Ilfracombe - Capstone Hill Prior to 1936. And the Life and Death of a Multiple Murderer.The Postcard
A postcard bearing no publisher's name that was produced in Great Britain. The image is a glossy real photograph. The card was posted in Ilfracombe using a 1d. stamp on Saturday the 1st. August 1936. It was sent to:
Mr. Ponting,
Lloyds Bank Chambers,
Oxford.
The message on the divided back of the card was as follows:
"Dear Dad,
Am having a good time.
I stayed until Saturday
with Mother and will
start for Walton next
Saturday.
Hope you are well.
Fred."
The 1936 Summer Olympics
So what else happened on the day that Fred posted the card?
Well, on the 1st. August 1936, the opening ceremony of the 1936 Summer Olympics was held in Berlin.
As with the Winter Games in February, there was confusion between the Nazi salute and the Olympic salute. Most countries gave one salute or the other as they passed Hitler in the viewing stand.
The British and Americans did not salute at all, and gave a military-style 'eyes right' instead. The Americans were also the only country not to dip their country's flag while passing Hitler, in keeping with the U.S. custom of only dipping to the President of the United States.
The Spanish Civil War
Also on that day, France took a public stance of neutrality in the Spanish Civil War by announcing that volunteers would be allowed to go and fight, as long as they did not carry arms on French soil.
The Fugitive Bradford Bishop
The 1st. August 1936 also marked the birth, in Pasadena, California, of Bradford Bishop.
William Bradford Bishop Jr. is a former United States Foreign Service officer who has been a fugitive from justice since killing his wife, mother, and three sons in 1976.
On the 10th. April 2014, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) placed him on the list of its Ten Most Wanted Fugitives.
On the 27th. June 2018, Bishop, who at the time would have been 81 years old, was removed from the list, making room, the FBI said, for another "dangerous fugitive".
However, he is still being actively pursued by the FBI, and an INTERPOL Red Notice is still in effect.
Donald Neilson - The Black Panther
The day also marked the birth, in Dewsbury, of the criminal Donald Neilson.
Donald Neilson, who was born Donald Nappey, was also known as "The Black Panther," "The Phantom" and "Handy Andy."
He was an English armed robber, kidnapper and murderer. Neilson committed a string of sub-post office robberies between 1971 and 1974, killing three people. In 1975, he kidnapped Lesley Whittle, an heiress from Shropshire, who died in his captivity.
Neilson was arrested later that year, convicted of four murders, and sentenced to imprisonment in July 1976. He remained incarcerated until his death in 2011.
-- Donald Neilson - The Early Years
Donald Neilson was born Donald Nappey in Bradford, West Riding of Yorkshire, on the 1st. August 1936. He had an unhappy childhood, having lost his mother to breast cancer when he was aged 10.
He also the target of bullying at school due to his surname's similarity to the word "nappy". This abuse carried over into Neilson's service in the British Army, which saw him posted in Kenya, Cyprus and Aden.
In April 1955, eighteen-year-old Neilson married Irene Tate, who was two years his senior. Their only child, a daughter named Kathryn, was born in 1960. Four years later, Neilson legally changed his surname so that his daughter would avoid the mistreatment that he had endured in his youth.
Why he specifically chose the name "Neilson" remains in dispute. According to authors David Bell and Harry Hawkes, he took the name from a man whose taxi business he had purchased, while Lena Fearnley, a lodger who had stayed with the Neilson family in the early 1960's, reported that he took the name from an ice cream van.
-- Burglary and Robbery
Neilson committed over 400 house burglaries, which went undetected during the early stages of his criminal career. In order to confuse the police, he adopted a different modus operandi every few weeks.
For example, he would steal a radio from each house, and abandon it nearby, then, when that pattern of behaviour was established, he would drop it and do something else.
Proceeds from simple house burglaries were low, however, and after stealing guns and ammunition from a house in Cheshire, he escalated his criminal activity, turning to robbing small post offices.
Neilson committed eighteen such crimes between 1971 and 1974. His robberies became progressively more violent as he sought to protect himself from occupants prepared to resist and defend their property.
In February 1972, Neilson broke into a sub-post office in Heywood, Lancashire. The postmaster, Leslie Richardson, and his wife awoke to find Neilson in their bedroom. During the ensuing struggle, Neilson brandished a sawn-off shotgun and issued a threat.
Richardson, realising the gun was not aimed at them, pulled the trigger, discharging the weapon into the ceiling. The confrontation continued until Neilson escaped, leaving Richardson injured.
Richardson gave police a description of the masked intruder, which turned out to be inaccurate in many respects. Several other photofits of Neilson were similarly unhelpful to the police, but one, made by sub-postmistress Margaret Grayland, was found to be extremely accurate.
