A series of articles covering the world-famous Blackpool Tower. Opened in 1894, the Tower has been a prominent landmark since then and is recognisable throughout the world.
Each article can be accessed by clicking or tapping the photographs below. A link at the end of each article will bring you back to this index page.
One day in 1979 we visited the Tower Circus and I phoned them up beforehand to ask if I could take photos. "There is no video or flash photography allowed." was the answer. So I pushed my film to 800 ASA and took these.
What I didn't do, was to note down the names of the performers. However thanks to the wonders of Google I can now say with confidence that the lady with the horses was Mary Chippenfield, from the famous circus family. She also presented a mixed cage of lions and tigers and for good measure also presented her elephants.
Judy Allen was the fire eater. I'm not keen on food that hot myself...
The Valla Bertini Troupe did trick cycling and a nifty line in catapulting their ladies from a springboard to the top of a human tower.
Finally, here are the Trio Victoria performing a balancing act on the small platform in the centre of the flooded ring as the finale to the show.
The circus ring has been flooded at the end of every performance ever since the Tower opened. The water is sea water and finale acts have included co-ordinated swimming acts in the water as well as acrobatic acts above the water.
On a somewhat windy 1975 day I took my then girlfriend, the delectable Miss Franny (she really was a "miss" then!) up to the top of Blackpool Tower.
Looking north with an unfortunate slight wobble - either me or the camera - the pier is Blackpool's North Pier, with the War Memorial in its garden close to the Metropole Hotel, which is the only hotel on the seaward side of the tram lines. In the distance, the coast curves gently inwards and then out again towards Fleetwood.
Looking east over the town. At the bottom of the photo is the Tower's great rival, the Winter Gardens with the distinctive ivory white tiles of the 1930s. This is the west entrance on Coronation Street. The glass dome is over the rotunda, behind the main Church Street entrance to the left. Further up Church Street are the blue and white tiles of the ABC theatre, opened in 1963. In 1975 comedy duo and brothers Mike and Bernie Winters were headlining.
Looking down... A sign warns that the throwing of any article whatsoever is strictly forbidden. Even a small coin dropped from that height could be fatal if it hit someone on the head.
A few photos of Blackpool Tower, taken in 1986.
Starting with a shot of the Tower as seen from South Promenade courtesy of my telephoto lens. The windmill was a replica only. It held a navigation light, visible out at sea and was generally found at the junction of Waterloo Road with the Promenade. A signpost on the right points out the direction to the Lido swimming baths, which were on the corner of Lytham Road with a street a little south of Waterloo Road.
A shot from the Central Pier. The tide has not long since gone out, as the sand is still dark and damp. The ice cream caravans, plus teas and snacks and seafood have all come out early as the tide recedes to get the best spot. The brightly coloured windbreaks are in evidence too - Blackpool is noted for its breezes!
Getting closer to the Tower. Woolworths have departed from their flagship building on the Promenade and Pricebusters have taken on the ground floor space, letting out stalls to market traders. On the north side of the Tower, the grand Lewis's building of the 1960s is still there, though its days are numbered.
By leaning against the railings at the very edge of the Promenade I can almost squeeze in a full image of the Tower, though even my wide-angle lens is unable to get both the very top and very bottom in the same shot. The Victorian arches over the doorways have been covered in garish plastic, though the archways are depicted in bright primary coloured spots.
As I cross the road to the front of the Tower, standing outside is "Little" Jimmy Buchanan, stooge to the great Charlie Cairoli. Jimmy was a star in his own right, recipient of Heaven only knows how many pies in the face over his many years performing with Charlie. He was happy to pose for this portrait which I hope brings out the warmth of his character.
Back once again to 1977 - a popular year at the moment on this blog, with articles on both Blackpool and the cinema from the pages of Film Review magazine currently ongoing!
Today we take an October visit to the Tower during the Illuminations. Before heading up to the lift for the top of the Tower, we'll stop to listen to the organ in the Tower Ballroom.
At this time, dancing was prohibited on Sundays and most people still adhered to the rule. The organist is Barry Jackson - Sorry! Harry Jackson, thanks to the sender of the comment below!
During the week the numbers of dancers had dropped from the heyday of hundreds of dancers on the floor. Here two couples and two children dance. Others sit at tables enjoying the music and dancing without feeling the need to join in. The ballroom was served by a bar at the rear of the room opposite the stage.
