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Brian Gill - Lionsongs: Photos

A Whitley mk.5 in flight.
Some native Americans have a totem animal; I have a totem aeroplane. It is an Armstrong Whitworth Whitley mk.5 heavey night bomber, used by the RAF in the first years of the the War. Sadly, none survived...

Old Family Photos

Me in my vehicle and hated 'bunny suit' with my ubiquitous friend Ted. In all the front gardens of Marlands there used to be flowers & trees, but in later years the gardens were concreted over to make room for the Range Rovers. That's progress for you.
My Dad taken in 1918 at my uncle George's wedding in the back garden of 36, Norththcote Rd, Walthamstow. My granddad's name was William Herbert Harrington Gill and my dad hated him. He left home when he was 16.
My Mum & Dad's wedding in January 1938. That's me 3rd on the left, front row...no, I'm only joking! The little girls are my cousins Maureen on the left and Doreen on the right. Nanny Em is far left, 2nd row. Granddad Bill was absent (!)
My Mum taken at a studio in 1931. This is really a black & white photograph; the red was added by hand afterwards.
The good life. Mum and Dad used to be invited to lots of do's in The West End; lady's nights and theatres and such. Seen here with a good friend, Les Dunmore (top). Les was a next door neighbour who owned a plastics factory.
Me with a dodgy hair-do (when I actually had some hair to do!). Mum used to give me a 'perm' with 'Toni' setting lotion regularly, but had to stop when I was 18...she could no longer reach my head unless I sat on the floor! Taken in 1952.
A picture of my tortoise Joey (in the foreground), stuffing a lettuce leaf down his throat. The other 4 dodgy characters are Nicky the Poodle, me, Sooky the Panda and Monkey, who'd get very excited when he had his photo taken and wave his arms in the air.
My first passport photo. Taken in 1966 when I went to St Anton Austria in August. Quite a good looking blighter, wasn't I? It never paid off in terms of results though. And that year I was in The Cymbaline too, I should have cleaned up!
My Mum in 1931 when she was 18. She borrowed the fur coat from her sister to try and get the 'film star' look.
This is Mum in 1949 holding a child, which definitly can't be me as I wouldn't have been seen dead in that..silk THING. Poor kid, whoever it was...
My Dad and my Auntie Gert, his elder sister. When he opened the New Era restaurant at the Bell corner, Forest Rd., Walthamstow, Auntie Gert ran it for him.
My Dad in RAF uniform. Apparently he was a rear-gunner in a Whitley bomber, which crashed in early 1942. He broke his back and was nearly killed. Only him and the pilot survived.
Albert and Nell Whitehead, my Mum's parents - who were always called Granddad and Grandma. My Dads Mum was called Emily, but was always Nanny Em to the whole family
It is very true to say that a great deal of my early life was spent behind bars... It's funny, these days I seem to be spending most of my life the other side of the ramp...
This is the earliest known picture of my Mum, taken in a studio in 1915. She kept the gingham ribbon that was given to her when she was born. I have it now. It's round the neck of her old toy dog, whom I call Winnie the Poo.
Mum and Dad, probably taken at the end of the War, possibly at the New Era restaurant in Walthamstow in 1945.
Mum and Auntie Edie. Taken in the back yard of their home in Southcote rd., Walthamstow in 1925, when Mum was 12 and Edie was 5.
If there are spiritual places, then this is one of mine. Outside the French windows in the back garden at Marlands Rd., there used to be a rockery which my Dad built where Nicky the poodle used to sit on sunny days - like this one in 1958.
Me again in the back garden at Marlands. The 'hand' must be my Dad. My friend the dog is this time a wire-on-wheels called Boo-woo. Almost the same as my other friend, Woo-woo the friendly tiger, who's fully grown now! (gulp)
View of the back garden at 64 Marlands Rd, Ilford, my first house. On the left behind the garage there was a big coal bunker called Blue Field from which my Airfix bombers used take off in the gathering dusk for their nightly raids on the Ruhr Valley.
My Dad and old Chum, the wire haired terrier. He was the second of two wires that we had, but I only knew Chummy 2. Taken in the back garden at Marlands Rd., between the French windows and the rockery in 1946. Lupins grew near the fence.
Me again. Having an earnest conversation with my friend, Ted. All the houses had a garden hedge and a small ornamental wall round the front garden then and you can see two crab apple trees, one each side of the garden gate.
My Dad on the beach somewhere, probably Southend. Taken in 1929. Note the fashionable bathing costume and the dodgy Rolex watch, which I think he got when he and a crowd of his mates went to Bangkok one year.
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