A Visit to the British Empire Exhibition

Cavendish Mews is a smart set of flats in Mayfair where flapper and modern woman, the Honourable Lettice Chetwynd has set up home after coming of age and gaining her allowance. To supplement her already generous allowance, and to break away from dependence upon her family, Lettice has established herself as a society interior designer, so her flat is decorated with a mixture of elegant antique Georgian pieces and modern Art Deco furnishings, using it as a showroom for what she can offer to her well heeled clients.

 

Today however we are not at Cavendish Mews. We have travelled north-west from Mayfair, beyond Paddington and Maida Hill, past Kensal Town and Harlesden where Edith’s parents George and Ada live in their red brick terrace house, to Wembley Park. Here, in a purpose built stadium* surrounded by landscaped pleasure gardens and adjoined by a vast amusement park is the British Empire Exhibition**, the great colonial exhibition held at Wembley Park which opened on the 23rd of April. It is at the Exhibition that the wonders of Empire may be seen, in various pavilions in all their glory: from the vast golden wheat farms of the dominions of Australia and Canda and the tea plantations of British India to the exotic climes of Malaya***, Ceylon****, Bermuda and the British protectorates in South Africa. In addition are the pavilions for the British Government and the vast Palaces of Art, Industry and Engineering, divided by the tree lined avenue of the King’s Walk. There are cafes and kiosks, restaurants and cinemas, all to entertain the vast throng of people from all around the Empire and around the world who pour through the gates each day. It is amongst all the movement, noise colour and patriotic gaiety that Lettice’s maid, Edith, and her sweetheart, grocer’s delivery boy Frank, have come with Edith’s parents and seafaring salon steward brother, Bert, and Frank’s Scottish grandmother, Mrs. McTavish have come to enjoy the spectacle of Empire too.

 

We find Edith alone on a park bench on the edge of a brick path opposite the Canadian Pavilion with trees and greenery of a central green space behind her, festive patriotic bunting and Union Jacks draped through the branches. Dressed in a pretty floral printed summer cotton frock that she has made especially for their visit to the British Empire Exhibition, and wearing her wide brimmed summer hat decorated with ornamental flowers and bows from Mrs. Minkin’s Haberdashery in Whitechapel, she enjoys the moment alone as Frank searches for some sustenance for them whilst the rest of the family group have made their way back to the Palace of Engineering. Edith smiles and allows her lids to lower over her blue eyes as she allows the sun to soak into her stockinged legs and lace glove clad hands. She listens to the people chatting as they walk past her, all agog over the wonders of the Empire.

 

“Here we are then, Edith,” comes Frank’s familiar tones, resounding happily over the hubbub of human chatter, laughter and the distant trill of fairground music. “One serving of the best quality hot chips that British Empire has to offer!”

 

Edith allows her lids to flutter open and looks up at her young beau’s happy face smiling down at her, as he hands her a crumpled bundle of newspaper, already showing little greasy spots where the oil from the chips held within the parcel is seeping through. She quickly peels off her lace gloves and slips them into the front of her green leather handbag, slung over the arm of the bench.

 

“Oh, thanks ever so, Frank!” Edith replies gratefully, reaching up and taking her parcel eagerly from his outstretched hand.

 

Moving over on the bench to make room for him, Edith heart leaps a little in her chest as Frank slips in next to her, his thigh in his Sunday best suit trousers pressed up against hers. The newspaper crumples noisily as they both pull at the pages of yesterday’s London tabloids to reveal nests of golden yellow hot chips, sending forth aromatic steam that quickly permeates the air around them.

 

“And!” Frank adds, delving into the pocket of his vest, wincing as he grabs it. “A piping hot meat pie!”

 

He quickly dumps the golden hot pastry unceremoniously on the edge of Edith’s unwrapped chips and blows on his fingers, scalded by the heat of the pie. Edith looks at it in a rather unimpressed fashion, screwing up her pert nose as she reaches down and picks off a piece of blue cotton from Frank’s vest pocket off the daintily decorated edge of the pie and drags it away, rolling it between her thumb and middle finger to release it, allowing it to be blown away by the wind.

