The Good Life’s £1 million home
QUESTION
An episode of The Good Life had Tom trying to get a pension plan on the basis that his house would be worth £100,000 by the time he and Barbara died. The bank manager turned him down because he didn’t believe the property would rise so much in value. In reality, how much would a house like the Goods’ fetch today?
THIRTY episodes of the Good life were made between 1975 and 1978. Although the storyline stated that tom and Barbara Good and their next- door neighbours Margot and Jerry leadbetter lived in the Avenue, Surbiton, Surrey, the address was fictitious.
the houses used for all the exterior filming shots, including the allotment garden, pig pens and chicken sheds, for all 30 episodes were 53 and 55 Kewferry Road in Northwood, Middlesex (now the london Borough of Hillingdon).
tom Good was said to have been 40 when he launched himself and Barbara on the ‘good life’ in 1975 and so might have hoped to retire in 2000.
the Goods’ house — No 55 — was for sale in 2001 asking £570,000. the actual selling price isn’t known, but a very similar property in Kewferry Road sold in 2014 for £1.125 million.
David Marks, Northampton.
QUESTION
Can Joe Cocker claim to be the only singer to have improved a Beatles song?
BEATLES purists would probably deny anything is better than the originals, but some fine versions can at least rival them. William Shatner’s version of lucy in the Sky With Diamonds might be the best — or worst — cover of all time.
Aerosmith’s cover of Come together from the Sgt Pepper’s lonely Hearts Club Band movie (1978) is excellent, although the film stinks. Similarly, Michael Jackson’s cover, featured on the concert portion of the film Michael Jackson: Moonwalker (1988), is seriously funky. Jackson owned the rights to the song at the time.
Bobbie Gentry’s version of Fool On the Hill, sung in Japanese, is oddly beautiful, and Earth Wind And Fire produced a great disco version of Got to Get You into My life. Dear Prudence might have been written for Siouxsie And the Banshees, and their version of Helter Skelter isn’t bad, either. the Rolling Stones’ i Wanna Be Your Man is as exciting as the original.
Motown interpretations of the Beatles tend to be poor, but Stevie Wonder’s We Can Work it Out is pretty good, and Al Green does a fine version of Get Back.
Wilson Pickett’s rendition of Hey Jude featured Duane Allman on guitar and Eric Clapton’s favourite guitar solo. Nina Simone’s version of Here Comes the Sun is great, while Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel’s version is one of the worst. Marvin Gaye’s sweet and soulful version of Yesterday has to be the best.
Paul McCartney wrote lady Madonna with Fats Domino in mind, so it is a particular pleasure t o hear Fats’s accomplished version, as it i s little Richard’s version of i Saw Her Standing there, which is excellent.
Don’t let Me Down by Charlotte Dada is a wonderful Ghanaian version of the song. Johnny Cash’s version of in My life is beautiful and U.S. punk band Husker Du’s version of ticket to Ride rocks.
the Pixies do a great version of Wild Honey Pie, and their former bass player Kim Deal’s band, the Breeders, nailed While My Guitar Gently Weeps.
On the flip side, the Beatles hall of shame is full of bad covers. to my mind the worst are the Steve Harley cover, Bill Cosby’s Sgt Pepper, Sean Connery’s creepy in My life (produced by George Martin) and Bing Crosby’s appalling Hey Jude. the worst of all, however, has to be Paul McCartney’s own excruciating rendition of Hey Jude at the london Olympics in 2012.
Darren Taylor, Perth.
QUESTION
What is the story of the U.S. Convair B-36 Peacemaker Bomber which had ten engines? Are any still intact?
FURtHER to earlier answers, these huge aircraft were featured in the 1955 U.S. film Strategic Air Command starring James Stewart as Major ‘Dutch’ Holland.
it showed how, during the Cold War, they regularly flew 15 to 20-hour patrols and, because of the length of the plane, the crew used a narrow-gauge rail bogie to move from front to rear.
these massive piston- engined planes were replaced by the all-jet B-47 and later the B-52, which is still in service today.
John Wigglesworth, Lymington, Hants.
IN NOVEMBER 1950 or 1951, i was the leading weather observer in the Met Office at RAF Upavon ( HQ 38 transport Command) when we were advised that a flight of these aircraft would be arriving at nearby RAF Boscombe Down, the only British airfield at that time able to accept these aircraft for night landings.
the U.S. Air Force took over the air traffic control tower for the event. We were asked to provide weather conditions every 15 minutes and pass them to Boscombe. it was cold that night, with odd snow flurries and poor visibility with a low cloud base.
the first B-36 landed too far down the runway and eventually ran off into the Wiltshire countryside, stopping upright and in sound condition not far from the main road. the ground was slightly frozen, which was an advantage in its recovery.
RAF control tower staff were glad they were not too involved in this episode.
robert Breeze, Abergavenny, Gwent.
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