The Whisperers

John,

I have actually been to have a look at one of the film sets which is on
Napier St Oldham.

..............a good start

Unfortunately one of the shots where I recall Margaret
Rutherford...........perhaps Edith Evans?......... walking down some steps
is very overgrown with trees and
bushes.

.............This still, attached, is the only info I have

What I really need to help is to be able to take still shots
from the original film and compare with the present scenes - do you know
how I could do this?

.............yes, with a free program called Nero, you unload to your
computer from Video or DVD, then "frame grab" the individual scenes as
require,

That way I could go to the various locations in and
around Oldham which include Town field police station and a backdrop
scene showing the grimy industrial cotton mills which was at St Mary's
Ward.

When the film was made, my father in law met Brian Forbes and asked why
he choose to make it in Oldham. He explained that the town presented the
right feeling of industrial decay and depression.

.............Have you got a copy of the film? Can you make me a copy? Then
we can pull the stills and send them back for you to identify.

..........Best wishes

..........John

Regards

Chris

Please Sir

Hi John,

Thanks for your help and "in due course" will be as soon as I can get a break and get over to the locations:

.......soon we hope, I've put out "feelers" to my contacts for you.

some of the episodes of the series were shot at my school,

...........where was that? Does it have a name, and an address?

the movie was filmed at another school

..........do you have the details?

and the flats nearby.

.........do they have an address?

They are all in Willesden

...........that's getting close

and as I'm currently juggling a full time job with studying the Knowledge, I'm not sure when I can get back over there.

............you'll see from an investigation of my nine web sites how busy I am, but I'm finding the time to research Please Sir for you.

I will also need to work out how to get the stills off the movie. (any tips?)

............we have a VCR, and a DVD machine linked up to the computer and use a programme, PCTV, which is simple and works well. Nero is a copy prog for DVDs, and it's free

That's it for now, I'll keep you posted of any progress.

..............and "in due course"

............Best

..........John

Kind regards,

Kenny

Murder She Said

I haven't got any pictures for you but the railway station is London Paddington.

mss001a is a shot from the top of the steps on the footbridge looking down at platform 1 towards the buffer stops.

mss001b is taken from the buffer stops on platform 2 looking the other way. The footbridge is mss001a is just discernable in the middle right of the shot.

Simon Reader

Up The Junction

Dear Sir
The still uj006 is the station approach Clapham Junction, I know I walked thro there every day in the 60's, since now gone, but is/was certainly the approach. My daughter was filmed walking though there when filming was going on, going to school, she's now 50!
Mrs B Hearn, nee Brett.

North Wales Movie Map

Hi John

Your email to the Wales Screen Commission regarding movie maps and plaques for film locations has been passed to me as TPNW funds the production of the movie map north wales printed map and web site www.moviemapnorthwales.co.uk. The WSC funds the plaques in North Wales (currently 13 in various locations with more to be added too).

As the site has developed and where we have the info, we are adding more location info (see the Midsomer Murders page number 54) The Llanberis intro and Nant Peris village give a bit more info on the episode rather than just tourist info. Where we have this (and the only reason I knew this was because the WSC and myself took some competitions winners on a morning tour of some movie locations in our area and Midsomer Murders had recently been shot there!!!) then I will add this to a page so in future we can hopefully attract both audiences more to the site).

Kind regards

Carole

Pygmalion (1938) and Walkers dry cleaners

My parents Bernard Tunstill and Gertrude Tunstill went to see the film Pygmalion on the 5th December 1938, instead of going on honeymoon.Their marriage had to be kept a secret, as in those days only single women were allowed to be employed at Walkers of Haringey (dry cleaners); where my mother Gertrude (aka G, or later mis-heard and known as Jean) was the manageress (in charge of eight assistants) and earned £1.05p (£1.1s) per week.

There is an exterior shot of Piccadilly Circus in the film and in the background can be seen 'The Criterion Theatre' showing the play 'French without tears'. Leslie Howard, one of the stars of Pygmalion, was acting in that play, during the filming of Pygmalion. A little 'in joke' by the film makers. The following year of course, our parents were blessed with the birth of our 'Dear Leader' aka John Tunstill.

