A UNIQUE car that was used by George Formby during the Second World War is going up for auction. The 1939 Mercury Eight Series 99A Estate Car toured with the Eighth Army when the Stockton Heath performer – famous for his ukulele – entertained the troops in North Africa. George was given the vehicle by Malcolm Campbell, the British racing motorist who set the world speed record on land and on water various times during the 1920s and 1930s. He intended to modify the large estate car to use as a crew bus for his Blue Bird escapades but the war broke out before he could put his plans into action.
Internment Camps in Scotland
A little-known network of internment camps operated in Scotland during World War II.
During the Second World War units of the Polish Army who had escaped from Nazi Europe were based in Scotland, protecting the North Sea coast from possible German invasion. They were joined by Jewish soldiers in Anders Army, freed after the German invasion of Russia, who reached Britain through Iran, Palestine and the journey round Africa. There were about a thousand Jewish soldiers in the Polish Army in Scotland and their bases were considered to be sovereign Polish territory. This is the story of the Jewish soldiers, their positive and negative experiences of these dark times.
Two WW2 staff cars for sale with H&H Classics
Campbell-Formy Staff Car.
LONDON
.- For sale by auction with H&H Classics at Duxford Imperial War Museum on Apruk 14th these two historically important WW2 staff cars both deserve a place in a military museum or a military collection.
A hands on director of Lincoln Cars Ltd, Sir Malcolm Campbell MBE kept Blue Bird K4 (his World Water Speed Record achieving boat) at the companys Brentford premises on Londons Great West Road. Well known to the senior Ford hierarchy on both sides of the Atlantic, he was able to secure a brand new, overseas market example of the Mercury Eight Series 99A upon its 1939 launch (Lincoln and Mercury were both Ford subsidiaries).
The life of a Maidstone and District bus driver on the Home Front during the Second World War
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Updated: 08:50, 27 January 2021
We have become familiar with the stories of wartime heroism from our servicemen at the front during the last war, but what of those left at home to Keep Calm and Carry on?
Tony Webb, of Newbury Avenue in Allington, shares this history of his father, Keith Webb, who was a bus driver for Maidstone and District bus company for 40 years - including the entire 1939 to 1945 conflict.
Keith Webb - 40 years a bus driver
Born in Hollingbourne in 1903, Keith Webb attended the Duke of Yorkâs Royal Military School in Dover as a child and as result became a man of smart appearance and discipline throughout his life. He joined M&D in 1928.
St Andrews Castle
Michael Alexander speaks to author Vicki Masters about her inspirations for an historic novel set against the backdrop of the infamous Siege of St Andrews Castle in 1546/47.
When German cleric Martin Luther began protesting against the practices of the Catholic Church which led on to the beginnings of the Protestant Reformation in Europe during the early 16th century, it led Scottish clerics such as John Knox to embrace this new theology and revolt against the Catholic Church in Scotland.
By the 1540s, Cardinal Beaton, Archbishop of St Andrews, was the head of the Catholic Church in Scotland and in a bid to stamp out growing revolts, he condemned many to be burnt at the stake after they were tried for heresy.