a6 murder

[Steve]

Hi Steve,

The 'other' William Ewer was a left-wing journalist who apparently sold secrets to the KGB...

Hi Graham

I have traced several people named William or Bill Ewer in North London during the 1950s and 1960s. Do you have any more information about the left-wing journalist Ewer you mention? So that I can eliminate him from my enquiries … not whilst I’m on duty thank you sir …

Kind regards,
Steve

[Steve]

i say you two!!!!!

i thought i was pushing the boat out with two coffees and a glass of milk!!!

Hi Larue

You pour scotch into the coffee (it has to be hot) and then cascade the milk into the glass over an upturned spoon. It's what they used to serve at the end of the meal at Bernis restaurants!

KR
Steve

[Graham]

Hi Graham

I have traced several people named William or Bill Ewer in North London during the 1950s and 1960s. Do you have any more information about the left-wing journalist Ewer you mention? So that I can eliminate him from my enquiries … not whilst I’m on duty thank you sir …

Kind regards,
Steve

Just Google 'William Ewer' and there's loads of stuff about him, officer.

Got to say I'd never heard of him until tonight. But that's Chianti for you...

Cheers,

Graham.

[larue]

Hi Larue

You pour scotch into the coffee (it has to be hot) and then cascade the milk into the glass over an upturned spoon. It's what they used to serve at the end of the meal at Bernis restaurants!

KR
Steve

hmmmm, sounds like the ruin of good coffee to me. but being t total, i suppose i would think that.

right sirs, would you blow into this bag for me? my chips are too hot!

goodnight all

dixon of dock green theme gradually fades into silence

[Steve]

Hi Larue

You pour scotch into the coffee (it has to be hot) and then cascade the milk into the glass over an upturned spoon. It's what they used to serve at the end of the meal at Bernis restaurants!

KR
Steve

Wonder if you could get a Bernis-type coffee at The Stevonia? Doubt it!

There was certainly a Bernis at the Pier Head in Liverpool in 1974, I remember eating there one evening, but I don't know if it was there in 1961. If it was there is a chance Hanratty looked in on one of his visits

[Steve]

hmmmm, sounds like the ruin of good coffee to me. but being t total, i suppose i would think that.

right sirs, would you blow into this bag for me? my chips are too hot!

goodnight all

dixon of dock green theme gradually fades into silence

Evenin' all

The great thing about having a drink when the car is away in the garage for the night is you do not have to blow into any policemen's breathalyser bags. That's the theory at least!

Dixon of Dock Green?

Before my time!

(OK, so I'm a liar already!)

[Graham]

Years and years ago we had dinner at some pub near Yate, Bristol. It was OK, but nothing to shout about. Few years later we were there again and it had turned into a Berni Inn. My steak resisted all efforts to cut it.

"This place used to serve good steaks", I complained to the waiter.

"When was that, Sir?"

"Before it became a friggin' Berni Inn".

"Ah yes, well, you have to understand, sir, we're still serving steaks from the same animal".

Graham

[Steve]

Evenin' all

Dixon of Dock Green?

Before my time!

(OK, so I'm a liar already!)

Sorry, I'm getting Dock Green muddled with Golders Green! My life already!

[Steve]

Years and years ago we had dinner at some pub near Yate, Bristol. It was OK, but nothing to shout about. Few years later we were there again and it had turned into a Berni Inn. My steak resisted all efforts to cut it.

"This place used to serve good steaks", I complained to the waiter.

"When was that, Sir?"

"Before it became a friggin' Berni Inn".

"Ah yes, well, you have to understand, sir, we're still serving steaks from the same animal".

Graham

Hi Graham

I know what you mean, but compared to another similar chain of restaurants Bernis' standards were streets ahead. I remember staying overnight at a Travel Inn (as it was then named) at the airport at Squires Gate, Blackpool, and looking out of the restaurant window whilst waiting for the steak to arrive. There was a Vulcan bomber in view, an unexpected bonus - but the steak was not quite as tender as my shoe!

That was the first and last occasion I spent a night at that particular hotel!

KR
Steve

[JIMBOW]

Good morning to you all from Calgary, Alberta where, in true Stampede fashion, some drunken cowboy last night rode his horse into the foyer of the Palliser Hotel (where HRH stays on her infrequent trips here) and the frightened steed did what comes naturally (in horses, anyway) in moments of panic - hopefully the red carpet was not out! So much for Western culture.

