Lord Nelson PH, Cleeve

A Village of Stars: Role in WW II

IAN FERGUSSON & DAVID RIDLEY

August 2017
Introduction
This research is written is an addition to Fergusson & Ridleys (2017) History & Heritage
report on the Lord Nelson Public House, Cleeve, North Somerset, to offer factual
information assisting Historic Englands assessment of the building for statutory listing.
During August 2017, as Historic England commenced formal assessment and consultation
on the building prior to making a recommendation to DCMS, we have re-examined a core
area of what we contend is a critical part of the historic narrative in respect of National
Historic Interest and Connections to famous individuals, under statutory listing criteria.

In our original report, we briefly alluded (Section 4, p. 44) to the role of the Lord Nelson
during World War II. Since compiling that study, we have uncovered a significant body of
further evidence to document more fully the importance of the pub within context of the
national war effort. Specifically, we describe here how the Lord Nelson played an integral
role in accommodating and sheltering some of the nations foremost variety, theatrical
and orchestral stars of the day, during the early part of the war as Britain came under
increasing threat of Luftwaffe bombing.

Materials and Methods

Further detailed searches were undertaken across contemporary press cuttings from 1939-
1942 through the BNA (British Newspaper Archive) and additional information examined
from publications of the Yatton Local History Society (YLHS). The BBCs Archives at
Caversham, Berks., were contacted (by IKF) and original documents and files relating to
the Corporations activities in Bristol between 1939-1942 examined.

On August 27 2017, after many weeks of forensic effort, IKF managed to trace and contact
Mr Hilary Young, the son of two BBC stars cited in our original report Nan Kenway and
Douglas Young. Mr Youngs subsequent correspondence not only confirmed a
considerable volume of local anecdote regarding the Lord Nelson during WWII, but
crucially it also opened-up an entirely new area of critical interest, discussed below. IKF
pursued much of this in detail with Mr Young through a telephone discussion on 29
August 2017.

With help from the Warner family (refer to original report), we also re-examined and
received copies of handwritten memoirs from Winifred Bailey, resident at the Lord Nelson
from opening in 1936 to 1944, revealing some key confirmatory parts of the WWII
narrative.

PAGE 1
Historical Context
As Neville Chamberlain announced Britain entering war with Germany on 3 September
1939, the BBC closing-down the then new TV service - enacted pre-formed plans to
ensure survival of national radio broadcasting. This was viewed as a critical component in
the upkeep of public morale and information (e.g. see
http://www.bbc.co.uk/historyofthebbc/research/general/homefront-1) and the
Corporation duly moved key departments away from London, where a high risk of being
targeted existed.

The BBC Variety Department, along with BBC Orchestras, were immediately evacuated to
Bristol, where they re-established work at Broadcasting House on Whiteladies Road (see
original document re this at http://www.bbc.co.uk/archive/ww2outbreak/7953.shtml?).
Accommodation for so many staff proved quite tricky to find within the confines of
Clifton and environs, not least as the major local hotel, the Clifton Spa, had been booked
by Imperial Airways (see firsthand narrative by former BBC engineer Gerald Daly at
http://www.orbem.co.uk/clifton/clifton.htm). The BBC thus leased two hotels in Weston-
super-Mare, the Bentley and Rozel (Louise North, BBC Archivist, Caversham, pers. comm)
to house a sizeable number of staff, but key talent (actors/entertainers/musicians) were
found rooms elsewhere in the area, in places where risk of being located and bombed was
minimised.

It must be remembered that these major stars were precious assets to the BBC and war
effort morale. Whether through bolstering a nation under siege by comedy and satire; or
providing music broadcast into the wartime workplaces and production lines, they would
have been key scalps and kudos for Nazi Germany through any targeted bombing. It is
thus no surprise that press cuttings from that period make little to no mention of where
stars were being accommodated, due to strict censorship of such information.

