Psychogeography: a walk round Blackpool Centre: aircrashes murder and filmstars.

This is a side gig for me and I’d be grateful for feedback.

Let’s go for a walk. A walk round Blackpool confronts you with impermanance. Walking aligns imagination and thought and challenges the boundaries of the self. Journeys involve other minds.

Standing back from the everyday you become enchanted. William Faulkner said: “The past is never dead. It’s not even past.” Any road up I don’t know if I’m boring you but I’m boring me. So let’s get on.

So I go for a walk roughly around the area where I live. I start off walking round the Metropole. I wonder if this is the entrance to the bomb shelter where 22 year old Joan Long was murdered in 1944.

James Fox… mesmerising in The Servant with Dirk Bogarde and Performance with Mick Jagger. James Fox was in “an incredibly naff thing in Blackpool, playing Doctor in the House,” (quote from interview with the Guardian.)

He saw the Tower and the Pier reflected in the sea. He saw a giant cross and became a Christian working for the Navigators… an obscure evangelical group for 10 years. He had taken drugs.

Can you see it? James Fox saw the Tower and the Pier as a huge cross.

I don’t know what this bit of the War Memorial means but its my favourite.

Crossing the road I go up Queen Street. Number One was the most prestigious address in Blackpool occupied by the Mayor of Blackpool Doctor McNaughtan. Blackpool Royalty . His half-brother attempted to murder the Prime Minister Robert Peel and did murder Peel’s secretary Drummond. The subsequent trial and a confirmation of the verdict by the House of Lords defined the line between criminal responsibility and non-responsibility on the basis of mental illness. Did people in Blackpool know about his brother’s notoriety?

Passing through the Strand on 23 August 1971 Fred Sewell and his gang tried to make their escape using a car parked in Queens Square. This was the start of a car chase that led to the killing of Superintendant Richardson and the shooting of two other officers following a robbery at Prestons, the jewellers in the Strand.

Jim Smith a former criminal intelligence officer with the Met alleges in his “Undaunted” that the Metropolitan Police… or its senior officers… were aware of the plan beforehand. Robert Marks called the Metropolitan Police the most corrupt institution in the country and this may account for the mutual loathing of the Lancashire Police and the Metropolitan Police.

I’m not certain which building it was but from 1856 to 1860 the convent school that went on to become Layton Hill Convent was at the corner of Queens Square. I like to think it was where Walkabout is which was once Funny Girls. In Victorian Times Back Queen Street was a place of business for prostitutes. The picture of the Mayor of Blackpool and the Sisters of Charity and the goings on in the back alley… Normal for Blackpool.

SHENANIGANS AT THE TOWN HALL: FROM THE TOWN HALL TO THE FORMER BUS STATION

Going through the Strand to the Town Hall where there were a fire was reported. It was started by the Town Clerk Trevor Jones. The Council was being investigated because an a high proportion of goods bought by the Council happened to be supplied by councillors. The report was not made public. Trevor Jones was disturbed that he was responsible for the legality of council transactions and that he might become a scapegoat. He committed suicide at his home in Newton Drive in December 1955. His sister in law Amy Johnson had often been a visitor.

Moving down Talbot Road I cannot resist Catholic Stuff, perhaps because it is the religion of my childhood I find it ludicrous and impressive.

    Charlene Downes aged 14 disappeared on November 1st 1994. The area we are in was very much her territory. Her last known journey was from North Pier and she was last seen here.

    Her loss weighs heavy. Two takeaway owners were tried and released due to what the National Front called “a technicality,” viz: that there was no evidence. The case became a cause celebre for the far right and the National Front in particular. The subsequent demonstrations entangled some actual paedophiles and the couple subsequently charged with the murder and concealment of Paige Chivers were National Front supporters. The kindest thing to say about the Police is that their investigation left something to be desired. I cannot resist a shout out for the Facebook “Real Justice for Charlene Downes.” Prepare to be stunned.

    Passing the former Bus Station and noting the Red October Tractor Factory Stalingrad…

    sorry its Wilkos formerly Fine Fare formerly North Station I notice a tribute.

