1870 One life through places visited

I make limited use of Facebook and only recently noticed on the main page of a friend a small application in which participants can indicate every place they have visited, intended to visit or would like to visit and this provided me with the opportunity commence to list those within the UK and then in Europe which I have visited. As I reflected it occurred that this was one way to review a long life. Other ways are books, films, music, sports, paid occupational work, relationships, in their chronology, in their order of importance and in their interaction with each other and with external events.

For this first effort I have used memory and maps without reference to records. The structure and content will be changed and amended as the records are reviewed The present approach is to begin with places of residence, including those for Education and work and cover South London, Surrey, West London and Middlesex, Inner London, Bedfordshire, Glasgow and Central Scotland, Oxfordshire, Birmingham, Manchester and Norfolk, North Yorkshire, Yorkshire West Riding and Cheshire including that which is now Merseyside and then Tyne and Wearside, Northumberland and Durham.

Then there are those places which I visited on residential holidays commencing with those in childhood which included the South Coast of West and East Sussex, Kent, the Isle of Wight. Devon and then in adulthood returning to Devon, and to Cornwall, central Scotland and then the Lochs and the Highland as well as the Border Country and to South Wales.

There were also overnight visits or of a few days, as self contained holidays, for sporting events, when in Transit or as part of courses or work assignments with four weeks at Henley in Oxfordshire and two weeks in Cambridge City as major examples and which widened the to other areas of the UK, including Cumbria, North and East Yorkshire, Lancashire, Suffolk and Nottinghamshire, Greater London, the Midlands and the home counties, Warwickshire and Worcestershire, Shropshire, Leicestershire.

There are places visited to watch sports, mainly football and cricket with some involving a short stay while others a day trip. There are job interviews and short courses and family visits.

I begin the more detailed tour with homes and the surrounding areas. My Permanent childhood home was Wallington (1), then in the County of Surrey, later incorporated into Greater London to form the London Borough of Sutton. Following my birth the first home was in Croydon (2), the adjacent borough and for close on one year I was evacuated with the aunties to Catterick Army camp in North Yorkshire(3), where another aunt was in officer quarters some distance away from the then camp and surrounded by cornfields. Before reaching adulthood we moved two other addresses in Wallington and for a matter of only a few days I was placed in what would have been called a family group home, also in Wallington. During the wartime there were few other journeys that I remember although while the pebble beaches at Brighton (4) were still mined, with barbed wire and anti tank defences I did make my first visit to the seaside.

During the rest of the 1940’s my horizons widened a little further. There were shopping and entertainment visits to Croydon and Sutton (5) by the trolley bus, mainly cinema at weekends, also to Purley (6) as we went to the cinema in Wallington on Monday and Thursday evenings for several years. There was also at least one visit to the musical hall in Croydon and to see opera with Carmen, Cavalleria Rusticana and Pagliacci remembered. There were shopping trips to Tooting (7) Market via Mitcham (8) and to Soho (9) in London for Spanish produce.

On Sunday after mass there were walks before lunch in all directions which included the Waddon side of Croydon airport, to Beddington (10) and Carshalton(11) to the parks, to Purley to look at the large house and where I subsequently went to school and the adjacent Woodmansterne (12) and Banstead (13) where there were small holdings and another park. One a year there was a bus ride Cheam to the Bluebell woods

There were also three memorable short trips during the early part of my childhood, the longest to Portsmouth (14) Naval base to see a first cousin whose father had become a citizen of the United States, a visit to an aunt who was at a Sanatorium near Haselmere in Surrey because of tuberculosis and thirdly, a visit to the home of a first cousin who lived on a farm on the surrey Sussex border (15). However my most memorable and important event was to attend a football match at Highbury (16) between Arsenal and Blackpool at which Stanley Mathews played, followed by fish and chips at the Leicester Square (17) Lyons Corner House and then a Film at the Odeon Cinema. Remembered also were my visits over two terms if not three once a week to St Helier Hospital (18) to correct flay feet.

I cannot remember in which order there were annual holidays to the seaside and day trips to other south coast resorts. Family holidays were to Bembridge (19) and Sandown (20) on the Isle of Wight; To Ifracombe (21) in North Devon and Paignton (22) in South Devon and to Bognor Regis (23) and to Bexhill (24) on the South Coast are remembered. There was also at least one day trip to Littlehampton (25) and I have a query about Hastings but which I did visit later (26). As an adolescent I spent a week with relatives at Folkestone Kent (27) where vests continued for decades and along with Dover (28) for ferry trips to the Continent. My relatives had also lived at Aldershot army base which I visited (29)

There were also family trips to Box Hill (30) in Surrey, Windsor Castle (31) in Berkshire, Hampton Court (32) and Tunbridge Wells (33) and shopping trips to Kingston on Thames, (34) Dorking (35) and Guildford (36) because of buses from Wallington/Sutton. There was also a family trip to Leicester (37) which turned out to be a nightmare.

In the my second year at the John Fisher School in Purley, where occasional visits were also made to one of the two cinemas in the town I was given a bicycle and during the holiday I commenced to cycle around the area with the most memorable event going to the Derby on Epsom Downs (38) later visits to the town (39). During my last year at school, first year at work

On leaving school at the age of sixteen I went to work in central London for two years, then in Croydon and back to central London at Berkeley Square, (40) in the City close to Whitechapel (41), in Kings Cross (42) and in Soho. I joined a cycling club so that on Sundays there were trips remembered round or across London Couldson (43) and Caterham, (44) Godstone (45) out to East Grinstead (46) Chertsey (47) on the way to Windsor, Maidenhead (47) and Marlow, (48) Redhill (49) for Earlswood, (50) West Wickham (51) and Farnborough (52) visited air show once, for Green Street Green (53) . For the greater part of those four years the journey was between Wallington and (54) Victoria, the Thames Embankment via Pimlico (55) to Vauxhall and Kennington, Soho for Cy Laurie through to 100 Oxford Street (56), Kensington Royal Albert Hall (57) and Chelsea (58), Bishopsgate (59), through to Whitechapel encompassing the old Smithsfield Market and Petticoat Lane (60), around around the Circle underground Line, Kings Cross for Houseman’s (61) and Islington (62) decades later for Family Records centre.

Then with Civil disobedience and direction there visit visits to Southend (63) leading to Brixton (64), Isle of Sheppey (65), and Staffordshire Drake Hall (66) and Stafford (67), Northamptonshire (68) and Bedford (69), Liverpool (69), Warrington (70) later appointed SS D0 Manchester (71) Huddersfield (73) Leeds (74) Doncaster 75) , York(76) Hull (77) and Cottingham (78) on two matches across from Coast to Coast , and central London to St Albans (79) and Luton (80), then to Glasgow (81) and Edinburgh (82) in Scotland, Dunoon (83) and Kilcreggan,(84) Port Glasgow,(85) Greenock (86) and Gourock, (87) Helensburgh, (88) Paisley (89) and Clydebank (90) and Dumbarton (91). There was my first visit to Wales and a stay at Merthyr Tydfil. (92)

It was then to Oxford, Old Headington Village (93) and City (94) College and Woodstock (95) and on to Birmingham city (96), Manchester City (97) and Salford (98), Norwich (99) and around Norfolk by bus making by way to Kings Lynn,(100) Sheringham (101) and Cromer, (102) Great Yarmouth (103) and Lowestoft (104), Diss (104), Wyndonham (105) and Attleborough (105) and all the little places in between over three months in the summer of 1963.

