Summer Holiday film at 60 - when Cliff and Shadows were at the height of the their fame

 

Cliff Richard in the cab of a London Transport RT Bus 1962

Its 1962 and London faces a shortage of Bus drivers and Cliff Richard and The Shadows are the top selling group in the British music scene - this spectacular collision of circumstances perhaps provided the ideal recruiting vehicle for London Transport and another Cliff film that would only increase his fame. So, how has society changed 60 years on?

By the end of 1959, the early rockers that Cliff had idolised were now mostly gone or in decline. Elvis was in the Army, Buddy Holly died in a plane crash, Little Richard had found religion, Jerry Lee Lewis had married his 13 year old cousin causing opprobrium when he toured England and Chuck Berry had his own minor problems, so to speak.

Apart from Bill Haley, most of the artists were in decline and out of the charts, music was changing from the 'old' Rock n' Roll and the new, slick, 'Booby' style was here. Bobby Vee was the personification of that new era, a young college-educated man in a smart sport coat, neatly cut hair, with a smart car and an adoring girlfriend from a white picket fence house in middle class America.

America was on the ascendant, buoyed by years of solid, commercial growth, with WW2 and the Korean war having made seemingly little impact on it financially.

In Britain, the post-war economy was starting to grow, but the nation was still heavily laden with debt from the recent last war and adding further debt by the purchase of Atlas missiles it could really ill afford, from America as part of the Cold War nuclear deterrent.

From 1956 in Britain, the economy did start to lift and by 1960 it was certainly on the up.

In 1960, Eddie Cochran and Gene Vincent were on part of a package deal in Britain, it would end tragically, as did Buddy Holly's similar part of a package band travelling show would in 1959. Gene Vincent's US career was on the decline and Eddie agreed to go to buoy it up (and make it perhaps more marketable) by being an act and a draw as their music was still popular with British audiences. 

Supported by British musicians, due to a Musician's Union embargo, for Eddie this included a backing band with Joe Brown on guitar and a pre-Shadows Brian Bennett on drums. On the way back to London, the car they were travelling in with Gene and Sharon Sheelley (Eddie's girlfriend) as passengers, was involved in an accident at Chippenham and Eddie died shortly after in hospital. Perhaps that is when the original music died commercially.

This seemed like the coda for the original American rockers.

On their US tour in 1960, Cliff and the Shadows saw a lot on their tour that influenced their music, including the segregation in some of the US states which shocked them, something that they never saw in Britain which had a mixed race society. 

They did pickup the way the performers were dressing, watched their stagecraft, studied the whole presentation of the artist and the direction the music was going. It was a tremendous head start they could implement when they returned to Britain.

Although Cliff and the Shadows had remained popular since 1958, other artists of the time slowly lost ground and often through poorly chosen material by management and record companies, suffered poor chart placings and eventual obscurity that even a hardcore fan base could not provide sufficient record sales to help them with.

Thus many artists of the '2I's' era  of the late 1950's through no real fault of their own gradually faded from the charts over the next few years, artists and bands like Billy Fury, Marty Wilde, Terry Dene, Wee Willie Harris, The Vipers, to name but a few waned, whilst Cliff and his Shadows rocketed.

Theirs was a clever mix, a backing band who could perform in their own right and with Cliff, made them more marketable. With their No1 hit Apache, the Shadows set the tone for millions of guitarists to follow and as a result, many bands ditched their singers and went instrumental.

With chart hit after hit with Man of Mystery, The Frightened City, Kon Tiki for the Shadows, their success looked rosy. Cliff was reportedly paid £1000 a week, when the average wage in Britain was about £10. Heavily taxed on this by the British Government, Cliff was still doing very nicely. Plus the songwriting royalties were a bonus for the band too.

Through 1961 and 1962, Cliff and the Shadows both as individual units and collectively, had the British music scene just about sewn up. To the effect that the Beatles could not get a look in until at least 1963 and not gaining any real foothold until 1964, much to the chagrin of some of the Beatles members! 

John Lennon did say though that before them (Cliff and the Shadows) that 'there hadn't been much British music worth listening too'.  'Move it' really hit the spot musically and still sounds exciting and fresh today. With the gift of a Fender Stratocaster to Hank Marvin, the music just developed beyond expectation.

Cliff's 1961 film extravaganza 'The young ones' had been a great success, they continued as a unit recording and touring and in 1962, Summer Holiday was created as their next film project.

