Arfur was a lovely mover
QUESTION Where was Arthur Daley’s Yard filmed in Minder?
Sly old Arfur kept re-locating his lockups whenever plods ‘Cheerful Charlie’ Chisholm, DC Rycott or DS Morley started to get too inquisitive.
The Minder series was enormously popular; the escapades of Arthur and Terry, played by George Cole OBE and Dennis Waterman, as they tried to earn a ‘few sovs’, caught the public imagination.
There were many spin-offs, books and a Christmas hit record by Arthur and Terry called What Are We Gonna Get For ’Er Indoors, referring to Arthur’s never-seen TV wife. The punk group The Firm also had a hit with Arthur Daley ’E’s Alright.
Minder ran for 114 episodes, from 1979 to 1994. Six more were broadcast in 2009 starring Shane Ritchie as Arthur’s nephew Archie, but it didn’t take off.
I worked on many episodes and was familiar with the locations. Arthur had a total, at different times, of seven lock-ups and four car lots. Arthur and Terry’s favourite watering hole, the Winchester Club, run by (‘slate ’em’) Dave (Glynn Edwards) also moved four times.
Arthur’s lock-ups were around West london. The first was in Poplar Mews, off the Uxbridge Road, Shepherds Bush Market. Then there was Door 4, rear of Blyth House, Blyth Road, Hammersmith. Then Brewhouse Street, East Putney, now demolished to make way for the modernised Putney Wharf.
Series 4, 5 and 6 used a site in Kensal Road. Next came Hyth Road, near Scrubs lane. Then Jeymer Drive (now demolished) in Chartwell Close, Greenford, Middlesex. The final premises was just off Standard Road, on Bush lane Industrial Estate, Park Royal, Ealing.
George could never understand why the public liked Arthur so much — he once said: ‘It’s a bit worrying really, after all Arthur is a crook, yet he’s one of the most popular characters on TV.’
George’s widow, Penny, had a few lockups of her own for many years, selling (legit merchandise) vintage clothes. There was a recent auction of ‘Arthur’s clothes’ including his iconic camel-hair overcoat and brown trilby. I didn’t bid as I’ve had mine since the Eighties and put it to good use as an Arthur lookalike.
George sadly died in 2015 aged 90 after a long career, giving us plenty of laughs. The world certainly was his lobster.
Danny Darcy, Reading, Berks.
QUESTION Some years ago it was said that carbon fibre would revolutionise the repair or replacement of ligaments as it was eventually absorbed by the body and replaced by living tissue. Was this technique ever adopted?
B.J. BENSON, in ‘Elemental carbon as a biomaterial’, Journal of Biomedical Materials Research (1971), was the first to suggest the potential biological and biomechanical significance of carbon.
During the Seventies and early Eighties, a group led by D.H.R. Jenkins, from the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Cardiff, experimented with carbon implants as an agent for the induction of new tendon synthesis in animal models.
Jenkins argued that ‘since a high proportion of the tissues of living organisms is composed of carbon compounds, it would not perhaps be surprising that implants of the pure element should be well tolerated’.
Rupture of the anterior cruciate ligament (ACl) is one of the most frequent knee injuries in sport. In the early Eighties doctors began trialling carbon fibre replacements in patients. A review of the procedure by a team from Addenbrooke’s Hospital and Newmarket Hospital found serious shortcomings, outlined in ‘The clinical, arthroscopic and histological findings after replacement of the anterior cruciate ligament with carbon-fibre’ (N. Rushton et al, Bone And Joint, 1983).
Carbon-fibre ACl grafts had been implanted into 39 patients and ten reported pain and discomfort afterwards. All ten had synovitis — inflammation of the synovial membrane, which lines synovial joints that possess cavities.
Five patients showed evidence of chronic synovial inflammation. Other complications included ulceration of the skin over subcutaneous carbon-fibre knots used to secure the graft.
Modern ACl reconstruction surgery uses a graft to replace the ligament. The most common grafts are autografts using part of your own body, such as the kneecap tendon (patellar tendon) or one of the hamstring tendons. Sometimes the quadriceps tendon from above the kneecap is used. Allograft tissue, taken from a deceased donor, can also be used.
Dr Ian Smith, Cambridge.
QUESTION Further to the question about Norbert Dentressangle lorries, what is the origin of the name Norbert? Are there any other famous Norberts?
IN THE Sixties and Seventies we went to watch the show jumping at Wembley. you never knew who would win the Grand Prix classes. Often it was Harvey Smith, but every top rider had a chance.
For a change, this particular year there was a big horse, over 17 hands, that was in with a chance. It was ridden by a German rider called Norbert Koof, who won it. The horse was called Fire.
Nicky Martyn, Chester, Cheshire
NORBERT KRIEF is a guitarist with renowned French hard rock band Trust, but usually goes under the stage name Nono. Their 1980 album Repression has anglicised lyrics by English musician Jimmy Pursey, except le Mitard, which is based partly on the memoirs gangster Jacques Mesrine penned in solitary confinement. Norbert has also worked with French legend Johnny Hallyday.
Mark Sylvester, Grimsby, Lincs.
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