 

“Oh Frank!” She looks at him with doleful eyes as he smiles at her in a guilty fashion. “Would it have been that hard to have it thrown in with the chips?”

 

“Yes!” Frank defends himself. “You try carrying two parcels of hot chips and then buy a pie from a separate stand!”

 

Clipping the front of his tweed flat cap with her fingers, Edith laughs and shakes her head. “Oh Frank!” she sighs. “You are hopeless!”

 

“But you love your Frank anyway, don’t you Edith?”

 

“I do adore you nonetheless.” Edith concedes.

 

“Well, no matter if you don’t want any of the pie!” Frank says, his smile broadening. “More for me then. I’m not afraid of a bit of cotton from my waistcoat pocket. It just so happens to be very clean in there.” He opens the slit in his blue waistcoat and glances in at all the crumbs now clinging to the lining of his pocket. “Or rather, it was.”

 

Edith giggles, her girlish chuckles emboldening Frank to reach down and pick up the hot pie again, lifting it to his mouth and taking a big bite, piping hot mincemeat and gravy spilling into his mouth, scalding his tongue and roof of his mouth.

 

“Ow!” he exclaims, quickly dropping it back onto the edge of Edith’s chips. “That’s bloody hot!” he manages to say through a mouth of pie as he opens his mouth and breathes in the air around him to try and cool down the mince in his mouth.

 

“Language!” Edith chides him as a middle-aged woman in a muddy brown three quarter length coat and straw hat not unlike her own, only decorated with feathers, stomps past them on the arm of an older lady and scowls disapprovingly at Frank.

 

“Well it is.” Frank struggles to say as he continues to suck in cool air and roll the hot meat and pastry around on is tongue in an effort to cool it down.

 

“That’ll teach you for being so ungallant, Frank Leadbetter!” Edith laughs good-naturedly.

 

“That’s not funny.” Frank says after a few moments as he swallows the meat and pastry, feeling the heat of it as it works its way down his throat to his stomach, wiping his bottom lip with the back of his hand.

 

“Oh yes it is!” Edith giggles, taking out her own hand embroidered lace trimmed handkerchief from her handbag and offering it to the grateful Frank. She shakes her head again as he accepts it.

 

“I don’t suppose you’ve got a knife in your basket, have you Edith?”

 

“I don’t, Frank,” she replies apologetically. “But I do have some tea.” She reaches down and withdraws the orange striped red thermos flask***** and two white enamelled cups. “Here.” She pours some tea into one of the cups and hands it to him. “Anyway, now that you’ve bitten a hole in it, that will allow the pie to cool, and in a bit we’ll pull it apart with our fingers.”

 

“Ta.” he replies, taking the cup of milky tea gratefully. “That’s a good idea, Edith.”

 

“Not ‘ta’, Frank.” Edith corrects him. She pours tea into her own cup. “It’s ‘thank you’ if you’re to be a union leader one day.”

 

“Ta is spoken by a man of the people, Edith.”

 

“But a man of the people must also be able to socialise with the upper crust.” Edith responds seriously. “I’m just trying to help.”

 

“I know, Edith. You’re more than just a pretty face.” Frank opines, reaching his left hand across the wooden slats of the bench and discreetly clasping Edith’s dainty, careworn right hand in his behind the cover of the unfurled chip grease oiled newspaper.

 

“Oh Frank!” She looks over to her beau and smiles fulsomely. “You really are quite sweet.”

 

“I know!” Frank replies, leaning over further and snatching one of her chips from the pile on her lap with his free right and eating it, winking cheekily at her as he does.

 

“Oi!” She slaps his hand away, and laughs again.

