The Fire Bell

A memory from South Petherton,

“Most dread of all childish night time fears was the Fire Bell. It was rung by smashing a piece of glass to get at the rope and the faster the bell the more urgent the massage to the firemen. The engine was pushed out, the horses fetched and they all got off to a noisy, flying start, to the burning hay or straw or farm buildings.”

Fire Drill

This memory comes from the Somerset village of Axbridge,

“An excitement was the local Fire Brigade, which consisted of a four wheeled horse drawn manual pump operated by local volunteers. It was kept in the Town Hall and the Fire Bell was on top of the roof coming down to a glass faced box at the front of the Hall outside, and one gave the alarm by breaking the glass to ring the bell. There was rarely an actual fire but fire drill was held at quite frequent intervals. The pump was filled manually from the two wells at the bottom of the Church steps. The target was usually Lloyd’s Bank premises, the Manager being the Chief Fire Officer.

Progressing Backward

In 1925 Gertrude Jekyll remarked about the roads…

The road was a kind of world in itself, full of personnel incident and human story. Now nearly all of this is swept away: much that went by is now carried by rail and the roads are rendered offensive and unsightly by the petrol traffic and its needs.

Our roadsides, formerly beautiful with wild flowers and grasses, are now defiled with heaps of rank-smelling tarred stones and collections of empty tar barrels, the roads themselves are offensive with a half-stiffing tar, and their edges are harshly defined by a pitiless line of cement blocks. So much for modern improvement everything for haste and hurry – nothing for peace and quiet enjoyment and use of life. Surely there was truth in the mouth of the wise man who said we were ‘progressing backward’!

The Bentley Boys

The Bentley Boys were a group of gentlemen racers who drove Bentley sports cars to victory in the 1920s. In 1925, as the marque foundered, Bentley Boy Woolf Barnato bought the company, leading to the creation of the famous supercharged Bentley Blower car.

The Bentley Boys included:

• Woolf "Babe" Barnato, heir to Kimberley diamond magnate Barney Barnato
• Dr. J. Dudley "Benjy" Benjafield
• Sir Henry "Tim" Birkin
• Dale Bourne
• Frank Clement
• S. C. H. "Sammy" Davis, automotive journalist, Sports Editor of The Autocar
• John Duff
• George Duller, steeplechaser
• Clive Dunfee
• Jack Dunfee
• Baron d’Erlanger, playboy
• Clive Gallop, engineer
• Glen Kidston, aviator
• Bertie Kensington Moir
• Bernard Rubin, pearl fishery magnate

At one point, on a bet, Barnato raced Le Train Bleu from Cannes to Calais, then by ferry to Dover and finally London, travelling on public highways with normal traffic, and won; the special-bodied 6.5 L car became known as the Blue Train Bentley.

Thanks to the dedication of this group to serious racing, the company, located at Cricklewood, north London, was noted for its four consecutive victories at the 24 hours of Le Mans from 1927 to 1930. Their greatest competitor at the time, Ettore Bugatti, whose lightweight, elegant, but fragile creations contrasted with the Bentley's rugged reliability and durability, referred to them as "the world's fastest lorries".

A great deal of Barnato's fortune went to keeping Bentley afloat after he became chairman in 1925; but the Great Depression destroyed demand for the company's expensive products, and it was finally sold off to Rolls-Royce in 1931

The victorious Speed Six team at Le Mans in 1930.  On the extreme left is Barnato's chauffeur.  Fifth from left standing is W O. Bentley with, on his left, Sammy Davis (in beret), Frank Clement, Barnato, Glen Kidston, Clive Dunfee and Dick Watney.  Mechanic Stan Ivermee is above Barnato and Hassan is above Kidston, with Kemish next to him.


By 1930 the 4½ litre supercharged ‘Blower’ cars were running and Birkin entered a team of three for the 1927 Le Mans race.  W O Bentley entered the works team of three 6½ litre cars.With 18 cars on the grid, the 7½ litre supercharged Mercedes of Rudi Caracciola was the most serious threat.


In the opening laps of the race Birkin had the time of his life duelling with the Mercedes.  Overtaking at nearly 120 mph just before Mulsanne with his off-side wheels on the grass, Birkin caught Caracciola totally by surprise, but in the process threw the tread of his rear tyre.  Undaunted, he continued to set the fastest lap of the race, before the tyre finally blew in the following lap.


The chase for Caracciola was taken over by the 6½ litre cars, initially Davis and then the Barnato/Kidston car.  Barnato had a terrific time.  The lead changed back and forth throughout the night forcing Caracciola to use the supercharger almost continually, instead of occasionally for overtaking as it was originally intended.  Eventually at about 4.20am it proved too much for the Mercedes which blew its gasket.


