This chapter tells of Peter's arrival in Pears Road, gives information about his adoptive family, and their history -
and describes how Peter slowly adapts to his new life in the setting of the early fifties.
© Copyright Peter Crawford 2012
see video link for Dedication at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mXNPVldikRQ or click below
click on images to enlarge
© Copyright Peter Crawford 2012
'Not in entire forgetfulness,
And not in utter nakedness,
But trailing clouds of glory do we come...'
Wordsworth
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| The young Kahlil Gibran |
'In the Beginning' - Well, what else could we call the first chapter ?
How our Peter began, or exactly where he came from for most people is a now a mystery.
As Kahlil Gibran (see left), a poet often quoted by those who wish to sound profound when saying nothing, says,
'Vague and nebulous is the beginning of all things - Life, and all that lives is conceived in the mist and not in the crystal !'.
Well in Peter's case this is undoubtedly true, and like some mythic hero he springs into the world fully formed, with no conception or gestation; no father or mother.
PETER'S NEW FAMILY
John Stokes, of course, knew where Peter really came from, but he would never tell.
PETER'S NEW FAMILY
John Stokes, of course, knew where Peter really came from, but he would never tell.
And now he is dead.
There was probably a time when some people could have explained what had happened, but by now all those people are certainly dead. Perhaps there are some yellowing pieces of paper in some file tucked away in some cabinet in some archive - but that's unlikely.
From the present perspective it seems that Peter just appeared.
There was a birth certificate, but this was issued in 1950, and Peter was born in 1946
This certificate was issued at Brentford Magistrates Court (see right), gave the name of the child as Peter Crawford, the son of John Stokes Crawford and Jane Crawford, who was born on the 31st December 1946.
And what are the first memories to which Peter will admit ?
They are of huge, silent, empty, white rooms, and a big white rocking horse - beautifully painted, which only Peter used.
Now this could be described as a 'false memory', but that may not be so.
It is a memory that Peter had from his earliest days, and Peter sometimes wondered if it was a real memory of if perhaps the real memories were blocked out.
If we are prepared to believe in the existence of the soul, then there is the possibility that it comes into being at conception or birth. It is also possible, however, that if the soul in fact exists, then it may have some pre-existence.
To quote Longfellow, 'we come trailing clouds of glory'.
Perhaps these large, white empty rooms are all that a child's mind can make of that other place, 'before the beginning' (see video above) - a place to which we may also return ?
And there is one other memory that Peter is prepared to recount.
It is not a cold, empty memory, like that of the white rooms, but a joyful memory.
It is on a hill, covered in grass and purple heather, and there is a beautiful red sunrise, or sunset, and Peter is with a group of other children - the 'lost boys' perhaps ? The children are all happy and beautiful, and very young, and they are walking purposefully toward the brow of the hill, and toward the glowing, red and purple clouds.
And then a journey by train, with two people that Peter didn't know, which ends up in a 'living-room' in a strange house, and a nice meal.
Peter's adoption, as far as we can ascertain, took place in 1949, so Peter's childhood took place in the nineteen fifties, in a London suburb called Hounslow, near Heathrow Airport (see left), (which was at that time just emerging form its wartime guise, to become an international airport), and Peter was adopted by a couple called Mr & Mrs Crawford.
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| Jane and John Crawford (early fifties) |
Their wartime experiences undoubtedly caused them some significant emotional scarring, but in nineteen fifty, like so many relatively young people who had survived the war, they were hoping to start a new life in, what was for them, a safe and peaceful, post-war world.
But the world, that to our Peter seemed perfectly normal, was a world that had been traumatized by years of war, and almost all the adults in that world had been equally traumatized.
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| London Blitz |
'Nine eleven' may have traumatized many people, both in New York, and in many other parts of the world, but what we must imagine was a 'nine-eleven' almost every day for years on end, culminating in the London Blitz , the fire storms of Dresden and Berlin, and the destruction of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
And on a lesser scale it was a world, for many years after that war, haunted by rationing, 'make-do-and-mend', and bomb-sites.
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| London Blitz |
So the people who had decided to look after Peter, even although they had survived the war, were not like the adults of today.
They had seen things and done things that most of us now would find hard to imagine, and hard to 'stomach', and had been forced to go through years of privation, danger and seemingly endless waiting.
So the peace was, to those people, very precious. Something that they had been barely able to hope for.
They were, for the most part, committed to make a better world for their children, but they would always be somehow disconnected and remote from those young people.
Their experiences, about which they found it almost impossible to talk, would always separate them from those who grew up with no direct experience of the horrors and anxiety of war.
But who were these people - Jane and John Crawford ?
Of Peter's grandparents he only knew one.
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| Richard Walker Snr. |
This was 'Granddad'; his adoptive mother's father. 'Granddad's' real name was Richard Walker, a master plumber & foreman of a small private company.
Strictly speaking he was a Victorian, having been born in 1876 in Edinburgh.
His work was one of the high technologies of the Victorian era, & his background could be found in the milieu which spawned many of those technologies; namely Scottish Presbyterianism,
Although fond of his whisky, he was, moreover, committed to hard work & the pursuit of a respectable & good living which would grant him independence & the respect of his peers.
For him, as for most people during the Victorian & Edwardian eras, with the exception of the upper classes, leisure was a rare commodity, taken, mainly for the children's sake at Christmas, Easter & Bank Holiday.
It was a precept of the Protestant Work Ethic that work, & success through work, were justified means for salvation.
That Satan made work for idle hands & that to work hard, bring up your family & leave them with a skill, a trade or a business so that they could follow in your footsteps, was a man's privilege & duty. The concept of working to finance periods of leisure & 'having fun' was totally alien to 'Granddad's' generation.
Although rather simply stated here, this attitude & philosophy was dominant among the lower classes during the decades around the turn of the century.
When, inevitably, the Great War (see left) came, it undoubtedly shook the foundations of these working class values, although not to the extent that it effected political, intellectual & aesthetic endeavours.
Returning soldiers demanded 'Homes fit for Heroes' & there was even a General Strike in 1926 (see right), but still, as a result of education, the influence of the churches &, in many cases their own convictions, the majority of workers & small entrepreneurs continued to live by the values of the previous generation.
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| St Cuthbert's RC Church - Felling |
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| Jane Walker Snr. |
'Granddad's' wife, Peter's adoptive 'grandmother', Jane, was Roman Catholic, so their marriage, for that time, was unusual to say the least.
As was the custom, the children of the marriage were brought up as Catholics, which put an unfortunate barrier between Richard and his children.
When Richard Walker died in the nineteen sixties he converted to Catholicism on his deathbed, although as he was convinced during his final illness that he had won the Football Pools, and had taken to reading the newspaper upside down, this decision seems to have more to do with his rabidly Catholic daughter Mary, who was nursing him, rather than any rational deliberations or spiritual awakening on his part.
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| Aunt Sarah |
The eldest child of Richard and Jane Walker was Margaret, always known as Maggie.
The next was Richard, the only son.
Then came Mary, and finally Peter's adoptive mother.
Two years after little Jane was born her mother, Jane, died, and it was left to Maggie to bring up the family.
Richard never re-married, and the children undoubtedly missed the love and care that a mother could provide.
Richard never re-married, and the children undoubtedly missed the love and care that a mother could provide.
Peter's adoptive mother, being the youngest, and needing most care, was regularly farmed out to relatives, and most often to her great aunt, Sarah (see right), who lived in a huge apartment in Princes street, close to John Knox's house, in Edinburgh.
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| Edinburgh - Carlton Hill |
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| Edinburgh - Arthur's Seat |
Holidays were usually spent at the local coastal resorts of Cramond, Leith, Musselburgh or Port Seton, and on other occasions there were trips to Holyrood, the Castle and Arthur's Seat and the Royal Botanical Gardens.
Interestingly, our Peter met Great Aunt Sarah, his only Great Aunt when he was a little boy, probably about six years old.
Of course, Peter had no idea of who she was, and strangely nobody told him.
Jane, Peter's adoptive mother, deep down, thought of herself as being essentially Scottish, and in later life, after a few sherries, or whiskies at Hogmanay, she would become maudlin, and start singing sentimental Scottish ballads in between reminiscences of those far off days. Undoubtedly the most secure and stable times in her life were spent in the cultured air and tranquillity of Scotland's noble capital.
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| Kaiser Wilhelm II |
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| John Crawford |
Peter's adoptive father was born in Gateshead (see left), on the twenty-seventh of January 1906.
