Amy, wonderful Amy ....

Here's a Hull heroine, Amy Johnson, captured in Portland stone.In the days when flights to far off places were headline news Amy Johnson was the star, flying off to Australia and South Africa breaking records all the while. In those days before 24 hour news and internet madness this was really big news with huge crowds gathering to see a plane land. I've managed to find a video which shows the enthusiasm for aviation in those days and also that English was spoken with terribly clipped vowels sounds almost like a foreign language.



There's also a song that demonstrates that music was no better then than now.

Did I mention?

I mentioned Amy Johnson before, you remember the Hull woman from such humble origins who flew round the world (or was it half way round I forget, no, no it was to Australia, never did know why she wanted to go to such a god forsaken place after living in Hull) on a bicycle and rubber-band powered flying machine, a Gypsy Moth. When I say humble did I mention daddy was a local millionaire? Must have slipped my mind, somehow. I mentioned how there was a replica in the station (of the plane  not Amy, wonderful Amy nobody can seem to capture her radiant beauty) ... did I mention how it was going to be removed somewhere silly (an air museum near York if I remember rightly) until the local shopping place said they would find a space for it. If I didn't mention this then I'm doing so now. Did I mention it was built by prisoners in Hull Prison?  I think I did. Ah but did I mention the plane was called Jason possibly after he of the Golden Fleece and deserting of Medea and the marrying of a king's daughter and all that or maybe it was some other Jason. Did I mention I was bored?

Did I mention the weekend in black and white is here?

More of this please

I mentioned a couple of weeks ago that there's a celebration of the seventy-fifth anniversary of Amy Johnson's death during WW2. Well to go with the fibre glass moths someone has actually come up with the bright idea of installing some seats and plants around the Amy Johnson statue on Prospect Street. The overnight improvement of this rather drab area is a most welcome addition. Local shops are reporting an increase in trade, people are sitting having a bit of lunch in the welcome shade ... makes you wonder why the original seats were removed years ago.

Erm ....

More Amy Johnson nonsense in Zebedee's Yard.  Clearly I'm not qualified to pass a judgement on this fine and colourful piece; not qualified at all ... but just one teensy weensy question; why is there a CND symbol lurking in the background?

The next plane to land at platform two ...

Somehow a replica model of Amy Johnson's plane has ended up in Paragon Station. The cash conscious people at the British Science Museum refused to pay for the original to be smothered in bubble wrap and sent up North. (The hidden message being they thought it might get broken by uncouth Hullians! I don't know where they might get that idea from.) So, instead,  this was built by inmates of the local prison. What a truly wonderful place this is!

A whisper of moths

These decorative blobs that have alighted all over town and elsewhere are supposed to be moths. Yeah, I know, you'd never have guessed. Anyhow it's from the same deep pool of idiocy that brought us fibre glass toads to celebrate the death of Philip Larkin; this time the death being celebrated is Amy Johnson's untimely demise in WW2 seventy-five years ago. Nearly sixty of these damn things have been dotted around the place. I've spotted about half a dozen so far and I can assure you I'm not going hunting for the rest. Why moths do I hear you ask? (are you still there?) Well she flew a Gypsy Moth plane, geddit? I know; stooopid. If you're remotely interested in fibre glass lepidoptery there's a gallery of mothy stuff here.

Hull History Centre, Worship Street

 

This air conditioned little delight holds all Hull's historical archives in one place for the first time.

From their website "The History Centre brings together the material held by the City Archives and Local studies Library with those held by the University of Hull. These include the City’s borough archives, dating back to 1299 and amongst the best in the country; records relating to the port and docks of Hull; papers of companies and organisations reflecting Hull’s maritime history; papers of noteable individuals including Andrew Marvell, Philip Larkin, Amy Johnson and William Wilberforce; records relating to local and national politics and pressure groups; and over 100,000 photographs, illustrations; maps and plans, newspapers, special collections and reference sources relating to Hull and the East Riding." 

Ask a volunteer

If all this culture has your head in a spin and your can't tell  your Amy Johnson from a wind turbine or your Humber Dock from the Marina then look out for a kindly smiling face in a light blue jacket and they will put you right or so I'm told. The Year of Culture, despite its millions of pounds of sponsorship, is depending on the unpaid work and goodwill of hundreds of these hardy souls. I think they get to keep the jackets. No, I'm not a volunteer (go on pretend to be surprised!); light blue is so not my colour!

What brought the kindred spider to that height ...

...Then steered the white moth thither in the night?

Ok, it's a green moth or rather Gypsy Moth and the spider is a man in a costume. So here's Amy Johnson and Marvel mixed and matched on a wall near Humber Street; make of it what you will.

Much better murals on a Monday are here. (Yes I know it's Tuesday)

Some Hull stuff

The Prospect Centre is having some work done on the lift and to protect Joe Public boards have been erected and to hide or brighten up these boards these decorative Hull based adornments have been added. So clockwise from the top right: Amy Johnson seeming to leap from England to Australia; a footballing tiger representing the local football club, Hull City aka the Tigers (though this year I'm told they are playing like pussy cats), a fisherman with what appear to be laughing cod (clearly a Mickey take of the Hessle Road mural), and finally a not very convincing and somewhat puzzled Philip Larking (as the Daily Mail recently called him) with a toothy toad. There's another panel that I couldn't photograph (on account of there being a stall in the way) with rugby players on it but I reckon you can have too much of a good thing.

There are more Monday murals here.