actors and racing drivers

 This blog will be about and actors and racing drivers.

For the last month, I have been working away in Sidcup.  Whilst I have driven down to Sidcup, I have noticed that it is close to Chislehurst, and this blog will end there.

Let’s start of the beginning.

Swansea YMCA 

The YMCA building, situated on the corner of Page Street was built in 1912, following the designs of Swansea architect Glendinning Moxham, in the style of the Baroque style.  The building costed an estimated £15,000.  The building which can be seen today consists of four- storey block in red brick and Portland stone with banded quoins. A contemporary article described the premises ahead of its opening, in 1913.  'It will be one of the most modern and effectively equipped institutions in the whole country, and an architectural ornament to the town. The accommodation includes a reception-hall and lounge, small hall, enquiry offices, social hall, dining hall, and buffet, reference library, secretaries' offices, and other offices for educational work, eighteen bed-sitting-rooms, and gymnasium. There will also be a public hall and balcony capable of seating from 550 to 600 people, and a roof garden.'

The opening ceremony was performed by Lord Kinnaird, president of the YMCA and principal of the Football Association, with a plaque in the foyer stating “To the glory of God and for the good of man”

Glendinning Moxham, who was born in Swansea, Wales on 18^th of May 1865 and was articled to R. Charles Sutton in Nottingham from 1883 to 1886. He also attended Swansea School of Art and University College Nottingham.

From 1887 to 1889 he worked as an assistant to James Buckley Wilson (1846-1900). In 1889 he commenced independent practice in Swansea and was for a period in partnership with Wilson until 1901. He then worked alone in Swansea.

In addition to his work as an architect, from 1913 to 1930 he was Head of the Architectural School at Swansea School of Art.

Moxham was architect to the Swansea General and Eye Hospital. During World War One he was architect for the Red Cross and carried out the duties of Honorary Architect for the Hospital in the Swansea district.

He was President of the South Wales Institute of Architects in 1914-15; and first Chairman of the Western Division of the South Wales Institute of Architects.  He was a member of the Society of Architects (MSA) and was elected a Fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects (FRIBA) in 1905.

His address was given as 39 Castle Street, Swansea in 1905; and 18, Castle Street, Swansea in 1914 and 1939.  He died in Swansea on 27^th of March 1946. His address at the time of his death was 208 Gower Road, Sketty, Swansea.

Who’s Who in Architecture published in 1923 a listed of his works including Barclays Bank, Swansea (1913), Neath and Llandrindod; London City and Midland Bank, Neath; Swansea General and Eye Hospital (additions), 1912; Glynn Vivian Art Gallery, Swansea, 1912; Convalescent Home, Swansea; Convalescent Home for the Blind, Caswell, Swansea; offices, baths, mess rooms, etc., for William Foster and Co., Swansea, 1922; offices for the Anglo-French Nickel Co., Swansea; offices for the Port Talbot Steel Co., Port Talbot, 1914; offices for the Gralgola Merthyr Fuel Co., Swansea; new Y.M.C.A. buildings, Swansea, 1912; Bristol Channel Yacht Club, Mumbles; Christian Scientist Church, Swansea; many vicarages, restoration of St. Paul's Church, Sketty, St. David's Church, Ystalyfera, and Llansamlet Church. Domestic work: — Lomey, Langland; The Mount, Sketty; the Olfcha, Sketty; Oakridge, Killay; The Croft, Killay; Additions to Alltyferin Mansion, Carmarthenshire; etc.

Following the building of the YMCA, in 1920, the Llewellyn Building was built.

Abbey Players

It was here that in 1961, the Abbey Players performed their play “The Boy Friend”.  The Abbey Players, an Amateur Dramatic Society were established in in 1960, and they were named after Singleton Abbey, where they first rehearsed.  a small group of friends got together to do a one-off show to raise money for the University Appeal. The driving force was Frank Tucker aided and abetted by Val Treharne and Adrian Howells.  The reading of the “The Boy Friend”, was at a members’ house in Cwmdonkin House. 

From 1963 to 1978, Abbey Players performed every year at Llewellyn, when the decision was made that they were to perform at the Grand Theatre, with an inaugural show “How To Succeed in Business Without Really Trying”. 

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang

In 2018, the Abbey Players staged “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang”.  2018, marked the 50^th anniversary of the release of the film, in 1968.

Roald Dahl 

“Chitty Chitty Bang Bang”, was the children’s musical fantasy film, the screenplay was written by Roald Dahl and Ken Hughes, who also directed the film.  It was produced by Albert R. Broccoli, it was based on the 1964 children’s book, “Chitty-Chitty-Bang-Bang: The Magical Car”, written by Ian Fleming.

