NATIONAL LIFE STORIES AN ORAL HISTORY OF BRITISH SCIENCE Professor Fred Vine Interviewed by Dr Paul Merchant C1379/25 © The British Library Board http://sounds.bl.uk IMPORTANT This interview and transcript is accessible via http://sounds.bl.uk . © The British Library. Please refer to the Oral History curators at the British Library prior to any publication or broadcast from this document. Oral History The British Library 96 Euston Road London NW1 2DB United Kingdom +44 (0)20 7412 7404 [email protected] Every effort is made to ensure the accuracy of this transcript, however no transcript is an exact translation of the spoken word, and this document is intended to be a guide to the original recording, not replace it. Should you find any errors please inform the Oral History curators. © The British Library Board http://sounds.bl.uk The British Library National Life Stories Interview Summary Sheet Title Page Ref no: C1379/25 Collection title: An Oral History of British Science Interviewee’s Vine Title: Professor surname: Interviewee’s Frederick Sex: Male forename: Occupation: Geologist/geophysici Date and place of 17 June 1939; st birth: Chiswick, west London Mother’s occupation: personal assistant, Father’s occupation: financial clerk, Lyons Lyons catering catering company company Dates of recording, Compact flash cards used, tracks (from – to): 5/8/10 (track 1-2); 20/8/10 (track 3-5); 30/9/10 (track 6); 8/10/10 (track 7-8); 25/10/10 (track 9-11); 28/1/11 (track 12) Location of Interviewees home, Norwich, Norfolk interview: Name of interviewer: Dr Paul Merchant Type of recorder: Marantz PMD661 Recording format : 661: WAV 24 bit 48kHz Total no. of tracks: 12 Mono or stereo: Stereo Total Duration: 09:59:29 Additional material: Copyright/ No restrictions. © assigned to The British Library. Clearance: Interviewer’s Please note closely linked, shorter recording of Sue Vine comments: © The British Library Board http://sounds.bl.uk Fred Vine Page 1 C1379/25 Track 1 Track 1 Could you start by telling me today where and when you were born? I was born in Chiswick in West London on the 17 th of June 1939 at home. And could you tell me something of your – the life of your mother as you – as you know it? Both parents were brought up in Chiswick, in fact when they got married in 1936 the local press talked of it as the union of two – two old Chiswick families, I was quite amused when I saw that – that press cutting and read that because it was almost like the union of Romeo and Juliet because although both grandfathers were builders, or I think specifically decorators, one was self-employed and one I think typically worked for companies, one was staunchly Conservative and one was staunchly Labour [laughs] so it was almost thought of it as a – you know, the union of these two opposites almost [laughs]. But yeah, so the marriage – but my mother – I think it’s possible she had a better job than my father when they were married, she was a sort of – what today would be a sort of personal assistant I think to a director or somebody fairly high up, in this case in Lyons the catering company in Cadby Hall, Kensington. But even if she was she probably didn’t get paid more of course in those days as – as a woman. My father was also at Lyons, he was a – well he started as a stock taker and became an accountant or financial clerk really. But of course as was I think pretty normal, pretty typical in those days, my mother had to stop work or did stop work when she got married and in that it was three years before I came along [laughs] it must have been a pretty dull existence after – after working like that, it must – I don’t think it did her any good mentally actually, she died quite young at 63 – 63, having suffered, you know, mental problems which was rather a shame. The – the newspaper cutting that you – that you mentioned describing the – the marriage of your parents as – Yeah. © The British Library Board http://sounds.bl.uk Fred Vine Page 2 C1379/25 Track 1 Do you remember when you saw that? I mean is that something that you saw as an adult and then revered on later? Yes, it’s fairly recently probably. Could well be in – within the last ten years, I can’t remember exactly, yeah. And did you have any sense of your mother’s childhood from stories that she told or other people told about it? No, not – not really with my mother, I can’t remember – and just not a lot from my father but my father lived – who lived till ninety-nine, you know [laughs], a widower for thirty-seven years, obviously I – I got more from him over the years because I got older and ultimately when I retired talked about things, but it was a very happy childhood, I mean both obviously lived through the First World War, so they were born 1908 and 1910 and – but they were very young. They didn’t lose any – surprisingly any close relatives in that war which was pretty unusual actually. I think – I think – I suppose they had a very happy childhood and they had – certainly had a very long courtship or engagement, an engagement [laughs], I think – How did they – how did they meet, at – at Lyon? I’m not – I’m not sure, I suspect they met as children because, you know, they lived quite close together in – in Chiswick and went to the local church and belonged to the [church] organisations. So I think as was so often the case in those days, you know, that if you trace these people back they – I was reading some – the other day, you know, because it was a 60 th wedding anniversary or something, they’d known each other since they were at primary school or something [laughs], it would be almost unheard of today but I mean it was very common I think then. And as a – as a child growing up what impression did you have of their relationship, in other words what was particular about the relationship between those two adults as opposed to other? © The British Library Board http://sounds.bl.uk Fred Vine Page 3 C1379/25 Track 1 Well they were very devoted to each other, they – they seemed very happy, that was a tragedy of – of my mother dying so early really. Dad – took Dad seven or ten years to get over it one way or another, but he did in the end and sort of came to terms with it. Yes, I – I don’t know, they always seemed very happy, you know, and they were very humble, sort of very quiet people and just got on with things and two weeks holiday a year and that was it [laughs], in those days. And do you know anything of your maternal grandmother, I know the – Well I knew her, I mean she lived till quite a good age, until her eighties and the – the family name was Bryant, well her family name wasn’t Bryant of course, her family name was Nicholls … grandfather’s Bryant, Bryant and Sons , the Conservative. Don’t know an awful lot about her, they lived in – well again in Chiswick obviously, in – well arguably became part of slum clearance, you know, and it was quite a humble place [laughs] with chickens out the back and that sort of thing. I’m never quite sure whether it was slum clearance or not because it was very near to the area that had to be cleared for the Great West Road extension to go through, the Cromwell Road extension as it was called, it was very near Hogarth Roundabout, infamous Hogarth Roundabout, but it wasn’t literally on that route but it was an area of housing – old housing in Chiswick which was cleared, but no, it was a very small little terraced house that opened directly onto the street and went back quite a way with chickens in the garden and somehow they raised seven or eight children in this [laughs] size – this just small confined space, particular as they got older. It was a classic example, you know, the youngest daughter had to look after the mother when she became infirm, I mean as long as I knew her which was some years, I mean she didn’t die till about 1961, she was always chair bound, you know, this sort of thing, it must have been twenty or thirty years by then. Really brings it home to you, you know, today with hip operations and the knee operations that you can prevent that sort of thing but, you know, then they were just chair bound. Yes, living – living to an old age then was a very different experience. Yeah yeah, absolutely. © The British Library Board http://sounds.bl.uk Fred Vine Page 4 C1379/25 Track 1 And your paternal grandmother? Yes, I knew her quite well, I mean the grandfathers died in – in the mid – well no, ’47, ’48 so I was quite young, seven, eight, nine, I don’t – I do just remember them, and I didn’t go to the funerals, you know, because I was considered to be too young. But the grandmothers lived on – both of them till about 1961 when I was up at Cambridge, they both died then.