It seems incredible, but Windows XP - one of the most popular and widely used version of Microsoft's computer operating systems - is now twenty five years old. It was released to manufacturing twenty five years ago last Monday, on the 24th of August 2001, although it was not available for sale in the UK until October of that year - although I managed to get a pre-release copy prior to the official UK launch date - more on this shortly. The new operating system was built on the same kernel (the underlying software engine) as Windows NT, moreover, it was the first home user operating system Windows, not based on DOS. According to the memories of users, it was also the most stable of the user versions to that date. I recall the hype and drama behind the launch of Windows XP back in 2001. I was invited to the UK launch at the Royal Festival Hall on the South Bank. I had managed to wangle a free ticket through work (being employed at the time by a multi - national blue chip company did occasionally have its perks). I was sat in an aisle seat in the Royal Festival Hall. There was a big opening video with a track by Madonna, and all sorts of IT industry leaders were sat around me. The event itself started with a film presentation with professional megaphone and then Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer on screen “WWE” style, bigging up the new OS and then saying how he regretted not being able to attend in person. Just as he finished this, when, also in a style reminiscent of "WWE" he ran down the aisle from the back of the stalls hollering and whooping like someone demented. I was sat at the end of a row, and he passed me within inches. If I had slightly better presence of mind, I could have stuck my foot out and sent him flying. I did actually meet Steve Ballmer at the end of the launch event at a meet and greet session organised by Microsoft. He struck me as a man of immense volume but little actual substance. I found it rather amusing when he looked at me as if I was something unpleasant that he had just stepped in - the reason for this I suspect was that I was wearing a rugby shirt embroidered with a small "Tux" logo on the left breast. If you are not aware of "Tux" it is the penguin logo used to represent the free and open source Linux operating system. This was at around the same time that Ballmer said of the open source movement “Linux is a cancer that attaches itself in an intellectual property sense to everything it touches.” Understandably he was not too impressed with my appearance! Steve Ballmer has now been long retired, and more reasonable heads are now in charge at Microsoft. Ironically the company now embraces Linux, but I digress. As I have mentioned in the past, I only use Microsoft products when I am being paid to, and the only reasons for attending the Windows XP launch event were that I had a free ticket, I was curious about the (then) new version of Windows, and it got me out of the office for the day, as it counted as professional development.
On Thursday last week I was informed that the community mural located on one of the walls of the Bronze Age Way bridge, adjacent to Erith railway station had been intentionally vandalised, as you can clearly see in the photographs above - thanks to Miles for them. Click on either to see a larger version. A person or persons unknown has splashed bright blue paint all over the mural, which celebrates community inclusion and diversity, and was commissioned to brighten up what is otherwise a fairly bland area. I recall that when it was first created, I met with the artist responsible whilst he was actively working on the piece of street art. He was extremely talented and committed to brightening public areas. Unfortunately, this is the second piece of public art in the local area to be damaged in the recent past. As I have previously written, the De Luci fish sculpture on the centre of the roundabout connecting Bronze Age Way, Bexley Road and Queens Road, Erith was damaged during a vehicle collision nearly two years ago. It was meant to have been taken down to be repaired at the beginning of last September, but at the time of writing it is still in place, with huge parts of it destroyed. It is nearly a year since it was meant to be repaired, but nothing has happened. It is one of the first sights visitors to Erith see when arriving by road, and it does not give a good initial impression to those unfamiliar with the area. Now that the community mural has been vandalised, two of the most prominent pieces of local art are now looking very much worse for the wear.
According to an article in the London Evening Standard, Dartford has been identified as the most popular town in the UK for first time property buyers. According to the most recent figures available, which come from 2024, there were 965 first-time buyer mortgages agreed in that year. That equates to 19.36 first time buyer sales per 1,000 dwellings. This makes Dartford the highest percentage of first-time buyers anywhere in the country. According to the article, the average first-time buyer will pay £306,000 for a home in Dartford, compared to an average of £472,000 inside greater London. Personally, I suspect that many of these first-time sales have been to some of the newly constructed apartments that are located opposite Dartford Railway Station on the old Wellcome pharmaceutical factory site. I understand that Dartford Borough Council plans to permit the construction of a further 12,000 properties in and around Dartford over the next few years. Apparently from the 2024 statistics, Dartford is the second fastest growing population area in England. It is thought that the main reason for the popularity of first-time buyers purchasing in Dartford is that the area is substantially cheaper than anywhere closer to London, yet one can comfortably commute into the centre of the capital, albeit at quite some expense. The train services from Dartford Railway Station are comprehensive and about as reliable as anything you will get in the area. I may be damning this with faint praise.