    Blackpool has many of these shrines. I saw one the other day and it shook me: a verse: “Saying goodbye to you Is one of the hardest things mummy has to do.” OK its not Shakespeare, it’s better.

    AIRCRASHES AND BOMBINGS; BLACKPOOL’S BERMUDA TRIANGLE

    We are moving east along Talbot Road and entering a zone I think of as Blackpool’s Bermuda Triangle. For this reason I will deal with three aircraft incidents together which means I am getting out of step. But hey ho.

    Blackpool suffered two significant aircrashes and one fatal bombing between 1935-1945. Some of the victims and parts of aircraft ended up in Blackpool’s Bermuda Triangle.

    SATURDAY 7 SEPTEMBER 1935

    Captain Cobham’s Flying Circus was a travelling aircraft display. On September 7 Blackpool crowds could see five aircraft flying over the centre of the town. A smaller aircraft, an Avro, was cut in two by the propeller of the larger Westland. A woman was seen somersaulting through the air she struck a tree in Leopold Grove with such force that her shoes were torn off and she landed on the pavement missing a nine year old girl.

    This was Lillian Barnes aged 33, died on impact. Parts of the aircraft landed in Cedar Square. The rest of the aircraft landed in Swainson Street damaging the roof of number three. Dorothy Barnes was thrown into the street where she lay dead. The aircraft was on fire and the pilot rescued where… this is hard to believe… it is said that he was still alive. He died shortly afterwards.

    The incident gave rise to my favourite Blackpool Urban Myth. It is said that many years later repairs were being done in Swainson Street and a handbag recovered. Later a gay pub was opened in the area called The Flying Handbag. Just because something didn’t happen doesn’t mean it isn’t true.

    In Blackpool style 6000 attended the funeral at Marton many of them sitting on tombstones and eating sandwiches. An enterprising sort was selling postcards of the aircrash. The crowd were warned that pickpockets were operating. Normal for Blackpool. The Gazette described the sisters as: “small and plump and pretty with fair hair and bright eyes.”

    During the war a bomb fell on Leopold Grove but nobody was hurt. But it does mean that Leopold Grove was struck twice once by a bomb and once by Lillian Barnes.

    SEED STREET 12 SEPTEMBER 1940

    Seed Street Street was a very working class street. The dwellings included near doss houses , seasonal workers, waiters and Pleasure Beach workers, entertainers found cheap digs. Bohemian and poor. Although I should put in a word for rival Ibbotson Street where a growing child remembers neighbours included a bearded lady, the fattest lady in the world, a donkey stable and a family of prostitutes.

    A German bomber released bombs to lighten its weight and aid its return. The bombs fell in this heavily populated area there were eight fatalities. As I recall censorship prevented newspapers saying where the incident happened. The eight victims aged between six and 73 are buried in Layton Cemetery in unmarked graves. The funeral is not mentioned in local papers.

    CENTRAL STATION 27 AUGUST 1941

    The most serious incident during the war involved no enemy aircraft. A training flight of Bothas from Squires Gate encountered Defiant fighters just west of Blackpool Tower. The Defiants engaged the Bothas in mock combat. A Defiant crashed into one of the Bothas causing it to spiral out of control hitting the Entrance Hall of Central Station. The Defiant having lost a wing and out of control crashed into 97 Reads Avenue, the home of Mr and Mrs Lionel Franceys who had a leading role in the establishment of Victoria Hospital. Mr Franceys and his wife survived but the house was demolished. The body of Sgt Lincoln J Ellmers was recovered. Sgt Noel A Clifford attempted to parachute from the stricken aircraft but it was too low and his body was found in Regent Road. Sgt Ellmers and Sgt Clifford are buried in Lytham Park Cemetery. 18 people died in the incident. Part of Central Station is now Coral Island. 97 Reads Avenue was demolished and became part of Blackpool and Fylde College.

    Seed Street and Swainson Street are now part of the Sainsburys Complex.