Heading up the floors of the Tower building to the roof garden. This had been the menagerie but was now transformed to a jungle adventure theme. Blackpool Zoo had taken the stock of animals, though there were a few flamingoes standing in one corner where a waterfall dropped into a small pool. There were a couple of monkeys too, in a cage at one end of the room - which I remember as consequently having a rather pungent smell. They soon joined their ex-colleagues at the zoo.
The trip up in the lift took a little longer than it does nowadays. For 1977 the Tower had been painted silver instead of the usual dark red. This was to commemorate the Queen's Silver Jubilee.
Here's a funny little memory: in the mid 1960s when I was about 12, there was one bit of wall at the top of the Tower that was whitewashed clean every year and then during the year visitors were allowed to write messages on it. I remember my brother and I decided to add my uncle's name and address and, as he was unmarried, we advertised for a girlfriend... And guess what? He got a letter! Not a whim on a free email, that wouldn't be possible for another 20 years. A real letter that someone had hand written, put into an envelope and paid for a stamp! He wasn't a bit amused...
A look south from the Tower top. No Big Wheel as yet graces the Central Pier and just before the pier to the left of the roadway lights the neon tower of Ripley's Odditorium can be seen.
Looking north past the North Pier, the Illuminations stretch along the cliffs past the Metropole Hotel and the Gynn towards Bispham.
Walking around the Tower top we look east over the town. The Winter Gardens is the most easily identified building. Littlewoods store is recognisable and the ABC is still open for business.
Looking down at the North Pier. These days when we can adjust our digital camera to sensitivities like 6400 ISO and take photos in near pitch dark it's easy to forget what it was like in the days of film. This was probably taken on 100 ASA (ISO) film. Without a tripod (hey and let's not forget that the Tower actually sways with the wind a bit) it would have been a miracle if I had managed to take a perfectly sharp photo. Most people started to introduce a bit of camera shake at 1/30th of a second. I had spent time as a professional photographer and could hand hold at around 1/4 of a second with 4 out of 5 photos being sharp. This probably needed a bit longer and I would have had the camera jammed against the railings.
The last couple of days I've been scanning some of my colour slides, taken in Blackpool. I'd love to say that my filing system for slides was as good as my system for black and white negatives - which were stored seven strips of five negatives in plastic or tissue pages in a binder. The page would be dated and the negatives numbered by strip with negatives A to E.
Colour slides were single photographs and whilst also mainly stored in similar albums on pages with 20 individual plastic pockets, many of them got taken out to be stored in those long magazines that fed into a projector ready for those winter nights when the "big screen" would come out. As different presentations were put together, some for family, others for the local photographic society etc. they inevitably got mixed up a bit and because I also used to send them off to magazines for publication it got too easy to get them mixed up and wonder what year they came from... So thirty years on, here's a few slides most of which I think come from 1986!
Looking up the Promenade from South Pier. The windmill opposite Waterloo Road was more for decoration than milling flour (which it never did). It originally was installed to disguise a ventilation shaft at Manchester Square in 1931 and was moved to the Promenade opposite Waterloo Road in 1963. It was illuminated during the autumn illuminations and the sails were motorised so they would turn. It was removed to allow the sea defences and new promenade work to take place a few years ago.
If any of these photos is not from 1986 then this is one of the most likely candidates. From 1976 to 1981 we lived adjacent to the Promenade near Manchester Square and at weekends would often just walk into town early on Saturdays. We then moved down south shore and a bit away from the Prom but it was still a regular occurrence for us to walk down to the sea front and into town.
Every morning the council used to send these lorries out to wash the Promenade roadway. High pressure jets on the front of the vehicle used to blast at the road surface and rotary brushes would follow. This does pre-date the June 2008 regulations requiring horse-drawn landau owners to fit dung catchers to their horses. At first ridiculed as "nappies" in the national press, the catchers, designed by the RSPCA, did play a huge role in cutting down the much criticised piles of pongy poo on the road.
A sunny day on the North Pier. The least commercialised of Blackpool's piers has always remained the favourite of sunbathers. The side benches may get a little uncomfortable after an hour, but deckchairs could be hired regardless of the state of the tide either on the northern side of the pier or in the sun lounge which not only provided shelter from the wind but had gentle entertainment from the organist.
The pier tram was later to commandeer the northern half stretch of the pier. But for now it was a quiet haven for relaxation. With few personal electronics and no Internet people read books, magazines and newspapers. The cassette-playing Sony Walkman was well established by 1986 and their first portable CD players (called Discman until 1999 when they became CD-Walkman) were brought out in 1984.
