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Who's Who in and Around Leicester

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This is Page Six

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Section Ten

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ Miscellaneous ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

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Aviator, Explorer, Photographer of the Year, Brew Master, Jaguar Car Designer, Royalty, Cartoonist,�

Fitness Guru,� Jewelry Designer, Chemist, TV Cook, Murderers, Britain's oldest man, England's�

heaviest�policeman, Leicester's�first�private detective and first chief of police.� Just follow�

the links below, for these and other characters -�some famous, some infamous, some�

notable and some not - who can be associated with�Leicester and the�

surrounding County, even if� in a very small way.

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Click on the name for additional information

~ Sacha, Duchess of Abercorn ~

Her official biographical note states that she was born in Tucson, Arizona; however, within a few months of her birth, she was brought to England and then grew up in Leicestershire. A member of the British aristocracy, her godfather was Lord Mountbatten; her husband was a unionist MP; one of her sons was a page to Queen Elizabeth at official functions; her mother's family home is Luton Hoo Park, one of the great British country houses; her great-grandfather was the late Grand Duke Michael of Russia and her great-great-great grandfather was Alexander Pushkin, the great Russian poet. This link (the name above) will take you to an article by Elizabeth Batt in the website "Leicestershire Past & Present." One of the top five websites on my Links page.

~ Roger Bamber ~

Photographer. Born in Leicester in 1944 and has remained a lifelong Leicester City fan. He trained in graphics and Photography at Leicester College of Art in the early '60s and joined the Daily Mail as the youngest ever staff photographer in 1965. He was poached by Rupert Murdoch in 1969 to join the launch team of The Sun where he stayed for 19 years. Roger left the Sun to join The Observer in 1988, where he stayed for only a year, but he has been a regular Guardian stalwart ever since. In his 33 years in newspapers he has won countless photographic awards including British Press Photographer of the Year in 1973, 1983, and in 1992. Since leaving the Sun he has won awards every year including nine in 1992 and he has been exhibited world-wide including a solo show "Contact" which toured 18 cities. He is currently Nikon's Art and Entertaining Photographer of the year.

�~ Paul Bayley ~

Head Brewer of Marstons. He was winner of two championships at the recent International Beer Competition organised by Brewing Technology Services, and has now been awarded the accolade "Brewer of the Year" by the Parliamentary Beer Club. He was born in Leicester in 1943 - an only child. His father, a store manager, instilled in him the virtues of integrity and commitment. He passed the 11+ to the City of Leicester Boys Grammar School and gravitated towards science, which in the late 50s was perceived to be the area in which exciting opportunities were to be found. He joined Marstons in 1965 as chemist come brewer under the renowned Alan Alpin and has been there ever since. He became head brewer of the company, a position he holds to this day, at the end of the '70s.

~ Gautam Bodiwala ~

Originally from Ahmedabad in India, Dr Gautam Bodiwala, is one of several distinguished people associated with the University of Leicester to be recognised in the Queen's Birthday Honours. A Consultant at Leicester Royal Infirmary and Clinical Teacher in the University's Faculty of Medicine and Biological Sciences, he received a CBE for services to accident and emergency medicine. Dr Bodiwala also received an honorary degree of Doctor of Science from the University of Leicester last July (2000) at the De Montfort Hall. Dr Bodiwala is head of A & E at the Leicester Royal Infirmary. He was "Man of the Year," 1991, (International Award from American Biographical Society) and a person who finds mention in Debret's 5000 personalities of the World and the International Dictionary of Distinguished. An MS from Gujarat University Dr Bodiwala went to the UK in 1970. He was sent to Derby to get training in accident and emergency services. He was the youngest person and the first Asian to be invited to take charge of A & E section of the Leicester Royal Infirmary, which has been adjudged as the best department in the whole of the UK. He is also the founding President of the Leicestershire Medico-Legal Society and the founding member of Council of International Federation of Emergency Medicine. He has co-authored "International Guide of Emergency Medicine" published by Butterworth Publishers. Additional Link --> [Link]

~ Rosemary Conley ~

Leicestershire's health and fitness guru and keep-fit expert associated with the Quorn-based Rosemary Conley Diet and Fitness Clubs. She attended Guthlaxton College (Guthlaxton Grammar School when I was there 1961-63). Loads of articles on her if you search the Leicester Mercury Website; however, it's mostly just a bunch of guest appearances at various functions.