The opening sequence of a small brass ensemble playing on a bandstand in some godforsaken British coastal town (playing the Summer Holiday theme tune) before having to abandon the performance due to driving rain, summed up a lot of things in Britain.

The 'old guard' was on the wane. In Britain, national military service for 2 years had been abandoned in 1960 largely as a waste of time, although the reality was it was necessary to have troops in Germany in large numbers in case of the Cold War starting another military fracas and also to assist the West German nation to rebuild and restructure, the denazification of Germany as fares it went had to an extent been done.

By 1960, the teenager had been identified in Britain as a marketable commodity that could be marketed to and exploited financially. With disposable income, hire purchase finance and new found freedom, the teenager of 1960 had in some cases a life that their parents and grandparents, some from the Victorian and Edwardian eras certainly never had.

Modernity through design was now changing the face of Britain, modern looking cars, modern buildings, house furnishings, interior design, paint colours, all these were echoing post war America about 10 years earlier and casting aside the dusty and the old hat way of things.

Cliff and the Shadows did have one thing extra, they appealed to both the Bikers and the Mods. The guitar driven music appealed to the more working class Biker types, often to be found at the Ace Cafe in Willesden, North London and also to the suited and booted Mods, as the Shads and Cliff dressed in sharp, modern design stage clothing.

Summer Holiday also ushered in the era of the package holiday. Aviation had now made great steps in jet flight technology possible, with passenger jets able to reach many parts of the world in a few hours or less.

This opened up the 'package tour' era with flights and hotel accommodation combined in one deal price by Travel Agents. 

Summer Holiday's premise of 4 London Transport mechanics from the Aldenham bus overhaul works taking an older London bus across Europe to Greece on a self-contained package tour seemed the ideal vehicle as such for the basis of a film and perhaps to attract badly need drivers.

The late Lionel Blair put forward Una Stubbs for the role of Sandy, leading to a life long friendship and also to one that she had with Cliff until her death sadly this year. Although she was 5 years older than Cliff in real life in the film, she looked around the same age as he did then.

To serve the American market, American actress Laurie Peters was brought in so that the film might be saleable in that country, although she seems to have faded off the performing scene since and the film did not enjoy the success it did in Europe. A young Peter Yates is on the credit, famous later for his Directing role in the 1968 Steve McQueen film Bullitt, with its iconic car chase (in 1967, Yates directed a film with Stanely Baker called 'Robbery' where a precursor of the Bullitt car chase was filmed, leading to Yates's role in Bullitt).

Factor in the Shadows to provide musical support providing some great instrumentals and songs for the film and you have success all round. 

Summer Holiday featured the third Shadows lineup with Brian Bennett on Drums and Brian 'Licorice' Locking on Bass, a group of three Brians and a Bruce - as Hank B Marvin's name was originally Brian Robson Rankin!

The Shadows musical performance sequences could have been longer and the film's plot was very tame and perhaps syrupy by today's standards. The appeal of the film and the group was what sold it, the young women wanted Cliff to be their boyfriend or husband and the young  wanted to be the Shadows players.

It was only in 1963 it seemed that Britain discovered sex, in the Lady Chatterley's lover obscenity trial. Perhaps, it was the point when things started to go downhill with morals and standards diminishing by the day, some believed? With the events of the Profumo affair only adding more Petrol to the flames of discord.

Undoubtedly, the Cliff and the Shadows combination ensured that their joint and individual success due to their wide fan base would let them continue to be charting and successful years after more modern and different music formed most of the charts.

By the 1962 Summer Holiday era, Britain was really starting to prosper again for many. It was by no way out of the woods financially and the problems set in after the middle of the decade with trade unions demanding more pay and better conditions which helped to make Britain uneconomic as a manufacturing base, ultimately driving jobs abroad.

But from 1960 to 1968, Britain was the place to be, London was again on the map and even the Americans had to take notice. Thanks to Summer holiday, the package tour era had arrived!

The shadows first album from 1961 - 60 years later

 

The Shadows - their debut album from 1961

A rare Stereo version, signed by 3 on the back

The first Shadows album from 1961 was eagerly awaited, following the release of their groundbreaking instrumental single 'Apache' in June 1960.

Cliff Richard's backing group The Shadows shot to fame in their own right with their instrumental hit single "Apache" written by Jerry Lordan in June 1960, displacing a single they had written which Cliff had taken to no.1 in the charts. 