    BACK ON TRACK: THE RAIKES, PARK ROAD.

    Going back to my route there is the Raikes: originally a stately home built in 1760 by William Butcher allegedly using money looted from shipwrecks. Whatever the truth it is odd that he should chose to build a magnificent home so far from anywhere. It became a convent for a time before becoming part of the Raikes Pleasure Ground. This was one of the first venues to realise and exploit the spending power of working people. They might not have much to spend but there were a lot of them and thanks to trains they were mobile. Mass entertainment and machine guns were the second wave of the industrial revolution when techniques of mass production became generalised.

    Moving to Park Road where a chilling incident took place. Stuart Diamond aged 21 met Chris Hartley, 17, from Burnley who had become a homeless drifter and addict. He killed him and in the shared bathroom he cut the body into three parts and deposited two of the parts in the bin at the New Century Hotel in Reads Avenue. Stuart fled to Ireland taking Chris’s head with him. Strange to think of Stuart Diamond’s journey in the deep reaches of the night with parts of Chris Hartley’s body in a sports holdall. Stuart later admitted throwing the head off the Irish Ferry.

    Going along Park Road and the junction with Reads Avenue we pass the site where Lionel Franceys’s home was destroyed by a stricken aircraft.

    On a lighter note we pass Kingsley Court. On 7 July 1953 Diana Dors, her husband and another man were found guilty of larceny. They had broken into an apartment and helped themselves to drinks. In court it was described as a prank.

    Also on Park Road Tony Lees aged 26 was stabbed. This was one of the earliest fatal incidents involving drugs. Tony Lees’ sister Evelyn was a beauty contest winner and had a fiery relationship with Dr Ken Mcgill, who was a close friend of Mixie Walsh. Sadly she died in a drowning incident at Norcross and the siblings have a striking monument in Layton Cemetery. Ken Mcgill was the first medical attendant when Superintendent Richardson was shot dead by Frederick Sewell which was the culmination of the events that started at Prestons in the Strand. Dr Ken Mcgill was offered a medal to recognise his work but he refused it on the grounds that he would have to attend a police station.

    Back to Regent Road where Sgt Noel Clifford’s body was found after he unsuccessfully attempted to parachute from his stricken aircraft. Regent Road was where Joseph Smith drowned Alice Burnham in 1915. This was the first of the brides in the bath murders. Alice although overweight was confident and attractive. She had a sexually transmitted disease… the lives of upper-class ladies was not as uneventful as we think.

    One tale which may be true is that the landlady took a serious dislike to Joseph Smith and when she heard of another bride being drowned she contacted the police. Since Alice’s death was “accidental, ” it was difficult to charge Joseph with murder. But three of Joseph’s wives had accidentally drowned. When the judge ruled that all three deaths could be looked at together that was pretty much it for Joseph Smith. Joseph Smith rarely took a bath and warned his common-law wife to be careful as baths were dangerous. It is a measure of how plausible he could be that before he was hanged he managed to convince a Bishop of his innocence. Another mystery is how he was so successful with women, not prepossessing and not having a sparkling personality. Some put it down to dominance, much was said about his eyes, some were inclined to hypnotism. I don’t know but I wish he’d tell me.

    I always look at this house in Regent Road. Is it former farm house? It is out of line with the other houses. Anybody know?

    CHURCH STREET

    And back to Church Street at Cedar Square parts of the aircraft crash rained down without injuring anybody. The former burial ground on the south side of St John’s covers about 1800 bodies. The archaeological report says that some are in shallow graves and “likely to contain well preserved organic material.” In an astonishing act the council claimed that all the buried remains had been dug up and reburied at Layton Cemetery. I wonder if they believed it? Back to Abingdon Street and we pass the market, the former Police Station where in the nineteenth century children were birched. Underneath the fish stall there is a Victorian Cell. Back to Talbot Road where with heavy heart pass the last spot where Charlene Downs was seen.

    And then there’s the stuff you didn’t expect. Every walk in Blackpool reveals something unexpected and here are some of the things I didn’t expect.

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