Where was Jimmy during World war II

[Matjaz1]

With all the documentaries about WW II, D day and London bombing, I wonder where Jimmy was during the war! He was almost a year and a half old when the war ended! Was he in London, where was the family during the bombings, if they were in London...?!

Any information please!? Thanks!

[SteveAJones]

Jimmy Page, born on January 9, 1944, resided with his parents in the west London suburb of Heston until 1952.

-----------------

War Memorial Heston:

http://en.tracesofwar.com/article/16142/War-Memorial-Heston.htm

Baby Blitz

In November 1943, Reichsmarschal Hermann Göring ordered the Luftwaffe to resume mass bomber attacks against southern England. During December 1943 and early January 1944, theLuftwaffe gathered some 515 aircraft of widely differing types on French airfields. On 21 January 1944, the Luftwaffe made the first mass attack on London since 1941. 447 bombers were sent out, including Junkers Ju 88s, Ju 188s, Dornier Do 217s, Messerschmitt Me 410s and the new Heinkel He 177. The bomber crews generally lacked night flying experience, and the aircraft types had very different performance, which required the use of pathfinder aircraft to mark targets. The raid was a fiasco: only 32 bombs of the 282 dropped fell on London that night. The raids continued for the next three months, to little effect. 329 aircraft were lost. Furthermore, these aircraft were not available to defend against the forthcoming Allied invasion of continental Europe. By 1 July 1944 Sperrle had only 90 bombers and 70 fighters available in western Europe.

V-Weapons offensive

On 12 June 1944, the first V-1 flying bomb attack was carried out on London. A total of 9,251 V-1s were fired at Britain, with the vast majority aimed at London; 2,515 reached the city, killing 6,184 civilians and injuring 17,981. Over 4,000 were destroyed by the Royal Air Force, the Army’s Anti-Aircraft Command, the Royal Navy and barrage balloons. The V-2 Rocket was first used against London on 8 September 1944. 1,115 V-2s were fired at the United Kingdom killing an estimated 2,754 people in London with another 6,523 injured. A further 2,917 service personnel were killed as a result of the V weapon campaign. On 17 September 1944, the blackout was replaced by a partial 'dim-out'. At the end of the Blitz an estimated 16,000 had been killed. An estimated 180,000 were injured.

[Matjaz1]

Thanks Steve! You always have such an amount of information, so it's nice that even now, when nothing else seems available, you contributed something!

[SteveAJones]

Well, as you can see Jimmy was simply too young to have had any personal memories of World War II to share with us through the years.

[lipslikecherries]

What an interesting question for a thread!

I often wonder what it was like for children of Europe growing up Post WWII. Are there any interviews out there with Jimmy, or any of the guys, where that was discussed?

[Pagefan55]

What an interesting question for a thread!

I often wonder what it was like for children of Europe growing up Post WWII. Are there any interviews out there with Jimmy, or any of the guys, where that was discussed?

Good question. I don't imagine that post-war London -- with the continued food rationing, etc. -- was a particularly pleasant place to live.

If I recall correctly, Jimmy's father was a personnel supervisor/manager of some sort in an aircraft factory. If true, it would be interesting to know what type of planes his father's factory produced. Spitfires? Hurricanes? Etc.

[Sathington Willoughby]

http://www.amazon.com/Jimmy-Page-Musician-Unauthorized-Biography/dp/0879309474/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top

Pretty good bio on Jimmy. You can actually preview a lot of the book using the 'Look Inside' feature. First chapter 'Bring It On Home' covers a bit about growing up in the midst/aftermath of the war.

[SteveAJones]

If I recall correctly, Jimmy's father was a personnel supervisor/manager of some sort in an aircraft factory. If true, it would be interesting to know what type of planes his father's factory produced. Spitfires? Hurricanes? Etc.

That is correct, but I don't think there's been any public confirmation of the company his father worked for, or it's location. Presumably the company was associated with Heston Airfield, as there were about five manufacturers operating there in 1944:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heston_Aerodrome

[Bayougal65]

What an interesting question for a thread!

