Can we republish The Gazette ?

I just can not stop hitting the laptop keys as I write Mkeneyan A Handbook For A New City. Yesterday I rattled 5,295 words and since I started eight days ago the total words stand at 76,745.

Here is something where I am shaming our local media for failing to support us all. I am proposing we use the Facebook Mkeneyan Group to celebrate ourselves and sod the media. Are you a member of the group ?  It is an open, public group CLICK HERE and become an Mkeneyan.

The Gazette ?  Do I mean the Bletchley Gazette ?  Didn’t it become in its later days the Milton Keynes Gazette ?

When Her Majesty awarded Milton Keynes a city charter I overflowed with warm pride. The day of the announcement I immediately wrote to Buckingham Palace expressing my thanks. You will find right at the end of this book the original presentation I put together a year ago to support Milton Keynes bid to become a city. The second volume in this Milton Keynes trilogy was all about sparking a dream that one day we would become The City of Milton Keynes.

When Her Majesty bestowed the honour turning the Borough of Milton Keynes into the City of Milton Keynes I was bitterly disappointed by the lack of interest shown by our media. I know from speaking with many fellow Mkeneyans how widely my disappointment was shared.

Ok, yes of course media in the twenty-first century, particularly local media, has changed beyond all recognition. But can you imagine how The Bletchley Gazette would have reported the story ?  I am sure it would have published a special edition. Pre Milton Keynes New City the Gazette had brothers and sisters in other North Buckinghamshire towns who would have done exactly the same.

How many times have I said that Milton Keynes has more legend and heritage per square mile than any other town city or village in the country ?  While our being granted a city charter is a landmark in our heritage, landmarks and heritage do not sell advertising space do they.

During the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee week-end the local rag dropped into my letter box. When it was originally founded by Bill West and Jerry Alder, or was it Jerry West and Bill Alder, the paper’s letterbox slogan was Just a friend dropping in. I scanned the pages trying to find between the adverts articles celebrating the Jubilee. Having submitted two myself I was eager to see how my fellow Mkeneyans were partying. I couldn’t find anything and so the newspaper was filed in the recycling sack along with all the other rubbish.

As part of Her Majesty’s Platinum Jubilee Celebration Andrew Marr broadcast a series on BBC4 under the title The New Elizabethans. In episode one he talked about the new city of Milton Keynes, played the shopping centre song You’ve never seen anything like it and managed to find some footage of the Centre MK in its early days. He also used a photograph of Leon School under construction showing what was the Lower School Tower Block. WOW ! Having taken a couple of screen shots and shared them on social media there was a huge support and cross sharing.

Thank You Andrew Marr.

Not specifically the old Bletchley Gazette but we need its community focus deep within today’s media to celebrate the life of Milton Keynes City.

Growing up in Sutton Coldfield on the edge of Birmingham we has our local weekly version of the Bletchley Gazette in the Sutton News. Then every mornings there was the Birmingham Post and in the evening the Birmingham Mail. Sundays saw the Sunday Mercury and Saturday evening the Sports Argus telling all football results and more from the likes of Aston Villa and Birmingham City all the way to the local Boy Scouts on the playing field up the road. Times have changes nationally as well as locally..

But I am not writing nationally, I am writing as an Mkeneyan and complaining our local media has let us down.

Legend says that when Leon Disco was founded the first record played was Video Killed The Radio Star by The Buggles. We don’t have any radio. Stars or otherwise, today to kill !

BBC Three Counties Radio: Hertfordshire, Bedfordshire and Buckinghamshire. For a very long time Milton Keynes has been a unitary authority so not technically a part of Buckinghamshire. From its studio in wherever it is does BBC Three Counties know Milton Keynes exists.? Now Milton Keynes is a city we need BBC Radio Milton Keynes. After all we Mkeneyans pay for the BBC to exist so why can’t we have a bit of value for our money ?

BBC Look East ?  Look East from its studio and all you’ll notice is the North Sea.

Who remembers Channel 40 TV ?

Who remembers Cable Radio Milton Keynes ?

Who remembers Milton Keynes being honoured within Her Majesty’s Platinum Jubilee by being granted a city charter ? Not our local media, that’s for sure.

When I first started using social media some six years ago I know I was not of the right generation. I refuse to have my life overtaken by a dumbo smart-phone so the anti-social bit are not part of my interest. Twitter is for twits. Just look at the way the likes of Donald Trump use it and my point is proven. Facebook, however, does have a part in my life.

