be in London in December and would have a talk with us. Well he has actually been here and at Humphries too, but had forgotten his promise until one of our friends here at the lab reminded him. Phone calls were exchanged and Monica, the head 35mm neg cutter(and who Fred, it seems, is devoted to) made him promise to see us. He then arranged to meet us for lunch at the Elysee Restaurant, one of the top restaurants in London, where all the heads of management dine. Naturally we were a bit apprehensive, but we were there right on time and he was there to meet us. We had an excellent lunch, at his expense, and he seemed really pleased with us. He said he had asked around the lab about us and received glowing reports from everyone. It seems he is here to negotiate a deal to take over Humphries Pathe Lab in Toronto. The outcome of it all was that the jobs were definite, in fact he seems to be placing himself as our guardian. He has even said that he can arrange to have an apartment waiting for us, and that one of his staff will meet us at the airport. The only catch is we will be working with colour, as T.V in Canada is mostly in colour, and we have not had much experience in that area. However we can learn as much as we can about it before we leave. Anyway he said once we know our departure date to notify him and he will do the rest. He said he would pay us somewhere around 25 pounds a week, which is 8 pounds more than I get now. So there you are. Things are looking up for us. It's not bad having one of the big wigs of Canadian Television plugging for you is it. All we have to do now is get the okay from the Canadian Immigration Dept. Roger goes for his interview and medical tomorrow. I haven't heard how mine went yet. Sunday Now at Hendon. It's a freezing cold day today, with small amounts of snow still lying about after Friday night's fall. The cold doesn't worry me so much now that I have my warm fur coat which I wore coming over here this morning. Tonight we are going in to the West End to the big Astoria cinema to see the new Julie Andrews movie "Hawaii" in 70mm. Roger is busy creating his model Tyrannosaurus Rex dinosaur, and it is beginning to look very good. The information on latex rubber arrived from Birmingham this week, so when the model is complete, we will prepare to cast it in the latex rubber. Bob has also offered his assistance in getting us the use of a 16mm camera to conduct our animation experiments. Roger is now preparing to screen some slides we took last week of the movie "One Hundred Million Years B.C." to get details for the model. I keep looking at the model he is crafting, and it is very lifelike. The little dinosaur looks so perfect, I can almost see it walking about the table now…
Saturday Jan 14th Just received your last letter.......Here is some good news now. My visa arrived yesterday from Canada, so I am all set to go. Roger, however, is in a bit of trouble as they told him that he is unacceptable as he did not serve an apprenticeship. The only way he can get in now is if he has a letter from someone in Canada to say that they will definitely employ him. I was okay because I had my draftsman certificates. However, all is not lost for, with Monica’s help, he should be able to get a letter from Fred Dobbs to guarantee him employment. The takeover deal of Humphries Pathe in Toronto is expected this weekend, so Mr Dobbs should know how things are next week. I hope Roger can get the okay, as he is rather disappointed at the moment.. Jan and Kate just dropped by. You should have seen Kate!. She arrived here(and departed) wearing a great big red blanket!! It's not all that cold really, but Kate said she was taking no chances. Gosh! she's a character!. They had a good time in Aberdeen, with some snow falling on Xmas Eve. Kate had received some slides from Australia, so they came over to borrow the projector. I am now at my office. I was just talking to Julie and her mate, Ginger. Julie used to stay at number 52, but moved out some months ago. Her entrance into the Laundromat was quite head turning, as she came in wearing a lavender corduroy trouser suit, with an orange blouse and looked smashing. She is a very nice girl, and asked about Noel and Roger. I had to make a promise that Roger and I would go over and see them. Last Wednesday we returned to the Mermaid theatre again to see Spike Milligan do his crazy performance once more. As he ad-libs a lot, each performance is different, but the laughter is just the same. Last night we went to the movies to see "The Quiller Memorandum" and tonight we are dining out with a drink first at a fantastic new pub we found called "The Prince of Wales" in West Hampstead. It is the best I have ever seen with sweeping staircases linking its multiple levels, and lights of all types plunging down from its cathedral like ceiling. It looks more like a fabulous movie set than an English pub, which all tend to be rather pokey and smokey.. Sunday We had a terrific day! First thing we went to Petticoat Lane(Roger had never been there), then on to Dirty Dicks, the famous tourist tavern, had morning coffee at Park Lane, overlooking Hyde Park, visited Speaker's Corner(many laughs), went to Kensington to the Natural History Museum to look at dinosaurs, on to Golder's Green to see "My Fair Lady", then home for tea, and now, Roger has just left and I am off to bed, tired, but happy!.....
