Vintage Minor Register

He'll be missed on both sides of the sea!
But we are also lucky in that we can still enjoy his art
Gone but not forgotten

Halbe

We were driving through Brussels on the way back from Italy when we picked up Radio 4 for the first time for 3 weeks.
The first episode of "Clue" was being aired and I simply could not concentrate on winding my way through the usual roadworks present in those days so we settled into a comfortable loop of around 8oo yards of diversion and rode this for 30 minutes (seemed like a hundred circuits at crawling pace) until it finished. We missed very few of Humph's show thereafter.
Cammy

Like the rest of you I will miss Humphrey Lyttleton very much. He has been part of my adult life for 60 years. I wonder if our friends in Australia and New Zealand know that he was the master of the double entendre - here is an example (which is clean!!):
Samantha has to nip off to the National Opera where she has been giving private tuition to the singers. Having seen what she did for the baritone, the director is keen to see what she might do for a tenor. (English slang for a ten ppound note). Happy days, Highlander.

I only heard about Humph's passing an hour ago - very sad. I thought he must be unwell as he stopped doing his jazz programme. I had been searching for one of his early records for years and suddenly came across a pack of 3 CDs which included my favourite tracks. I have seen him qiuet a few times most recently at the Marlborough Jazz Festival two years ago when he was on great form with hilarious stories.
Ken

I got a Metal Detector as a birthday present at the weekend (Garrett Ace 250) and it is an amazing instrument. It can differentiate between different materials and even tells you the depth of the object scanned. So far I have found two Corona bottle tops and a broken saw blade, all of this under my my back lawn. There are lots of restrictions as to where you can go - does anybody know of an ancient Roman site where I can take my new instrument and bobble hat?
Chris

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David,
This activity is entirely new to me. I have often hankered after a detector in the past, but there were always other things I needed, or more likely, the children needed! I did get to use one in the eighties and really enjoyed the experience although I found little of any consequence. Believe it or not, it was reading an article on local history by ex Rolling Stone Bill Whyman that re-kindled my interest. Bill lives locally and takes his C-Scope everywhere apparently.
I did some internet research on likely options for beginners and the Garrett name seemed to figure quite prominantly. I then searched on Amazon and their prices were significantly cheaper than elsewhere and my wife's credit card did the rest!
I intend to do some serious 'searching' later this week but I can't reveal where or I'll be arrested! Understandably, there are quite a few restrictions on their use and the 'code of conduct' seems both sensible and reasonable. I would love to 'turn up' a relic or two, but at the moment a Victorian coin would suffice.
Chris

Chris, The Christmas of 1944 I( was in Kininmouth, Nr. Crimond, Aberdeenshire with mky young brother and my Mother (living with my Grandparents due to the war) My Dad was still in Surrey as a policeman but had sent Doug and me a joint Christmas present - it was a clockwork tin submarine. The winter of 1944 in Scotland was bad and snow was on the ground for months. However when all the snow had gone Doug and me went up to the farm which had a large loch (lake) which fed the meal mill. We turned the key on the submarine, placed it on the water, and it slowly sank and was never seen again!!!! My Mother went mad as presents in those days were like hens teeth, one was lucky to get an apple and an orange and perhaps the Rupert bear annual. If you could detect this submarine for Doug and me I will buy you a couple of pints. Crimond is 590 miles from Epsom!!!!! Good hunting, Highlander.

Alister,
I think I might need a wet suit as well as the detector before looking for your submarine! Mind you the Wife is always mumbling something about me 'walking on water' - perhaps I'll try it in Crimond!
Chris

I had a detector as a youth, it's unbelievable how many ringpulls and nails there are in the ground, never found anything worthwhile! I have however found some interesting stuff in terrace house gardens including a police helmet badge and the remains of older houses including a cellar, all these goodies have been found simply by digging a 15m long trench 1m deep and then taking a couple of foot off the top, oh and also then digging a cubic metre soakaway. Alternatively just pop up a floorboard and crawl underneath with a torch! Seriously though, you'll find all sorts of interesting but worthless stuff in victorian, or older, areas of habitation especially gardens and even more so, pub gardens. Good luck hunting, someone in Bournemouth found a Ford Pilot in their garden!

Glad it wasn't a Spitfire pilot!

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Trevor Wilkinson and I spent the afternoon watching some very old aircraft doing their stuff at Old Warden Aerodrome in Beds - so a case of the nearly antique studying the antiquated! Highlights of the afternoon for me were; the Packard Merlin engined P51 Mustang and the Kestrel engined Hind, all very evocative.

Wonderful - sight and sound. Old Warden is a holy place...

I spent the afternoon giving my garage the clearout of all time. It has been accumulating junk for ten years and got to be completely impossible. Tons of stuff from the kids which they will never use again, old bits of wood and 'stuff' which 'might come in handy one day'. All being sent to the dump. Buried, I found a perfect OHC speedo cable! Must have been the one for the Semi-sports - I fitted a new S&V one. So not an entirely unproductive day! Just stopped for an Old Peculier to cool off and then I must get back to it.

Friday I e-mailed Tim Pratt to see if he is in England - he's the other half of my 40' container. No answer, so went round his house. Not there, so presume he is in the UK but not in regular e-mail contact. When Toby comes back 22nd June, that is the last date I need to reach to get all the cars and stuff to the shippers. If Tim is still not in a position to shift his stuff and his Sunbeam, I will have to go with a 20 footer. But at least I'll have space in the garage for everything!

I am REALLY missing having the Semi-sports to drive, now that summer has arrived in Michigan.

Yesterday afternoon whilst driving back from Devon, a huge motorcade passed us by on the London bound carriageway of the A11. Roundabouts had been blocked off by police motorcycle outriders and the calvalcade must have consisted of at least 20 identical American limos with blacked out windows. The US Air Base at Mildenhall is about 18 miles NE from where I saw the procession. I watched the evening news - no mention of a Presidential or any other type of visit. Today at about 5:30 pm a flight of four low flying F15's flew immediatly over my house on there way back to Lakenheath. Nothing too unusual in that except they normally fly in pairs and at a much higher altitude. Where they on Airforce One escort duty? Does anyone know where the American President is? Is he here? Does anyone care?
Chris