Author Archive for Alan R. Capon
Remembering the Queen: Princess Elizabeth unveiled memorial gates at RCAF Trenton
First posted April 28, 2011. We share again on the occasion of the death of Queen Elizabeth, 96, on Sept. 8, 2022, at Balmoral Castle, following a lifetime of service – the longest reigning monarch celebrating 70 years on the throne. Her husband, Philip, died in April 2021. The new head of state, King Charles, […]
A phillumenist collects matchbooks
By Alan R. Capon A philatelist collects stamps while a phillumenist collects matchbook covers and labels. While a flood of new stamps emanate from post offices around the world each year, matchbox label collectors now face slim pickings. Once upon a time matchbooks (sometimes referred to as penny matchbooks) were extensively used as an advertising […]
James Gooding – Ave atque vale
By Alan R. Capon Jim Gooding, the proprietor of Museum Restoration Service, died suddenly at his home in Kingston on Saturday, Jan. 7, 2012. Until he and his wife, Joyce, moved to Kingston a few weeks ago they lived and ran their arms and armour publishing business from Bloomfield. Between 1964 and 2002, Jim was […]
‘He died for Freedom and Honour’
A round memorial plaque, cast in bronze, bearing the name of a deceased First World War soldier was sent to the next-of-kin of all British and Empire service personnel who were killed as a result of the war. Some 1,255,000 of these commemorative plaques, accompanied by a memorial scroll and a message from King George […]
Remember the great race game Totopoly?
At one time or another, most people have played the board game Monopoly. But how many have played Totopoly? A classic horse racing game invented in 1937, I first played it in England with my brothers in the closing years of the Second World War. The game is played with 12 horses on a two-sided […]
Salute to ‘The Few’
The closest Royal Air Force base to my hometown of Ipswich, Suffolk, England was Martlesham Heath. Previously, the RAF research and experimental station, it became an operational fighter base when the Battle of Britain began. Its role was to defend the Orwell and Stour estuary between Felixstowe and Harwich and the eastern flanks of London. […]
Restoring the Honour
http://www.youtube.com/user/RoyalHonour Recent surveys have shown overwhelming support for the Honorable Peter Mackay’s decision as Minister of National Defence to restore the historic Royal Canadian Navy, Royal Canadian Air Force and Canadian Army designations. Congratulations are due to the Government of Canada and the Canadian Senate for their support of this wise decision. It has taken […]
When the world was young
Ten-year old schoolboys, as Shakespeare said, would with satchel and shining morning face, creep snail-like unwillingly to school. On my snail-like way to Rose Hill Public School in Ipswich, Suffolk, England (where the words cast in stone over the junior entrance read not “Kindergarten” but “Mixed Infants”) over 60 years ago now, I would pass […]
‘All rank abandon ye who enter here’
I was recently re-reading Ronald Blythe’s “The View in Winter – Reflections of Old Age” a splendid book by the author of the equally fascinating “Akenfield”. Both books are portraits of English rural life in East Anglia based on interviews with – for the most part – older inhabitants. Interviews with aged men who fought […]
The controversial Wallis Simpson
My hometown of Ipswich, Suffolk, England was a prosperous settlement when William the Norman landed in 1066. Many famous names have been associated with the town during its long history – from Cardinal Wolsey and King Henry VIII to Lord Nelson and Charles Dickens. A story in Dickens’ Pickwick Papers is set in the town’s […]
