Benjamin Franklin Godden
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WHEN he won the proud title' of Conductor of the Year at Broughton -under-• Wychwood on Saturday, Benjamin Franklin Godden achieved the highest ambition of his comparatively short career in passenger transport. After a chat with him in the village's Albert Hall, on the stage of which Col. F. M. BrightPynch, the chief constable, made the presentation, I felt impelled to seek a further interview to record, if I could, .something • of the background and training that go to the making of a
national, champion. .
As the chief constable was at pains to point out in his speech, the conductor competition' is different in its. essentials from other contests in the transport world. For one thing, none of the tests is carried out. in reverse. For another, only one bus is required, which makes the competition an admirable attraction at • parochial garden parties, -political: cOnforences and openings of civic centres. :.
Although this is the first year the . contest has been held on a national basis, already four eliminating rounds • haye : taken place, three' of whose winners appeared in the final.
. No Frivolity .
Throughout the country there are many bits conductors and it was the first thought of the organizing committee to reduce the numbers Of possible contenders for the national title by making several conditions which would eliminate unqualified or even frivolous entrants.
Thus, before appearing in an eliminating round, the conductor must produce certified evidence from his traffic manager (" who shall not be a _close relative "—hal they thought of that one) that he has never been more than £1 short in his takings for the day, that he has been seen to wear the company cap at least twice in any week and that he has not been convicted of assaulting or even battering the public in the 12 months immediately preceding the contest.
Consequently, the stewards of the meeting know they are dealing with the hard core of professional conductors whose technique is a model to the youngsters coming into the industry.
Tests are fourfold and designed to tax agility, sleight of hand, crowd control and sheer toughness. It was decided that each entrant would be equipped with a board of tickets of various values and a punch of the type more commonly seen today in the nursery at Christmas time.
In Test 1,' the conductor is required to ascend to the upper deck and issue to the eight Marshals seated there a selection of tickets which shall include one Is. 2d.' return, one eightpenny, two and two halves to Hyde Park Corner, a workman's day return and a 3-2td. single. The exercise is timed to the conductor's return at foot of stairs.
Test 2 (crowd control) requires the conductor to stand behind the driver's bulkhead, as though addressing him, and to announce in clear tones, "Nomore standing full on top any more fares please."
Test 3 is also timed and requires the conductor to leave his platform, run 50 yd. to a tea-bar, collect two full mugs, return to the bus, on the way handing one to the driver and sprinting to his platform.
In Test 4 (timed) the conductor has to change the destination board (a) from the front of the bus and. (b) from the rear.
In his delightful cottage in Mill Lane, 28-year-old Benjamin Godden told me that he entirely approved of the rules and the conduct of the contest. He had studied the regulations with great care and had managed to get in much practice.
I asked him to what in particular he attributed his success and I was interested to learn that, in months past, he had practised a form of descent from the upper deck in which he slid downwards on the grab-rails without touching the stair treads. Seconds saved here, he thought, compensated in some measure for his admitted slowness in dealing with any ticket involving halfpennies.
Of Course, I had to .74. keep real fit," added Mr. Godden. "Gloria here," indicating his pretty 25-year-old-wife and mother of three-year-old twin boys, "Gloria feeds' me plenty of steak—I like it underdone—and oysters, in season. The biggest strain in the training season was having to wear the old company. titfer. It was issued the day after 1 had a haircut and it's never fitted since."
I asked the champion if there was any moment during the contest when he was bothered by the opposition. "Well," said Ben, as he is known to his mates at the depot, "I got a bit rattled when that chap from London Transport downed his char so fast. We take things a bit more leisurely like here, you know."
I was enormously impressed by Mr. Godden's handling of • the crowdcontrol test. Even with his head halfway through the driver's communication window, his tone had a stentorian quality sadly lacking in the other contestants.
The Lion Roars
I have heard a sergeant major of a good Guards battalion addressing a young soldier across a parade ground, a sound calculated to have the freezing effect of a lion's roar. Mr. Godden's range had the same complete absence of human quality.
Asked how he had acquired this dramatic, if blistering, effect, Ben admitted, with becoming modesty, that he had been an instructor at an Army school of physical training for some three years. The wind, he said, was apt to distort your remarks unless you spoke up a bit. "And most of the customers are born deaf," he added.
Over a Cup of tea, I asked Mr. Godden whether he thought the conductor's contest would stimulate interest and recruiting in his profession. Would he apprentice his two boys to the industry?
"Well," he said, "if we had a few of the girls in the contest, it'd stimulate interest all right. But I wouldn't let the kids take on a lark like this. Reckon they'd do better making motor-scooters or telly sets."