Letter 134
London. Thursday Jan 19th 1967 I am at home at the moment, having decided to take the day off with a cold, thinking maybe it will help to get rid of it. I caught it yesterday, and it is just the usual nuisance thing. It's a wonder that I haven't had one before, because the weather has been really horrible. Monday and Tuesday were ghastly! - freezing cold and wet. Roger is just getting over one, now it's my turn. He will be round tonight for tea, after working at the Lab. He has been over the last two nights as his Mum has been at his sister's as she has just had a baby. He says he loves my cooking, and that I am a better cook than his mother. It's nice of him to say that, but his Mum's a very good cook, but of course is conservative English, like you are. I just try other types of food, and we both love Chinese food. Would you like me to take you to Rocky one night for some Sweet and Sour Pork, Chicken Chow Mein and Beef in Black Bean Sauce? Just say so when we get home and we will whisk you away for some culinary delights!...Saturday My cold is almost over, and it hasn't even gone to my chest this time. Thursday off must have done it! Roger told Alan on Thursday morning that I wouldn't be in, and he was rather upset. He depends on me so much now. He kept asking Rog if he thought I would be in tomorrow(Friday). Naturally, he was very pleased to see me yesterday and I got him out of a jam! He unloaded a Rediffusion T.V. job on to me and he would have been in trouble if I hadn't have finished it. He should have known that I wouldn't let him down. I worked at it all day yesterday and completed it at 7.15pm last night. It involved assembling original camera scenes and takes from a T.V. project called "Las Vegas". Sunday Now at Sunningfields Road. Roger came over last night and we went over to the Prince of Wales, then dined at our favourite Chinese restaurant later. It makes a nice night out, entertaining ourselves, rather than sitting in a cinema. Roger enjoys it immensely, and it is so great just to sit talking in the exciting atmosphere of the Prince of Wales, then go and eat such delicious Chinese food. Roger wasn't in to it at first, but I have converted him. What I really like about the place(besides its Dublin Bay Prawns), is that the food is served on top of food warmers that keep the food hot... Monica wrote to Fred Dobbs this week asking him to help with Roger's visa. If he writes back with the necessary letter of employment, Roger should be okay. At the moment he is casting a plaster mould of his model dinosaur on his mother's lounge room table. Next weekend we hope to do the latex rubber model.....
Letter 135 & 136 . Dinosaur Dreaming
London. Sat. Jan 25th. 1967 I am glad Pat made it home again safely, though surprised that she is working at the Leichardt Hotel. Still, with all the traveling she has done, she knows that you have to grab what ever work is available. It's funny to think of her working in Mount Morgan again, though. I'm so used to her being here with us in England. We hope to contact Connie one day soon and take her to lunch, as she works near the lab. Roger thinks she is a very nice girl and a credit to her country. No news from Mr Dobbs yet, or Canada House as regards Roger's immigration. I received a letter from John Spence this week to say they are both very happy and doing well. John got a job with the A.B.C. Channel 2 in Brisbane and loves it. He said they grabbed him when he said in worked in Humphries Laboratories in London. We had news from Mike Flynn too, to say that he is stuck in a migrant hostel in Sydney, and can't get a flat as the rents are exorbitant. That is not so good news for us either. He also pays 8/- a day for a taxi to his place of work. Sounds tough! Of course Mike is not the adaptable type. I told everyone here that he wouldn't last, and would be back.. Sunday and relaxing at the Cowland's again. It's probably the only relaxation that I get these days. Roger is happily putting the finishing touches to his model dinosaur. The lower half of the model is encased in a plaster cast and Roger is adding more detail to the head before covering it in plaster too. We spent last night with the girls trying to finish the recording to send home. I wrote the script and the girls sang some of my songs, including the High School song, for the guests. Roger was quite impressed, as he didn't know I wrote songs. We weren't able to finish our taping though, and will have to carry on with it next week. Kate came down from Liverpool, wearing her Indian Sari. All the girls are well, and Jan is learning to play the guitar. There were six girls there last night. Jan, Des, Kate, Hazel(an English schoolteacher friend of theirs), and the two other girls that they share the flat with, Lyn and Merril. Jerry White was coming as well but he phoned to say that he couldn't make it. He gets spells of nervous trouble and he has to take tablets, and this weekend he had some new ones which had an adverse effect on him. Walking home from the girl's flat later, Roger spent the whole time