The back to Oxford, Summertown(106) and Headington (107), Eynsham (108) and Minister Lovell (108), Witney,(109) Carterton (110) and Brize Norton (111) and Burford (112) and Standlake,(113) Stanton Harcourt, (114) (118) with visits to Manchester, Nottingham (119 and Wakefield, (120) Staffordshire County Hospital (121) and Shrewsbury (122)

The next move was Teddington (123) in the London Borough of Richmond (theatre and restaurants) (124) working for the London borough of Ealing (125) with my area first covering West Indian land Acton (126) and central Ealing including Greenford (127) with strong Irish and Polish communities and visits all of the greater city area where residential homes and parents, learning to love Richmond and Kingston on Thames (128) , Bushey Park(129) and Richmond Park (130),, Hampton Court (131) and the River Thames boat) trips (132). It was from Teddington that holidays were taken to Devon and Brixham (133), close to Paignton and Torquay (134) , Dartmoor(135) and Dartmouth (136) . I then discovered and fell in love with Cornwall staying first at a quaint dishing village of Mousehole (137) on the opposite edge of the Lands End (138) Peninsular to St Ives )139) and Hayle (139) with its vast stretch of sand dunes and beach which was the stay on the second visit. As had always been my want a day or two on such trips just involves driving everywhere to see everything and get the feel of a country or an area, taking the opportunity to go on any local little railway steam train, or river such Helston and its river (140) on to the nearest towns such as Newquay (141) and Falmouth (142)

Then to Wakefield and Lofthouse (143), discovering Leeds, Barnsley (144), Rotherham (145)and Doncaster and the M1 and A 1 road back to the capital.

Then to Chester (146) and Bromborough (147) in the Wirral where there was opportunity to explore North Wales, with Wrexham (148), Connahs Quay (148) , Holywell (149), Prestatyn,(150) Rhyl (151) and Colwyn Bay,(152) Llandudno(153) , Bangor (154) and the Menai Bridge(155) and across Anglesey(156) to Holyhead, (157) down to Porthmadog (158) and Pwltheli, (159) Ruthin,( 160) Mold (161) and Denbigh (162) , Llangollen. (163) and Snowdonia (164) The Wirral peninsular is distinctive with Neston (165) and Heswell,(166) Hoylake, (177) Birkenhead, (178) Wallasey (179) and New Brighton, (180) ferry cross the Mersey (181) , Bebington (182) and Ellesmere Port (183). Although headquarters based at Chester my responsibilities covered the 15 area field work teams which included those covering Wirral at Hoylake and Ellesmere Port, Winsford (184), Crewe(185) and Nantwich (186), Knutsford,(187) Wilmslow (188) and Hazel Grove,(189) Altringham (190) and Hyde(191) and Northwich,(192) Congleton(193) and Runcorn (194), taking into what was to become part of Greater Manchester and Merseyside Metropolitan areas. At a time of fundamental and comprehensive reorganisation of the personal social services and local government there was not too much free time to explore but there were some weekend trips into Lancashire and Southport Sands (195). There was also a trip back to Devon and Brixham.

And then to, Jarrow (196), Seaburn(197) Sunderland,(198) South Shields (199) and South Tyneside including Hebburn (200), Cleaden Village (201), East (202) and West Bolden (203), Bolden Colliery (204) and Whitburn village (205).

This proved the base for exploring most of Scotland, Northumberland Durham, Cumbria and North Yorkshire, East, West and South Yorkshire most parts of Greater London, South Wales, the Midlands and the East Coast down to the Humber and the Wash

It is possible to make a day’s trip to the Lake District and into Scotland but he roads are such that a overnight visit is more desirable. I did spend a week with a friend and her parents from CND days and Oxford University overlooking Ullswater (206) near Keswick (207), but it was not until moving to the North East that I made regular visits at least once a year. The best route was to go from Newcastle Gateshead to Hexham(208) and then take the road of the hills to Alston (209) and Penrith(210) and from there to Ullswater and to Keswick and Derwentwater (211) where there is a parkland and overlooking one end of the lake and popular walk from the town. where there is still a little theatre which I first visited in 1963. A faster route is to continue on the main road to Carlisle where I have spend a mini break, and then take the M6 down to Penrith. It was on the Carlisle break (212)that I took a good look at the Northern Lake of Bassenthwaite (213).
It is also possible to take a less popular route on the AIM to Durham City (214) , that magical city to which I shall return and then travel through mid Durham to Crook (215), St John‘s Chapel, (216) Stanhope (217), and Weatherhead (218) to Alston. These are all long days and Durham dales and moor lands making an interesting day on their own with one round trip going a little further south to Spennymoor(219) and Bishops Auckland (220) where I once had tea with the Bishop of Durham and then to Middleton in Teesdale, (221) Appleby in Westmoreland (222) then to Penrith and back via Alston.

I have stayed at a Travel Lodge at Penrith over a weekend which also provided an opportunity to explore the Northern Lakeland. I can remember there stays close to Lake Windermere (223). One was an overnight stay in Windermere town (224) , which may have extended to two night booked on the spur of the moment by calling in at the Tourist office. There was a weeks stay where the end of the garden was in sight of the Lake I think on the outskirts of Bowness (225) but it may have been the larger town which reminds of the need to go through the UK holiday information scrapbooks. The third occasion was to a Hotel on the banks of the Lake (226). These visits did provide the opportunity to go on a explore to the western lakes of Wast Water (227), Buttermere (228) and Loweswater(229) and to tour the towns of Cockermouth (230) and Whitehaven (231), down to Barrow in Furness(232) to Grange over Sands. (233) Amble side (234) a favourite town at the other end of Windermere. Conniston Water (235) Ravens glass (236) Scarsdale (237) are other places visited.

Less travelling is involved in exploring the glorious countryside and ancient town of Northumberland where the largest human man made lake in Europe surrounded by the great northern forest is within a 90 mins drive and where I have stayed on at least two occasions at a Lodge lakeside. I feel deprived without at least one visit a year to Kielder(238) and the Cheviots There is a private toll road used to be 50p which goes through Forest and Farmland over the hills for a dozen miles to Otterburn (239). I will return to Kielder and Falstone (240) another time and Bellingham (241) where I have stayed.