Following on from 'Apache,' they released a succession of hit singles -  'Man of mystery,' 'Kon Tiki' and 'The Frightened City' - chart singles that followed in fairly rapid succession and established their success as the leading group of the day.

It was in 1961, sometime after their initial success in their own right that they released their self-titled first LP. Rather than just go down the easy route of re-releasing their previous hit tracks as part of the new album as a compilation, they took a rather daring and different step.

None of the tracks on the new album were from their chart hits. This was a masterstroke in that it gave the buying public 14 brand new tracks to enjoy and also showed the Shadows had a musical direction and ability.

With 4 tracks on this new album penned by themselves, the Shadows started a path that they would continue to follow during their career - that of mixing the output between established tunes along with a few of their own compositions.

 

From Shadoogie, side one's opener, the classic Blue Star (covered later by the Ventures), Nivram, the jazzy Hank Marvin, Bruce Welch and Jet Harris theme with a great bass solo, See you in my drums featuring Tony Meehan's drumming talent beyond his years, All my sorrows a nice vocal ensemble piece - compare it to the Drifters (as they were) 'Feeling fine' single from 1959, the studio sound is a world away with 'Sorrows' showing how much they had matured musically and benefited from a great studio set up. Stand up and say that rounds off side 1, with Hank Marvin on piano giving his best Floyd Cramer style performance - Hank had started on piano and banjo before gravitating to guitar.

Side 2 kicks off with 'Gonzales', a rip roaring track that took 58 takes to get on tape - even though this version has a couple of minor errors it still has great energy, Find me a golden street evokes a street scene from some old late 50's B movie, Theme from a filleted Plaice shows the Shadows having fun with the title wording which they would use throughout their career and on this track, the doubled guitar sounds good (a technique that was also explored on Nivram), 'That's my desire' is a quality ensemble vocal, 'My resistance is low' is a great old track given the echo laden guitar treatment by Hank with the notes becoming almost ethereal in the highest part, 'Sleepwalk' has become a Shadows and Hank Marvin live performance favourite for decades and the album rounds off with 'Big Boy' - likely based on the American Steam locomotive's beat - there was a locomotive called the Big Boy in America.

This album is pure quality, even 60 years later the tracks sound fresh, the playing and the studio sound is superb and this lineup of Marvin, Welch, Harris and Meehan lasted a mere year and a half lasted for one album, before Tony Meehan departed to be replaced by Brian Bennet for 'Out of the Shadows' their second album.

(This next line of Marvin, Welch, Harris and Brian Bennet lasted a short time before Brian 'Licorice' Locking joined for about a year until 1964, when John Rostill became the Shadows Bass player until their split in 1968). The early Shadows lineups (pre John Rostill) were drawn from the old 2I's Club in Old Compton Street players - all those had played in various bands in that famous venue. Out of the Shadows featured some Jet Harris and some Brian Locking tracks.

The treat of the first album's colour cover photo is to see Hank Marvin's original mythical Fender Stratocaster guitar in the famous Fiesta Red colour bought by Cliff Richard, looking a lovely pinky shade here. As with many of their future album covers, they were almost an unnofficial advertising opportunity for Fender instruments! The album was mostly sold in the Mono version as few people had proper true Stereo record players then, so the album pictured a 1961 Stereo version is very rare, more valuable being signed by 3 band members. I have one of these Mono LP's signed by all 4 members which is very rare as they were not long together in this lineup before Tony Meehan left not long after the LP's release.

Indeed, many Fender instruments were sold on the influence and sound the Shadows had. Demand for Fiesta Red Fender guitars was driven across the world by the Shadows without a doubt and demand could not keep pace lithesome being refinished in Britain to keep up with the demand. As George Harrison later said 'No Shadows, no Beatles.' 

I came to this album in 1983, I had just purchased a Tokai TST50 Stratocaster as close to Hank's Fender as I could get and ironically copied from the same 1958 era guitar as Hank played on this album!

With a Sound City Valve amplifier and tape echo machine I was well on the way to the Hank Marvin sound. Now I use Vox Valvetronix AD60 or 120 and Tonelab Studio and Stage SE boxes to get that great sound.

I was able to follow the style and technique of Hank Marvin and this has given me a lot of pleasure over the last 40 years! Even today when I hear the tracks on this album, they still sound fresh. I have backing tracks from this album and enjoy playing along to them.

This band was immensely talented back then and remain so. This album is a musical milestone of the early 1960's from a band that helped define the music of the decade that followed.