telling me what talent and potential I had, but I think the same of him. He is the one who is enormously talented. Together, we should make a helluva team! It's quite a nice day today with a pale weak sun shining occasionally and is quite mild. By that I mean one does not have to walk out with on overcoat on, just everything else that goes underneath it!. I am so excited by that little bit of weak sunshine that we have decided to go out walking later. The whole week has been pretty bad with continuous drizzling rain. Yesterday I went to work in the drizzle, came home in the drizzle, and went shopping in the drizzle. So you can understand how a little bit of sunshine brings so much joy!......We have now just come back from our walk. Hendon is one of the outer Northern suburbs of London, and is quite pretty(when the trees have leaves on them!) It is slightly hilly(gently hilly, not steeply hilly like M.M.). Where Roger lives there is a large area of parkland that slopes down the side of a hill that overlooks rows of two story, semi-detached houses to the old Hendon Aerodrome, which was a Spitfire base during WW2. It now is home to the R.A.F. Aircraft Museum. Beyond the old airfield are green fields and more houses. The Spitfire base made Hendon a target during the war and Roger, though very young remembers, an aircraft crashing somewhere nearby. Although the trees are completely bare at the moment, I have noticed that daffodils have begun appearing at the flower stalls, a sign that we are now in the last stages of Winter. All this must sound strange to you as you are in the midst of an Australian Summer.
Saturday Feb.4th I hope the cyclone passed by Mount Morgan without causing any damage. The cyclone even made the papers here because they love to print anything that shows Australia to be a dangerous place to live in. There is good news from our friend Fred Dobbs. He came to the rescue and sent Roger a formal letter to say that he had a position at his Film Laboratory in Montreal, which Roger then sent on to the Canadian Immigration Department. Mr Dobbs said that his firm required extra staff to handle all the Expo 67 work and quoted a salary of almost 30 pounds a week. We are hoping like mad that it does the trick. It makes sense though, that all the film labs in that area will be very busy handling all sorts of stuff for the big Expo and skilled film technicians will be very much in demand.....I did the complete neg preparation of a Granada subject called "Nimrod" last week. Alan was very pleased, as he prefers me to do it rather than the usual fellow in neg cutting whose job it is to do it, because he said that I always make a good job of anything that I do. The difference between me and the other guy is that I am interested in my work - as is the Lab whizz kid - Roger. I am now working on the breakdown and cutting preparation for "Everyone's Gone to the Moon", a production by Rediffusion T.V. about Cape Kennedy, in the U.S.A. Today is quite nice for a change, cold but sunny. I have just done the washing and the shopping, although I haven't anything to worry about this weekend as far as cooking goes. Tonight we are dining out at Hampstead village and tomorrow I shall be at Hendon. After eating out tonight we are going to the girl's place to finish the recording. Tomorrow is the big day for Rog and I, as we cast the latex mould for our first dinosaur, the Tyrannosaurus Rex. He looks fabulous in clay and plasticine, so we are hoping his rubber counterpart emerges okay from the mould, and that we will be able to animate him, with a 16mm movie camera. Sunday Cold, but gloriously sunny. London sure looks different with the sun shining brightly on it. The bus ride from Swiss Cottage was very pleasant this morning, traveling up tree lined Finchley Road with its high class boutiques, furniture shops and restaurants to arrive at Golders green, the posh Jewish centre of London, to then travel on to picturesque Hendon. We were at the girl's flat until late last night continuing with our tape recording to send home. Unfortunately we weren't able to finish taping as there were too many interruptions with visitors coming and going. It now includes my "Ballad of Ironstone Mountain" about the discovery of gold at Mount Morgan, because the girls liked it. Maybe we will be able to finish it off when the girls get back from their trip to the Norfolk Broads where they are going for their mid-term holidays. They, Kate, Hazel, Desley & Jan, have hired a sailboat for the week. Remember when the four of us hired a motorboat that time, and Robin put us on someone's back lawn! Here, at Roger's we are busy with our dinosaur project and have a test happening in Mrs Cowland's oven. We are trying to cast some prehistoric leaves, and if it is successful we will try casting the complete model dinosaur. It is all very exciting. While we are waiting, Roger is drawing a cartoon Kangaroo(He is always drawing) and I am just finishing off this letter and have come to the end of the page.. So, I must go, and send love and best wishes from us both.
