Kaga Simpson - his life and memories

Belushi, I had 11 aunts and 11 uncles spread around Coventry during the thirties, all in fear of the war, knew that their kids would all be involved, and yes I lost a very many of my cousins and older schoolfriends through the war. I had this wonderful memory, that got me into a very dangerous group of saboteurs in April 1945. To be honest and boastful, I was one of five people that completed the last course of James Bond-type trained men. I and two others were stripped of money and Identity, shown a piece of paper (twisted spire, queens, harry). Memorise, go, find and bring back his message, you have 48 hours. We were in Kent. I was the only one to complete the mission, the others caught by police, handed back to military, failed. The message was part of a torn playing card, that fitted exactly to the torn playing card the military had back at base. Toured Palestine, survived terrorist bomb in Barclays Bank in Haifa, treated in hospital on Mount Carmel, survived Bubonic Plague in Haifa. The twisted spire was, of course, Chesterfield. the Queens was an hotel, and Harry was the owner. Just one of the tests I had to pass, before being dropped behind enemy lines, that didn't take action because the army advanced too fast over the last months. Yes, I had an unusual life, gambled for 11 years to pay my way from Rome, all of Italy, Las Vegas to Ostend, Paris, Australia, Cannes, Barrier Reef, Grand Canyon, Lake Mead, Hoover Dam and God knows where - Belushi, you did ask! - and now married for over sixty years.

Belushi, I do it this way because I lose so much if I try to do it longer. Yes, the people were very frightened from the first war, they lost so much. 'Never again', they kept saying, but Hitler was determined to get back what they lost. He built a great army and airforce. When Lindberg flew from USA to Paris he was the darling of America. He was shown the German Luftwaffe by Goering, the greatest airforce in the world. America turned against him, but Britain stood still in building for war. The BUF wanted Germany to control Britain, but there were too many Brits who still believed British first and foremost, so there were great clashes between political meetings. The White Lion pub in Smithford Street was by far the best political meeting place in Coventry, and led to many clashes, unrest on the streets, but much was played down by the press and authorities. German people in this country had a tough time. By the start of the war, on Sandown Park Racecourse, they were about to build a great camp for them, but I believe they were sent to the Isle of Man. Yes, the top men of the BUF were imprisoned during the war, for their own safety.

Glad you are home again, Kaga. Please don't take this the wrong way but I think you are as tough as old boots and you should be very proud of your achievements. I don't know how on earth you managed to live through those turbulent years but here you are and ready for another round by the sound of it. One fit fella and still fighting. Good luck and take care, Kaga.

Someone once asked me, if I could go back in time, when would it be. I replied the night of the Coventry Blitz. If I could extend the time limit I would like to have gone back to the years leading up to, and including, the war. Fascinating times, and I thank you Kaga for all your insights.

Belushi All told there were 37 million men, women and children that had been killed or wounded in the Great War. No wonder in the 1920s they shouted 'never again'. The late twenties seemed to emerge from the brown fog of despair, but in Britain unemployment rose to two thousand, the strikes of 1927 led to closures of coal mines, the Wall Street Crash in 1929. Keynes reassured Britons there were no direct consequences in London from the Wall Street Crash, but he was totally wrong. In 1931 the Japanese invaded Manchuria. Depression reached full force in Britain. In 1932 Mosley founded the BUF, the unemployment rate in Britain rose to 2.5 million, the streets filled with men hardened by war, disillusioned by peace, impoverished by the slump - naziism, fascism, communism, that transcended national borders. Hitler came to power in 1933 and Germany and Japan walked out of the League of Nations and the World Disarmament conference. Germany started to rebuild for war. The British Chiefs of Staff issued their first warning about a new war - Germany in a few years hence will be a formidable military power. The Chiefs recommended a British Expeditionary Force. The politicians were horrified, the Oxford Union had overwhelmingly carried the motion 'this house would not in any circumstances fight for King or Country'. The last time Britain had sent a BEF to the continent, nearly seven hundred thousand men had not come back. Air power, not ground power, would dominate the battlefield of the future.

The beginning of the 19th century in Coventry, the surrounding suburbs would have been a beautiful natural place to live. The aspects of medieval life still lingered, but this was the time of rapid change. The old markets in Broadgate, booths right up to Bishop Street, miscellaneous goods on each side of the pavements, the great cheese fairs in Broadgate, the hay and corn wains (hay carts) that came in from the country, filling the haylofts in summer, the corn exchanges in autumn and the fruit stalls. In 1803 to about 1815, the Napoleonic war disrupted European grain markets, his great army stole from hay lofts to grain exchanges, causing grain prices in Britain to rise sharply, benefiting grain merchants, but creating suffering for the poor. The city of about 21,000 inhabitants, the roadway was very narrow, the houses of three storeys, which projected overhanging windows impeded heavy traffic, and wagons loaded with hay or straw pulled out the framework of the projecting buildings. Several houses had to be re-fronted. The shops of that time had low ceilings, the windows small panes of glass, with heavy framing, the shops were very dark. Such was the state of things when Broadgate was widened from twenty feet to eighty feet. The old fox fields (Longford Park) I knew as a boy once boasted a windmill and a watermill in those days. The river Sowe fed the watermill, the ford became Foxford, and Windmill Lane was named after the great windill.

The old fox fields of long ago have long gone, the ford of the Sowe river no longer visible. The bridge that once crossed the ford, made of two old stiles and planks between and side railings, where one could lean down and stare down into the glassy surface of the water, the surface pushing and pulling against the piles of the bridge. I believe the bridge was built in 1929 after the great floods in 1928 when the great brooks in Radford swept down swelling the ford to great floods. The small brook at the bottom of Hurst Road broke its bank. It also ran parallel to the Sowe river across the fields, its banks full of wild carrot, wild garlic, plantain etc, the tall hedgerows of hawthorn that fed the birds in winter, the goat pens, where the goats told us when storms were due as they sought shelter long before the rains came. So great were the floods the great embankment of Westminster collapsed, killing many. In 1933/4 a mere trickle, during the great heatwaves. The Old Fox inn, on the inner corner of Grange Road, crumbled to destruction,1934/5. My old school of Foxford stood at the side of the inn, the allotments opposite. A pathway ran from Grange Road corner across to Aldermans Green Road. The fox fields then became the school's sports ground, driving the wildlife from the area.