Spiggie beach with dog

Friends - past & present

This page lists, in no particular order, people that I have known during my lifetime and that have influenced or affected me in some way or other..
Sadly, some of them are no longer with us and others have split-up and gone their separate ways, sometimes keeping in touch, sometimes not but they are still in my mind.

Listing them here is a hope that one day, they will perform a 'google' search for their own name (come on, everybody does it at some point!) and end up here.

If you are in the list, I would really like to hear from you. Please use the 'contact me' link on this site.

This is a simple list of people but below are some people in more detail:

  • David Baird (Dave) - Canadian who was, I think, at Haverstock school at the same time I was and lived close to Hampstead Heath in London.
  • Peter Lincoln (Haverstock school)
  • Mark Palmer (Sherriff Road, West Hamptead)
  • Len Callaghan (Sainsbury's supermarket, Kentish town around 1972. We both worked as part-time Friday night/Saturday. Underage, we drank in the Dublin Castle with Len's parents (I think!)
  • Steve Riley - Was in Air cadets (48F, Hampstead) with me at start of the 1970s. Lived in Kilburn (Palmerston rd., I think)

 

Bill & Bess lived in a top floor flat in Tavistock Place.

They were introduced to me around 1969-1970 by a friend from school called Gwyn Parfitt who had helped me with my interest in Amateur & Broadcast Radio when I wanted to learn more about the subject.
They were both from Wales with pretty strong Welsh accents and smoked like chimneys but were lovely people.

Bill helped me design & build my first audio amplifier from bits, including creating the chassis out of a duckhams oil drum! A simple push-pull design using EL84's as the power valves (yes, Valves!)
He also lent me a lot of books to read about electronics etc. and introduced me to the world of Amateur radio (although I never bothered to actually get a call sign). I wish I could remember his. He had the Morse test so was a "G3..."

I used to feel sorry for them as Bill was housebound and used an inhaler and Bess had to carry shopping (& everything else!) up about 6 flights of stairs to their top floor, one-bedroomed flat.
The living room was full of "Ham" radio equipment which, sadly I can't remember the makes of everything. One thing I do remember was the vast aerial array on the roof with a motor to turn it in the direction Bill wished to listen/talk on.

The last entry in my diary was in February 1974 when Bess phoned me to tell me that Bill had died. After that, I visited her a few times and had brief contact with her daughter who, I believe, lived somewhere like Jersey in the Channel Islands and came back to visit her but after that, I'm sad to say I lost contact with her and have no idea where she spent the remaining years of her life.
So sad...

Bill worked as a T.O (Technical Officer) in the Picture Room in Electra house.

The T2A that worked with him was Martin Cooper but in the mid-late 70's, Bill and I used to go travelling around in his VW visiting places and pubs around Oxfordshire and the west midlands, often sleeping in the car after an evening drinking!

Martin & I have tried contacting him but haven't had any luck so far so hopefully he will find this and make contact with us/me.

'Mrs' Gordon was Haverstock school's librarian where I was one of the pupil librarians.
Of course, apart form the great excuse of being able to go indoors when it was pouring with rain at break times, it also gave me a chance to meet some of the more senior boys who used to study there (see Gwyn Parfitt, above).
I was even sad enough to go in during the school holidays to help with things!

They lived in Hendon where I visited them on a few occasions but later moved to Alnwick. The last communication I had with them was when John wrote to tell me Cecila had died and, tragically for a librarian, had lost her eyesight towards the end too. I only had contact with John once or twice more before it all went quiet.

It was also through Cecilia that I met one of the school office staff, Mrs Peroni, who was mother of a DJ on RNI (Radio Nordsee International) called Rob Eden and got me a few mementos from the station.

Chris was one of the 'Hemel Crowd' I met in the mid-seventies.

He lived in Chiltern close, Berkhamsted, Hertfordshire with his parents and was part of the Mobile Disco crowd I used to visit and who used to visit me in London when I worked at the Global Village.

 

I bought my very first (and only!) car from him - A Singer 'Gazelle'.

 

In late 2014, I was contacted by his brother, Roger, who sadly told me Chris was no longer with us but no other information.

Although I replied a couple of times, I never received anything back.

 

Dave used to live in 'the Tarns', one of the taller blocks of  flats on our little part of Regents Park Estate along Hampstead road.

When we had our little radio station, he was one of the DJs.

He once worked in the Cock pub in Triton square (now defunct), just off Euston road but went to work in foreign parts, especially during the skiing season.

Dave was my form Tutor and Spanish teacher at Haverstock School in London.

He was the first teacher I knew that allowed his pupils to call him by his first name and, rather than becoming anarchic, it made me much more aware of using the right term at the right time. He was still 'Sir' in front of other teachers or when he was telling us off (not that I can remember him doing that often!).

He introduced me to folk music, in particular Fairport Convention and their song 'Crazy Man Michael' which he used to play and sing himself at the after-school folk club he ran with a couple of other teachers. His (our!) classroom even had Mott the Hoople posters on the wall!

He also influenced my decision, around the age of 13 or 14, to stop eating meat and become a vegetarian. I still remember Mum saying something like "shut up and sit down. You'll eat what you're given" when I announced it at home! To be fair, she accepted it very well and I used to just have whatever everyone else was having but without the meat. I never liked most meat anyway and couldn't - and still can't - stand fish so it wasn't as if I was missing out on much.

I missed a class reunion sometime a few years ago when I believe Dave turned up. I have tried to find out how to contact him through the school but they don't have records going back that far.

I have been told he is on Facebook but as I'm not, I can't use that,

If you're reading this, Dave, get in touch!