Letters 137, 138 & 139 : Final Plans
London. Saturday Feb 11th 1967. Your letter arrived, - last night actually. Roger was here for tea. I wasn't going to read it until later as I always like to leave good things a little while, but over coffee Roger said "Well, go on, aren't you going to read it?", so I did. I also noticed that he had a tendency to peer at it over my shoulder, so I said "Come on, you can read it too!" - But he said "No I can't, it's your letter". So I said "My Mum is your Mum!", but he is the conservative Englishmen, so I read him out extracts. He was very interested in the cyclone. In your last letter you said that it was about to arrive, so we were both worried. Here in gentle England they don't have anything like that. We are both glad to hear that it passed Mount Morgan by. I was also delighted to hear that my number one niece, and my number one nephew are getting about together. Rick and Helen should make a good couple. I was surprised to hear of them going to dances together, as I did not think Rick would be the dancing type. He must have inherited his Grandma's love of dancing. Good for him if he has....Sunday Well now! Good news. Roger's visas have arrived. We went dining out last night and while eating our Chinese meal he just casually mentioned it. I could have emptied the bowl of fried rice on his head! "Why didn't you tell me sooner?" I said. "I wanted to surprise you!" was his reply. He sure did! Now it is all systems GO for Canada. Tomorrow we will see the airline about our bookings, write to Fred Dobbs, and fix a time to hand in our resignations. Of course there's a heck of a lot of organising to do with our baggage. We will send a trunk over by ship to Canada with gear that we will need there, but leave a trunk here of stuff for later use in Australia, which we can organise for shipment at some future date. As you can imagine we are both quite excited about it. Anyway, more about it next week as we will be further advanced by then. I hate to tell Alan I am going. He knows that it is going to happen sometime, but I suspect he keeps thinking that it may not happen, and keeps giving me new stuff to do. I have been doing viewing for him, he has me learning about optical effects, and the past week I have been assembling the positive colour rolls of the new James Bond film "You Only Live Twice". It is all original 16mm camera material and contains a lot of takes that will never reach the screen. Roger and I ran a couple of reels of it. The studio sets, built here, are fabulous, but the location for the movie is Japan. Sean Connery looks a bit fed up with his James Bond image, and we laughed at him clowning around on the set. It is very interesting to see scenes from a big movie before it reaches the movie theatres. I had a letter from Pat Fitz this week. She deliberately put in everything that she knew would make me homesick, even to telling me how good, and plentiful, and sweet, and juicy the mangos were this year...We have just opened the new cast of the dino. The one last week failed, and unconsolidated rubber latex poured out and the little rubber dinosaur was only half formed. This week, however, Roger did it again and it was great. Mr and Mrs Cowland are tickled pink. Inside her oven now is a little rubber latex dinosaur sitting on a tray drying off. I can hear her laughing now. She just opened the oven to have another look and she is saying "Are you sure it won't bite me?" and laughing. Well that's our first rubber model completed. Roger is already thinking of the next, and we are also giving thought to buying a 16mm movie camera...............