 

The pair settle back into the wooden slats of the comfortable wooden bench, allowing themselves the luxury of soaking up the sun of the wonderfully sunny London Sunday. Around them the vociferous chatter of the many visitors to the British Empire exhibition walking by blends with the laughing and occasional crying of children, the strains of ‘The Maid with the Flaxen Hair’****** played by the gaily uniformed brass band in the rotunda nearby and the screams and squeals of delight from the people enjoying the rides in the Exhibition’s amusement park.

 

“I think we were lucky to get this seat.” Edith says as she watches a middle aged woman in a lemon yellow frock with a matching cardigan and cloche hat push a perambulator with large wheels past them, a trail of four children of varying ages following in her wake laughing and moaning. “There are so many people here today.”

 

“Today and every day from what I’ve read in the papers. Apparently, it’s really popular. I don’t remember seeing this many people in one place since the first Armistice Day in 1919*******.” Frank agrees as he looks around him, observing a shiny Railodok******* bus full of gentlemen in suits and bowlers, ladies in jackets, fur stoles and cloches and young children in sailor suits and boaters slowly rumble past. “Still, it’s good that people have come out to see all the wonders of the Empire. It makes me proud to be British.”

 

“Oh me too, Frank!” Edith enthuses in return. “It makes me feel like I’m part of something ever so much bigger. It’s wonderful!”

 

“Better than a date to see ‘The Enchanted Cottage’********* at the Premier in East Ham********** then?”

 

“I’ll say, or a trip to the Hammersmith Palais***********. Where else do you get to see the wonders of the Empire without even having to leave London?”

 

“And enjoy the company of your handsome sweetheart at the same time.” Frank leans back against the sun warmed back of the bench, looks lazily across at Edith, and gives her a cheeky smile as he puts another chip, this time one of his own, in his mouth.

 

“You’ve got tickets on yourself, Frank Leadbetter.” Edith begins, determined not to let Frank’s obvious teasing of her go unanswered without a little of her own in return. “I could be walking on my Dad’s arm right now, and he’s every bit as handsome as you are, even more so.”

 

“And older.” Frank jokes jovially.

 

“And more worldly.” Edith counters cheekily, stabbing at his pride.

 

“Alright! Alright! I concede!” Frank says, raising his hands, one still holding his enamel cup, aloft.

 

“Thank you!” Edith says smugly as she chews on another chip.

 

The pair laugh happily and smile at one another.

 

“So, what have you enjoyed the most out of what we’ve seen so far, then Edith?”

 

Edith pauses with a chip held between her index finger and thumb midway between her lap and her mouth and considers her answer for a few moments before answering.

 

“Well, I loved the Australian Pavilion and seeing the bush landscape for myself.” She remembers the Australian dairy farm display with branches of Australian gum trees set up behind sheaths of wheat and cut outs of cows against a blue painted sky. “It helps me to picture what Bert sees when his ship docks over there, even if he did say the display is nowhere near as beautiful as the real thing. It gives me an idea of what it must look like. So much better than an illustration in a book from the library.”

 

“I liked Freda the Friesian.” Frank adds with a wry smile, remarking on the life size taxidermied Friesian cow standing to the left of the tableau with a bucket at her feet and a sign in front of her, proudly displaying her name.

 

“Imagine going out there to live though.” Edith remarks, remembering the large welcoming map of Australia near the entrance that encouraged British farmers with capital, lads who could work or farms or girls to be domestics to immigrate half way around the world to Australia.

 

“No, it’s too far away for me.” Frank replies. “Even if they did have a beautiful orchid display.”

 

“The Canadan Pavilion is very beautiful,” Edith remarks, pointing to grand classically designed white building standing across from them in its temporary garden surrounds.

 

“The butter display of His Royal Highness was very impressive!” Frank gasps, picturing the tableau behind glass they had seen in the pavilion, made entirely of Canadian butter depicting the Prince of Wales next to a horse on a Canadian ranch.