Ian Fleming

Fleming who is better known as the creator of Jame Bond, took inspiration for the subject of the book from a series of aero-engined racing cars called "Chitty Bang Bang", built by Louis Zborowski in the early 1920s.  Fleming didn’t live to see the publication of the book, have died in August 1964, following a heart attack, the book was published two months later.

The four Chitty Bang Bang cars are

Chitty 1 - was a chain-driven customised Mercedes chassis powered by a 23-litre 6-cylinder Maybach Mb.IVa aero engine. It won two races at its debut at Brooklands in 1921, coming second to another Zborowski car in a sprint race at the same event. Chitty 1 was fitted with four seats and a crude, oversized exhaust pipe, to mislead the handicappers and spectators. Its top speed on the day was 100.75 miles per hour (162.14 km/h)

Chitty 1 was refitted as a two-seater with a cowled radiator and a properly plumbed exhaust. It attained nearly 120 mph (190 km/h) on one occasion and had its race handicap consistently reappraised. It subsequently crashed, removing three fingers from a timing official. The car was rebuilt and passed into the ownership of the sons of Arthur Conan Doyle, but was quickly retired as a racing car, and was later bought for spare parts by John Morris.

Chitty 2 - had a shorter wheelbase, an 18.8-litre Benz Bz.IV aero engine, and the coachwork was carried out by Bligh Brothers of Canterbury. It was never as successful as its predecessor, but took part in several road races, including a Sahara Desert expedition in 1922. It later became the property of the Crawford Auto-Aviation Museum in Cleveland, Ohio.

Chitty 3 - was based on a modified Mercedes chassis with a 160 hp (120 kW) Mercedes single-overhead-camshaft six-cylinder aero engine, tuned to produce 180 hp (130 kW). The car recorded a lap of Brooklands at 112.68 mph (181.34 km/h). Louis Zborowski later used it as his personal transport and drove it to Stuttgart when he negotiated to join the Mercedes racing team.

More importantly, Chitty 4.

Chitty 4 - Babs

Chitty 4 - also known as the Higham Special, had the largest engine of Louis Zborowski's cars, powered by a 450 hp (340 kW) V12 Liberty aero engine of 27 litres capacity, with a gearbox and chain-drive from a pre-war Blitzen Benz. Still not fully developed by the time of Zborowski's death in November 1924, it was purchased from his estate by J. G. Parry-Thomas for the sum of £125, equal to £9,005 today.

John Godfrey Parry-Thomas

Parry-Thomas renamed the car Babs and rebuilt it with four Zenith carburettors and pistons of his own design. In April 1926, Parry-Thomas used the car to set the land speed record at 171.02 mph (273.6 km/h). He was killed in the vehicle in a later attempt on the 3^rd of March 1927.

The largest-capacity racing car ever to run at Brooklands, Babs was buried at Pendine Sands in Wales, but was recovered and restored in 1967, and remains on display at the Pendine Museum of Speed during the summer, and at Brooklands Museum during the winter.

John Godfrey Parry-Thomas, otherwise known as J. G. Parry-Thomas, who was born in 1884, Wrexham, was an engineer and motor-racing driver who at one time held the land speed record. The record was broken in April 1926, whilst driving Babs he broke the record at 169mph, at Pendine Sands, this record was broken again later the same months, when he reached the record of 172mph. The following March, Parry-Thomas, was killed at Pendine Sands, whilst he was trying to regain his own land speed record, which had been broken by Malcolm Campbell weeks earlier at Pendine Sands.

John Godfrey Parry-Thomas
St. Mary’s church, Byfleet
credit - findagrave

Parry-Thomas was buried at St. Mary’s church, Byfleet, close to the Brooklands circuit. Following the inquest Babs was buried in the dunes at Pendine Sands.  It was discovered 42 years later, when Babs was discovered and 15 years later was restored.

Malcolm Campbell 

Malcolm Campbell who was born in 1885, at Chislehurst, was a British racing motorist and motoring journalist. He gained the world speed record on land and on water at various times, using vehicles called Blue Bird, including a 1921 Grand Prix Sunbeam. His son, Donald Campbell, carried on the family tradition by holding both land speed and water speed records.

Blue Bird

21^st of July 1925, Campbell, set a new land speed record of 150mph at Pendine Sands, which driving a Blue Bird.  This was the first time that a car had exceeded the 150mph limit.

Malcolm Campbell
St. Nicholas church, Chislehurst
credit - findagrave

Campbell died after a series of strokes in 1948 in Reigate, Surrey, aged 63. He was one of the few land speed record holders of his era to die of natural causes, for so many had died in crashes.  He was buried at St Nicholas Church, Chislehurst.