From here rather than from Wearside a trip can be organised to Bamburgh (242) with its headland Castle, once home for the Duke of Northumberland, a boat trip to the Farne Islands (243) Bird Sanctuary or the low tide road crossing to Holy Island (244). The Duchess of Northumberland has created a wonderful series of gardens including water gardens and fountains in the grounds of Alnwick Castle (245) to one side of the ancient market town. Amble(246) is another coastal town. There are beaches where you may see another human being on a hot summers day and similarly there are countryside spots to yourself as well as the forest of Wark.(247) having come from Corbridge (248), and a detour to Consett the former steel works town where the great north walk was undertaken one year (249)

The Northumberland towns of Morpeth (250) , Bedlington, (251) Washington (253)and Blyth (254) are all stepped in the history of coal mining and the great footballers and cricketers which emerged in the latter half of the 20th century, the Charlton, Jackie Milburn, Alan Shearer and the Harmison brothers. Newcastle (255) has also become one of the famous cities of the world for its nightlife but the former seaside town of Whitely Bay (256) now serves only for day trips and the teenage clubbers and bar lovers. The famous Spanish City amusement centre is closed. I can see Tynemouth Castle(257) and former Priory from the headland outside my home and in summer I cross over by the ferry to North Shields (258) and a special bus to the street music festival where on one stage there are traditional jazz and swing bands performing for two days as part of the Whitely Bay Jazz festival where 20 bands perform from midnight to midnight for three day with an entrance charge of under £100. There is also Belsay (259), Cragside (260) Wallington Hall (261), Hadrian’s Wall forts (262)

The coast from South Shields to Sunderland comprises seven miles of rocky headlands and coves which can be walked but that from Sunderland via Ryhope, (263) Seaham(264) to Hartlepool( 265) is only of interest to locals but Stockton (266) and coastal city Middlesbrough (267) are all recovering from the closure of shipbuilding, coal mining and steel making throughout the North East but worth visiting.

I have and seasons tickets at Roker Park (268) and the Stadium of Light(269) Sunderland AFC and at St James Park(270), Newcastle for all but three of the past thirty five years and visit Carlisle (271), Middlesbrough and Hartlepool to also watch football. My summer home from home is at Chester le Street (272) riverside on the banks of the Wear where Durham County Cricket Club have won the county championship for two years in succession. For the first four years I enjoyed visits to club grounds used by the county at Durham University (273), Hartlepool, Darlington (274) , Stockton and wind swept Gateshead Fell, (275) and where Gateshead also is the location of the largest indoor shopping complex in western Europe, the Metro Centre (276), also the home of the International Athletics stadium (277) and the Sage Concert Halls (288)

My cricket experience commenced in 1948 at the Kennington Oval (289) in London, nearest railway station Balham, to watch the last innings of Sir Donald Bradman in a Test Match. I continued visit during my boyhood especially during the four years when I worked in central London and the continued went living elsewhere usually to one day of a Test Match while visiting my family relatives who continued to live in Wallington. I also had one visit to a test match at Lord and then since the Durham years commenced in the early 1990’s, I would arrange to visit the family whenever Durham played at Lords (290) or the Oval. I was also able to visit Durham at Canterbury (291) with its Cathedral and Maidstone, (292) usually taking family to visit their eldest sister at Folkestone, also so to watch Durham play against Sussex at Hove (293) or Horsham (294). Last year I stayed a week in Brighton and Worthing )295) for the cricket at Hove. It has usually been possible to visit Yorkshire at Headingly (296) Leeds without an overnight stop but I have also done this over recent years and also visited when they played Harrogate (297) which is also on conference attending list. Harrogate and Rippon (298) have also been alternative routes to the AIM going south with Wetherby (299) also a stop for a meal, places for a meal when the journey was being broken up overnight along the way. I also had overnight visits to watch Durham at the Hampshire Ground (300), Lancashire Old Trafford (301) staying on M62, Warwickshire M63 at Birmingham where I also spent a year at the university which is close to the ground and last year to Worcestershire (302) at the county town, staying South Birmingham (303) and to Nottinghamshire (304) staying on the M1 as part of a longer visit to the area. There has been one coach trip there and back to Leicestershire ay Grace Road (305).

Day trip starting in the early morn and returning in the early hours have been more common and covered a substantial number of the clubs playing in the various football Leagues with my boyhood club Crystal Palace (306) and the mentioned visit to Arsenal. I have been to most London area clubs, Mill wall (307) at the old ground and also Charlton at the Valley (308)., Queens Park Rangers (309) and Brentford(310), and to Fulham(311) as well as the other the other two glamour Clubs of Tottenham Hotspur ( 312) and Chelsea.( 313) I got a Cup Final Ticket because of an association of with Wimbledon (314) AFC to win the cup from Liverpool. I have been to Wimbledon fortnight (315) and to the town for the theatre and the cinema.

When in the North west I went to Liverpool but it was from the North East I have been to Everton (316) and Wrexham (317), Preston, (318) Manchester United (319) and Manchester City (320) Blackburn (317) and Bradford,(318) Wigan (319), Leeds (320) , Sheffield United(321) and Sheffield City (322), Barnsley,(323) Hull (324) and Grimsby (325) then to the Midland clubs of Birmingham (326) and Aston Villa,(327) West Bromwich Albion(328) and Wolverhampton Wanderers (329), Coventry(330) and Derby (331), Leicester(332) and Nottingham, Forest(333) and City,(334) Shewsbury(335), Oxford(336( when I was student, Cardiff (334) the Club and Cardiff the International stadium(336), Swansea (337), Ipswich(338) and Norwich (339), Watford(340) and Luton (341) and Brighton (342). I have been to Rock Concerts at St James, Roker Park and Sheffield United and Torvill and Dean at Nottingham (343) and Wembley (344). I have been to three Cup Finals at Wembley as well as Live Aid and the Rolling Stones, Athletics at Gateshead, White City(345) and Crystal Palace(346) which was also the venue for a rock concert.

The Conference, short training, speaking , special work and interview venues have included, Blackpool 1n (347), Lancaster University 1n,(348) Newcastle 1n (349) from Cheshire, Hull also from Cheshire(350) 1n York 3n (351) Liverpool 3m (353) Manchester 4n (354) Nottingham University, 4 visits (355) including two of a week each, two of 3 to 4 nights Manchester University (356) two of 3 or 4 nights, Cambridge University two weeks (357) , Oxford one Conference 4 nights (358) and two other visits one of three nights, one of a week. Harrogate 3 nights (359) Keithley one week (360), Bradford In (361) and Liverpool 3 n (362), Leeds 1-2n(363) Oldham 4nts (364), Preston 3 (365) and 1n Chester City (366) In Wakefield 1n (367). Cardiff 1 n (368). Coventry 4 n (369). Ealing 1n (370). Ipswich one week (371), Marlow 4 n (372), Bletchley 3n (373) Richmond 1 week (374) , Lewes 3 n (375). Bournmouth 3 n (376) Brighton 3 n (377), Glasgow 4 (378) Henley on Thames one month (379), Greenwich two months (380) and London one month and 6 x 3 (381), Sutton 4 times 1 week (392) Central London Committee meetings included Association of Child Care Officers Local Authority National Children’s Bureau Drugs Forum Officers and Members Meetings, Home Office Sub Committee and Charity Committee all concerned with Drug Use prevention and HIV and AIDS all involved over night visits to London but some the red eye train with breakfast and evening return with dinner 100 plus occasions (382) involving either stays at Wallington where accommodation and food was not claimed or hotels ( 383)