 

“Those butter displays are amazing!” Edith agrees, thinking of the one in the Australian Pavilion made of Australian butter showing Jack Hobbs************ playing Test Cricket in Melbourne.

 

“What about the metalwork displays in the Nigerian Pavilion?” Franks asks, remembering the vast window display beneath a mud brick archway showing a man and a young boy in traditional garb making metal bowls and plates over a brazier.

 

“I’ve never seen anyone so exotic looking!” Edith colours as she recalls their dark skin, so very different to her own pale pink flesh. “And their costumes! Colourful beads and hats! Who would ever have pictured men wearing them?”

 

“And the elephants!” Frank gasps before eating another chip.

 

“I’ve never seen an elephant in the flesh before!” remarks Edith after swallowing her mouthful of chip. “And there they were, cavorting about in the lake, splashing about and spraying water!”

 

“Have you never been to the zoo for an elephant ride*************, Edith?” Frank asks.

 

“Never, Frank. I’ve never been to the zoo, ever!”

 

“Then I shall have to take you sometime, Edith. You don’t know what you’re missing out on. We’ll add it to our list of places to go.”

 

“I’d like that.” Edith replies gratefully, blushing as she does.

 

“I’m glad we weren’t close enough to get drenched by the shower of water from the elephant trunks.” Frank admits. “Like that couple picnicking by the lake.”

 

“Oh yes! Poor them!” Edith says. “And poor gardeners! Did you see how the elephants just pulled up flowers from the garden beds with their trunks and ate them**************!” Edith takes a sip of tea. “I must confess, I was glad to be far enough away from them. They are so enormous, just walking around like that, that they scare me.”

 

“Oh I shouldn’t worry too much, Edith,” Frank assures her. “They all have attendants who make sure they don’t get up to too much mischief.”

 

“Well, I don’t see how such little men can command such big creatures as elephants, Frank.”

 

“They wouldn’t let them roam about if they were dangerous, Edith.”

 

“Maybe not, Frank,” Edith nurses her cup. “But they still scare me, just the same.”

 

The pair fall silent for a little while and continue to eat their chips and sip their tea, watching the people parade pass them: young and old, rich and poor, all enjoying the spectacle of the British Empire on London soil.

 

“Your Mum and my Gran seemed fascinated by the electric stove displays in the Palace of Industry***************.” Frank remarks.

 

“Well both of them use coal ranges, Frank, and I don’t know about your Gran, but I’m fairly sure that Mum has never seen a gas stove before.”

 

“Really Edith?”

 

“Oh no, Frank. I’m lucky working for Miss Lettice and having a gas stove to cook on, but prior to Mrs. Plaistow’s where I had a position before Miss Lettice, I’d never seen a gas stove either. I wish old Widow Hounslow,” Edith refers to the doughy and misery widow who is her parents’ landlady. “Would cough up**************** the money to pull out the old coke range in Mum’s kitchen and put in a nice new clean gas stove. What a difference it would make!”

 

“Do you think she will?”

 

“Pshaw!” Edith scoffs bitterly. “I’ll ride in one of those flying boats***************** we saw in the Palace of Engineering before old Widow Hounslow gives my Mum a new anything for around the house!”

 

“Well, I doubt Mr. Soloman who owns Gran’s house will install one for her either. But then again, I don’t think Gran would know how to work one if he did. She has an uncanny knack of knowing if the bread oven is too hot or too cold just by waving her hand in it, and it works. She never has burnt bread from too hot an oven, nor a sunken cake from one not warm enough.”

 

“Mum’s the same. I’m amazed by how well she knows that old range”

 

“And I don’t think Gran’s Rumbledethumps****************** would taste the same cooked in a gas oven.”

 

“I’ll have to try and make your Gran’s recipe in Miss Lettice’s oven one day, Frank.”

 

“I thought you’d never ask.”

