1940 - James Bond Link to Southend - In Andrew Lycett's excellent biography "Ian Fleming: The Man Behind James Bond", he explains that in April 1940 there was a report that Germany was going to attack Southend on Whit Sunday. Fleming and his brother Peter Fleming suggested to their respective chiefs that if such an attack took place it would be exploited by Hitler's propaganda machine. "In order to be sure that a different point of view appeared on the BBC, they suggested that they should be present on the Essex coast to act as official observors...At dusk they joined a naval observation post on the roof of a large hotel (probably the Palace). But as the night wore on, and they received no reports of unusual enemy aircraft movements, they found it increasingly difficult to take the idea of an impending attack seriously. At around one o'clock they roused their driver, who was drunk, and asked to be taken back to London." Leigh Heroes - Six boats from Leigh took part in the heroic mass evacuation of British troops from Dunkirk on 1st June 1940. Admiral Ramsey, who as Vice-Admiral Dover, was in command of 'Operation Dynamo' had high praise for the Leigh Cockle Bawley boats - "The conduct of the crews of these cockle boats was exemplary. They were all volunteers who were rushed over to Dunkirk in one day. Probably none of them had been under gunfire before and certainly none of them under Naval discipline. These were Thames estuary fishing boats which never left the estuary and only one of their crews had been further afield than Ramsgate. Yet they maintained perfect formation throughout the day and night and all orders This memorial in St Clement's Churchyard is for those who did not return. Read more about this brave story: Click
New Manager - The Shrimpers although not partaking in league football due to the war still appointed a new manager this year. Harry Warren took the reigns and lasted some 16 years until 1956 where he went on to manage Coventry City. | Astoria Changes The main High Street cinema became the Odeon in 1940. It was absorbed into Rank Organisation a few years later and today has been turned into the new University of Essex building. Bomb Hits School - Southend became the brunt for most bombing raids either during the raids on London or the emptying of the planes holds on the way back to Germany on 8th June 1940, Southend High School for Boys becomes a casualty as it is hit by a bomb August, bomb falls on Manners Way, and a German Dornier Bomber crashes on the aerodrome. Kursaal Kinema Closes - Having provided films since 1904 it was a sad day on 20th July 1940 that the final movie aired at the Kursaal Kinema, once again closed by a war. This time round the final film was David Niven's 'Bachelor Mother' also starring Ginger Rogers. A cinema never returned to the Kursaal after this war.
Robert Lloyd, Opera Singer Born - in Southend in 1940 and Blocks Mounted - To thwart the threat of German invasion a string of 1,804 anti tank blocks were plac |