The proximity to Scotland led to one holiday Tour of three weeks, three stays of two weeks and eight stays of one weeks as well as four stays of less than a week. Places stayed or visited or where stayed included Dunoon 1 week (384), Oban 3 days (385), Lochgoilhead, one week (386) near Dumfries 1 week (387), Tay Valley twice (388) (389), one week and two weeks Pitlochry one week (390), near Dollar 3 days (391), near Loch Earnhead one week (392, Loch Lomond 2 visits one week and 4n (393), Isle of Skye 2n (394), Loch Rannoch one week, (395) Loch Lochy 2 visits of one week (396) and Aviemore 3n (397). Among places visited rather than travelled through include Ullapool (398), Inverness(399), Loch Ness(400), Loch Katrine(401), Portree 0402), Mallaig(403), Stirling(404), Edinburgh(405), Gretna Green (406), Braemar(407), Aberfeldy(408), Killin(409) and Kemore(410), Loch Tummel(411), Glenn Lyon(413) Ben Nevis visited (414) and Ben Lawers climbed (415), Glen More Forest Park(416), Dunked (417) , Cairngorms by cable car twice (418). Loch Lynnhe(418) and Loch Eil(419), Perth (420), Comrie (421) Loch Earn,(422) Callander,(423) Inverarray, (424) Fort William (425), Fort Augustus(426) Berwick (427), Jedburgh(428), Coldstream,(429) Rothesey (430), Mull of Kintyre (431), Campbeltown (432), Crianlarich(433), Glenn Eagles(434) , Crief (435), Kyle of Lochalsh (436). Places visited on the way or separately additions including Northumberland Brampton (437) Halt whistle (438) Burdon Mill (439), Hayden Bridge ( 438) Ardrossan (439) and Troon(440) Galashiels (441). Kelso (442) Coldstream (443) Wooler (444) Belford (445) Chilling ham (446) Netherton Park (447) Loch Long (448) Ardentinny (449) Strone Point Youth Hostel 4nights. (450) Balloch (451) Lake of Menteth (452) Grange mouth (453) Bridge of Allan (453) Loch Leven (454) Loch Awe (455) Tarbet (456) Loch Venacher (457) Tobermory (458) Loch Sunnart (459) Isle of Mull (460) and Iona Community (461)

Other places in County Durham include Sedgefield (462) Whicham (463), Blanchland (464) Bowes (465) Hamsterly Forest (466) Willingham (467), Lanchester (468) Houghton Le Spring (469) Washington (470) Billingham (471) Peterle2 (472) Lumley Park Hotel 1n (473) Hetton le Hole (474) Beanish Museum (475). Barnard Castle (476) and Dipton( Stanley) (477) Newton Aytcliffe (478)

The North Yorkshire Moors are within a days travel and feature the villages made famous in series Heartbeat Goatland (479) and Grosmont (480) and which are also stop on the North Yorks steam railway. Which I have travelled. I have enjoyed visits to the small Robin Hood’s Bay, (481) to the fishing port of Whitby (482) and the great Yorkshire seaside town of Scarborough (483), including for a conference and short holiday. I have visited Redcar (484) and Saltburn (485) now Teeside/North Yorks. The Infamous Sutton bank (486) Pickering (487). Further south in Yorkshire there is Knaresborough (488), Pately Bridge (489) Grassington (490), Masham (491) Harewood House (492) Ilkley Moor (494) Haworth (Bronte Couny), stayed 3nights in area (495) Woolley Edge is a motorway stop for food usually lunch or sea but have stayed 1night, Driffield (496) Bridlington (497) and Hornsea pottery on the coast visit (498).

I have stayed in Beverley (499) at New Year over Christmas and a New Year using the best hotel in the town (twice) and Pub Inn once as well as the close by at South Cave Travel Lodge twice (500) and even closer Innkeepers Lodge twice (501) and the Humber Bridge Premier Lodge twice possibly three times (502). I have also stayed at Lodge on the outskirts of Hull (503) The Ferrybridge Motorway Service area is a frequent stop when travelling on the A1 route I have made one night stops here several times (504) I have stayed at a travel Lodge Wakefield a couple of times (505) Denby Dale (506) and Penistone (507) are places visited and not previously mentioned. When stopping overnight in south Yorkshire going South I have visited the Cineworld in Middleborough twice (508) in addition to making other visits from home and back for films not shown at Bolden and have also visited he Cineworld Sheffield twice en route. I have forgotten to mention Scotch Corner the major service area north for southerners going to Scotland and a good place for a cuppa, petrol and the toilet. I may have stayed here at the Travel Lodge. (509)

My only recollection of Derbyshire the county other than its football tam is a night spent in a bus shelter just after Christmas at Matlock en route to Liverpool. It is only over the past three years that my interest in Nottinghamshire as a county has developed with two stays of a week for the cricket at the Forest service area and another planned for this year (510) I have had several stays at Mansfield Travel Lodge of two to three nights (515) I would have stayed at South well (516) with its wondrous Minster if the accommodation was cheaper. Separately from my interest in Nottinghamshire I have made several one night stops at Travel Lodges along the AI with Blyth (517 being one destination stopping three or times to date. There is Morrison’s at Retford (518) where good breakfast can be obtained as well as stocking up of emergency rations and petrol. The South Muskham Travel Lodge (519( is on the going south side and I have learnt how to get to this from Newark (520) which is always worth a visit, and other parts of Notts with several visits over the past decade. In the past I have also stopped at Grantham Travel Lodge (521) on both side of the motorway depending on direction of travel. Although there is a cross over and recently I stayed at Donning ton (522) just off the M1 having used the service area from time to time. I have been to Melton Mowbray of the pie fame or its sausages or both (523)

I have been to Silverstone (524) for the Grand Prix racing, once when living in Oxford and once with an overnight stop before and after at Teddington, a service stop used several times en route to Wallington. While at Oxford I did visit Bourne on the Water, (525) Evesham (526) and Broadway (527) Cotswolds Country. This reminds of two visits to Stratford on Avon (528). It also reminds that I did stay one night at a Travel Lodge (529) near Burford in a torrential storm on the way to collect my car from repairers at Kidlington. It also reminds that I have stayed at a lodge in the Nottingham area on a visit south some time ago.(530) I have been to Warwick and its castle (531) I have also stopped at the Stevenage Travel Lodge visiting he Cineworld cinema (532) In addition to coach stops at Milton Keynes (533) I have visited the town once as well as getting lost trying to get round traffic jam on the M1. I have been to a conference at Hertford staying three nights (534). I looked around the bookshops at Hay on Wyre (535). There are places in Greater London not previously mentioned which have significance including Hampstead (536) and Stratford (537) Bexleyheath (538) and Balham (539) Also Hounslow ( 540)

