The missing Oswald Road houses ……..a request ……. and an outrageous advert

There will be someone who remembers the terrace of houses on Oswald Road, which included number 94.

Oswald Road, 1907

I should do but I don’t.

Nor can I put to mind when they were demolished and eventually became the landscaped area beside the Field of OS.

I started pondering on when they vanished after someone contacted me asking what had happened to 94.

They appear on the OS map for 1894, and are still there on the OS for 1952, and I expect were knocked down in the late 1970s or early 1980s.

And here enters Peter Topping into the debate, because Peter did what I didn’t do and looked up the Chorlton Bomb maps.  These were compiled by the City Council and showed just where bombs fell in the city during the war.

Using the OS map of Manchester & Salford for 1933-34, direct hits were indicated by "red circles for fire bombs; blue circles for high explosives; pink shading for damaged buildings; red shading for demolished buildings; green marks: line mines, indicating bomb damage by the Luftwaffe during the Blitz”.

And our house had its own bomb circle, leading Peter to conclude this was one of the properties the Luftwaffe accidentally hit on its nightly trips out, which played out to his assertion that Hitler wanted to destroy Manchester City’s ground because he “was an ardent Manchester United fan”.

Now this might surprise some but the logic was explored in his book “Smile Dammit Smile !!! Chorlton”, which was published in 2020 and presented a lighted hearted version of the news.*

It was based on the publication Billy’s Weekly Liar, which was a spoof broadsheet sold in Blackpool before and just after the last world war.

So I rather think, we should be careful of Peter’s interpretation, not least because our house received not a high explosive bomb, but an incendiary device, which would explain why it was still there in 1952

That said I admire Peter’s determination to readjust history for the purpose of making us smile.

Location; Oswald Road

Picture; Oswald Road from the 1907 OS map of Manchester & Salford

*“Smile Dammit Smile !!! Chorlton”, Peter Topping, 2020, Hitler’s MUFC Takeover Bid, pages 104-105. The book  is available from http://www.pubbooks.co.uk/ or Chorlton Book shop

Always have a bit of fun everyday …….. *

Now, I have always strived to follow that simple rule of never taking myself too seriously.

And on those few occasions when out of a mix of arrogance and self-delusion I have acted otherwise it has always ended in a disaster.

So, I know I will always be the walk on part in a great play, the one who turned up late and missed the iconic picture of a great event, or the lab assistant instead of the scientific genius.

All of which means I welcome Peter Topping’s new book which takes a humorous and silly approach to what goes on around us.

As Peter says,  “After a successful series of publications of Chorlton Weaklie News, which brought home, in a quirky way, the current news and happenings to the people of Chorlton, I decided to build on the same idea and turn it into a book.

With the dedicated help from my distinguished staff of reporters, I have collected together a series of articles and featured them in a full colour 222 page volume, which is full of stories beyond belief.

This expose based on the life and dealings of everyday Chorltonians has over 270 paintings, contemporary and period photographs, illustrations, documents and maps.

It gives me great pleasure to present you with a cocktail of side splitting humour mixed in with a measure of truth.

These mainly Chorlton based tall stories, with snippets of sometimes exaggerated testimony, and tales of disproportionate catastrophes and misfortunes, will appeal to the sense of humour instilled in the minds of every Chorltonian.

Smile Dammit Smile!!! Chorlton.”

Here can be found, some fine examples of investigative journalism with stories ranging from “Bodies Found in Southern Cemetery”, “Chorlton Bus found on Moon”, and “Mysterious Container Found on Doorstep", along with “Books Discovered in Chorlton Bookshop”, and “Dead Shark Found in Chorlton Diving Pool”.

I am told that the public’s response to the news sheet has been very positive, with one chap writing in to complain about a story on the proposed revised route for HS2 through Chorlton and the construction of a new station to be sited in the township.

Pleased as the chap was, he wanted to know why the Government hadn’t considered a station in Wythenshawe which would assist the areas regeneration.

Leaving me to ponder on the power of silly news to move events forward.

The book came out this week and is available from http://www.pubbooks.co.uk/ or Chorlton Book shop, 506 Wilbraham Road, Chorlton-cum-Hardy, Manchester M21 9AW 0161 881 6374

*Data, Star Trek, Insurrection, 1998

It’s history everyone …… but not as we know it ………*

Now there has been something silly going on in the world of publishing since December 2019, and it comes in the form of a broadsheet going under the title, of Chorlton Weeklie News.

Purporting to be a journal dedicated to investigative journalism it has lead with stories on “Bodies Found in Southern Cemetery”, “Chorlton Bus found on Moon”, and “Mysterious Container Found on Doorstep", along with “Books Discovered in Chorlton Bookshop”, and “Dead Shark Found in Chorlton Diving Pool”.

I am told that the public’s response to the news sheet has been very positive, with one chap writing in to complain about a story on the proposed revised route for HS2 through Chorlton and the construction of a new station to be sited in the township.

Pleased as the chap was, he wanted to know why the Government hadn’t considered a station in Wythenshawe which would assist the areas regeneration.

The news project is the work of Manchester artist and author Peter Topping, who saw the potential for a lighthearted news sheet which would promote the newly revived Chorlton Arts Festival.

And so, each week, a local business sponsored the print run and was featured on the front page of the paper.

And now Peter has compiled them into a book, along with a chapter on “Billy’s Weekly Liar".

This  was a broadsheet sold in Blackpool from 1922 till the death of its creator, William Curtis in the late 1960s.

Mr. Curtis was the owner of Billy’s Joke Shop in Preston, where Peter grew up.

And rereading Billy’s Weekly Liar still has the power to bring a smile , which was in fact the motto of the paper …… “Smile Dammit Smile”,  and it would be hard not to, with stories, like “Unconscious skeleton found on beach”, “A football scout from a Midland Club is interested in Dan Druff from Ayr” and “Brighton Prom stolen By Ladder Gang”.

Peter has always had an affection for this irreverent broadsheet from his youth and in writing the book he has uncovered fresh research on Mr. Curtis, which combined with Chorlton Weeklie News makes for a fascinating read.

It is called "Smile Dammit Smile!!! Chorlton", which is taken from that earlier publication

As Peter says, “Dip in and out of the book whenever the mood takes you and soak in the laughter between these pages.

At times the truth is stretched to pen a witty yarn and as Mark Twain said, ‘never let the truth get in the way of a good story’, or did he actually say that?

Here we have 222 pages full of stories beyond belief, together with over 270 paintings, contemporary and period photographs, illustrations, documents and maps, based on the township of Chorlton-cum-Hardy.

A cocktail of side splitting humour mixed in with a measure of truth.
These mainly Chorlton based tall stories, with snippets of sometimes exaggerated testimony, and tales of disproportionate catastrophes and misfortunes, will appeal to the sense of humour instilled in the minds of every Chorltonian”.

I might add it should perhaps come with a Government Truth warning, but where would the fun be in reading the book?

So, I shall conclude by bringing out into the sunlight another of Mr. Twain’s comments …………. “Get your facts first, and then you can distort them as much as you please".

Something Peter has clearly done …………… and which may even yet leave an alternative Chorlton history for historians to pick over.

*With apologies to Dr. McCoy and Mr. Spock, The Devil in the Dark, Star Trek, Season 1, Episode 25, March 9, 1967