Years later in the late 1970s, I was in the audience of a West End play and sitting in front of me in evening dress, was Wendy Hiller. By that time she was in her sixties and still very slim; I remember seeing how the bones in the top of her spine were quite pronounced!Funny, the things one remembers.

LBB.

Taste of Honey - Barton Swing Bridge

Hello Mr Tunstill,

You are quite correct when you state the condition of the are around the Swing Bridges.

In the late 1980's Salford Council carried out a comprehensive improvement scheme to the lower and upper walkways adjacent the stone abutment to the Bridgewater Canal. This was successful but over the years has suffered from neglect, but chiefly vandalism, the picnic tables at the upper level being virtually destroyed. The timber walkwat along the side of the pond is in need of repair and the trees and shrubs are also in need of maintenance. In 1999 Salford Council were successful in bidding for improvement monies to renovate the area and several derelict properties but, unfortunately, could not find the match funding to carry out the work.

However, during 2002/3 Salford Council were successful in encouraging the renovation of the row of former shops fronting Barton Lane and Peel Green Road. At about the same time the pavements along both sides of each road, including improvements to the road junction, were re-surfaced in more appropriate materials.

In an attempt to address the derelict condition of the area adjacent to and around the Swing Bridges, a Conservation Area Appraisal was carried out last year. This highlighted deficiencies and suggested ways of improvement. If you access the Council's Web site and follow, Living-Planning-Heritage-Conservation Areas-Conservation Area Appraisals-Barton-Upon-Irwell.. You will find historic maps and background information about the conservation area and listed buildings. You will also find information about the ways in which the conservation area generally, can be improved. With this in mind the Council has also embarked on a three year programme of formulating Conservation Area Management Plans for each of the sixteen conservation areas in Salford. It is hoped that, as a result of this work, we will achieve overall improvements to all of the conservation areas in Salford.

I hope this helps to alleviate some of your concerns about this particular, and important, conservation area.

Best wishes,
Joe

On The Buses

Hello,

Planning is underway for the ON THE BUSES event in Elstree and Borehamwood on Saturday the 28th of June 2008.
A draft itinerary can be seen below:
Welcome get-together at 11. am at venue to be confirmed.
Cinema Showing of Holiday ON THE BUSES on the big screen, with guest stars for a question answer session (names to be announced at a later date)
Following on there would then be a walk round the town to see the various locations used in the ON THE BUSES movie and time for photographs to be taken, etc. followed by a trip on a Bus to the outlying film locations.
We think around 5 p.m. should be the latest finishing time giving any who have purchased a premier ticket the time to freshen up or rest. (day running order may be subject to change dependant on numbers attending)
Then onto to the Elstree TV and Film Studio for the launch event celebrating 80 years of Elstree Studios
7.30pm
Elstree Film & TV Studio event with band, film clips, buffet, special guests and pay bar to celebrate the start of the film festival and 80 years of Elstree FIlm Studios.
Regards
Steve Friend of 'The Water Rats'
ON THE BUSES fanclub web site www.onthebusesfanclub.co.uk
(Nostalgia never goes out of fashion)

The Informers

OOOOOoooh! That looks like a cracking good film! Where did you find that one?

I have a thought about pics in006a & in006b.
There is a funny back entrance like that opp Centre Point, on the corner of Oxford Street and Charing Cross Road (possibly Falconberg Mews) or the rear of it..
The Gay club that used to be a cinema is on the corner.
As for the rest , I can see quite a few old favourites, including Covent Garden.....Again.
LBB.

Eight O'Clock Walk

One of the screenshots for this film clearly shows "Holtham Rd". This was in St John's Wood, just east of Kilburn High Road station. It no longer exists, having been covered by the Abbey Road Estate development. It can be seen in the 1898-99 map on the following web page:

booth.lse.ac.uk

For a modern-day aerial view, see:

www.flashearth.com

The nearest street is Bolton Street to the south. No photos I'm afraid, though I'm sure some of the streets featured must remain.