As the so-called Phoney War was underway in late 1939-early 1940, the BBC was busy in
Bristol producing various core programmes for the BBC Home Service and Armed Forces
Programming. A number of these would become mainstay output for the first half of the
war and included the satirical Its That Man Again (a reference to Hitler), starring Tommy
Handley; Garrison Theatre, a Forces entertainment series starring Jack Warner; Howdy
Folks, a sketch comedy series with Eric Barker and duo Nan Kenway and Douglas Young;
Guest Night, a music hall-style variety show with many contributors including actress
Betty Astell; and her soon-to-be (married 1941) husband Cyril Fletcher, whose Odd Odes
a collection of eccentric tales would be later resurrected by him at Esther Rantzens
request as a weekly feature on Thats Life (BBC, 1972-1980).

As we detail in this report, these stars and others were to end-up being housed in
Cleeve, away from the higher risk of urban Bristol. The Lord Nelson Inn was set to play a
key role in their lives as Britains war with Germany stepped-up into the growing threat of
aerial bombardment.

PAGE 2
After the fall of France to the Nazis by June 1940, it quickly became apparent that fully
loaded Luftwaffe aircraft, through stationing in northern France, would be able to strike
nationally across the United Kingdom. In turn, the evacuation of BBC talent to urban
Bristol suddenly became a vulnerable position, as the city would surely become a strategic
target for bombers. By the time that happened during the second half of 1940, the Lord
Nelson had become not only a place of accommodation and performance for the gathered
stars but subsequently, also a place of shelter.

Detail: BBC Stars located in Cleeve, early part of WWII

Through a combination of anecdote and some partial written accounts, we were confident
that a number of BBC Variety and Orchestral stars were housed in Cleeve directly after
being evacuated from London. Of these, as of July 2017 we already had firm but
incomplete evidence to confirm Nan Kenway and Douglas Young as staying at the Lord
Nelson; plus anecdotal reports only (via elderly village residents) of actor Jack Warner
(later of Dixon of Dock Green fame) and comedian-raconteur Cyril Fletcher also staying in
the village and visiting the Lord Nelson.

As outlined in our original heritage report, memoirs from Winifred Bailey, a daughter of
Harry Dennis first landlord of the new Lord Nelson were made available to us in July
2017. A critical section of those memoirs, albeit undated, reads (quote):

During the war, a lot of BBC people came to Cleeve when the bombs started dropping. They
mostly took shelter in the cellar at the Lord Nelson. Nan Kenway and Douglas Young stayed
at the Nelson with their son, Hillary (sic), others stayed with Mrs Alf Morse, and some at
Green Farm, with the Shoplands. There was Cyril Fletcher, Jack Warner, Eric Barker and
many others. Hillary and my son Geoff became quite good friends.

Thanks to Hilary Youngs new information and cross-referencing to records of BBC

performers evacuated to Bristol, we can now confirm his parents stayed regularly and for
prolonged spells at the Lord Nelson, through late 1939 to the end of 1940, plus Jack
Warner, Cyril Fletcher and Eric Barker. Hilary Young tells us that his parents, having
completed the 1939 summer season in Newquay, were effectively out of work as soon as
war was declared (due to enforced closure of entertainment sites) until being brought into
the BBC Variety fold and duly evacuated from their home in Ealing to Bristol. By late
1939, they were staying at the Lord Nelson.

Hilary Young writes how:

Along with many other pros, (my parents) stayed at the Lord Nelson. I have a note from a
letter that it was our address on 5 January 1940. Their long-running programme Howdy
Folks took over from the ITMA (Its That Man Again) slot at the beginning of February
1940.

PAGE 3
A number of shows were put on at the Lord Nelson (in the Function Room) using the artistes
who were staying there. Fund raising concerts were also given at the parish hall in Yatton.