Oddly he shared his birthday with the German Kaiser Wilhelm II (see right).
Although he boasted a Scottish surname of the finest pedigree, his links with Scotland were far more tenuous than Jane's.
His father's name was Joseph Crawford, and his mother was called Jane.
The family was Protestant; Church of England, and this was to cause problems later on when he decided to marry.
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| Jane Crawford Snr. |
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| Joseph Crawford |
Jane, (yes, another Jane), Joe's wife, had five children.
The eldest was Richard, then came Ralph, then Winney, then Molly and finally John.
Wanting to provide the best for such a large brood, Jane quickly remarried.
He second husband was always referred to by John as Mr Wilkes. It said much about the relationship between son and stepfather that no Christian name was ever revealed.
Mr Wilkes died after a few years & Jane was once again on her own.
By then, however, the children were growing up.
For the first four years of John Crawford's life he was an Edwardian - difficult to believe but true.
The First Word War started when John was eight years old and ended when he was twelve - so, he was a teenager in the Twenties - a teenager in the 'jaz-age' - the long weekend.
The supposed cause of the First World War was the assassination of the Arch-Duke Franz-Ferdinand and his morganatic wife, the Duchess Sophie, of Hohenburg, in Sarajevo on the 8th June 1914, but in reality this was, of course, merely part of an on-going quarrel between Austria-Hungary & Serbia.
The circumstances of the assassination were very strange, to say the least.
A total of six assassins were waiting for Franz-Ferdinand, when he arrived at Sarajevo. Amazingly, either as a result of cowardice, incompetence or just sheer bad luck, all six failed in their attempts.
Whether or not the Serbians Government (see State Arms left) was involved is still an open question.
The presumed scenario was that Serbia, realizing that she could not hope to survive an Austrian attack, would capitulate, thus enabling Austria-Hungary to swallow up yet another Balkan state.
The slowness of Russia's mobilisation would ensure that the victorious German forces could be despatched, by train, from France, across Germany, to be in position to defeat Russia.
France had no choice but to defend herself; and even Britain was not wholeheartedly for the war, as Viscount Grey (see left), the British Foreign Secretary made clear in his famous remark referring to the lamps of Europe going out.
One very famous picture exists of the crowds rejoicing as the announcement of hostilities was made in Munich.
There is one young man in the crowd with a somewhat familiar face.
John Crawford and Jane Walker grew up in the short interval between the First and Second World wars.
It was, undoubtedly, one of the strangest episodes in the whole of recorded history, but very few people living at the time realised that simple fact.
Robert Graves and Alan Hodge wrote a book about the period and called it 'The Long Weekend' - which in one sense was very appropriate, despite the fact that it was a period of unprecedented change which dramatically altered the everyday lives of practically everyone - at least everyone in the developed world.
The world of 1919 was very similar to the world of 1914, despite the technological advances that had been made during the war.
The world of 1939, the year the Second World War started, however, was almost totally transformed.
The 'Long Weekend' was a period of many things, but most significant were the changes in everyday life and in society that undoubtedly contributed to the economic and political instability that precipitated the Second World War.
So what were these changes ?
Well, it was not a decline into abject poverty, as so many people imagine.
There is a myth that the Twenties were relatively prosperous, while the Thirties were a time of unmitigated unemployment slump and poverty.
In fact the later part of the Thirties, particularly in some parts of Britain, were a period of unparalleled growth and development.
The extreme west and the north of of the United Kingdom were badly affected by the Wall Street Crash and the slump that followed.
The South of the UK, and particularly the south-east of England, however, were able to quickly recover from the Thirties slump, and by the late middle to late Thirties were experiencing a boom.
There was a vast expansion of the suburbs - which is still visible today - and the area around London was christened 'Metroland' as those suburbs we conveniently connected to London by the Metropolitan Underground Railway.
In addition there was considerable expansion of 'light industries' around London and other large conurbations in the south-east of England - as exemplified by the Great West Road in Middlesex.
The south was also the home of new developing industries such as the electrical industry, which prospered from the large-scale electrification of housing and industry.
Mass production methods brought new products such as electrical cookers, washing machines and radios into the reach of the middle classes, and the industries which produced these prospered.
Nearly half of all new factories that opened in Britain between 1932 and 1937 were in the Greater London area (see Great West Road above).
Another industry that prospered during the 1930s was the British motor industry.
For cities that had a developed motor industry such as Birmingham, Coventry and Oxford, the 1930s were also a boom time.
Manufacturers such as Austin, Morris and Ford dominated the motor industry during the 1930s, and the number of cars on British roads doubled within the decade.
British Agriculture also flourished in the 1930s.
In the 1920s and 1930s, Britain had a relatively advanced welfare system compared to many of the industrialised countries.
In 1911, a compulsory national unemployment and health insurance scheme had been put in place by the Liberal government of Herbert Henry Asquith (see Liberal reforms).
This scheme had been funded through contributions from the government, the employers and the workers.
At first, the scheme only applied to certain trades but, in 1920, it was expanded to include most manual workers, however, the scheme only paid out according to the level of contributions made rather than according to need, and was only payable for 15 weeks.
Anyone unemployed for longer than that had to rely on poor law relief paid by their local authority.
In effect, millions of workers who had been too poorly paid to make contributions, or who had been unemployed long term, were left destitute by the scheme.
With the mass unemployment of the 1930s, contributions to the insurance scheme dried up, resulting in a funding crisis.
In August 1931, the 1911 scheme was replaced by a fully government-funded unemployment benefit system.
This system, for the first time, paid out according to need rather than the level of contributions.
This unemployment benefit was subject to a strict means test, and anyone applying for unemployment pay had to have an inspection by a government official to make sure that they had no hidden earnings or savings, undisclosed source(s) of income or other means of support.
The response of the average English family to the experience of the First World War, particularly in the 1930s, was in many ways predictable.
Families turned in on themselves.
Those husbands and fathers, who had survived the carnage of the trenches, had had quite enough of 'adventure'.
What they wanted were the quiet joys of a relatively simple family life.
This was seen particularly in the expanding suburbs (see Metroland above).
For those, particularly in Southern England, who had settled down and married there was the prospect of buying, (rather than renting) a home.
In the developing, light industrial economy of the South, jobs were well paid and secure, and mortgages were easy to obtain.
All over Southern England estates of new homes sprung up.
But the style mirrored the attitudes of a nation shocked by the trauma of an industrial war.
Not for them the white painted concrete, flat roofs and tower blocks favoured by Corbusier and his like.
No - the people of England looked back to a more peaceful and tranquil time.
'Heroic' architecture was not for then. Instead they longed for a quiet domesticity.
For them a new style was created - 'Tudorbethan'.
This style represents a subset of Tudor revival architecture; the word is modelled on John Betjeman's 1933 coinage of the 'Jacobethan' style, which he used to describe the grand mixed revival style of circa 1835–1885 that had been called things like 'Free English Renaissance'.
'Tudorbethan', however, took things a step further, eliminated the hexagonal or many-faceted towers and mock battlements of Jacobethan, and applied the more domestic styles of 'Merrie England', which were cosier and quaint.
'Tudorbethan' is also used synonymously with 'Tudor Revival', and more specifically 'Mock Tudor'.
The emphasis was on the simple, rustic and the less impressive aspects of Tudor architecture, imitating in this way medieval cottages or country houses.
Though the style follows these more modest characteristics, items such as steeply pitched roofs, half-timbering often in-filled with herringbone brickwork, tall mullioned windows, high chimneys, jettied (overhanging) first floors above pillared porches, dormer windows supported by consoles, and even at times thatched roofs, gave 'Tudorbethan' its more striking effects.
Half-Timbering is the 'trade-mark' motif of the style, although the appearance of solid beams and half timbered exterior walls is only superficial.
Artificially aged and blackened beams are constructed from light wood, bear no loads, and are attached to ceilings and walls purely for decoration, while artificial flames leap from wrought iron fire-dogs in an inglenook often a third of the size of the room in which they are situated.
When it came to furnishing the new 'Tudor' home, the 1930s home-maker would be able to buy affordable oak furniture that recreated a Jacobean or Tudor style.
Lifestyle magazines such as 'Good Housekeeping' showed the latest home styles.
These new and influential magazines encouraged the lady of the house to keep up with the 'Jones' and the man to use his spare time on DIY projects.
Furniture would often be large, boxy geometric shapes.
English Oak was popular but because of a shortage of wood, veneer and decorated plywood was greatly used.