-- The First Murders
Neilson committed his first three murders in 1974. During post office robberies, he fatally shot two sub-postmasters and the husband of a sub-postmistress, as well as brutally beating sub-postmistress Margaret Grayland.
He killed Donald Skepper in Harrogate, North Yorkshire, in February 1974; Derek Astin of Baxenden, Lancashire in September 1974; and Sidney Grayland in Langley, West Midlands during November 1974.
The Derek Astin murder resulted in Neilson being dubbed "The Black Panther", because during an interview with a local television reporter, Astin's wife, Marion, described her husband's killer as being:
"... so quick, he was like a panther."
Alluding to the killer's dark clothing, the enterprising reporter ended his piece by asking, "Where is this Black Panther?" and the nickname stuck.
Neilson was linked to the post office shootings after he shot security guard Gerald Smith six times while checking a ransom trail. Forensic examination showed the bullets were fired from the same .22 LR pistol that was used to murder both Astin and Grayland.
-- The Kidnap and Murder of Lesley Whittle
Lesley Whittle (3 May 1957 – 14 January 1975) was a 17-year-old girl who became Neilson's youngest victim. Whittle was the daughter of George Whittle, a noted coach transport business owner, and his mistress.
Whittle had left his entire fortune to his mistress and their children, Lesley and her brother Ronald. After reading about a family dispute over Whittle's will, Neilson planned for three years to obtain some of his estate.
On the 14th. January 1975, Neilson entered the Whittle family home in Highley, Shropshire, and kidnapped Lesley from her bedroom. Neilson calculated that the family would not materially miss £50,000 of their fortune, and so made a subsequent demand for that sum in a note left at the family home.
A series of police errors and other circumstances resulted in Whittle’s brother, Ronald, being unable to deliver the ransom money at the designated time and place demanded by the kidnapper.
Lesley Whittle's body was found on the 7th. March 1975, hanging from a wire at the bottom of the drainage shaft where he had tethered her in Bathpool Park in Kidsgrove, Staffordshire.
The subsequent post-mortem examination showed that Whittle had died from vagal inhibition, not from strangulation. The shock of the fall had caused her heart to stop.
Some analysts thought it was possible that Neilson had pushed Whittle off the ledge where he had kept her. An alternative scenario is that Neilson was not present when Whittle died, and that he had panicked and fled on the night of the failed ransom collection without returning to the shaft, believing the police were closing in on him.
Whittle may have been alive for a considerable period of time before she fell to her death. The pathologist noted that Whittle weighed only 98 pounds (44 kg) when found, her stomach and intestines were completely empty, she had lost a considerable amount of weight, and was emaciated.
He concluded that she had not eaten for a minimum of three days, the length of time it takes for food to pass through the body, but said the actual duration may have been much longer.
-- The Capture and Arrest of Donald Neilson
In December 1975, police officers Tony White and Stuart Mackenzie, stationed on a side road off the main A60 road in Mansfield, spotted a suspicious man with a holdall.
As they approached him, the man revealed a sawn-off shotgun and forced White into the back of the car. The man was impatient and he ordered White to climb over the seat, then he sat in the front passenger seat, jamming the gun under Mackenzie’s arm.
The gunman directed them to drive to Blidworth, threatening them if they pulled any tricks.
While pretending to search for rope as requested by the gunman, White seized an opportunity when Mackenzie swerved at an intersection. White pushed the gun down as Mackenzie slammed on the brakes, bringing the car to a halt outside the Junction Chip Shop in Rainworth.
The gun discharged, grazing White’s hand, while Mackenzie stumbled out, yelling for help.
Locals Roy Morris and Keith Wood quickly intervened, overpowering the gunman, who was later identified as Neilson. Neilson was handcuffed, and the officers had to shield him because he was attacked by the locals.
Neilson was tied up until backup arrived. Later, Neilson's fingerprints linked him to other crimes, and in a lengthy police statement he confessed to kidnapping.
-- The Trial and Conviction of Donald Neilson
During Neilson's trial at Oxford Crown Court, his defence lawyer, Gilbert Gray, contended that Whittle had accidentally fallen from the ledge, and died as a result. He noted that Neilson had fed her chicken soup, spaghetti and meatballs, and bought her fish and chips, chicken legs, and Polo mints.
The prosecution contested these claims. Evidence showed that Neilson had provided his victim with a sleeping bag designed to prevent hypothermia, mattresses, survival blankets, survival bags, a bottle of brandy, six paperback books, a copy of The Times and two magazines for reading, a small puzzle, and two brightly-coloured napkins.
These items were found by the police, either in the shaft, or in the subterranean canal running below it.
In his closing speech for the defence, Gray described the conditions that Neilson provided for Whittle, noting ways that he tried to provide for her comfort. He asked the jury whether they believed any hangman's noose would be padded and lagged with 77½ inches of Elastoplast to avoid chafing, or that any scaffold would be cushioned for with a rubber mattress and sleeping bags.