Saturday. Feb 18th Lots of news this week! The main thing is that I am beginning my journey homewards. We fly out for Canada on the 20th March by B.O.A.C. 707 jet which leaves the Oceanic Terminal at 2.05 pm and arrives in Toronto six hours later, at 2.05 pm their time. Fortunately, it is not costing us as much as we thought, as it is the off season and we got a one class fare for only 66 pounds. The main problem now is the trunk which is going by sea. However, Roger is, as usual, a bundle of efficiency, and is organising it furiously, getting quotes from shipping companies and insurance places. We handed in our notices on Tuesday, and the whole Lab knew by Wednesday. Of course everyone is coming to us asking about it. For me it's the next stage homeward, but for Roger it is the big leap. His parents are rather sad he is going, but realise that it is what he wants to do. By the way the paper said that 3,000 people left London yesterday, on two ships for the "Promised Land"(Australia). Quite a few are going to Canada too, as things are just so bad here in Britain. It must be a hard decision for families to make. An individual, like Roger say, has only himself to think of, but a family must find it difficult to tear up roots and move to a strange, faraway country, and leave their friends and remaining family behind. It's all in search of a better life I guess... Sunday Now at Hendon. Roger is sitting on the carpet sorting out all the photographs into ones he will take and ones to leave behind. We have had quite a few laughs at ones taken some time back. Places like Paris, Great Yarmouth, Cambridge(punting), Norfolk Broads, Holland, Italy, etc, etc. You will have all these photos in your collection too. Tonight we are going to do some more as we are a bit behind in our photography. Yesterday we bought a 16mm movie camera - a second hand Bell & Howell with a beautiful lens. As movie cameras go, it is a very simple one, but it has a single frame exposure device, an essential for animation movie making. It cost only 25 pounds, and we are quite thrilled with it. We just can't wait to set up our new place in Canada. It will look like a motion picture studio. I hope it will be as easy to get stuff processed, and worked on the way it is at Humphries. We now have learnt about A & B roll cutting, and how optical effects are done. All we want now is the opportunity to get going. We wrote to Freddie Dobbs this week to say we were coming. Here's hoping!. Toronto will be handling most of the Expo coverage, so the labs will all be needing extra staff. I sent home to the bank for cash so it should be here this week. By the way, don't get into a panic about us flying to Canada, as we are traveling on the world's leading airline B.O.A.C. in a luxurious 707. It's all quite exciting. .........
Saturday, Feb 25th 1967 Good to hear that my adventurous brother is taking an overseas jaunt too. However, his choice of country may not be my ideal holiday destination though. Last time I looked, New Guinea had quite a few headhunters and cannibals there. They also like to walk around shooting each other with arrows. That is what London's Daily Mirror says about it anyway. Don't worry mother, I am sure Claude knows what he is doing. I hope he takes a camera with him... It is now only three weeks to go before we farewell London. We got ourselves a trunk - a huge one. Because of its size, we decided to ship all our gear in the one trunk, so there will be no second one to send for later. It is much cheaper that way too. We will be packing the trunk tomorrow at Roger's, and hope we can ship it off next week. How long are we staying in Canada, you ask? Well, we just don't know exactly. Probably between six to eighteen months, depending entirely on how we like it there. Ideally we would like to get some money behind us to enable us to do a bit more sightseeing on the way home, and to get ourselves established in Sydney or where ever.
Letters 140 & 141
London. Sunday Feb 26th 1967.11.30 pm. Big News Again! A letter arrived from Fred Dobbs yesterday to say he wants us to start in his Montreal Lab as soon as we can. He says that he needs both of us as soon as we can get there, as they are working short staffed, and with Expo coming up he needs us urgently. We are now going to try and leave a week earlier, on the 14th March. There should be no difficulty getting things changed, we hope. You can address your letters from now on to 34 Sunningfields Road until I have a new address to give you. Montreal is called "Little New York", and is very beautiful and modern, and is, of course, host city to the World Exposition this year. We are both very pleased that we will be working together at the same Lab and will be getting about 28 pounds a week. This translates into about 37 pounds, or $74 Australian. Not bad dough is it, but I believe that the cost of living is higher. It is also far higher than the salary I was getting at Mount Morgan Ltd when I left there. We have been packing the trunk all day at Roger's, and in the afternoon we went out into the park opposite to shoot some test footage in the movie camera. Roger's sister Doris came over with her family to say goodbye to him in the evening.....
