Morris Minor Owners Club

Old photo from holiday, a long time ago ! Some oldies here may remember a politician called Gerald Nabarro, he had his own reg mark, I think he had several. You had to be affluent in those times.

Bit of a self-made man as I recall, not a 'money family' by birth, North Londoner I believe.
I don't remember him having any important ministerial roles, but then I was a teenager still...

Is his a mk10 Jag? Or Daimler can't see bonnet leaper in pic, between Citroen DS estate and mini

Can’t tell you Bill, just pulled up and took the photo.The plate is apparently on a Mercedes now ! Who knows maybe still in the family. I’ve just expanded the picture and although not clear, there is a light shadow similar to a cat shape.

NAB 1 led to his conviction and subsequent dodgy appeal clearing for dangerous driving. An odd man, an out and out racist in the Powellite mold. He owned NAB1 - NBA8.

His assistant/secretary later married Neil Hamilton, they became what I believe are called 'celebs'.

Rum lot.

He had a fantastic Jimmy Edwards style moustache!

He sure did !

Looks like a cross between Jimmy Edwards and Terry Thomas
I know Terry was a 'London Lad' despite the toft voice he put on, but Jimmy was the son of a college lecturer.
Jimmy's huge 'tash was to disguise his facial scars received during WWII. He was a Dakota Pilot and got shot down over Arnhem at a 'bridge too far'. He earned a DFC for his trouble and was a member of The Guinea Pig Club due to his injuries.

The military service of many post war actors/entertainers is quite interesting. But I'll not take this off on a tangent

Tangents are fine by me, your post is very interesting

Very interesting tangent Berni.

My mother had a lab accident as a young woman. She spilled fuming nitric acid over the back of her hand. Despite immediately running water over the spill as she had been trained, she sustained a severe acid burn. Her professor, who was in charge of the lab, was so worried about my mother's injuries that he referred her to Sir Archibald McIndoe who was the famous RAF plastic surgeon who had treated so many injured servicemen. My mother recalled that he was a wonderful man (she was of course somewhat in awe of him). In the end it was decided that surgery was not required but my mother had the scars for the rest of her life. At military medical HQ in Lichfield Staffordshire (Whittington barracks) there is the McIndoe Centre within the Defence Medical Academy.

Stephen

les wrote: ↑Tue Jan 20, 2026 12:47 pm Tangents are fine by me, your post is very interesting

Just one more then as it's your post. Here's one of my favourites from his autobiography that I read many years ago.

Michael Bentine, born in the UK to Peruvian Farther and British Mother, family name was actual Bentin without the 'e'.
His father was an engineer at Sopwith Aircraft, during and after WWI.
When WWII broke out, Bentine volunteered for the RAF in 1940 but was rejected due to his mixed foreign parentage.
He went into, or perhaps carried on with, acting and a few months later while on tour, was arrested on stage by 2 RAF Police NCOs. Unbeknownst to him the RAF had reversed their decision and issued Call Up Papers; which were following him around the country from lodgings to lodgings. He was therefore listed as a Deserter.
He was selected for flying duties and was in the line for inoculations for overseas training in Canada when the medics started a fresh bottle of vaccine. Unfortunately the Medic seriously screwed up and somehow injected him and one other with actual Typhoid, instead of the vaccine.
The other man died, Bentine was in a coma for several weeks. The only long term effect was damaged eyesight, which prevented him flying.
He was transferred to RAF Intelligence, where he initially served as an IntO briefing and debriefing operational Bomber Crews.
One night, the raid was cancelled at the last minute, after the crews had been in their aircraft some time.
A little while after the raid was cancelled, Bentine was driving around the airfield perimeter track for whatever reason, when in the pitch black he saw something over by the perimeter fence.
It turned out to be an Air Gunner trapped in a tangle of parachute cords and the fence.
While the crews were sat waiting in their aircraft, the poor tail gunner had fallen asleep; it could get pretty warm and stuffy sat there at ground level in all the cold weather kit for flying at height.
When the raid was scrubbed, the crew all bundled out to a truck or bus without checking everyone was there.
The tail gunner woke a while later and could hear nothing, no engine noise and no response on the intercom.
Still half asleep, fearing he was moments from crashing having missed a bail out shout on the intercom, he clipped his parachute on, spun the turret around and fell out backwards as practiced in their drills.
Hitting the ground a moment later, he likely knocked himself out, the wind inflated the parachute and dragged him over to the fence where Bentine found him.
After D-Day, Bentine was with frontline units and was at the liberation of Bergen-Belsen.
No wonder he turned to crazy, off-the-wall, Comedy after the war....