A little while ago I set up a public Fabebook group Mkeneyans. It has right now seventy-six members. What is the population of The City of Milton Keynes ? Mr Google what do you say ? Two hundred and twenty-nine thousand, nine hundred and forty-one.  Seventy-six versus two hundred and twenty-nine thousand, nine hundred and forty-one – we have a way to go !

 

Mkeneyans is a positive forum, it is not a friend dropping through your letter box once a week, it is your next door neighbour. If the local media is not serving we Mkeneyans, if it is not celebrating the like of our city charter and Her Majesty’s Platinum Jubilee then let’s do it ourselves.

Let’s set down some stepping stones. Seventy-Six – Seven Hundred and Six – Seven Thousand Six Hundred – Seventy-Six Thousand.

How many followers does the world’s number one Twit have on Twitter ? (He’s been banned hasn’t he ?)  In 2020 he had 79,439,308 and he twittered no fewer than 51,264 times ! Well we are not twits, we are Mkeneyans. Let’s use this book to walk our fellow citizens across the stepping stones and make our Mkeneyans Facebook Group a media to be proud of.

JOIN NOW

We built this city on Rock and Roll - YES WE DID

I am writing between five and t en thousnd words a day for Mkeneyan A Handbook For An Amazing City and loving every letter (Including tyhe typo's).

See what you think of this chapter. To help you I have enlisted the help of YouTube so you can LISTEN and READ.

We Built This City On Rock And Roll – a great hit from 1985 sung by Starship but what city is the song all about ?

San Francisco. Really ? The City by The Bay may have given us The Summer of Love and with it some great songs but they are hardly rock and roll. I have been to San Francisco more times than I care to count, it is a great place to visit but it is not somewhere I would like to live. The Summer of Love, that was 1967 and in that year Harold Wilson’s government designated an area of land in North Buckinghamshire upon which to build a new city, The New City of Milton Keynes. That is a great place to live and is most certainly a city built on Rock and Roll !

Satus Quo may have opened Live Aid in July 1985, the biggest concert the world has ever known but they also played Bletchley Youth Centre.

The all electric sound of Chicory Tip with songs like Son Of My Father and Good Grief Christina pioneered the early Moog Synthesizer within which they did so in Wilton Hall.

Half way along Whaddon Way in Bletchley today stands Cambian Bletchley Park School but once upon a time it was the home of the White Hart Pub. A friend of mine ran the pub for a time, when he booked Billy J Kramer and The Dakotas to perform he enlisted my help. My job was to look after Billy J. I had been a fan since I was at school listening to songs like Little Children, Trains and Boats and Planes and Do You Want To Know A Secret. What an amazing evening that was. Billy J is still around and I follow him on Facebook.

But Milton Keynes not only hosted mega stars like Status Quo, Billy J Kramer and Chicory Tip, it produced its own. Indeed, as I will  later explain, without Milton Keynes many of the pop legends we still listen today would never have played a single note.

In Wolverton, North Milton Keynes, you will find The Radcliffe School. This is named after one of our former members of parliament John Radcliffe. The John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford is also named after him. We are going back a bit here, John Radcliffe was born in 1650 and left us in 1714. He was our MP from 20^th March 1690 to 11^th October 1695. A bit before rock and roll !

But never mind too much about that, I want you to come back with me to 1986. Nip over to YouTube and type in The Radcliffe Rollers Steel Band, Saturday Superstore. 1986. John Radcliffe were you rocking ‘n rollin’ ?  I was !

How the Radcliffe Rollers never became an international pop sensation I will never know.  That l lad singing I Just Called To Say I Love You, Stevie Wonder he tops your pops doesn’t he ?

We built this city on Rock and Roll, YOU BET WE DID !

What was the very first vinyl single you spent your pocket money on ? (If you were born after vinyl then you have my sympathy.) Come on then what was it ?

I spent my six shillings and nine pence on African Waltz by Johnny Dankworth and his orchestra. I had my pocket money tightly held in my hand as I went with my Mum on the number 29A ‘bus to Lewis’s Department Store’s record department in Birmingham City Centre.  My little boy’s mind was in a quandary, I could not decide if I should buy Rubber Ball by Bobby Vee or Hats Off To Larry by Del Shannon. I only had six and nine, not thirteen and six so I could not buy both. Then Destiny stepped in and I came home with African Waltz by Johnny Dankworth.