We can conclusively prove that these Yatton concerts did indeed occur as Hilary attests
and they included, amongst others, his parents; Cyril Fletcher, and Leon Goossens (see
detail re Goossens later in this report). These events received coverage in the Western
Daily Press on 1 November 1940, 27 December 1940 and 12 August 1942, as copied below
(examples shown are from editions of 1 Nov. and 27 Dec. 1940; note typo Len rather than
Leon Goossens):

PAGE 4
We also coupled these accounts
to a citation from Yatton
Yesterday, No. 4, 1987 (journal
of the Yatton Local History
Society). On page 20, in an
article by R.H. Young about
Yatton during WWII, it notes:

Some lighter moments were

provided by nationally known
entertainers, for the BBC Light
Entertainment and Childrens
Programme Units had been
removed to Bristol for the
duration of hostilities. Kenway
and Young and Leon Goossens
made appearances at concerts in
the Church Hall and the revered
Uncle Mac of Childrens Hour
lodged for two years at the Grey
House with Nurse Barnards
family.

Hilary Young also provided us

with a copy of the Daily Mail, 2
April 1940 edition, which is
shown, right. This particular
article makes clear reference to
his parents living in an hotel in
Cleeve, plus refers to shows
being organized there, noting
Cleeve is lucky: testament to
the calibre of the stars
performing in person for
villagers. This Daily Mail piece is
the only known media report
referencing these BBC
performers staying at the Lord
Nelson and as such, is a
fortuitous discovery thanks to
Hilary Youngs family archives.

Kenway and Youngs most

PAGE 5
enduring and oft-cited comedy creation was dialogue (and associated miscommunication)
between an ageing couple, set in a rural pub. Nan Kenways character Mrs Yatton was
named by no mere coincidence. The entire concept for this mainstay wartime comedy act
was conceived and honed through Nan and Douglass time spent living at the Lord
Nelson, where they doubtless encountered many older locals drinking in the public bar to
provide their comic inspiration.

The sketches titled Very Tasty, Very Sweet were initially broadcast as part of Howdy
Folks with Eric Barker and by February 1940 had become a vehicle through which Kenway
and Young had risen to national prominence. Barker was soon to be called-up into the
Royal Navy by the summer of 1940. The sketches later became a standalone entity that
year for Kenway and Young, with Very Tasty, Very Sweet produced in Bristol whilst the
couple resided at the Lord Nelson and first broadcast as a named show on 30 June 1940.
The Very Tasty, Very Sweet response of Douglas Youngs character to Kenways Mrs
Yatton became famous in its own right: indeed, later becoming a replicated catchphrase
synonymous with the era, regularly used by Clive Dunn in his portrayal of Corporal Jones
in the BBCs comedy series, Dads Army. Various Pathe-owned examples of the Kenway-
Young sketches can be seen online; e.g. see
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N8I6LQZYKdo

Hilary Young provided us with a copy of the Radio Times, 2 February 1940 (see next page)
that features his parents along with Eric Barker and producer Leslie Bridgmont as part of
the Home Service schedule listings for Wednesday 7 February. The photograph at top
right was taken at BBC Broadcasting House, Clifton. It shows Kenway and Young and
Eric Barker - as they all appeared whilst resident at that time in the Lord Nelson, where
doubtless these types of pre-production and scripting huddles would have been a regular
sight in the evenings through the duration of their residence there.

Note how the same cutting, on the left column, mentions a broadcast of renowned oboist
Leon Goossens at 6.45pm; and at 8pm, a performance of the BBC Symphony Orchestra
recorded at Colston Hall, Bristol. These elements are discussed further in this report, in
connection to the Lord Nelson.

During the summer of 1940, Kenway and Young moved across to Weston-super-Mare for
the summer season, but returned to the Lord Nelson to resume residency there from
October 1940 for the rest of that year. By August 1940, the West Country had experienced
initial Luftwaffe raids and by 1.30pm on 24 October, bombs had fallen into Yatton,
straddling the railway line (one of us, DR, sourced and copied the original district ARP air
raid reports for the duration of WWII). From November on into 1941, Bristol and
surrounding areas were to suffer Luftwaffe raids of far greater scope and deadliness as the
Blitz intensified. Air raid sirens in the Cleeve area were to become commonplace.

