"i Was There!!"

[Lady Bracknell]

My mother always went to the Remembrance Day service at the War Memorial in Enniskillen. On 8 November 1987, the dog managed to escape just before she left and by the time she'd rounded him up she was so late that she realised she would miss the service and stayed home instead. Which is why she was able to phone me up later that day with the cheery greeting "I thought you'd like to know that I haven't been blown to smithereens this morning". Unlike two of her friends.

 

[Lord Bracknell]

My grandmother lived in a flat in SE16 that was immediately below a flat that was occupied by the exiled first President of independant Uganda, a man with the glorious name of His Majesty Sir Edward Frederick William David Walugembe Mutebi Luwangula Mutesa II, Kabaka of Buganda, "King Freddie" for short.

In 1966, he was ousted from office by Milton Obote in what was essentially a coup - and exiled to Britain, which is how he came to live as my grandmother's neighbour.

Three years later, he was found dead in his flat in mysterious circumstances. The police investigation was incredibly superficial and the official explanation was that he died "from alcohol poisoning". Curiously, he had been interviewed by the BBC's John Simpson only a few hours earlier and had been "sober and in good spirits".

My grandmother was never interviewed during the investigation. If she had been, she would have told the police about the two mysterious visitors who knocked on her door, looking for Mutesa on the day that he died.

The alternative version of his death is, of course, that he was murdered by Obote's agents. But the official version is that there is no evidence to suggest foul play.

Hmmmm...

 

[Alex Alex Dawson oo! oo!]

Not me personally, but my Auntie Janette was one of the women who cleaned up the flat that Ronnie (or Reggie) murdered Jack the Hat McVitie in. She was going out with one of the lackeys at the time apparently.

She emigrated to S Africa very shortly afterwards.

Dunno too much about where my auntie was, Bry. She was very coy about it all. Understandable really.

Jesus Christ! My mother's family have similar historical connections and she has occasionally come out with stories (you'd then rather she hadn't) after too much vodka & tonic. I'll ask her about your Auntie but she usually won't say anything either - coy's a bit of an understatement.
Am intending to meet one of the elderly 'London' relatives at the Orient game though.

Make's my wife being a couple of hundred yards from the IRA bomb in the Royal Corridor in Bath in 1974 seem a bit tame.

 

[BensGrandad]

Nope he probably asked them where the play-off money was (cheap joke and apologies BG)

No offense taken. But this was the 60s and we struggled in those days in Div 4 and 3 oh sorry we are in Div 3 or the equivalent now.

I do find it amusing when we go and work in pubs, not in London, where there are so many customers who originate from the East End of London and they all classed them as their mates and knew them well.

 

[Bry Nylon]

No offense taken. But this was the 50s and we struggled in those days in Div 4 and 3 oh sorry we are in Div 3 or the equivalent now.

I do find it amusing when we go and work in pubs, not in London, where there are so many customers who originate from the East End of London and they all classed them as their mates and knew them well.

I used to live in Vallance Road in Bethnal Green, and just about everybody reckoned they knew them, even though by that time Ronnie was dead and Reggie had been in prison for the best part of 30 years...

As a neat aside, there is a large 'semi-stately' house in the north Essex village I now live in, which was used by R&R as their rural retreat on many an a occasion. I wonder if they ever propped up the bar in the snug in my local boozer?

 

[Lord Bracknell]

I could tell stories about the legendary Howard Marks ("Mr Nice"), but since he tells them better in his autobiography, I won't. Suffice to say that I was close by when some of the more personal episodes in his private life were unfolding.

 

[BensGrandad]

I used to live in Vallance Road in Bethnal Green,?

Just down the road from Brick Lane which is where Truemans Brewery was, which was who we worked for. I think that it is now the kitchen/studios that the TV company uses to make the celebrity chef progs eg . The frenchman , cant remember his name and Gary Rhodes and the recent oner with Marco Pierre White.(?).

 

[Franks Wild Years]

This is the remains of the block of flats in Amsterdam that I'd moved out of two weeks before.

 

[clapham_gull]

I could tell stories about the legendary Howard Marks ("Mr Nice"), but since he tells them better in his autobiography, I won't. Suffice to say that I was close by when some of the more personal episodes in his private life were unfolding.

I presume you met him at Sussex Uni ?

 

[Lord Bracknell]

I presume you met him at Sussex Uni ?

Yes indeed. I got to know him through a guy called Johnny Martin, who was a fellow social anthropologist working on the same research programme that I was involved with. Johnny played quite a role in the Howard Marks story.

 

[pasty]

Dodgy knees possibly saved my life. Deciding between coach or train to visit my then wifes family in Rotterdam, we thought train would be best as I could get up and walk about if my knees started hurting.

Had we chosen coach, we would have been coming back on the Herald of Free Enterprise.

 

[Stat Brother]

I was about 20 miles from Killeen (sp) Texas when a guy walks in and shoots 40ish people.

I was in a youth hostel and spent the rest of the day answering the phone, calls from all around the world. Most of which I had to answer 'no sorry they've not been through here'.

 

[hitony]

Don't know about the pub, but the flat was in Evering Road. I lived around the corner on Brooke Road, and my girlfriend at the time (later to be my wife), lived in Evering Road. (More Clapton than S. Newington, tbh).

We used to live in Lower Clapton, in fact we had our wedding reception in the White Hart (on the roundabout at the end or Lea Bridge Road) not that this has bugger all to do with the thread title

 

[hitony]

This is the remains of the block of flats in Amsterdam that I'd moved out of two weeks before.

Jeeze Frank.............i know when you have a party its a bit of a riot.......but thats ridiculous !!!!!!!! Talk about "Bring the house down"

 

[Gully]

FWY, that happened around the time I left the Netherlands for the first time to come back to the UK, don't think that they ever really knew the total figure for those who were killed...apparently the block housed a lot of illegal immigrants who weren't registered with anyone or known to the authorities, the only fortunate thing was that the plane was a freighter and not carrying passengers...in which case the horror would have been magnified.

 

[Questions]

I think I know her name, but it would be wrong to post it. Initials C.W?

grass

 

[Lethargic]

I was stationed at RAF Laarbruch in Germany during the 1980's at the time when the IRA were carrying out attacks on UK bases and troops. 2 guys were murdered in a car bomb at a local disco one Saturday night at which I had been several times and guys I worked with were present that night.

During the same period I had a collegue who missed the Herald of Free Enterprise on the fateful night due to his car breaking down, the ironey is he was one of the people at the disco in Nieuwbergen on the Saturday night above - it seems he was leading a charmed life at the time.

 

[Tricky Dicky]

I was at London Bridge station when the IRA bomb went off there. I missed the one at Victoria station by 10 mins. I took it personally - I thought the IRA were after me !

 

[medicine man]

My dad worked on the railways as a guard at the time of the London Bridge/ Victoria bombings. He was in Victoria and, because all employees were told to be vigilant, brought a dodgy looking bike to the polices attention (pointed to it, as opposed to piking it up!). A few weeks later, he was called by the Met, and questioned about how he knew about the bike etc. implying he knew more than he was letting on. Shat him up a bit, and only told me about it a few years ago.

Father-in-law used to travel a lot around Africa by plane, one day missed hias flight from Casablanca by a few mins- the plane crashed.

 

[Willow]

I was about 20 yards from the Edgeware Road tube bomb, passing in the adjacent train. We were evacuated down the tunnel through all the smoke and screams.