In a moment I will tell you who I have placed on MY list and invite you to compile YOUR list but first of all let me give you a little bit of background information. Milton Keynes Worthies is a chapter in my book Milton Keynes TheCity Of Legend and everyone on my list is a legend within the heritage of our City.
If you visit Stowe National Trust near Buckingham you will find the Temple of the British Worthies. Make sure you check it out next time you visit and you will find sixteen people there named.
Sir Thomas Gresham
Ignatius Jones John Milton William Shakespeare
John Locke Sir
Isaac Newton Sir Francis Bacon King Alfred
Edward Prince of Wales
Queen Elizabeth King William
III Sir Walter Raleigh
Sir Francis Drake John Hampden Sir John Barnard Signiory Fido
As we celebrate our wonderful City of Milton Keynes which sixteen worthies should we include ?
ONE: Prime Minister Harold Wilson
TWO: Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II
THREE/FOUR: Jonny Dankworth and Cleo Lane
FIVE: Jim Marshall The Lord of Loud
SIX: Jock (Lord) Campbell of Eskan
SEVEN/EIGHT: Sir Herbert and Lady Fanny Leon
NINE: Bill Billings
TEN:
Bruce
Abbott
ELEVEN:
Fred
Lloyd Roche
TWELVE:
David
Taylor
THIRTEEN:
Sir
Frank Markham
FOURTEEN:
Jennie
Lee
FIFTEEN:
Doctor
Peter Jarvis
SIXTEEN: Doreen Adcock
HAROLD WILSON
Harold Wilson was born on Saturday 11th March 1916 and left us on Wednesday 24th May 1995. He served as Prime Minister from 1964 to 1970 and again from 1974 to 1976.
It was in 1967 that Harold Wilson’s government announced an area of land was to be designated in North Buckinghamshire for the building of a new city. He gave us Milton Keynes. Prime Minister Wilson also gave us The Open University co-founding it with Jennie Lee, Harold Wilson’s son became a Professor of Mathematics at The Open University. Without Harold Wilson there would be no Milton Keynes within which to have a single worthy.
HER MAJESTY QUEEN ELIZABETH II
Our celebrated monarch, the longest serving our proud country has ever seen, was born on Wednesday 21st April 1926 the daughter of The Duke and Duchess of York. When King Edward VIII abdicated the throne on 11th December 1936 her father became King George VI and Princes Elizabeth heir to the throne. On the death of her father King George VI on 6th February 1952 she became Queen Elizabeth II. Her coronation took place on 2nd June 1953.
Our monarch over the years made several visits to Milton Keynes. It was in May 2022 within her Platinum Jubilee celebration that she conferred a city charter on our home. This has to be the greatest honour to have been bestowed upon Milton Keynes and it will never be surpassed. We have waited across decades for our New City to become a real City. This happening within Her Majesty’s Platinum Jubilee has enhanced the honour.
Shortly after bestowing this honour on our home making Milton Keynes a real New City Her Majesty passed away on Thursday 8th September 2022. The whole world mourned her passing but celebrated her life, Milton Keynes celebrated with thanks and gratitude her reign within which Milton Keynes became the city that truly is.
JONNY DANKWORTH AND CLEO LANE
John Dankworth was born on Tuesday 20th September 1927 and left us on Saturday 6th February 2010. He was knighted by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II in 2006. He was the first British jazz musician to receive this honour.
John (Johnny Dankworth) and Cleo Laine were married in 1958.
Cleo Laine was born on Friday 28th October 1927.
JIM MARSHALL THE LORD OF LOUD
Jim was born on Sunday 29th July 1923 and left us on Thursday 5th April 2012.
He too is celebrated in the Milton Keynes City Of Legend chapter WE BUILT THIS CITY ON ROCK AND ROLL, indeed without Jim Marshall much of the rock and roll we know within the world would not have happened. Jim is celebrated on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, I am also celebrating him here as a Milton Keynes Worthy.
John Middleton Campbell Baron Campbell of Eskan was born on Thursday 8th August 1912 and left us on Monday 26th December 1994. To his family he was known as Jock, a smiling nick-name which found its way into the New City of Milton Keynes.
He was the chairman of Booker Brothers, McConnell and Co which became Booker-McConnell. He was created a life peer on 14th January 1966 when he took the title Baron Campbell of Eskan. (Camis Eskan in the County of Durham)
He gave us the Booker Prize, formerly known as the Booker Prize for Fiction and the Man Booker Prize. This is a literary prize awarded each year for the best novel written in English and published in the United Kingdom or Ireland. Owch Jock, I have never won it myself !