 

“Cheeky!” Edith laughs before taking a sip of tea. “Mind you, your Gran has to part with the recipe first.” she adds with an encouraging glance at her beau.

 

“I’ll see if I can work on her, and convince her that you’re the one she should pass her precious recipe on to. I don’t see how she can expect me to be happy if she’s the only one who knows how to make them the way I like them.”

 

“She just wants to remain your best girl, Frank.” She pauses and smiles cheekily. “Or should that be, Francis?”

 

“Don’t call me that, Edith!” Frank hisses. “I’m not a little boy! No-one will take me seriously if I’m known as Francis.”

 

“I would.”

 

“Anyway, changing the subject, but thinking of the Palaces of Industry and Engineering, you were right about your dad.”

 

“I was?” Edith queries, unsure as to what Frank is referring to.

 

“You know, when you said your dad likes trains and was keen to see the Flying Scotsman******************* in the Palace of Engineering.” Frank elucidates. “He must be really keen if he’s taken Gran and your mum and Bert back for a second look, considering the crowds.”

 

“Oh Frank!” Edith blushes. “I don’t think he’s that keen.”

 

“What do you mean, Edith? He took Gran, your mum and brother back into the Palace of Engineering to see it. I saw them walk in that direction.” He points through the greenery behind them to the top of the vast Palace of Engineering behind them.

 

“Dad says that’s what he’s doing,” Edith smiles shyly as she colours more and takes another sip of her tea. “But what I think he was really doing was trying to give you and I a little bit of time to ourselves, without anyone else getting under foot as it were.”

 

“Oh!”

 

The look of surprise on Frank’s face shows that he never suspected Edith’s father of even contemplating such a thing, making Edith giggle yet again.

 

“Well,” Frank coughs and clears his throat. “If I do wish to have some quiet time with my best girl, I can do that with her in the Tunnel of Love******************** in the Exhibition Amusement Park.”

 

“Oh Frank!” Edith gasps. “You are awful!”

 

The pair then laugh again and continue to enjoy the last of their hot chips sitting together on the bench, all the while watching the passing parade of visitors to the British Empire Exhibition.

 

*A purpose-built "great national sports ground", called the Empire Stadium, was built for the Exhibition at Wembley. This became Wembley Stadium. Wembley Urban District Council was opposed to the idea, as was The Times, which considered Wembley too far from Central London. The first turf for this stadium was cut, on the site of the old tower, on the 10th of January 1922. 250,000 tons of earth were then removed, and the new structure constructed within ten months, opening well before the rest of the Exhibition was ready. Designed by John William Simpson and Maxwell Ayrton, and built by Sir Robert McAlpine, it could hold 125,000 people, 30,000 of them seated. The building was an unusual mix of Roman imperial and Mughal architecture. Although it incorporated a football pitch, it was not solely intended as a football stadium. Its quarter mile running track, incorporating a 220 yard straight track (the longest in the country) were seen as being at least equally important. The only standard gauge locomotive involved in the construction of the Stadium has survived, and still runs on Sir William McAlpine's private Fawley Hill railway near Henley.

 

**The British Empire Exhibition was a colonial exhibition held at Wembley Park, London England from 23 April to 1 November 1924 and from 9 May to 31 October 1925. In 1920 the British Government decided to site the British Empire Exhibition at Wembley Park, on the site of the pleasure gardens created by Edward Watkin in the 1890s. A British Empire Exhibition had first been proposed in 1902, by the British Empire League, and again in 1913. The Russo-Japanese War had prevented the first plan from being developed and World War I put an end to the second, though there had been a Festival of Empire in 1911, held in part at Crystal Palace. One of the reasons for the suggestion was a sense that other powers, like America and Japan, were challenging Britain on the world stage. Despite victory in Great War, this was in some ways even truer in 1919. The country had economic problems and its naval supremacy was being challenged by two of its former allies, the United States and Japan. In 1917 Britain had committed itself eventually to leave India, which effectively signalled the end of the British Empire to anyone who thought about the consequences, while the Dominions had shown little interest in following British foreign policy since the war. It was hoped that the Exhibition would strengthen the bonds within the Empire, stimulate trade and demonstrate British greatness both abroad and at home, where the public was believed to be increasingly uninterested in Empire, preferring other distractions, such as the cinema.

