Peter's Magic Fountain Pen

 

Grandpa Morgan

 

PETER'S MAGIC FOUNTAIN PEN

In September 1992 for my son's 12th birtrhday I wrote him a story PETER'S MAGIC FOUNTAIN PEN.  This was the first book I ever had published. That was in the nown old-fashioned traditional way before Amazon revolutionised story telling. It is available in e-book format. I am now working to have this published in paperback format.

There are one hundred and eleven books, short stories and so on to be found on my Amazon Bookshelf. www.maxrobinsonwriter.com 

I am probably the most prolific writer on Amazon but in terms of sales I am right at the bottom !

I use all the money I do make within our SMILE project. Have you read any of my stories ? I mean rubbish ! www.maxrobinsonwriter.com 

When Amazon publishes this book, I hope to finish everything by Wednesday 20th July I will send a copy to each one of the ten Ronald McDonald Houses around the world we support.

Ten houses of love caring for families who have a child sick in hospital. The book can go into the library for families to read.

Complete with typo's, I have yet to check them, here is the opening chapter. PLEASE have a read and encourage me,

Sir Richard James Morgan QC

Born 14^th September 1900

The scene that met Peter when he came home from school that day meant only one thing. The house had an air of spring cleaning, even if it was mid-October, the hoover was bellowing its voice somewhere upstairs and there was the smell of fresh polish in the living room. The downstairs loo had blue stuff in the water, there were fresh flowers in the hall and the bowls of pot-pourri everywhere. That thing just had to be Grandpa Morgan.

“What time’s he coming ?” Peter asked

“Said he’d be here by six o’clock,” replied his mother somewhat out of breath after her battle with the vacuum cleaner. “Take your school things away, have a bath and smarten yourself up. I’ve got to try to organise something for dinner. Grandpa Morgan is hardly likely to appreciate the fish fingers and chips I had planned.”

“Why is he coming ?”

“Since when has that man ever needed a reason for anything he does ? He just gets on an aircraft, jets half way around the world then expects everyone to drop everything and fall into place.”

Peter picked up his school bag and headed towards his room. Why was it that Grandpa Morgan always brought on an attack of terminal panic in his mother ? She dreaded his visits so much and the trouble was that no one ever quite knew when he was going to turn up. Half of the time the family never knew where in the world he was. Just a telephone call giving a couple of hours’ notice, something which would send his mother’s blood pressure to a point measurable on the Richter Scale, and then he would be there on the doorstep.

Strictly speaking, he was not Peter’s grandfather at all, but his father’s grandfather. Peter had no idea just how old Grandpa Morgan was but he had to be very old in spite of the highly active lifestyle he led. His son, Peter’s real grandfather, had died in a car accident the day Peter had been born and his mother’s father had died when Mum was a child so Grandpa Morgan had always been his only grandfather. But just how old was he ?

Peter knew that Dad was forty-two. If dad’s father had been twenty-five when Dad had been born and Grandpa Morgan twenty-five when his son had been born, that would make Grandpa Morgan, Peter paused in his calculating, ninety-two ! That was old, even ancient. Ninety-two, it was an incredible age.

Peter did not know it, but his estimation of Grandpa Morgan’s advance age was not all that far from being right although his method of calculating the figure was a little out of line. He loved his great-grandfather so very dearly, there was a special bond between them that spanned four generations. It was not because he was rich or famous, although Peter was not beyond boasting from time to time to his friends at school about his celebrated relation, but simply because he found him the most wonderful and fascinating person in the whole world. The calculation of Grandpa Morgan’s age suddenly frightened Peter, posing questions he had never before thought of. How much longer could he live ? Life without him would not be the same.