London. Saturday March 4th 1967. It is now zero hour minus 9 days. The countdown is going okay - if a little rough. But this is England where nothing runs smoothly. Our trunk was collected on Thursday, and sails on Monday. Smallpox vaccinations okay. Immigration papers okay. Airline tickets changed to Montreal okay. My bank account changed to Montreal okay. I have given my weeks notice to the Aarons today for quitting No 52 next Saturday, when I will go over to Roger's. I am, at the moment tossing out two and a half years of accumulated rubbish from the flat. Sunday : We have just had dinner and I am sitting before the fire. Roger is busy on the floor making a box to ship the little windmill home to you. When it arrives you will have to get the plug changed. I hope you like it. Tonight we are off to the new Marble Arch Odeon to see "A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Forum". We called in to see Desley and Jan on Friday night, and had a nice long chat with them. On the Saturday night before we leave we are taking them to Prince of Wales for drinks, then for dinner at our favourite Chinese restaurant. It will be our second last night in London. Desley also has Monday off and is driving us to the airport. Oh, did I tell you that we are now leaving on Monday 13th March, because there is a direct flight to Montreal at noon, by the new B.O.A.C. VC 10 jet. The VC 10 is the newest, most luxurious airliner in service. The four big jet engines are in pods at the tail. It is also one class, so the service should be good. So, that is the latest. We finish work at Humphries on Friday and will be in Canada the following Monday afternoon. The next Monday should see us start at Cine Labs earning almost 40 pounds a week each(Aust). Expo 67 Starts next month too. If you see Nessie you could let her know that I am now going to Montreal, so all my friends will know that I have left London. She may also be interested in the fact that I will be handling the rushes shot by camera teams at the Expo. We saw a movie the other night that said "Processed at Humphries Laboratories London". It was the "The Family Way" with John and Haley Mills. I had a letter from Pat Fitz. She is now bored with Mount Morgan - naturally!
London. Wednesday, March 8th. 1967 Well, this is my last letter from London, England. By the time you receive this I shall be on the continent of North America, in the French part of Canada. From all we have learned, it will be like Paris all over again. Roger and I have been practicing up on our few words of French. As you can imagine things are hectic this week. Thankfully, all the travel arrangements are made, but it is the social side that is pretty demanding. Today began in a nice way when we took Connie to lunch. As she works near us we arranged to take her to one of the nearby restaurants, a nice little Italian one that we used to frequent. She is just as nice and as charming as ever. Roger thinks that of all the Mount Morgan girls over here. "They are so easy to talk to" he says, "Quite different from English girls!". I can only agree with him one hundred percent. Tomorrow lunch time we have invited Elvira out for a drink. She is the one whose parents have a villa in the south of France and invited us there when we were in Italy. She has become a good friend to both of us. Elvira is also a professional Opera singer, and is in her late thirties or early forties. Then in the evening we are taking Monica out for a drink. She is the one who helped us with our jobs with Freddie Dobbs, and has always thought a lot of us. Friday lunchtime is drinks with our workmates, and Friday evening is a special drink with my two most special friends, Bob and Jerry. They are the two guys that I will miss the most. Did I tell you that Bob's company is now making commercials for television?.. I will really hate saying good-bye to them. Still, that's the way it goes! One has to move on!.. Roger's brother and sister and their families have all been over to say good-bye. I dread having to say good bye to Roger's parents on Monday. They have been so kind to me and treat me as another son. Mrs C. wants to do my washing and mending before I go.. Saturday night is Desley and Jan's night out - one to look forward to. We took in our rubber model of Tyrannosaurus Rex in to the lab today to show Jerry. Of course more saw it than just Jerry, and all were very impressed. The animation tests on our movie camera came up first class with all the film processed and printed by friends at the lab. Saturday I have now left number 52 and am now over at Roger's.The Aarons made a big fuss over me and I had to promise them to write. We are busy organising the packing for the trip. Don't write any more until you hear from me. Canada here we come..............................
Keith's Story
Keith Madge arrived in the 16mm neg room in the Spring of '66. He was a friendly young fellow, openly gay, with mischievous eyes, a quick smile, and a good sense of humour. He at once targeted Barry for amorous attention and was rather bold in his advances. Unfortunately he was not easily discouraged, but a sense of humour prevailed which helped smooth out any difficulties. He never quite got the message though, and when Barry arrived back home in Australia in 1968, Keith made plans to emigrate. He continued to write and stated that he would be coming out in 1974, after he had a holiday in Turkey. Around April that year a letter arrived from Robin with the news that Keith had been killed in the crash of the Turkish Airlines DC10 while taking off from the Paris airport. It was the first crash of a passenger carrying wide bodied jet, and the worst aviation disaster so far, with all 346 on board being horrifically killed. It was later discovered that the DC 10 had a catastrophic design fault which allowed the cargo hold doors to detach in flight, which is what caused this DC10 to crash. This discovery did not help Keith and his fellow passengers who paid with their lives for the error made by the plane's designers. After this crash all DC 10s were modified to make the cargo door safer.