~ James Cook ~

The most famous single crime that arose in Leicester or its neighbourhood in the nineteenth century was the murder of John Paas by James Cook in 1832. Just as the most famous local case of the twentieth century was the Green Bicycle mystery. But the Paas murder was no mystery. James Cook committed murder because he owed a debt he could not pay, and he lifted �55 off Paas's body. He was easily identified and apprehended at Liiverpool in the act of setting; off for Ireland, Two things made this crime so celebrated. First, there was the gruesome incompetence of Cook in disposing of the body of his victim - in a panic he Hacked it up and tried to burn the limbs in his own back premises. And then, while he was in prison awaiting trial and hanging, he underwent a religious conversion. To a parcel off foolish women he became, with hideous inappropriateness, a kind of saint. He died sanctimoniously expressing the wish that a sermon should be preached on the Sunday after his death in the church of St. Mary de Castro on a rather nasty text from the Book of Judges. His body hung in chains in Saffron Lane after his execution, and one can see the very iron frame into which it was stuffed in the Guildhall today. He was one of the last criminals to be treated in this way in England, Cook's execution took place in public, outside the Borough Gaol - then newly rebuilt in Highcross Street. Such hangings remained a great spectacle in early Victorian England, until at last they were abolished in 1868. All the patients in the Leicester Infirmary who were fit enough were given the treat of watching any execution that took place outside the County Gaol on the Welford Road just opposite. They had, as it were, grandstand seats on the upper floors or the roof. A fair-minded person who looks at Victorian justice today must gain two conflicting impressions: on the one hand, he is bound to see much of it as brutal, or at least callous, and at the same time inefficient. Inefficient in the prevention of crime, and therefore predisposed always to savagery against those criminals who were actually caught. The ferocity of punishments produced revulsion even then. From the book "Life in Victorian Leicester" by Jack Simmons.

~ Adrian Cross ~

Adrian Cross was one of a team of explorers in the 1999 expedition called "Mission Antartica." He was born in Ashby-de-la-Zouch but now lives in Thringstone in the heart of the Charnwood Forest area, Leicestershire. He is a Royal Yachting Association Senior Sailing Instructor, but even though he lives the furthest possible distance from the sea - a geographic feature claimed by Ashby - he still teaches young people to handle boats up to National Competition Standards. Adrian is currently working in a Leicester Office as a Accountant Consultant providing services to Independent Financial Advisors in that area. Married to Jenny, a successful businesswoman, with two children, Ian and Sally-Anne. Ian, who is 25 years old (1999) has qualified as an airline pilot and Sally-Anne is doing Geography Studies at Derby University where she is in her final year. Being an ex-serviceman with Arctic experience, a local politician and conservationist his teamwork and leadership skills werel put to use on the mission. When asked why he wanted to go on "Mission Antartica, he said: "As a 19 year old sitting on the shore in the Falkland Islands looking South with nothing between me and the ice but open ocean I said to myself, 'One day I will get there'." Another question was "How will you make use of the experience?" He answered: "It is a lifetime's ambition achieved. As group co-ordinator on board the ice-yacht 'Pelagic' I will see a team come together, grow and mature, then succeed in their Mission. What more should I expect but to share this with as many people as possible?"� Mission Antarctica was a project supported by many nations. The focus of the project was the removal of approximately 40 containers of waste from the area of the Bellingshausen Base, King George Island in the Antarctica Peninsula. Phase 1 of the project in the Antarctic Summer of '97/98 carried out reconnaissance of this area. In 1999, work centred on detailed reconnaissance, providing information for the stabilisation and eventual removal of the waste in 2001. An important aspect will be the gathering of images and data to educate and share with others.