PAGE 6
PAGE 7
Jack Warner & Cyril Fletcher
Hilary Young confirms that his parents became good friends of actor Jack Warner and
raconteur-entertainer Cyril Fletcher through time they collectively spent working at BBC
Bristol into the early part of WWII and staying in Cleeve.

As previously noted, we had strong anecdotal accounts within the village connecting both
Warner and Fletcher to the Lord Nelson, alongside written testimony in the memoirs of
Winifred Bailey. We wanted to check that the simultaneous presence of Warner, Fletcher
and Kenway & Young could be demonstrated within Bristol and found multiple occasions
when all these performers were engaged in BBC Bristol productions at the same time (via
http://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/schedules/bbchomeservice/basic/1939-01-01, searchable year-
on-year) from late 1939 on throughout 1940. Moreover, as illustrated earlier in this report,
a cutting from the Western Daily Press of 1 November 1940 specifically cites Kenway,
Young and Fletcher all appearing together in Yatton.

Jack Warner (OBE, 1965; left), already rising to major

national stardom through his key role in Garrison Theatre
early in WWII, was contracted on that production in
Bristol by the BBC on dates when major bombing of the
city also took place (a selection of these historical dates,
from November 1940 to mid-1941, were cross-referenced by
Louise North, BBC Archives, who searched original
Warner files held at BBC Caversham). We examined
Warners autobiography, Evening All, in which he notes
that when first arriving in Bristol (we assume late 1939, as
he was definitely already working for the BBC there by
December 1939), he rented a small room at the top of
Blackboy Hill. Given that this and other urban areas of
Bristol came under increasingly heavy and destructive
bombardment by the autumn of 1940, we strongly suspect
he was moved - at the BBCs (or perhaps his own)
insistence - out to Cleeve by or into that period of Autumn/late 1940. Local reports within
Cleeve indicate that he resided at Green Farm, on Meeting House Lane, but would visit his
BBC colleagues who were staying or socialising in the Lord Nelson (a fairly short walk
away).

Cyril Fletcher (pictured below, 1939; Guardian obituary,

https://www.theguardian.com/news/2005/jan/03/guardianobituaries.artsobituaries) had
also arrived in Bristol by late 1939 with other BBC Variety stars and was working on

PAGE 8
 various radio output, including occasionally sharing the
billing with Kenway and Young on Howdy Folks but
regularly so in their cast by later into 1940 (e.g. see
http://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/6813641644d842bbb6828a09
612b44c1). Fletcher was already known by Kenway and
Young as both a colleague and friend, having worked with
them before the outbreak of war including on the BBC
Radio shows Trolley Bus (Jan-Feb 1939). Reports within
Cleeve indicate that he was resident in the village
throughout 1940, residing at Yew Tree Farm on Cleeve
Hill Road, just a few minutes walk from the Lord Nelson.
It may be no coincidence that whilst living there, his
series of BBC Radio shows broadcast in October 1940 were
titled Hello Yew (sic). As shown earlier in this report, he
was in Yatton performing for locals at least once in 1940 with Kenway and Young, which
makes all the more sense given that all three entertainers were residing so locally in
Cleeve (Cleeve was part of Yatton Parish until 1949). Fletcher, working on Howdy Folks
with Kenway and Young, would have regularly liaised with them at the Lord Nelson,
where it is highly probable that scripting and comedy gag ideas were incepted and
discussed between the trio.

The Musicians
The identities of some of the many others referred to
as BBC staff in Winifred Baileys memoirs staying at the
Lord Nelson and indeed performing there on a
number of occasions in the Function Room, to
entertain local people had been enigmatic whilst we
were researching our original heritage report.

