Coventry, Cars and Stars

We spent the weekend down in the Midlands this week. We decided to visit the NEC on Sunday for the Comic Con and Memorabilia Show at which we could catch up with a couple of friends and looking to make a weekend of it, we decided to stay in the Coventry area and visit the Transport Museum there.

I booked a room in a decent hotel between Coventry and the NEC where the event was being held over the weekend. We drove down from Blackpool and found a convenient car park near the motor museum. We had a spot of lunch in the museum's cafeteria and then went to look round the exhibits. The museum is free to enter and concentrates on vehicles that were made in the area. Vehicles of all sorts from bicycles to motorbikes to cars. During World War II local companies stopped car production to make armoured cars and tanks and other firms made vans, buses and emergency vehicles. All are represented in the museum's collection.

I always think it unfair to show too much of a museum's stock, so there are just a few of my favourites here. This is Queen Mary's 1935 Daimler. The National Motor Museum loaned it to the owners of the ocean liner Queen Mary, by then a floating hotel in Long Beach, California. It stood on the deck of the ship for ten years exposed to the weather and was bought by the Coventry Museum in 1984 since when it has been restored.

The 1938 Alvis Speed 25. This car was owned by the Alvis company's owner. What an impressive solid looking piece of machinery it is! Just right for roaring through the countryside on the quiet roads of the time!

Myself, I always look for the late 1950s and 1960s cars of my childhood. The ones family members drove and my own first few cars. My Dad always bought Fords during my childhood and they weren't built in Coventry but I did find my first "proper" car (I had a Reliant 3-wheeler at 16). My first four-wheeled car was a 1961 Hillman Minx, registration 485 TD.

The strange vehicle shown here is a 1948 Tippen Coventry Chair. A hand-propelled vehicle designed for invalid soldiers following World War II. They were a sad but frequent sight in the mid to late 1950s of my childhood.

The Thrust SSC World Land Speed Record car. This car broke the world land speed record on October 15, 1997 by reaching the speed of 763 miles per hour. For me the magic went out of the World Speed Record when the power plant stopped turning the wheels but just thrust the car forward on free-spinning wheels. "It's not really a car is it?" another visitor commented to his elderly father. That sums it up entirely. A rocket on a track is still a rocket not a train. These are not cars - they are aeroplane engines mounted on wheels!

It was mid-afternoon when we came out of the museum and we decided to have a look around the city centre and to visit the cathedral.

We came first to the Church of the Holy Trinity. It had this well-worn set of steps leading up to a door. The church dates back in records to 1113, though a fire in 1257 destroyed the original building. It was rebuilt following the fire and the walls were painted with scenes from the Bible. One of these, long covered over by material such as varnish which with age had gone opaque, was rediscovered and restored in 2004. It shows Jesus and His Disciples at the Last Judgement. Jesus is judging the souls of Men some of whom will enter the Kingdom of Heaven and the others, including bishops and kings and ale-wives (who were universally hated as they were believed to water the ale they sold) trembling before the Mouth of Hell. The painting is known as the Coventry Doom.

The Parish Church of St Michael was described in 1138 as standing "in the Bailey" - so within Coventry Castle. The original chapel was rebuilt in the 1300s-1500s. The present condition of the cathedral is down to nine terrible hours on the evening and night of 14 November 1940. Coventry had been bombed before, but the prolonged raid of that night destroyed much of the city centre and with it, the cathedral.

A few tiny portions of stained glass are all that remain of the shattered windows. The Undercroft still exists and is currently undergoing restoration work.

Above ground, only the tower and spire and external walls survived the night. It was decided to let these stand as witness to Coventry's most desperate night and a new cathedral was built next to it.

Close by the walls of the old cathedral stands this water pump. A reminder of the times when water had to be collected rather than obtained by the turning of a tap.

The Golden Cross pub is also lucky in having survived the incendiaries of the Luftwaffe. Dating from 1583 it has three stories each of which are wider than the floor below. It was extended considerably in 1968, the original covering an area roughly half as big as the present building.

