Portsmouth History - Portsmouth Now and Then - nowpompey.com
   
         
 
Express FM History Show
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

The old Gaumont
in North End
 
Neville Shute

Apart from our usual local history Quiz (Nick Anderson, our latest winner last week of a trophy!) and a report on the air raids over Portsmouth this past week 68 years ago in 1941.

Local cinema projectionist Paul Robinson returned to remind us of the now lost cinema experience and Dave Barber embarked upon a new weekly tour of many of the city's old cinemas he can recall in amazing detail.

Following on from last week, Bob Adderley had more about planemaker and author Neville Shute Norway and we briefly met Stella Rutter who helped design the Spitfire.

Betty Marshall, who did much the same with the D-Day landings' Horsa glider returned to tell us more.

Ex-marine Alan Venton also returned briefly to start telling of his later life on the buses, whilst this week we also met Chris Davies, who's helped many Portsmouth folk get a roof over their heads, when he was working in the city housing department.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 
The remains of a Mulberry Harbour section in Langstone Harbour
 

We focused more sharply than ever before in recent weeks on the origins of the name that replaced that for Copnor's old Rat Lane, today better known as Norway Road - and we discovered to just where that road surprisingly leads us in the company of Bob Adderley!

This week we had two weeks' worth of reporting to catch up on regarding the exceptionally heavy bombing in the air raids of the past fortnight, as it was 68 years ago, and heard how one young lady at that time, Betty Marshall, faced up in the water off Hayling beach to the reality of the rigours of world war.

On the very day the Fort Cumberland Guard were on parade once again this afternoon at the Royal Marines Museum, we learnt a little more about them from fellow guardsman Derek Gleed.

From our archives we enjoyed again Dolly Aslett's memories of a frugal childhood from the days when, as a little girl, she'd light her way up to bed by candlelight!

Then there was the weekly Quiz, our local history What's On guide and so on..... !

 
 
 
 
 
 

 

Breaking open our Easter Egg of a programme this week, you would have discovered more local history (i.e. anything really, from just a moment ago until as far back as you care to go!), but straight from the 'horse's mouth' in the recorded words of some of those who know something about it for one reason or another.

This week the piano: 'proper piano', played professionally and locally, as well as on BBC radio and at the Proms by the late Maurice Cole. remembered by his cousin Margaret Aylen.

We also heard a good deal about the Royal Marines, who have had a long association with Portsmouth and Southsea - bugles, fife and drums and the like from Alan Venton and Derek Gleed.

And of course there was our usual local history quiz, an air raids review for the first quarter of 1941 in World War II and an especially comprehensive What's On guide, especially for the family, for local history-based events hereabouts for the coming Easter week.

 
 
 

Helen Shapiro
 
 

Chris Bloxsom recommended becoming a volunteer researcher at the City Museum.

You'll probably know of Helen Shapiro, but do you remember that '60s pop song duo from Winchester the Brook Brothers? Terry Wiseman certainly does as he told us how he drummed for them, and Helen too, on their tours!

Terry also told of his more recent involvement with The Southsea Shakespeare Actors.

Tony Thatcher found himself back on the show, explaining how he came to win our Quiz trophy last week with his first hand knowledge of Waterlooville.

We raided our archive of recordings this week to bring you Bob Hunt, creator of that fabulous web site Portsdown Tunnels and then we heard more from Norma of life in Portsmouth 'before the war', in a Buckland road that has since disappeared off the map, Elm Road.