I remember taking this photograph from the pier one Saturday morning. During the week there had been a death from drowning in the sea which had been featured on the news and yet people still thought think of Blackpool as a gently sloping and therefore safe beach. There are currents and underflows however. This young lad isn't necessarily an idiot. But his parents... Respect the sea. It won't respect you at all...
Donkeys by law had a day off every week in Blackpool. Like the tourists themselves, the donkeys would lie in wait (well... stand in groups...) for the tide to go out and would then be amongst the first on the beach as soon as a bit of sand appeared. The first eager sun seekers were advised not to wear expensive shoes on the beach as feet are much easier to wash...
Walking past the front of Blackpool Tower one day I came across "Little" Jimmy Buchanan, stooge to the great Charlie Cairoli. Jimmy was a star in his own right, recipient of Heaven only knows how many pies in the face over his many years performing with Charlie. He was happy to pose for this portrait which I hope brings out the warmth of his character.
Having stepped as far back as possible and leaning backwards over the railings of the Promenade's edge, I almost manage to fit in the full height of Blackpool Tower with a wide-angle lens.
This one could be either 1984 or 1985. Taken at Blackpool Zoo it shows the female orang-utan Azimat with her daughter Victoria. Vicky was born in 1984 and is now the matriarch of the orang-utans at Blackpool with two daughters of her own, Cherie and Summer. Born with a dental problem, she was taught by keepers to bare her teeth for inspection and as a consequence delights zoo customers by grinning at them regularly!
The third article made up of photos from a recently unearthed photo album. All the photographs were taken of Blackpool in 1977. This was the Silver Jubilee year of Queen Elizabeth II and a time of exciting changes in Blackpool some of which are illustrated here.
Not all of the photos were taken on the same day. There's about 60 photos in the album. In 1977 there was no such thing as a digital camera, almost no such thing as a digital anything. Home computers were still a few years off and whilst there may have been the first few digital display watches coming out, anyone who answered "16:05" in response to being asked the time was probably looked at scathingly whilst saying "What's that in proper time?"
So these photos were taken on colour negative film. Technicolor film was a favourite of mine at the time, though I also used Kodacolor every now and then, or Fuji or other obscure brands like Barfen or Orwo which could be bought in bulk lengths through the photographic press and had to be loaded into cassettes in total darkness before being used in the camera. Bought films came in lengths for 12, 24 or 36 photographs and once exposed, films had to be taken to the local camera shop, chemist or the few specialist developing houses for the film to be developed and photos to be printed on special paper. The alternative was doing it yourself in a darkroom which for colour prints was a very fiddly business with some quite nasty chemicals.
The first photo today was obviously taken on quite a breezy day. The flags are flying well off the tethering ropes of the flag pole to the left of the Tower whose own flags, placed there for the Silver Jubilee, plus the excess material of people's seventies flared trousers are all showing the direction of the wind blowing off the Irish Sea!
Above the Promenade, the strings of sockets are waiting for the illumination bulbs to be fitted and over the roadway on the right the illuminations show a Chinese theme.
This looks as though it was taken on a brighter day! It shows a gang of workmen from the Corporation putting up the illuminations we saw in the previous photo. 1977 marked a bit of a changeover period for the illuminations. It was in the middle of several years in which the illuminations on lampposts along the roadway changed from these wooden flats, painted with designs that were then lit by coloured bulbs. Some of the bulbs were painted matt black on the outer part of the bulb so that viewers saw the lit board underneath rather than the glare of the bulbs themselves.
The extending lift of the Corporation wagon looks rather primitive by today's standards. One side of the lamppost has been fitted with its flat and the other lies on the ground. The lorry operative, dressed in overalls is scratching his head in conversation with someone hidden behind him, but the two men up on the gantry have seen me and are posing happily for their picture to be taken.
On the other side of the road in front of the wagon is the bright orange sign of the New Yorker Cafeteria. I have fond memories of sitting in it in the mid sixties, sipping scalding milky coffee (latte? What on earth is that???) out of clear glass Pyrex cups that sat on matching clear glass saucers whilst listening to The Beatles Yellow Submarine on the jukebox!
A little further along the Prom, we approach the Central Pier. A double deck "balloon" tram heads north up the track, closely followed by tramcar No.1 - a new-fangled tram adapted from the Brush railcoach tramcars and given extensions at each end so that they can be run as a One-Man-Only operation. The driver no longer has a cabin to himself, but is sitting as a bus driver would, with a ticket machine taking fares as people enter the tramcar. This leads to conductors losing jobs and also hold-ups along the line, as each tram has to stop longer for the driver to take fares. Due to the strange configuration of the ends of the tram, they came to be known as "coffin-trams".
