On the occasion of the Blog's 17th anniversary, I thought I should explain where the somewhat unusual name of Arthur Pewty's Maggot Sandwich came from. I have told the story before, but it was rather a long time ago, and I seem to have picked up quite a few readers since, so I suppose the story could do with repeating. It all dates back to the beginning of 1987, when I first got involved with Bexleyheath based FM pirate station Radio Lumberjack (see the photo above of a rather fresh faced me taken in the studio in March 1987, a couple of years before I moved to Radio Caroline, and a big step up in the radio world). I got named “Arthur Pewty” by the chap who ran the station, after the meek and mild accountant character from the Monty Python sketch. Now I had a radio pseudonym, I needed a name for my late night show, which featured mainly album tracks. I was reading a book on the history of offshore radio at the time, and had come across the story of John Peel and his show on Radio London, which was called “The Perfumed Garden”. I was trying to think of a suitably satirical alternative to this, when an incident from a few years previously popped into my mind. For a couple of years whilst at school, I took up coarse (fresh water) fishing, and would spend much of the school summer holidays either at Dartford Lakes or at Horton Kirby, unsuccessfully trying to catch a few fish. I sometimes used to go with a friend, who had a somewhat unique idea of practical jokes. On one occasion I was about to take a bite of a cheese and coleslaw salad sandwich when I noticed something wriggling around in the filling. I opened up the sandwich to find a small mound of maggots! My compatriot had filled the sandwich from his bait tin when I was not looking. Nice chap. Anyway, the idea came to me that how could I combine the bland and anodyne (Arthur Pewty) with something uniquely revolting (the Maggot Sandwich) and the name for my show was born. When I started blogging seventeen years ago, it seemed logical that my web based voice to the world would follow my radio based venture from years before. The idea stuck, and back in 2010 it was voted the most unusual blog name in London, at the Online Conference hosted by Ofcom. So now you know. Comments as always to hugh.neal@gmail.com.
Last week I published an article examining the life and work of a local historic figure, the champion boxer Len Harvey. Following this, I was contacted by Brian Spurrell, a Director at Erith & Belvedere Football Club. Brian is a guest contributor to the Blog this week, with a fascinating piece expanding greatly on the story of Len Harvey. Brian has also written a book about the history of Erith & Belvedere FC - details of which are above. Brian writes:- "Great piece about Len Harvey and his ties to the area, in particular the tragic circumstances in which he left. His biography "Prince of Boxers" gives further information on that aspect; and you may not have been aware that for a time while he was living in Erith he was President of Erith & Belvedere FC. The following is the article on Len in my book "A Century of Deres": (The book is available from me at Deres matches for £12 or by email for £14.99 incl p&p - see the attached advert above.) As for the Deres, they won the Southern Counties East league last season and have been promoted to the Isthmian League South East, where they begin the league season with an attractive home tie against Ashford United on Sunday 13 August. (Before that they travel to Littlehampton in the FA Cup on 6 August - there'll be a coach trip for just £10.) Len Harvey - "Prince of Boxers” and President of Deres. Before Larry O’Connell there was another boxer who held the title of President of Erith and Belvedere FC, from 1942-49. Len Harvey lived in Erith for a while and was landlord of the Nordenfeldt (“the Pom-Pom”) on Fraser Road. Born in Stoke Climsland, just south of Launceston, Cornwall, on 11 July 1907, Len began his boxing career at the age of 12: while collecting change from spectators he heard an old lady remark, “Shame to let a little boy like that box – particularly as he’s obviously got consumption and won’t be long for this world.” He progressed to a shot at the British welterweight title against Harry Mason while still only 18, but was unsuccessful. His next title fight was on 16 May 1929, when he knocked out Alex Ireland to become British middleweight champion. He defended the title six times from 1929-33 and lost on points to Marcel Thil of France in a world middleweight bout. Len lost his British middleweight title to Jock McAvoy on 10 April 1933, but two months later he won the British light-heavyweight belt beating Eddie Phillips on points. He added the heavyweight title in November 1933 giving Jack Petersen his first defeat. A victory over Larry Gains of Canada gave Len the British Empire heavyweight title, but he lost both British and Empire heavyweight titles in a rematch with Petersen. On 9 November 1936 Len lost to John Henry Lewis (US) in a world light-heavyweight title fight. He then regained the British heavyweight title from Eddie Phillips. When Lewis retired due to eye problems, Len beat Jock McAvoy on points for the vacant world light-heavyweight title on 10 July 1939 (though this was only recognised in Britain). It drew a mammoth 90,000 crowd to White City: this was matched by Joshua v Wladimir Klitschko (2017) but only beaten as the biggest British boxing attendance by Fury v White in 2022. So by the outbreak of war Len was British champion at light-heavy and heavy. He joined the RAF and was given an officer rank. On 20 June 1942 he defended his light-heavyweight title against Freddie Mills, was KO’d in the second round and retired just short of 35 years old. He took on the lease of the Nordenfeldt Arms in Erith on 4 December that year, and just before Christmas he accepted the club Presidency of Erith and Belvedere FC, vacant since the death of Douglas Bowyer. In May 1943 he and his wife Florence presented a bottle of port to go with the trophy for the women’s football tournament held at Park View. Back in 1934 Len had registered a right-hand “grip” measuring 520lbs, reported as a new world record. 