Devonshire September October 2018

'Don't mention the war!'
Plymouth's a modern city by the sea - actually
it's a very old and significant English
historic maritime/naval centre - read right ->
Paignton before the fire of 1927 - it's has very obvious
mediaeval origins but today, little is evident.
John Cleese said it
in Fawlty Towers,
and yes, the war was
incredibly damaging
to our Devonshire
heritage and tourism
It was a warm Saturday summer
night, waiting for dinner to be
served in a lovely Dartmoor Inn.
Sitting next to a pleasant couple,
Germans in fact, chatting with
them about their holiday in
Devon. Incidentally, we do need
more of these European visitors
to Devon, good business for our
economy, unfortunately, many
of them seem to make a bee-line
for either London or go up North.
Upon taking a sip from my pint of
cold lager (I did say it was a warm
evening), I ventured to ask how
they'd decided upon England/
Devon for a visit? The answer
was intriguing, the wife being
a librarian had found there was
an English equivalent to one of
their old playwrights (Berthold
Auerback). The English playwright
in question was of course Charles
Dickens, who it turned out, had
stayed in this inn.
After taking another sip I asked
how they'd spent their day? They
both smiled and said they'd been
down to Plymouth, but didn't think
much of it. Ha!
The Fawlty Towers team
Not wanting to stir up old
feelings and upsetting my dining
neighbours I thought it best to
bite my lip. Of course the answer
to their poor impression of this
illustrious city was that their
countrymen (and women, let's
not fall foul of the dreaded internet
trolls!) had bombed the sh!*/t out
of it, robbing us English folk of
much historical heritage.
The same of course was done to
Exeter, although for a different
reason (The Baedeker Raids). The
actual cost of this lost architectural
heritage is incalculable. Exeter
was known as 'The Jewel in the
Crown', the German Luftwaffe
did half of the damage and by all
accounts the council did the rest,
erasing most of Exeter's mediaeval
buildings forever - what loss to
the tourist economy you may ask?
The poster (top left), portraying
Plymouth as the 'Modern City by
the Sea" - Why not? A massive
amount of building was required
following German WWII bombings,
most of Plymouth was a bomb site.
They had to think of some message
for the poster. Editor
Again, an artistic and
creative message for
Paignton, they're certainly
pushing the boat out!
It's 'Torbay's ideal holiday
centre'. The heady days of
British seaside holidays!
Advances in printing
technology, a full-colour
photograph of Paignton
beach - it's the future,
perhaps artists are
becoming redundant -
what a pity!
Plymouth after the German WWII bombings
(photo courtesy Tom Bowden)
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