Will Hay, Britain’s greatest film comedian
» Home
and Latest news
» Will Hay biography
» Graham Moffatt biography
» Moore Marriott biography
» Filmography and VHS
» DVDs
» More on Oh, Mr
Porter!
» Remake
Hell
» Gainsborough Studios
» Will Hay links
» Will Hay audio
files
» You may also enjoy…
» Your letters
» The
NTG Will Hay Forum
» Contact me
» Yahoo! Group
» Exit
to site index
This site was last updated 2006-10-21, with a new store.
© Steve Day
» Exit
to Stella Street
» Exit to World
of Pub
» Exit to
Jeremy Hardy
» Exit to
sday.info
Please visit my new Amazon store for Will Hay goodies!
More on Oh, Mr Porter!
The combination of old movies and old trains means that some items in the Will Hay catalogue receive, perhaps, greater attention than others. The film Oh, Mr Porter, aside from being one of Hay’s greatest vehicles, also contains a few vehicles that make it of interest to those outside the sphere of film comedy (it also contains a windmill, and yes, there are windmill spotters). It’s where comedy and trainspotting merge, fuse, and come out of the tunnel with blood on their noses. (You will not understand that reference if you have not seen the film yet.)
Anyway, let’s start with the windmill, which is at Terling, Essex. Tony Harris has written to me to tell me that the windmill is owned by Leroy, a member of Prodigy (who hail from Essex). There is a photo of the windmill as it appears today here.
Photo: Shaun Hunneybell
The main interest is, of course, the railway. The derelict look of Buggleskelly station (actually Cliddesden Halt, near Basingstoke, Hampshire) was only partly applied by the studio. The line used in the filming was being torn up while the film was being shot, the station having been closed finally to goods in 1936. There is a detailed page on the Basingstoke and Alton Light Railway here. To see where Cliddesden is now (not that it’s gone anywhere), click here. Three photos of the site follow, courtesy of Martin Lambert, who retains copyright:
Mr Lambert comments: “You can see from the shots, there is a builder’s van in one of them. When I turned up and started taking photos you could tell that they thought I was from the tax office! How can you tell these people that you are photographing the site of Buggleskelly station!?”
More Trivia: Gladstone the engine was better known as “Northian” after the line it once ran on. It was virtually ready for scrap, but the film crew added a different funnel and put her into use again. She was still running until 1944 when she was finally broken up. Rumour has it that the driver of the train also drove Laurel and Hardy on the Romney, Hythe and Dymchurch line during one of their UK Tours.
Many thanks to Ralph Morris, Martin Lambert and Shaun Hunneybell for their contributions to this page. All other Will Hay trivia is welcome!
Now that I’m living back down south (and working for Network Rail’s South Eastern territory) I hope to visit some of the sites referred to above and maybe take some of my own photos.
One final item: this page from a railway magazine. See the first column, half way down.