The living room would often be carpeted.
In larger homes halls may have had panelled walls and parquet floors.
In kitchens they would have used linoleum or quarry tiles for the floor and plywood and Melomine for the units.
The bedroom more often of had fitted furniture, dark varnished floorboards and an electric fire.
Downstairs coal fireplaces were fitted with an oak or tiled surround.
The sun rising pattern was often found repeated in stained glass in doors and windows.
The garden became a focal part of the new domesticity.
Instead of digging trenches, the man of the house would be digging flower-beds and tending his roses.
Having spent years dedicated to killing, the men ho survived the was dedicated themselves to growing living things from the soil - and this was the origin of the average Englishman's obsession with his garden.
There was, however, another aspect to this apparent 'retreat from modernity'.
For some there was an acceptable face of 'modernity'.
Such people were usually 'upper middle-class' and well educated.
Like the traditionalist (who were the great majority), the 'progressives' wanted to 'step aside from the immediate past, but rather than go back to a pre-industrial 'Merrie England', they preferred to move forward to a 'brave new world' of light and freedom.
Theses people chose a style now known as Moderne (note the intentional 'e' at the end of the word).
During the 1930s, Art Deco had a noticeable effect on house design in the United Kingdom, as well as the design of various public buildings.
Classic Art Deco then morphed into Moderne.
Moderne was typified by straight, white-rendered house frontages rising to flat roofs, sharply geometric door surrounds and tall windows, as well as convex-curved metal corner windows, were all characteristic of that period.
The London Underground is also famous for many examples of Art Deco architecture, and many of the suburban stations in Metroland were designed in the Moderne style.
Du Cane Court, in Balham, south-west London, is a good example of the Moderne style.
It was reckoned to be possibly the largest block of privately owned apartments under one roof in Britain at the time it was built, and the first to employ pre-stressed concrete.
Moderne, with its flat roofs and solaria was associated with the cult of sunbathing, health and fitness, and the style was used for the many Lidos that were built during the 1930s.
Where the war had destroyed bodies, the new era 'glorified the fit, slim, healthy sun-tanned body.
This was the era of suburban parks, with tennis courts, golf courses and bowling greens, and paddling pools for the children.
An other entertainment there were public libraries, dancing and of course the cinema, many of which were built in the Moderne style, (particularly the Odeon chain)
By then, however, the children were growing up.
excerpt from 'Watershed of the Epoch' - 'The Lord of the Harvest'
© Copyright Peter Crawford 2012
© Copyright Peter Crawford 2012
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| King-Emperor Edward VIII |
The First Word War started when John was eight years old and ended when he was twelve - so, he was a teenager in the Twenties - a teenager in the 'jaz-age' - the long weekend.
The supposed cause of the First World War was the assassination of the Arch-Duke Franz-Ferdinand and his morganatic wife, the Duchess Sophie, of Hohenburg, in Sarajevo on the 8th June 1914, but in reality this was, of course, merely part of an on-going quarrel between Austria-Hungary & Serbia.The circumstances of the assassination were very strange, to say the least.
The Arch-Duke and his wife were visiting Sarajevo, in Bosnia, in order to inspect troops (see left).
Bosnia, which had a large Serbian population, had recently been annexed by the Austro-Hungarian Empire, much to the annoyance of Serbia and Russia.
A secret Serbian society, which some have suggested had occult connections, decided to take the opportunity and assassinate the heir to the Hapsburg throne as a revenge for the annexation of Bosnia and the persecution of the Slavs by the German speaking Austro-Hungarians.
This, of course, was no new crusade - Slavs and Germans had been opposed to one another since the Dark Ages.
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| Gavrilo Princip |
If everything had gone according to the official plans, the Arch-Duke would have been safe, and perhaps there may have been no war, and ten million lives would have been saved.
The chauffeur, however, took a wrong turning, and realising his mistake, stopped the Imperial car.
As 'fate' would have it, he stopped the car right in front of an amazed and terrified nineteen year old Serbian called Gavrilo Princip (see right).
Screwing up his courage, which had previously failed him, for he was one of the six, he jumped on the running board and, with only two shots, killed both Franz-Ferdinand and his wife.
There was an immediate response from Austria-Hungary.
Once it had been established that the assassin was Serbian, it was a simple matter for the Koniglich und Kaiserlich Security Services to implicate the Serbian Government.
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| Imperial Arms of Franz-Josef © Copyright Peter Crawford 2012 |
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| © Copyright Peter Crawford 2012 |
The Imperial response was an ultimatum to Serbia, which, if the Serbians had acceded to it, would have completely negated their sovereignty and independence.
As Austria-Hungary knew, Serbia could not accede to her ultimatum. Austria-Hungary had purposefully put herself in the position where her only possible response could be a declaration of war against Serbia.
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| © Copyright Peter Crawford 2012 |
The Russian Empire, the self styled protector of the Slavs, it was presumed would not intervene as she was still smarting from her recent defeat at the hands of the Japanese.
The presumed scenario failed to materialize, however.
The Austrians were forced to declare war on Serbia, and to Austria's horror Russia proceeded to mobilise, in support of Serbia.
There was, however, a rather awkward problem with regard to Russian mobilisation.
The Imperial Russian High Command had always presumed that, if mobilisation was ever necessary, it would be in response to a threat from Germany.
As a result all the Russian mobilisation plans involved sending troops towards Russia's borders with the German Empire.
The Imperial Russian High Command had always presumed that, if mobilisation was ever necessary, it would be in response to a threat from Germany.
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| Wilhelm II, |
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| Nikolas II |
The Kaiser, Wilhelm II, immediately sent an urgent note to his cousin 'Nicky', the Russian Tsar, warning him of the danger of the developing situation.
There was nothing 'Niky' could do, however.
In Germany Von Moltke (see right below), for the Army, Bethmann-Hollweg (see left below), the Chancellor and Houston Stewart Chamberlain urged the Kaiser to agree to a German mobilisation.
There was a problem, though.
It was way back in 1891, that General Von Schlieffen had created a plan for mobilisation of the German army.
It was way back in 1891, that General Von Schlieffen had created a plan for mobilisation of the German army.
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| Von Moltke |
Its main aim was to avoid a war on two fronts, which Schlieffen rightly believed Germany would be unable to sustain.
The Schlieffen Plan called for a rapid attack upon France, Russia's ally, through Belgium, with intention of supplying a French defeat within one month.
The slowness of Russia's mobilisation would ensure that the victorious German forces could be despatched, by train, from France, across Germany, to be in position to defeat Russia.
Once Russian mobilisation had been ordered, however, there could be no delay, if the plan were to work in Germany's favou
Theobald von Bethmann-Hollweg (see left), born in 1856, he succeeded Prince Blow as Chancellor on 1909 and was dismissed in 1917.
The result of all this complex military planning was that Germany was forced to attack the French, who were in no way involved in the original quarrel, and at the same time trample upon Belgian neutrality.
This forced Britain to declare war on Germany, in order to fulfil her obligation to defend that neutrality, in accordance with the recently signed Treaty of London.
The reason for this involved explanation is to show that in one sense the Great War was neither planned for nor desired; particularly by Germany.
The argument between Austria and Serbia, begun by an almost senile Emperor, who had come to the throne in 1848, could have been solved through international negotiation; and even if Austria had annexed Serbia, it would have had little or no effect on the balance of power in Europe, and the other European powers could, therefore have permitted it.
That Germany did not want war is self-evident.
That Germany did not want war is self-evident.
She was not party to the original quarrel, and by 1914 it was clear to German academics and businessmen that, barring war or revolution, Germany would be, in a few years, the dominant economic, and therefore the dominant political power in Europe.
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| Kaiser Wilhelm II |
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| Tsar Nicholas II |
The Kaiser (see left), it is true, was bellicose, but apart from the fact that his 'bark was worse than his bite', it should be noted that he was a constitutional monarch, heavily restrained by a bourgeois Reichstag who were not seeking foolish adventures.
Russia was, by this time out of control.
Nicholas (see right), the weak indecisive Tsar, unable to rely on the advice of Rasputin, (see right) who was recovering from an attempt upon his life, allowed that strangely stubborn petulant streak, which on occasions would emerge from his indecision, to override his better judgement, in the case of Serbia.
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| Viscount Grey |
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| Rasputin |
Who then wished for war ?
Strangely enough, the ordinary people of Europe; the man in the street, seemed to crave war. In all the capitals of Europe people became ecstatic at the proclamations of mobilisation were made.