Turning to the wider South East I have not mentioned Hythe (541) in Kent or Shoreham (542) by Sea in Sussex or my recent stay in a travel Lodge near Littlehampton (543), or a little village near Andover (544) I have visited Epping Forest (545)

I am nearly done. I have never a great looker around country houses and old furniture and the finery. Most dwelling appeared to me uncomfortable to live in and a misspending of resources which could have better directed. However for a few years I was a member of English Heritage and used my visit to London with stop overs to may the maximum use of membership so to be added are Lindisfarne Priory(546) Warkworth Castle and Hermitage, (547) Brinkburn Priory (548) Belsay Hall and Gardens (549), Tynemouth Prior and Castle (550), Prudhoe Priory (551), Finchale (552) Barnard Castle (553) St Bedes World at Jarrow, St Paul’s Monastery, (554) Finchale Priory (555) Barnard Castle (556) Fountains Abbey (557) Mount Grace Priory (558) Rievaulx Abbey, (559) Kirkham Priory (560) Richmond Castle (561) Bolsover Castle (562) Whitby Abbey (563) Scarborough Castle (564) Eltham Palace (565) Kenwood previously (566) Battle Abbey and Battlefield (567).

Last additions to this edition Clapham (568) Wandsworth (569) and in Wales Caldy Island (570) Pontypridd (571) Laugharne (572)and Solva (573) Dylan Thomas Country

1867 Portillo's third journey. the 39 Steps and NCIS

The third series of Michael Portillo Train Travels commences at Swindon and continued through Somerset, Devon and Cornwall. Yesterday in describing the second journey to Scotland I mentioned the 39 Steps in relation to the Firth of Forth Railway bridge and this afternoon as I commenced to write, first checking TV programmes for the day, I found that the 1959 Kenneth Moore version was commencing at the that very moment. I had time to check the post during the first advert break and eureka I was notified that my lawyers had been successful and obtained reimbursement of the insurance policy excess thus protecting my no claims bonus and premiums for the renewal later in the year. It was a great relief as the issue was not clear cut owing to my inability to be precise about what happened. This is a cause for celebration.

I have visited Swindon during visits to Calne in search of family heritage, staying at Travel Lodges on the M4 and going into the outskirts of the town to the Cineworld Cinema, the supermarket and for a couple of meals. Family ancestors did work for the railway after it was established in Swindon and also in Wales. The Railway that created work and provided accommodation for large numbers of families has significantly contracted but I believe that railway carriages continue to be constructed in the town.

I have not visited Bath the great Georgian town and where despite the medicinal qualities of the hot spa baths being disproved they have reopened to great success providing warm bathing throughout the year and with panoramic views over the city. It is now on my list for things to do before I die, combined with a visit to the cricket ground at Bristol.

I have stayed at Bristol, yes it was for a conference, at an excellent small hotel at a time when the town was in the process of reinventing itself. Bristol became a major port to the USA and Australia and Brunel’s Trains from Paddington going to the dockside. His SS Great Britain is now on show there. The steam powered ship was originally designed as a luxury first and second class vessel to the USA with only 240 passengers but did not pay was therefore adapted, trebling the number to Australia where use was also made of wind power from the six masts. After completing and publishing research on the history of my maternal family which lived in Calne since the 15th century I was contacted by descendents of a distant first cousin whose family went to Australia on the first voyage of the SS Great Britain.

I also have travelled from Oxford to Bristol on the same line when as a Child Care officer I had to collect two teenage runaways who had absconded from a remand home and had got as far as Cornwall before being apprehended by the police. The journey back proved to me the most challenging albeit entertaining of my professional social work experience as they regaled passengers with the intimate details of their recent experiences. Fortunately I was accompanied by a mature female companion who was of assistance when they attempted to run off again with two squadies on the train.

The second stretch of this journey is between Yatton and Weston Super Mare. I had no knowledge of Yatton before the programme. The area is famed for the growing of strawberries.

I first visited the South West in my Childhood when the family came to Ifracombe in North Devon and we had a coach trip to Cheddar Gorge which Michael visits, and where we explored the great cave. I have seen large and better lit caves in Gibraltar and France since but in the late 1940‘s and 1950‘s I found the cave and the gorge amazing. Cheddar is more well known for its cheese and what I did not know is that authentic Cheddar is matured in one of the caves.

I have not been to Weston Super Mare and after watching the programme I am not inclined to plan to do so.

Michael commenced his next stretch at Torquay. I had a family holiday at Paignton in my childhood which is the next resort with sands whereas Torquay is more of a fashionable harbour although in fact as Portillo records 20000 people passed through the railway station on one day in its heyday as a resort rivalling the South of France. The climate is milder than elsewhere and is in a sheltered position on the West Coast with Palm Trees and Mediterranean flowers but the temperatures are not significantly different and in fact only a few degrees above the average elsewhere. Decades later I was to holiday at Brixham Harbour and to return to Torquay and Paignton. During of these holidays I travelled on the steam railway to Dartmouth which Michael undertook during this episode. The river Dart is beautiful and the train journey is one of the most picturesque in the UK. Dartmouth is also where ten British Naval College for officers is located. It is also where the TV series the Onedin Line was filmed, plus Falmouth and Exeter.

Michael continued to Totness a town which is trying to become carbon neutral and an example environmentally, introducing rickshaw taxi’s, encouraging the use of local produce and a currency for exchange in the locality. I have no recollection of visiting the town.

I cannot remember where it was in Devon that my car broke down on the way to a family holiday at Mousehole, Cornwall, pronounced Mousal, I think. The gearbox went and I was to get to the car park where amazingly there was a coach going to Penzance and a taxi ride from our destination. I was able to contact the AA and left the keys so that the car could be collected and taken to a garage. I then travelled back by train to collect the car when the work was completed.

I was also unfamiliar with the third segment from Bugle to Megavissey. Bugle is a station in mid Cornwall from where. Close to St Austell, Michael visited the largest open Clay mine still in operation and using the latest equipment it produces an enormous output compared with that when the manufacture of China was in its heyday. The reason for the increase has been the use of clay to produce white paper and in other processes.

Michael the visited the Lost gardens of Heligan close to Megavissey and created by the Tremayne family in the 18th family, then fell into disuse and restored in the 1990’s about which there were several TV shows. The gardens have a collection of ancient large rhododendrons and camellias, lakes various flower gardens and sub tropical tree ferns attracting several hundred thousand visitors a year. The final subject was the fishing for pilchards which became and essential fish food during the Second World War. As a consequence the fish became unpopular and have been rebranded as sardines and which have become just as popular.