Gary Harding

Whistle Down The Wind

The frame grab wd009 from Whistle Down the Wind must have come from stock footage, as this identical clip was used in the opening sequence of 'So Well Remembered' (1949).

Nick Gibley suggests this location could be Burnley but it has been reported that 'So Well Remembered' was filmed in Macclesfield, Cheshire.

...Great Site!

Rick Parker

More on Optimists of Nine Elms, pet cemetery

The pet cemetery is indeed in Hyde Park at the back of Victoria lodge/ Victoria Gate, opp Brook Street/ Bayswater Road.
It is now overgrown and there is no access.
I clambered up a mouldy green wall with iron railings on top , much to my godson's horror.
'You'll get arrested' were his comforting words as I ascended.
A few minutes later I came back to earth with green knees and three 'phone camera' pics.

Now just a matter of getting the pics off the camera and onto the Reelstreets blog.
Little Brother Brian.

ps. And putting my trousers in the wash!


My word, the lengths that you ReelStreeters go to to in order to find a location!!!!!
We must all get a life!

Big Brother John

Carry On Sergeant

Hello,

Sorry I don't have a photo, that's because I don't live in Guildford! But I know that the parade ground scenes of Carry of Sergeant were filmed at the old barracks in Guildford. Now apartments called Cardwells Keep and a housing estate, this old barracks is on Stoughton Road (at the top of Barrack Road) in Stoughton, Guildford, Surrey.

Jennifer Cobbing


Jennifer

How very kind of you to write in. It's the snippits of information, like
this, that gradually help to complete the jigsaw puzzle.

Thanks again and best wishes

John Tunstill

Never Let Go

Hello John

Many thanks for your comments. I'm glad my history was useful.

Attached is the picture of Chichester Place in the early 1900's.



On the left of the picture, which is taken from Harrow Road looking down the street, is the Bayswater Synagogue. At the bottom of the street is the Maze Works, used as the exterior of 'Meadows Garage', in the film and owned at the time of this photograph (c 1905) by F. Morley. On the extreme right of the picture is 2a Chichester Place, my grandfather's four storey shop on the corner of Chichester Place and Chichester Street (you can see the sign for Chichester Street on the wall). This was used for the exterior shots of the 'Victory Cafe'. The shop was on the ground floor and you can see some of the contents of the shop. My mother and grandparents lived on the first floor which was very large inside. My grandfather's uncle and his wife and daughter lived for a time on the second floor before moving out shortly after he handed the business over to my grandfather in 1904. The top floor was rented out to a single woman of independent means.

The building on the right, further down the street, with the carts outside, is the Maze Hotel. The street leading off to the right of the Maze Works at the bottom of Chichester Place, which also featured in the film, is Chichester Road which lead past Westbourne Terrace and straight to the Grand Union Canal and Little Venice. A lot of my grandfather's clients were well heeled and lived in the town houses that proliferated in the area of Paddington and Maida Vale. My mother went to the Paddington and Maida Vale High School for Girls and would have walked that way to school. Incidentally, a contempory of my mother at that school was the actress Irene Handl, who appeared with Peter Sellers on his long playing records and in the film 'I'm All Right Jack'. She was born in 1901 in Maida Vale and was two years older than my mother.

Kind Regards

Colin


Thanks Colin, most interesting

Best wishes

John

Never Let Go

Hi

I was looking at your website and found the reference to the location used for the film 'Never Let Go', starring Peter Sellers, Richard Todd and Elizabeth Sellars which was released in 1960. The location for 'Meadows Garage' and 'Victory Cafe' was indeed Paddington, but the location given was somewhat vague.

I can be very specific about the location as my mother was born in 1903 and brought up in the shop which was used as the exterior of the 'Victory Cafe'.

The building was four storey and was No. 2a Chichester Place (not Street). It was indeed on the corner of Chichester Place and Kinnaird Street (which was formerly known as Chichester Street). It was renamed Kinnaird Street in the 1930's. My mother's uncle and aunt lived in Chichester Street and my father lodged with them when he worked in London.

