All I have about this old negative from my collection is the hint of a caption which is "Back Street, Halifax"; and even this I suspect I invented 20 years after taking the picture. This makes it about as reliable as stories of Robin Hood written in the 19th century.
Author: Alan Burnett
Big Jimmy
Sometimes photographs of unknown provenance come with a minimalist caption. In this case we are told that the subjects of this photograph - which dates from the late 1920s - are "Harold, Florence and Big Jimmy". Big Jimmy: could any name be more suitable?
The Lot Of The E-Flat Bass Player
This is a rescan of a negative from 35 years ago, taken at the Yorkshire Miner's Gala. Pit bands from all over the North were there, and as they chatted with other bandsmen, instruments in hand, the lot of the trumpet player was far preferable to that of the E-Flat Bass player.
So Much For Folklore
Parts of Saint Mary's Church in Painswick, Gloucestershire, date back to the fourteenth century. The churchyard contains a fine collection of yew trees. Local folklore suggests that there will never be more than 99 trees in the churchyard, and if a 100th appears, the devil will puck it out. Current estimates suggest that there are … Continue reading So Much For Folklore
Third Time Lucky In Brighouse Art Gallery
The thing about vintage picture postcards is that so often it is a trial of strength between the photograph on the front and the message on the back as to which can be the best source of historical interest. A perfect example is provided by a recent acquisition: a 1907 postcard of the Smith Art … Continue reading Third Time Lucky In Brighouse Art Gallery
Southwold Sky
Sometimes the seaside gets squashed between the sea and the sky like the custard cream in a sandwich biscuit.
Different Times, Different People
Our Sepia Saturday image for this week features a lonely soul sat on the beach in Bridlington in 1922. My photograph moves forward nineteen years and switches coast from the East to the West coast of England. The print comes from one of the photograph albums of my Uncle, Frank Fieldhouse, and therefore we know … Continue reading Different Times, Different People
The Porthcawl Ventriloquist
This is a scan of a tiny print from an equally tiny album of photographs taken in Wales in the early 1930s. This particular print is captioned "The Ventriloquist, Porthcawl : Whit Monday 1932". "Tommy Porthcawl" - whose real name was Sydney Valentine - was famous for his sketches and ventriloquist act on Porthcawl beach … Continue reading The Porthcawl Ventriloquist
Archives : Orgreave Before The Battle
Orgreave Coking Plant was like a working industrial sculpture that greeted visitors to the city as they drove along the Parkway from the M1. A couple of years after I took this photograph it became famous as the site of the famous Battle of Orgreave during the Miner's strike. Within ten years it had been … Continue reading Archives : Orgreave Before The Battle
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