Today was for a visit to Longleat. Despite having visited the place before, this was a visit without drivng around the Safari area. Nevertheless, much enjoyed by our grandaughter.
First the house itself - not to go in, but to obtain a couple of images for the album. You can go in for a tour but we were not up for that!
As a matter of interest, in 1949 Longleat House became one of the first privately owned stately homes to open to the public commercially. But its history extends much further back. Built between 1567 and 1580, it has been lived in by sixteen generations of the Thynn family. Today it is the family home of the 8th Marquess and Marchioness of Bath.
Posing at the front of the property.
So onto a few images of the creatures who live here, although through glass it was a bit difficult at times.
A pleasant day worth visiting to see the pleasure it gave the family.
The onto something rather sad but which brought back a few memories. When I was just a teenager (ages ago!) I heard Eddie Cochran singing songs such as "C'mon Everybody" and "Summertime Blues"I knew he was popular but I lost track of him and his music, but did not know why. Well, this week while on the edge of Chippenham and just up the road from our holiday home at Rowden, I came across the memorial below - it marks the spot where Eddie Cochran died.
According to the BBC: American rock'n'roll star Eddie Cochran died during the afternoon of Easter Sunday 17th April 1960.
His death in St. Martin's Hospital in Bath, came as a result of injuries sustained in a car crash just outside Chippenham, late the night before.
Eddie and his great friend Gene Vincent had been touring the UK since mid-January, on a package tour that had created a sensation amongst UK rock n roll fans.
Eddie had arrived in the UK on 10th January 1960, to join a UK tour with Gene Vincent which had already been on the road since before Christmas. They were finishing their last concert and looking to return to London to catch a plane home to USA.
There were no more trains at that time of night, so a taxi was called. Sometime after 11.00pm, a Ford Consul driven by George Martin, with Eddie, Gene, Sharon and tour-manager Pat Thompkins, set off for London.
These were pre-M4 days, so Martin initially chose the old A4 down through Bath, but with this being a bad road, especially at night, he decided on a short cut on the outskirts of Chippenham.
He realized he was going the wrong way and hit the brakes. It appears that as the car sped out of Chippenham trying to get back on the right route, Martin lost control on the bend at Rowden Hill, (then a notorious accident black-spot) and spun backwards into a concrete lamp post. The impact sent Eddie up into the roof and forced the rear door open, throwing him onto the road.
After the car had come to a halt, Martin and Thompkins were able to walk away from the wreckage uninjured. But Gene and Sharon, along with Eddie were lying on the grass verge. Gene had broken his collarbone, but fortunately for Sharon, she only suffered shock and bruising.
However, the injuries to Eddie would prove fatal. He never regained consciousness and died at 4.10pm that afternoon.
A bit morbid I know.
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