Liberal England in 2015: Part 2

April

I visited Burton Overy and founds its telephone box was now a library.

Keeping tabs on the general election campaign, I reported that the contest in Hampstead and Kilburn would go ahead despite death of a former Eurovision entrant.

Lord Bonkers remembered the making on Bomb on the Buses:

"Who could forget the scene where poor Olive is rescued from the speeding bus? Lines of dialogue such as 'Blimey, Stan, keep your foot down' and 'Don’t you dare touch that brake, Butler' were on everyone’s lips.

Two journalists recalled being in Leicester for the trial at Frank Beck, where allegations against Greville Janner were first heard in public.

I found a priceless fragment of my past in a 1978 issue of Antiquarian Book Monthly Review.





May

"The general election was bloody awful for the Liberal Democrats," I wrote in the Leicester Mercury with characteristic perspicacity.

I was cheered up by discovering the video above - a profile of the Spencer Davis Group from a 1966 programme called 'A Whole Scene Going'.

I passed the Homophobic Monk twice in one day and went to see the tomb of Richard III in Leicester Cathedral.

Meanwhile the Liberal Democrats were recruiting a surprising number of new members and I asked what the party could offer them.

I brought the world the first pictures of Tim Farron as a would be pop star and went to Pitsford to search for the Jack in the Green.

June

The Liberal Democrats mourned the early death of Charles Kennedy.

Wandering the back streets of Loughborough (as one does), I came across a memorial to the 1916 Zeppelin raid on the town.

Ron Moody, the original and best Fagin in 'Oliver!' had also died. I was pleased to discover that he had studied under Karl Popper.

Not for the first time, a batsman was out c Bairstow b Willey in a limited overs international.

Closer to home, I found the Aylestone Road ground in Leicester where the county played between 1901 and 1939 - see the photo above.

I also examined Norman Lamb's sudden enthusiasm for the right to die.


Now read...

Liberal England in 2015: Part 1
Libearl England in 2015: Part 3
Liberal England in 2015: Part 4