Tag Archives: 1976

Sep14

England 1976 – Part V – Leigh-on-Sea

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England 1976 – Part V – Leigh-on-Sea

After a week or so in London, I left my friends and went to Leigh-on-Sea to see my relatives (some of whom lived in nearby Southend-On-Sea, too). Leigh was (and probably still is) the real England from my point of view . The surrounding countryside was rather dreary-looking back then although I got excited when I saw a ruin.

There was a board walk (with shops) in the town because the Thames River flows as far as Leigh. We never spent a day at the beach – none of our days spent there were sunny enough in spite of the drought. The boats along the river lent an air of quaintness to the area.

The house my relatives bought was probably typical for the times and of the British working class. The room where you bathed and the room where you went to the toilet were two different rooms. (Living now in a house with one all-inclusive bathroom, that makes more sense because two people can do what they have to do at the same time as long as the first person has to bathe and the second person goes to the bathroom.) I can’t remember if there was a bidet but there could have been because bidets are popular in Europe.

My cousin and I ate fish and chips at a small shop that served them on a newspaper (saves on washing dishes) although I usually ate my aunt’s home-cooking which was delicious and reminded me of my life in the village. My cousin’s boyfriend drove us to a night spot one night in his car but otherwise we took the bus or walked wherever we went. It didn’t take long to walk to a shop or the boardwalk. The locals who worked in London traveled by commuter train or by bus (one was faster and the other was cheaper).

I also met my two other aunts, uncle and their children, relatives I had never met before. My traveling companions came to visit us for a few days, too. When it was time, we left from there for Gatwick Airport (Our plane couldn’t depart as scheduled so we stopped briefly at Brighton; our the airline company had to take us somewhere.).

At one point, it finally rained. Actually, it was a thunderstorm as I recall.

Copy and paste the links below into your browser:

www.leigh-on-sea.com

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leigh-on-Sea

 

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Aug23

England 1976 Part II

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England 1976 Part II

 

The weather was in the 90s but my Mediterranean blood didn’t complain. I was here to see London and hot weather wasn’t going to stop me (or my friends, I assumed).

Besides, we could get a lot for our dollars…..

Trafalgar Square was filled with people and pigeons. That was the first stop of many that day.

Later, we went to Kensington Palace (which reminded me of a scene out of Pride and Prejudice), St. Paul’s Cathedral, Piccadilly Circus, Hyde Park, St. James Park, London Zoo, No. 10 Downing Street, Madame Tussaud’s Wax Museum, Big Ben, Parliament, Westminster Abbey and more. (What was just as significant was what we didn’t see: Stonehenge, Windsor Castle the National Gallery, and Covent Garden although we did get to see a play.) I was using my Pentax Spotmatic and took photos that will always remind me of my trip to England: the places look like they do on a picture postcard.

Trafalgar Square is a public square located in the City of Westminster and commemorates the Battle of Trafalgar, a British naval victory during the Napoleonic Wars. Nelson’s Column is in the center of the square, guarded by four lion statues at is base. The Square is sometimes used for political demonstrations and community gatherings like New Year’s Eve celebrations. www.london.gov.uk/priorities/arts-culture/trafalgar-square

A residence of the British Royal family, Kensington Palace is located in Kensington Gardens (where else?). Today, it is home to the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, Prince Harry, the Duke and Duchess of Gloucester, the Duke and Duchess of Kent and Prince and Princess Michael of Kent. www.htp.org.uk/KensingtonPalace

Westminster Abbey is a large Gothic church located in the City of Westminster and just west of the Palace of Westminster. The abbey is the traditional place for coronations and as a burial site for British monarchs.

www.westminster-abbey.org

Big Ben is the nickname for the Great Bell of the Great Clock located at the north end of the Palace of Westminster.

www.bigbenfacts.com

The Palace of Westminster is the meeting place of the Houses of Parliament. Parliament consists of the House of Commons and the House of Lords and lies on the northern bank of the River Thames.

www.parliament.uk

For Art-Lovers: The Emmeline Pankhurst Statue, dedicated in honor of the leader of the British suffragette movement, sits in Victoria
Tower Gardens.

The Burghers of Calais Statue is one of twelve casts by the sculptor Auguste Rodin. Unveiled in 1915, this cast is also located at the Victoria Tower Gardens near the Houses of Parliament.