~ Hugh Faulkner ~

Hugh Faulkner, Honorary Director and Co-Founder of the Persistent Virus Disease Foundation. He was born in Lutterworth, Leicestershire, in June 1916 and died in April of 1997.� He packed into a life of 80 years a catalogue of endeavours in charitable work any of which, alone, would have satisfied a lesser man. He worked with devotion and determination literally all his life, laying down his pen for the last time just two days before his death. Many organisations can look back on their history and record with gratitude and pride that Hugh Faulkner was for them a member, a supporter, an administrator, a director, a founder, an inspirer, but it is for his work with Help the Aged that he will be most keenly remembered. Hugh started his career first in business then in education administration, leaving that after 10 years to take up the position of Organising Secretary of The Fellowship of Reconciliation, an international Christian pacifist organisation. His work with the FoR was very much in accord with the principles of Quakerism and Hugh was a devout Quaker for most of his life. During the 1950s Hugh was working as a Personal Assistant to Cecil Jackson-Cole in his estate and furnishing business activities. Jackson-Cole was one of the founder members of Oxfam and an inheritor of the philanthropic principles of ploughing business profits into charitable work. Jackson--Cole set up an organisatin, Voluntary and Christian Service, to channel the charitable aspirations of Christian businessmen, and Hugh was appointed oHonorary Administrator. He, in partnership with his wife Anne in this as in all his work, played a seminal role in steering VCS into a caring role for elderly people. In 1961 Help the Aged was launched to concentrate on raising funds for the elderly in this country and in the Third World... Continued, just click on the name above.

~ John William Foster ~

The Very Rev Canon John Foster, Dean of Guernsey, 1978-88, was born on August 5, 1921 in Leicester. He died on March 8 aged 78.With war looming, he joined the Leicester Yeomanry at the age of 17; during training in Sherwood Forest he acquired the nickname Little John because of his tall figure. He landed on Gold Beach on D-Day, and pressed on to Berlin, witnessing the horrors of Belsen on the way. After the war he worked initially as a surveyor, but decided to attend theological college in 1951, being ordained priest in 1955. In 1978 John Foster became Dean of the Bailiwick of Guernsey and Alderney; the appointment, like those to equivalent positions in Jersey, Westminster and Windsor, is made directly by the Crown. From then until his retirement he did much to bring together the local island community and the Church.

~ Frederick Goodyer ~

Born in 1808, Frederick Goodyer became Leicester�s first Chief Constable in 1836 [age 28]. Four years earlier he had joined Robert peel�s London Metropolitan Police - the �Peelers.� He served the town well, and in 1839, when the County Force was established under the Rural Police Act of 1839, Goodyer was selected to head the new force of 25 men at a salary of �250. As head of the Town Force he had received a salary of just over �100. Frederick Goodyear was well loved by his men and in 1854, after 15 years as head of the County Police, presented him with a service of silver plate. He carried on another 22 years, retiring in June, 1876 after 40 years of service in the town and county. His retirement was, however, to be brief, as he died ten weeks later. In those early days of the Force the rules were much harsher than would be put up with today. For instance: �Every police constable shall devote his whole time to the Service. The Committee may, if they see fit, dismiss him without any reason. The men who are off duty are to consider themselves liable to be called up at all times, and will prepare themselves, when required, at the shortest notice.� Every police constable was to be able to both read and write and before going on duty they were to be inspected to ascertain that they were �perfectly sober.� they were also to be inspected when coming off duty - for the same reason. Frederick Goodyer is buried in Welford Road Cemetery. this entry from the book �Grave Matters� by Leicester author Max Wade-Matthews.

~ Harry Halford ~

Dateline: June 1999. Britain's oldest man has celebrated his 108th birthday in time-honoured tradition - with an old-fashioned fry-up. Harry Halford munched on bacon and eggs before scoffing his favourite prawns and chocolates with friends and family at the Harley House Nursing Home in Leicester. Mr. Halford was born in Leicester on June 15, 1891 when Thomas Cook turned 83 and Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show performed in the city for a six-day special. He lived there with his parents and three brothers, starting his first job as a paperboy aged just seven. He left school at 14 and soon began work as an apprentice tailor's cutter. But when the First World War broke out, Mr. Halford volunteered for the 49th (London) Division of the Royal Artillery and was posted to France for front-line service. In February, he was presented with France's highest military honour - the order of the Legion d'Honneur for his services during the First World War. Daughter Pauline Gays said: 'He's having a party and the Lord Mayor will be coming. "When you are 108 years old you don't want too much fuss, but I've got him some slippers and chocolates - because he does like his chocolate."