One very famous picture exists of the crowds rejoicing as the announcement of hostilities was made in Munich.
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| Adolf Hitler - 1914 |
Recently film of this event has been discovered,
There, again is the young man, with piercing eyes, cheering with the crowd.
The man is Adolf Hitler; one of many 'moving with the assurance of a sleep walker', to the abyss.
He joined the millions who laughed and sang their way to the front. Europe, and maybe even the world, was at a watershed in its history.
Art, music, literature, philosophy and the spirits themselves had foretold this terrible day.
Affluent Europe had developed a terrible malaise.
Progress and bourgeois morality had become stultifying, to the point of suffocation.
A glittering adventure; great and noble deeds were just beyond the horizon.
At last the boredom of a mass-produced world could be swept aside.
As Hitler said - 'At least we are awake. Let the others sleep !'
'Now in thy splendour go before us,
Spirit of England, ardent eyed,
En-kindle this dear earth that bore us,
In the hour of peril, purified.
The cares we hugged drop out of vision,
Our hearts with deeper thoughts dilate.
We step from days of sour division
Into grandeur of our fate.
For us the glorious dead have striven,
They battled that we might be free.
We to their living cause are given;
We arm for men that are to be.
Among the nations noblest chartered,
England recalls her heritage,
In her is that which is not bartered,
Which force can neither quell nor cage.
For her immortal star are burning;
With her, the hope that's never done,
The seed that's in the Spring's returning,
The very flower that seeks the sun.'
Laurence Binyon 1869-1943
That Britain had signed the Treaty of London in the full knowledge that any German military intervention in Europe would involve the infringement of Belgian neutrality indicates that Britain had a hidden agenda for dealing with the rising economic power of Germany.
When the Great War began there was a general consensus that it would be over by Christmas.
Infantry conscripts marched happily to war, and the cavalry rode forth, the Chasseurs in their glittering Curiasses, and the Ulans with their lances.
Infantry conscripts marched happily to war, and the cavalry rode forth, the Chasseurs in their glittering Curiasses, and the Ulans with their lances.
The Schlieffen plan failed, much to Germany's surprise, and the German armies got bogged down in the mud of France and Flanders, and the dreaded war on two fronts became a reality.
At Christmas the troops fraternized and played football together, and in the New Year the 'War to end all wars' began in earnest.
The War, once it had begun, seemed to unleash the most appalling and demonic forces.
To the people of the Allied countries, particularly Britain and America, the Germans were not simply the enemy; they were the 'Hun'.
Atrocity stories abounded, particularly with regard to Belgium, where, if the British papers were to be believed, most of the female population had been raped or killed, or both.
Demands were made for 'unconditional surrender' on the part of the Central Powers, and even the most respectable elements in society were baying for the German Emperor to be hung.
One Christian congregation, on the instigation of its minister, even demanded that the Kaiser be boiled in oil.
German shops in England were wrecked and looted, and on one occasion a dachshund was Killed by an English mob 'because it was a German dog'.
German shops in England were wrecked and looted, and on one occasion a dachshund was Killed by an English mob 'because it was a German dog'.
This was the first 'mass-produced war'.
The technological progress, achieved over the previous decades, which had been able to produce everyday objects in the hundreds of thousands, around the clock, was now producing guns, shells, bullets and bombs in those same quantities.
As technology advanced, with the violent impetus of war, new horrors appeared, as if the killing was not yet efficient enough for the politicians and generals
Fighter and bomber aircraft, tanks and the obscenity of poison gas made their appearance.
The 'Cornucopia of Progress' had transformed itself into the 'Cornucopia of Death'.
That vast harvest of death left few untouched.
Most families lost someone in the carnage; some lost many.
But none of this touched John or Jane Crawford directly.
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| 'For the Fallen' © Copyright Peter Crawford 2012 |
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| 'Rememberance Day' © Copyright Peter Crawford 2012 |
They grew up, however, in a land scarred emotionally and socially by the loss of huge numbers of young men.
It is almost impossible for us now to understand the sense of revulsion and horror that came upon people as they surveyed the devastation that had been caused by the First World War.
This was the first truly 'industrialised' war.
All the resources of the warring nations had been focussed on the mass-production of the most hideous weapons of war.
Such weapons included machine guns, aerial bombing, poisonous gas, colossal mines, flame-throwers - some of which were of massive proportions, and the first armoured tanks.
And all of this took place in the appalling environment of the mud-drenched, corpses-littered trenches.
During the First World War England had seen a massive devastation and loss of life.
However, more people lost their lives in Eastern Europe than in the west, but the outcome was different.
In the west, and in response to the victory, most of the cities in the countries involved in the conflict, including England, erected memorials, with the memorials in smaller villages and towns often listing the names of each local soldier who had been killed.
It is almost impossible for us now to understand the sense of revulsion and horror that came upon people as they surveyed the devastation that had been caused by the First World War.
This was the first truly 'industrialised' war.
All the resources of the warring nations had been focussed on the mass-production of the most hideous weapons of war.
Such weapons included machine guns, aerial bombing, poisonous gas, colossal mines, flame-throwers - some of which were of massive proportions, and the first armoured tanks.
And all of this took place in the appalling environment of the mud-drenched, corpses-littered trenches.
During the First World War England had seen a massive devastation and loss of life.
However, more people lost their lives in Eastern Europe than in the west, but the outcome was different.
In the west, and in response to the victory, most of the cities in the countries involved in the conflict, including England, erected memorials, with the memorials in smaller villages and towns often listing the names of each local soldier who had been killed.
Almost everyone at the time believed that what they called the 'Great War' had been the 'war to end all wars'.
And how wrong they were.....
'Solemn the drums thrill: Death august and royal
Sings sorrow up into immortal spheres.
There is music in the midst of desolation
And a glory that shines upon our tears.
They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old;
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them.
But where our desires are and our hopes profound,
Felt as a well-spring that is hidden from sight,
To the innermost heart of their own land they are known
As the stars are known to the Night;
As the stars that shall be bright when we are dust,
Moving in marches upon the heavenly plain,
As the stars that are starry in the time of our darkness,
To the end, to the end, they remain.'
Laurence Binyon 1869-1943
GROWING UP IN THE TWENTIES AND THIRTIES
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Funeral of King Edward VII
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| Treaty of Versailles |
It was, undoubtedly, one of the strangest episodes in the whole of recorded history, but very few people living at the time realised that simple fact.
Robert Graves and Alan Hodge wrote a book about the period and called it 'The Long Weekend' - which in one sense was very appropriate, despite the fact that it was a period of unprecedented change which dramatically altered the everyday lives of practically everyone - at least everyone in the developed world.
The world of 1919 was very similar to the world of 1914, despite the technological advances that had been made during the war.
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| Oxford Street 1914 |
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| Oxford Street 1939 |
The 'Long Weekend' was a period of many things, but most significant were the changes in everyday life and in society that undoubtedly contributed to the economic and political instability that precipitated the Second World War.
So what were these changes ?
Well, it was not a decline into abject poverty, as so many people imagine.There is a myth that the Twenties were relatively prosperous, while the Thirties were a time of unmitigated unemployment slump and poverty.
In fact the later part of the Thirties, particularly in some parts of Britain, were a period of unparalleled growth and development.
The extreme west and the north of of the United Kingdom were badly affected by the Wall Street Crash and the slump that followed.
The South of the UK, and particularly the south-east of England, however, were able to quickly recover from the Thirties slump, and by the late middle to late Thirties were experiencing a boom.There was a vast expansion of the suburbs - which is still visible today - and the area around London was christened 'Metroland' as those suburbs we conveniently connected to London by the Metropolitan Underground Railway.
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| 1930s Bakelite Wireless Set |
The south was also the home of new developing industries such as the electrical industry, which prospered from the large-scale electrification of housing and industry.
Mass production methods brought new products such as electrical cookers, washing machines and radios into the reach of the middle classes, and the industries which produced these prospered.
Nearly half of all new factories that opened in Britain between 1932 and 1937 were in the Greater London area (see Great West Road above).
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| 1930s English Agriculture - Ploughing |
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| 1930 Austin 7 Tourer |
For cities that had a developed motor industry such as Birmingham, Coventry and Oxford, the 1930s were also a boom time.
Manufacturers such as Austin, Morris and Ford dominated the motor industry during the 1930s, and the number of cars on British roads doubled within the decade.
British Agriculture also flourished in the 1930s.
