Georgina Hale

Georgina Hale was born in Ilford, Essex to publicans Elsie (née Fordham) and George Robert Hole. 

She later said she had:

" ...a really bad education. I couldn't write, spell, or read, so it was a real problem, because that sort of thing wasn't acknowledged then. There was a real shame in it, and you were the dunce of the class, always getting whacked around the head. We were on the move a lot as well, so going to so many schools, always being the new girl, it was so frightening and so nerve-wracking as a kid, and it really affected me."

As a teenager, she worked as an apprentice hairdresser and studied Stanislavski's method approach to acting at a fledgling studio, the Chelsea Actors' Workshop, in London, before being accepted into the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, where she graduated in 1965.

Her most significant film rôle is arguably that of Alma Mahler in Ken Russell's Mahler (1974), opposite Robert Powell as Gustav Mahler. Her performance was called "excellent" by both Time Out and Radio Times, and earned her the 1975 BAFTA Award for Most Promising Newcomer to Leading Film Rôles.

In his review for Film Comment magazine, critic Stephen Farber wrote:

"Georgina Hale gives an electric performance as Alma. She is touchingly vulnerable in all the flashback sequences, while in the scenes on the train she presents a completely different side of Alma’s character-a supremely bitter, savagely sarcastic shrew. Alma’s imperious, ice-cold façade is the mask she has chiseled to conceal her frustration and disappointment over the stifling of her creative potential. The tension is palpable: we can feel the anger and pain seething beneath her sardonic exterior."

She also made appearances in a number of Russell's other films, with rôles in The Devils (1971), The Boy Friend (1971), Lisztomania (1975), Valentino (1977), and Treasure Island (1995). Russell later referred to Hale as "an actress of such sensitivity that she can make the hair rise on your arms."

Holloway Bus Garage

Matt Monro (born Terence Edward Parsons, 1 December 1930) became one of the most popular entertainers on the international music scene during the 1960s and 1970s. Monro was a heavy smoker and battled alcoholism from the 1960s until 1981. He died from liver cancer on 7 February 1985. He has been described as "one of the most underrated pop vocalists of the '60s," who "possessed the easiest, most perfect baritone in the business [AllMusic]." Even the Queen has said Matt Monro was the king of singers, while Frank Sinatra and Paul McCartney admitted it was Matt they looked up to. Matt Monro was a true Cockney, left school very young and couldn’t read or write. In poll after poll Monro was voted Britain’s best male singer despite performing easy-listening ballads at a time when the charts were full of rock and roll. His great loves were Sarah Vaughan, Ella Fitzgerald, jazz, and, people might be surprised to learn, he was very much into Elvis, too.

Seán Art Studios

Back In The Days

Back in the days of tanners and bobs, 

When Mothers had patience and Fathers had jobs. 

When football team families wore hand me down shoes, 

And TV gave only two channels to choose.

Back in the days of three penny bits, 

when schools employed nurses to search for your nits. 

When snowballs were harmless; ice slides were permitted 

and all of your jumpers were warm and hand knitted.

Back in the days of hot ginger beers, 

when children remained so for more than six years. 

When children respected what older folks said, 

and pot was a thing you kept under your bed.

Back in the days of Listen with Mother, 

when neighbours were friendly and talked to each other. 

When cars were so rare you could play in the street. 

When Doctors made house calls and Police walked the beat.

Back in the days of Milligan's Goons, 

when butter was butter and songs all had tunes. 

It was dumplings for dinner and trifle for tea, 

and your annual break was a day by the sea.

Back in the days of Dixon's Dock Green, 

Crackerjack pens and Lyons ice cream. 

When children could freely wear National Health glasses, 

and teachers all stood at the FRONT of their classes.

Back in the days of rocking and reeling, 

when mobiles were things that you hung from the ceiling. 

When woodwork and pottery got taught in schools, 

and everyone dreamed of a win on the pools.

Back in the days when I was a lad, 

I can't help but smile for the fun that I had. 

Hopscotch and roller skates; snowballs to lob. 

Back in the days of tanners and bobs.

Magicians

Though Arthur Hill has no recollection of Johnny's presence at the Magic Shows, he was, in fact, present. That said, there is always the possibility that Johnny was conjured up out of thin air.