~ John Holloway ~

Professor Holloway is a world authority on Inorganic Fluorine Chemistry and Noble Gas Chemistry, and has authored more than 300 papers, reviews and books in these fields. As a research student in the early 1960s, Professor Holloway was one of the pioneers of noble gas chemistry, and such was the interest in the newly-discovered chemistry in this field that he began lecturing in schools while he was still studying for his PhD. He has developed impressive demonstration lectures on the chemistry and applications of fluorine and on noble gas chemistry, suitable for a variety of audiences. Professor Holloway is also an accomplished artist and gives talks about connections between science and art. It is estimated that his lectures in different fields have reached about 200,000 people. His further interest in the public understanding of science is evidenced by his being a founder member of the Leicestershire and Rutland Branch of the British Association. He is a past President of both the Leicester Literary Society and of the University's Haldane Society. Born in Ashby-de-la-Zouch, he attended Ashby Boys' Grammar School, and was brought up in Coalville. He is married to Jenny and has three grown-up children. Pro-Vice-Chancellor of Leicester University Professor John Holloway is one of several distinguished people associated with the University of Leicester to be recognised in the last year's (2000) Queen's Birthday Honours list.�

~ George Golden Huxley ~

Leonard George Holden Huxley was born in London on 29 May 1902, the eldest son of George Hamborough and Lilian Huxley. George was the grandson of Thomas Huxley and the grand nephew of another George Huxley from whom the famous biologists Thomas Henry Huxley (the prominent spokesman for Darwin and advocate of his new theory of evolution) and Julian Huxley were descended. Although a Londoner by birth, and carrying with him throughout his life many attributes of his English heritage and his later education at Oxford, Huxley considered himself very much an Australian, having spent more than three quarters of his life in the country including his formative years. His parents, both schoolteachers, migrated to Australia in 1905 when he was only three. Following a brief sojourn in Western Australia, the family moved to Tasmania where they were to remain. In 1932 Huxley accepted a senior appointment as head of the Physics Department at University College - Leicester, and there had his baptism of fire as a university teacher. In his own words, he 'taught almost single-handed the whole of the syllabus for London University: intermediate, pass degree, and honours'. (Leicester was then a college of the University of London.) Not surprisingly, his research took a back seat in this period when he had little time and vanishingly small financial support. Two events from his time at Leicester were of particular importance to him. One of these was his first experience of taking part in the organization of a large and important scientific meeting - he was secretary for the Physics Division of the British Association for its meeting in Leicester in 1933. He recalled his experience in these words... for a continuation, just click on the link above.

~ Geoff Lawson ~

Jaguar Cars Director of Styling. He recently died at the age of 54 after being admitted to the hospital, having suffered a stroke. Lawson was born in Leicester, England, in 1944. He studied Design at Leicester College of Art and subsequently took a master�s degree in Furniture Design at the Royal College of Art (RCA) in London. His thesis at the RCA was on American cars, one of his lifelong passions. After graduating, he joined General Motors� British subsidiary, Vauxhall, in 1969 as a Designer. He subsequently worked on car and truck programs in Europe and the United States for General Motors, progressing to Chief Designer level. He was appointed Jaguar�s Director, Styling in 1984. As the company�s top designer he was responsible for producing a highly successful series of new Jaguars including the XJ220, the new XJ6 and XJ8 sedans, the XK8 sports car and, most recently, the new S-Type.

~ Rusty Lee ~

Not much information on Rusty and no link either. She is a TV chef and the only reference I have is that she recommended the Melton Mowbray establishment "Ye Olde Pork Pie Shoppe" [link] on her Central TV programme "Great Cooks."� Connections with Leicester - I don't really know. New Info: Caribbean cook Rustie Lee is Leicester City Football Club's hostess at home matches.