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| Herbert Henry Asquith |
In 1911, a compulsory national unemployment and health insurance scheme had been put in place by the Liberal government of Herbert Henry Asquith (see Liberal reforms).
This scheme had been funded through contributions from the government, the employers and the workers.
At first, the scheme only applied to certain trades but, in 1920, it was expanded to include most manual workers, however, the scheme only paid out according to the level of contributions made rather than according to need, and was only payable for 15 weeks.
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| 1930s Government Employment Exchange |
In effect, millions of workers who had been too poorly paid to make contributions, or who had been unemployed long term, were left destitute by the scheme.
With the mass unemployment of the 1930s, contributions to the insurance scheme dried up, resulting in a funding crisis.
In August 1931, the 1911 scheme was replaced by a fully government-funded unemployment benefit system.
This system, for the first time, paid out according to need rather than the level of contributions.
This unemployment benefit was subject to a strict means test, and anyone applying for unemployment pay had to have an inspection by a government official to make sure that they had no hidden earnings or savings, undisclosed source(s) of income or other means of support.
The response of the average English family to the experience of the First World War, particularly in the 1930s, was in many ways predictable.
Families turned in on themselves.
Those husbands and fathers, who had survived the carnage of the trenches, had had quite enough of 'adventure'.
What they wanted were the quiet joys of a relatively simple family life.
This was seen particularly in the expanding suburbs (see Metroland above).
For those, particularly in Southern England, who had settled down and married there was the prospect of buying, (rather than renting) a home.
In the developing, light industrial economy of the South, jobs were well paid and secure, and mortgages were easy to obtain.
All over Southern England estates of new homes sprung up.
But the style mirrored the attitudes of a nation shocked by the trauma of an industrial war.
Not for them the white painted concrete, flat roofs and tower blocks favoured by Corbusier and his like.
No - the people of England looked back to a more peaceful and tranquil time.
'Heroic' architecture was not for then. Instead they longed for a quiet domesticity.
For them a new style was created - 'Tudorbethan'.
This style represents a subset of Tudor revival architecture; the word is modelled on John Betjeman's 1933 coinage of the 'Jacobethan' style, which he used to describe the grand mixed revival style of circa 1835–1885 that had been called things like 'Free English Renaissance'.
'Tudorbethan', however, took things a step further, eliminated the hexagonal or many-faceted towers and mock battlements of Jacobethan, and applied the more domestic styles of 'Merrie England', which were cosier and quaint.
'Tudorbethan' is also used synonymously with 'Tudor Revival', and more specifically 'Mock Tudor'.
The emphasis was on the simple, rustic and the less impressive aspects of Tudor architecture, imitating in this way medieval cottages or country houses.
Half-Timbering is the 'trade-mark' motif of the style, although the appearance of solid beams and half timbered exterior walls is only superficial.
Artificially aged and blackened beams are constructed from light wood, bear no loads, and are attached to ceilings and walls purely for decoration, while artificial flames leap from wrought iron fire-dogs in an inglenook often a third of the size of the room in which they are situated.
When it came to furnishing the new 'Tudor' home, the 1930s home-maker would be able to buy affordable oak furniture that recreated a Jacobean or Tudor style.
Lifestyle magazines such as 'Good Housekeeping' showed the latest home styles.
These new and influential magazines encouraged the lady of the house to keep up with the 'Jones' and the man to use his spare time on DIY projects.
Furniture would often be large, boxy geometric shapes.English Oak was popular but because of a shortage of wood, veneer and decorated plywood was greatly used.
The living room would often be carpeted.
In larger homes halls may have had panelled walls and parquet floors.
In kitchens they would have used linoleum or quarry tiles for the floor and plywood and Melomine for the units.
The bedroom more often of had fitted furniture, dark varnished floorboards and an electric fire.
Downstairs coal fireplaces were fitted with an oak or tiled surround.The sun rising pattern was often found repeated in stained glass in doors and windows.
The garden became a focal part of the new domesticity.
Instead of digging trenches, the man of the house would be digging flower-beds and tending his roses.
Having spent years dedicated to killing, the men ho survived the was dedicated themselves to growing living things from the soil - and this was the origin of the average Englishman's obsession with his garden.
There was, however, another aspect to this apparent 'retreat from modernity'.
For some there was an acceptable face of 'modernity'.
Such people were usually 'upper middle-class' and well educated.
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| English Moderne 1930s |
Like the traditionalist (who were the great majority), the 'progressives' wanted to 'step aside from the immediate past, but rather than go back to a pre-industrial 'Merrie England', they preferred to move forward to a 'brave new world' of light and freedom.Theses people chose a style now known as Moderne (note the intentional 'e' at the end of the word).
During the 1930s, Art Deco had a noticeable effect on house design in the United Kingdom, as well as the design of various public buildings.
Classic Art Deco then morphed into Moderne.
Moderne was typified by straight, white-rendered house frontages rising to flat roofs, sharply geometric door surrounds and tall windows, as well as convex-curved metal corner windows, were all characteristic of that period.
The London Underground is also famous for many examples of Art Deco architecture, and many of the suburban stations in Metroland were designed in the Moderne style.
Du Cane Court, in Balham, south-west London, is a good example of the Moderne style.
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| Dominion Cinema - Hounslow - 1930s |
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| Saltdean Lido - Sussex - 1930s |
Where the war had destroyed bodies, the new era 'glorified the fit, slim, healthy sun-tanned body.
This was the era of suburban parks, with tennis courts, golf courses and bowling greens, and paddling pools for the children.
An other entertainment there were public libraries, dancing and of course the cinema, many of which were built in the Moderne style, (particularly the Odeon chain)
Northumberland, however, was badly hit by the slump, and Richard and John Crawford found it difficult to find regular employment.
The boys therefore moved out each Summer, and camped at Frenchman's Bay, and it was there that John Crawford met Jane Walker.
The boys therefore moved out each Summer, and camped at Frenchman's Bay, and it was there that John Crawford met Jane Walker.
In nineteen-thirty-seven, the year of the coronation of George VI, (see left) Jane and John were married in Felling, near Gateshead (see right).
They then travelled south, to benefit from the continuing economic recovery in the South East, and settled in Barrack Road in Hounslow, Middlesex, as John was stationed at the headquarters of the Army Southern Command in Hounslow barracks.
George VI (Albert Frederick Arthur George; 14 December 1895 – 6 February 1952) was King of the United Kingdom and the Dominions of the British Commonwealth from 11 December 1936 until his death. He was the last Emperor of India, and the first Head of the Commonwealth.
George VI's coronation took place on 12 May 1937, the date previously intended for Edward's coronation.
In a break with tradition, Queen Mary attended the ceremony in a show of support for her son.
There was no Durbar held in Delhi for George VI, as had occurred for his father, as the cost would have been a burden to the Government of India.
George VI (Albert Frederick Arthur George; 14 December 1895 – 6 February 1952) was King of the United Kingdom and the Dominions of the British Commonwealth from 11 December 1936 until his death. He was the last Emperor of India, and the first Head of the Commonwealth.
George VI's coronation took place on 12 May 1937, the date previously intended for Edward's coronation.
In a break with tradition, Queen Mary attended the ceremony in a show of support for her son.
There was no Durbar held in Delhi for George VI, as had occurred for his father, as the cost would have been a burden to the Government of India.
There's no time for us.
There's no place for us.
What is this thing that builds our dreams
And slips away from us ?
There's no chance for us.
Its all decided for us.
This world has only one sweet moment set aside for us !
Freddy Mercury
It was in an atmosphere of growing gloom Jane and John began their life in their new home in Pears Road.
Inevitably they tried to shut out the horror of what might be, in the pursuance of a well ordered and pleasant life.
John had an excellent posting at the HQ Southern Command, and Jane kept house and did the odd part time job as an accountant.
They saved assiduously and carefully and in the summer of 1937 they returned to Northumberland in order to see relatives and friends.
For them, at that time, it would have been a long and expensive journey.
Arriving at Newcastle station (see left), and then by taxi to Gateshead and Felling, however they could discretely show their new found 'Southern' affluence.
In 1938 Jane and John invited Jane's father, Richard Walker, and her sister, Mary and her husband John Faulkner to see their new home in Hounslow.
During this visit some of the few surviving photos of Richard Walker were taken by Jane and John, as Richard posed in front of Windsor Castle, and in Richmond Park.
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| Richard Walker Senior |
Richard (see right) undoubtedly enjoyed the visit, although he gave every indication of thoroughly disapproving of 'soft Southerners' whose morals were questionable, to say the least.