For those who are wondering, Emmeline Pankhurst does have a head!

NEXT WEEK: London Zoo, Hyde Park and more….

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Aug16

England 1976 Part I

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England 1976 Part I
1970s Writer as Photographer

The 1970s: Writer as Photographer

In July, 1974, Turkey invaded Cyprus which prompted me to travel to England in 1976. What’s the connection? My aunts, uncles and cousins lived in a hamlet called Harcha (sometimes spelled Hartjia or Hartzia) in northern Cyprus. Turkey invaded from the north and my relatives barely had enough time to flee for their lives. Not everyone from northern Cyprus escaped and many Greeks are still listed as missing (as are Turks and Armenians and others). My relatives found themselves living in refugee camps in their own country.

By 1976, some of them had immigrated to England so I went to visit them. I had lived with them for seven months in 1965 in Harcha so I wanted to see how they were doing.

1976 was a leap year. America was celebrating its Bicentennial (200th birthday) making it ironic that I went to visit the country whose taxation policies led to the American Revolution.

1976 was the year of the Entebbe raid, the discovery of Legionnaire’s Disease, and Jimmy Carter’s election to the presidency. The UK suffered the hottest, driest, sunniest summer of its twentieth century (at least, up to that point).

My friends and I arrived during the waning days of summer (Labor Day added an extra day to our vacation). I spent a week or so in London with my friends; then I went to see my aunts, uncle and cousins in Leigh-on-Sea in Essex. Leigh wasn’t anything like Harcha but it was the real England and that’s where my relatives settled. While we were visiting England other headlining stories occurred:

On Sept. 4, Palestinians hijacked KLM DC-9 on a flight to Cyprus.

On Sept.7, US Courts find George Harrison, formerly of the Beatles, guilty of plagiarism.

On Sep. 9, Chairman Mao Zedong of the People’s Republic of China died of a heart attack.

On Sept. 10, A British Airways Trident and a Yugoslav DC-9 collide near Zagreb, Yugoslavia (present day Zagreb, Croatia) killing all 176 aboard. (The newspapers carried the headline on the day we visited Big Ben, Parliament and Westminster Abbey.)

On Sept. 10, Five Croatian terrorists capture TWA-plane at La Guardia airport, New York.

While we were in England we saw all the major sites in London. Buckingham Palace was first on our list but the Queen was away at Balmoral. That meant that we couldn’t see the rooms normally open to the public. It was disappointing to us; we really wanted to see the interior of the palace.

I loved the British Museum and the Greek antiquities. Back then, we weren’t sensitized to the fact that Lord Elgin stole these ancient works from Greece.

Buckingham Palace has been the official residence of the British kings and queens since 1837. It is also the administrative headquarters of Queen Elizabeth, the Duke of Edinburgh and the immediate royal family. Great royal ceremonies, state visits and investitures are held there.

For more information, visit http://www.royal.gov.uk/TheRoyalResidence/BuckinghamPalace

The Queen Victoria Monument was the work of the sculptor Sir Thomas Brock in 1901 and unveiled in 1901. The Monument stands outside Buckingham Palace.

Established in 1763, the British Museum initially housed Sir Hans Sloan’s art collection. Sir Hans Sloan was a physician and scientist. The museum was first opened to the public on January 15, 1759 and until 1997, also housed a national library. For more information, visit their website www.britishmuseum.org

Saint James Park sits in the middle of a “square” with Buckingham Palace to the left, the Mall to the north, the Horse Guards to the east and Birdcage Walk to the south. Visit www.royalparks.org.uk/parks/St-Jamess-Park for maps and more information.

St. Paul’s Cathedral, an Anglican cathedral, is the seat of the Bishop of London and the “mother church” of the Diocese of London. Saint Mellitus, a monk, founded the original church in 604 A.D. and dedicated it to Paul the Apostle. Designed by Christopher Wren, the present church edifice dates from the 17th century.

www.stpauls.co.uk

NEXT WEEK: Trafalgar Square, Big Ben, Parliament and more…

Below are listed two books on the Decade of Disco Fever:

The 1970s by Tim Healey

The 1970s by Kelly Boyer Sagert

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