I often wonder what it was like for children of Europe growing up Post WWII. Are there any interviews out there with Jimmy, or any of the guys, where that was discussed?

This is a facinating subject to me!

I don't know of any interviews discussing the war aftermath, Steve would probably be able to answer that better than anyone.

My comment is more on the after effects of the war on that wonderful generation.

We only have to look as far as Roger Waters, who is very near Jimmy's age to see how much of an impact the war had on some people creatively.

He was very much marked by the war and channeled that angst into a massive creative idea that became The Wall.

We know after the war, television changed peoples lives forever. People now wanted more, and the world got smaller.

You can almost hear that post-war generation telling their parents enmasse, we are NOT going to make your same mistakes. I see a huge determination to go their own way. And I think many parents may have agreed, it seems Jimmy's parents were very encouraging to him.

The counter culture revolution gave birth to new freedoms and the rise of Art Colleges in England and a general push to higher education gave some encouragement to explore more expanded ideologies, cultures, art, music and drugs.

The creativity of the post-WWII world is amazing to contemplate.

I look at the early Denmark footage of Zeppelin and you can see the last vestiges of the psychedelic era and it is raw and powerful in all it's glory.

The clothes, the dragon tele, the whole presentation of their music screams of that highly creative era after the war.

[Sathington Willoughby]

This is a facinating subject to me!

I don't know of any interviews discussing the war aftermath, Steve would probably be able to answer that better than anyone.

My comment is more on the after effects of the war on that wonderful generation.

We only have to look as far as Roger Waters, who is very near Jimmy's age to see how much of an impact the war had on some people creatively.

He was very much marked by the war and channeled that angst into a massive creative idea that became The Wall.

We know after the war, television changed peoples lives forever. People now wanted more, and the world got smaller.

You can almost hear that post-war generation telling their parents enmasse, we are NOT going to make your same mistakes. I see a huge determination to go their own way. And I think many parents may have agreed, it seems Jimmy's parents were very encouraging to him.

The counter culture revolution gave birth to new freedoms and the rise of Art Colleges in England and a general push to higher education gave some encouragement to explore more expanded ideologies, cultures, art, music and drugs.

The creativity of the post-WWII world is amazing to contemplate.

I look at the early Denmark footage of Zeppelin and you can see the last vestiges of the psychedelic era and it is raw and powerful in all it's glory.

The clothes, the dragon tele, the whole presentation of their music screams of that highly creative era after the war.

Surely affected these lads as well. 4:04-5:35

[scylla]

The George Case book makes reference to him spending some time during childhood at the country home of a great-uncle in Northamptonshire where he fished, collected stamps etc. and later recalled having been "fascinated by the animals". So obviously he was not yet two when the war ended and he'd have to be older than that to remember anything about it (and to fish and collect stamps I guess), but it's conceivable that if his parents had a welcoming relative in a part of the country that was considered safer, his mother might also have taken him to stay, at least for a while, during the period when he wouldn't remember, i.e. during the war. Many mothers of children under school age did that sort of thing, at least briefly, e.g. during periods of heavy bombing.

So if that were true, technically he'd be an evacuee!

Between June and July 1944 the V1 attacks were at their worst. Memories of a Heston native who was there throughout (with a reference to the aerodrome):

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/history/Britain_at_War_Readers__Memorie/4683342/Britain-at-War-Beginnings-My-own-and-the-War.html

[scylla]

What an interesting question for a thread!

I often wonder what it was like for children of Europe growing up Post WWII. Are there any interviews out there with Jimmy, or any of the guys, where that was discussed?