On one occasion in particular it he suggested going out for a drink.
The Tankerville Arms was close by, and so Jane and John prepared to go out. Richard was staggered, however, at the idea of Jane accompanying them to a Public House, and John had to explain that 'down South' it was quite acceptable for women to be seen in a 'pub', and he was not prepared to go out and leave his wife at home.
Of course 'Southern' pubs had 'Lounge Bars', which were unknown in the 'North'.
The Tankerville Arms was close by, and so Jane and John prepared to go out. Richard was staggered, however, at the idea of Jane accompanying them to a Public House, and John had to explain that 'down South' it was quite acceptable for women to be seen in a 'pub', and he was not prepared to go out and leave his wife at home.
Of course 'Southern' pubs had 'Lounge Bars', which were unknown in the 'North'.
Mary and John, not surprisingly, took the opposite view.
Photos of the time give the impression that they thoroughly enjoyed themselves; the generation gap has always existed to some extent in recent times.
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| Runnymead |
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| Windsor castle |
In addition to such major events there were also regular visits to local beauty spots such as Windsor (see right), and areas by the Thames, such as Runnymead (see left) and Chertsey, Richmond park or Kew Gardens or various places of interest in London.
We, of course, know what the next two years would bring; they did not.
They could only guess, and this is another factor which makes the past so difficult to properly interpret and understand.
We always know, to some degree what is going to happen next, so for us their future is always casting a shadow on their present.
This, of course is not occurring for them, so our perception of them is radically different from their own self perception.
What would these particular characters in this story have done if they had had the knowledge that we now have of their future ?
Fascinating speculation perhaps, but of more importance to our story is the next event in the international drama being played out as John and Jane tuned in to the B.B.C in their new home in Pears Road, in Hounslow.
1938 was the year of the Anchluß.
Adolf Hitler, the Chancellor and Fürher of Germany had originally been born in Austria, and it was one of his many ambitions, for he was an ambitious man, to unite Germany and Austria into a 'Greater Germany'.
The Anchluß took place on the 12 th. March 1938.
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| Arthur Seyss-Inquart |
On the 13 th. of March, Arthur Seyss-Inquart (see left), later Gauleiter of the Östmark, issued a proclamation to that effect, signed by Hitler, at Linz.
The following, day Hitler entered Vienna in triumph, and four weeks later the people of Austria sanctioned the Anchluß by a plebiscite, which took place on the 10 th. April.
Austria had ceased to exist as an independent country, and was known from then until the end of the war as the Östmark; the Eastern province.
At this point the danger of war became palpable.
Did most people in England understand the significance of the Anchluß - unlikely.
Many would be only dimly aware of the geographical position of the Östmark.
John Crawford, however, certainly knew of the significance of the Anchluß, and realised that war was probably inevitable - and that he would have to play his part in it.
Did most people in England understand the significance of the Anchluß - unlikely.
Many would be only dimly aware of the geographical position of the Östmark.
John Crawford, however, certainly knew of the significance of the Anchluß, and realised that war was probably inevitable - and that he would have to play his part in it.
Air-raid shelters were dug in Inwood Park (see right), and gas-masks were issued (see left).
As if anticipating the worst, John and Jane decided to take an extravagant and memorable holiday.
In retrospect it looks suspiciously like 'one last fling'.
In retrospect it looks suspiciously like 'one last fling'.
In August, a mere five months after the Anchluß they bought a white painted, clap-boarded house boat engagingly called 'Puck'.
The house boat was moored at Horning, on the Norfolk Broads, and they spent a quiet holiday fishing, exploring in their little rowing boat and relaxing.
Today the Broads swarms with cabin cruisers and tourists, but then it was one of the quietest, most peaceful spots in the whole of the British Isles.
This was, maybe knowingly, John Crawford's farewell to England - and England that he loved dearly - and would never be the same after the whirlwind of war had uprooted some much - and not just lives and buildings, but values and traditions.
This was, maybe knowingly, John Crawford's farewell to England - and England that he loved dearly - and would never be the same after the whirlwind of war had uprooted some much - and not just lives and buildings, but values and traditions.
The Broads is a place that can reassure one of timeless values; calming the soul and relieving the many tensions of the day to day world.
A holiday only lasts a few weeks, however.
And so - what did they do for a holiday in 1939 ? Nothing.
In 1939 most people in Britain thought war would bring the end of civilisation. It was their ultimate nightmare.
Their version of our nuclear holocaust, or more recently, ecological disaster.
Every age has this nightmare.
For the Ancient Teutons it was Götterdämerung (see left); for Saxon farmers, the Vikings emerging from the mists to lay waste to everything; for the pious of the Middle Ages the Second
Coming or the Black Death; for the Incas the arrival of Cortes (see right).
Every age has its ultimate fear.
In 1939 the ultimate fear for the British was the immediate arrival of thousands of bombers (see left), moments after the declaration of war, laying waste to every major city with millions of tons of high explosives, incendiaries and above all poisonous gasses, such as phosgene and mustard (see right).
Contemporary newspapers and magazines were full of articles advising people how to make their rooms gas-proof or how to deal with incendiaries, later endearingly nicknamed 'Firebomb Fritz' (see right) when the initial terror had decayed into mere routine.
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| Fire Bomb Fritz |
Whilst the average citizen was preoccupied with obtaining enough material for 'blackout curtains' or taping windows in order to reduce the effects of bomb blast, the government was panicking.
Top secret memoranda were drafted, detailing how it was believed that the population of major cities would dissolve into total panic and hysteria, after the first onslaught of bombing, flooding out of the metropolitan centres, causing havoc to the proposed mobilisation of the armed forces, and causing the collapse of essential industrial output and government communications.
The Government, at the time, saw only one way out of this appalling scenario, which was to turn on the civilian population and use the most violent means to regain order and control.
Such was the opinion of the British ruling class of the 'man in the street', and how wrong would the war prove this view to be; not only in 'blitzed' London, but also in Dresden, Berlin, Tokyo, Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
Such secret memos, however, were unknown to Mr and Mrs Crawford, and millions like them.
For most people Dresden meant china, and Nagasaki may well have been a character, a minor one undoubtedly, in the 'Mikado' or 'Chu Chin Chow' (see right).
For most people Dresden meant china, and Nagasaki may well have been a character, a minor one undoubtedly, in the 'Mikado' or 'Chu Chin Chow' (see right).
What John Cawford did know, however, thanks to a good deal of propaganda, was that this war was going to make the Great War look like a side show, and that thanks to 'Mr Hitler' (see left) their new life together was very uncertain.
The nightmare, however, contrary to everyone's expectations, did not come, despite the sirens sounding in London on that first September day of the Second World War.
Predictably, they were a false alarm, and symptomatic of much that was to follow, although Jane and John didn't realise that as they hurried down the narrow alley-way between Pears Road and Inwood Park, where they took cover in the public shelters which had been dug amid the peaceful flower beds and tennis courts.
Probably the main reason for the holocaust being delayed was because 'Mr Hitler' did not have thousands of bombers poised and ready to destroy the cities of England.
More significantly, perhaps, Hitler did not, and never had wanted war with Britain - he quite liked the English, despite having faught them in the 'Great War'.
With the benefit of hindsight, it seems that once appeasement had lost its appeal, the declaration of war by Britain upon Germany was just a continuation of Britain's manipulation of the balance of power in Europe.
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| © Copyright Peter Crawford 2012 |
As if to confirm this, once war had been declared on the pretext of defending the sovereignty of Poland, no attempt was made by Britain to defend Poland by landing British troops, and ironically, one of the final results of the conflict was that Poland was taken over by the USSR. with Britain's tacit approval, despite Churchill's subsequent comments about the 'Iron Curtain' coming down over Europe.
At the time of the outbreak of war, John Stokes was at Headquarters, Southern Command, and on the night after war broke out, as John and Jane were recovering from their first experience of an air-raid shelter, there was an ominous knock at the door.
A Military Police motorcycle courier had brought a message that John was to report for duty immediately.
Thereafter there were many long night of work for John, as the ill-prepared army geared up for war.
It was probably about around 1940 John Stokes had to consider the possibility of being sent on active service.
It was September 1940 when Jane and John, for the second time, took a holiday in the tiny village of Wool, Dorset - a holiday which, for all they knew ,might have been their last holiday together.
And so, Jane and John, and John's mother, Jane, spent those days in Dorset, in the fading sunshine of Autumn, as the time of parting drew closer by the hour.
