How the newspapers of the time reported the government visit to Shanklin manor.
THE VIEW FROM HERETHE holiday season is upon us and now is the time for gossip fans to be on the alert for celebrities taking their holidays on the Island.
Fame groupies are dazzled by practically anyone who has had so much as a nanosecond’s brush with publicity, even if they’re somebody we’ve never heard of but who has appeared on Celebrity Masterchef.
And then there are politicians. Nowadays, we are much less impressed by these creatures, although it was not so long ago when the sight of Virginia Bottomley cavorting around on Seagrove Bay elicited a fair amount of press attention.
But if, say, Andrew Lansley pitched up with his shrimping net, would we care? Oh come along, now. Andrew Lansley. He’s in health. No? Can’t place him?
How very different it was 60 years ago. My thanks to Mrs Anne Springman, who has unearthed a treasure trove of press cuttings about a visit made in February, 1949, by members of the Labour cabinet and Socialist Party executive to a Shanklin guest house.
The delegation, which met to discuss strategy for the next general election, was headed by the prime minister, Clement Attlee, and included Harold Wilson, then president of the Board of Trade, Sir Stafford Cripps, Herbert Morrison and the colonial secretary, Mr Arthur Creech Jones.
No, I hadn’t heard of Arthur, either, but he went down big in those days. The visit was given huge coverage in the national papers, with every aspect of the weekend trip scrutinised to its last detail.
The visitors travelled by special train to Portsmouth.
"Dinner was served," reported the Daily Express. "Lobster soup, roast chicken with bread sauce, rissole potatoes and boiled potatoes, peach Melba, cheese, biscuits and coffee. Wines and beer were served on request."
They then piled into the specially reserved first-class lounge on the Portmouth-Ryde steamer.
"At Ryde, 14 taxis were waiting," the Express reporters told its readers.
The politicians’ guest house in Shanklin had spared no expense. "All the bedroom lights were on in welcome," revealed the Express. But it was the Daily Graphic which had the real scoop. "The Manor House had hired six dozen wine goblets and two dozen cocktail glasses from a well-known Island crockery merchant, Mr J. Mew."
The hacks were beside themselves with excitement. Sadly, having tucked in so lavishly on the train, the delegates couldn’t manage much on the first evening.
"A fish and poultry supper had been planned but it was cancelled," said the Express. "Snacks of anchovies on toast, sardines and coffee were served instead."
The 55 bedrooms at the Manor House "had been carefully swept and aired by the staff," according to the Daily Graphic.
Both The Sphere (The Empire’s Illustrated Weekly) and the Illustrated London News splashed several pages of pictures on the weekend, including one of the lord president of the council "playing ball" and a snap of the chancellor of the exchequer returning from attending church at Shanklin.
The conference might have had a crucial agenda but there was still time for relaxation.
The minister of war, Mr Shinwell, was pictured "chatting to the police constable on duty outside the manor," while the prime minister cut a very sprightly figure as he set off for "a brisk walk in spring sunshine".
The stories continued to roll after the delegation had returned to London. In April, The Isle of Wight Times (don’t ask — some upstart publication, long defunct) reported crowds at the county magistrates’ court in Ryde when the manager of the Manor House, Herbert Bernard Stretch, was summoned under the Food Rationing Act for obtaining unauthorised amounts of bacon on the conference weekend. He and his co-defendants, who had supplied the bacon, were each fined £2, with £10 costs.
How our politicians must long for those days, when the national press paid reverent attention to the state of their accommodation and guest house managers were prepared to risk criminal records in order to ensure a sizzling breakfast for such celebrities as Mr Arthur Creech Jones, MP.