Ken Dodd and Bessie Braddock
Lime Street station hosts one of the more unusual street sculptures in the UK on the station concourse. It commemorates two local heroes; Ken Dodd and Bessie Braddock.
Ken Dodd and Bessie Braddock
I have never seen Ken Dodd perform, although if I’d gone to university a year earlier, I would have seen his legendary performance at the Students Union in Panto Week, where he told jokes for several hours. Panto Week was a uniquely Liverpool University name for their Rag Week. It was so named because the students used to block book the last night of the pantomine in the Liverpool Empire. That tradition had died out before I went to the University, but it was still part of University life and raised money for charity. There is an account of Panto Week in 1936 here.
In State in First Class
There’s just me in First Class on this late Virgin train.
But do I care? Of course not, as I can really spread out.
Incidentally, Standard Class up to Liverpool and First Class back, cost just under £46 in total.
So I can’t complain.
Back To The Sixties
In 1965 when I went to Liverpool University, the Electrical Engineering and Electronics building was brand new.
It appears to have worn reasonably well and is just how I remember it all those years ago. So bits have been replaced and it’s been redecorated, but it is a real credit to its creators, which you can’t say for many of the buildings of the time.
It’s still contains all the original prints too. Some of which I seem to remember.
However the infamous legend by one painting has been removed. It had been beautifully typed and framed and said something like. “Unfortunately, we were unable to afford a painting by this artist. ut he was kind enough to sell us the rag on which he wiped his brushes!”
After the lecture, we retired to one of the staff’s room and I was pleased to see that he still had a genuine blackboard with real chalk on the wall.
How civilised!
The Lecture
I wouldn’t really think it would be a good idea to judge myself on how my lecture went this lunchtime.
I did however enjoy it and I was able to do it direct from this blog. I think that it would have been better with a more presentation oriented theme.
In some ways though it was strange to be lecturing in a theatre, were I’d perhaps listened to upwards of a couple of hundred lectures. And to the biggest audience, I ever have!
The Minotaur Lives
Imagine my surprise, when a parcel appeared on my doorstep carried by a man who looked like he was doing an impression of Pete Henry, except that he was a few years older than my last recollection.
In the parcel, was about a hundred copies of the infamous Metier Minotaur. This was the edition that had the tall Pete’s picture where he was trying to get into a compromising position with the diminutive Karen, in what looked like the dining room of my old house at Debach with the infamous wallpaper. It was also probably the laste edition as it had Metier’s obituary. On the last page it asked if the hamster really did it.
Pete told me that he had had a vision from God and this had sent him to a dark, satanic print works in Clerkenwell, where in exchange for a fistfull of used notes, he had received these magazines from an atttractive young lady.
So what am I to do with this manna from heaven?
My son died of pancreatic cancer, so these priceless works of great literature will be sold with all proceeds going towards research into the cancer at Liverpool University, where a world-class team has been assembled.
I am not restricting the sales, as the excellent printer, has informed me that if need be he can print enough copies to completely cover every window of the gherkin.
Manchester is a Top Place to Go
Who says this crap? It’s apparently in the New York Times list at number 20 of 41 places to go in 2011 ahead of Miami and Zanzibar.
Manchester is a poor city and is very much second class compared to Liverpool, Glasgow, Newcastle, Leeds and of course London. You could argue it does have two good football teams, but London has three. It’s got no iconic buildings and it is not a World Heritage Site like Liverpool. I suppose you could argue, that Manchester has a couple of good hotels and is well connected by train to Liverpool and Leeds for days out. It also has a real tennis club.
Thoughts on Liverpool Football Club
I spent a enjoyable day in Liverpool on Thursday. As I was wearing my Ipswich woolly hat, I did get the odd comment. I might have returned some quip about the state of Liverpool Football Club, but to a man and woman, they always replied that they were Evertonians.
So is Liverpool Football Club less important than its main rival in the Second City?
The Joy of Engineering
In many ways I am an engineer first, second and all the way to last.
In my troubles over the last couple of years, my reasoning and problem solving abilities have got me through it to a certain extent. I even cook like an engineer. And these skills I learned in my long training and experience as an engineer, from helping my father in his print works, through the vacation jobs at Enfield Rolling Mills, my degree at Liverpool University, the experience at ICI and then my years of programming, where I wrote planning and data management systems for a variety of industries.
So why are engineers different?
Many people like doctors have a theory and try to prove it, whereas engineers have a problem and try to solve it, whilst sticking to the best scientific and management principles. One of my principles is that you can’t ignore scientific correctness at any time. This is probably, why if you want to louse up a project, you just let politicians get their sticky fingers on it. Everywhere around you, you see good engineering ideas, that work, that probably had to overcome difficult obstacles from ignorant politicians to come to fruition.
There is a simple idea from close to me. Imagine the outcry if today, an electricity company said that they were going to lay 400 thousand volt cables underneath the towpaths of the Regent’s Canal and then cool them with water from the canal. After all water and electricity don’t mix! Do they? But that is what was done in the 1960s and as far as I can tell, there have been no problems. It would appear too, that the cooling system is being upgraded judging by signs beside the canal. So engineers are making a good idea even better.
Yesterday, the Head of the Electrical Engineering Department at Liverpool University invited me for a coffee and I spent an enjoyable hour with him discussing the problems of the world, that engineers could solve.
Few were controversial, but time and again engineering ignorance of the great and good came up as the reason a proven idea wasn’t implimented.
We must give everybody at least a basis of a scientific or engineering education, so that when someone says he’s going to do something, the idea can be properly discussed and the correct decisions taken. As an example, the public in this country is very much against waste incinerators, whereas in some countries like Austria, they have had serious discussions and use the best engineering designs to get rid of the waste that can’t be easily recycled, often by incineration in plants designed to advertise what they do.
So it is to be welcomed in the news today, that JCB have got involved in an academy to give young people a proper science, engineering and business education.
Let’s hope it’s not the only one.
I’ve enjoyed my time as an engineer so far and I’m not going to give up on it yet.
Gluten-Free on Hope Street
Hope Street is the street that links Liverpool’s two cathedrals. It is also one of the best places to eat gluten-free I’ve found. I ended up eating in a restaurant called Host, but there were several places with gluten-free offerings. I probably made the wrong choice of meal, as I had a lamb shank in a curried sauce with root vegetables, as it was so difficult to cut up with my gammy left hand. But it was lovely!
Host on Hope Street
The Power of Research
I’ve always been a great believer in research. This came home to me in spades, when as an engineer at ICI, I was investigating the dynamics of a particular chemical reaction. In the end, I found a lot of the information I required by going back to the 1900s, where a Chinese researcher working in Canada had obtained the rate constants I needed. So when you have a problem, there’s probably someone out there who has the information you need. But it may be extremely difficult to find, like my rate constants.
When C died, I needed help and as I was in touch with Liverpool University at the time, I asked if they had an expert on bereavement. They do in Kate Bennett and several times, I’ve talked things through with her and her research has shown me the way forward. So yesterday, as I had time to spare, I popped in on Kate for a coffee and a chat. All her publications are on her web site. There is a link there so that you can participate in her research as I have done, and that to me is better than any therapy, as by doing so, you’re not just helping yourself, but others too.
If you think about it, perhaps a million people lose their spouse or partner to death every year in the UK and how much does all this cost the taxpayer through the NHS and in ruined lives? But little research is done into the subject in reputable instutions to find ways to overcome problems in a constructive way.
I’ve asked Kate simple questions and got simple answers, which have been invaluable.
So thank you Kate for your help and support, these last three years.
The Anonymous Widower 