We found the hotel easily enough and unpacked our few things for the following day and then went out to eat at another local hostelry. The following morning we were looking forward to catching up with a couple of friends who we knew were attending the Memorabilia show, the actresses Caroline Munro and fellow Bond Girl and Hammer Horror star, Martine Beswick. I had also seen from advertisements that Liv Tyler would be there, though the advertised price of her autographs looked a little high. Anyway as we took our seats for breakfast, the Lady Arwen of Rivendell was sitting just a few tables away...

The pairing of Memorabilia with a comic convention has done no favours to those people who used to attend and enjoy looking at and buying old toys, magazines, books and records. The comics stalls are still there but mostly the Marvel and DC comics are being replaced by the Manga style comics and the old British comics such as Beano, Dandy, Eagle, Look & Learn and so on have all but disappeared. The same has happened to the collecting cards displays. Gone are the 1970s chewing gum collections of American Civil War and Outer Limits cards. Now they all depict young (very young!) huge-eyed, green or purple-haired and cat-eared heroines dressed in the tiniest of skirts.

The paying customers too are dressed as their heroes and heroines. Young and not-so-young girls in skimpy costume - some almost indecently so - wander about clutching ferocious-looking cardboard weapons. Pictured is Sauron himself - done on the cheap. His cardboard morning star had dents but his figure was impressive as he was walking on stilts under his black robe. "I can't keep up, walk slower!" complained his attendant orc... I refrained from taking too many photos. The lion whose back is towards me had his head pushed up in an attempt to breathe. He was not too many years behind me in age I think. As I suspect was one rather tubby Spider-Man showing a rather comical visible panty line under his costume...

We found Caroline and Martine and chatted for a while and then wandered around the other celebrities - a Dr Who contingent and several recognisable chaps even without their armour from TV's Game of Thrones. Liv Tyler and Lee Majors, the Six Million Dollar Man along with a few others were sitting signing photos that you had to buy before being allowed to approach them. The queues were huge. In truth they would have not been able to sign all those photos if they had not been kept away from the casual observers. I'll make do with having seen that beautiful face at breakfast!

Memorabilia Show November 2014

We had a run out today down to Birmingham to meet up with some friends we've come to know over the years. The Memorabilia Show is run twice a year at Birmingham NEC and also has a slot in London. This year it was teamed with a Comic Con - one of those conventions where a sizeable proportion of the visitors dress in costume. There were super heroes, manga characters, Jedi knights, Tuscan raiders, Jawas and a couple of Princess Leias from Star Wars, a few Jokers, a lot of Harlequins (some quite sexy, some quite gross) and a plethora of Poison Ivys from Batman and er... a couple of Lego men...

There were also lots of Gothic horror characters from the likes of Twilight, Hunger Games and so on. Apart from all the weaponry, there were acres of flesh on display, much of it concentrated on just a minority of people... eeeew! Costumes ranged from slinky, to really authentic looking to... yes, well, there was at least one made of painted corrugated cardboard.

It made for a much more geeky Memorabilia than when it was teamed with a sports theme, but we were there to meet some friends we've made over the years, most of whom were first met at such shows.

Caroline Munro (Career highlights [will follow this approach for all artists below]: The Spy Who Loved Me, The Golden Voyage of Sinbad, Journey To The Centre of The Earth, Dracula AD72 etc) has been a friend since 1997. We first met at a quite early Memorabilia show, when she was sitting with that other lovely star of the big screen, Ingrid Pitt. I remember her days as a model who appeared regularly in Amateur Photographer and Practical Photography in the late 1960s. Then she won a ten year contract starring in adverts for Lambs Navy Rum.

She was the female lead in Golden Voyage of Sinbad and became the only actress contracted to Hammer Films, appearing in Dracula AD72, I Don't Want To Be Born (aka The Monster) and Captain Kronos, Vampire Killer. She memorably eclipsed Barbara Bach, the female lead in the James Bond film, The Spy Who Loved Me, playing Naomi, the beautiful assistant to the villain Stromberg. She is memorably killed when pursuing Bond and Russian Agent Amasova when her helicopter is blown up by a missile fired from their submerged car-submarine. Her wink at Bond as she flies past him is always included in the top Bond film sexy moments.