Gwyn was a couple of years older than me but was introduced to me by the school librarian, Mrs Gordon, as she knew of my interest in Electronics and that the current school curriculum didn't cover that whereas Gwyn was 'well into it'
He lived with his parents in Hillview Gardens, Hendon NW4.
He was a 'G8' radio ham and we spent a few nights on radio events called 'competitions' at various locations but the one I remember most was at Hampstead Heath Observatory, close to Whitestone pond.
His family were also one of the first I knew that owned a colour TV and I used to go over to watch Star Trek (the original series, obviously!)

 

In 2010, his nephew, Doug, discovered his name on this site and contacted me (so it can and does work!).

Sadly, Gwyn had passed away in 2005 due to Cancer. At the time he was living in Thailand where he was cremated but the ashes were returned to his homeland of Bridgend in Wales.

Gwyn had been successful in life though and I include part of the correspondence from his nephew to illustrate this:

 

Gwyn won the Queens Award for Enterprise (Innovation) in his twenties for his invention of the CAT scanner in the 1970s. They are still in use today, although slightly more sophisticated now:
 
 
As a result of this invention, he left the country for tax purposes, living in Switzerland and Austria. To keep himself busy, he designed electronic jewellery, which was very novel back then, but is common place now.
 
His next 'landmark' invention was a navigational system for shipping. Originally, it was designed to help Australia win the America's Cup (sailing). It was then developed for commercial use in ships of all sizes (and then vehicles). If you put "Gwyn Parfitt" into Google, it will reveal a number of his patents (often along with Hugh Agnew who did the patent applications).
 
 

John was one of my 'best mates' at Haverstock School.

He lived in Hampstead in New End somewhere but I never visited his family home.
He was also instrumental in getting me to join the Air Cadets - 48F Squadron (Hampstead). There, he was a corporal (& I think he might have been promoted to Sergeant before we left) which made for a strange kind of relationship. 'John' when we were at school but 'Corporal/Sergeant Findlay' on Thursday evenings (at least when Warrant Officer Knowles was around!)
John was strange and secretive in some ways. I never visited his home or met his family but he would often visit me on a Sunday and Mum would always offer him dinner - which he always refused but she put it out anyway and he ate it!
When he left school, it was rumoured that he had left England and gone to work in Launceston in Tasmania although this could have been another example of his secretive character and could still be in the UK somewhere...
I would really like to know where he is now & what he is doing.

Pat was bar manager of 'Bar 10' at the Alexandra Palace beer festival in 1979 which was held in huge marquees after the palace itself had been set alight by a careless workman's discarded cigarette.
I was one of the (two) assistant barmen at the time and remember such things as being interviewed by a TV crew (& later turning up on TV in Hong Kong where a friend of mine in the Royal Navy had seen me) and introducing a new beer called 'Woggles, Boy Scout Bitter'. This wasn't officially listed but we needed to get rid of some awful beer which wasn't selling. All highly illegal now but a bit of fun back then (remember when we could all have fun without the Health & Safety nazis or the PC crowd??)

 

The last I heard - and indeed saw - was that they lived in Hertford, right by the canal but I haven't seen either of them for many years now although I have seen Les's name appear on some CamRA (Campaign for Real Ale) articles.

 

Maurice ('Mo') was at Haverstock school at the same time I was (1967-1972) and lived with his family in St. Leonards Sq., just off Malden road in London, NW5.

Would love to know what happened to him!

 

I first met Mick whilst on a holiday in Blackpool in July 1975 (another story completely). He lived in Cog lane, Burnley with his parents, Pat & John, and his brothers Liam and Kevin. He also had a sister, Maureen, who was married to David (I think) and also lived in Burnley.
In about 1980 I was best man for him and Shirley and made myself instantly infamous for referring to her as 'Sheila' in my speech!

They had one child called Phillip but have since split up.

I made contact with Shirley once or twice but it just seemed to peter out.. until April 2012 when we suddenly made contact again.

She has remarried to Tony and now has step-children.

 

I met Phil Cranfield while on a Greater London scout cruise to Scandinavia in July 1971 (24th July to 2nd August)

He was a last-minute substitution for his brother, Peter, who had originally been booked on the trip but couldn't make it.
We became very good friends and used to go out visiting pubs all over the place.
He was, in 1978, the first person I ever went to the Isle of Man with!
He worked for BT and in the 80's, while I was on shift work in London, I used to occasionally travel around with him in the BT van.
His father worked for the water board & lived in a 'company house'. Initially he was at Platts lane reservoir near Hampstead but then moved to Hillview Gardens, Cheshunt in Hertfordshire.

We used to go there often and visited the Old Anchor equally as often!
He had two brothers, Pete Cranfield and Derek Cranfield

I'd like to know what he's up to now and where he is living.

My first contact with Hemel Hempstead was through Dave Lee, who started at the GPO on the same day that I did in 1972 and lived there.

 

This was a group of blokes I met while I was DJ at the Global Village in London.

They set up their own mobile disco around the Hemel Hempstead and Berkhampsted area to which I used to go along on Fridays sometimes. One time, my car was attacked because of the pictures of the Bay City Rollers on the back seat which we were planning to give away as prizes!

They included:
Chris Bateman (lived in Berkhampsted) (see separate article)
Paul Fleckney (worked for Nat. West Bank in London)
Chris Brown - made contact in 2013 when he & Sue moved back to Hemel..
Graham Walters;
Steve Regan;
Graham Prestedge - worked for tyre company, first in Watford then in Gt Portand st. and Marylebone high st. in central London
 
Micky Framp also used to run a mobile disco and, at the time worked in a carpet shop in Apsley.