Eventually, a telegram was sent to Pears Road, shortly after Christmas, informing John Stokes Crawford, No 1757860, where and when he should join his unit.
John was sent to serve in Egypt.
Meanwhile, Jane first returned to Felling (see left below), near Newcastle, presumably to avoid the bombing which was expected to completely devastate London.
Later, for reasons which will remain, for the moment, obscure, Jane returned to Hounslow, but then 'rented out', (let), the house in Pears Road, and went to live with her sister-in-law Gladys Crawford, in York Street, near Baker Street in London (see right - this was a street and a house that little Peter, who has not yet entered this story, was to get to know very well).
And York Street was not a safe place to live at the beginning of the war.
Two weeks into the 'Blitz', on 18 September 1940, at around 12.05am, the junction of Baker Street and York Street W1 was hit by a high explosive bomb (see left).
Two weeks into the 'Blitz', on 18 September 1940, at around 12.05am, the junction of Baker Street and York Street W1 was hit by a high explosive bomb (see left).
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© Copyright Peter Crawford 2012
Excerpt from 'Thebes of the 1000 Gates'
EGYPT
As soon as the war started, John Crawford was posted to Cairo (see left).
This, of course, was a Cairo very different to the one that we see today.
It was the 'jewel of the middle east' – an elegant and cultured city, ruled over by a half-Egyptian King, the infamous فاروق الأول (Farouk Fuad) (see right), and a British Ambassador to Egypt and High Commissioner for the Sudan, Sir Miles Lampson, 1st Baron Killearn (see left).
While Farouk was ostensibly king, with wide ranging powers to appoint and dismiss prime-ministers and cabinets at will, it was undoubtedly Lampson who kept 'the boy', as he derisively called Farouk, in check.
During the war Egypt was pivotal to Britain's strategy 'east of Suez', and it was essential for the war effort that the canal remained open, and available to the Allies, and that the Axis powers were prevented from gaining control of the oil reserves to the east of Egypt.
And it was for this reason that Lampson had to keep tight control of Egypt, and 'keep the boy in check'.
Farouk, who was the great-great-grandson of محمد علي باشا, Muhammad Ali Pasha (see right), was Albanian through his father's line, but Egyptian through his mother's line, his mother being نزلي صبري / نازلى صبرى (Nazli Sabri) (see left).
He had come to the throne at the tender age of 16, while attending the , Royal Military Academy, Woolwich.
Generally neglected by his father, فؤاد الأول (Fuad I), for whom he appeared to have litle respect and little affection, Farouk, as a boy, was mainly brought up by the Italian servants favoured by the royal household.
Because he had experienced a neglected, and possibly abusive childhood, when Farouk came to the throne, rather like the equally young Roman Emperor Caligula, he began with the best intentions, but very soon his lack of self control and egocentricity began his slow moral and physical decline, which eventually led to his downfall, and subsequent exile.
Egypt, at the time was politically divided between three main 'power-blocks' – the King, the Residency, (the High Commissioner Lampson), and the Wafd – the Wafd being the main, native political party.
Much of Farouk's time was spent trying to get control of the حزب الوفد (Wafd), - and Egypt's other political parties; Iskra, the Jewish dominated Communist Party, the Muslim Brotherhood and the Hizb Misr El-Fatah (Young Egypt Party), (under the leadership of Ahmed Husayn – and were known as the Green Shirts and were an extreme right wing party).
Later, of course, Nasser's brutal dictatorship, and the dictatorships' of his two successors put a stop to all such political squabbling.
With the outbreak of the war, however, Farouk saw the possibility of removing the British from the equation, although the thought that the Fascists or the Nazi's would undoubtedly be more of a problem than the British had ever been, never seemed to enter his head – he didn't seem to realize that to the Nazi's an Egyptian was as much a non-Aryan Semite as a Jew, and so the gas chambers would have a vast new influx of clients.
Undoubtedly Farouk was influenced by his Italian childhood mentors, and was in the habit, during the war, of sending Hitler little notes explaining how a German invasion would be welcome, and it was not until 1945, when the war was in it's final throes, that Lampson finally persuaded Farouk to declare war on the by then defeated Axis powers.
Farouk was not the only one in Egypt eager for an Axis victory – the Green Shirts, many in the Wafd and the الإخوان المسلمون (Muslim Brotherhood), and also many in the Army, including Nasser and Sadat, who were at that time relatively junior officers, were also working, sometimes covertly and sometimes openly for Britain's enemies – who were also, paradoxically, Egypt's enemies.
And it was not only in Egypt that supposedly good Muslims were working 'hand-in-glove' with the Nazis.
The Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, محمد أمين الحسيني (haj Amin Husseini) (see right), in British controlled Palestine, was busily creating anti-British feeling, while at the same time shuttling back and forth to Berlin, to take tea with Her Hitler and chat with Himmler (see left).
So, when John Crawford arrived in Cairo, and took his tea in Shepherd's Hotel (see right), there was plenty of work waiting for him.
And for those who now still long for the 'jackboot', they may be comforted to know that Fascism – either of the Islamic kind – (bin Laden, Sayed Qutb etc.), or the Arab kind – (Nasser, Saddam Hussein, Assad etc. ), is alive and well in the Middle East, despite all the spurious talk of democracy !
Of the five infamous individuals pictured above, only two were of any interest to John Crawford.
The first and undoubtedly most dangerous individual, Sayed Qutb (Kutb), was an effete, closet homosexual teacher, with a ridiculous moustache - giving him the appearance of a poor impersonator of Adolf Hitler, (with whom he shared many characteristics in common), or Charles Chaplin.
Qutb, however, had not yet had his formative experiences in the USA at that time that John Crawford was in Egypt, and so he was not politically active, and had not yet been noticed by the intelligences services.
Qutb was to be more of a problem after his death, when his seminal work, معالم في الطريق ('Milestones') (see right), became the inspiration for a whole generation of sexually, intellectually , economically and socially frustrated young Muslim men.
جمال عبد الناصر حسين (Gamel abd el Nasser) (see right), and his fellow conspirator, محمد أنور السادات (Mohammed Anwar Sadat) (see right) were another matter. - Hardly 'frustrated', they had both risen far higher than they humble origins would have predicted – (thanks to the British).
Sadat, half Egyptian and half Sudanese, had been brought up with stories of Egyptian resistance to British rule as a boy, and had been particularly affected by stories and songs about the Denshway incident.
In addition he idolised Kemal Ataturk, (see right) and admired what to him was the efficiency and modernity of the Nazis in Germany.
In addition he idolised Kemal Ataturk, (see right) and admired what to him was the efficiency and modernity of the Nazis in Germany.
For these reasons Sadat was more actively involved in attempting to undermine the Allied war effort than Nasser, who was far more 'dreamy' and idealistic – at least in those early days.
The result of all this was an uncomfortable meeting between Sadat and John Crawford, when the latter was 'hauled in', and arrested by the British Military Intelligence.
Having already met 'the boy' (Farouk), this was John Crawford's opportunity to meet one of 'the boy's' supposedly loyal officers.
Actually John and Mohammed seemed to 'hit it off' – a surprising combination, to say the least – but this did not prevent Sadat from spending sometime in a British cell.
And Nasser ? Well they met, but John Crawford was unable to fathom Nasser. Nasser was too Siedee, too southern, and too idealistic, - rather like a somewhat aloof schoolmaster.
Eventually the War ended in nineteen-forty-five. John Stokes returned from Cyprus, after having served in Egypt, Jordan, Palestine, Lebanon and Syria.
Life seemingly and slowly returned to normal, and a new decade dawned - the fifties.
© Copyright Peter Crawford 2012
Nostalgia is now a burgeoning business. People look back with fondness and affection to past decades, particularly the 'Swinging Sixties', and it is easy to accuse someone of looking at the past through 'rose tinted spectacles'.
This is not always the case, however.
Life, for most of recorded history, (and probably even before that), has been hard, brutal and, for most people, short.
Wars, famines, illness and death were the common lot of all people, and people's place in society was generally fixed, and the chances for personal fulfilment few and far between.
John Crawford always viewed the latter part of the first decade of the last century, - the period of his boy-hood, - as well as the 'twenties and early 'thirties, as particularly unpleasant and hard times, and was always harshly critical of people who talked about 'the good old days'.
For, Peter, of course, the days of his boyhood and youth occurred in the 1950s.
Surprisingly, the nineteen-fifties, unlike the 'sixties' have not always been thought of with warm nostalgia.