Destiny ! Two decades later I would move to Milton Keynes where lived Johnny Dankworth. Seven years after that I would get married to the love of my life who grew up and lived just down the road from Johnny Dankworth. Johnny Dankworth and his wife Cleo Laine. each a giant of music in their own right but together they gave more music to Milton Keynes than San Francisco could imagine in its wildest dreams.

Cleo Laine’s vocal range exceeds three octaves. She is the only female performer to have received Grammy nominations in the jazz, popular and classical music categories.

They lived, indeed Cleo still does live, in The Old Rectory Wavendon, just along the road from where the Milton Keynes Development Corporation had its headquarters.

WAP. What WAP ? Wavendon All-music Plan. This was something the duo set up in their back garden. Today it is the internationally famous Stables Theatre.

Where would Milton Keynes be without John Dankworth and Cleo Laine ?

Johnny Dankworth and Cleo Laine jazz musicians ?  Not rock and roll. Stop splitting hairs, when it comes to building our city on Rock and Roll this husband and wife duo are rock solid foundation stones.

My name is David but I write under the pen-name of Max Robinson. When it comes to playing music I wear the headphones of The Geriatric DJ.  On 22^nd March 2020 I published an e-book The Fantasies Of A Geriatric DJ. Then later in the same year, on 5^th September I published both as an e-book and in  paperback format Pip Diamond The Prince Of Rock And Roll. A central character in both stories in Elvis Presley.

It is said that Elvis Presley never came to Great Britain. What was it Samuel Langhorne Clemens said: It may be history, it may be only a legend, a tradition. It may have happened, it may not have happened: but it could have happened.

Mark Twain, allow me to add a couple of my own words to your philosophy. It may be history, it may be only a legend, a tradition. It may have happened, it may not have happened: but it could have happened. WHO CARES !

You will find within Crown Hill Milton Keynes a road named after The King of Rock and Roll. Actually it’s a WAY – PRESLEY WAY.

Here are a few others to be found within this designated area of our city’s rock and roll.

Armstrong Close (Lois Armstrong)   Atwell Close (Winifred Atwell)   Bolan Court (Marc Bolan)   Chevalier Grove (Maurice Chevalier)   Cochran Close (Eddie Cochran)   Cogan Court (Alma Cogan)   Fury Court (Billy Fury)   Hendrix Drive (Jimmy Hendrix)  Holly Close (Buddy Holly)   Joplin Court (Scott Joplin)   Lennon Drive (John Lennon)   Marley Grove (Bob Marley)   Mercury Grove (Freddie Mercury)   Monro Avenue (Marylin Monro)   Orbison Court (Roy Orbison) Valens Close (Richie Valens) and Presley Way (Elvis Presley)

There are many more, go and check them out for yourself. We built this city on Rock and Roll,

The song which has been recorded more than any other is Amazing Grace which was composed in Milton Keynes. In my opinion and that  of the Geriatric DJ by far the best version of all is by The King of Rock and Roll himself, Elvis Presley.

In the days when Milton Keynes had a radio station, Horizon Radio, that  was located in Crown Hill.

What have Freddie Mercury, Michael Jackson and David Bowie all got in common ? (Apart from the fact that they are dead.)

They all played The National Bowl in Milton Keynes. Sometimes it is called the Milton Keynes Bowl but that is not right, it is The National Bowl. In its heyday it was second only to The Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles. Today it is a shadow of its former self hosting a weekly car boot sale and a car auction. That’s not down to a failure within the site but quite simply we do not today have music of the quality Freddie Mercury and Queen, David Bowie and Michael Jackson gave to us. Brian May of Queen, a biodiversity champion, wanted to stage a concert similar to Live Aid in support of climate protection.  Perhaps he could have staged it at The National Bowl in Milton Keynes, but he gave up on the idea as there simply are not the bands around today who could draw such a crowd.

I haven’t measured it but I estimate my home is about two miles from the National Bowl. When concerts from Queen, Bowie and Michael Jackson were performed I could sit in my garden and enjoy the music free of charge.

When David Bowie performed there was traffic chaos within Milton Keynes grid road system, so many people attended the carefully designed H and V roads could not cope. It was an incredibly hot day, water was sprayed across the crowd to keep the fans cool. It could not, however, turn down the heat of Bowie’s cool music.

