Judith Johnson
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Julie Andrews, we adore you!

20/6/2014

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Well, it’s been quite a good year for this Julie Andrews fan! In February I went to the tribute cabaret show Julie Madly Deeply, and in May I travelled up to London to spend an Evening with Julie Andrews.

The Hammersmith Apollo, originally opened in 1932 as the Gaumont Palace cinema, is a wondrous Art Deco diamond.  Even if slightly less cosy than some other venues for a tȇte a tȇte with Julie and several thousand other fans, nothing could dampen the air of excitement! The evening began with a medley of clips from her films, and then she came onstage to a standing ovation. It must feel special to have all that love coming at you from an adoring audience. The first half continued with a stroll through her career, with Julie relating lots of anecdotes, and a few impromptu interruptions from over-excited fans.


At the interval I looked around as the lights came up, and was gratified to see the same silly smile I fully anticipated was on my face on everyone else’s too. Queuing for the loo, I asked a young woman, who had travelled down from Yorkshire, if she was enjoying the evening? “Oh yes,” she said emphatically, “It’s wonderful. I was at the O2 last time she came over, and I felt so bad for her when people walked out.”

The two young women behind me had flown over from Cork. They had been to see Angela Lansbury the previous evening in Blithe Spirit. They thought the travelling had been well worth it. In fact there were a lot of young women in the audience – it wasn’t just Julie’s faithful gay following and ladies of a certain age, as I’d probably expected. And they all seemed very familiar with her career, right from the start. 
 

PictureArt-Deco bar, Hammersmith Apollo
There’s a lot to admire. Miss Andrews has been a consummate professional, a hard-working talent, for a very long time. I particularly like the story of her incredible tenacity and willingness to do the work necessary, with the show’s director, to transform her performance in the original New York production of My Fair Lady.  She told us how Maria Callas, on coming to see her backstage after the show one night, was amazed that she sang the part eight times a week. No miked-up soap stars in those days!

I hadn’t realised that Julie spent a year in the show at Drury Lane before the next cast change. My Dad played Eliza Doolittle’s father for five years (at Drury Lane and on tour) after taking over from Stanley Holloway, and I’m not sure if he ever met Julie, but I do know he would have been in awe of her courage in doing the current tour. He always said to me that he was happy to go out on stage and play a part in front of any audience, but that the idea of appearing as himself truly terrified him.

It was so nice to be in a big crowd of fans who were not afraid to show their enthusiasm. One of the things I particularly love about small children is their lack of cynicism - the way they just get up every day and bounce around until they drop. Recently I read that cynics are three times more likely to suffer from dementia. Well, all I can say is that the prospects are looking good for we happy band of fans beaming away at the Hammersmith Apollo a few Saturdays ago!

On my way back to Charing Cross, a male passenger on the tube, spotting a fan’s programme with a photo of Julie on the front,  remarked, “I’d rather shoot myself in the face.” I managed to resist pointing out to him that he was seriously at risk from dementia!

But after spending an evening with Julie not even this miserable curmudgeon could bring me down! My day began with waking to a blackbird’s song at 4am, progressed through the Great War Portraits at the National Portrait Gallery, followed by a lunchtime concert at St Martin in the Fields, and then meeting up with an old actor friend from years back for coffee and a chinwag. My glass was full right to the brim!


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Two other happy fans!
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D-Day - 70 years on

5/6/2014

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PictureArromanches – part of the Operation Overlord Normandy beach-head, where in June 1944 floating Mulberry Harbours, towed across the Channel from England, were linked to the beach by Bailey Bridges so that troops and military equipment could be landed safely.
Reading through accounts of D-Day and the campaign that followed can be a deeply moving experience. I feel enormously grateful to all those many thousands of men who lost their lives then. When I visited the D-Day sites a few years back – the cemeteries, museums, and beaches – I was particularly struck by the farmland behind the coast. I had a powerful sensation when I looked at those fields, almost as if one could still see the ghosts of thousands of men advancing over them.

