Image: Hill College boys’ basketball team c1988. The Old Grammarian’s and Hillonians Association, incorporating former students and staff of the Southampton College for Girls, will be holding this year’s reunion on Saturday, September 28th, at a new venue. After two reunions held at their old school/college, now Richard Taunton...
Heritage
Lawrence of Arabia and his Southampton connections
By Martin Brisland. Many will know the epic film Lawrence of Arabia which won seven Oscars in 1962. Peter O’Toole played a British officer credited with leading the Arab revolt against the Turks in World War One. The film, now considered by many to have racist overtones, with a...
60th anniversary of Southampton’s city status approaches
By Martin Brisland. On 24th. February 1964 Southampton was granted a royal charter to henceforth be known as the City and County of the City of Southampton. It was the culmination of a process that had begun 30 years earlier. The first informal approaches were made in the mid-1930s,...
Interview: Everybody’s Talking About Jamie’s Ivano Turco
By Hugh Montgomery. Everybody’s Talking About Jamie comes to Southampton’s Mayflower Theatre in January. Ivano Turco who stars in the title role talks about the affinity he feels for the role. In his short career so far, super-talented musical theatre star Ivano Turco has already demonstrated formidable range: having...
Heritage: Southampton is 6 minutes slower…
By Martin Brisland. Did you know that a Southampton sundial will always be six minutes slower than GMT or 1 hour 6 minutes slower than BST? Robert Morden’s map for Hampshire from circa 1695 is rather interesting. You can easily find it via Google. Along the bottom you will...
Save the Platform Tavern
By Charlie Hislop Fundraisers are being organised across Southampton in the next two months by musicians, and others, to help the Platform Tavern get back up and running after a night-time fire in the bar. A number of local bands have already signed up… Chicago 9, the Platform Posse,...
Heritage: why are people from Southampton called Sotonians?
By Martin Brisland. Photo: Mike Daish. Do you regard yourself as a Sotonian? Do you live in Soton? Have you ever wondered where these words come from? They are thought to have been first used by a former Southern Daily Echo editor Clarence Firbank Carr (1892-1979). Echo journalists found...
Heritage: Legacy of the Spanish Civil War
By Martin Brisland. In May 1937 the SS Habana arrived in Southampton with nearly 4,000 child refugees from the Basque region of Northern Spain. They were escaping the Spanish Civil War and were put into a temporary camp off Chestnut Avenue, North Stoneham until that September. The Civil War...
Out of the Darkness: Greenham Voices 1981 – 2000, October Books
Next month October Books in Portswood, Southampton, invites you to join author Rebecca Mordan for a talk about Greenham Common Women’s Peace Camp, her book, the organisation she founded and a few Greenham songs.As a child Rebecca visited Greenham Common Women’s Peace Camp with her mother and was part...
Heritage: Southampton and the demon drink
By Martin Brisland. Many in Victorian England were concerned about the negative effects of excessive alcohol consumption. There were local and national efforts as part of the Temperance Movement to encourage moderation with alcohol. William Westlake was a prominent local Liberal politician and Quaker. He held Temperance teas for...