Gray noted that Whittle would not have died if the wire had not snagged on a stanchion, because her feet were only six inches from the bottom of the shaft. Gray clarified:
"This is not something the defence has made up.
Her height from the neck was four feet, and there
was a five feet length of ligature, giving an overall
length of nine feet.
The drop from the landing to the floor of the tunnel
was six feet eleven inches, so that if it had not been
for the unforeseen snagging which shortened the
tether, there would have been two feet to spare, and
she would have landed on her feet at the bottom of
the shaft."
Gray asked the jury why Neilson bothered to keep her alive once he had recorded the ransom messages, arguing that he could have simply clubbed her to death, and hidden the body in woodland. Gray finished his speech by opining:
"I submit that when Lesley Whittle went over the
platform, it was an unlooked-for misadventure,
unplanned and undesired.
Neilson started something that went hideously
wrong."
Nevertheless on the 1st. July 1976 Neilson was convicted of the kidnapping and murder of Lesley Whittle, for which he was given a life sentence.
Three weeks later, he was convicted of the murders of two postmasters and the husband of a postmistress. In total, Neilson received five life sentences.
Neilson was assessed by expert witness Lionel Haward, a forensic psychologist, and was found to be "suffering from a psycho-pathological condition of some severity," but not to the extent that it resulted in diminished responsibility.
The judge, Mr Justice Mars-Jones, also gave Neilson a further 61 years: 21 years for kidnapping Lesley Whittle, and 10 years for blackmailing her mother. Three further sentences of 10 years each were imposed for the two burglary charges, when he stole guns and ammunition, and for possessing the sawn-off shotgun with intent to endanger life.
All the sentences were to run concurrently. The judge told Neilson that the enormity of his crimes put him in a class apart from almost all other convicted murderers in recent years.
Neilson's defence team claimed that his conviction was a reflection of public opinion, a backlash of the publicity given to the hunt for the kidnapper and killer, and that he should have been convicted only of the lesser charge of manslaughter.
Neilson was acquitted of the attempted murders of sub-postmistress Margaret Grayland and PC Tony White, but found guilty of the lesser alternative charges of inflicting grievous bodily harm on Grayland, and of possessing a shotgun with the intent of endangering life at Mansfield.
A charge of attempting to murder security guard Gerald Smith, whom Neilson shot six times while checking the Whittle ransom trail, was not pursued due to legal complications: Smith had died more than a year and a day after being shot.
The trial judge recommended that Neilson receive a whole life tariff. After the verdicts, Gray visited his client in a cell below the courthouse, and found Neilson in the corner of his cell, curled up in a fetal position, purportedly dejected, and allegedly filled with remorse for Whittle and her family.
-- Trial and conviction of Irene Neilson
Following the arrest of Donald Neilson in Mansfield, his wife, Irene, became concerned when he failed to return home. In response, she burned approximately fifty postal orders in their coal fire.
During a subsequent search of their house, police discovered charred remains in the chimney. Irene Neilson was later convicted of cashing over eighty stolen postal orders obtained during her husband's post office raids.
Irene claimed to have been forced into cashing these items in various post offices over a large area. Her solicitor, Barrington Black, placed the blame squarely on Donald Neilson’s complete domination of his wife, describing him as:
"A Svengali, who exercised a hypnotic
influence. He was a quasi-military figure
who barked orders at his wife and
daughter, and woe betide anyone who
disobeyed him."
Barrington Black said he felt that this portrayal was confirmed by Donald Neilson when he had visited him in his top security cell.
It seemed a formality that Irene, then aged 42 with no prior convictions, would be placed on probation, but a court report said that probation would not be suitable.
Black pressed hard for Irene Neilson to be fined, asking the magistrates if she really deserved to be harshly treated for a situation that was forced upon her, and insisted her last three years with Neilson before his arrest had been "hell."
The magistrates responded that while they had every sympathy with a lady before the courts for the first time, they regarded her activities as a deliberate course of conduct. She received twelve months in prison. An appeal was immediately lodged.
Gilbert Gray QC was briefed to represent her, and he produced Donald Neilson as a surprise witness. The QC told the judge, sitting with two magistrates, that he was anxious that the court should be aware of the pressure and constraints placed upon Irene Neilson by her husband.
Gray claimed:
"Neilson was the man who struck fear and
dread into pretty much the whole community,
and this woman lived with him."
However, the judges found Donald Neilson's testimony vague, and upheld his wife's conviction and sentence.
While Irene was in prison, a major newspaper paid a large amount for the Neilsons' story. Six years later, in an interview with The Sunday People, Irene Neilson said that she doubted she would have been jailed had she not been Neilson's wife. She said everyone had wanted blood after her husband's trial. Ultimately, she served eight months before being released with full remission for good behaviour.