~ Ronald Light ~

Ronald Light was implicated in the murder of Bella Wright, in one of Leicester's most famous murder cases: "The Green Bicycle Murder." Ronald was from a respectable, fairly well off, middle class family, well educated, and an ex-soldier who had served in the First World War. His mother Catherine was the daughter of a solicitor. His late father, George, had been a colliery manager who later became involved in the manufacture of sanitary ware, and had patented a number of improvements. Ronald Light, their only son, had been educated at public school, then later at the Institution of Civil Engineers, and the Central Technical College where he received his B.Sc. (Engineering). He was employed as an Assistant Engineer with the Midland Railway, until the outbreak of war, when he trained with the Royal Engineers, and was finally posted to France in 1915. In July 1915, however, he was required to resign his commission on the grounds that he was lacking in initiative and unlikely to make a good officer. In September he re-enlisted in the Honourable Artillery Company as a gunner and sailed for France in November 1917. He was invalided out in August 1918 and went to live with his widowed mother in Leicester. With them lived his mother�s maid and companion Mary Webb. The link (name above) will take you to the full story of "The Green Bicycle Murder."�

~ Beryl Markham ~

Born Beryl Clutterbuck in Leicester in 1902; died in Nairobi, Kenya, 1986. Beryl Markham, was a pioneer aviator and the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean from London to Nova Scotia. She spent most of her life in Kenya , East Africa, where she was well known for her career as a bush pilot and for her success as a breeder and trainer of racehorses. Beryl Markham was just three years old when her parents moved to Kenya. � In 1923 she married a wealthy young Englishman named Mansfield Markham and moved to England and had a son, but the marriage ended and she returned to Kenya alone. � Out there she was taught to fly by a big-game hunter Denys Finch Hatton and became the first woman in Kenya to receive a commercial pilot�s licence and embarked on a career as a bush pilot. � She was famous for her record-breaking, though near fatal, solo flight from London to Nova Scotia in 1936. Markham wrote a book about her adventurous life ("West with the Night") that became a best-seller and of which Ernest Hemingway said: �She can write rings around all of us who consider ourselves writers.�

~ Henry Nevinson ~

The son of George Nevinson, a solicitor, was born in Leicester in 1856. He attended Shrewsbury School and Christ Church, Oxford, where he came under the influence of the Christian Socialists. After university Nevinson moved to London where he worked at Toynbee Hall and lectured on history at Bedford College. In 1897 Nevinson was appointed foreign correspondent for the Daily Chronicle. Nevinson obtained a reputation as an outstanding journalist for his reports of the Boer War. He was also a crusading journalist and his work exposing slavery in Portuguese Angola, was eventually published as a book, A Modern Slavery (1906). Nevinson worked in Russia (1905-06) and India (1907-08) for the Manchester Guardian. He also reported on the Balkan War for the Daily Chronicle and contributed articles to The Nation. Henry and his wife, Margaret Nevinson, were both supporters of the Women's Social and Political Union and after a dispute with Christabel Pankhurst in 1907, they campaigned for the Women's Freedom League. Later that year, Henry Nevinson and Henry Brailsford, formed the Men's League for Women's Suffrage. Two years later, Nevinson and Brailsford both resigned from the Daily News when the editor refused to condemn forcible feeding. Nevinson disagreed with the decision of the WSPU and the NUWSS to abandon the campaign for the vote during the First World War. Understandably rejected by the government as one of the six official war correspondents, Nevinson still went to the Western Front to report the war. He also accompanied the expedition to the Dardanelles where he was wounded during the Gallipoli landings. His account of the evacuation of Sulva Bay in December 1915, was held up by the censor for four months. The father of the artist, Christopher Nevinson, Nevinson wrote several books including Women's Vote and Men (1913), Essays in Freedom and Rebellion (1921) and several volumes of autobiography, Changes and Chances (1925-28). Margaret Nevinson died in 1932 and the following year Henry married the family friend, Evelyn Sharp. Henry Nevinson, who in 1939 became President of the Council for the Defence of Civil Liberties, died in 1941. From Spartacus Schoolnet - History Online