Now there are basically two ways for someone who lived through the fifties to evaluate that decade.
The first way is to study all the relevant books, memoirs, films etc. from the perspective of the twenty-first century.
The second way is to go back in memory and view it as a lived and personal experience.
Now the first way has been undertaken by many writers, sociologists and historians, with varying degrees of success.
The second way of viewing the decade in question is obviously in no way objective, and the lived experience of the fifties is unique to the particular individual, and the area where they lived, among the people of a particular class and culture.
Some have depicted the Fifties as a decade of social and sexual repression, cultural sterility and political stagnation.
A gray, pinched time of rationing, shortages and the inevitable stiff upper lip.
Others, and particularly those viewing the decade from the American perspective, have seen it as a 'golden age'.
A gray, pinched time of rationing, shortages and the inevitable stiff upper lip.
Others, and particularly those viewing the decade from the American perspective, have seen it as a 'golden age'.
Andrew Marr, (see right) a contemporary chronicler of modern British history, has succinctly described England at that time as the 'Land of Lost Content', taking the beautifully elegiac turn of phrase from a poem by Alfred Edward Housman (see left). Strangely enough Housman was one of J M Barrie's favourite poets, (later Housman was one of 'our Peter's' favourite poets also), and the line in question came from one of Barrie's favourite poems from the collection 'A Shropshire Lad', published in 1896, - 'That is the land of lost content, I see it shining plain, the happy highways where I went, - and cannot come again.'
Another line by A E Housman, 'the lads that will never be old', has an eerie ring to it, because it not only elucidates much of Barrie's enigmatic character, and the mystery of Peter Pan, but also looks forward to the fates of George and Michael Llewellyn-Davies, who both knew the line, and the poem well.
But back to the fifties.
Undoubtedly, in many ways it was a 'golden age', coming as it did after the carnage and misery of the war, and before the social disintegration of the late sixties and seventies, and the complete denial of society which occurred in the eighties and nineties.
For our Peter it was an oasis of calm, of security and of tranquillity, - but of course that is from a child's perspective, and probably many of the more unpleasant aspects of Peter's experience of that time have been conveniently filtered out.
While it was not such a secure era that everyone could leave their door permanently unlocked and open, in the assurance that everyone was basically good at heart, it was a time when people could 'pop out', leaving the door on the latch, and visit their neighbour, or the local shop.
It was also a time when the 'school run' was unknown, and all children either walked or cycled, un-escorted by their parents, but accompanied by their friends, to the local school in complete confidence.
While, when Peter was very young, there was still some rationing of food, paper and other items (see left), it was also a time when every child was entitled to a free school meal, and all children were given fee school milk during the morning break (see right).
In Peter's recollection, and this may only have applied to the kind of area where he lived, crime was practically unknown.
Peter cannot remember hearing about anyone's house being burgled, or anyone being mugged or attacked in the street, or on the buses or trains.
The streets, it seemed, never resounded to the sound of drunkenness, despite the fact that Peter lived near a high street, and there were three or four pubs near by.
Children went about the streets after dark without their parents being anxious, and apparently those children were completely unmolested.
Peter, himself walked to the local library in the evenings, and to choir practice after dark in perfect safety.
Children went to visit their friends, or went to the park, walking alone and unaccompanied, and young boys, including Peter, even walked or cycled to the local swimming pool in the hot summer months, wearing just plimsolls and swimming-trunks, which makes one wonder what all the paedophiles, who apparently now stalk our streets in droves, were doing in the nineteen fifties - (there were, however, paedophiles in the 1950s, as we shall find out later).
This lack of public concern with regard to children, and particularly boys, being sexually interfered with is not just an impression that Peter seems to have retained.
An interesting article, recovered from an old copy of the 'Eagle' boy's comic, clearly demonstrates this attitude.
The article was entitled 'Enjoy the open air - cool off', and gives advice about the possibility of enjoying a swim 'when out for a hike or a cycle ride' - unaccompanied of course.
The two lads first talk to a middle-aged man on a bridge, apparently making inquiries about where they can swim in safety.
Then the youngsters are shown swimming in the brief style of trunks then commonly worn by young boys.
It would be difficult to imagine such an article appearing in a young person's magazine (there are no longer any 'boy's comics' as this would be 'sexist'), today.
There was only one murder in the area where Peter lived during his entire childhood, and that was of an old man, set upon by teenagers with the reported motive of robbery.
In this way the Fifties were a very different, and possibly would say better decade than the decades that have followed and, although we are only looking back fifty or sixty years, some aspects of the fifties are sometimes difficult to imagine.
Wages, of course, were low by modern standards, but then so were prices, and undoubtedly people didn't have the modern amenities that they have now.
Although Peter's house was number fifty-five, there were not actually that many houses in the road, as part of the road was occupied by a factory, and part by a newly built school and its playing field.
There were probably about thirty houses in all in the road but, when Peter was a boy, only a couple of people in the road had a car, and then they were only second hand models.
Also, Peter's house was one of the few in the road that had a bathroom, and none of the houses had running hot water or central heating - everybody at this time had coal fires.
A couple of houses didn't even have electricity, (that belonging to Mr & Mrs Draper in particular), and retained the old gas lighting.
In addition, when Peter was very young, refrigerators, washing machines and vacuum cleaners were few and far between, and so a 'woman's work was never done'.
The idea of mobile 'phones, of course, had not even been conceived, and even Dan Dare, (more about him later), living in the twenty-first century managed to get by without one.
Even private telephones were practically unknown for working-class people, although there were plenty of public call boxes, which it seemed were never vandalized, and almost always worked (see left).
As a result, people were not constantly at the beck and call of family, friends, neighbours and employers, and people could settle down in the evening and be confident that they would not be disturbed by the unpleasant ring of the 'phone, or the bizarre 'ring-tone' of a mobile.
Everybody, however, seemed to have a wireless (see right), and it was the wireless that for at least Peter's first three years at Pears Road was the only real entertainment, apart from books and comics.
Only a few people had a gramophone (record player), and most of these still played twelve inch records, which ran at seventy eight revolutions per minute, and were made of easily breakable shellac (see left).
As a little boy Peter would look forward to visiting his neighbours, Mr & Mrs Downing, who possessed a huge, (well it seemed huge to him), 'electric' radiogram (see right), on which he would be allowed to play Mario Lanza singing songs from Sigmund Romberg's 'the Student Prince' (see left).
Just before the outbreak of the Second World War the BBC had launched a television service, which was limited to London (see right).
With the outbreak of war, however, this service had been suspended, and was only restarted when hostilities ceased in 1945.
It was only around the time of the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II in 1953, however, that reasonable numbers of people, including Peter's adoptive parents, started to buy a television (see left).
(The Crawford family's first television was a 1953 Murphy V210C 12 inch cabinet model)
Because relatively few people owned a television there was only one channel, which broadcast for only a very limited period each day (from mid afternoon - Children's Television (see left) - until ten or eleven at night, with a break between five and six for 'tea' and kiddie's bedtime).
The decade of the Fifties was one when nearly everyone went to the 'films', and there were at least five cinemas in Hounslow - the Dominion (see left and interior below), (opened in 1931 and was designed by F. E. Bromige in the Art Deco 'Moderne'
style), and situated near the bus station.
The Empire was in the middle of the High Street.
The Regal, part of the ABC group and the Granada were at the far end of the High Street, and the Odeon (see right), probably the most modern cinema in the area, situated at Hounslow West, near the underground Station. In the year two thousand none of these cinemas still exists.
style), and situated near the bus station.
The Empire was in the middle of the High Street.
The Regal, part of the ABC group and the Granada were at the far end of the High Street, and the Odeon (see right), probably the most modern cinema in the area, situated at Hounslow West, near the underground Station. In the year two thousand none of these cinemas still exists.
A year after Peter was born the Labour party inaugurated the National Health Service (see right).
Unlike today, if someone went to the doctor they didn't need to make an appointment a week - or more - ahead, but simply arrived, waited their turn, and were usually seen in about fifteen or twenty minutes, and it was a relatively simple matter to get the doctor to come to the house.
Milk of course was delivered in bottles to the door-step by horse drawn cart (see left).
'Coin in the slot' meters (see left) were read by people from the gas and electricity boards, so there were no monthly bills, and the insurance man came round once a month from the Pearl to ensure that you had a decent funeral.
Finally, of course, although Peter lived in Hounslow, close to Heath row Airport, (see right) (or London Airport as it was then called), everybody who lived in the town was white.
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