RADICAL HERO (1) - MICHAEL FOOT COLOURISED

Those readers of a certain age may remember Michael Foot as Leader of the Opposition (1980 - 1983) and fierce critic of Margaret Thatcher. At the 1983 General Election, sponsoring a party manifesto memorably described as "the longest suicide note in history" (courtesy Gerald Kaufman, a Labour Front Bencher), Foot lost in a landslide, experiencing the worst result for the Labour Party since 1935:

Michael Foot and Margaret Thatcher at the Cenotaph, November 1981

Having had an extremely lengthy political career, Michael Foot would have well remembered the 1935 result, for it was then that he fought his very first Parliamentary election, in the constituency of Monmouth, right next door to Herefordshire.

A (very) young Michael Foot, Labour Party Candidate, 1935

Michael Foot, 1935, colourised.

For more on Michael Foot's 1935 election, and his subsequent involvement in Herefordshire's VBCW, see the Bishop's Broadcasting blog HERE. On any basis, a "radical hero" for the "Broad Left" !

CAROLE LOMBARD COLOURISED

With the opening of two new cinemas in Hereford, together with this year's theme for the Modelling Challenge ("Ladies! To the Barricades!), it's the perfect time to pursue our interest in colourised photographs, on this occasion not of tanks nor planes, but of one of the 1930s most glamorous female film stars, Ms. Carole Lombard.

Queen of Hollywood's "screwball comedies", Carole Lombard (born 1908 as plain Jane Alice Peters) was the highest paid film star of 1937, earning $450,000, or more than five times the American President. Her full biography is HERE. And so on to the colourisations:

Carole, 1932

Carole, prob c.1937

Carole at the height of her acting powers, prob c.1935

Quite what effect Carole Lombard had on contemporary (or even modern day) Herefordians is unknown. Her effect on at least one member of the Modelling Challenge 2024 Judging Panel has, however, been clearly documented:

Anthropomorphic Mr Wolf, a distinguished celebrity Judge, makes a judicial recommendation.

Note (and just one more colourisation):

Having begun an (illicit) romance in 1936, Carole Lombard married Clark Gable on 29th March 1939:

Tragically, on the morning of 16th January 1942 and while returning from a US War Bonds tour, Carole Lombard and her mother were killed in an aeroplane crash in Nevada. It is said that an inconsolable Clark Gable (d.1960) never recovered from the loss.

A WARGAME FIRST ? CAMPAIGN CHARACTER CREATED & COLOURISED

Comrade Colonel Professor Winters, the "Great Leader" of the Presteigne Soviet, was (for once) not in  command of the Communist "raiding forces" recently engaged along the A438 to the west of Hereford (Spring Big Game 2024). Having suffered a severe defeat at "The Disaster at Dinmore" (Spring Big Game 2023), Winters only narrowly escaped subsequent liquidation, and was wise enough to leave the raiding forces in the hands of a junior commander, Captain Izny Stroganov.

A rare photograph of Winters before the start of the Very British Civil War has recently been auctioned at Bonhams:

Professor Winters in his rooms at Cambridge, 1935. 
During this year, Winters started his famous "Dialetical Debate" with Raj Palme Dutt,
chief theoretician of the CPGB. See HERE

As admirers of  contemporary colourised photographs we are, of course, delighted that the "Bonhams Portrait" has now gone through this process:

Professor Winters 'colourised'.

Along with the rest of us, Professor Winters now waits anxiously for news of Captain Stroganoff's "A438 Encounter" with the enemy:

Comrade Colonel Professor Winters "Field HQ" outside Presteigne.
When will that phone ring ? What will be the news ?

.

Note: For those readers who appreciate a firm distinction between reality and fiction (hardly anybody in the Hereford VBCW), it should be noted that Winters' photograph was created by Rob B using an AI programme. For more AI generated images of the VBCW, including some by Rob B, see HERE. AI is clearly a massive boon for the wargame campaigner and RPGr - now it is possible not only to create a campaign character, but also create his or her portrait photograph. Could it be that Winters' "Bonham Portrait" is a wargame first ?