 

***British Malaya refers to a set of states on the Malay Peninsula and the island of Singapore that were brought under British hegemony or control between the late Eighteenth and the mid-Twentieth Century. Unlike the term "British India", which excludes the Indian princely states, British Malaya is often used to refer to the Federated and the Unfederated Malay States, which were British protectorates with their own local rulers, as well as the Straits Settlements, which were under the sovereignty and direct rule of the British Crown, after a period of control by the East India Company.

 

****Ceylon is then old colonial name for Sri Lanka.

 

*****When we think of thermos flasks these days we are often reminded of the plaid and gawdy floral varieties that existed in the 1950s, 60s and 70s. Invented in 1892 by Sir James Dewar, a scientist at Oxford University, the "vacuum flask" was not manufactured for commercial use until 1904, when two German glass blowers formed Thermos GmbH. They held a contest to name the "vacuum flask" and a resident of Munich submitted "Thermos", which came from the Greek word "Therme" meaning "hot". In 1907, Thermos GmbH sold the Thermos trademark rights to three independent companies: The American Thermos Bottle Company of Brooklyn, New York; Thermos Limited of Tottenham, England; Canadian Thermos Bottle Co. Ltd. of Montreal, Canada. The three Thermos companies operated independently of each other, yet developed the Thermos vacuum flask into a widely sought after product that was taken on many famous expeditions, including: Schackelton\'s trip to the South Pole; Lieutenant Robert E. Peary\'s trip to the Arctic; Colonel Roosevelt\'s expedition to Mombassa and into the heart of the African Congo with Richard Harding Davis. It even became airborne when the Wright Brothers took it up in their airplane and Count Zepplin carried it up in his air balloon.

 

******‘The Maid with the Flaxen Hair’ (‘La fille aux cheveux de lin’) is a musical composition created for solo piano by French composer Claude Debussy. It is the eighth piece in the composer's first book of Préludes, written between late 1909 and early 1910.

 

*******Armistice Day or Remembrance Day is a memorial day observed in Commonwealth member states since the end of the First World War to honour armed forces members who have died in the line of duty. It falls on the 11th of November every year. Remembrance Day is marked at eleven o’clock (the time that the armistice was declared) with a minute’s silence to honour the fallen. Following a tradition inaugurated by King George V in 1919, the day is also marked by war remembrances in many non-Commonwealth countries.

 

********A Railodock bus was an electric bus used to transport people between the different exhibition buildings on the site of the British Empire Exhibition.

 

*********‘The Enchanted Cottage’ is a 1924 American silent drama film directed by John S. Robertson based upon a 1923 play by Arthur Wing Pinero. Oliver Bashforth (played by the film’s producer, American silent film actor Richard Barthelmess), physically wrecked by the late war and hating himself because of his twisted body and hollow cheeks, breaks his engagement with his boyhood sweetheart and quits his family to seek isolation in a lonely cottage in the woods. There he meets Laura Pennington (May McAvoy), a lonely little governess, whose plainness makes her unattractive to men. They marry and then both commit themselves to intense depression because they are both so ugly. However, with the dawning of real love, both commence to see each other through the beauty of the soul, with the consequence that each appears as handsome to each other as either could wish. In the week of their enchantment, they have found love and they look forward to a future happiness and to the creation of children who will embody the beauty they do not possess.

