Piccadilly Circus: 1962 - a photo on Flickriver

Piccadilly Circus: 1962

            This is an anonymously published postcard showing the view in Piccadilly Circus looking east towards Coventry Street. There is a double bill playing at the London Pavilion, “Mysterious Island” is a science fiction adventure loosely based on the Jules Verne novel “The Mysterious Island” in which Captain Nemo and the Nautilus make an appearance. It starred Michael Craig, Joan Greenwood and stop go animated characters by Ray Harryhausen, the film is regularly repeated on British Television as is “The Pirates of Blood River”, a British made film starring the American actor Kerwin Mathews and a cast of British actors including Christopher Lee, Oliver Reed and Peter Arne; the double bill ran from 14th July until 19th July 1962. I was aware of Peter Arne long before he was bludgeoned to death in his Knightsbridge flat in August 1983. I had read that he was a Battle of Britain fighter pilot and that he was born in Kuala Lumpur of a French-Swiss mother and an American father and became an actor in the early 1950s playing small parts in low budget British films. He was also a promiscuous homosexual who picked up young men at among other places, Victoria Embankment Gardens where he met an Italian school teacher who later murdered him at his flat just behind Harrods. The school teacher committed suicide several days after the murder by throwing himself into the Thames. On the right next to the Criterion Theatre is a branch of “Dolcis Shoes”, the company can trace its origins back to 1863 and a stall in Woolwich Market where John Upson later opened a shop called “The Great Boot Provider”. The Company became “Dolcis” in 1920 and it is believed the name was acquired from a brand of Swiss socks. At their height, “Dolcis” had 65 shops and 150 concessions in other stores, the company is now owned by the Jacobson Group. The advertisement underneath the Wrigley advert is for “Youngers Scotch Ales”, not to be confused with Scottish Ales which tended to be more like a Pale Ale. Scotch Ales were a traditionally heavy beer which William Younger & Company had been brewing a form of in Edinburgh since 1778. At the time of the advertisement the Company was owned by Scottish and Newcastle.
   

Taken in: United Kingdom / England / London / Soho (show map)

Taken on: January 1, 1962

Tags:

Piccadily Circus

Coventry Street

Mysterious Island

The Mysterious Island

Jules Verne

Science Fiction Adventure

Captain Nemo

Nautilus

Michael Craig

Joan Greenwood

Stop Go Animation

The Pirates of Blood River

Kerwin Mathews

Christopher Lee

Oliver Reed

Peter Arne

Battle of Britain

Fighter Pilot

Kuala Lumpur

Promiscuous Homosexual

Victoria Embankment Gardens

Harrods

Knightsbridge

River Thames

Suicide

Murder

The Criterion Theatre

Dolcis

Shoes

The Great Boot Provider

Woolwich Market

John Upson

The Jacobson Group

Youngers Scotch Ales

Scottish Ales

Pale Ale

William Younger & Company

Edinburgh

Scottish and Newcastle

London

1778

1863

1962

1983

Ray Harryhausen « less

Sets appears in: • Piccadilly Circus

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