A BALEFUL PORTRAIT (COLOURISED)

A baleful portrait in our series of "colourised" photographs:

Chancellor Adolf Hitler

 Colourised Adolf Hitler

Perceptive readers of this blog (and who is not ?) will already have noted a significant omission from the recent "European Tour" undertaken by Edward VIII and Queen Wallis. While the Royal Couple visited both Spain and Italy, there was no visit to Germany. It is understood that the Wilhelmstrasse "let it be known" that such a visit "would not be appropriate at the present time" - a sure sign that the strain in relations caused by Reichsmarschall Herman Goering's "unauthorised intervention" in Herefordshire (see the Battle of Mortimer's Cross, Autumn Big Game 2019) has yet to be healed.

Comfortably ensconced in the Castle House Hotel, the Reichsmarschall has been sunk in depression. He had hoped that "a Royal Visit" to Berchtesgaden would smooth the way to the resumption of his close friendship with Adolf, but now....... now, something dramatic will clearly be required to change the Chancellor's mind. It is time for the Reichsmarschall to put aside his train set, take once more to the battlefield, and claim a momentous victory over the forces of International Bolshevism! "Noch einmal in die Bresche, liebe Freunde !"

Notes

(1). For the full history of Reichsmarschall Goering's involvement in the Hereford VBCW, see HERE

MITFORD MANIA !

As the Hereford VBCW sustains a sudden spasm of Spodemania, news that the Ludlow Peace & Reconciliation Institute has been suffering from a similar psychological condition - a long term bout of "Mitfordmania", with a variety of (relatively) recent blogposts on the notorious sisters:

Diana Mitford (subsequently Guinness subsequently Mosley)
dressed as the Goddess Venus. Mistress and thereafter wife of
"The Leader" himself.

Diana as the Goddess Venus - "colourised".

These photographs, of Diana as Venus, were taken by a remarkable lady photographer of the 1930s, "Madame Yevonde" (aka Yevonde Middleton), either at a party in Claridges in 1935, or at a subsequent studio sitting in the same year for Madame Yevonde's "Goddess" series i.e. English society ladies dressed as Classical Goddesses.

The Ludlow Peace & Reconciliation Institute's blogposts (so far) -

(1). The Mitford Sisters - What would they have done ?

(2). Hitler Groupie - Unity Mitford

(3). "The Leader's Mistress" (and then Wife) - Diana Mitford

(4). Diana and Unity Mitford

(5). Unity, Diana and the "Osteria Bavaria"

(6). Diana and Unity at the Nuremberg Rally, 1933

Whew ! Next up (sometime soon), the Stalin-loving "Red Sheep" of the Mitford Sisters, Jessica. And it surely can't be long before some 28mm "Mitford Sisters" appear in the Hereford VBCW itself.......

After marriage but before "the Leader" - Diana seems to have
 enjoyed dressing up - and displaying a rather arch sense of humour.

Add Edit: The late great Christopher Hitchens, while reviewing Jan Dalley's "Diana Mosley : A Biography" for the London Review of Books back in 1999, caught something of the causes of Diana Mitford's enduring notoriety:

"...We are confronted, here, with the worst and not the least bright of the Bright Young Things: with a vile mind and a gorgeous carapace, and with a maddening class confidence allied to a tiny, repetitive tic of fanaticism. It is easy to see how Diana Mitford/Guiness/Mosley attracted the obvious cliches about the huntress and the nymph. Anyone with her first name, and a pleasing profile to boot, can earn such leaden gallantries.....She kept a circle of gay male friends, from Gerald Berners to Cecil Beaton, at a time when homosexuals were being whacked to a pulp in German and Italian prisons. When occasion demanded, she could speak with conviction about the 'old gang' of politicians, and about the woes of the unemployed. But something else made her different from dozens of other women and men of her class, who didn't share her Bloomsbury connections but did echo her enthusiasm for the New Order and the New Germany. Just this: she kept it up longer than most of them did and in more arduous conditions....it isn't quite accurate to say, as Dalley rather awkwardly phrases it, that "in her personal story there is an almost eerie absence of the horrors that underlie all our thinking about fascism, Nazism and the Second World War". Sir Oswald, for example, always tried very strenuously to distance himself from the horrors after 1945 and, though he was unconvincing in his rewriting, at least made the attempt. His widow has never even bothered to feign that effort, and is sometimes too languid and spiteful to conceal her prejudices even now. The subject clearly fatigues and irritates her. A part of her, like the ghastly girl in Patrick Hamilton's Hangover Square, was and is secretly gleeful about fascism. Dalley describes as "unusual" her attendance at a Hyde Park rally in 1935, where she threw up her right hand in a Nazi salute while Clement Attlee was addressing a mild-as-milk protest against Hitler's early barbarities. It is improbable that she just stumbled on such an opportunity, or simply found herself taking it. That's on a par with her claim that Adolf Hitler was chief guest at her wedding because he lived so handily nearby and chanced to drop in. The illicit thrill of evil is the point - a thrill indulged by someone whose own circumstances and life chances gave no evident cause for complaint."

Diana Mosley by Jan Dalley

ROYAL DUKES - COLOURISED

Back in this Coronation post, we took a look at the Royal Dukes of the 1930s, the sons of George V and Queen Mary:

LtoR - Duke of Kent, Prince of Wales, Duke of York, Duke of Gloucester

and now here they are again, helpfully "colourised":

The original title to the B&W photo identified the uniforms, again from LtoR, as "RN, Highland Brigade, RAF, Hussars" - clearly the "colouriser" didn't have this information, and hence the poor Duke of York wears a rather speculatively colourised uniform !

AMBASSADOR RIBBENTROP, 1938 - COLOURISED

Having met Soviet Ambassador Ivan Maisky and United States Ambassador Joe Kennedy, time to continue our tour of the London Diplomatic Corps and pop in on the German Ambassador in 1938, Joachim von Ribbentrop:

von Ribbentrop, German Ambassador to the Court of St. James in 1938.
Suggestions that he was recalled to Berlin in February 1938 in order
to become Foreign Minister of the Third Reich clearly belong to
alternative history.

von Ribbentrop "colourised". Nicely done, but the green shirt
must surely be an error. And the blue pen must be wrong, too.

Von Ribbentrop in "full parade rig". The brown shirt is much better.

And here he is, colourised and finally properly dressed for an Ambassador,
on the steps of the German Embassy in London. For the connection to
Herefordshire, see HERE

1930s FEMALE BEAUTY - VBCW PILOT

It had to happen. Our passing interest in colourised photographs of the 1930s generally, and specifically the Very British Civil War, so far confined to (inter alia) the shapely curves of the Polikarpov I-16 Rata, or the angular lines of the Vickers Mk.6 Light Tank, has finally thrown up a 1930s female beauty, and a daredevil pilot at that:

VBCW Pilot enjoys a nonchalant Woodbine before her very first
 "aerial patrol" over war-torn Herefordshire.

The colourised version - but who is this 'female beauty' ? And for whom does she fight ?

So far, most unusually for this VBCW Blog, absolutely nothing is known about our "colourised" aviatrix. So the hunt is on for a suitable name and, most importantly, a suitable 28mm figure. We can worry about her plane later....

Any suggestions - please add a "Comment" below !

ITALIAN TANKETTE COLOURISED

Following the startling news that the Ledbury BUF (the Kensington & Chelsea Armoured Infantry, aka "The Sloane Rangers") is equipped with new 2 man tankettes, their "coachwork" specially adapted courtesy of the deep pockets of Bendor, Duke of Westminster, an opportunity for a colourised photograph:

Not a "Sloane Ranger", but a tankette, a snazzy three colour camouflage scheme
 and a Death's Head logo....