Cliff Richard, the Peter Pan of pop music, did not play the National Bowl but he did play Bletchley Leisure Centre. I went to listen to him. His hit Wired For Sound came at a time when vinyl was being replaced by cassette tapes and through which you could listen to it on the move. Cliff recorded the video for this track in Central Milton Keynes.

Sadly this has been removed from YouTube. It was a great piece of filming. I used to joke it could never happen today. I could not happen perhaps because at eighty-one years of age he has probably retired from roller skating. The underpass where he skated was to become part of Milton Keynes Tent City. Beyond that I doubt the production team would be able to afford the parking charges !

It may be history, it may be only a legend, a tradition. It may have happened, it may not have happened: but it could have happened. WHO CARES !

During World War Two Wilton Hall was a social and entertainment centre for those cracking codes and so on.  I have tried to start a legend. Did Vera Lynn The Forces Favourite play Wilton Hall ?  Never mind Berkley Square, did a nightingale sing in Bletchley Park.

It may have happened, it may not have happened: but it could have happened. But if it did happen it will still be covered by The Official Secrets Act.

Leon Disco. In the 1970’s and 1980’s its twin deck was a local legend. Some think I founded Leon Disco but that is not true, it was all down to Leon School Headmaster David Bradshaw.

Originally he hired a local mobile disco to perform in the Lower School Hall every Tuesday evening. He didn’t exactly rock and roll but he loved pop music. When I joined the teaching staff in 1976 he told, told me not invited me, to be a part of it. When the last track was played my job was to turn on the lights and make sure all the kids made an orderly exit. Headmaster Bradshaw ?  His job was to sweep the floor. How many headmasters today would run a weekly disco and how many would know what a broom is for ?

This was all very well but Headmaster Bradshaw decided to take things to a higher level. The school lunch hour was actually an hour and a half. He came up with the idea that a lunchtime disco would keep the kids out of mischief. He handed over a wedge of cash and said to me: Here’s the money, Go and buy the equipment and make it happen.

Indeed it did happen. I took Headmaster Bradshaw’s funding to MAN Music in Duncombe street an exchanged it for a disco twin-deck. MAN Music = Marshall and Nun, Marshall being the son of Jim Marshall The Lord of Loud,

When David Bradshaw retired his headmastership was taken over by Bruce Abbott who allowed the disco to continue. He introduced to the curriculum a subject PSE – Personal and Social Education. As Head of Year Nine I invited a gentleman to come and speak to my students about a brand new charity he was working to set up. That charity was Willen Hospice. He inspired those teenagers so much they had me take an idea to Mr Abbott. Could we have a sponsored twenty-four hour disco to raise money to help Willen Hospice happen.

Leon Disco has gone down as a legend in Milton Keynes with Willen Hospice today a living legend.

Life is a Disco so Dance

A prolific writer I may be, I am probably the most prolific Amazon Authors. What I am not is a best-selling writer. I will not be remembered as an author, not never no way but I would like to be remembered as a philosopher.

In December 2021 I published an e-book PLATO I AM NOT I’M ONLY ME within which I share my own personal life maxims. In January of that year, also in e-book format, I published MILTON KEYNES A DISCO FOR A NEW CITY. Within both I speak of my snipped of philosophy LIFE IS A DISCO SO DANCE.

Within our building this city of rock and roll what track shall I request the DJ to play ?

It has to be D.I.S.C.O. by Ottawan.

What track would you like to play ?  Let’s ask a few Mkeneyans for their favourite tracks.

MIKE BARRY Former mayor of Milton Keynes and one time programme controller of Radio CRMK and mentor to my writing this book. TEXT TO ADD

DAVIS HOPKINS Another mentor and mayor of Milton Keynes, mayor during our city’s fiftieth year.  David you are a great music fan so what would you choose ? TEXT TO ADD

IAIN STEWART and BEN EVERETT which songs do you rock and roll to ? TEXT TO ADD

For our ancient Fenny Poppers let’s play BOOM BANG A BANG by Lulu.

And for former mayor and boss of Taylors Dairies, David Taylor this is for you NO MILK TODAY by Hermans Hermits.

Sorry former may Brian Baldry I have to play this for you THE WHEEL ON THE BUS GO ROUND AND ROUND .

