FREEDOM PASS WETHERSPOONS PART 9
FREEDOM PASS WETHERSPOONS PART 9
I'm all finished. It took less time than I expected, although sweeping up the last few has been slow as I try to tie in local events. Also, I had to wait for fine weather for those I'd paired with outdoor attractions. Now I know how General Eisenhower felt in 1944 as he waited for the skies to clear. It finally stopped raining in London on June 6, exactly 80 years after D-Day, and I was able to mobilise .... not towards Normandy, but The Tailor's Chalk in Sidcup.
So I was able to complete my quest on June 16 - at the Crystal Palace Beer Festival, handily a couple of hours before England's Euro 2024 opener, an edgy 1-0 win over Serbia.
In part 10 I'll deliberate on what quest to invent next to amuse myself (suggestions welcome) when I'm not watching the football, T20 cricket and Olympics. It was a late kick-off but summer seems to be here at last. So, sitting in my garden with a good book and glass of shiraz might suffice.
The George Wanstead - Part 9
There are a few non-too-subtle references to the fact this pub, built in 1903 replaced the George and Dragon Inn which hade stood on an adjacent site. The bizarre dragon chair is totally impractical and doesn't even scare the children.
The Tailor's Chalk - Sidcup (June 6, 2024)
This cosy pub was formerly numbers 47 and 49 High Street, originally two shops –
part of a parade built in late Victorian times. For many years a succession of bespoke tailors at number 49 marked their cloth for cutting and sewing with tailor's chalk. Incidentally, tailor's chalk is usually made from talc, not chalk.
To find something of interest locally I consulted my AI oracle, ChatGPT, and it came up with "Foots Cray Meadows is a large park which offers a pleasant escape from the urban environment, with meadows, woodlands, and the river Cray running through it. It's great for walks, picnics, or just enjoying nature". What ChatGPT didn't tell me is it's a 40-minute walk from the pub to the must-see feature of Foots Cray Meadows' - the Five Arch Bridge.
But it's a very pleasant day, so I gird my loins and, fortified by a Spoons bacon sarnie, set off for what turns out to be a superb walk.
The Five Arch Bridge is certainly worth the trek; and is said to be even more picturesque when the daffodils are out.
The bridge was completed in the early 1780s when Lancelot 'Capability' Brown undertook a relandscaping of the surrounding area, then comprising two manor houses.
Electric fishing, or electrofishing, is not as brutal as it sounds. An electric field produces an involuntary muscle reaction in the fish, known as galvanotaxis, which makes them swim towards the (positive) anode. As they get closer they are temporarily stunned and can be netted, usually for the purposes of research.
It's unlikely, but animals shocked in the electrified water can suffer paralysis and drown. Not so this damp dog who seemed unfazed (or unphased, as it's DC not AC).
J.J. Moon's - Wembley (June 8, 2024)
All 700,000 tickets for the Taylor Swift concerts at Wembley Stadium were sold out. But there were a few left for England v Iceland .....
Eighty thousand is an impressive crowd for a friendly against a team 68 places below England in the FIFA rankings. I don't wish to elaborate on the result (0-1). What I will say is that a disappointing game doesn't seem quite as bad if you're actually there rather than in front of the TV.
Wembley Stadium has the largest roof-covered seating capacity (90,000) in the world, which says much about Britain's fickle weather. It also boasts more toilets (2,618) than any other stadium, which says much about the British tradition of downing a few pints before the game.
At the front of Wembley stands a twice-size statue of the great Bobby Moore, England's 1966 World Cup winning captain. There are currently three statues of Moore in London, one more than the Queen.
The first of the three was a recreation of the iconic picture of Moore being held aloft by Geoff Hurst and Ray Wilson with Martin Peters alongside. The only obvious thing the sculptor changed from the original image was the grimace on Wilson's face. That's me in the foreground, sporting the number 6 shirt I wore for a 5k charity run in aid of the Bobby Moore Cancer Fund. The statue stands in East Ham, near to the site of Upton Park, West Ham's old stadium.
When West Ham moved to the Olympic Stadium in Stratford they wanted to take the statue with them. But Newham Council, who had contributed to the cost of it, refused permission. So West Ham commissioned another statue with Peters and Hurst holding Moore aloft with the European Cup Winners' Cup, won by West Ham in 1965.
Martin Peters died in 2019. His ashes are interred in the base of the statue. Hurst is now the last surviving member of the 1966 winning team. Aged 82, he looked to be in good health when interviewed on the pitch before the Iceland game. Three other members of the 22-man squad are still alive - Terry Paine, Ian Callaghan and George Eastham.
J.J. Moon's - Kingsbury
This pub feels a bit like an old folks home, typified by the grey-haired Indian card school in one corner. Wetherspoons isn't licensed for gambling so they're not playing for money. However, they are taking it very seriously and have their own chips, so will probably settle up later.
Television pioneer John Logie Baird at one time worked from Kingsbury Manor (above) in
Roe Green Park. He erected eighty foot masts to receive, from Berlin, the first TV pictures broadcast from the continent. This was in 1929 and the following year he received the first combined transmission of sound and vision. The masts were dismantled during WWII so as not to provide markers for German bombers.
George Michael spent most of his childhood in Kingsbury. He was a pupil at Kingsbury High School, used for filming in the first two series of BBC's Grange Hill.
The Moon Under Water - Watford
This is the fifth, and last, Moon Under Water on my radar. It opened in 1995 having previously been the Empress Winter Gardens (1917-1921), the Bohemian Cinema (1921, for one month), and various shops.