14 years later in the Nordenfeldt he offered a prize for anyone who could beat his record, and vain attempts by locals raised a decent sum for Erith Parish Church Restoration Fund. Such was his involvement in the community: he coached Northumberland Heath Secondary School boys in the noble art and was often to be seen driving his Lancia around town, while Florence called Erith Library and Frank’s Park her favourite places. Tragedy struck on 2 January 1945 when his son Terry was showing off Len’s RAF pistol to a school friend, Gerald Sinclair, and accidentally shot him. Sinclair died in February 1946, aged 15, of kidney failure arising from complications after the shooting. Further tragedy came when Terry died of meningitis aged just 18. He was serving with the Parachute Regiment in Worksop when his parents were notified by telegram on 6 January 1947 that he was in hospital. Len travelled to and fro on unheated trains, hardly sleeping or eating, until Terry’s death on 19 March. A week after the funeral Len collapsed with pneumonia and was in a coma for three weeks: he was never the same man again. With the Nordenfeldt now associated with sad memories, the couple decided to move on. They left the district on 6 January 1949 for Chiswick, but kept in touch with the Deres, and the players were welcome to pop into his new pub if they had a match nearby. In later life he moved back to the south-west and died in Plymouth on 28 November 1976 aged 69. As he once said, “I would rather be remembered as a sportsman than a champion.”
Supermarket trade magazine The Grocer recently published some research it had commissioned from consultants PwC which proves that supermarket customers generally dislike self service checkouts - as I have extensively written in the past. Since the introduction of self service checkouts in many of the major supermarkets, queues at the conventional tills have lengthened as staff cutbacks have been introduced. Service satisfaction levels have dipped by nearly eight per cent to 13.9 out of 20, mystery shopper testing shows. Kien Tan, senior retail adviser at consultant PwC, said in a recent online interview:- “Checkout operators are having a tough time because customers are more demanding, more flustered and more distressed by the wider experience. The queues are longer because there’s fewer manned checkouts.” Self-service tills are often unsuitable for shoppers who want help with packing or need to pay by cash. It is noticeable that two of the fastest growing supermarket chains - Aldi and Lidl are the only two who do not use self service checkouts, but maintain traditionally staffed tills. In a recent study a team at Voucher Codes Pro, a sales coupon website, quizzed 2,532 shoppers about their supermarket habits and found that close to a quarter had committed theft at a self-checkout machine at least once. (A figure from the same report suggested that the total cost of items stolen through self-checkout machines in 2022 came in at more than £3 billion, up from £1.6 billion in 2019, though I believe that the numbers are somewhat speculative). Some steal by accident, the study found, perhaps on account of a scanning error – honest mistakes. But many perpetrators know exactly what they are doing. Often, perpetrators will construct what they perceive as legitimate excuses for theft. Some feel justified in taking items when the checkout machine they’re using doesn’t operate smoothly (it is the machine’s fault). Others consider the items they steal as a kind of payment for work they’re completing on the supermarket’s behalf. Still more reach the self-checkout machine, look around, and see nothing but the inhuman trappings of a faceless corporation. Few would steal from an individual grocer. But from a multinational conglomerate? What difference does it make? The situation has been described as that individuals can neutralise guilt they might otherwise feel when stealing by telling themselves that there are no victims of the crime, no human being is actually being hurt by this, only some mega-corporation that can surely afford the loss of a few quid. In fact, the corporation has saved so much money by laying off all its cashiers that it is almost morally necessary to steal from them. I do not subscribe to these theories, nor do I endorse them in any way - as personally I never use self service checkout tills. It has been demonstrated that the average time to complete a supermarket self service transaction is up to three times as long as one carried out by a staffed till – and that is without allowing for system errors. Secondly, why would you have a dog and bark yourself? Quite often the checkout person adds to the whole retail experience, and can problem solve on the go. Elderly people, or customers with small children can also find self service stressful. On top of this, the supermarkets only introduce self service as they think it will reduce their staffing overheads. This has proved to be a false economy, as although the number of checkout staff is reduced, the number of supervisors and security operatives has to increase – who tend to be paid a higher rate than the checkout staff. It would seem that the German discount supermarkets - Aldi and Lidl are acutely aware of this, and so continue to serve customers at the checkout in the traditional way - and it would appear that people are now accordingly voting with their feet. What do you think? Email me at hugh.neal@gmail.com.