Beyond all of this Jock Lord Campbell of Eskin was the chairman of Milton Keynes Development Corporation. He is celebrated with Campbell Park but needs to be further celebrated as a Milton Keynes Worthy.
The Leon Family came to Bletchley in 1883. Sir Herbert Leon left us in 1926, Lady Fanny Leon departed in 1936. Their time as Mkeneyans was short compared to the areas of legend and heritage I discuss within this book but they gave so much to our community, a heritage upon which society proudly stands today.
BILL BILLINGS
Bill was a larger than life character who I am proud to be able to say I worked with. No, I am not an artist I simply administered one of his projects.
In the early days of Milton Keynes, in the 1970's, lorry driver Brian Billings came from London to work on the building sites of the New City.
It was far, far more than houses Brian, better known as Bill, had a hand in building. In 1980 his work was recognised with an honory degree from The Open University, itself a Milton Keynes icon and landmark. In 2000 he was awarded an MBE by HM Queen Elizabeth II. Sadly, Bill left us on Boxing Day 2007 but his work is a legend and will remain so for decades to come. Milton Keynes would not be Milton Keynes without Bill Billings. Bill Billings is certainly a Milton Keynes worthy.
Bill was not the concrete cows, not the originals anyway. These were three cows and three calves built by artist Liz Leyh in 1978. It was The BBC's DJ and presenter Noel Edmunds who made the cows famous. He was forever making jokes saying how Milton Keynes was closing farms to build houses and factories so throwing out the real cows but replacing them with concrete cows to match the concrete fields !
Too fragile now to be left in the open those original cows are in a museum, but their replacement are indeed the work of Bill Billings.
Another celebrated landmark is The Peartree Bridge Dinosaur built by Bill way back in 1979.
Who remembers as a child climbing on to the back of Bill's dinosaur ? Bon Jovi did a photoshoot at the Peartree Dinosaur.
Bill gave us a wonderful heritage display near Wolverton a heritage display which is itself a display of heritage today.
Bill also gave us the Leon Dinosaur which I talk at length about in another chapter. At the risk of repeating myself this is something from Volume One Not The Concrete Cows adapted from one of my feature articles in the early 1990’s in the Milton Keynes Citizen.
JURASSIC CLASSIC:
Steven Speilberg - Jurassic Park ? Forget it. Crowds flocking to cinema screens up and down the country, media hype, marketing bandwagons covering everything from tee shirts to birthday cakes. Anyone would think that Mr Speilberg and Universal Studios invented the species. Well the silver screen mogul is very much mistaken, Milton Keynes has had its own Jurassic Classic for years.
Every British Rail passenger travelling up and down the main line through Bletchley could be forgiven for thinking themselves victims of a time warp. Either that or perhaps they wonder if the eight thirty-two out of Euston has taken a wrong turning and ended up in Hollywood California. For there, snarling at all and towering thirty feet above its surroundings is a life size Tyrannosaurus !
But this specimen is, for the most part, friendly and being constructed out of reinforced concrete not likely to terrorise anyone. Living at the bottom of Leon School's playing field this particular dinosaur was built under the direction of local artist Bill Billings. During the spring and summer of 1991 Bill and a team of Leon students dug out foundations and erected a steel frame support before casting the beast in concrete.
Although Central Television showed an initial interest in the statue it has entered the landmark scene of Milton Keynes and been taken so much for granted it is anything but forgotten. But T Rex is not the only one of Bill Billings Jurassic creations to roam the city. A few miles along Marlborough Street, at Peartree Bridge, is Triceratops again sculptured in concrete and this particular dinosaur came to live in Milton Keynes fifteen years ago.
Standing in the grounds of the Interaction youth project at The Old Rectory, Peartree Bridge, this dinosaur has been featured in a Bon Jovi video and was, for a time, the subject of the most popular selling post card of Milton Keynes. Unfortunately, the trees along the V8 have matured now to the point where the sculpture can no longer be seen from the road. But next time you are in the area turn off towards Waterside and admire this particular landmark.
So Mr Speilberg you may have become a legend in your own time but so, in Milton Keynes, has Bill Billings. Then when your Jurassic Park is consigned to the discount shelves of the video stores then repeated every Boxing Day on our televisions Bill's creations will still be in their youth. And who knows Bill may have another Jurassic Classic in mind to graze on the planes of our city !
Reading that article now I am smiling at somewhat dated wording video stores, what were they ?
From Brian Billings lorry driver to Bill Billings community artist, a true Milton Keynes Worthy.