Carbon Dioxide CO2 - how much is in the atmosphere? NOT THAT MUCH! Read how much here....

 

Yes folks, the CO2 in the atmosphere is only 0.04 of 1%

The above table shows that in real terms, that is not much.

Ask a climate change fanatic how much CO2 is in our air - 

a lot of them do not actually know the percentage.

Should we be potentially ruining our futures by worrying about 0.04 of 1%?

Here are some interesting things to consider:

Britain was warmer in the middle ages than now.

At the time of the Romans they grew Grapes in Britain.

And in Tudor times grew Grapes at Hampton Court Palace.

The population of the UK was 70 times smaller then than in 2021.

In the 1930's the climate WAS warmer than now.

With Britain already having reduced its CO2 output by over 40%,

surely that is enough and a benchmark others should follow,

given that Britain generates LESS than 1% of all global emissions?

and finally... why was the COP26 conference not done over Zoom?

Its not rocket science. Its a video call.

It could have saved those 400 Jets making unnecessary journeys, 

if you're that concerned about 'climate change' 

Who is really making the big money from 'climate change'?

Remember that...

Electric vehicle battery ingredients ARE finite

Algae can be grown infinitum to make synthetic fuels - that is the future.

Electric Vehicle Batteries are not.

Synthetic fuels capture and recycle CO2. Battery production does not.

Electric Vehicle Charging Costs - Could be truly shocking in the future - here's why....

The shocking cost of future electric vehicle  charging -

That might include yours....

With electric vehicles in the UK currently zero-rated for road excise duty, governments will need to recoup lost taxation - through the electric 'fuel' is likely the big choice....

Feel the jolt in your wallet? What will future charging costs look like? 

They won't be cheap and you are likely to end up getting hit by future high costs

Currently, you may be enjoying 'acceptable level' tariffs for charging your electric vehicle that seem cheap now, but that could all be set to change.

Although you can charge a vehicle at home, or on a public charger, the actual cost can be as high as the equivalent liquid Petrol or Diesel fuel alternative to fill the fuel tank up. Surprised? 

Well, there's more to be wary of and you should heed this warning.

Electric vehicles currently enjoy zero road charge costs  - that is, unlike liquid fuelled vehicles using Petrol or Diesel in the UK, they don't get charged duty on the fuel when purchased and/or in some cases a vehicle excise duty charge when the vehicle is used on the road or if they emit over a certain CO2 level. So far so good for the EV's

Vehicle Excise duty as currently levied does not take into account your vehicle usage, it is solely based on engine size and CO2 output - EV's may in future be taxed on their motor wattage. So a 2 seater EV would be cheaper than a 4 seater EV  or SUV-EV to use.

All well and good so far.

I see the future of electric vehicles as great for city use, in short journeys and local travel under 100 miles a day. However, the great uplift in electricity capacity to feed this need for the power to motivate these vehicles will have to be met with more certainty than relying on 'green' energy - did you know that Diesel generators back up 'Green' when 'Green' fails?  Someone will have to pay for the future EV charge-related uplift and Mr or MRS EV Owner, that's going to be you.

How governments may then make you pay...

Yes, there's no such thing as a free lunch and no free rides either. It is a case of have EV now and pay later.

With a massive shortfall in taxable duty with a shift to electric vehicles, you as an EV owner will face one issue - The charging point's costs. Because that is an unavoidable point where you can be taxed.

Likely, these are already 'smart' charging units and have the capacity wired into be updatable by remote methods. Overnight, these could be reset to 'tax' the EV charge you use by any amount that those in control choose to apply. 

So, today's charge of your EV might cost you £30 to charge, tomorrow it could be £100 and there is nothing you can do about it. Except pay if you want to travel by EV.

Having ditched your fossil fuelled vehicle for a 'green' one, you might be looking a bit sour around the chops when your future electricity bill shows how much your EV charges are now costing even if you only charge at home and not out at a public charging point. 

Motorway service areas often have costlier road fuels than otherwise, on motorways, your EV is a captive audience and these establishments need to turn a profit, otherwise they go out of business. 

If you run out of charge, your EV will need a full-suspended recovery - your EV cannot be towed except perhaps only onto the recovery truck and recovery companies will soon realise this and hit you with higher recovery charges in this situation.

Rather than go down the road of unpopular road pricing, my prediction is that governments will  get their pound of flesh another way and tax you at the charging point wherever that occurs - be it at your home or at a public facility. Smart charging with Smart pricing will leave you smarting.