Sam Crooks, another member of the Milton Keynes Chain Gain and mentor of my writing, what can we play for you ? TEXT TO ADD

We built this city on Rock and Roll. As we celebrate Milton Keynes being awarded its city charter our very first Milton Keynes City Mayor Amanda Marlow what can we play for you ? TEXT TO ADD

We built this city on rock and roll. You bet we did ! But without Mkeneyan Jim Marshall aka The Lord of Loud there would right across the world be but a tiny fraction

Jim Marshall Lord of Loud

Once upon a time in Queensway Bletchley was a music shop run by a certain Jim Marshall. That was on the ground floor, upstairs Jim ran a drumming school. From this grew Marshall Amplification producing music amplifiers used by the greatest band ever to give us music. Marshall Amplification, of course, still celebrates music to this very day.

I have talked a bit about my philosophy and life maxims, Jim Marshall’s was TURN IT UP TO ELEVEN. On all Marshall amplifiers the volume control goes not to ten but eleven. Jim became known as The Lord of Loud. Without him, without Marshall Amplification there would be but a fraction of the rock and roll upon which to build our city.

If you go to the Hollywood Walk of Fame you will find Jim Marshall’s name on the pavements. Thrust me you will, I have been there and I have seen it. What a fitting accolade to Milton Keynes the city built on rock and roll.

Jim was a very generous and community minded man, when it came to money for music projects his philosophy was: The answer is yes, now how much do you want ?

Jim Marshall was a great supporter of Leon School’s music department headed by Daphne Capp.  Jim passed away in April 2012, Daphne is still very much with us and is a dear friend. Her late husband Don played the organ at my wedding.

One of Daphne’s projects which Jim Marshall supported was the school’s performance of Jim Wayne’s War Of The Worlds which packed the sports hall in Bletchley Leisure Centre. If it had played on the stage of The National Bowl it may well have attracted a bigger crowd than Freddie Mercury, Michael Jackson and David Bowie put together.

Within my YouTube channel I have a collection of tracks which I have grouped under the title If it aint vinyl then it aint music. And within my life maxims there is LIFE IS LIKE A VINYL RECORD – IF IT DOES NOT CRACKLE YOU ARE NOT PLAYING IT ENOUGH.

Be patient, I am coming to the point in a moment.

Go to YouTube and ,listen to Groovy Kind Of Love. Go for the Wayne Fontana and the Mindbenders version.

What is groovy and what is the point ?

Groovy means fun, happy, special and more. In the Swinging Sixties groovy was a word in every day use. The grooves were to be found on vinyl records. The point ? That was the tip of the diamond stylus on the record player which took the music from the grooves and out into the loudspeaker.

In Water Eaton there used to be a factory STYLUS SUPPLIES MOUNTINGS which made the bits for record players to play the music. Another foundation stone upon which the City of Rock and Roll we know as Milton Keynes was built.

Did you know that Bon Jovi did a photo shoot at Bill Billings Peartree Bridge Dinosaur. Nip over, take your silly smart-phone with you and listen to Livin’ On A Prayer while you pat the dinosaur’s head.

Using that silly smart-phone you will be dipping into satellite technology, you will probably have used a sat nav in your car to drive you to Peartree Bridge. When you say bye-bye to the dinosaur head to Whaddon Way in West Bletchley.

Telstar was the world’s first telecommunication satellite launched by NASA on Sunday 10^th June 1962. A fabulous British pop group The Tornados celebrate with a vinyl single Telstar, obviously named after the satellite. On Whaddon Way a pub opened calling itself The Satellite. We built this city on Rock and Roll.

The Stadium MK, one of the finest modern-day football stadiums in the county. The City of Milton Keynes has yet to find football to match its fineness but when Rod Stewart wanted a venue for a concert he looked no further than the Stadium MK.

Are you a fan of the ballet ?  I am. Slip down to Furzton Lake, Milton Keynes very own Swan Lake. Wouldn’t it be nice if all cities were like Milton Keynes – wouldn’t it be amazing if all lakes were like Furzton.

When The Centre MK opened Milton Keynes Shopping Management decided it would release a seven inch vinyl record and try to get it into the charts. You’ve Never Seen Anything Like It – The Central Milton Keynes Shopping Song.  It was a bit of fun but as for its chart position, somewhere near the bottom of the Top Ten Thousand I think.

The National Bowl Milton Keynes, the beautiful television advert which we have today come to call The Red Balloon Advert had its final scene filmed in there. That final scene ending with the iconic words Wouldn’t it be nice if all cities were like Milton Keynes.

Wouldn’t it be nice if all cities were like Milton Keynes – Wouldn’t it be nice if all cities were built on rock and roll like Milton Keynes.