The coffin tram here is rolling over the junction of the emergency line running down from Princess Street. This street was the first in the world to have an electric tram roll down it in 1885 but was in use only as an emergency route to the Promenade in case of a fire in the tram depot. Because there is a gap in the pavement for the trams, a sign warns car drivers that unauthorised vehicles must not be used or parked on the foreshore.
Looking to the right for a moment we can now see some of the new illuminations - a set showing puppies - made of fibreglass with the light bulbs housed internally and lighting the display from within.
Further up the Promenade again, to take this photo I am standing on the pedestrian bridge over the seafront roadway between New Bonny Street and Adelaide Street West. The trams are at the Tower tram stop where the line branches off to a third line. Trams for the Tower only stop on the middle line, one of whose passengers are disembarking in the photo. They then have their poles reversed here and then cross over to the southward line. At the bottom of the photo a tramway official is taking down the long hooked pole used to grab the tram pole which is pulled down off the line, often with a satisfying crackle of sparks and then swung round as the operator walks round the tram to position the pole under the line at the other end of the tram and slowly ease it upwards until it sits correctly on the line.
A Fleetwood-bound tram has swung into the branch on the left to continue its journey northwards. Further up the line a young man has cheekily tried to dart in front of the southwards coffin tram. The driver has sounded its hooter, causing the young man to take a spectacular flying leap to get out of the way. For most other towns in the UK, trams have not been seen on the road for over twenty years and visitors to Blackpool sometimes act as though they expect the trams to be able to swerve round them!
On the right hand side the illuminations at this point are the old-fashioned flats and are a series featuring steam locomotives. The bulbs along the streams of smoke from the funnels are controlled by elaborate banks of relays and flash on and off in sequence to give the illusion of smoke coming out of the funnel and along the top of the train. Very effective and in the absence of computers and gaming machines, they instil a sense of wonder in children who see them.
Taken from the bottom of the pedestrian bridge (it can just be glimpsed overhead in the top left corner) we see the girder framework of a new building on the Golden Mile. A sign tells us that it will be called Coral Island and that it is scheduled to be opened in May 1978. Locals tut over the size of it, as most amusement arcades along the Golden Mile at this point in time are nowhere near as big as this is going to be. Others are still sighing as they look at the site, remembering the heydays of Blackpool Central Railway Station which occupied the rear of this site until its closure and demolition.
We are close to the Tower. Looking up we can see that the Tower top has been painted silver in honour of the Queen's Silver Jubilee. This brings us to the end of article No.3. In the next article we'll have a look at both sides of the Promenade, as even the side next to the beach and sea is very different to today.
I was in town this morning as the ladies of the Little Egg Graft Company - Fran and daughter Gill - are doing a craft fair at the Winter Gardens.
I was drafted in to convey them and their goods to the Winter Gardens where they are sharing a stand with Jeannie who is selling her hand-made greetings cards. David and I went off to Quilligan's for some breakfast and then took back bacon and sausage barms for the ladies.
Then I mooched around the Dealers' Den stalls for a bit and found a few old postcards to share.
This one caught my eye first - Blackpool from an aeroplane. It shows the Tower with the Alhambra next door to the north and the Big Wheel at the Winter Gardens. The Big Wheel was demolished in 1928 but this is an earlier view - the card was posted in July 1922, postage costing one old penny.
The second shows the wrecked ship of the line HMS Foudroyant which was displayed off Blackpool's seafront as part of a fund-raising tour. Blackpool's weather did it no good at all. On 16 June 1897 a cable parted in hurricane strong winds and she dragged her remaining anchor, clipped the North Pier and beached herself to the north of the pier opposite Cocker Square.
She had acted as flagship to a number of admirals including Nelson, whose captain for a while was Thomas Hardy, destined to be Nelson's captain later on HMS Victory.
She remained on the beach for several months and was finally broken up at the end of 1897.
Regular readers will know I love these little fantasy "night" shots. Taken in broad daylight - as witness all the people on the beach - and darkened at the photographic printing stage with lights and windows painted in and a sky with a full moon - probably a coin placed on the photographic paper that became the master - added at the printing stage. For a while the Tower really did have a very strong searchlight which played over the sands and the Promenade, but the moon has never been seen so far north... Indeed the only message written on the postcard is "? moon in north"
