In Jimmy Perry’s early days at Watford’s Palace Theatre he served locally in the 1st Battalion of the Home Guard, experiences which no doubt have inspired him to write, in collaboration with David Croft, a new series entitled Dad’s Army for the BBC.

Six episodes have now been recorded. The first instalment will be shown on BBC1 on June 5. Jimmy himself has a small part in episode No. 6. The series, shot in a Norfolk studio, is set in a fictitious seaside town.

[From the Watford Observer of May 24, 1968]

NOSTALGIA NOTE: It seems the transmission date may have been jumping the gun a little, as it were, as the first ever episode of Dad’s Army, The Man and the Hour, wasn’t actually broadcast until July 31, 1968 according to the Dad’s Army Appreciation Society. The society’s excellent website also reveals Jimmy Perry’s character in Shooting Pains (that sixth episode mentioned above) was called Charlie Cheeseman.

 

When a judgment creditor failed to appear at Watford County Court on Monday, Judge Crawford turned to the debtor and advised: “You had better go away as quickly as you can, or they may turn up.” The man almost ran from the court.

[From the Watford Observer of May 19, 1934]

 

Oxhey’s Coronation beer is in grave danger – it has been deprived of its police guard during the night before The Day.

“We will either have to make arrangements to employ a watchman ourselves – the point is, who is going to watch the watchman? – or we will have to ask the contractors to see what they can do,” the chairman of the Coronation Committee, Mr H.E. Cook, told Watford Rural Parish Council on Wednesday.

Only that evening, he said, Herts Constabulary had told him they could not supply a police guard for the materials sited on the golf course the day and night before the celebration.

“A few days ago I had a message from the police headquarters to call on them, I did and confirmed the arrangements that had been made some months ago verbally and since confirmed officially of their official form. This evening, there is no policeman,” he went on.

“What we are going to do with all the equipment I just don’t know. I am also very concerned about the stocks of beer that will have to come on to the site the day before,” he said.

Mr. F. E. Walters had a happy thought. He suggested: “If you have some of the beer the previous evening, there will be much less to look after.”

[From the Watford Observer of May 29, 1953]

 

It is not surprising that some alarm has been caused in Watford by the large number of street accidents which have recently occurred in the town. Two of these accidents have resulted in the death of a nurse and a Grammar School boy respectively.

At the inquest on the latter, the Coroner commented upon the fact that six accidents to cyclists were recorded in the Observer last week and he added that “something should be done”.

The Foreman of the Jury suggested the speed limit throughout the town should be reduced to six miles an hour until such time as the streets were widened.

Three letters on “street dangers” are to be found in our columns this week.
The suggestions made by our correspondents are briefly, that more police should be stationed at dangerous corners, motorists should be made to travel slowly in congested areas and that, where possible, obstructions to the view of converging  roads should be removed.

[Editor’s comment from the Watford Observer of May 14, 1921]

 

A stone flew from a catapult fired on the Oxhey estate, shattering a pane of glass in a telephone kiosk, and cutting the face of a woman inside.

A boy told Watford Magistrates on Friday that he had been demonstrating the powers of the catapult and aiming it at a nearby tree, when the catapult misfired.

The boy was discharged but ordered to pay 5s. costs.

[From the Watford Observer of May 9, 1952]

 

A tip for when it rains. A kind friend has fired a splendid tip at me about rainwater which is too good to keep to myself. The only snag in it is that at present our rainwater barrels are empty.

Still, we know that sooner or later they will be brimming over again and even before you read this, the rain may be splashing merrily into your butt or tank.

Now we all know the virtues of rainwater and in this district where the water is very hard, it is specially valuable. The thing which stops most of us from making full use of it is because it is always grimy, and collects so much else from the roofs and gutters besides the rain.

My friend has an excellent way of getting over this difficulty. She ties an old stocking (old, but not holey) round the end of the rainwater pipe, with the foot dangling into the tub.

The result is a stocking full of soot and a barrel full of clear, sparkling rainwater which you can use without any qualms.

You cannot, of course, drink the water, but try it on the weekly wash, your own face or for shampooing your hair.

[From the Watford Observer of May 20, 1938]

 

Attracted by pieces of bread thrown by well-meaning Watfordians, rats have been prowling around the nest of the swan family which has made its home under the Colne bridge in Lower High Street. A lady who noticed this, and foresaw danger to the cygnets when they hatched out, rang up the Town Hall.

On Wednesday, when three of the six eggs had hatched out, a sanitary inspector and rodent operatives arrived on the scene and discovered the rats were living on the tongue of land jutting out from the gas works and touching the little island on which the nest stands. They used the ivy as a makeshift ladder.

Now the rats will have alternative food near at hand, which, it is hoped, will stop them interfering with the nest.

Later the baits will be of a more deadly kind, which should put an end to their activities.

Congratulations to the Sanitary Inspector’s Department on their prompt action, which, though part of the unceasing campaign which they wage against vermin, in this case has a flavour of the dramatic.

[From the Watford Observer of May 27, 1949]