However, we can now confirm three pre-eminent

national figures were amongst these Lord Nelson
residents, thanks to communication from Hilary Young
and supported by cross-referencing BBC broadcast
schedules, 1939-1941 (see searchable examples such as at
http://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/schedules/bbchomeservice
/basic/1940-10-31. Where pertaining to performances,
recordings and broadcasts from the BBC Salon and
Symphony Orchestras, these records conclusively prove
how these three individuals had been working on
musical production within Bristol throughout the same timespan early in WWII. They are:

PAGE 9
Leon Goossens (later CBE, FRCM; pictured above), one of the worlds foremost
oboists of the 1st half of the 20th century and most significant figures in the history of the
instrument (see https://en.m.wikepedia.org/wiki/L%C3A9on_Goossens; note English
Heritage Blue Plaque), who had been evacuated with the BBC Salon Orchestra. Hilary
Young writes how:

among the performers staying over Christmas in 1939 at the Lord Nelson was the oboist
Leon Goossens. A story is told to me (aged 4, by my parents): toys being hard to find, Id
been given a tin whistle. Give it to Uncle Leon, hell play a tune for you. He duly played
Now thank Uncle Leon nicely. Thank-you Uncle Leon Im so glad to know it works,
because I dropped it down the lavatory this morning...

We found multiple records of Leon Goossens performing for both recorded BBC orchestral
output produced in Bristol from late 1939 to early 1941, plus accounts of live performances
in the city. Moreover, his presence in the Yatton area (whilst resident at the Lord Nelson)
was confirmed not only by Hilary Youngs fond personal recollections but also by the
Western Daily Press cutting shown earlier in this report, for 27 December 1940. It is worth
remembering that Kenway and Young had returned to the Lord Nelson for another
protracted stay from October 1940 through the rest of the year: it is highly likely, suggests
Hilary Young, that his parents were instrumental in personally securing Leon Goossens
appearance at the performance in Yatton. Goossens was amongst the artists who held
more impromptu recitals for Cleeve villagers, in the function room of the Lord Nelson, so
would have doubtless willingly undertaken the appearance in Yatton.

Hyam Greenbaum, the acclaimed

composer, conductor and violinist (died
1942) was original conductor of the BBC
Television Orchestra, including when they
played on the first ever programme shown
when regular British TV broadcasting
started on 26 August 1936 (see photo, left,
from
https://en.m.wikepedia.org/wiki/BBC_Tele
vision_Orchestra).

Greenbaum had been evacuated to Bristol

to oversee musical direction on many radio
productions and became a close associate
of Kenway and Young, including composing
and working on the score for a number of
their broadcasts. He is personally
remembered as staying at the Lord Nelson
by Hilary Young and through recollections

PAGE 10
communicated by his parents; Hilary recounts how he remembers Greenbaums nickname
as being Bumps.

The Radio Times editorial billing of Crazy Caf, 7 March 1940 on the BBC Home Service,
notes how:

A lot of people will call in and listen to the Revue Orchestra, conducted by Hyam
Greenbaum Few men have done better work at Bristol than Hyam Greenbaum, conductor
of the Revue Orchestra, which has done so much to relieve the BBC Variety Orchestra in
these days of congested programmes. Greenbaum, among the most versatile of musicians -
he is equally at home with opera, musical comedy, symphonic music, and light music -
founded and conducted the BBC Television Orchestra, which was disbanded at the outbreak
of war, many of the members forming the nucleus of the Revue Orchestra. Greenbaum is a
front-rank artist on both the violin and the piano.
His wife is Sidonie Goossens , principal harpist with the BBC Symphony Orchestra.

Greenbaum was staying at the Lord Nelson with his wife Sidonie Goossens (see below) late
1939 into the first part of 1940, prior to moving to Bristol later that year to stay with their
friends, the composer Alan Rawsthorne and his wife Jessie Hinchcliffe, in converted rooms
at the Clifton Arts Club. This was subsequently bombed in November 1940 and destroyed
We are currently not sure if Greenbaum and his wife then returned to the Lord Nelson as
a result.

