Bill's Beard

The year 2020 saw the Suzuki Jimny celebrating its 50th anniversary. It is now in its fourth generation. The third generation model, of which mine is an example, was launched in 1998. That design remained fundamentally unchanged until 2018. This is my car. You may be unimpressed and think it a box on wheels, but I believe its chunkiness adds to its quirky charm. Well, many modern cars do look identical, don't they? I recall that as a boy and probably up to the late 1970s I could identify just about any model on the road. Is it because in those days designs were more distinctive and style was not necessarily constrained by price? Returning to the Jimny. It isn’t economical and the road handling is dismal, in fact bordering on life-threatening if you don't learn to accept and deal with its idiosyncrasies. Drivers must be wary of poor grip and a disturbing body roll on bends. The ladder frame chassis and the short wheelbase generate unwelcome pitching on bumpy roads. O...

In the mid-1960s I was aboard HMS Hermes sailing to Gibraltar. Photographs taken at that time appear elsewhere in my blog. As for my being on that ship, it was because I was employed by the Ministry of Defence as an armament supply officer and the authorities in their wisdom elected to send me on a jolly to Gibraltar. Apart from getting under everyone's feet taking snaps I was introduced as a guest of the Royal Navy to the favourite wardroom cocktail. The Horse's Neck. The cocktail originated in America towards the end of the 19th century. As consumed by officers of the Royal Navy it consists of a mix of brandy and ginger ale over ice. Ideally a long strip of lemon peel should protrude from the glass. That gives the drink its name. Angostura bitters are optional. The Royal Navy has long entertained wardroom guests with this drink. As evidence of its historical popularity, reference is often made to a scene in the film Yangtse Incident in which an officer is seen to orde...

The Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles was forced to close in 2020 as coronavirus spread throughout America. They found a way to sustain the public's interest in art during the pandemic by issuing the "Getty Museum Challenge." Followers on social media were invited to recreate works of art within their home. I looked around my house to see what objects I could use to replicate famous paintings. These are my efforts. I suppose that the best that can be said is that at least I tried! If you are uncertain, the original painting precedes my creation in each pair of images. It's time to slip into pretentious arty bollocks mode. Rembrandt  - Portrait of a Man. The composition is such that this dramatic and handsome figure is not frozen in time but rather potentially dynamic, whilst the hyper-realistic detail is the mark of genius... and Rembrandt did OK as well. Kadinsky  - Squares with Concentric Circles. These shapes and colours are said to trigger a deep internal reso...

HMS Hermes  (R12) was a conventional British aircraft carrier and the last of the Centaur class. In service with the Royal Navy from 1959 until 1984 she served as the flagship of the British forces during the Falklands War. After being sold to India in 1986 the vessel was recommissioned and remained in service with the Indian Navy as INS Viraat until 2017. In 2020 it was announced that Hermes was to be scrapped. These are photographs taken when I was aboard HMS Hermes on my way to Gibraltar in the mid-1960s. The aircraft carried at that time were  Fairey Gannets and Westland Whirlwinds. HMS Hermes flying the Union jack when moored in Gibraltar. Fairey Gannet having just landed on HMS Hermes. The aircraft was developed for the Royal Navy's Fleet Air Arm. Fairey Gannet on the flight deck of Hermes. It was used in an airborne early warning (AEW) role on carriers. This aircraft carried a crew of three. The Westland Whirlwind served the Fleet Air Arm. Anti-submarine, and...

Blogger is a free and reliable blogging platform. Blogs are hosted by Google and accessed from a subdomain of blogspot.com. An example of course being this website's address of williamalberthunter.blogspot.com. All that’s needed to set up a blog of your own is a Google account. Blogs hosted by Google are easy to manage, relatively hassle-free and very secure. Blogger lets you safely store thousands of posts, photos and more, without cost. Blogger is splendid not only for newcomers to blogging but also for users such as myself who intend to develop a basic personal blog and have decided there's no need for the bells and whistles which come with a more sophisticated  Content Management System  (CMS). Having said that, over the years, I've made use of many open source CMS. The choice is very much one of horses for courses. In developing a web presence Wordpress has undoubtedly much to offer. In the early days it was primarily intended for bloggers but has progressed t...

In March 2021  Rangers Football Club  became Scottish Premiership Champions. Scotland's greatest football club have now won a record-breaking 55 league titles. In fact, since their formation in 1872, Glasgow Rangers have accumulated more domestic trophies than any other football club in the world. It has been a difficult decade for Rangers fans, but we are back in our rightful position as the dominant force in Scottish football.

This is my grandfather, on a rare holiday and enjoying a trip to Southsea , probably in 1968. Not exactly dressed for the occasion, but grandfather was from an era when suits were the standard attire for all classes whenever getting out and about... although for beachwear perhaps he was taking that custom a little too far! That summer day was a scorcher. It was not long before the jacket and tie were abandoned in favour of the emergency handkerchief sun hat. Over the past few days I've been sorting through long-forgotten family photographs and I came across the following which I thought I'd include in a blog post. In this photo, again my father's father, William (Willie) Hunter, can be seen seated far left. At a guess the photo was taken around 1920, very possibly in Lochgelly but certainly West Fife. The Hunter family migrated to Lochgelly from Prestonpans around 1900. They hailed from East Lothian coal mining communities. I've tracked down ancestral reco...

In this blog I hope to add three or four new articles each month. With varied content perhaps you'll discover something interesting... stranger things have happened! As each new blog page is created the links will be added in this post. Articles are listed downwards from the latest to oldest.