Sir Richard Morgan’s tale was not one of rags to riches, far from it, he was born into a family which had at its head The Right Reverend Doctor James Edward Morgan, Bishop of Colchester. Doctor Morgan had two daughters, both much older than Grandpa and long since dead but just the one son, Peter’s great-grandfather. This son was was sent to school I one of the nation’s most famous and expensive public schools before going on to Oxford University where he read law. Shortly after her coronation the Queen selected Grandpa Morgan as one of her Queen’s Councillors, Learned in the Law, and twenty years later again he knelt before her this time to receive a knighthood. It was not the legal profession, however, that earned him his title, or for that matter his vast fortune, but his becoming one of the world’s best selling authors of all time.

It was a career taken up quite late in life and certainly not until well after the death of The Right Reverend Doctor James Edward Morgan who certainly would have frowned upon such a frivolous occupation but since he had first put pen to paper Grandpa Morgan’s books had been in the top selling lists, remaining there for decades. Several had been turned into films and peter always overfilled with silent pride when he saw the credits roll up on the TV: Original Story by Sir Richard Morgan. Of late he had turned to writing crime thrillers and a series featuring one of his characters, Inspector Blackwell, was currently running on ITV. Even at his advanced age Grandpa Morgan was still turning out a novel at the rate of two a year..

“Peter, Peter have you finished in the bathroom yet ? Janet’s home and waiting to get in there.”

Finished ? Gosh he had hardly started. “What about the other bathroom ?”

“I’m about to go in there.”

What chaos Grandpa’s visits caused to the tranquillity of the Morgan home.

“Won’t be long.”  But he was.

Peter passed Janet in the hall-way and could not avoid her scolding. “Thank you very much little brother, so kind of you at long last ! What’s the matter with you ? What’s the matter with you ? Don’t you want me to make myself look good for the old man then ? Or are you afraid of losing your place as his favourite great-grandchild ? he must be a hundred if he’s a day and just can’t go on for ever even if all his books do. You may be OK but the rest of us don’t want him to cut us out of his will at this late stage do we ? Not after Mother’s worked so hard all these years to secure our inheritance !”

Peter hated the way she was speaking but he had heard it before and it was not  out of character. Big sisters were born to be unkind but surely she wasn’t interested in Grandpa only because of all his money. No, it couldn’t be true that was why his mother always made such a fuss when he visited, but  was it ?  Could it be possible ?

The telephone rang. It was Dad. “Peter, is Mum there ?”

“She’s in the bath.”

Dad was a little relieved that his wife could not come to the phone but. Guilty at having put his son in then role of messenger, he knew exactly what his wife’s reaction would be. “Look, tell her I’ve been delayed at the hospital, will you. I doubt I’ll be home much before eight.”

Eight !  Thank you very much Dad !  peter knew exactly what his mother would say to that piece of information.

“OK, I’ll tell her.”

“Thanks Son, I’m sorry.”

He had hardly put the phone down when the door bell rang. Being the sole person in the house not immersed in a bath full of water he had no alternative but to answer it. There, in all his considerable glory, stood Grandpa Morgan. Peter glanced at his watch, Grandpa was early, very early.

“Grandpa,” Peter exclaimed with delight at seeing his favourite relative again and at the same time searching his brain for a way to explain the absence of his mother. “We weren’t expecting you until six.”

“Never too early to see my favourite great-grandson. Come to think of it myb only great-grandson.”

Grandpa Morgan did not wait to be invited in, he never waited to be invited to do anything, but made his own way into the living room. He was dutifully followed by a chauffeur holding a large blue suitcase in each hand.

“Just put them down, Paul, my grandson here will take them up to my room for me. You can go off now. Drive back to the London flat and I’ll telephone you when nI’mn ready for you to come back to collect me.

“Very good, Sir Richard.”

“Right then, my fine young fellow, just what have you been doing with yourself since I last saw you ?”

“Nothing much,” Peter confessed, “just school.”

“Just school, you poor boy, that doesn’t sound very interesting. Now, I’ve just come back from a month in San Francisco. It’s a wonderful city, you must go there some time.”

“Don’t they have earthquakes there ?”