Bruce’s attitude to education was value added. Providing a child came into school at one level, physically, socially and academically then left at a higher level of achievement with value having been added to life the school had been a success. He was a headmaster ahead of his time and one today many strive to catch up.
Personally during some hard time in my life with my daughter in and our of hospital Bruce and his wife were a source of so much encouragement, love and support. Bruce Abbott is a Milton Keynes Worthy to be recognised and applauded.
FRED LLOYD ROCHE
Milton Keynes did not just happen you know ! There was a lot that happened between Harold
Fred was born on 11th March 1931 and left us on 9th November 1992.
He was Chief Architect of Runcorn Development Corporation from 1965 to 1970 when he moved to become General Manager of Milton Keynes Development Corporation.
Without this gentleman there would be no Milton Keynes within which to have a single Worthy and so his name must rightly appear on the list.
DAVID TAYLOR
You won’t find this gentleman on Wikipedia, the font of all knowledge, but a Google search will direct you to areas of my writing.
David Taylor was Mayor of Milton Keynes from 1987 to 1988. I knew and worked extensively with Mayor Taylor as I have explained in other areas of this book. He was an inspirational man who have so much to our New City and put in place much heritage upon which The CITY of Milton Keynes so proudly stands today. In naming Mayor David Taylor as one of my Milton Keynes Worthies I am celebrating all his achievements as placing him here as a representative of all Milton Keynes Mayors, those who served before him, those who served after him and those who have yet to serve.
SIR FRANK MARKHAM
If it were not for Sir Frank Markham my writing would be confined to fiction stories and the like
In the 1950 general election Frank Markham stood as the conservative candidate in the Buckingham Constituency but failed to beat the sitting labour member Aiden Crawley. In the 1951 general election he beat Crawley with a slender majority of fifty-four votes. With further narrow majorities he held the seat in 1955 and 1959 elections. He stood down before the 1964 general election.
He was given a Knighthood on 30th June 1953 by Queen Elizabeth in her Coronation Honours list.
When Frank Markham entered the House of Commons in 1951 Winston Churchill was Prime Minister. When Churchill stood down in April 1955 Sir Frank Markham served under Sir Anthony Eden until 1957 and then under Harold McMillan until 1963 and then Sir Alec Douglas Home until the 1964 general election.
Sir Frank Markham gave us so much beyond being our member of parliament, he is a true Milton Keynes Worthy.
JENNIE LEE
Jennie Lee was Minister for Arts in Harold Wilson’s Government. When he shared his idea for a university on the air she took it forward the co-founded with Prime Minister Harold Wilson the now world famous Open University.
Janet Lee was born on Thursday 3rd November 1904 and left us on Wednesday 16th November 1988. In 1934 she married Aneurin Bevan whose work gave us our National Health Service. Bevan died in 1960, seven years before the birth of Milton Keynes.
In
the old Bletchley Leisure Centre was the ever popular Jennie Lee Theatre. That
memorial to her work is long gone and to many Mkeneyans she is unknown. I
believe she deserves recognition, I place her on my list of Milton Keynes
Worthies.
DOCTOR PETER JARVIS
Doctor Peter Jarvis features in my book NHS – National Happy Smiles. When I came to Milton Keynes as a student teacher Doctor Jarvis was the college doctor as well as a local GP. When I graduated I joined his practice as a patient then as my family came along so did every member. Doctor Jarvis is more than a general practitioner, through his community involvement he has given much to our heritage. Indeed in his book Sir Frank Markham published a picture of Rectory Cottages in Bletchley acknowledging Doctor Jarvis providing it. Rectory Cottages was where our wedding reception was held and the booking was made with the help of Doctor Jarvis. When my daughter Rebekah died Doctor Jarvis wrote a beautiful letter to our family. Meeting him a few weeks later at a community event I thanked him. He set aside my praise saying he was simply doing what was right from someone who cared. Yes Doctor Jarvis you have cared for our community for more than fifty years, cared in so many different ways. Her Majesty The Queen may not have honoured you but Milton Keynes does, you are a Milton Keynes Worthy.
When the Olympic Games came to London in 2012 Doreen Adcock was one of those who carried its flame through Milton Keynes.
Doreen’s motto was that no child was too difficult or disabled to teach. It would be difficult to count how many people she taught to swim. I wish she had taught me. I am adding her to my Milton Keynes Worthies as someone who gave much to our community. If only there were more like her.
So
there you have my nominations for our sixteen Milton Keynes Worthies. Who would
you place on your list ? Please share your thoughts and celebrate those who
enabled Milton Keynes to be worth of its city charter.
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