South Norwood Tourist Board

Thanks to Howard Lake for this:

Anyhow, just finished re-reading ‘A British Picture’ the autobiography of legendary film maker Ken Russell, in which he talks about (chapter 2, page 18) walking “down South Norwood Hill” then taking a train from “South Norwood to Victoria” en route to meeting Huw Wheldon and landing the job on BBC’s Monitor programme. This must have been circa 1959-60. Elsewhere in the book there are references to him struggling to maintain a “large ramshackle Victorian house” so I’m guessing he had one of the big townhouses at the top of South Norwood Hill towards Beulah Hill.

 Ken in fact lived at  124 Church Road – we know this because the AGEING SEX GODDESS  pictured in our LOVE LANE posts lived next door to him……….she says he tried to buy one of the dinosaurs to stick in his garden…the rest she aint telling………..yet!