“Earthquakes, theatres, opera, fine restaurants and everything else a man could possibly want,” Grandpa chuckled.

“I think I’d better let Mum know that you are here,” Peter rose nervously anticipating his mother’s reaction and he hadn’t yet told her about Dad being late home from work. “She won’t be long, I think she is still in the bath.”

He thought he might just possibly have heard his mother swear through the bathroom door when he told her of their visitor’s early arrival. He was certain he heard she swore when he explained that Dad wouldn’t be home until eight.

“Sir Richard,” Mum beamed, arms outstretched. “How simply lovely to see you again. I do apologise for keeping you, we weren’t expecting you quite son early. Janet will be down to join us in a little while.”

“Lovely to see you too, my dear, but I hope my unexpected visit has not caused you to go to any trouble.”

“Oh, no, of course not, not at all.”

“Liar,” Peter thought. He did not like the way his mother was falling over herself to be nice to Grandpa Morgan when less than an hour ago she was cursing his visit with every breath. Perhaps it was nerves or was it something else ? Was Janet right in what she had said ?

“I am afraid David has been held up at the hospital so I wasn’t planning to eat until about eight.  Will that be all right with you ?”

“Penalty of being such a fine surgeon. Whatever time you plan to eat will suit me and don’t you go to any trouble. No trouble at all, please. Beans on toast would be perfectly fine for me.”

Peter doubted his great-grandfather had ever eaten beans on toast in his entire life and could not picture his mother serving them on the best china in the family dining room. What a nightmare.

“Now, could Peter possibly help me upstairs with my bags and then I’ve got something I would like to talk to him about.”

“Sure Grandpa, this way.”

The old man took his time walking up the stairs and into the bedroom. He closed the door behind them and turned the key in the lock. Peter was puzzled, why had he done that ?

“Peter sit down. I need to talk t o you.” Grandpa Morgan was speaking quietly and was strangely serious. It made Peter feel just a little uncomfortable but he did as he was told.

“No need to look quite so worried my young grandson. What I have to say is very important but nothing at all to be afraid of.”

“I’m not afraid.”

“Apprehensive then, now listen. I have just made a new will, you know what a will is Peter, don’t you ?”

“Yes, Grandpa.”

“Well I’m going to die next year and…”

Peter began to protest, trying to say that Grandpa Morgan had a long time left to live but the old man silenced him with a gentle wave of the hand.

“Within twelve months of today, Peter, In will be dead. You mustn’t be sad, I’m ninety-two already.”

So Peter’s calculations had been correct.

“In my will I am going to leave you these.” He took from his pocket a pen and a folded sheet of paper. He placed them on the bed. Peter went to pick them up.

“Not yet, Peter, just leave them for the moment. In need to explain to you what they are and how ton use them. My father explained their use to me and his father to him. My own son is dead and your father, my grandson is a highly successful man in his own right so he won’t need them. I have decided, therefore, to pass by two generations and leave these most valuable possessions ton you. Do you understand that much ?”

“Yes, Grandpa,” Peter replied. It wasn’t exactly a lie but he did not have a clue what the old man was talking about.

Grandpa smiled.  “I’m not making a very good job of this am I ?  You know for a man who earns his living with words I should be able to do better. For hours on the plane coming over I tried to decide how to put things. Let me try to explain. Have you ever heard of Captain Henry Morgan ?”

“Wasn’t he a pirate ?”

“Among other things, he most certainly was. He was one of the most feared pirates of all time. At his height he had thirty-seven ships and two thousand men under his command. When he retired from piracy he lived a perfectly respectable life as Governor of Jamaica and died in hi bed. Tio die in your own bed was something quite rare for a pirate.”

Peter listened with interest. He thought he knew perhaps what Grandpa was about to say.

“Peter henry Morgan was your ancestor. He lived thirteen generations ago in the family. You can work out how many great-greats that is, but he was your grand-father.”

That was quite exciting. “Are you going to write a book about him then Grandpa ?”