I think one of the main things to remember is that rationing in the UK didn't end altogether until 1954. And of course, Jimmy being the oldest in the band, he'd have the clearest memories of that. Britain in the late 1940s and early 50s was a place of great austerity, still struggling to come back from the battering it'd taken during the war, in debt, a traumatized population, bomb sites still visible all over the place, etc. etc. Kids who had been evacuated to the US recall coming back to the UK and being horrified by how austere is seemed, how bleak and colourless and poor - getting ticked off for helping themselves to too much butter when it was still rationed, having to wear hand-me-downs all the time (clothes rationing went on until 1949) and all that kind of thing. And lots of people who'd been in the UK all along naturally saw the US as the land of plenty. Jimmy once spoke about his love of American music as a kid and how this fed into other ideas of what the US would be like, even things like hamburgers - "we didn't have hamburgers then". ("Esquire" interview, a few months back). I think there was a definitely a glamour that attached to America and Americans in the minds of British kids of that era, that was partly to do with American music but partly to do with the idea of American life being richer, freer, more colourful and so on, and that had a lot to do with the British wartime experience.

Sugar and confectionery rationing went on until 1953 - Jimmy would have had a childhood largely devoid of sweets and chocolate and those sorts of things you associate with childhood. I sometimes read some of the more outlandish Zep stories, so many of which seem to revolve around unconventional uses for food (sometimes in vast quantities) and wonder if that has something to do with growing up with rationing - perhaps you come to almost eroticize food or something.

[Matjaz1]

Thank you soo much, for such a great and kind response! I'm glad that a topic I started, had especially nice responses, I never quite achieved that before, it's quite humbling, thank you!

And thanks for all the great info and reflection! Even with little data, you not just searched for it, but also made elaborations and discussed it really helpfully! Thanks!

[SteveAJones]

The George Case book makes reference to him spending some time during childhood at the country home of a great-uncle in Northamptonshire where he fished, collected stamps etc. and later recalled having been "fascinated by the animals". So obviously he was not yet two when the war ended and he'd have to be older than that to remember anything about it (and to fish and collect stamps I guess), but it's conceivable that if his parents had a welcoming relative in a part of the country that was considered safer, his mother might also have taken him to stay, at least for a while, during the period when he wouldn't remember, i.e. during the war. Many mothers of children under school age did that sort of thing, at least briefly, e.g. during periods of heavy bombing.

According to my notes he along with his mother and father lived there briefly sometime before 1952...apparently it was a 400-acre property. He does have childhood memories of it (the move must have occurred circa 1944-1952). Unsure if Great Uncle owned the property during the war; as far as I know Jimmy was not an evacuee.

[scylla]

According to my notes he along with his mother and father lived there briefly sometime before 1952...apparently it was a 400-acre property. He does have childhood memories of it (the move must have occurred circa 1944-1952). Unsure if Great Uncle owned the property during the war; as far as I know Jimmy was not an evacuee.

Is Case right in saying they moved to Feltham whilst he was "still a toddler", or did that come later? And was 1952 the move to Epsom to get away from the noise of Heathrow airport?

[SteveAJones]

Is Case right in saying they moved to Feltham whilst he was "still a toddler", or did that come later? And was 1952 the move to Epsom to get away from the noise of Heathrow airport?

I show they moved to Feltham in 1952 (possibly a move from his Great Uncle's farm in Northamptonshire). Then they moved from Feltham to 34 Miles Road in Epsom in 1953 to escape the noise of Heathrow Airport. School records at the Pound Lane School in Epsom show he was admitted as a transfer student from Hanworth Road School in Feltham on October 12, 1953.

[Pagefan55]

That is correct, but I don't think there's been any public confirmation of the company his father worked for, or it's location. Presumably the company was associated with Heston Airfield, as there were about five manufacturers operating there in 1944:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heston_Aerodrome

Thanks, Steve

What an interesting question for a thread!

I often wonder what it was like for children of Europe growing up Post WWII. Are there any interviews out there with Jimmy, or any of the guys, where that was discussed?

I know that a number of books describing the lives and plight of men/women/children in post-war Europe have been published in just the past decade.

[ANONYMOUS]

Keith Richards' book provides a fascinating insight into post-WWII London.

For me, it was one of the many reasons the book stands out among celebrity autobiographies.

[PlanetPage]

I show they moved to Feltham in 1952 (possibly a move from his Great Uncle's farm in Northamptonshire). Then they moved from Feltham to 34 Miles Road in Epsom in 1953 to escape the noise of Heathrow Airport. School records at the Pound Lane School in Epsom show he was admitted as a transfer student from Hanworth Road School in Feltham on October 12, 1953.

