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FIRST OVERLAND NEWSLETTER 21The latest news of the 'First Overland' DVD, based on Antony Barrington-Brown's original film footage of the 1955 Oxford & Cambridge Far Eastern Expedition from London to Singapore. |
(Well, to Wales and Norway!)
The Land-Rover Series One Club's 60th Anniversary Rally at Chepstow Racecourse brought over-50-year-old vehicles from as far away as Norway and Southern France, and from the 'First Overland' perspective was a great success — not only did Michael Geary bring his 'Oxford' replica over from Cambridgeshire, but BB (Antony Barrington-Brown) joined us on the Saturday from his home across the Severn Bridge in Wiltshire. There was a healthy demand for BB's signature on copies of the 'First Overland' book and DVD, and he spent many hours in conversation with fans.
'BB' with the 'Oxford' replica
The Freelander Odeon
Michael's 'Oxford' replica generated a lot of interest, and the first Roadshow presentation in the Freelander Odeon led to an important development for him — I'd mentioned the replica, and that fact that Michael dreamed of creating a similar recreation of 'Cambridge', and taking the two cars overland to Singapore (on a route only slightly amended from the 1955 original). Stephen Kerss came forward and offered him his 86" Station Wagon to restore. Michael was naturally over the moon, and by the end of the weekend was bubbling with plans for the project.
Michael receives the 'Best Modified' Trophy
And to further encourage him, the Series One Club judges awarded 'Oxford' the rally's trophy for 'Best Modified Vehicle' — a fitting recognition of the work that Michael's done to keep the 'First Overland' spirit alive in such a positive way. His enthusiasm is immense, and as well as all the work on the vehicle(s), he's done a lot of research into the possibility of attempting the journey. He even has an excellent contact in Myanmar (Burma) who will be invaluable in opening up the historical route into the country from India. Further details will appear here in this Newsletter in due course.
The Norsk Land-Rover Klubb are renowned for their impressive annual rallies, and this being the 60th Anniversary Year of Land-Rover they wanted to make a special showing. They were returning to the small town of Rena, in the east of the country about 170km north of Oslo, where a campsite provides not only excellent facilities, but also a large field for the rally. As a way of saying 'thank you' to the town, and the local people and landowners who put up with a week of invasion by 'The Best 4x4xFar', they offered the local arts centre a showing of 'First Overland', having first contacted me to ask if I was happy with that. I jokingly said that I'd also be delighted to come and give my presentation... and they took me up on it! They met me off the plane at Oslo Airport, and treated me as an honoured guest (which was very pleasant, if a little embarassing!)
The 'First Overland' showing gets promoted in Norwegian
The Åmot Kulturhus in Rena is a superb district council-run building, with an art gallery, library, coffee shop, and two cinemas. It's the first time that the 'FO Roadshow' has been on the same bill as 'The Chronicles of Narnia – Prince Caspian' and 'Kung Fu Panda' (in Norwegian)! We had a showing of the DVD, and then I gave a short presentation (in English — but then all Norwegians speak better English than I do!) of how BB made the original film, and what I needed to do to make it available on DVD.
Outside the Åmot Kulturhus
Norway is, of course, to the north of my usual habitat — in fact, it was the furthest north I'd ever been, so naturally the first thing that I put into my suitcase was a fleecy, and a set of warm waterproofs. Once I'd stuffed a few more DVDs in there, and weighted the luggage, I decided that perhaps there was room for a pair of shorts 'just in case'. Thanks goodness I did — for the three days that I was in Rena, it was the hottest place in Norway (and possibly Europe?!), reaching 35degrees Celsius. The log cabin I was staying in was like a sauna, but you couldn't sleep with the door and windows open because of the mosquitos.
The only slight downside to the timing of all this was that the cinema showing had already been fixed for the Friday lunchtime before the rally began 'for real' on the following Monday. I couldn't spare the time to stay more than three nights, so had to leave before the main bulk of the rally visitors had appeared. But by the Saturday evening quite a few had started to arrive, so it was suggested that we improvise another presentation at the campsite.
A Midnight Campsite Cinema
At nearly midnight it was getting dark enough to fix a white dinghy sail to the side of a cabin, and project the DVD pictures onto it. At one point I thought I was getting a 'slow handclap', but it was an otherwise attentive audience busily catching the mosquitos that were flying into the projector beam. A week later I still have the bite scars to prove it! I've heard from the Rally organisers that there was another showing later in the week, which was very well attended — sorry I missed it.
In the previous Newsletter I mentioned that the Ascension Island stamps had arrived, commemorating the 50th Anniversary of the British Ornithologists' Union expedition to the Island in 1957 — the Expedition which was given the use of one of the 'First Overland' vehicles by the Rover Company. The leaflet that accompanies the stamps says:
The BOU expedition spent 18 months on Ascension, from September 1957 until April 1979. The party had to be relatively self sufficient. Huts for the base camp near Mars Bay (see 15p stamp), a well used Land Rover kindly donated by the makers, and a ship's lifeboat (named 'Ibis' after the logo of the BOU) were brought from England on a Union Castle liner.
We established from the book 'Wideawake Island' that the vehicle was registered SNX 891, which makes it 'Oxford' — but the colour (in a B&W photo) looked far too pale.
The 15p commemorative stamp
A high-resolution scan of the stamp shows that it's a long way from being 'Oxford Blue'... but also a long way from 'Cambridge Blue'! Then I had an email from Tim Underwood, from Creative Direction (Worldwide) Ltd, which arranges for the design and production of Ascension Island’s stamp issues. He said:
I read your article about the Rover that ended its days on St Helena with some interest. I chose to include the image of the Rover in the set due to its intriguing history, as well as its contribution to the BOU centenary expedition. As the image of the Rover on the 15p stamp is very small, and was perhaps a disappointment for you, I thought that you may appreciate the attached image which shows the Rover in colour and in far greater detail. The image is of course a close up taken from Philip Ashmole's original.
The Ascension Island Base Camp
Much appreciated, Tim. So have we made any progress? It's closer to 'Cambridge Blue' than 'Oxford', but still not right. It doesn't look as though it's standard Station Wagon Grey (which Rover might conceivably have used when renovating the vehicle — and anyhow, if they'd completely repainted it, how did the hardtop come to retain the 'First Overland' signwriting?) At least you can clearly see the additional lights on the top of the front wings that show that it once carried jerry cans.
So, it's still a mystery. Rest assured, this will ultimately be solved... and then we can start investigating what happened to the other vehicle!
After the Series One Club Rally Dinner in the Chepstow Racecourse grandstand, there was a charity raffle in aid of Macmillan Nurses and Cancer Relief (a charity that I believe in because of the wonderful support they gave my father in my mother's last days). The auctioneer was Andrew McRobb, from Land Rover Gear, and a great number of the lots were items from his catalogue. I put in a signed copy of the DVD as a last-minute entry, and bids rapidly rose (although I couldn't see who was bidding). It eventually went for a staggering £65... and it turned out that it was Andrew himself, who was taking his own bids. Well done Andrew. I sent a spare DVD wrapper to BB for him to sign and forward on, and he held on to it until Tim Slessor paid a visit, so Andrew now has both their signatures.
In the next Newsletter, I really will get back to your stories of how Tim Slessor's book inspired a whole generation or two of explorers and Land-Rover enthusiasts.
GRAEME ALDOUS
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