The Postcard
A Colourmaster International postcard by Photo Precision Ltd. of St. Ives, Huntingdon.
The card was posted in High Wycombe, Bucks. on Friday the 23rd. July 1982 to:
Miss D. Brooks,
35, St. Aubyn's Road,
Fishersgate,
Sussex.
The message on the divided back of the card was as follows:
"Enjoying my stay with
my friends. Went to this
little village yesterday.
Weather has been good
and I've been able to sit
in the garden.
Had a job to find a church.
See you,
Love from Mary".
Beaconsfield
Beaconsfield is a market town in Buckinghamshire, England, 23.4 miles (38 km) WNW of central London and 16.0 miles (26 km) SSE of Aylesbury. Three towns are within five miles: Gerrards Cross, Amersham and High Wycombe.
The town is adjacent to the Chiltern Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, and has a wide area of Georgian, neo-Georgian and Tudor revival high street architecture, known as the Old Town.
Beaconsfield is known for the first model village in the world and the National Film and Television School.
The parish church at the crossroads of Old Beaconsfield is dedicated to St Mary; it was rebuilt of flint and bath stone by the Victorians in 1869.
Old Beaconsfield has a number of old coaching inns along a wide street of red brick houses and small shops. It was a stopping point on the road between London and Oxford, as it is equidistant between the two places.
An annual charter fair is traditionally held on the 10th. May, and has been held every year since 1269, celebrating its 750th. year in 2019.
In the Victorian era the town was the home constituency of Benjamin Disraeli, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom in 1868 and then again from 1874 until 1880 (in fact his home, Hughenden Manor is in the nearby town of High Wycombe). In 1876 he was made the 1st. Earl of Beaconsfield by Queen Victoria with whom he was very popular. It was due to this that Beaconsfield became a popular road name in industrial cities across the country in the late Victorian era.
It is the burial place of the author G. K. Chesterton, Edmund Burke and the poet Edmund Waller, for whom a tall stone obelisk was erected over the tomb chest in St Mary and All Saints churchyard.
-- Beaconsfield in the Media
The National Film and Television School is where many film directors (including Nick Park) and technicians have learned their craft. It is the birthplace of Terry Pratchett, author of the Discworld series of fantasy novels.
Several scenes in Brief Encounter, a classic film about a woman in a dull middle class marriage who almost undertakes an affair, were filmed in the town: Station Parade served as Milford High Street, and Boots on Burke's Parade was where Alec runs into Laura.
The exterior of the Royal Saracens Head Inn can be seen in the James Bond film Thunderball, and the interior shots for the pub in Hot Fuzz were filmed in the Royal Standard pub. The New Town also features in two other postwar films, John & Julie and The Fast Lady. Many other parts of the town have been used in films due to the old film studio and nearby Pinewood Studios. More recently it has often been used as a location for the TV murder mystery series, Midsomer Murders and the Inspector Morse spinoff Lewis.
Local pop band The Hit Parade released their single 'On The Road To Beaconsfield', a celebration of Enid Blyton and her life in the town, in 1994.
-- Great Britain's Richest Town
Beaconsfield was named 'Britain's richest town' (based on an average house price of £684,474) by The Daily Telegraph in 2008. In 2011 the town had the highest proportion in the UK of £1 million-plus homes for sale (at 47%, compared to 3.5% nationally). In 2011, Burkes Road was named as the second most expensive road in the country outside London.
Commercial Whaling
So what else happened on the day that Mary posted the card?
Well, on the 23rd. July 1982, the International Whaling Commission decided to end commercial whaling by 1985–1986, a decision that was subsequently totally over-ridden by commercial interests.
Roberto Calvi
Also on that day, a coroner's jury returned a verdict of suicide on Roberto Calvi, who was found hanging under Blackfriars Bridge.
Nagasaki
Also on the 23rd. July 1982, torrential rain and mudslides in Nagasaki, Japan, destroyed bridges and killed 299 people.
The Twilight Zone Accident
Also on that day, during filming of Twilight Zone: The Movie, actor Vic Morrow and 2 child actors died in a helicopter stunt accident in California.