-- The 2008 Appeal
Following subsequent legal judgements in other cases, and the implications of Human Rights laws, Neilson was repeatedly confirmed to be on the Home Office's list of prisoners with whole-life tariffs.
A succession of Home Secretaries ruled that life should mean life for Neilson. In 2008, Neilson applied to the High Court to have his minimum term reverted to 30 years. On the 12th. June 2008, Mr. Justice Teare upheld the whole-life tariff and stated:
"This is a case where the gravity of the applicant's
offences justifies a whole life order. The manner in
which the young girl was killed demonstrates that
it too involved a substantial degree of premeditation
or planning.
It also involved the abduction of the young girl.
The location and manner of Lesley Whittle's death
indicates that she must have been subjected by the
applicant to a dreadful and horrific ordeal."
-- The Death of Donald Neilson
In the early hours of the 17th. December 2011, Neilson was taken from Norwich Prison to Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital with breathing difficulties. He died the next day, aged 75.
Yves Saint Laurent
Yves Saint Laurent was also born on the 1st. August 1936, in Oran, Algeria.
Yves Henri Donat Mathieu-Saint-Laurent was a French fashion designer who, in 1962, founded his eponymous fashion label. He is regarded as being among the foremost fashion designers of the twentieth century.
Yves developed his style in order to accommodate the changes in fashion during that period. He approached his aesthetic from a different perspective by helping women find confidence by looking both comfortable and elegant at the same time.
He is also credited with having introduced the "Le Smoking" tuxedo suit for women, and was known for his use of non-European cultural references and of diverse models.
Historian Caroline Milbank wrote:
"The most consistently celebrated and
influential designer of the past twenty-five
years, Yves Saint Laurent can be credited
with both spurring the couture's rise from
its 1960's ashes and with finally rendering
ready-to-wear reputable."
-- The Death of Yves Saint Laurent
Yves Saint Laurent died on the 1st. June 2008 of brain cancer at his residence in Paris. He was 71 years of age when he died.
According to The New York Times, a few days prior, he and his partner Pierre Bergé had been joined in a same-sex civil union known as a Pacte civil de solidarité (PACS) in France.
When Saint Laurent was diagnosed as terminal, with only one or two weeks left to live, Bergé and the doctor mutually decided that it would be better for him not to know of his impending death. Bergé said:
"I have the belief that Yves would
not have been strong enough to
accept that."
Yves was given a Catholic funeral at the Église Saint-Roch in Paris. The funeral attendees included the former Empress of Iran Farah Pahlavi, Bernadette Chirac, Catherine Deneuve, and President Nicolas Sarkozy and his wife, Carla Bruni.
His body was cremated, and his ashes were scattered in Marrakech, Morocco, in the Majorelle Garden, a residence and botanical garden that he had owned with Bergé since 1980 and which he had often visited in order to find inspiration and refuge.
Bergé said at the funeral service:
"I know that I will never forget what
I owe you, and one day I will join you
under the Moroccan palms."
Louis Blériot
The day also marked the death in Paris at the age of 64 of the French aviation pioneer Louis Blériot.
Ev Yapımı Lezzetler ve Sağlıklı Yaşamın Buluşması
Doğal Hamur İşleri ve Sağlıklı Beslenme
Voyager avec les Cartes Postales Anciennesdai.ly/x9bh1y2
Cartes Postales Anciennesdai.ly/x9bh1y2
Cartes Postales Anciennesdai.ly/x9bh1y2
Robert (Bobby) Howe Walthour
Oran 1962 Arzew
Oran Medina Djadida rue de figuier à gauche mur blanc Hôpital Bendaoud et la ruelle rue Clauzel ( dar el kadi )
Province d'Oran au XIXe siècle 1856 - 1858
Province d'Oran au XIXe siècle 1856 - 1858
Province d'Oran au XIXe siècle 1856 - 1858
Province d'Oran au XIXe siècle 1856 - 1858
Province d'Oran au XIXe siècle 1856 - 1858
Province d'Oran au XIXe siècle 1856 - 1858
Province d'Oran au XIXe siècle 1856 - 1858
Province d'Oran au XIXe siècle 1856 - 1858
Province d'Oran au XIXe siècle 1856 - 1858
Province d'Oran au XIXe siècle 1856 - 1858
Province d'Oran au XIXe siècle 1856 - 1858
Province d'Oran au XIXe siècle 1856 - 1858
Karton Çanta İle Marka Tanıtımının Gücü
Bear Park - Oran Mor Glasgow 16th February 2024-1.jpg
TOM CLIFFORD PARK
Creatys Istanbul December 15, 2024 at 07:56PM