There have been many occasions over the year when I have referenced the excellent 853 website, run by journalist Darryl Chamberlain. The site is far more professional and well run than the Maggot Sandwich. It covers news and events in and around Lewisham, Woolwich and Charlton - the origin of the site's name - 853 used to be the telephone dialling code for parts of Charlton and Plumstead. Darryl announced last week that his news site was being re-branded and given a name change. The site is now called The Greenwich Wire - which personally I feel is less evocative than the old 853 name. Nevertheless the quality of journalism is just as high, and I can highly recommend it. You can see the Greenwich Wire by clicking here.
As well as the Maggot Sandwich having its' 17th anniversary, it is also the 17th anniversary of the death of comedienne Linda Smith. You may not be aware that the award winning, late comedienne Linda Smith was born and raised in Erith. She attended Erith (now Bexley) College, and then went on to study English and Drama at the University of Sheffield. After graduating, she went into professional theatre before starting a career as a stand – up comic. She appeared in a lot of small venues – comedy and social clubs, where she really learned her trade; in 1987 she won the award of “Hackney Empire New Act of the Year”. Shortly thereafter she appeared in the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, where she met with critical and some limited commercial success. It was when she made the move into radio comedy where Linda really began to make her mark. She was a regular panellist on The News Quiz, Just a Minute and I’m Sorry I Haven’t Got a Clue for BBC Radio 4, and on TV with Qi, Mock the Week and Countdown. She also starred in her own BBC Radio 4 sitcom “Linda Smith’s A Brief History of Time Wasting”. Linda Smith once did a whole stand up routine on what it was like to live in Erith, most memorably saying “Erith isn’t twinned with anywhere, but it does have a mutual suicide pact with Dagenham”! in 2002 BBC Radio 4 listeners voted Linda Smith as “Wittiest Living Person”. In a cruel irony, she died of ovarian cancer in 2006; she was only 48 years old. Her life partner, Warren Larking worked with The University of Kent to archive her work. Like many comedians, Linda Smith recorded every performance she made – mainly to find out what jokes and stories worked with her audience, and those that did not. Warren Larkin inherited this cast collection of cassettes, video tapes and CD’s upon her death, and decided in 2013 to donate the thousands of hours of recording to The University of Kent, so that they could digitise the recordings before the magnetic tape deteriorated to the point where it became unplayable. The head of Drama at the University, Professor Double said of the collection:- “Having her complete work is incredible. Usually we just hear the ‘best of’ compilations, but this collection includes off-air work so you can hear how she developed her skills and when things go a bit wonky. It is still early days, but ultimately it would be great if we can get most of this available online, much like the history of cartoons archive the university has, but that is some way in to the future. We have the time consuming job of going through it all first to see exactly what we have. It is an exciting time.” Linda Smith was an important comic and writer, and one of a handful of people from Erith to make a name for themselves outside of the local area.
Bexley Fire Brigade Update - From Jim Morford, Borough Commander for Bexley, London Fire Brigade. "As the summer holidays are approaching most of us will be hoping for a dryer spell of weather. The unsettled weather of recent weeks has meant a much quieter wildfire season so far compared to this time last year. However, the mixture of sunshine and showers would have helped grass and vegetation grow over the last couple of weeks. This means should we have a dry spell the fire loading has grown significantly. Because of this UK Fire and rescue services are still warning of the risk of wildfire, so whether you stay at home or get away to the UK holiday spots please take extra care to ensure you are not the instigator of a wildfire. Careless disposal of cigarettes is a main cause of grass fires even when thrown out of car windows whilst travelling. Having barbecues is another cause, please take extra care and only use disposable barbecues in designated areas, and be sure to take all rubbish home with you to dispose of it carefully. In the borough, firefighters have had a number of incidents the most notable being a Fire in Bexley at a builders merchant which needed 4 fire engines to extinguish it, and a chemical leak at Crook log swimming baths which was made safe by firefighters wearing breathing apparatus. Our emergency services roadshow was a huge success, alongside our colleagues in the Police we attended a number of venues to talk to the borough's communities about fire safety and recruitment. If you missed us we are holding an open day at Erith fire station on the 8th of August. More details will follow soon".
Following my article on the Caterham Project V prototype electric sports car last week, I had quite a lot of positive feedback regarding the experimental vehicle from Crayford / Dartford based Caterham Cars. The end video this week is a closer look at the Project V, which was filmed at the recent Goodwood Festival of Speed. Feedback to me at hugh.neal@gmail.com.
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