Sidonie Goossens (later MBE, OBE), sister of

oboist Leon Goossens, was the wife of Hyam
Greenbaum (married 1924) when living with him at the
Lord Nelson. She was, and remains, arguably Britains
most famous and enduring harpist and was a founding
member of the BBC Symphony Orchestra, with whom
she played in an extraordinary career spanning 50
years from 1930 to 1980. She was the first-ever harpist
to appear on radio, in 1923, and likewise the first to
appear solo on television, in 1936.

Sidonie was evacuated to Bristol with the BBC

Symphony Orchestra (and her husband), arriving in
late 1939. The timeline of her period in the Lord Nelson
at Cleeve mirrors that of her husband, followed by the
move with him later into 1940 out to Clifton Arts Club.

Her acclaim would stretch right through to her death in 2004, aged 105. Goossens had
moved to Dorking, where Nan Kenway (also then residing nearby and widowed in 1972)
remained in contact with her in the decades after the war (Hilary Young, pers. comm.)

PAGE 11
Use of the Lord Nelson as an Air Raid Shelter for BBC Talent
Winifred Baileys memoirs make very specific mention of the cellars of the Lord Nelson
serving as a shelter for BBC staff when the bombs started falling.

This can be read in two ways: either referencing use of the pub cellar as a shelter for BBC
talent already resident there when air raid sirens sounded in the Yatton/Cleeve areas;
and/or to shelter key BBC staff being evacuated away from Bristol at shorter notice, when
that city came increasingly under deadly bombardment by the second half of 1940.

We looked back in great detail at all the Luftwaffe raids that affected North Somerset and
the Bristol area from 1940 to 1942. A detailed timeline of these is available online at
http://www.century-of-
flight.net/Aviation%20history/WW2/bombing%20in%20the%20Bristol%20area.htm and
corroborates precisely with typed original ARP Warden notes we sourced for the Cleeve
and surrounding area.

North Somerset first came under sporadic Luftwaffe attack, albeit limited and rather ad-
hoc in scope, during the summer of 1940. The first definitive report of bombs falling into
the Yatton area is during October 1940 (by which time we know Kenway and Young, plus
Jack Warner and Cyril Fletcher, were all in Cleeve). By the following month, the preferred
routing of Luftwaffe bombers directly targeting Bristol - as strategy shifted from daylight
to night raids routinely overflew the zone stretching between Weston-super-Mare to the
Mendips as the aircraft headed northwards to their target. Similar routings often applied
to bombers heading further north to attack e.g. Liverpool. Consequently, air raid warnings
became common in Cleeve and other areas south of Bristol; similarly, an increasing
number of Nazi bombs fell into fields of Cleeve, Claverham and Yatton (again, referenced
in great detail by the ARP Warden notes) with one Heinkel III (targeting Liverpool)
brought down in flames between Congresbury and Wrington; its crew bailing out and
being taken prisoner after landing next to both the Star and Bell Inns on the north side of
Congresbury (see
http://www.wringtonsomerset.org.uk/history/bullenwar/wringtonwar5.htm).

We considered all the properties that existed in Cleeve during 1940-1941 and noted that
only two had sizeable cellars: the Lord Nelson Inn and Cleeve Court (owned by Lord
Sinclair). No public air raid shelter existed in the village. Goblin Combe House, being
nearest to decoy sites in Wrington Warren (to deflect Luftwaffe attention from Bristol)
had an air raid shelter (Hilary Burn, pers. comm) and one of us (DR) recalls a small one
existed in a private garden of a bungalow near Littlewood Lane. There can surely be no
doubt that at a time of air raid sirens, the most obvious sheltering spot for BBC talent
quite probably through a pre-determined strategy - would have been the Lord Nelson
itself, accounting for the citation by Winifred Bailey. Given that numerous such warnings
would have occurred from October 1940 through to the first half of 1941 (after which, BBC
variety staff were again evacuated to Bangor, Wales, such were the concerns over risk in

PAGE 12
Bristol), we are confident that the BBC stars sheltering at the Lord Nelson were Kenway
and Young; Jack Warner; Cyril Fletcher; and quite possibly Leon Goossens (as he was
definitely in the Yatton area and quite plausibly the Lord Nelson itself during November-
December 1940).