...brought to life in a startling colourisation. An Italian made Fiat Ansaldo  L3 spotted
"somewhere in Herefordshire". Or perhaps Hungary - there's so much
static on these Fleet Street phone lines.....

For more information on the L3 series of Italian tracked vehicles, see WIKI here

No.73 SQUADRON RAF - COLOURISED (AGAIN)

Following THIS POST on Cobber Kain and the 1937 Coronation Air Pageant, here he is nearly three years later, in March 1940, outside the Officers Mess at Rouvres, reading the telegram informing him of his award of a DFC:

The 1940 photograph. From LtoR, Flt Lt. Lovett, F/O Kain, Sgt. Pyne, F/O Orton

and the same photograph colourised:

otherwise known, from LtoR, as "Unlucky" Lovett, "Cobber" Kain, "Titch" Pyne and "Fanny" Orton

and the Pathe newsreel of precisely the same event, regrettably without sound:

Notes: 

(1). Sadly, none of these four RAF pilots survived the war.

(2). Sgt Pyne was shot down and wounded on 23rd April 1940, when his section was surprised by Bf109s of III/JG53 west of Merzig. After a period of recovery, "Titch" returned to flying duty, but was shot down and killed by Bf110s of III/ZG26 on 14th May 1940. He is buried in Choloy War Cemetery.

(3).  For "Cobber" Kain and "Fanny" Orton, see HERE

(4). Fl/Lt. Lovett acquired his "Unlucky" nickname through a series of misfortunes during the Phoney War, including shooting down a French Potez 63 in error. On 10th May 1940, the first day of the German blitzkreig, he was shot down by return fire from a Dornier 17 (which resembled the Potez 63 in appearance). Lovett managed to crash land his blazing Hurricane, but his hands were very badly burned. He was rushed to hospital and then air evacuated to the UK. After weeks of treatment, he returned to flying duty on 23rd July 1940. On 5th September 1940, he was again shot down but managed to bale out unhurt. Finally, but two days later, on 7th September 1940, he was shot down and killed in a crash landing close to the little village of Stock, Essex. Eye witnesses suggest that Lovett might have baled out successfully, but stayed with his stricken Hurricane in order to guide it away from the village. He is buried in Hendon Cemetery. See more at this Lovett Link

"COBBER" KAIN & THE CORONATION AIR PAGEANT 1937

 After the last "colourised photo" blogpost, an overdue riposte to restore the Very British balance:

A colourised photograph of F/O Newell "Fanny" Orton and F/O Edgar "Cobber" Kain DFC
relaxing between sorties, France 1940. The RAF uniforms are perhaps a little too blue, rather
than grey/blue, but a noble effort at colourisation all the same. The photograph must post-date
March 1940, as "Cobber" wears his DFC ribbon, awarded in that month. Orton is 'ribbonless"
in this photo, but was to receive his DFC in May 1940, and a bar in July 1940.

The original photograph. In true 1930s Very British style, Orton was raised in
Warwickshire, and Kain in New Zealand. By the end of their campaigns in France,
the two were the highest scoring "aces" of No.73 Squadron, companion to No.1 Squadron
in 67 Wing, Advanced Air Striking Force ("AASF").

Another colourisation - Kain leans against his Hurricane ("Paddy III") in France,  late 1939.
Here, his colourised RAF uniform is "just right".

A popular hero. This edition of "Modern World" dates to 27th April 1940,
with Kain being promoted as "Britain's Air Ace No.1".

Unfortunately, both Kain and Orton would be dead within 18 months of the "colourised photograph" being taken. Kain (aged 21) was killed in a aerobatic accident on 7th June 1940, just as he prepared to leave France for the UK. Orton, wounded on 15th May 1940 when his Hurricane was shot down and thereafter repatriated to the UK before the end of the Battle of France, was subsequently appointed as Squadron Leader of No.54 Squadron and lost (aged 26) in an offensive "sweep" across France by the Hornchurch Wing on 17th September 1941.

And what does all this have to do with the Hereford VBCW, 1938?