~ Lionel Pepper ~

Jewelry designer. And now for something completely different: Born in Leicester in 1944, Lionel was educated at Gateway School (1955-1962) and graduated from Sheffield University with B.Eng in Mechanical Engineering and a Diploma in Education (1967). During that period he gained work experience in a bronze foundry, in lens making and with Edward Pryor & Sons. For a time, he taught at Bedales School in pure and applied sciences and Craft Design Technology before setting up a small workshop at home in Clapham, making silver and gold rings and other hand crafted jewellery. For a time in the early '70s he was a member of Mensa. In the late '70s, he moved to a decrepit old cottage on the edge of the New Forest and has lived and worked from there ever since.

~ Joseph Christopher Reynolds ~

He was a murderer who wanted to die. Apparently filled with remorse, Joseph Christopher Reynolds told the hushed courtroom at his trial: "I deserve the extreme penalty for the crime." The judge at Leicester County and City Assizes took him at his word, and Reynolds became the last man to be hanged in Leicestershire. The year was 1953, the year of the Queen's coronation. But it was also the year that Leicester was shocked by the brutal murder of 12-year-old Janet Mary Warner. Her killer, Reynolds, was a man with a grim ambition. He told police his aim was, quite simply, to murder somebody.�Each day for 10 days, he left his lodgings at 92 Uppingham Road, and prowled along the canal at Aylestone in a steadfast search for a victim. And on a mild summer's evening on May 22, fate delivered 31-year-old Reynolds a target. Schoolgirl Janet, described as a "pretty, well-built child", was taking her dog Rex for a walk along the canal. Janet died in a thicket in Blue Bank spinney near Cork Lane, Blaby. Reynolds later told the court that he strangled her with her own school tie. When Janet's dog arrived home alone at Leicester Road, Glenhills, Blaby, her father, the director of a Groby engineering firm, went to look for her. But her body was found by three boys at 6.15pm... continued, just click on the name above.

~ Francis 'Tankey' Smith ~

One of the first recruits to the newly-formed Leicester police force in 1836 was Francis 'Tankey' Smith who had been with the London Metropolitan Police. The sobriquet 'Tankey' was given him in view of the fact that he carried a big stick and if people did not keep order he gave them a 'tank' (a tap on the head). 'Tankey' was a man of disguise and often eavesdropped on criminal conversations. When he retired from the force in 1858 he became Leicester's, if not England's first private detective. One of Smith's most important cases (and one that made him a very rich man) was that of the mysterious disappearance of Squire James Beaumont Winstanley, High Sheriff of Leicestershire. The story goes that one day the squire stormed out of his house, Braunstone Hall, shouting to his mother that she would never see him alive again. Smith was soon on the case and was able to trace the squire to Folkestone, where he found that Winstanley had set sail for Calais. Hot on the trail, Smith eventually arrived in Koblenz where he learned that an Englishman had recently fallen from a riverboat and had been buried in the local churchyard. The detective obtained an exhumation order and was able to identify the deceased as the missing man. Smith, who eventually emigrated to the USA, used the �1,000 reward money to build this row of houses, known locally as Top Hat Terrace. The Terrace, which is now occupied by a firm of solicitors, was designed by 'Tanky's' son, James Frank Smith, and built in 1864. On the face of the building are sixteen heads representing 'Tanky' in some of his many disguises. They include two jockeys, a bishop, an Italian, a Quaker, a bargee and some other top-hatted figures. The building was restored in 1987 and is one of Leicester's architectural gems.