Once you are 'converted' to Green EV's you are a prisoner of the system.

Don't say you haven't been warned. Someone has likely already reached this same conclusion as me on how to make your EV pay like a fossil fuel car does. 

They are just playing the waiting game until there is a large enough EV ownership and no means of escape before applying these cost charges. Then see if I am right.

 

Hank Marvin at 80 - a guitarist for all seasons - one of the guitar greats and needs the recognition he truly deserves.

 

A young Hank B Marvin with his Antoria guitar 1958

One British guitarist broke onto the music scene in 1958, his playing style revolutionised British popular music and influenced guitarists across the globe for decades.

For his 80th birthday, we pay tribute to Hank B Marvin, this groundbreaking guitar player who influenced many famous players of more recent years - Mark Knopfler, Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck and Andy Summers amongst many thousands of young amateur players in bedrooms, school  playgrounds and youth clubs trying to emulate his style! 

Hank planted a seed and many followed, learning to imitate his unique style ever since.

Cliff Richard with the Fender Stratocaster 

he imported for Hank Marvin to play in 1959

The skiffle boom of the 1950's propelled many young people to play musical instruments - but by 1958, the music had changed - pushed forward by the innovators from America - Elvis, Buddy Holly, Eddie Cochrane, Gene Vincent, Jerry Lee Lewis and a handful of others who held the senior positions in the genre that was Rock n Roll.  

Hank Marvin learnt how to play their style of music, being  particularly interested in the sounds and style of Buddy Holly, Scotty Moore (Elvis Presley's guitarist) and Cliff Gallup (Lead guitar for Gene Vincent).

In 1958, Hank Marvin and Bruce Welch, 16 year old Newcastle school friends, journeyed to London to take part in a talent competition with a couple of other bandmates. Attaining third place in the contest, Hank and Bruce stayed on in London to seek their fortune and gravitated to the 2 I's coffee bar in old Compton Street, Soho where they would meet Cliff Richard and also future Shadows players Jet Harris, Tony Meehan, Brian Bennet and Licorice Locking. 

The legendary 2I's 

By chance, Hank was offered a tour with Cliff Richard and the Drifters - who had scored a No2 hit with Move it - perhaps one of the greatest British Rock N Roll songs ever written and recorded. Bringing along Bruce Welch and encountering Bassist Jet Harris on the tour, they went on to become the nucleus of Cliff's backing group.

The Drifters personnel gradually were replaced by Hank Marvin, Bruce Welch, Jet Harris and Tony Meehan over a short span of time - a group that would in early 1959 became known as the Shadows.

The early Shadows line up of 1959 - 

Hank plays the original Fiesta Red Stratocaster imported by Cliff Richard

Cliff Richard imported a Fender Stratocaster guitar for Hank Marvin from the Fender factory in California to play and Hank teamed it with a Meazzi tape echo machine and a Selmer Tru-voice amplifier (later a Vox AC15 amplifier) and the Shadows sound was created. 

As they say the rest is history. 

Hank with his 1959 guitar in 1960

Apache  - the Shadows hit single from June 1960 -

The Jerry Lordan penned hit that launched a thousand bands

Hank in 2005 with a Custom Shop Stratocaster

Hank Marvin defined a unique sound and style of playing that has kept him in the musical scene continually since 1958. His clean and pure sound pre-dated the US Surf instrumental scene and has kept him employed either in the Shadows or with his own band ever since, he sells out venues whether as part of the Shadows, with Cliff Richard and The Shadows or with his own bands even 50 + years after starting in the music business.

Yet Hank Marvin is not that well known in America, sadly if he was he would be lauded for his style - American players like Jeff Baxter (Steely Dan, The Ventures) were influenced and regard Hank as an inspirational player and Hank has a small following in America and a larger interest around the globe which is well deserved.

You can instantly recognise Hank's playing or at least his style being played by someone else. There are many great amateur players who can portray his guitar work getting the right sound and feel - perhaps this is the greatest compliment Hank could attain - in that he has helped and inspired many to play the guitar and do so for decades. I am one of those inspired by him to not only play but to own the legendary red guitar like his.

He has given many ordinary guitarists like me the example to aspire to and learn from. From the days of Apache in 1960, overnight, bands in many cases ditched their lead singer and went instrumental, trying to perfect that sound and own that Fiesta Red Stratocaster, Meazzi echo machine and Vox amplifier.