The last segment commences at the sand dunes of Perran and a lost church. I have stayed at Hayle close to St Ives where the holiday homes are among the dunes on stilts, similar to a place in the South of France. The first holiday had been a Mousehole on the south facing coast, an attractive fishing village of colourful cottages. I still remember a glorious meal at a French restaurant at St Ives with its Artists colony and where I acquired one of the famous oblong vases from the Troika pottery shop. I was attracted to most of the items on display but funds were limited otherwise I would have started a collection which would have been worth thousands to day as reselling prices have risen following the closure of the pottery. During the holiday visits were made to Newquay where I believe on a rain swept summer’s day the film Mary Poppins was seen and to Falmouth with its harbour as well as Land’s End, and the open air Minack Theatre on a rocky headland which has been performing plays throughout the summer for 75 years

In the programme Michael visited the last remaining tin mine which because of changes in production requirements is anticipating a demand for increased production because of the change in tin content for solder and other uses. His final visit on this journey was to the beautiful Helford river where oyster farming has been developing again since the last outbreak of disease decimated those farmed around the UK. In the programme the owner of a farm argued that most of the concern about eating oysters’ is unjustified. The best way to eat them is raw and alive from the opened half shell with lemon juice or perhaps chopped shallots, mixed peppercorn and white wine. They can also be smoked, baked, stewed, fried, boiled, roasted or pickled according to taste, but they must also have been alive at the time of preparation. There is health value but as an aphrodisiac questionable.

I have written about the 1939 Hitchcock film, the 39 Steps with Robert Donat, the 1979 production with Robert Powell and the latest version in 2008. Less familiar to me was the 1959 version with pipe smoking Kenneth Moore who first encounters the doomed spy catcher in a London Park. The film includes the scene where he escapes from the police on the Firth of Forth Railway Bridge. He gets a lift from Sid James as a lorry driver who has done his time and recognises Hannay, putting him in the caring hands of Brenda De Banzie who looked after him in every sense as he looked after her with husband’s permission when he too needed to lie low from the coppers. In this instance because of the time factor Hannay disguises himself among a cycling group to get past the police check point.

I was delighted that this film includes the Falls of Dochart at the western end of Loch Tay near Killin with Kenmore village at the other end, and which is over looked by Ben Lawers, a 4000 ft mountain which I have climbed. I have spent two summer holidays in accommodation along the Tay valley first in an isolated hillside cottage and then in a second cottage on the same estate. It was only during the second trip that the purchase of a local Sunday revealed why the cottages had become holiday lets. This involved a crime of passion during the second world war involving both dwellings, a revelation I withheld from everyone else until the end of the holiday.

In the film the political gathering is replaced by a residential school for girls, but all the other features remain true to the original John Buchan novel.

I have also been following N.C.I.S given the haphazard way the episodes are being shown. The Naval intelligence and Investigation homeland unit reached an interesting phase with confirmation that the father of the director was still alive after she had buried him over a decade beforehand. The man who killed her father, an international arms dealer who she has attempted to find ever since also reappears as the father of Tony’s new girlfriend who works at a local hospital. This has been a deep undercover operation but where the father arrives to take him and his daughter for breakfast and announces that he knows who the young man really is. Tony then appears to have been blown up in his car which only later they learn was being driven by the father’s assistant. This was not in fact an attempt to kill Tony but the daughter. The splendid Abbie works out that the bomb is the same as those used to murder arms dealers around the world. Someone is getting rid of their competitors. The father appears to have escaped but is seen floating in the river with a bullet in his head. The daughter is so shocked to learn the truth about Tony that he breaks off the relationship. Understanding what has happened her father arranges for her to go into hiding before his assassination takes places. Tony realises that he had fallen in love although it is evident that ‘Davied’ who resisted all his earlier advances has fallen for him since their near death experience together.

The former Attorney General gives evidence to the Chilcot Inquiry on Wednesday and the former Prime Minister Tony Blair on Friday. The following week it is the turn of Clare Short.

1866 Brave New World of Shanghai and Portillo's Journeys

Michael Portillo and Piers Morgan are two very different media personalities. I like Michael who impresses with what he says and retains vulnerability and the sadness of regret at what might have been. Piers Morgan has never been my cup of tea but some of his recent travel programmes have been enlightening. On Saturday night I watched half a dozen episodes of Michael’s programmes in which he followed the advice of Bradshaw’s Victorian railway travel guide, following four routes of interest, staying at the hotels or Inns mentioned and making brief visits to places of interest along the way, although never being too far away from his love of railways, trains and steam engines in particular. His regards his finest political contribution persuading Margaret Thatcher to save the Settle to Carlisle railway line. That is sad, for a politician.

According to Wikipedia Michael Denzil Xavier Portillo (born 26 May 1953) is a British journalist, broadcaster and former Conservative Party politician and Cabinet Minister. Portillo who was first elected to the House of Commons in a by-election in 1984; a strong admirer of Margaret Thatcher and a Eurosceptic, Portillo served as a junior minister under both Thatcher and John Major, before entering the cabinet in 1992. Seen as a likely challenger to Major during the 1995 Conservative leadership election, Portillo ultimately stayed loyal. As Defence Secretary, Portillo pressed for a purist Thatcherite course of "clear blue water" separating the policies of the Conservatives from Labour.

Portillo unexpectedly lost his Enfield Southgate seat at the 1997 General Election; political commentators widely believe that he would have been elected Conservative leader had he retained it. Subsequent to the loss, Portillo embarked on both a broader career in the media, and a revision of his previous beliefs, arguing for a more socially liberal and tolerant Conservative Party. Returning to the Commons in a 1999 by-election, Portillo rejoined the front bench as Shadow Chancellor, however his relationship with Conservative Leader William Hague was strained. Standing for the leadership of the party in 2001, Portillo came a narrow third place behind Iain Duncan Smith and Kenneth Clarke. Disaffected with politics, Portillo retired from the Commons at the 2005 general election, since which he has pursued his media interests, presenting a wide range of television and radio programmes.”

That is the semi official presentation of someone who nearly became leader of the Conservative Party and British Prime Minister and therefore a figured standing out in British history. I can only speculate why someone who became the golden boy of the right wing of Conservative Party along with John Redwood decided to give up professional politics at the comparatively young age of his late 40’s.

I believe his surname may only have influenced some voters against him, including some members of the traditional little England Conservative Party. Michael’s father came to the UK as a Spanish Republican refugee. He married into a middle class Scottish family which from one of the programmes appears to have had as much influence if not more influence on his outlook than his Spanish background which he was only able to fully discover first hand after the death of General Franco and the establishment of democracy.

What appears to have damaged him within the Conservative Party was the intervention of Norman Tebbit at the time of the 2001 leadership election when following disclosure of his bi sexual background, Lord Tebbit accused him of not being as frank as he could have been. A factor may have been that Michael had moved away from several of his former right wing positions into the centre, paving the way for David Cameron, to follow the approach of Tony Blair and concentrate on the middle ground even if this resulted in alienating some of the traditional core vote within the Party. In the event it was his decision to leave Westminster, which he announced in 2003, my traumatic year of all traumatic years, turning down the offer of a Ministerial post in the Michael Howard Shadow Cabinet. Maybe he foresaw the Conservatives would not win the next General Elections and he has expressed doubts about the ability of the Party to win an overall majority at the next although this was prior to the backlash over Iraq and Members Expenses Scandal and the near collapse of capitalism, together with other government failures which changed the political climate. I usually find myself in agreement with the assessment he makes with Diane Abbot on the Thursday night political review held when Parliament is Sitting. His popularity and public recognition has changed for the better since he commenced a series of TV programmes which he fronts with old fashioned gentlemanly charm and unaffected curiosity.

