What ever happened to Peter Grant?

[SteveAJones]

I'm not sure if the following account is about the same Peter Grant who was Led Zeppelin's manager or not.

The places don't seem to match up; I didn't see Hull mentioned in the wikipedia account, but the timeline makes sense as he would have been 5 years old in 1940.

Bombs fell in London in 1940 so that part matches.

This is the first I have read about this story from the BBC archive of WW2 memories; wow, the following account may be from someone who knew him when he was a kid.

Or, it may have been a different Peter Grant, as there is a substantial distance between Grayshott and Hull. However, it makes sense that he may have been evacuated from Grayshott to Hull and then to Scotland.

Led Zeppelin's future manager, Peter Grant, was a boy of four years old when Britain began to evacuate its population to safety.

John Bonham, John Paul Jones, Jimmy Page and Robert Plant were all either too young to remember the evacuation or born afterwards, but Peter Grant was old enough to recall living through the event himself.

Damn, Eternal Light that was a hell of a good post. I don't think the references to either Hull or Scotland will pan out as pertaining to Zep's Peter Grant but still, the mind boggles. Horselunges is going to pee his pants when he surfs into this thread. I'll PM him.

[eternal light]

Damn, Eternal Light that was a hell of a good post. I don't think the references to either Hull or Scotland will pan out as pertaining to Zep's Peter Grant but still, the mind boggles. Horselunges is going to pee his pants when he surfs into this thread. I'll PM him.

It depends on where he was evacuated. In those days they simply put civilians on the train and off they went to wherever, so he could have wound up in Hull or Scotland around 1940. Hull is north of Grayshott and could have been a stop on the way to Scotland. They evacuated people to Scotland because it was considered to be much safer there and out of the war zone.

Grayshott and that whole area around Surrey were probably too close to London for him to stay there in 1940, so chances are they put him on a train to one of the smaller villages, which would have been a less visible target for the bombers.

England cleared the populated areas that were predicted to be targets so when the Germans bombed there would be less loss of life; the only ones left in the war zone were primarily the military who were trained to repel the enemy. They did the best they could to evacuate anyone who wasn't trained to fight as necessary military personnel.

In total, 6,725 flying bombs had been seen over Britain during this period, almost all of them over London, Surrey and the Kent area. Almost 3,500 had been destroyed by fighter planes, A.A. guns or barrage balloons. Yet 2,340 hit London itself causing 5,475 deaths and injuring 16,000 more.

www.worldwar2exraf.co.uk/Online Museum/Museum Docs/Theblitz

It's possible that he was evacuated to, rather than from, Grayshott.

Here is an obituary for Peter Grant.

In addition to his well-known role as Led Zeppelin's manager, Peter Grant had some acting credits.

Between 1958 and 1963, Grant appeared on a number of movies including A Night to Remember (as a crew member on the Titanic), The Guns of Navarone (a British commando), Cleopatra (a palace guard), and television shows The Saint, Crackerjack, Dixon of Dock Green, and The Benny Hill Show. He was also Robert Morley's double on many of that actor's films.

www.filmbug.com/db/274646

[SteveAJones]

Local anger at Hellingly church replacement wall

Published on Wednesday 19 May 2010 11:44

REPLACEMENT of a frost-damaged wall at Hellingly Parish Church is nearing completion, but has brought a fresh blast of criticism from a neighbour.

Commander Roger Paine, who lives at Church Path, Hellingly, has icily rejected the boundary's restoration as "positively obscene".

He said, "It is more appropriate to a South London housing estate than to one of the loveliest churchyards in East Sussex.

"How anyone, anywhere, with the accent these days on heritage, environment, preservation and restoration, can condone such a travesty is beyond comprehension.

"If I were to build a wall like this on my own property next to the church I'm sure I would be told to dismantle it. It is positively obscene."

Severe winter weather meant a section of boundary wall was left in a dangerous condition and liable to collapse.

Terry Crone, head of corporate assets at Wealden District Council, said work to replace it was almost finished.

He said, "A process of ageing is underway to help the new wall blend in with its surroundings. This is a sturdy replacement to a structure that had become unsafe.

"It is in keeping with the earlier wall and we believe time will judge it favourably."

But Cdr Paine said, "The council, which was responsible for knocking down the old wall and building this hideous replacement, and the church authorities who agreed to the work, which has included dismembering beautiful adjacent sweet chestnut trees, should be prosecuted."

Hellingly parish church, dedicated to St Peter and St Paul, dates back to the 14th century. Its east lancet windows feature stained glass made by William Morris.

Among those buried in the churchyard is former Horselunges Manor owner Peter Grant, manager of rock super-group Led Zeppelin, who died in 1995.