Somewhat ironically, we made little mention of the Lord Nelson cellars in our original
report. However, they remain exactly as built in 1936 and despite addition and removal of
various brewery dispensing equipment over recent decades, remain very much as they
would have appeared when occupied by BBC stars sheltering from the Luftwaffe.

Given the nature and work of the Variety stars gathered there during air raid warnings, we
might reasonably argue that the Lord Nelsons cellar was probably the most entertaining
(!) one in the entire nation during such times of great hazard. It is worth adding that
Hilary Young remembers that the Lord Nelson had ...three bedrooms (he is absolutely
correct) and whilst we cannot be certain now of how sleeping arrangements there and
elsewhere in the building were resolved for guests and landlord, Historic Englands own
site assessment noted that various original elements of the upstairs remain, including
bedroom doors and certain fittings.

Relevance for Historic Englands Listing Assessment of the

Lord Nelson
Whilst our first report detailed the architectural and, as then known to us, social history
and heritage of the Lord Nelson, we touched in only cursory detail upon the important
connection of this building to World War II and specifically to the national broadcasting
effort into wartime. We believe our new body of research highlights increased importance
to certain parts of the pub that remain largely original and were key in this WWII
narrative: namely:

The cellars;
The function room (arguably more an assembly room in the scope of Historic
England listing criteria: it not only hosted BBC stars performing, but also e.g.
British Legion, Home Guard and auction meetings throughout the war); and
The accommodation area upstairs, which retains essentially original layout and
various original features

In the early 1990s, Hilary Young brought his mother back to Cleeve on a trip of
reminiscence. He writes: we were pleased to see that at that time, the pub was
unaltered (compared to their wartime recollections. Hilary also comments how the
frontage remains very much as during their time there in WWII.

With the exception of Nan Kenway and Douglas Young, for whom our information is now
far more complete, we had not - until late in August 2017 - fully demonstrated or even

PAGE 13
realized the pre-eminent nature and identity of the other individuals now known to have
lived in, or sheltered at, the Lord Nelson during the early part of World War II. Our
fortuitous contact with Hilary Young, to whom we are extremely grateful, changed all of
that by allowing a whole separate avenue of research to be undertaken through BBC and
newspaper archives.

We strongly contend that our new research and information gathered and written-up in
only four days prior to closure of Historic Englands consultation period on the Lord
Nelson is of critical importance in any listing recommendation to DCMS.

In line with statutory listing criteria, we feel we have demonstrated strong, compelling
and demonstrable historic association to a number of famous individuals, each of them
household (and in some cases globally-renowned) names during World War II and, for
some including Warner and the Goossens, remaining so in the decades that followed.
Each of them inarguably played a critical and much-respected part in British morale effort
through BBC output that proved key in bolstering the Home Front, 1939-1941.

That the Lord Nelson was a focus for their lives while engaged in these historic
productions and a creative hub where ideas were discussed and generated must surely
make it a truly unique public house in the WWII context of our country and worthy of
preservation.

IAN FERGUSSON & DAVID RIDLEY, 30 AUGUST 2017

POSTSCRIPT: On 31 Aug. 2017 at 1230hrs, IKF spoke with Norman Barr, of Clevedon (b.
1932), whose wife, Rosemary, grew up in Cleeve at Green Farm. He confirmed all aspects of
this report, adding that he and his wife remained close friends with Nan Kenway &
Douglas Young, Leon and Sidonie Goossens, well after the war (Leon Goossens attended
their wedding). In the 1950s into the 1960s, he notes all of those stars would make return
visits to the Lord Nelson, with Leon Goossens staying there regularly. He adds that the
function room at the pub was routinely used by all those and other acts for rehearsals,
prior to taking the train from Yatton into Bristol to undertake radio recordings. He and his
wife are very happy to verify all of these and other facets with Historic England (their
contact details are sent by email cover to the HE Listings Advisor).

PAGE 14