Tuesday 21 May 2013

Archibald Beet

...or Archie to his friends popped into the world last Thursday 16th May at 15:15 weighing in at 7lb 7 oz. He was delivered by C section and all seems well with the world.

He is the first grandson for the Weathers, Collins, Smith dynasty and joins his cousins Ava and Sofia in the creche. He has a dash of red hair, so Ron seemed a good choice of name to me, my earlier suggestions of Bronski or Mersey having been rejected. Archie sits well though and he joins a proud collections of Archies.

Archie Leitch was a famous designer of football stands, one of which is still in situ at Home Park, Plymouth. Archie Knox was a famous art nouveau artist and did a large amount of his work for Liberty's. Finally of course we must not forget Archie Andrews, the ventriloquist' dummy of the 50's and 60's. He starred in his own radio show called Educating Archie, and the fact a ventriloquism act was being played out in a non-visual environment did not seem to phase anybody.

Some Internet fun indicates that 0.0000598‰ of the UK population have the name Archie Beet, that's 4 people!!!

Gottle of geer, Gottle of geer.

Wednesday 8 May 2013

Le Shed

Football supporters often get a bad name, and many deserve it, however, the fans of Plymouth Argyle seem to rise above the stereotype with great regularity. Whether this is because they face crises which only their Naval port rivals Portsmouth can relate closely to, or whether its something to do with the sleepy West Country climate, I am not sure.

Anyway, when Peter Read was released as manager they clubbed together to buy him a pen and made a framed signed shirt as a memento, and Peter Read was not really associated with Argyle success.

So, what to do when French goalkeeper Romain Larrieu announced he was leaving the coaching staff as new manager John Sheridan looked to bring in his own team? Romain is an Argyle legend. He signed during the Sturrock years and was a regular in the side which moved from league 2 to the Championship during the noughties. He stuck around as the side slid back to League 2, and almost out of existence, so it was only right and proper that the fans said their own thankyou to him.

First thing was to start a collection and that quickly reached £500 and continued to climb. Next thing was a bit obvious, why not ask him what he would like. So Romain was consulted and to everybody's amazement he indicated he would like a shed for his garden!! It did not take long for some sharp thinking Janner to spot that Argyle are sponsored by Bond Timber. Maybe they could help?

So one phone call later and the deal is done, they will survey the site and supply the shed, everybody now waits for the unveiling and naming ceremony. Apparently it will be build to accommodate a second tier should the capacity of the shed need to be increased at a later date to reflect the success Romain achieves while playing in it!!

On the subject of sheds, my Summer project is now a work in progress. This is the starting position, more pictures will follow in due course.
  

Monday 6 May 2013

Adrian Stanley, actor

Adrian Stanley was a repertory theatre player during the second world  war, and early 1950's before moving to South Africa where he produced in the apartheid dominated Country for many years. He died in 2010.

Never heard of him? Well, neither had I until I attended the local auction house last week. There were a couple of pictures I was interested in, however, it was an old leather suitcase which caught my eye. From experience I know these things fetch between £20-£30 at car boot sales, so to acquire it for £25 has probably negated any change of a profit on it.

What made me proceed though was the content of the suitcase. It was full of war time programmes magazines and books all relating to the life of Adrian Stanley. My uncle Philip was a thespian and I suspect that is why I was intrigued by the contents. You can read about Philip a bit more here. Falkland Carey, with whom he collaborated on a number of projects, and Philip King dominated the playwright arena at the time Philip was involved. Their big numbers were 'Sailor Beware' and 'Big Bad Mouse'  I was hoping one of the programmes may have mentioned Philip but none did.

So,  if I sell them all for 99p each I will be well wedged up, however, I have a feeling some of the items may be little gems. There is a Bolshoi Ballet programme which is a rarity, there is a series of South African theatre programmes which will be collectable, and there is a first issue of the Penguin theatre guide. My e-bay activity will start next week and I will watch developments with interest.

Adrian Stanley was granted an obituary in the Guardian and other theatre and African related publications. His real name was Stanley Roberts and the suitcase contained three of his school reports from Rock Ferry, Birkenhead his WWII discharge papers relating to the asthma which affected him, diaries chronicling his travels in repertory, as well as a photograph from the Spotlight casting directory of the time. Maybe a family member will be interested in that little lot  It's amazing what a good rummage will unearth.