The building at the bottom of the street is No 7a Chichester Place and served as the exterior location for 'Meadows Garage'. It was formerly owned by a coach builder called T. Sykes in 1888 and was later owned by Creaton and Co (Builders) in 1903. It actually became a garage in the early 1900's and by 1939 it was still known as Truman's Garage (Maze Works). The street was an assortment of private dwellings and shops and there was also a hotel at No. 6, the Maze Hotel.

In some of the pan shots, the building opposite 2a Chichester Place shows up. This was the Bayswater Synagogue, at No 11 Chichester Place, and further up, one of the shots shows the Harrow Road before the construction of the Harrow Road Flyover. The Bayswater Synagogue was opened on 10th July 1862 and became one of the most fashionable in London with many society weddings taking place there. Some of the first seat holders of the synagogue were the banker, Samuel Montague, and members of the Rothschild family.

My grandfather took over 2a in 1904 from his uncle, who had been there since 1880. The shop supplied groceries, heating and lighting oils which were stored in cellars underneath Chichester Place. He was described in the 1901 Census as an Oilman and Master Grocer.

The whole area became run-down after the war and was in this condition when the film was made in 1960.

My grandfather vacated the shop in 1940 (after 60 years in the family) and the whole area was finally demolished in 1965 by the Greater London Council to make way for the flyover and the new development which exists to this day. By an incredible chance, in 1965, my parents were passing Chichester Place after many years away, on their way to the coast and decided to have a look at her old home as they were passing. Not realising that the area was being redeveloped they turned off the Harrow Road and were just in time to witness a builder's wrecking ball crash into the walls of 2a, reducing the shop to rubble. Had they arrived ten minutes earlier they would have seen the shop still standing and probably would have driven on. Ten minutes later and the building would have already vanished. This chance of fate left a deep impression on my mother, having witnessed the final destruction of a home where she had spent a happy childhood and adulthood before leaving to get married in 1934.

I hope this gives you a good feel of the location used for the film. If you are interested I can send you a further email with an attachment of a picture taken in the street in the early 1900's.

Colin Childs, January 2008

Colin


What an amazing account! Thank you so much for the human background to what was a splendid film. This sort of information is really what our site is about, putting flesh onto the bones of the film. The nostalgic and historical family details serve to underline the fact that our ReelStreets really were real streets. Most of our viewers know something about the films made in their area, usually in their childhood, or at least young adult life, and many have tales yet to tell.

Thank you again, and I'm sending you a free subscription as a small reward.

Best wishes

John Tunstill

..................and yes please, the photo would be an excellent addition.

The Green Man

Photo gn 010 is NOT Threadneedle Street.

.............just testing!!!

That is the north-east corner of the junction of Holborn and Grays Inn Road.

There is no question - you can see the trolleybus wires emerging from Grays Inn Rd; trolleybuses were only grudgingly allowed near the City (the wires were deemed 'unsightly') and this turning loop was required for the terminating routes from North Finchley. Here and Moorgate were the only places in the actual City of London where wires were tolerated.

............no question.

Confirmation can be had by reading the rather blurred legend above the descending stairs into the LT Station - look at the hazy words there and think:

'Chancery Lane Station'

..........I did, and squinted, and yes, well done Roger, superb deduction. Many thanks

Roger Rettig

The Blue Lamp

I have not had much time to do a great deal of sleuthing but I have had a look at one of my favourite older films, The Blue Lamp, and have one suggested amendment:

BP 074 The Blue Lamp

The image was photographed from a crane or scaffold (maybe on top of a pub) high above Ladbroke Grove, junc of Barbly Road W10, almost over the railway bridge - facing south:
This is someway north of the Lancaster Road area suggested by your caption. The island has been replaced by a modern mini-roundabout.

The stills image isn't too helpful when identifying this location, but if you watch the film, the camera films a Police car hesitating at that junction before speeding(!?) away down Ladbroke Grove. As it does so, the camera pans slightly to the right as it follows the car down the Grove and I am 101% sure of this location.

Today, this location has changed considerably. In this aerial image courtesy of MSN Maps where I have drawn the old route of the roads concerned.

Cheers

Richard