Me – It Begins

On a weird weather day, on the 21st March 1966, it all began for me.

Mum and Dad made the short journey to General Lying In Hospital attached to St Thomas’ Hospital in Lambeth. The front of the hospital opens up onto York Road, a short one minute stroll from Westminster Bridge Road, the River Thames and Westminster Bridge. It was where many babies were delivered in London from 1767 til 1971, including me on this fateful day. My sister missed out on being born here – she got to be born in the main St Thomas’ Hospital on the other side of Westminster Bridge Road – overlooking the River Thames with the Houses of Parliament as a backdrop.

It was apparently a long labor for Mum, not a particularly difficult one, but way too long for my Dad. Being the type of bloke he is (I’m sure he has some form of ADHD) he missed the arrival of his son whilst having a smoke outside (might have ducked off for a sneaky pint as well – rumor has it). One of his diversionary stories, when reminded of the day his first born entered the world, is that he experienced a lot of different weather during his numerous “smokos”. It was apparently foggy, poured down with rain, snowed heavily and had clear blue skies with beautiful sunshine – definitely a weird weather day. Maybe that’s why my mood has this remarkable way of swinging so quickly (yep – some “personal insight” right there for those who know me well).

So there I was – First child of M & M. Fourth Grandchild of H & J. Twelfth grandchild of G & B. The last male to carry our family name forward (no pressure – although, thankfully I now have a son who has that responsibility – again – “no pressure mate, but time’s ticking Big Fella!!”).

Unfortunately, I was not born within the sound of Bow Bells – so no Cockney ancestry for me. Bow Bells are the bells of the church St. Mary-le-Bow in London. To be born within the sound of Bow Bells is the long-established definition of a cockney, although these days anyone with a slight London accent is likely to be called one. Traditionally, because of the central location of the church, if you could here its bells you were probably within the city of London boundary. Dick Wittington became the Mayor of London in 1392 and legend has it that it was the Bow Bells that called him back to London, rather than seeking his fame and fortune elsewhere. The first association with the bells and the notion of being a cockney was in 1600 in the poem The letting of humours blood in the head-vaine by Samual Rowland “I scorne … To let a Bowe-bell Cockney put me downe.” I certainly lived and went to school within ear shot of the customary trigger for being a Cockney – but will just have to be content with being a proud Londoner, and even prouder of my South London heritage (South East to be precise, but who’s splitting hairs?).

The 21st of March means I am an Aries (on the cusp with Pisces). Aries is of course the first astrological star sign in the zodiac – the leader of the pack. It is a fire sign whose ruling planet is Mars. its birthstones are heliotrope, topaz, jasper, aquamarine and diamond (don’t ever bother with the cheap stones go straight to diamond, thanks). Apparently, as an Aries, my strongest love connections are with Leo and Sagittarius – mmmmmmmmm interesting (gets out little black book to see how accurate that has been over the years).

March 21st is also the beginning of Spring in the Northern Hemisphere. I loved spring growing up in England – for me it was the best season. Seeing everything begin to come back to life after a long cold winter gave me such hope. The warmer days meant more time outside. More hours of daylight meant more time outside. Generally, I just think I liked being outside and this was the beginning of several months where this was going to happen – more and more. But by far and away my favourite thing about spring was to watch all of the wildflowers come to life, particularly when I got to go to Hampshire to visit my grandparents and wander through the woods. This is where I got my love of daffodils, snowdrops and bluebells (although my Welsh ancestry definitely influenced my connection to daffodils quite a bit as well). If you ever get the chance you should go to a bluebell wood in full bloom – it will take your breath away.

Famous people to be born on March 21st include …..

Gary Oldman (My favourite actor of all time – what a coincidence)

Ronaldhinho

Matthew Broderick

Rosie O’Donnell (One of Donald Trump’s favourite people – and visa versa)

Ayrton Senna

Antoine Griezmann

Brian Clough (Managerial Enigma)

Timothy Dalton (Welsh James Bond)

Roger Hodgson (Supertramp Superstar)

Dean Warner (aka Winxy – all round Bowls Legend and Top Bloke BMBC!)

Til next Time …..