National Life Stories an Oral History of British Science
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NATIONAL LIFE STORIES AN ORAL HISTORY OF BRITISH SCIENCE John Kington Interviewed by Dr Paul Merchant C1379/33 © The British Library Board http://sounds.bl.uk This interview and transcript is accessible via http://sounds.bl.uk . © The British Library Board. 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: C1379/33 Collection title: An Oral History of British Science Interviewee’s surname: Kington Title: Mr Interviewee’s forename: John Sex: M Occupation: Meteorologist/ Date and place of birth: 1930; climatologist Camden Town, London Mother’s occupation: / Father’s occupation: Verger Dates of recording, Compact flash cards used, tracks (from – to): 11/10/10 (track 1-2); 14/10/10 (track 3); 27/10/10 (track 4-5); 17/12/10 (track 6-7); 8/2/11 (track 8- 10) Location of interview: Interviewee’s home, Cringleford, Norwich Name of interviewer: Dr Paul Merchant Type of recorder: Marantz PMD661 Recording format : WAV 24 bit 48kHz Total no. of tracks: 10 Mono or stereo: Stereo Total Duration: 8:24:54 Additional material: Scan of childhood drawings, photo of John with camera, photo taken by John of cloud formation. Copyright/Clearance: Open, © British Library. Interviewer’s comments: Interviewee amendments / additions are added in square brackets throughout the transcript. JK’s wife, Beryl Kington [BK], is a speaker on track 8. © The British Library Board http://sounds.bl.uk John Kington Page 1 C1379/33 Track 1 Track 1 Could I ask by - start by asking when and where you were born please? I was born in London at Camden Town in 1930. My parents, my father originally came from Wiltshire, excuse me, a village called Littleton Drew outside Chippenham but I understand that after the First World War – he was a farm worker and conditions became very difficult and he had to find employment elsewhere, and my [his] wife’s mother who was living in London, in Camden Town at the time, saw an opening in that area for a Verger at St Paul’s Church and he came up and was interviewed and obviously was suitable for the post and that’s how they came to London, presumably in the late 1920s. I was born in 1930 so that explains why I’m a Londoner by birth but I think my father really is [was] a countryman, truly because when we had holidays before the war we used to go down every year to Wiltshire on the Great Western Railway from Paddington Station and I think he used to love to handle horses again and I think I have a picture of him behind a two horse plough which I think was what he probably did when – before he actually came to London, that was his farming occupation. However, he proved to be very useful, valuable to the people, the congregation of St Paul’s Church, he was much esteemed but eventually – I don’t know the actual story but the conditions again in the late 1930s became difficult with salary and what have you, so he had to find another position. So then we moved in 1939, summer, to Chiswick where another opening was available as a Verger again at the parish church of Chiswick, St Nicholas on the River Thames, and we set up home there and had a fairly pleasant time. The summer of 1939 was warm and sunny and – but then of course war broke out in September and because of the threat of bombing – we had seen what had happened in Warsaw and Rotterdam and there was a great fear that London was going to be targeted next and so there was a great panic, people evacuated their children and I was one and I was evacuated back to Wiltshire, to relations, my father’s brother who lived at Littleton Drew and his wife, and I was set up there with their family, they had two sons and I remember quite well the following winter, 1939-1940 was very severe and I have very happy memories of sliding on village ponds and sledging down slopes with my cousin who was just a few years older than me but I used to tag along behind him and his friend on various jaunts, and that was a very happy time because the country there was more or less deserted, there were hardly any cars or buses on the roads and we had a beautiful time. I have these vivid memories of playing in that area, and there © The British Library Board http://sounds.bl.uk John Kington Page 2 C1379/33 Track 1 was a brook nearby, woods and what have you and we used to go on various jaunts. My cousin had a – a den as it were in a tree and this little brook had wooden bridges which we used to cross over, and it was really delightful and it’s one of the most treasured memories I have today. Excellent , I’ll – I’ll return to those – those jaunts then in – in a little while. Could you say something – or anything you know of your father’s sort of childhood? Well as far as I know he was born in Littleton Drew, a large family, I have a family tree somewhere but I can – That’s okay. Probably ten or eleven children, brothers and sisters, I had many aunts and uncles from that line living in Littleton Drew and the surrounding villages. Hmmm, I think he was born in a cottage on the village green, there was a school there but when I was evacuated – even that school had closed down and we had – we were bussed into a nearby village, but I imagine when he was a boy there were lots of children in the village because of the large families at that time. Yes yes. And something of your mother’s background? Well my mother was born in – in Belfast actually, her father was I believe in – well I think he was in the army and he had various postings and I think one of them must have been in the Belfast area so – but she was only a baby when she came to England and they I think lived at Woolwich, there was a big garrison [Woolwich Arsenal] there I believe which she was associated with. Again a large family, lots of aunts and uncles on that side of the family as well. Hmmm, and I think – I’m not quite sure how she came to meet my father because he was living in – in Wiltshire, she must have gone down – I think they had relations in that area, on that side of the family and she probably met him perhaps on holiday, I’m just surmising at the time. Yes. © The British Library Board http://sounds.bl.uk John Kington Page 3 C1379/33 Track 1 I’m not quite sure but that’s probably what happened. I see. And then they got married, they lived in Littleton Drew, we have actually been to the cottage where they were many years ago, I don’t know what it’s like now, it’s all been changed it’s only just off the M4 actually, but in those days of course it was very isolated and a very close community, but as I say they had to give up – because of the situation there, the money perhaps was very short and then he moved to London in the late 1920s. And do you know anything of your paternal grandparents, it’s possible that you – you have direct experience or that you knew them – Yes. And if not stories of them? Well it’s funny really, I – I only had one grandmother, granny as we used to call her, all the – the other grandparents had died before I was born, but she was very fine, she was my mother’s mother. Granny Mitchell, that was the – her – my mother’s maiden name, so you get the connection there, hmmm, she came – oh that’s right, I told you, she was living in Camden Town at – at Cliff Road near the church, I’m not sure how she got there actually [Mitchell family home, photo of my grandfather in garden] but, that’s how we came to live in London anyway, through her. And then later on of course it – she tended to travel around amongst the children, the daughters and – and sons, and she actually stayed with us for a while when we were living in Watford, my wife – my wife was born in Watford. And what do you remember of time spent with her, with your maternal grandmother? Yes, so she was a great lady, very knowledgeable, she had all these children but you mentioned a place, ‘Oh I’ve been there, I know about that,’ you know, she obviously – she read a great deal, read the bible every day, I don’t know how – what her education was but she was a very intelligent lady who delighted in her knowledge I think.