 

**********The Premier Super Cinema in East Ham was opened on the 12th of March, 1921, replacing the 800 seat capacity 1912 Premier Electric Theatre. The new cinema could seat 2,408 patrons. The Premier Super Cinema was taken over by Provincial Cinematograph Theatres who were taken over by Gaumont British in February 1929. It was renamed the Gaumont from 21st April 1952. The Gaumont was closed by the Rank Organisation on 6th April 1963. After that it became a bingo hall and remained so until 2005. Despite attempts to have it listed as a historic building due to its relatively intact 1921 interior, the Gaumont was demolished in 2009.

 

***********The Hammersmith Palais de Danse, in its last years simply named Hammersmith Palais, was a dance hall and entertainment venue in Hammersmith, London, England that operated from 1919 until 2007. It was the first palais de danse to be built in Britain.

 

************Sir John Berry Hobbs was an English professional cricketer who played for Surrey from 1905 to 1934 and for England in 61 Test matches between 1908 and 1930. Known as "The Master", he is widely regarded as one of the greatest batsmen in the history of cricket.

 

*************A hangover from the Victorian days of the zoological gardens, when zoos were as much about entertainments as seeing exotic animals, rides on the London Zoo’s elephants and camels were a popular attraction in the 1920s and 30s, and continued through until the 1960s. People often sat or stood along the pathways, feeding the elephants sticky buns and other such foods as they passed within touching distance: a far cry from today’s zoo experience which is far more educational for the visitor, and enjoyable for the animals in residence.

 

**************This incident of the elephants spraying visitors to the British Empire Exhibition with water and eating the ornamental floral beds is based on a true event that happened the following year on the 17th of July 1925, when two elephants, Simla and Saucy went for a bathe in the Wembley Lake. Simla began to attack Saucy for some reason and showers of water rose in all directions, and spectators on the bank of the lake had to flee to avoid being drenched. Desperate efforts were made by the attendants to get Simla out of the lake, for fear of his tusks piercing and killing Saucy, who was an older elephant. Eventually Simla was coaxed to dry land by his Indian attendants, and there consoled himself by lunching substantially on the floral decorations of the lake side!

 

***************The Palaces of Industry and Engineering focussed upon Britan’s expertise, dominance, and capabilities in those areas. For their contribution to the British Empire Exhibition, the British Gas Industry put money towards a British Empire Gas Exhibit in the Palace of Industry, which demonstrated the application of gas in both an industrial and domestic capacity to educate the public in all the ways in which gas could serve households and businesses alike.

 

****************The term “to cough up” might sound funny coming from Edith in the 1920s, but in fact it is a very old Middle English slang term dating back to the time of the Goths invading Britain.

 

*****************A flying boat is a type of fixed-winged seaplane with a hull, allowing it to land on water. It differs from a floatplane in having a fuselage that is purpose-designed for flotation, while floatplanes rely on fuselage-mounted floats for buoyancy. Ascending into common use during the Great War, flying boats rapidly grew in both scale and capability during the interwar period, during which time numerous operators found commercial success with the type. Flying boats were some of the largest aircraft of the first half of the Twentieth Century, exceeded in size only by the bombers developed during the Second World War. Their advantage lay in using water instead of expensive land-based runways, making them the basis for international airlines in the interwar period. They were also commonly used as maritime patrol aircraft and air-sea rescue, particularly during times of conflict.

 

******************Rumbledethumps is a dish that is popular in the Scottish border regions and is perfect for using up leftover mashed potatoes and excess vegetables. Often referred to as the Scottish version of bubble ‘n squeak, rumbledethumps recipes usually contain turnip and cabbage, but really any vegetable leftovers could be used. The vegetable mixture is topped with cheese and then baked until bubbling. The dish can be made the day before and heated up and whilst it can be eaten on its own, makes a nice accompaniment for a hearty stew.