Thanks for the ‘just one more’ amazing what some of these people have experienced.

And Raymond Baxter (of Tomorrows World fame) was in a fighter squadron over occupied Europe when one of them tried to shoot down a V2.
And I do mean V2, not a V1.

Spike Milligan war story
The Incident: In Tunisia during WWII, Milligan's artillery battery was setting up, but the gun was not properly bedded into the ground. When fired, the recoil caused the 25-pounder to break free, jump out of its pit, and roll down a steep hill. The gun ran down the hill, narrowly missing another artillery unit's radio truck (specifically Harry Secombe's unit).
The Famous Response: Moments later, a confused Spike Milligan ran down the hill, stuck his head into the tent of the nearby soldiers, and asked in his "Eccles" voice, "Has anyone seen a gun?".The Meeting: Harry Secombe, who was in the tent, reportedly replied, "What colour?". This incident marked the beginning of a long friendship between the two future Goon

War is not a pleasant thing but I feel it shaped that generation in the years that followed.

Richard Attenborough trained as a RAF Pilot, perhaps he wasn't particularly good at it, or his other talents were more important, but he ended up on the RAF Flim Unit, making documentary/propaganda type movies, Including flying on bombing raids as a cameraman.
Released in 1945, he stared in Journey Together, made by the RAF Film Unit as a drama about aircrew training.
It's on youtube; I watched a couple of years back, it's a typical Saturday afternoon B&W movie.

Some of you that are old enough, may recognise another name or two names...

The film follows a group of RAF aircrew from different social backgrounds as they train, serve, and face the realities of war together, highlighting themes of unity, class, duty, and shared sacrifice. Created during a period of national reflection, Journey Together aimed to reinforce the idea that the war effort brought people together across traditional divides.

"Unfortunately the Medic seriously screwed up and somehow injected him and one other with actual Typhoid, instead of the vaccine. "

I have enjoyed these stories, but can't imagine how the live typhoid virus was avaliable. Would like to know more.

mobylette wrote: ↑Tue Jan 20, 2026 9:34 pm "Unfortunately the Medic seriously screwed up and somehow injected him and one other with actual Typhoid, instead of the vaccine. "

I have enjoyed these stories, but can't imagine how the live typhoid virus was avaliable. Would like to know more.

I don't know this particular story. The Typhoid vaccine available during WW2 was the T.A.B vaccine with protects against Salmonella typhi and Salmonella paratyphi types A and B. It is is dead vaccine meaning the bacteria have been killed by heat and is given by subcutaneous injection. I can't imagine they had live bacteria and had to do the heat treatment themselves but in those days they reused the needle in successive patients until it went blunt and then sharpened it. It is also possible to contaminate the bottle of vaccine which would have been a multi-dose bottle, not a single dose phial. So, it is possible an infection was spread from one patient to another by reusing the needle or that the bottle of vaccine was contaminated and caused a severe infection unrelated to Typhoid. Just educated guesses! Of course, this kind of practice is absolutely unthinkable now that we know about blood borne viruses such as Hepatitis B and C and HIV.

Stephen

A generation that understood that war is not funny, and some of them went on to be the funniest people.