It was great to see that thousands went into London today to celebrate the 60th anniversary of war ending. There were some obvious parrallels between events of the early forties and today, but high security or not people came out in their droves.
The flyby of WWII planes was spectacular, and I was lucky to enough to see them on their return (to Duxford?) as they came overhead. Actually, had I realised, I heard several of them on the way out too.
There’s something incredible and thrilling about the sound of those fantastic Vickers engines that drove so many of our planes during the war. The growl really reaches you. We’ve heard it in so many films and consequently it’s more recognisable a sound than any contemporary car – they’re so quiet you can’t hear them. A few years ago I saw a fabulous display at RAF Duxford which involved something like 16 Spitfires flying in formation. It was a sight to behold, and one to hear too.
The various sporting events around the country marked last Thursday’s bombings with minutes of silence. Now I can’t say a great deal about people who don’t observe these things, that I haven’t said and done before. But for all the rights and wrongs of them – and we have a two minutes coming up this Thursday – if you’re going to observe the silence, do it properly. The “silence” at Silverstone during the British Grand Prix today was a joke. Maybe it was a little unclear exactly when it started, although the track marshals we saw in the pictures seemed to get it, but some of the drivers were pictured chatting through the whole thing. It was embarrassing as the director desperately cut away to others who were observing it properly. They had to keep going back to the drivers because they were supposed to be the focal point. But even Bernie Ecclestone, the F1 supremo, was happy to have a chin-wag during the procedings.
Guys – if you can’t do it right, don’t bother.
[One final thing about the Anniversary celebrations. Did anyone else think it was suspicious when the poppy leaves quickly fell in front of the Royal balconey at Buckingham Palace. They were released from the bomb bay of a Lancaster bomber at quite a great height, yet they reached the front of the palace very fast. A cynic might think that another set of poppy leaves were released from somewhere on the roof of the palace.]