When I found recently that a young graduate colleague of mine knew nothing about D-Day, I was quite shocked. That familiar old adage immediately springs to mind, what do they teach them in school these days? But then I guess you can’t convey everything in the short years at school, and things have moved on 40 years or so since I sat entranced in Mrs Wright’s history lessons at Tunbridge Wells Girls’ Grammar. Anyhow, I lent my young friend our DVD of Darryl F. Zanuck’s The Longest Day, which, with its superb international directors and cast, is in my view a  pretty good introduction to the subject.

Incidentally, Richard Todd, with whom my father worked on Walt Disney’s Robin Hood in later years, played Major John Howard in The Longest Day, but actually took part in D-Day himself. There’s a fascinating account of some of his experiences on the excellent Pegasus Archive website.

Of the War Dead of Southborough and High Brooms, Tunbridge Wells, which I researched for my book on Southborough War Memorial, there are two men who were killed in action on D-Day and in the fighting that followed:

Private Reginald Francis, of Southborough, died on Tuesday 6th June 1944, aged 20. He was with the 7th Battalion of the Parachute Regiment, and he is buried in the Ranville War Cemetery, Calvados. Ranville was the first village to be liberated in France when the bridge over the Caen Canal was captured intact in the early hours of 6 June by troops of the 6th Airborne Division, who were landed nearby by parachute and glider. Many of the division’s casualties are buried in Ranville War Cemetery and the adjoining churchyard. The Pegasus Archive website includes a Roll of Honour for the 7th Battalion. Private Francis was one of 68 men who died on that day; 60 more were to die in the following weeks.

Private Ernest William Funnell, of High Brooms, fought with the South Staffordshire Regt, attached to the 13th (2nd/4th Bn, The South Lancashire Regt) Battalion, Parachute Regiment, Army Air Corps. He was killed during the assault of Hill 13 at Putot-en-Auge on Saturday 19 August, and was buried in the village cemetery along with 25 of his comrades. He was 24 years old.

Jerry Jones of High Brooms, a childhood friend, recalled that Ernie was one of a large family, and that before his war service, he worked for Frank (Dick) Dunn, at his piggery in Powdermill Lane. Ernie’s older brother Frederick is also commemorated on the Southborough War Memorial. Another High Brooms resident, Pete Simmons, recalls that Ernie’s younger brother was called up after the end of the war and killed in Korea.

Mr H Kershaw of Hove, East Sussex, after visiting the village of Putot-en-Auge and coming upon the War graves there, was inspired to research the history of the 5th Parachute Brigade’s action on D Day, which included the capture of the famous Pegasus Bridge:

At 16 minutes past midnight on the night of June 5 and 6, 1944, gliders landed near the bridge over the River Orne and the Caen Canal. The latter became famous as the Pegasus Bridge. Three minutes later the men of the 5th Parachute Brigade started to land. The gliders and the parachutists had to capture the bridges. Although lightly armed, they succeeded. It has been said that had these bridges not been captured and held, the Normandy landing may have been jeopardised.

After weeks of action near the coast, the Germans withdrew to the high ground overlooking the River Dives. This area included the village of Putot. The 5th Parachute Brigade was quickly in pursuit and arrived near Putot-en-Auge late on August 18. They launched a dawn attack and by 8.45am, against strong opposition, Putot was captured.

The brigade suffered many casualties who were temporarily buried in Putot churchyard. The War Graves Commission wanted to move these men to one of the large war cemeteries. The village opposed this, saying that these men died for us, so they should stay with us. A plaque displayed among the beautifully cared-for graves states: “The little town of Putot on Auge receives the parents, relatives, and friends of the soldiers lying in this cemetery with sympathy and gratitude.”

I’ve included an extract from Mr Kershaw’s detailed account of this first major battle to be fought during the German retreat in my book, and you can also find this linked to Ernest Funnell on my SWM Extra page.

Links/Sources:

The Longest Day – The Independent

Roll of Honour for the 7th Battalion 
in Pegasus Archive


Richard Todd's D-Day account in Pegasus Archive

Southborough War Memorial by Judith Johnson



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    Lifelong bookworm, love writing too. Have been a theatrical agent and reflexologist among other things, attitude to life summed up by Walt Whitman's MIRACLES.

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