We've had the pleasure of showing Caroline some of the better places to eat in Blackpool and whenever I'm in London we try to meet up for a drink and a natter. A nicer person you just couldn't hope to meet.

Martine Beswick (From Russia With Love, Thunderball, Dr Jeckyll and Sister Hyde, One Million Years BC, A Bullet For The General, Slave Girls, etc) I met Martine through Caroline and spent a couple of hours one afternoon acting as her minder at a signing. She was one of the fighting gypsy girls in From Russia With Love and met a sticky end as Bond's colleague Paula Caplan in Thunderball. She was the brunette counterpart and main rival to Raquel Welch's blonde in One Million Years BC and was the female Hyde to Ralph Bates' Dr Jeckyll in Hammer's Dr Jeckyll and Sister Hyde. Few men would disagree that her dance in the Hammer film Slave Girls (aka Prehistoric Women) is something every man should see before he dies...

Carole Ashby (Chariots of Fire, Octopussy, 'Allo 'Allo, Bergerac, Minder, Dr Quinn Medicine Woman etc.) Carole is probably best remembered as Louise of the Communist Resistance in TV's 'Allo 'Allo. She was one of Octopussy's gang of female circus gymnasts. A real character is Carole - she once had me sitting on her knee for some photos with Helene Hunt, one of her colleagues from Octopussy - how could I refuse...? The first time I met her, a sound technician was feeding a mini-microphone up her shirt and out of her neckline. A tough job, but someone has to do it... She's a delight to talk to.

Shane Rimmer (This could take all day even sticking to the highlights: Dr Strangelove or: How I Learned To Stop Worrying and Love The Bomb, Thunderbirds, Captain Scarlet, Joe 90, The Saint, UFO, Rollerball, Space 1999, Star Wars Episode IV A New Hope, The People That Time Forgot, The Spy Who Loved Me, Superman, Hanover Street, Secret Army, Superman II, Ghandi, Superman III, Lace, Out of Africa, Whoops Apocalypse, Coronation Street, Lipstick On Your Collar, Batman Begins, etc etc etc...) A modest Canadian with the oh so recogniseable voice - yes! Scott Tracy from Thunderbirds!!! He has an amazing list of 154 credits on the Internet Movie Database going right back to 1957 (remember Hawkeye and the Last of The Mohicans? I didn't mention at least three other James Bond films and he was in just about every TV series in the 1960s including Danger Man, Dr Who, Orlando, The Saint, The Persuaders, The Protectors, Quiller, Hadleigh... - the man is a legend!

He was in The Spy Who Loved Me with Caroline so I got to know him as he was often sat next to her and we'd chat when she got busy with other fans. He was telling me he has even found time to write a book, a thriller called Long Shot. You can buy it as an Kindle book at Amazon.

Now, this lady I hadn't met before. Margaret Nolan aka model Vicki Kennedy is probably best known for playing the masseuse, Dink, in the early stages of Goldfinger. She too has a list of credits as long as your arm, including A Hard Day's Night, Crossroads, Carry On Cowboy, The Great St Trinian's Train Robbery, Witchfinder General, Nearest and Dearest, Carry On Henry, Carry On At Your Convenience, The Persuaders, Steptoe and Son, Carry On Matron, Budgie, Carry On Girls, Carry On Dick etc. Very friendly and the beauty of that 1960s glamour girl is still there shining out!

Fenella Fielding (Carry On Regardless, Doctor In Love, Doctor In Distress, The Avengers (TV), Doctor In Clover, Carry On Screaming, Drop Dead Darling, The Prisoner, Lock Up Your Daughters etc.) The legendary vamp who played up her man-eating image in a couple of Morecambe and Wise TV shows, Fenella Fielding is the only person featured here that I didn't meet through the Memorabilia shows. I first met her at one of Ingrid Pitt's birthday parties-cum-fan club dinners when, to the envy of all other men in the room, I found myself sitting next to her for the night. There was a very glamorous blonde sitting opposite me too - either Ingrid was looking after me or she was trying her best to get Miss Franny sore at me... Anyway I spent the evening acting what I like to call "charming and witty" and what others like to call "like a prat"... I've met Fenella a couple of times since and she always remembers me - hopefully for all the right reasons! Sorry for the awkward pose, there wasn't a gap in the tables at this point and I wouldn't expect a lady to climb over...