“No, Peter In am not planning to write a book about him although the idea is a good one. You can look at that sheet of paper now.”

Peter picked up and unfolded the sheet, turning it round to read its writing. Written in his grandfather’s mown hand it was titled: The Morgan family Line – Male Heirs 1649+

“You must promise me, Peter, that if I explain all of this you will not breathe a word to another living soul until the time comes for you to explain to your own son. Do you promise me that ?”

“I promise.”

“It is not a promise to be made lightly. It will also mean that when you get married you will have just one son, you can have as many daughters as you wish, but you will have only one son. The line must pass directly, you see there can be no complications, and you may think that is too high a price to pay.”

Peter hadn’t got a clue what on earth Grandpa Morgan was talking about. What was all this about sons ? he had never thought about getting married, let alone having any children of his own. He was after all only twelve years of age and had yet to find his first girlfriend, but of one thing he was sure and that was one of Grandpa’s fascinating stories was about to unfold.

“Do you want me to go on Peter ?”

Peter nodded.

“Are you sure ?”

He nodded again.

“Henry Morgan,” Grandpa explained, “had a son James Henry Morgan. Born on 27^th January 1649. He was not so lucky as his father and was executed on Christmas Day 1700 for the crime of piracy !”

Peter settled himself into one of the bedroom chairs. Yes, this was definitely one of Grandpa Morgan’s stories, perhaps it was about to be turned into a film.

“Before pirate Morgan died he gave to his son, who was Peter John Morgan, that pen.”

Peter glanced from the paper he was holding to the pen and made to speak before changing his mind. He did not want to spoil Grandpa’s story with such a little detail, but the old man had already anticipated him.

“I know exactly what you are thinking, young Peter. That’s a new pen isn’t it ?  So it is, but let me explain that it has not always looked like that. It’s changed twice in my keeping and looked very different in old Pirate Morgan’s day when  he passed it to his son. That son, your ancestor who, also was called Peter Morgan, used the pen very wisely and built up a thriving shipping company. For three generations ships of the Morgan Line traded the world. Unfortunately, the next generation, James Morgan, had no interest at all in shipping. When the pen came into his keeping he sold all his shares in the Morgan Line and invested in a merchant bank. His son Edward Morgan rose to become chairman of the bank. They sound a thoroughly boring couple of people if yiou ask me.”

Peter smiled, he knew it was required of him.

“Now Colonel William Edward Morgan, born 1820 and died at the age of seventy-one, was awarded the Victoria Cross for bravery in the Crimean War. He was my great-grandfather, the same relation as I am to you, although I never knew him. He died nine years before I was born. I have his VC medal and have left it in my will to your father, it is quite a valuable family  heirloom.

“My father was Doctor Edward Morgan. Although he was never famous or rich like his father or his son, as a country doctor he put the pen to good work. I remember him from when I was a young boy and he would be so pleased to know that your father is a doctor as well, it is such a noble profession. You know, I think he did more with his life than any of the rest of us.”

Peter thought that being a pirate sounded much better than being a doctor.

“My  own father rose to high office in the Church to become Bishop of Colchester. He and I were never all that close. My mother died when I was just a boy and children never had all that much to do with their parents in those days. As soon as I was old enough I was sent away to boarding school. He didn’t tell me about the pen until he was eighty-one years old then died the next year very reluctant to meet his maker. As great man of the Church he may have been, but he was not all that keen to report to head office !”

Grandpa laughed but Peter didn’t fully understand the joke.

“When my father gave me the pen he told me, as I am now explaining to you, all about our ancestors. He told me, not without it half choking his pious throat, all about Pirate Morgan. It amuses me to think that the Right Reverend Doctor James Edward Morgan being descended from a pirate executed, of all days, on Christmas Day ! He explained to me that the pen ensured success in the chosen career of its owner. It had given him success in the Church, his father in medicine and his grandfather in the army. He told me that I was to pass it on to my son and he to his son. He explained that each son in turn would have only one son, daughters did not matter. The pen would then provide a direct line within the family, direct all the way to Pirate Morgan and the seventeenth century. He also told me that once the owner had passed on its secrets to the next generation he would be dead within a year.”