The brains behind many of the JMI / Vox musical instruments - whom I have written about extensively in the past - and amplifiers was a chap called Dick Denney (photo above - click for a larger view), who for many years lived in a house in Bunker's Hill, Belvedere. The man who many regard as the UK’s most important guitar amplifier designer was actually deaf in one ear, but Dick Denney’s perforated eardrum may have been the making of him. As a result of his affliction, he was exempted from military service during World War Two and seconded to the Vickers munitions factory in Crayford – something that would permanently alter the trajectory of his life. During the pre-war years, Dick had become infatuated with both jazz music and radio electronics. Early experiments resulted in the inevitable destruction of the family radio, but Dick’s skills improved and his wages from the factory enabled him to buy components. His work at Vickers also meant that Dick was freed from an unwanted apprenticeship in his father’s barber shop, and perhaps most importantly of all, it introduced him to a man named Tom Jennings. During the war, amateur radio activity was prohibited so, as a guitarist, Dick turned his electronic skills to amplifier building. His goal was to develop an amplifier that was loud, but also small and light – and he had ample opportunity to test them out. Munitions factories were understandably a choice target for the Luftwaffe’s bombing attacks, and a as a result, the staff at Vickers in Crayford spent extended periods sheltering during air raids. Entertainment was in short supply down in the shelters, and so to keep up morale, Dick, Tom Jennings and a few other members of the workforce would put on musical performances – these performances with Jennings gave Dick a chance to test and refine his amplifier designs. Jennings was clearly impressed with what Dick had produced, and being of an entrepreneurial mind, discussed a joint venture with Denny where they would produce amplifiers for organs and accordions together. However, nothing ever came of the plan, and after the end of the war, the pair went their separate ways and lost contact. Dick was born in Erith, and, at an early age, became interested in the guitar and amateur radio, whose novelty attracted thousands of hobbyists in the 1930s and to this day. He was soon a leading exponent of the Hawaiian guitar, and his radio skills enabled him to listen to American shortwave radio broadcasts, which inspired his creation of instruments and amplifying equipment. His fragile health excluded him from wartime armed forces; instead, he worked at Vickers' munitions factory, in Crayford, where he first met the accordion-playing Jennings, who shared his interest in musical innovation. After the war, Dick ran a radio and sound equipment shop in Belvedere. By 1951 Jennings was running the fairly successful Jennings Organ Company, but it soon become apparent that diversification was necessary to grow the business. He also owned a music shop and would notice growing interest in guitars during the early rock ’n’ roll years. Since there were very few guitar amplifiers available in the UK, and becoming an importer for American Gibson and Fender amps was not viable due to import restrictions in austerity post war Britain, Jennings tried to adapt one of his organ amplifiers for guitar. It proved unsuccessful, and the project was shelved. Meanwhile Dick Denney had set up in business as an electronics and radio repairer, while moonlighting as a busy dance band guitarist. However, in 1952 he suffered a collapsed lung and was forced to take time off to recuperate. His idea grew from a portable amplifier-speaker unit he developed, while convalescing from respiratory illness in 1952, for use with his Hawaiian guitar. In 1955, Dick demonstrated his system - not the first to be made in this country, but certainly the most effective - to the owner of a Dartford music shop, Tom Jennings, who proposed a joint manufacturing venture. So began Jennings Musical Industries, and their trademark, Vox, was applied to all Dick's JMI work. Indeed, the early 1960s rise of British guitar groups caused an explosion of interest that left JMI struggling to keep up with demand. Dick produced three more original designs - a 100-watt amplifier, three times the power of any previous equipment; a guitar-organ, allowing the guitarist to produce his own accompaniment; and a wireless microphone system, the forerunner of those used in today's stage musicals. This was on top of his work on his most famous creation, the Vox AC30 amplifier - the sound of the "British Invasion". Jennings sold JMI in 1968, by which time a franchise agreement had been struck with an American manufacturer for use of the Vox name. Dick left the company in 1967 to pursue a career as an independent consultant and designer, which he maintained until his death. He went on to become an instrument technician for The Beatles and local band The Rolling Stones; in an interview some years ago, Denny's grand daughter recalled that:- "He toured the world demonstrating Vox equipment’, sometimes on American TV. He also set up equipment for The Beatles and The Rolling Stones at important shows. Apparently, Dick was fond of The Beatles and enjoyed banter with John Lennon who called him ‘nanny goat’ because of his beard”. Fans once mistook him for a Beatle and tore some of his clothes. They clearly did not notice the cosy cardigan Dick habitually wore, or his trad-jazz goatee. He also came to The Beatles’ rescue at a Scarborough gig when some amplifiers on trolley stands started trundling down the sloping stage towards them. Thereafter, they were fitted with braking casters. Although he never became rich, Dick felt content that he had made a living being paid for what was essentially his hobby. He combined a working knowledge of electronics with a musician’s sensibility and great ears to achieve the sounds he liked using the technology and components of the time. That countless guitarists have appreciated Dick’s amplifiers is testament to his skill and judgment. Dick died a few months after his 80th birthday on the 6th of June 2001, leaving a son, five daughters and the most wonderful sonic legacy.
The end video this week is a little bit different. It is from a YouTube channel called "South East Rubbish". It features a public spirited man called Liam, and his son who removes illegally fly tipped rubbish, clears overgrown vegetation by pavements, and generally tries to improve public areas in and around the London Borough of Bexley. The chap has a commercial waste carriers licence, and his day job is as a professional rubbish remover, but all of the work he does in his YouTube videos is unpaid and entirely voluntary. Comments and feedback as always to me at hugh.neal@gmail.com.
