Friday 16 February 2007

A legacy.

"But Sweetie, I couldn't salute you after what happened last night".

My great-uncle, my grandmother's brother, left me an envelope, filled with drawings, from the mid to late 1950s. They're all by an old friend of his, who I know only as 'Cull'.

All I know of Cull is that he worked with my uncle in an Air Ministry drawing office, in Harrogate, North Yorkshire, at that time. The drawings tend to be on the backs of blueprints, no doubt in their time, top secret material. Turn them over, and you find modification details for the wingroot of the Victor bomber, or the English Electric Lightning supersonic interceptor.

I wish I could find 'Cull's' relatives, I think these should really belong to them. Or at the very least they should have copies.

They're snapshots of an age, a little window into the lives of a small group of men with an important but boring job, and one of their number who lightened their days with fantasy and pranks.


To "Cull", then.

8 comments:

  1. Nice! and what a charming and interesting insight..into those days and their lives..
    hey, these could be valuable as collectibles.

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  2. Welcome back to the land of the living.

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  3. Wow, those are great drawings. You might want to consider sharing them in the Photo Hunters meme, even if only for today, to honor Cull. Got to www.tnchick.com. It's very simple.

    Thanks for your comments on Write Stuff. Very wise words.

    Great blog. I read your intro. to my husband because it sounds exactly like him. He said, "He can't really be a guy! We never admit that stuff!" :-)

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  4. These slivers of a by-gone era remind me for some reason of Toulouse-Lautrec's sketches of dance hall girls, etc.....at the turn of the century: clever, spirited and witty.......

    I hope you are successful in finding Cull's family.......

    Glad you're feeling better...smile.

    xx
    rdg

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  5. What wonderful drawings.

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  6. Um. I'm not feeling at all clever so, um, thank you all you nice people...

    no, ackshrually, in my world, five comments signifies a deluge of interest

    Oh! wait a moment... I just realised... that wasn't one Rose, twice, that was a BOUQUET of Roses!
    Ladies, oh, I'm overwhelmed by fragrance! (Is that overdoing it?)
    And Miss Etch-a-Sketch.. And Janie with a big name I'll have a look at photohunters. Your husband is incorrect. We are allowed to admit that stuff where admitting might cause confustication of the opposite sex. Or combustibility. Or something. I never read that bit to the end.
    RDG? You know how that french artist got his name.. something about the toilets in the Moulin Rouge being in the basement? a tortuous journey, ducking to avoid light fittings and pies? He'd point down the stairs and mutter-"To loos?-low trek......."

    Maybe that doesn't translate. Use google to engishenglish...

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  7. Pipes, I meant, not pies in the basement of the Moulin Rouge...
    Pipes.

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  8. well first I had to translate your page to spanish.........then get out my spanish/english dictionary........and..........LOL!!!

    Your amazing ability to remember even the most minor of historical details still astounds me.......

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