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CM MEMORIES

23rd March 2000, Page 41
23rd March 2000
Page 41
Page 41, 23rd March 2000 — CM MEMORIES
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With reference to Allen Smith's letter in which he mentioned the murder of a member of staff (CM 2-8 March): when I joined the staff of Temple Press in 1944 that particular incident was still a topic of conversation.

Reference to my copy of Bouvene Street to Bowling Green Lane, the official history of Temple Press, revealed a brief mention to the effect that technical editor Maurice Home was murdered in the blackout. The motive was never established and the culprit was never caught. The crime remains a mystery.

One of my first photographic jobs with Temple Press was with Allen. We travelled to Margate in his Austin Seven saloon to cover a new system of refuse collection. The household dustbins were emptied into small skips, thereby saving the operator a return journey from the vehicle to the house. We stayed in a boarding house on the seafront, and I can still remember the dinner gong and the pounding of feet on the stairs.

Dick Ross did many of the photographic assignments for CM, and I did the occasional one. I had great affection for Percy Tucker. To me at that time he appeared ancient (he was about the same age as I am now). I did enjoy working with him, travelling in his 1920 Austin 7/10 with a canvas roof.

It was said that he had rebuilt it many times. With a pipe tightly clenched between his teeth, he seldom stopped talking, but most interestingly so. Once, going round Hyde Park Corner in the rush hour, to explain a point he waved the gearstick in the air and then with great accuracy replaced it in the gearbox.

Once when we were travelling in my down-at-heel Hillman Minx and were stopped in traffic, Percy said: "Son, you are too close to that truck—it could roll back on to us"... advice I still remember today when on the motorway in heavy traffic.

Bill Cotton was regarded with great affection by everyone at Temple Press, and we were all sorry when he left for Unilever. The story of Bill doing stops and starts on Sucombes Hill is legendary. Sucombes was a narrow, steep hill near Banstead which was used as a test hill. On one occasion, starting from rest, the load, concrete blocks, slid backwards off the vehicle on to the road. A pickup truck was called from the local garage. Holes had to be made in the road to secure the lifting hooks. When the breakdown vehicle attempted to lift it its front went up in the air. Eventually more heavy lifting gear was obtained. What had been a quiet Surrey lane soon became blocked with cars. Bill, meanwhile, was calmly smoking his pipe...

I was sorry to hear that another CMtechnical editor. Tony Wilding, had died. I later became involved with Motor, but will always look back with affection on those days with CM. Maurice Rowe.

• Always good to hear from a CM staffer, Maurice—and yes. we still get the odd problem with shifting test loads...but sadly we no longer have any pipe smokers on the technical desk!Fr,.


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