Thereafter, W O. Bentley slowed the cars to a fast tour.  The Blowers kept going until about noon, with the two  6½ litre cars of Barnato/Kidston and Clement/Watney taking 1st and 2nd place respectively.

Mr Reith arrives at the BBC.

The wireless was here to stay and on the 30th December 1922 at 9 o'clock John Reith the newly appointed Managing Director of the B.B.C arrived. John Montgomery in his book "The Twenties" paints this portrait.

"From the earliest days Mr. Reith insisted on the announcers wearing evening dress. A man of strong religious convictions, he was determined that broadcasting should be conducted as a national service, with definite standards, and not used for entertainment alone. He wanted the service to reach the greatest possible number of houses, and to provide "all that is best in every department of human knowledge endeavour and advancement."

A Wireless Demonstration

In these days of I-phones, internet access, flat screen television and interactive connectivity, the world of listening to the wireless broadcast seems very prehistoric. But in the late 1920’s the first broadcasts cast a magical spell for some and a dismissive shrug for others as, Vivian Oglivie in his book 'Our Times' recalls his personal experience of the wireless early, tentative days.

"I remember the first time i heard the wireless. It was at our village institute in Wedmore, Somerset. A couple of men came to give a demonstration to us giggling yokels. The quality of sound was poor. Every now and then something would go wrong. There would be a sudden fading or the intrusion of shrikes, howls and splatterings...... It was not a very impressive performance. It was only remarkable that it should have been done at all. As we left the hall the older people wagged their heads sagely and declared that nothing would come of it."

Cricket is a Serious Thing by Edward Dyson.

The Australian Poet Edward Dyson wrote some excellent poems during the First World War. After the war he contined writing, this poem from the 1920's is about the seriousness of Cricket. Apparently the 'Argus' newspaper at the time "reported cricket matches at far greater length and with a gravity it never quite attained in dealing with any other matter on earth!"


In politics there’s room for jest;
With frequent gibes are speeches met,
And measures which are of the best
Are themes for caustic humor yet.
E’en though the pulpiteer we fret
With sundry quiddities we fling,
We pray you never to forget
That cricket is a serious thing.


The crowd assembles at a Test,
And Hobbs at length is fairly set,
Though Gregory rocks ‘em in with zest;
The barrackers may fume and fret
When Parkin has contrived to get
Five men of ours – we feel the sting,
And give expression to regret,
For cricket is a serious thing.


They have the lead; we would arrest
A sort of rot. No epithet
Is proper, though they’ve got our best
For next to nothing, and your bet
Is good as lost. Don’t sit and sweat;
Due reverence to the problem bring.
We have a pile of runs to net –
Ah, cricket is a serious thing.

ENVOY.
We have to meet a heavy debt,
And Howell makes the leather swing;
Australia’s pride is sore beset –
Yea, cricket is a serious thing!

The 1920's and Rouge Lipstick

This article is by Fredrick Lewis Allen, from ‘Only Yesterday’ published in 1931, shows how times changed in the 1920's by 'Rouge' lipstick becoming popular.

‘Perhaps the readiest way of measuring the change in the public attitude towards cosmetics is to compare the advertisements in a conservative periodical at the beginning of the decade with those at the end. Although the June 1919 issue of the Ladies’ Home Journal contained four advertisements which listed rouge among their products, only one of them commented on its inclusion, and this referred to its rouge as one that was “imperceptible if properly applied”. In those days the woman who used rouge – at least in the circles in which the Journal was read – wished to disguise the fact……In the June 1929 issue, exactly ten years later, the Journal permitted a lipstick to be advertised with the comment, “It’s comforting to know that the alluring note of scarlet will stay with you for hours.”’

Election votes.

In 1928, Liberian President Charles King put himself up for re-election. He was returned to power with an officially stated majority of 600,000 votes.

King’s opponent in the election was Thomas Faulkner, who later claimed that the election had been rigged. When Faulkner was asked to substantiate his claims, he pointed out that it was impossible for King to win with a 600,000 majority when the electorate was less than 15,000.

Fireside Talks with Stanley Baldwin

In the 1920's with the advent of the radio, diiferent styles of broadcasting could be the difference between an election victory or defeat, as Vivian Ogilvie expressed in 1953 in 'Our Times.'

"During the election campaign Stanley Baldwin went to the microphone and very simply gave a “fireside talk”. He was the political leader to understand the subtle use of the microphone. A week before his broadcast he took the trouble to go to Savoy Hill to obtain advice how to put it over. Ramsay MacDonald insisted on broadcasting his speech direct from a public meeting at Glasgow, despite a warning from Reith that the two techniques were utterly different. By comparison with Stan’s pipe-sucking chat Ramsay MacDonald sounded like a street-corner ranter. Baldwin’s quietly spoken plea for a ‘sane, common sense Government, not carried away by revolutionary theories or hare-brained schemes’, went straight to the heart and home."