The walls of the pub are festooned with the stories of famous (and infamous) Watfordians including rogue trader Nick Leeson, responsible for the collapse of Barings Bank, and roguish footballer/actor Vinny Jones.
There's not a lot else for me to do in Watford - the museum is currently being relocated and the Colosseum Theatre renovated. It was one of top 20 places to shop in the UK in 2019 which is of little interest to me.
The Whispering Moon - Wallington
2024 1934
The Whispering Moon in well-heeled Wallington was once an Odeon cinema. Gracie Fields and Laurel and Hardy were featured on the opening night in May 1934.
This is lavender country, represented by a sculpture outside the local Sainsbury's .....
..... the lavender starts to bloom towards the end of June and is at its most glorious in July and August.
Carew Manor is now the home of Carew Academy, a school for special-needs children. The manor has a rich history, notably as the home of Elizabeth Throgmorton, a maid of honour to Elizabeth I. Sir Walter Raleigh was sent to the Tower after secretly marrying Throgmorten without the Queen's approval. But the marriage survived for the rest of his life. After Sir Walter had been beheaded by James I, Lady Raleigh kept her husband's embalmed head in a bag until her death nineteen years later. That's the sort of commitment you don't see these days, despite 'bags for life' being available at most supermarkets.
A mother of all dovecotes, once part of Carew Manor, still stands. At one time it contained over 1,300 nesting boxes. (Vegetarians look away now). Newly born birds had their wings clipped so they could not fly away. The adult birds would continue to feed their fledglings which became very fat and considered a delicacy. "Oh no, not bloody dove again" was doubtless a frequent conversation-stopper at meal times.
The Nonsuch Inn - Cheam
The Nonsuch Inn is also on the site of a former cinema - the Granada - opened in 1937 by film star Jessie Matthews.
The pub is named after the magnificent Nonsuch Palace, commissioned by Henry VIII to outshine the King of France's Palace of Fontainebleau. A full-size statue of Henry VIII in The Nonsuch wasn't there a few days before my visit, having been stolen. As the thieves legged it they told astonished drinkers they needed Henry for a funeral. The reason remains a mystery. Anyhow, it was returned non the worse for wear. But is putting it back by the front door a good idea?
Henry declared there was none such like his new palace, and the name stuck. But he died just before it was completed. Nonsuch Palace remained standing for the next 150 years, until 1863, when it was demolished by Barbara Villiers, Baroness Nonsuch, a mistress of Charles II. She sold off the remains to settle her gambling debts.
Nothing remains of the palace which stood in today's Nonsuch Park ....
Later, Nonsuch Mansion, was built as the centrepiece to the park .....
The listed mansion can now be hired for events. It has a café and a nice museum with a fine model of Nonsuch Palace. The museum is open on Sunday afternoons in the summer - and free.
For Britain's older generation, Cheam will forever be associated with King Charles and Tony Hancock.
The young Prince Charles attended Cheam Private School, founded in 1645. But, by then the school had moved to Hampshire. However, his father, the Duke of Edinburgh, was a pupil in Cheam before the relocation.
In his radio and TV shows, comedian Tony Hancock lived at the fictitious 23 Railway Cuttings, East Cheam.
The Moon & Stars - Penge (June 16)
Much is made of the fact every Spoons has it's own bespoke carpet, someone even published a book about it. But, I have to say the connections have rarely been apparent apart from a select few, this being one of them.
The Moon and Stars is yet another pub with a silver screen connection. From 1937 to 1976 an art deco Odeon cinema stood on this site. The final show was the double bill of At The Earth's Core starring Doug McClure and The Red Pony with Henry Fonda.
The building then (inevitably) became a bingo hall before being demolished in 1994.
Two celebs lived in adjacent houses (above) in Thornsett Road, Anerley, within walking distance of the pub.
English poet and novelist Walter de la Mare, his wife Elfrida and their four daughters lived at number 14, 'the scene of many parties', according to Wikipedia, 'with regular sessions of charades'. De la Mare lived to be 83 and is buried in crypt of St Paul's Cathedral, where he was once a choirboy.
When he retired Thomas Crapper moved to number 12 and spent the last six years of his life there. The world's all-time most famous plumber is often erroneously credited with inventing the flush toilet. But he did invent the U-bend which replaced the S-bend. He also improved the floating ballcock. Incidentally, the popular belief that the slang word "crap" is derived from Crapper's name is also a myth. When the word first appeared in the Oxford English Dictionary Thomas was barely off his potty. However, it is said that American GIs stationed in Britain during WWI adopted crapper as slang for 'toilet' after spotting the name on the sanitaryware.
The highlight of my Penge excursion was a day out at Crystal Palace Park, just fifteen minutes walk from the Moon and Stars.
I'd cunningly delayed my visit to coincide with the Crystal Palace Beer Festival. I even booked in advance - just as well as it was a sell-out.
There were 54 tipples to choose from and I'd not heard of any of them. So I opted for the one with the most interesting name amongst those with the highest ABV rating - Carry Me Home at 6% (Guinness is 4.2%). It turned out to be an inspired choice, unlike the Steady Rolling Man recommended by the barman which was too fizzy and acidic for my liking despite being described as 'a heady concoction of old-time blues records and juicy American hops in all their glory'.
As I raised my plastic souvenir 'glass' of Carry Me Home to my lips I was reminded that the day before (June 15) was the anniversary of the Magna Carta being signed. In the small print of this historic document of 1215, alcoholic drink measures were standardised. Translated from the Latin 'There is to be one measure of wine throughout our kingdom, and one measure of ale, the London quarter'. A London quarter was two imperial English pints, and still is, and forever will be.
But I wasn't just 'here for the beer'.....
So it gets its own separate report: click here.
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