I am unable to immediately follow the four train journey’s in their original curiosity because not all are available on the BBC iplayer. It is also note worthy that of the three series presently available there is only one journey among my top four. This is the Settle to Carlisle line over the Ribblehead viaduct. Those not included in his travels are the journey from Fort William to Mallaig for the Island of Sky Ferry, the journey from Fort William to Glasgow across the Rannoch Moor, both in Scotland and the Little railway from Ffestiniog to Porthmadog in South Wales.

Since the Settle to Carlisle line was reprieved it has gone from strength to strength with three quarters of a million passengers a year from the 300000 originally required and with a constant movement of goods trains 24 hours a day. It has brought new life to the many small communities along route associated with the isolated stations. There are a number of charter steam trains which operate along the line in summer and where bookings are essential and the full list of steam train trips in the British Isle is available online. Trains on the Settle Carlisle route pass over 21 viaducts with the most beautiful that at Ribblehead 440 yards long 104 ft high and 24 arches. That at Smardale is 131 ft high but is half the length.

I have had the good fortune to admire a steam train passing overhead having stopped the car on the way between Durham and the Lakes just in time. This prompted me to find out the when and wherefore of a future steam train journey which involved driving to Settle to catch a train which came from Leeds, and returning by the standard and less expensive two coach train.

His travels on this route had commenced at Preston which I did visit by train although I cannot remember the route, but may have a note somewhere and I stayed overnight prior to being interviewed for the post of Director of Social Services, Lancashire. The post went to former colleague at Cheshire County Council who had become a Director in the Manchester conurbation. Michael then visited Blackpool where I have also stayed overnight in a hotel, having been invited to speak at a meeting on mental at a Labour Party annual conference and where I then shared a platform with Dr David Owen, then Foreign Secretary, but also a former Minister of Health, the then present Minister of Health David Ennals, whose brother was Secretary of Ruskin College, and the great Barbara Castle, who demonstrated just how to address a Labour Party audience. I had prepared the right speech for the wrong occasion.

The next section was Windermere to Kendall and covered some of my favourite areas in the Lake District, I have stayed a week in a cottage close to Lake Windermere as well as doing a spontaneous over night bed and breakfast stop and a weekend stay at a Hotel a little away along the lakeside outside the town. I have not travelled on the particular line but have driven to Haverthwaite where there is a one station stop to Lakeside at Windermere. An extension of this line in the opposite direction is presently proposed.

Windermere, the town, is a little way away from the Lake on a hill and has a population of 7500 with Bowness being the lakeside community of close to 4000 with its own town centre and impossible to park so a walk down hill is advisable, with the walk back after a day out something of a challenge. Both towns owe their existence to the railway and tourism, with an estimated 10 million visitors to the Lake a year which means it is swamped with cars and boats of all kinds moored at every possible area. However the road on the west bank is minor and there has been no development which makes a good car ride but without places to stop except at approved sites. The best way to see the lake is by a steamer trip from Bowness. The lake is 18 km 11 miles in length and up to 1.5 km or a mile wide. There are islands including the famous location for Swallows and Amazons. Although the week’s stay was at Easter, there was snow!

Michael also took a trip to Grasmere where Wordsworth and is sister are buried. I have visited Dove Cottage, their former home in which he wrote Daffodils and many of his famous poems -I wondered lonely as a cloud; Imitations Immortality; Ode to Duty and My Heart Leaps up.

In the programme Portillo also paid a visit to Kendal and asked after a Kendall Mint Cake which he alleges he did not know is not a traditional form of cake and but a slab of mint sweet covered in chocolate. Pull the other one. Kendall is a market town on the way to the Southern Lakeland via County Durham. It is possible to visit the lakes this way in a day but the journey is slow and tiring.

Michael then took the Journey from Carlisle through to Glasgow via Gretna Green. I have stayed a long weekend at a Hotel in Carlisle with an indoor Swimming pool.. Carlisle is a days trip from Newcastle with a good road passing close to the Northumberland town of Hexham as well as a train service. It is possible to visit the Northern lakes via this route although the more direct way is over the mountainous hills to Alston, Penrith and Keswick. More on this another day.

Carlisle was a rugged stone built community on the Borders between England and Scotland or Scotland England depending on viewpoint, and until the 20th century a lawless place full of feuding bandit families who gave their allegiance as did Carlisle to which ever army occupied the town.

Michael visited Gretna Green, a curious border town which has became world wide famous because it was possible for English young men and women to marry when sixteen of years of age without parental permission and where the service was performed at the village Blacksmiths. All that couples had to do was to comply with the residency qualification of three weeks which meant the growth of low cost bed and breakfast accommodation, caravans and camping sites. There is also the remains of the biggest ammunitions manufacturing site in the UK where during World War I up to 30000 women were employed. I have stopped for a meal or break at Gretna Green several times on the way to Scottish sea and land lochs holidays on average one every other year for two decades from the mid 1970’s.

Michael mentions Lockerbie where a full aeroplane was blown out of the Sky and also a railway accident involving three colliding trains during World War 1 which also killed several hundred people. By a quirk of fate I had nearly become the Director of Social Work Services for the governing local authority having been invited to apply by the Department of Health when it was discovered that the successful applicant for the post did not posses an appropriate professional qualification. I have been on holiday in the area for a week, where it also snowed and the car had difficult getting in and out of the site of Lodges.

Michael then continued by train to Glasgow, a city where I lived for a month in 1961 and have stayed a few days at a conference since, as well as passing through or around on the way to other parts of Scotland for holidays. Glasgow until recent times was a grim City with much poverty at its centre and on outlying estates. The best description of what it was like in the Gorbals is in the novel No Mean City. Since becoming the city of European Culture there has been considerable expenditure on making the city a place to visit rather than pass through with 4 million visitors a year.

I have made the journey between Glasgow and Edinburgh by train but more often by the motorway link and always crossed the Firth of Forth by car. I have visited Edinburgh, the start of his next stretch, several times but again mostly passing through on the way to holidays in central and east Scotland. The Railway Bridge is iconic and featured in the film the 39 Steps. I have three memorable visits to Edinburgh, with two in I961, when I first went over by car to address the Scottish CND Committee about the forthcoming Direct Action/Committee 100 demonstration at Holy Loch when I had been temporarily employed as a field organiser, and then made the trip by car with a cheque to pay the fines for Pat Arrowsmith and the other marchers who had walked down Princess Street against the instructions of the police, only to find these had been paid by the Scottish Miner‘s Union and the group were being entertained in the boardroom at the union HQ in Fife by the Moffat Brothers where they were all made Honorary Members of the Union. The third occasion was to sit a few rows behind the Queen at the Commonwealth games. Subjects for further comment at another time. Michael continued to Kirkcaldy, the home of his maternal grandparents.

