Very cool story! Much harder to go viral back then, but sounds like he did it!
Incidentally, I lived in Surbiton, just around the corner from Walton, for a few months in 1995. We worked as a pub couple at the (now-defunct) Railway Tavern.
If not for a Duke & a beautiful young actress, the story probably would have died. Dad knew what he was doing.
I'm sure Walton has changed since I last saw it. I have vivid memories of living there. Will admit I had to Google "pub couple." Sounds like great fun. Your Railway Tavern has met the same fate as Cambridge Mansions (flats) where my family lived in Walton. They backed onto Crossways Riding Stable where, my mother told me, Julie Andrews, learned to ride. I took lessons there before our move to Toronto. That's my claim to fame!!!
Ah yes, the pub-couple scene! Crap pay, but room and board, and delayed our return home for a few extra months.
Yeah, I imagine the area has changed a lot in the last 30 years, never mind since 1958! The train station alone (which I passed through last spring) feels more like a tube stop than a train station now.
England is interesting that way. Every time I've been there since 1972, you can see history receding like a tide. Used to be the last vestiages of the war hanging on. Now, it's more about the small-town charms dulling and being built around as urban sprawl creeps. Maybe it's because of my own cultural connection to the country, but I don't know of any other place where this is happening in quite the same "Last of the Summer Wine" kind of way...
Maybe not the "Last of the Summer Wine" but if you get into the northeast and the Lake District, where my many cousins live, you can get away from urban sprawl & occasionally find the Herriot experience. And.. going further north into Scotland, the haggis still run wild!! LOL
Fascinating story of some of your Dad's career. It was fun to hear of his creativity and work in films and promotion. You must have been in a spin with all the moves and exposure to the different areas.
It was certainly an adventure...I attended 3 high schools in 4 years! My mother was the one who had to make the most adjustments. She began working for a Canadian bank shortly after arriving in Toronto and was given transfers to each new place we moved. That provided the stability we needed while dad pursued his dreams! Yes...creative he was...always!!
Bev, I thoroughly enjoyed your article about your interesting and wonderful parents. Clearly, your mom had patience and great devotion for your dad and his creativity. Listening to him talk about her when they were living in Riverview, he certainly reciprocated those emotions.
Jane, you are so right! Mom had patience along with a huge helping of tolerance! Dad followed his passion & dreams throughout most of their married life but their devotion to each other was never in question. I was so gratified to hear dad, in his later years, giving credit to mom for his successes. She was truly his soulmate...and he was hers.
Very cool story! Much harder to go viral back then, but sounds like he did it!
Incidentally, I lived in Surbiton, just around the corner from Walton, for a few months in 1995. We worked as a pub couple at the (now-defunct) Railway Tavern.
If not for a Duke & a beautiful young actress, the story probably would have died. Dad knew what he was doing.
I'm sure Walton has changed since I last saw it. I have vivid memories of living there. Will admit I had to Google "pub couple." Sounds like great fun. Your Railway Tavern has met the same fate as Cambridge Mansions (flats) where my family lived in Walton. They backed onto Crossways Riding Stable where, my mother told me, Julie Andrews, learned to ride. I took lessons there before our move to Toronto. That's my claim to fame!!!
Ah yes, the pub-couple scene! Crap pay, but room and board, and delayed our return home for a few extra months.
Yeah, I imagine the area has changed a lot in the last 30 years, never mind since 1958! The train station alone (which I passed through last spring) feels more like a tube stop than a train station now.
England is interesting that way. Every time I've been there since 1972, you can see history receding like a tide. Used to be the last vestiages of the war hanging on. Now, it's more about the small-town charms dulling and being built around as urban sprawl creeps. Maybe it's because of my own cultural connection to the country, but I don't know of any other place where this is happening in quite the same "Last of the Summer Wine" kind of way...
Maybe not the "Last of the Summer Wine" but if you get into the northeast and the Lake District, where my many cousins live, you can get away from urban sprawl & occasionally find the Herriot experience. And.. going further north into Scotland, the haggis still run wild!! LOL
Fascinating story of some of your Dad's career. It was fun to hear of his creativity and work in films and promotion. You must have been in a spin with all the moves and exposure to the different areas.
It was certainly an adventure...I attended 3 high schools in 4 years! My mother was the one who had to make the most adjustments. She began working for a Canadian bank shortly after arriving in Toronto and was given transfers to each new place we moved. That provided the stability we needed while dad pursued his dreams! Yes...creative he was...always!!
Bev, I thoroughly enjoyed your article about your interesting and wonderful parents. Clearly, your mom had patience and great devotion for your dad and his creativity. Listening to him talk about her when they were living in Riverview, he certainly reciprocated those emotions.
Jane, you are so right! Mom had patience along with a huge helping of tolerance! Dad followed his passion & dreams throughout most of their married life but their devotion to each other was never in question. I was so gratified to hear dad, in his later years, giving credit to mom for his successes. She was truly his soulmate...and he was hers.