Tony's Scholar's Reports

Jonathan & Neil - have fun looking at your Dad's grades. I think he seems a lot smarter than these grades show!!! Have fun. As always, click on picture to see in a larger screen. Never fear, Terry, your turn is coming soon.

Niagara Falls Lamp

I went out on the web to try to find a picture of the lamp everyone is remembering - Niagara Falls.

Tony tells me that the lamp was oval....of course, he doesn't really remember the picture on the lamp. He just remembers the inside of the lamp because he took it apart to see how it worked, of course. In later years, he remembers repairing the lamp

My Mom and Dad also had a Niagara Falls lamp, and I remember it being round - but have no recollection of what made it work.

I found this lamp at this site - Antique - selling for $150.00, in case anyone wants to have one in their home to remind them of their youth.

This one was listed on a UK web site.

To the left is another sample of the Niagara Falls lamp, but it was produced much earlier than the ones above, I think.

And, finally, A lamp with two different views and a close-up also.

My Royal Air Force Days

I thought I had better get in first with a potted history of my RAF days. So here I am, Acting Air Vice Marshall Singleton reporting for duty. This was my joining photo taken at RAF Bridgenorth for basic training in 1962( I was threatened with court marshall for not having a shave) . Then posted to Compton Bassett for a year radio training which is 6 miles from where we now live. Next 6 months at RAF Locking for final training, and Sept 63 off to Cyprus for 2 and a half years. Back to UK and I went to High Wycombe where I met that well known gent Ken Whitten followed by a 3 yr stint in Singapore(Ken was also there and I had to invite him over for weekends so that I could get his beer ration). Then posted to Henlow(ugh) and quickly volunteered for Malta. Returned from Malta in Feb 73 for final 6 months at Little Rissington and then out into the world of civvy street. There were ups and downs of course but I still think they were the best years of my life.

lammy heaven

ok now you're talking my language..., heres some pics of my lammys, the old li150 (1958) as used here as our wedding car, mum decorated /camoflaged it and josep drove rachael the 200 or so metres of rough terrain to get to the tree (the wedding tree). the other picture of me fixxing the carburettor spring was taken when i should have been getting dressed about an hour before kick off, the carb dicided to stick open meaning that rach would have arrived not quite as sedately as we had planned!!

the other jet 200 (1982 ) in its hayday just prior to being flmed for an advert (forget what for), i had to entrust a very mod, looking actor to drive the thing for the film , he;d never driven a moto before, all went well.

unfortunately many of the lights got nicked one night during out trip round menorca. we spend the night in a tent inside an old military bunker on the beach, and in the morning some sod had half-inched the stuff!!

still have both but both need another refurb

by the way one of my happiest memories of the wedding and probably ever is driving back from the river on the wedding day all suited up, no helmet, followed by friends and feeling like i was living some sort of 1960s, dream...great!

Lambretta Story, Circa 1958

This is the scooter, the Lambretta LD150 that caught fire. I dragged it into the small workshop one night to do some work on the fuel shut-off valve because it was far too cold outside. I drained the tank beforehand, of course, and once inside, removed the valve. Unknown to me, the valve was designed to leave a half gallon of fuel in the tank as a reserve supply. This came gushing out into the shop, which was being warmed by a paraffin heater. You can guess what happened next. The fuel caught fire. The workshop was so small that I had wedged the scooter behind the only door, making it very difficult to open the door and get out.

The rest of the story….Mom and Dad saw the flames from the kitchen and came to the rescue. In Dad’s rush to get to the workshop, he kicked over the bowl of fuel that I had drained earlier, thus getting fuel on his slippers. Hence, the expression, "adding fuel to the fire". The burning fuel spread outside and set fire to one of Dad’s slippers. He didn’t seem very amused at the time.
The fire was soon put out without assistance from the Brigade. The whole scooter was stripped down and completely resprayed.

Footnote: The whole time Tony was dictating this story to put on the blog, he couldn’t keep from laughing just thinking about it.

Stay tuned - we may do one of all modes of transportation from the UK bike to the USA motorhome at some time.

Dawn Gets Publicity on Blog

Email message from Dawn to Sharon

Hi Sharon, how are you?? I had a look at the latest blog and Uncle Tony is looking fine!!! Some great pics on there, how funny. I'm forwarding you some pics of my latest family additions!!! Hope ur both well, Love Dx

Dawn's latest family additions. The guinea pigs are cute and the names are so clever.

Skipety Pig.................................Marzey Pig

Cocoa Pig...................................Fuzzy Pig

Four Generations

December 1969. Left to right, Mr. Cupit, Mum, Tony, Dad, and front row Mr. Cupit's Mum, Harry Stow (Mrs. Cupit's dad), Mrs. Cupit, Susan and Chimp (sorry--Jonathan)