News & Events of the 1960's
1960: The year The Beatles formed, a loaf of bread cost 5p and a house £2,530
The debut episode of Coronation Street was screened in December, beginning what was supposed to be only a 16-part drama series.
The first working laser was demonstrated in May at Malibu, California, and two men in a submersible descended 10,916metres in the Marianas Trench in the Pacific – deeper below sea level than the height of Mount Everest.
At the summer Olympics in Rome, Cassius Clay – who later restyled himself Mohammad Ali – won gold in boxing, while Real Madrid won the European Cup Final 7-3 in front of a crowd of 135,000 at Glasgow's Hampden Park.
Australian Jack Brabham took the Formula One World Championship for the second time.
NEWS HEADLINES of the 60's from The Guardian
Police Fire Kills 63 Africans..
March 21 1960: On this day police opened fire on demonstrators in Sharpville, South Africa.
Mass Murderer of Jews Found:
May 23 1960: On this day Israeli agents captured Nazi war criminal, Adolf Eichmann. It later emerged that he had been living in Argentina.
Police Powerless Against Crowd
October 19 1960: Senator John Kennedy took the Democratic campaign to New York where he was cheered by adoring crowds.
Good news for Kennedy
October 27 1960: The New York Times backs John Kennedy, the first democratic candidate to win its support since 1944.
Kennedy calling on Nixon today
November 14 1960: The Manchester Guardian reports on the days following one of the closest presidential races in US history.
Mr Kennedy sets his sights - Thirty-fifth President of the United States
January 20 1961: America stopped for the inauguration of John F. Kennedy, and the ushering in of a period of renewed optimism in the White House.
Independence for Kuwait
June 20 1961: On this day in 1961, Britain granted Kuwait its independence. Here's how the Guardian's diplomatic correspondent Richard Scott reported the news.
Demonstrators defy armed policemen
August 12 1961: On this day the East German parliament voted to build a wall separating Berlin's eastern and western sectors and preventing East Germans from the crossing the frontier. Construction began immediately.
Home and dry after three orbits
February 20 1962: US astronaut Colonel John Glenn circled the Earth three times in the space capsule Friendship 7.
Marilyn is dead
August 6 1962: Marilyn Monroe was found dead in bed this morning in her home in Hollywood, only a physical mile or two, but a social universe, away from the place where she was born 36 years ago as Norma Jean Baker
Mississippi's long night
1 October 1962: On this day two died and many more were injured when rioting broke out after the first black student was admitted to the University of Mississippi
Mr Stevenson clashes with Mr Zorin
October 26 1962: The United States tonight demanded an immediate yes or no answer from Russia as to whether it had installed missiles in Cuba. But the Soviet delegate in the Security Council refused to answer at once.
Mr Kennedy welcomes 'statesmanlike move'
October 28 1962: On this day Nikita Kruschev agreed to dismantle the Soviet Union's Cuban missile bases, ending the crisis with the US.
11/2 m West Berliners greet Kennedy
June 26 1963: On this day in 1963 millions lined the streets of West Berlin to greet the US president.
Mail train robbery well over 1 million pounds
August 9 1963: One bank alone loses £500,000 in used notes.
200,000 demonstrate for civil rights
August 28 1963: Good order maintained in Washington.
President Kennedy assassinated
November 22 1963: Police arrest suspect.
Channel tunnel is final choice - 'a sound investment'
February 6 1963: On this day the British government announced their intention, in partnership with France, to build a Channel tunnel between the two countries.
Mr Profumo clears the air
March 23 1963: On this day John Profumo, the Secretary of State for War, addressed parliament over allegations about his friendship with Christine Keeler.
Statistic: "A woman was killed and four others injured..."
January 20 1964: One of the paper's most celebrated reader's contributions is a first hand account of a road accident. When it was issued as a road safety leaflet, 50,000 were ordered in the first 48 hours.
Beatle hysteria hits US
February 9 1964: 70 million viewers tuned in to watch the first appearance of the Beatles' American tour on the Ed Sullivan Show. This is how the Guardian reported their arrival in New York two days earlier.