Wow... Wish I could write this sort of article every day lol!

Hobnobbing November 2011 Part 2

I meant to publish this one last Sunday... It was last Saturday when we went with David and Jeannie down to Birmingham to meet up with Caroline Munro, who was at the Memorabilia Show.

When we got there she had a massive queue of people in front of her. I recognised a couple of mates sitting with celebs as minders and they were waving to indicate the size of the queue and raising eyebrows and thumbs at me.

We stayed to say "Hello" and exchange hugs and then left her to get on with talking to fans who were now queued up behind us. We promised to come round again and she pointed us towards where Martine Beswick was sitting so we went off to boast again about being grandparents to her!

Martine has had two featured Bond roles and a walk-on part to make the hat trick and was the dark-haired counterpart to Raquel Welch's blonde in Hammer's One Million Years BC, going on to play a memorable part in the same company's Dr Jeckyll and Sister Hyde.

Lindsay was acting as her minder and I nudged him to get some of his wonderful celebrity sketches out. He's a talented lad!

Then I spotted another acquaintance. I sat next to Fenella Fielding at one of Ingrid Pitt's birthday-party-cum-fan-club-nights. She remembered us and we spent a while chatting.

There was a large number of other famous people here and there at the show. So much so that I found a young lady sitting all on her own on a row of seats with no one taking any notice of her. Always a sucker for a pretty face I said hello and then noticed her photos showed slightly more than her face - but those bits were quite pretty too...

Festival of Fantastic Films

I'm sorry - I can't help the grin!

But, be honest, if you were sitting with two famous movie stars from both Hammer Horrors and James Bond then I rather think a grin might come over your face too! On the left is Martine Beswick, one of the fighting gypsies from "From Russia With Love", a helping agent in "Thunderball", star of "Prehistoric Women", "Dr Jeckyl and Sister Hyde", Raquel Welch's rival in "One Million Years BC" and many more.

On the right is Caroline Munro, a friend for an incredible ten years, the helicopter girl from "The Spy Who Loved Me", star of "The Golden Voyage of Sinbad", "Captain Kronus, Vampire Hunter", "Starcrash", Dracula victim from "Dracula AD 1972", the model from the Lamb's Navy Rum posters of the 1970s and 80s, and though she looks far too young, the "Face of 1966", the competition that started her career.

It has been a rather wonderful day...!

What? What do you talk about with such people? Er... dreaming of flying was one of the topics... Oh come on - yes you do...!

Sunday in London

Well I got to London on time - Virgin Trains actually got in a little early although it was a long journey compared to the more usual weekday one! We went via Coventry and all round the houses it seemed.

Met up with Fran and Gill on Trafalgar Square where they were resting their feet and getting splashed by the spray from the fountain every time the wind blew their way. They didn't have a great deal of time with me as they have to get over to Stansted for their flight back. Why oh why are Ryanair stopping their Blackpool/Stansted flights? Doesn't seem to make sense, every time I've been on them they have been very nearly full and over the past few years I've used them quite a bit!

When you consider the cost of train fares if you have to book close to the date of travelling, being able to get a flight and then be in London by 10:00am was brilliant! Even considering the train to and from Stansted-Liverpool St station, it was still less than half the price of Virgin's fare.

We had a trundle up Regent Street and into the big HMV on Oxford Street where I was delighted to find at last a DVD of "Prehistoric Women", a Hammer film starring the lovely Martine Beswick as a queen of a tribe of women stumbled upon by Michael Latimer. I've met Martine several times over the last few years, she was a Miss Jamaica, a stunning beauty in the 1960s (and not at all hard on the eyes now!) who starred in several of Hammer's films and a couple of Bond films; "From Russia With Love" as a fighting gypsy girl and "Thunderball" as one of Bond's doomed helpers! Anyway, I've never watched this film before so I will enjoy that once I get home again!

A relaxing night in store I think - chance to finish my book, the 10th in Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series. And yes... I did bring No.11 with me!