“My father was dead within a year and In often wonder what kind of a time God gave him when he got to Heaven. So you see, Peter, now that I have told you the family secret I also will be dead within a year.”

“No Grandpa ! No !” Peter protested.

“I am an old man, Peter, and my time is long overdue. When my father gave me the pen I was already a successful barrister with a thriving practice. He hoped it would ensure my becoming Lord Chief Justice of England but I had suffered enough of the law with its dusty old court rooms and stuffy legal books. So when it came to my keeping I retired and took up writing. My career as an author has now become much longer than my career in the law and I don’t regret any of it. I would rather tell a good story any day than sit in judgement and send some poor old lag off to prison for twenty years. Besides the pay is much better.”

“I had planned to give the pen to my own son, John, on his birthday but that was the very day he was killed. I did love him but the silly fool never was much of a driver. He may have been able to command fighter aircraft but in a car he was a menace. The accident was entirely his own fault and fortunately no one else was hurt, but I do  miss him. You were born on the same day, fourteenth of September, that he died and I vowed there and then that the pen should be yours. Your father doesn’t need it so you shall have it. Will you use Pirate Morgan’s pen wisely my young Peter ?”

Peter managed a rather confused, “yes.”

“No doubt when you come to pass it on it will have become some pocket, computerised word processor. It was a feather quill when Pirate Morgan stole it all those years ago. Just use it wisely, and one last thing nothing to do with the pen really but, since Pirate Morgan, this family has developed a kind of tradition in passing the Christ ian name of the father on t o the son as a second Christian name. I am Richard, your grandfather was John Richard and your father David John. Your son must take the name of Peter as his second Chris tian name. Do you  promise to continue the tradition ?

Peter agreed. He hoped the t ale was nothing more than the plot for one of Grandpa’s new books but  he wasn’t quite sure.

Grandpa picked up the pen and took the sheet of paper from Peter. With care he placed them both inside his jacket pocket. “The next time you see these I’ll be dead and they will have been left to you in my will. No need to look so glum Peter, your entire future is now safely assured. Whatever you decide to do in life you will be the very best at it. Now, don’t you think we had better go back downstairs ?  Your mother will be starting to wonder what on earth has become of us.”

Grandpa Morgan left the next day, it was to be the last time Peter saw him, and flew back to San Francisco. He died there three weeks later. Peter cried.

 

The Morgan Family Line:

Male Heirs 1649+

 

Henry Morgan:

Dates uncertain. Possibly Born 1635  Died 25^th August 1688  Age 53 years

Pirate and Deputy-Governor of Jamaica

 

John Henry Morgan:

Born 27^th January 1659  Executed 25^th December 1700  Age 41 years

Pirate

 

Peter John Morgan:

Born 17^th May 1678  Died 4^th July 1720  Age 41 years

Ship Owner

 

William Peter Morgan:

Born 4^th January 1700  Died 11^th June 1760  Age 60 years

Ship Owner

 

Frederick William Morgan:

Born 21^st November 1732  Died 30^th December 1755 Age 43 years

Ship Owner

 

James Frederick Morgan:

Born 11^th June 1764  Died 11^th May 1821  Age 57 years

Director of Willis and Patterson Merchant Bank

 

Edward James Morgan:

Born 28^th February 1790  Died 16^th August 1851  Age 61 years

Chairman of Willis and Patterson Merchant Bank

 

Colonel William Edward Morgan VC:

Born 11^th November 1820  Died 21^st December 1851  Age 71 years

Army Officer

 

Doctor Edward William Morgan:

Born 7^th January 1845  Died 11^th February 1910  Age 65 years

Doctor

 

Right Reverend Doctor James Edward Morgan:

Born 6^th May 1870  Died 7^th June 1952  Age 82 years

Bishop of Colchester

 

Sir Richard James Morgan QC:

Born 14^th September 1900

Barrister at Law

 

Wing Commander John Richard Morgan DFC:

Born 21^st April 1925  Died 14^th September 1980  Age 55 years

RAF Officer

 

David John Morgan:

Born 3^rd November 1950

Consultant Surgeon

 

Peter David Morgan:

Born 14^th September 1980

Schoolboy

The story of the fountain pen bothered Peter at first and he could not get to sleep the night his grandfather told him of it. He dreamed of pirates, of a new book by Richard Morgan and a strange pen writing his future for him.  The next day he wanted to tell someone but Grandpa Morgan had made him promise not to breathe a word. Why had he done that ?  Because it was a plot for his next book and there was such a thing as copyright. Was it. Things needed to be kept secret, of course that was it. From then on Peter did not let it trouble him very much but couldn’t help secretly hoping his family was indeed descended from pirates. It couldn’t do any harm to ask about that,  could it ?

“Dad ?”

“Yes.”

“Were our ancestors pirates ?”

“Pirates ?  No, I don’t think so. They were ship owners. The Morgan Line Was quite famous in the eighteenth century.”

“Ship owners ?”

“Yes, until the family went into banking.”

Grandpa was right.

When Grandpa Morgan died he was flown home from San Francisco to be buried alongside his wife. Funny how Peter had never thought of his having a wife but, of course, he must have. He wondered with a smile what the Right Reverend Doctor Morgan said when he met up with Grandpa in Heaven.  Would he give him what for, for not becoming Lord Chief justice of England ?   Would Grandpa tell the two ancestors who had given up the shipping business for banking that they were thoroughly boring ?  Would Pirate Morgan be waiting there to meet him min Heaven ?

Surely not, he must have gone to – well certainly not to Heaven.

Grandpa Morgan’s will was read in his solicitor’s office three weeks after the funeral. There was only Peter, his Mum, Dad and sister there. In spite of Grandpa’s complicated finances things had been well prepared in advance and quite simply he left everything: his London flat, holiday home in San Francisco, the VC medal that had once belonged to Colonel William Morgan and all his worldly goods with one slight exception to Peter’s father.

“Congratulations Doctor Morgan,” the solicitor said. “Even after the death duties have been settled you will be a very rich man.”

“It’s Mister Morgan,” he corrected. “Surgeons are called Mister and not Doctor.”

“Oh, quite correct, I am sorry. Now there is one other small bequest. To my great-grandson Peter Morgan I leave my Parker Fountain Pen and my notes explaining our family history. I have previously spoken to him about these and he will be expecting them.” The solicitor looked over the top of his glasses. “Is that correct Master Peter  ?”

“Yes.”

“Then here you are Young Sir, one Parker Fountain Pen and a sheet of your grandfather’s writing. In time anything in the great writer’s own hand could become of some value.”

Peter took them and offered polite thanks.

“What’s it like to be rich Daddy ?” Janet bubbled excitedly, quite unable to contain herself.

“I don’t want to be rich, I just want to be a good surgeon.”

“But you can’t refuse it,” his wife chided, he voice containing a slight note of fear. “Not after all those years of having to be nice to him. He never was an easy man, you know. Strange his leaving that fountain pen to Peter, perhaps he thought he would become a famous writer as well.”

“Some chance of that with the reports he brings home from school each term”

Peter did not know what he wanted to be or what he would do with the pen. His grandfather may have told him the pen brought success to its owner but he had not explained how to put it to use. He put the pen away in the bedroom to think about it. But he didn’t think about it, he forgot all about it.

YES, I wrote that THIRTY years ago.

I am now typing up the second chapter. If enough people check this out I will share it as soon as I have finished.

Please check out my bookshelf: www.maxrobinsonwriter.com and remember all money goes not into my pocket but to help people SMILE.

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.