Sound Barriers...Noise control efforts being made... shown in this archival film footage British Pathe, Feltham 1953

http://www.britishpathe.com/video/sound-barrier/query/feltham

...Neighbourhood .film footage of Dog Tricks entertainment for the "Toddler" just down the street in Heston 1947...Durham Avenue, Heston, Middlesex.

http://www.britishpathe.com/video/performing-dogs-1/query/heston

Truly enjoyed all of the comments as I also wondered about this beginning period of our Icon, not much I recall said by Jimmy about his beginnings, other than the fact that he was shipped of to his uncle during the summers, and that his father was industrial worker...

hope to see more light on this subject from Jimmy...

[ZeppMan93]

I remember an interview somewhere with Geezer Butler of Black Sabbath mentioning how dreadful Birmingham looked after the war, if I remember correctly it still looked like the war had just ended in certain parts with all the ruined buildings.

[Pagefan55]

I've enjoyed all the comments here as well. The fact that so many of us are interested in Page's childhood is a powerful testament to his impact as an adult -- and to his genius. Page has mentioned how as a young child he was alone much of the time, had few playmates, and enjoyed solitude. It was that solitary, introspective, imaginative and dreamy little boy who would one day grow up to become THE ultimate rock star and guitar god -- a man idolized and revered by millions. Page's odyssey has indeed been remarkable.

[Disco Duck]

According to my notes he along with his mother and father lived there briefly sometime before 1952...apparently it was a 400-acre property. He does have childhood memories of it (the move must have occurred circa 1944-1952). Unsure if Great Uncle owned the property during the war; as far as I know Jimmy was not an evacuee.

Do you know if they lived there year round or merely visited during holidays. And I wonder where Page's father was working at the time? Was he helping out about the farm?

I show they moved to Feltham in 1952 (possibly a move from his Great Uncle's farm in Northamptonshire). Then they moved from Feltham to 34 Miles Road in Epsom in 1953 to escape the noise of Heathrow Airport. School records at the Pound Lane School in Epsom show he was admitted as a transfer student from Hanworth Road School in Feltham on October 12, 1953.

You've actually looked into his school records? I'm impressed. Perhaps you should write a biography of Page. It sounds as if you've done the necessary research.

[SteveAJones]

Do you know if they lived there year round or merely visited during holidays. And I wonder where Page's father was working at the time? Was he helping out about the farm?

You've actually looked into his school records? I'm impressed. Perhaps you should write a biography of Page. It sounds as if you've done the necessary research.

It's my understanding he briefly resided with his parents at his Great Uncle's farm, but perhaps Jimmy did mean it was an extended visit, say for the summer season...I'm not certain...as I recall he said the farm was located in Northamptonshire but don't quote me on that.

Jimmy takes pride in having excelled at the high hurdles as a teen. I've always been somewhat amused by that given his non-athletic adulthood.

[Disco Duck]

It's my understanding he briefly resided with his parents at his Great Uncle's farm, but perhaps Jimmy did mean it was an extended visit, say for the summer season...I'm not certain...as I recall he said the farm was located in Northamptonshire but don't quote me on that.

Jimmy takes pride in having excelled at the high hurdles as a teen. I've always been somewhat amused by that given his non-athletic adulthood.

The link below is to a web site that claims Page's forebears were from Grimsbury in Northhamptonshire.

http://www.epsomandewellhistoryexplorer.org.uk/PageJimmy.html

[SteveAJones]

The link below is to a web site that claims Page's forebears were from Grimsbury in Northhamptonshire.

http://www.epsomandewellhistoryexplorer.org.uk/PageJimmy.html

Great find which seems to tie it all together. Having said that, I think "Ewell" is a typo or an error for "Feltham"...I show they moved from Feltham to Epsom in 1953 to escape aircraft noise of Heathrow...prior to the move Jimmy was a student at Hanworth Road School.