On a more serious note, page 161 of Paul Foot's book mentions a man 'walking from the Pineapple Inn through the fields to Marsh Lane' (I'm paraphrasing as I don't have the book in front of me but that was the gist of it). Out of interest, does anyone know anything about this Pineapple Inn? I've never seen any other reference to it but, then again, I've not read Wiffenden's or Miller's book; perhaps it was mentioned somewhere there.

Regards,
Jim

[Steve]

Hello Jimbow

The Pineapple is a busy pub in Lake End Road, Dorney. It’s located on the right side of the road just before the turning into Court Lane. The couple would have driven past it on the evening of the abduction and probably had called in for a drink on previous occasions. From the Pineapple to the corn field is quite a short walk. There are also several ramblers’ routes across many of the fields at Dorney, so it would have been possible for the gunman to have approached the car by appearing to walk across the field when he was actually using a public footpath.

Kind regards,
Steve

[JIMBOW]

Hello Jimbow

The Pineapple is a busy pub in Lake End Road, Dorney. It’s located on the right side of the road just before the turning into Court Lane. The couple would have driven past it on the evening of the abduction and probably had called in for a drink on previous occasions. From the Pineapple to the corn field is quite a short walk. There are also several ramblers’ routes across many of the fields at Dorney, so it would have been possible for the gunman to have approached the car by appearing to walk across the field when he was actually using a public footpath.

Kind regards,
Steve

Thanks, Steve. I'm sure I've 'Googled' this before without much success but I think your info about Lake End Road did the trick when I tried again. Here's a hyperlink to a review of it.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/wine/main.jhtml?xml=/wine/2008/01/25/edpint125.xml

The place sounds quite good, actually.

Regards,
Jim

[Steve]

Judging by how many cars are parked outside whenever I go past I think it must quite a good pub. I've never been in, maybe next time I'm in the area, but then I used to say that about The Old Station Inn right up until the time it was demolished!

[Tony]

Clark/Alphon

On the first ID parade Acott was sure he had got his man, Peter Alphon.

Do we know if there was much hesitation on Valerie’s part? Did she, for instance, waiver between Alphon and Michael Clark?
At that point the case against Alphon was realistically over. But surely the whereabouts of Michael Clark should have been known even if it was a simple: “Let us know your address and contact us if you are about to move; you may be needed by the defence.”
I believe Alphon did attend the trial and I wonder what the jury would have thought had Michael Clark been called and him and Alphon looked like two peas in a pod.
A big, big mistake by the defence to not insist on having him brought to court.
Hanratty knew there had been another man picked out by Valerie and whether or not he, Hanratty, had committed the crime you would have thought he would have at least asked Sherard: “what did this other man look like, was he anything like me or did he look like Alphon?”

Is there any way now that Michael Clark or his relatives can be traced? It would be interesting if they had some old photos. If he was in the RAF there are almost certain to be some.

Tony

Hello everybody,

I quote my own post 1283 which asks if we know anything about the Michael Clark/Peter Alphon ID parade. Do we know if they looked anything like each other?

I have just obtained a copy of Jean Justice’s book and I quote from page 29:

“Later on, at Ampthill Magistrates’ Court, she admitted under cross-examination that the man she had identified bore a fair resemblance to Peter Alphon.”

Tony.

[jimarilyn]

Is there any way now that Michael Clark or his relatives can be traced? It would be interesting if they had some old photos. If he was in the RAF there are almost certain to be some.

Tony

Hi Tony,

Michael Clark I guess would be in his early 70's now if he's still alive. As I mentioned previously Bob Woffinden found it very difficult to trace him. I agree that there must be some photos of him in RAF records of the early 1960's (unless they've conveniently been mislaid). I wonder what might have happened to him had he not been able to account for his whereabouts on the night of August 22nd/23rd. According to Woffinden he emigrated in 1965, but did not specify to which country.

The police, before that particular identification parade of September 24th, must have taken down particulars about each man in the line-up, if only for their own records. It would be very interesting indeed if even at this late stage some other men who were on that line-up would come forward and offer some insight on the subject. Someone like Anthony Luxemburg who attended Hanratty's line-up on October 14th, and who gave valuable insight about that parade to the researchers of Woffinden's documentary of 1992.