I have missed the first two episodes of his earlier journey from Liverpool to Hull and onto Scarborough on the North Yorkshire Coast.

I commenced with the third stretch from Todmorden in Lancashire a town which I do not know, although I have travelled from Leeds to Liverpool by train when on my way to a training conference for the National Lotteries Charities Board and my car broke down just outside Leeds station. I also travelled from Newcastle to Liverpool for a visit of the Local Authority Forum on Drug Misuse and I believe this was the occasion that I stayed at the Railway Hotel, Michael loves Railway Hotels with the one at Hull having its entry directly from the old main concourse. On his third stage travel Michael went on to Skipton where I spent a week nearby during a Drug Advisory Service visit to the area, going into this quiet West Yorkshire market town surrounded by glorious countryside for meals in the evening.

During this trip Michael took to the skies in a railway helicopter which examines the track, monitoring points and other potential hazard and where he showed the section of railway from Redcar to Whitby which follows a precarious route at the top of tall cliffs. This is now only used a fright line. I have travelled to Whitby by train as well as by car. The train used to be taken from Seaburn Station via Sunderland and onward to Middlesbrough to meet another train which originates in Newcastle via Darlington. The route from there passes through the picturesque Esk Valley arriving at Whitby 90 mins later. One can arrive by lunchtime on the cheap day returns but with trains back limited it is best to stay on until seven otherwise in term time the earlier train at 4 is filled by school children who are put on the train by teachers but are then left free to create mayhem until collected by parents and local transport services from the many stations along the route. It is also possible to continue to Scarborough by a separate service.

On his trip Michael made a stop at Bolton Abbey which I have visited by car. The Picturesque ruins of the former Abbey are located on the banks of the River Wharfe in the grounds of an estate of the Duke of Devonshire and now owned by the Chatsworth settlement Trustees. He ended this stretch at York one of the great cities of the UK, much visited, especially by travellers from the United States. I have frequently visited York since moving to the North East, at least once a year although recently it has been passed through on the way to London by coach. The city became important as a Roman settlement and at one time briefly controlled the Roman Empire. The brilliance of Roman building is shown in the straightness of the city walls. The continuation of the walls and narrow winding streets, the Shambles does mean horrendous bottlenecks all the time and even travelling around the outskirts to Beverley and Hull can be a pain adding half an or more to the journey. Therefore the mainline train journey from Newcastle is preferable, especially on a cheap day return. The city is fames for its glorious Minster as well as the Shambles and its range of restaurants. The centre is also prone to flooding! However the city is also a Mecca for those who love trains with the National Railway Museum. I have stayed at the Railway Hotel here, also at a conference, also at the Midland Manchester for the same reason.

Michael then travelled the penultimate leg of this journey visiting the seaside town and former fishing town of Bridlington which I have only visited once on a day trip. It has a large and wide Sandy beach and one of the best looking station forecourts in the UK. He then continued to Hull which I have visited by train from Newcastle in the early 1970’s, from Beverley, from Leeds and York and from London as well as several visits by car. The city has changed beyond recognition, especially after the creation of M 62 motorway from Liverpool via Manchester, the development of higher education with two universities, and radical changes to the docks which have been modernised into a developing container port. The Fishing industry collapsed all along the Yorkshire coast after the cod wars although is being revised as Red Mullet and Bass and other fish migrate further north from the warmer Mediterranean waters.

The final stretch is from Filey to Scarborough. I do not think I have been to Filey made known for the Butlin’s Holiday camp and nearby Flamborough Head which has several hundred thousands birds nesting throughout the season.

I have stayed a few days holiday at Scarborough as well as for a conference and several long day trips. I missed one opportunity to attend the annual Cricket festival at which Yorkshire has played Durham some years and I once turned down an invitation to be short listed as the Chief Executive. Scarborough became as fashionable as Torquay, the Riviera of the North vis-à-vis that of the south west. Scarborough is very hilly and the use of a cable lift is merited to get from the sea front up to the town centre. I had planned to stay at the Grand Hotel which has 365 rooms all different, 12 floors and four corners, but so far have not made it. I once attended an evening variety show and then travelled over the moors home arriving in the early hours. I also got up at dawn and travelled back to the office after an overnight stay in one of the most invigorating car journeys of my life. The sun shone and it was glorious.
with the intimate details of their exploits.

As I said Piers Morgan has seemed to me too clever and brash by more than a half. He has a wannabe high life style, something which appears to come more naturally to Michael Portillo. His full name is Piers Stefan O’Meara (Pughe-Morgan).

He was born in 1965 the youngest of four children to the artist Gabrielle O’Meara whose husband Vincent died when Piers was only one year of age. His mother subsequently married Glynne Pughe-Morgan. Piers started in journalism in South London but his style attracted interest from Fleet Street and was recruited to the Sun newspaper group and became the youngest Editor of the scandal Sunday, the News of the World at the age of 28, the youngest appointed editor for several decades. He then became the editor of the Daily Mirror.

All appeared to be going to well until he became involved in an Insider share dealing scandal from which he was cleared but two financial journalists on the paper were sacked. As the circulation of all the major popular dailies fell he became the subject of an elaborate hoax in which photographs appeared to show British Army soldiers abusing Iraqi prisoners leading to his being sacked. He then became involved in several newspaper publishing ventures including a weekly newspaper for children.

It was only in 2006 that Piers re-established himself as a major media figure when joining the American show America’s Got Talent said to have been chosen by Simon Cowell to replace himself when he launched he British version. In 2008 Piers joined the Britain’s Got Talent team. Last year he commenced three programmes on the world’s high maintenance high lifers visiting Dubai, Monte Carlo and Hollywood and this year has seen him in Las Vegas, Marbella and Shanghai.
It is the programme on Shanghai which has interested me most as it brought me up to date with what has become the greatest and most powerful city conurbation in the world and the shop window for the capitalist dictatorship of the People’s Republic of China Empire. It will hold a business and commercial international exhibition this year which will outclass the holding of the Olympic games. The city is said to be the home of over ten thousand multi millionaires, many of them female as interviewed by Piers Morgan in the programme. The city has a skyline to rival New York and Dubai including the tallest hotel. Because the country is a one party dictatorship there are no problems about planning permissions, or moving populations to make way for developments or to create new cities and towns. The city state has a population approaching 20 million and is richer than the UK economy and has been growing exponentially in contrast to the UK decline. It is the busiest cargo port in the world, compare that to the disappearance of London as a port and the contrasts become even more evident.

I am enjoying the Portillo journey’s full of nostalgia for me and representing the attempt by communities to overcome the loss of an empire and the consequential trading power, control of the high seas and financial capital. I do not enjoy the Piers Morgan programmes although they are an accurate picture of our Brave New Commercial and Cultural World. I fear what I see, not for me, but for the future of the United Kingdom and its people.