~ John William 'Tubby' Stephens ~

One of the familiar sights by the Clock Tower in the early 1900s was that of P. C. John 'Tubby' Stephens. Stephens, who was reputed to be England's heaviest policeman (he weighed 329 pounds), enlisted in the Leicester Police Force in 1886. It was not unknown for him to disappear into a nearby inn and emerge wiping his mouth on his sleeve. Once, while in the inn having a quick drink, a police inspector walked in. Without turning a hair Stephens promptly took a man by the shoulders and propelled out of the door, saying, "we don't allow that sort of language here, so get out." He was noted for his witticisms such as, "Do you play chess?" If the answer was 'yes,' he replied, "Then it's your move." When he saw courting couples he would say to the lads "Move on there. Take 'em up to Vicky Park." Anyone who refused to move on at his request was persuaded to do so by a butt from his large stomach. When 'Tubby' died in 1908, the funeral procession, from his home in Cobden Street to Welford Road Cemetery, was led by the police band and was seen by crowds of people. This entry courtesy of Max Wade-Matthews and is taken from his CD "A Virtual Stroll Through Leicester." The link (name) above will take you to his website "Leicester Research."

~ Bill Tidy ~

Cartoonist (The Fosdyke Saga - Daily Mirror; The Cloggies and Grimbledon Down - Private Eye), playwright, after dinner speaker, broadcaster, stage and costume designer. He lived in the village of Kegworth in North Leicestershire for eleven years.� This link (above) will take you to his own website.

~ Sir Frank Whittle ~

Although more associated with Coventry, his birth place, Sir Frank did a lot of his pioneering work on the jet engine in Leicestershire. First at a derelict foundry in Lutterworth where there is a road, a pub and a block of flats named after him, and then at Power Jets� (later called� English Electric and now GEC) in Whetstone. In May 1941, the first jet powered British plane took off from a Midlands runway on an historic 17 minute flight. Thus the British jet age had begun! The man who made it possible was the Sir Frank Whittle, "the father of the jet engine." Frank Whittle was born in Earlsdon in 1907. Whittle grew up in an engineering background (his father owned a general engineering business in Leamington Spa) but he was particularly fascinated by aircraft. After leaving school in 1923, he joined the RAF as an apprentice aircraft fitter. Later, he was selected for pilot training at the RAF Staff College, Cranwell, where he was soon flying solo. This link (click on the name above) will take you to a Daily Telegraph obituary (more of a mini-biography) for Sir Frank who died in the States in August of 1989. Footnote: I apprenticed at English Electric in Whetstone, and I can remember the old jet engine test site out by the Great Central Railway embankment. The old cooling pond is still there apparently.

~ University of Leicester ~

The University of Leicester is in its eighth decade. They are considered pioneers in research, with an international reputation for technological breakthroughs, including the revolutionary development of DNA genetic fingerprinting. Famous graduates of the University include Lord Richard and David Attenborough, poet Philip Larkin, former Crimewatch presenter Sue Cook, journalist Michael Nicholson, Pete McCarthy, comedian Bob Mortimer, incoming Chief of the Metropolitan Police John Stevens, British ambassador to India Sir Rob Young, authors C.P. Snow, Malcolm Bradbury and Sue Townsend, Chief Medical Officer Professor Liam Donaldson and a number of MPs. astronaut Jeff Hoffman, astronomers Patrick Moore and Heather Couper, Top Gear's Quentin Willson.

~ The Royal Leicestershire Regiment ~

The other "Tigers." It was one of my parent's urban myths after WWII, that the 'Leicesters' and the 'Norfolks' were always placed up front in any battle or conflict that they were involved in. If this really were true, it would be somewhat ironic that the Leicestershire Regiment has ended up as part of the Norfolk Regiment. The Royal Leicestershire Regiment was raised in 1688, and in 1777 it was awarded the unbroken laurel wreath emblem for its bravery at the Battle of Princetown in the American War of Independence (see below). In 1825 the Regiment was awarded the honour of wearing the insignia of the Royal Tiger superimposed with the word "Hindoostan" in recognition of its exemplary service and conduct during its campaigning and long tour in India from 1804-1823. Since that time the Regiment was always proudly called "The Tigers." The link above, pending some research on this regiment of Leicestershire lads, is an overview of the Leicester Museums and contains brief information on "The Magazine"� (the museum of this regiment).

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The Royal Leicestershire Regiment at the Battle of Princetown

(click on the picture for a description of the battle)

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