History of Kilburn and West Hampstead

This story looks at events in the Decca Studios in Broadhurst Gardens West Hampstead during World War Two.   Decca Studios, 1963 Arthur Haddy (1906 to 1989) Arthur Haddy was the chief engineer at Crystalate and then Decca Studios which took over the building in 1937. During the War he was asked if Decca could help remove the static noise in intercepted radio signals picked up from German aircraft by the chain of ‘Y’ listening stations which were spread around the coast. He went to the Y HQ in West Kingsdown Kent to collect some wax recordings which were sent to the studios for improvement. The cleaned recordings were returned to the RAF to assist transcription, before they were sent to Bletchley Park. Arthur Haddy, 1970s (Getty Images) The company was also asked by the Government to develop a method of detecting submarines from their engine noise. An important event occurred on 27 August 1941 when the German U-boat U-570 was surprised by a Coastal Command aircraft which dropped dep...

It was not a high-profile murder. A poor man was killed in a poor part of London during the War, so it did not receive much press coverage. This detailed blog story takes us into the seedy underworld of London gangs and tells how a petty criminal fought to prove his innocence and became a television playwright. The Crime It was wartime in Kilburn and like the rest of London, people were suffering from the continued bombing in the Blitz. In 1941 on 12 April, 56-year-old George Ambridge was murdered at his home, 2 Hampton Road, Kilburn. This was a short street linking Kilburn Park and Cambridge Roads, which has been swept away by the large-scale redevelopment of South Kilburn. George worked as a rag and bone man and delivered coal. But he was also a ‘fence’ for stolen goods. At the time of the murder he was a widower, living alone with his dog in the small flat over a disused stable in Hampton Road.     No.2 Hampton Road The police made little progress, until nine months later i...

Alan Stuart Spaughton was born at 13 Lowfield Road in Kilburn in 1931. He shortened his name and performed as Alan Stuart. He played tenor sax with Tommy Steele’s Steelmen in the 1950s at the famous 2Is club in Soho and on film and TV shows. On some occasions Alan played sax while lying on his back. In 1957 they had hits with ‘Singing the Blues’, and performed at the Royal Variety Show for the Queen and Prince Philip. Alan stayed with Tommy and the Steelmen until 1959. Tommy Steele and the The Steelmen in 1957 (Getty Images). Tommy Steele and The Steelmen (1957), Alan is on the left In 1956 he married ‘Megs’ Margaret Leggett who had worked as a dancer with the Tiller Girls and an extra in numerous films. Then through a friend he had last seen while playing the back end of a pantomime horse, Alan met Stanley Kubrick who saw a resemblance to Peter Sellers and asked him to play his double in the film Dr Strangelove (1964). In a newspaper interview Alan said, ‘It was quite an undertaking b...

There has been considerable publicity recently about Adele who is performing 10 shows in Munich in August 2024.  Announcing the idea in January on Instagram, Adele said: ‘So a few months ago I got a call about a summer run of shows. I’ve been content as anything with my shows in London’s Hyde Park and my residency in Vegas, so I hadn’t had any other plans. … However, I was too curious to not follow up and indulge in this idea – a one-off, bespoke pop-up stadium designed around whatever show I want to put on? Why, Yes!! I haven’t played in Europe since 2016’. The £102M stadium has a 200 metre semi-circle stage with a 93 metre catwalk, so Adele can get close to the 75-80,000 fans in the audience. Behind her is a huge projection screen reported to have cost another £34M. Around the stadium is an ‘Adele World’ themed park. Photo of the stadium and theme park In the publicity for the show, Adele praised small venues which gave her a start early in her career, and she specifically mentio...

In 1934, Easter Monday fell on April 2nd. It dawned fine and bright, as several hundred passengers boarded the excursion train that departed Nottingham around 7.30am, bound for Marylebone in London.  The uneventful journey came to a dramatic and sudden end shortly after 10.00am. The train was brought to a halt at a signal while crossing a bridge over the Kilburn High Road. It was about to start off again, when it was rammed from behind by a light engine travelling at around 15mph. The rear carriage was telescoped for about half its length, and by absorbing most of the impact, only limited damage was caused to the remaining carriages, mainly broken glass that showered on the passengers.  The event at the Albert Hall Most of the passengers were members of the Elim Four Square Gospel Alliance, planning on attending the Alliance’s annual conference at the Albert Hall. Their home in Nottingham was a chapel in Halifax Place. Founded in 1915 by George Jeffreys as the Elim Pentecostal...

Sadly, John Mayall a pioneer of British Blues, died on 22 July 2024 at his home in California and there have been numerous tributes in the media.  There is a double connection to West Hampstead. With his band The Bluesbreakers John played 33 times at Klooks Kleek, the jazz and blues club run by Dick Jordan and Geoff Williams on the first floor of the Railway Hotel in West Hampstead. He also recorded many albums at the Decca Studios in Broadhurst Gardens. The first was ‘Mayall Plays Mayall’ recorded at Klooks Kleek on 7 December 1964, when cables were run over to the next door studios. The band at this time was John Mayall (vocals, keyboards and harmonica), Roger Dean (guitar), John McVie (bass), Hughie Flint (drums) and Nigel Stanger on sax. John with his band playing at Klooks Kleek in May 1965. Photo by Paul Soper, used by kind permission. Probably the most famous album ‘Blues Breakers: John Mayall with Eric Clapton’, was made in Broadhurst Gardens in March 1966. The band was May...