 

*******************No. 4472 Flying Scotsman is a LNER Class A3 4-6-2 "Pacific" steam locomotive built in 1923 for the London and North Eastern Railway (LNER) at Doncaster Works to a design of Nigel Gresley. It was employed on long-distance express passenger trains on the East Coast Main Line by LNER and its successors, British Railways' Eastern and North Eastern Regions, notably on The Flying Scotsman service between London King's Cross and Edinburgh Waverley after which it was named. Retired from British Railways in 1963 after covering 2.08 million miles, Flying Scotsman has been described as the world's most famous steam locomotive. It had earned considerable fame in preservation under the ownership of, successively, Alan Pegler, William McAlpine, Tony Marchington, and, since 2004, the National Railway Museum. 4472 became a flagship locomotive for the LNER, representing the company twice at the British Empire Exhibition and in 1928, hauled the inaugural non-stop Flying Scotsman service. It set two world records for steam traction, becoming the first locomotive to reach the officially authenticated speed of 100 miles per hour on the 30th of November 1934, and setting the longest non-stop run of a steam locomotive of 422 miles on the 8th of August 1989 whilst on tour in Australia.

 

********************The Tunnel of Love is an amusement park ride that commenced as an off spin of the late Nineteenth Century American boat ride called ‘old mill’. In early incarnations of old mill attractions, riders of the Tunnel of Love boarded a two-passenger boat that floated along guided tracks throughout dark passages. Many were either a relaxing, romantic rides encouraging cuddling, or they were themed as haunted attractions where couples would cling to one another. The darkness provided a degree of privacy, and the frightening scenes offered a socially acceptable excuse for physical contact during an era when public affection – holding hands, hugging, and kissing – especially between two unmarried people, was considered inappropriate.

 

Although it may look life-sized to you, this idyllic outdoor scene at the British Empire Exhibition is in fact comprised of pieces from my miniatures collection.

 

Fun things to look for in this tableau include:

 

Edith’s pretty straw picture hat decorated with a real fabric ribbon and artificial flowers is an artisan piece and was acquired through Doreen Jeffries’ Small Wonders miniature shop in the United Kingdom. 1:12 size miniature hats made to such exacting standards of quality and realism are often far more expensive than real hats are. When you think that it would sit comfortably on the tip of your index finger, yet it could cost in excess of $150.00 or £100.00, it is an extravagance. American artists seem to have the monopoly on this skill and some of the hats that I have seen or acquired over the years are remarkable.

 

Edith’s handbag handmade from soft leather is part of a larger collection of hats and bags that I bought from an American miniature collector Marilyn Bickel.

 

Made of polymer clay glazed to look oily and stuck to miniature newspaper print, the two servings of golden hot chips on the bench were made in England by hand by former chef turned miniature artisan, Frances Knight. Her work is incredibly detailed and realistic, and she says that she draws her inspiration from her years as a chef and her imagination. The pie is also a 1:12 miniature artisan piece, but is my an unknown artist, and acquired through Kathleen Knight’s Dolls’ House Shop in the United Kingdom.

 

The basket I acquired from Beautifully Handmade Miniatures in Kettering. The Thermos flask came as part of another picnic set I acquired from a miniatures collector through E-Bay. The two enamelled teacups come from Kathleen Knight’s Dolls’ House Shop.

 

The bench is made by Town Hall Miniatures, and acquired through E-Bay.

 

The brick footbath upon which the bench sits a very special piece, and one of my more recent additions to my miniatures collection. Made painstakingly by hand, this was made by my very dear Flickr friend and artist Kim Hagar (www.flickr.com/photos/bkhagar_gallery/), she surprised me with this amazing piece entitled “Wall” as a Christmas gift, with the intention that I use it in my miniatures photos. Each brick has been individually cut and then worn to give texture before being stuck to the backing board and then painted. She has created several floors in the same way for some of her own miniature projects which you can see in her “In Miniature” album here: www.flickr.com/photos/bkhagar_gallery/albums/721777203007....

 

The Union Jack bunting hanging from the trees I made myself.

 

The setting for this scene is my front garden, and the tree behind the bench is a slow growing miniature conifer. I am not sure what variety it is, but it is a Cypress pine.

Done