Well, before No.73 Squadron flew Hurricanes, the squadron was equipped with Gloster Gladiators (re-equipment seems to have taken place in May 1938, making No.73 one of the earliest RAF squadrons to fly Hurricanes). Flying Gladiators, "Cobber" Kain and 73 Squadron took part in the 1937 Coronation Air Pageant at Hendon. Thankfully (for all VBCW fans) the news cameras were there :  see this stirring Pathe News 1937 Film of the 1937 Coronation Air Pageant, and cross- reference with this alternative version of the same event - another Pathe News 1937 Film. For followers of Edward VIII (then Prince of Wales), you can see him landing and getting out of his plane at the earlier (1934) Hendon Air Display HERE.

We have a very good idea of the "colours and markings" of Cobber Kain's pre-war Gladiator from the Shuttleworth Collection's own Gladiator - still flying above Bedfordshire - repainted in Kain's 1937 Coronation Air Pageant markings (K7985):

Cobber Kain's 1937/1938 Gladiator - Shuttleworth Collection

The same Gladiator was subsequently re-issued by Airfix in "Cobber" Kain's pre-war markings (now OOP, but still available on the 2nd hand market):

The Airfix 1/72 Kit of the Shuttleworth Collection - and therefore Cobber Kain's - pre war Gladiator.

So we know what aircraft "Cobber" would have been flying in 1938 (obviously before re-equipment of his squadron, no doubt delayed by the outbreak of the VBCW), but we have no idea which side, if any, No.73 Squadron would have taken upon the outbreak of "our" Civil War. Still, it is not hard to imagine a young "colonial" like Cain continuing to support "his King" and stunting above Herefordshire, perhaps crossing swords (or machine guns) across the tabletop with Herefordshire's premier aviator, Randolph Trafford, in a 1/72 battle for air supremacy....

Notes:

[1]. "Cobber" Kain's WIKI page is HERE. His body is buried at the Choloy Military Cemetary, near Nancy. "Fanny" Orton's WIKI page is HERE. He has no known grave.

[2]. For the Shuttleworth Collection's WIKI page, see HERE, For the history of the Shuttleworth Collection's Gladiators, see HERE.

[3]. The second Pathe News Film of 1937 contains rare footage [at 3.36 on] of two very new "RAF types" - the Supermarine Spitfire and its "fighter interceptor" competitor, the Vickers Venom.

[4]. For those who insist on the "latest kit" for the VBCW, or wish to meddle in France 1940 wargames, Corgi also issued a (diecast) 1/72 version of "Cobber" Kain's 1940 Hurricane, Paddy III, within their "Aviation Archive" series:

[5]. Add edit - Matchbox's long OOP version of the Gladiator was also issued in No.73 markings, but with number K7984 rather than Cobber's K7985. Still, an ideal companion piece for the 1937 1/72 Coronation Air Pageant!

IMPERIAL FASCIST LEAGUE

Somewhere around Charing Cross in London, sometime around 1930 or so, a rather disturbing sight for passing pedestrians going about their everyday business:

Swastika superimposed upon the Union Jack, c. 1930.

An even more disturbing image when colourised:

It appears that the lady Standard Bearer was none other than Mrs Leese, wife of "the Leader" of the Imperial Fascist League, Arnold Leese, camel vet and vicious anti-Semite. Arnold Leese was no admirer of Mosley and the BUF, labelling them as "kosher fascists". Full wiki bio HERE

[Hereford VBCW Note : Anglicans will remember how the Company of St. Michael, featured HERE, had to withdraw from Malvern at the beginning of the Hereford VBCW, by reason of the presence (amongst others) of the "British Fascisti" in the town. Leese was a member of the British Fascisti until 1928, when he left to found the Imperial Fascist League. See the wiki entry HERE. As the British Fascisti (or British Fascists) ceased to exist on a national basis in or about 1934, it is presently unclear whether the Malvern Fascists were a last remnant of the organisation, or Imperial Fascists, or an as yet undiscovered "fascist groupuscule". In any event, they were certainly independent of Mosley's BUF.]