US welcomes pilot's release
February 10 1964: United States and the Soviet Union exchanged captured nationals, each accused of spying, largely due to President Kennedy's conciliatory statement, for which he had been heavily criticised.
The Oscar at the end of Mr Poitier's 'long journey'
April 13 1964: On this day Sidney Poitier became the first black man to be awarded an Oscar in the category of best actor. He won it for his performance in "Lilies of the Field"
Mail train robbery: grave punishment for a grave crime
April 16 1964: On this day the infamous train robbers were sentenced to a combined 307 years in prison.
Young and foolish - with old-fashioned ideas
May 18 1964: On this day a weekend of clashes between the Mods and the Rockers culminated in a battle on Brighton beach.
Indians' anxious look at the era after Nehru
May 27 1964: On this day Jawaharial Nehru, India's leader since independence 17 years earlier, died.
LBJ signs Civil Rights Law
South Africa in the dock
June 13 1964, leader: On this day in a Pretoria court sentenced Nelson Mandela to life imprisonment for sabotage and plotting violent revolution.
Negro Boy tests Civil Rights Law
July 2 1964: On this day the Civil Rights Bill became law and Black Americans put their new freedoms to the test.
KKK men charged with murder
August 4 1.964: On this day the bodies of three civil rights activists, thought to have been murdered by local Ku-Klux-Klan members, were found in Mississippi.
First issue of the 'Sun'
September 15 1964: On this day the first issue of the Sun went on sale in Britain.
Maltese parties in skirmish
September 20 1964: Fireworks, bonfires, and peals of church bells marked Malta's independence at mid-night after a day of disorders.
Victory to the law
September 17 1964: After a non-violent battle over the bomb in Trafalgar Square last night the police emerged victorious early today after finally throwing their reserves into the lists.
Texas police find hidden arms
October 13 1964: A suspected plot to assassinate President Johnson is uncovered as he returns to Texas where President Kennedy was shot the year before.
Disturbing sermon on TV
October 20 1964: On this day Senator Goldwater, the Republican candidate, appeared on US television making a speech that was condemned by the Democrats as appealing to 'the prurient and the prejudiced.'
LBJ the Big Daddy of the South
October 26 1964: Lyndon Johnson campaigns in the South, appealing to his audience to embrace 'the New South,' which was to form part of his vision for civil rights reform.
Death of Winston Churchill
January 24. 1965: Britain in mourning at sudden death. Queen's message: The whole world is poorer.
Second train robber escapes from prison
July 9 1965: Great Train Robber Ronnie Biggs escaped from Wandsworth prison.
Causes sought as Watts smoulders
August 11 1965: On this day a black driver was arrested by a white policeman in the LA suburb of Watts provoking four days of rioting in the area.
Rhodesia Goes it Alone
November 11 1965: Smith declares UDI. An illegal act says Wilson.
Mrs Gandhi India's Premier
January 19 1966: Indira Gandhi followed in her father's footsteps and was elected Prime Minister of India, the first woman to hold the post.
Let Us Now Praise Famous Footballers
July 30 1966: On this day England won the World Cup at Wembley.
Knitting-needle ladder used by Blake to escape
October 22 1966: On this day George Blake, a soviet spy, escaped from Wormwood Scrubs and made his way to Russia
Coal Board blames hidden spring
October 21 1966: On this day 144 people, mainly children, were killed when their school was buried under a slag heap from the Aberfan coal tip.
Cathy Comes Home
November 17 1966: A review of the BBC's landmark play about homelessness, watched by 12 million people.
US spacemen die as rocket catches fire
January 27 1967: Cape Kennedy: Disaster during rehearsal for Apollo flight.
My son takes heroin
February 24 1967: Mollie Craven's candid article in the Guardian appealed for the parents of addicts to unite and combat the drug. It led to the formation of Addaction, the UK's leading substance abuse charity.
Barry McKnight & Roger Cowland fly to Canada.
March 14 1967: The two travellers left today from London's Heathrow Airport, flying by BOAC VC10 to Montreal. They were farewelled by a crowd of well wishers, including Her Majesty the Queen and Prince Phillip, who burst into a chorus of "Waltzing Matilda" as the duo boarded the BOAC jet.
