Catalogue

Interview
1160, LO/507/457
Leicester Oral History Archive Collection

Speaker: Godrich, William Edward, 1901 - , Interviewee, Male, Shoe worker
Speaker: Hyde, C, Interviewer, Male

Summary of interview item: Brief memory of River Soar, Leicester, freezing in early 1900s. Describes family, sleeping three to a bed, lack of money, bread deliveries; brief description of food. Talks about school, not being academic, smoking cigarettes, discipline. Recalls outbreak of First World War (WWI), fear, friend dying. Describes work at British United shoe factory, then with Bill Warner. Recalls courting with wife-to-be, places to buy clothes, where to meet girls; describes popular turns in theatres, such as Chun Lin Su. Mentions Robert Slack's aeroplane at Thurmaston, woman dying when parachute didn't open, Blaby. Brief mention of General Strike [1926]. Describes how bought house on Valence Road, Braunstone, then a new estate; condition of area at time, floods. Briefly recalls bomb, crashing areoplane during Second World War. Brief mention of spotting aeroplanes pre-WWI, brief anecdote of Billy Paul of Billy Paul's Music Hall in Nottingham, choking on tripe.
Place of birth: Leicester
Education: Catherine Street School
Marital Status: , Children:
Father's Occupation: Cobbler
Mother's Occupation:
Location: County: Leicestershire
Location: Town/Place: Leicester
Periods Covered: 1900s, 1910s, 1920s, 1930s, 1940s
Language: English

Recording Date: 9/11/1988
Playing time: 1 hr 26 mins
Access Restrictions: Full clearance Item Copyright: EMOHA
Summary: Yes
Transcription: No
Copies: yes
Cross Reference:

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Last updated: 08/05/02 East Midland Oral History Archive Web maintainer This document has been approved by the head of department or section.