Postcards from Walmington

After chowing down a minimum of two Dad's Army episodes per night, how could we not detour off to Walmington on Sea Thetford on the way home from our north Norfolk jaunt. So what's to spot...


Nether Row (renamed Percy Street in the show): pops up frequently in Walmington street shots, including the corking but rarely repeated missing-knickers episode Man Hunt.

Three raw recruits raring to sign up for the Walmington Home Guard

Thetford Guildhall (Walmington Town Hall): the Time on My Hands episode (or The German Pilot Trapped on the Clock Tower One to give it it's full title) is centred almost entirely on the 19th century clocktower..

You'll also find Mill Lane, perhaps Thetford's most viewed road seen during the closing moments of The Deadly Attachment (or The 'Don't tell him, Pike!'One to give it it's full title), The Bell Inn - lodgings for the cast during location work, also used for the opening shots of the debut episode. All these, the Dad's Army Museum and plenty more Walmington backdrops are all doable and viewable within a one hour wander..

We would have factored in a trip to the Bressingham Steam Museum if we'd known of the gold contained therein. But that's another trip for another time...

Who Do You Think You Are Kidding, Mr Hitler? - Bud Flanagan

It's the rare version pop-pickers - see if you can spot the extra lyrics ?



Wild Billy Childish and The Blackhands - Who Do You Think You Are Kidding, Mr Hitler?





PS - thanks to John Medd for the title inspiration

Three years of blogging and Norfolk 'n' good

Barton Turf: whistling distance from our holiday digs...

We're off for a few days much needed breather and break next week. To Walmington-on-Sea in fact, well not yer actual Kent/Sussex village, but nipping about some parts of Norfolk occasionally spottable in Dad's Army location scenes - it's the flint walls that give it away. Cromer crab, Roys of Wroxham a trip to Narge and boating on the broads are all possibilities at the mo'.

In other news: I only realised a few days after last Sunday had passed, this place had clocked up three years on the blog-o-meter. I had been planning a third anniversary jamboree of sorts - but it's all slipped sideways over the summer. Luckily, those jolly ol' rockers The Wolfmen have allowed me to give an exclusive debut airing to their flute-tootin remix of the latest single July 20. It's the sort of Hanna-Barbera bouncer perfect for lolloping off on your hol's.

So I'll see you in a week or there abouts my booties. And perhaps we'll catch up on the missing Dear Diary posts when I'm back.

The Wolfmen - July 20 (CC's Canned Heat Summer Flute Mix)


The original version of July 20 can be bagged right here along with a variant remix from The Dandy Warhol's Courtney Taylor-Taylor

Perhaps by year four I'll have remembered hyperlink code without having to look it up.

An Offbeat Interlude

Can you believe it - the busiest day ever on the blog last Friday with double the daily hit rate and it's all down to Brenda Lee! Of all the tunes and tracks posted and popped on the blog it's Brenda's 'Walk A Mile In My Shoes' that got picked up by Hype Machine sending a stackload of extra traffic this way. Typically it's the Torero Brass Band and this Bardot picture that draws in the drifters and anonobods - so following on from the Brenda's (is anyone called Brenda anymore?) WAMIMS cover here's a Bob Andy's reggae flavoured rework and as bonus Billy Childish's moonstomping version of the Dads Army theme which you may have seen on some recent TV ads

Bob Andy - Walk A Mile In My Shoes



Wild Billy Childish And The Blackhands - Who Do You Think You Are Kidding Mr Hitler

Walmington.... Are You Ready To Rock?

Marvellous news.

My monthly subscription to Word wafted onto the mat yesterday, and scanning through the letters on page 66 who did I see? – ME!!!!.

They've printed my email about old rock n roll soldiers David Bowie, Van Morrison, Alice Cooper, Iggy Pop, The Pet Shop Boys plus others who could all be specific Dad’s Army characters.

For Example Van Morrison would make a perfect captain Mainwaring. Now I’m not gonna tell you who’s who - you’ll have to check the mag for that. But It's even got a photo with my suggested line up. How cool is that??

This rock veterans idea was inspired after listening to the Word Podcasts and two spectacular Van Morrison stories. I’m not particularly a Van fan which shows you how good they must be. The Word team are becoming the Lennon and McCartney of podcasters. So get over to Itunes and get downloading - it's all free.