60 plus years on from Apache, we owe Hank a great thank you, as part of the Shadows and in his own right, he has given us countless musical pieces to try and play in his style and to also enjoy listening to.

There are few pop musicians with the wide catalogue of work that Hank has brought to the popular music genre, so thanks Hank, we continue to enjoy your work and look forward to your new musical releases in the future.

 

And best wishes for your 80th birthday

Has Porsche and Siemens synthetic Petrol just blown the electric battery vehicle myth out of the water ?

 

The work of Porsche and Siemens looked to have paid off -

 Is the writing now on the wall for the Electric vehicle?

Breaking news - Porsche and Siemens now have seemingly cracked the synthetic Petrol alternative and are about to set up a reining plant for their new synthetic fuels so is this development going to kill off the battery powered vehicle offerings?

Also, Pay Per Mile driving on Electric cars will come in and no one knows how much per mile will be taken from Drivers - as governments seek to recoup the 80% fuel duty money lost on Petrol and Diesel sales. Will the electric car drivers look so smug then? Driving could really cost them.

The recent introduction of the 'not very Green' E10 Ethanol blended Petrol is somewhat farcical - that is this fuel generates a carbon footprint, it needs more fuel to do the job of what it replaced, it damages some vehicle fuel systems and has a limited shelf life and will need disposal when it goes stale (which is quite quickly) a fact that has not been thought out - and that is just for starters.

The 'race to the bottom' of car makers to pander to the Eco warriors and their plan to rid us of internal combustion engines when they are at the most efficient they have ever been, is frankly crazy. Then to rape the planet of rare earth, finite materials to fulfil their warped battery car ideology? You couldn't make it up.

We are being asked to as an alternative to old Dinosaur derived fuels to rip up the Earth they care so much about to extract a finite palate of minerals to satisfy these smug individuals and their egos. F*ck the planet, in this case - so long as it puffs up the egos of the smug lefties. Oh and what about the child labour used to mine the Cobalt for electric car batteries?

Where is the extra electricity to come from to power these battery devices? Good question. The power we get at the end of power lines these days is noticeably down - domestic cooking shows that.

Fuel Stations run on low margins of profit from Petrol and Diesel sales - it is just that these stations sell a lot of fuel which keeps them in business. Have a car sitting on a charger for 2 hours and you could have sold a lot of liquid fuel in that time. Simple. As the Meerkat says. This means we could see many petrol stations close on profit grounds.

This new fuel

The Porsche Siemens fuel is derived from Methanol and if this can run satisfactorily in a Porsche then hopefully it will be safe in other cars including classic cars which are at risk from this awful E10 compound and shelf serving green lobby. The stupid argument about banning the sale of internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles is because they use fossil fuels. 

If you fuel these same vehicles with Porsche's fuel, it is still going to produce some CO2, but the difference is that the fuel isn't made from old Dinosaurs extracted from the ground - that seems to be the big bugbear for the Eco Warriors. 

These smug self-serving Eco Warriors have not yet realised that China now has control over the majority of the minerals on this planet needed to make the green revolution happen - which have to come out of the ground and it is free to charge what it likes when the stupid idiots have taken the viable alternative away -  that is stopped the production and sale of ICE cars. So why don't these green guardians not take their climate protests to China? That;s were the real problems are.

We have alternatives to help reduce emissions - firstly to commute less and work remotely more at home and other sites if that suits people, secondly to cull most luxury tourist aviation. We have had free energy available since 1954 but because we are an oil based world, it has been supressed.

An airline taking off and attaining altitude expels in that few minutes the same volume of CO2 that a family car does in 10 years of average mileage - around 70,000 miles of driving. Multiply the Heathrow daily output of aircraft movements by that metric and that is a lot of the world we could help to save by not flying most 'luxury' airline routes.

The bottom  line in reality is we have to reduce the world population because we are running out of world. Shortages projected in the 1980's to impact 'anytime now' are now starting to bite, as our population has doubled in size since 1965.

The electric vehicle scenario brings a ton of problems that could be avoided. People are jumping on this trendy bandwagon which is a race to the bottom and the wheel might well come off it. There are a lot of unknowns about the future of battery vehicles which are in their infancy and may not deliver what is expected, then what?

Synthetic fuels are the future and fuels like E10 are not. Electric is not the future either as 1 in 5 Californians are rejecting electric cars and going back to gasoline powered cars as the electric cars don't have the range and take too long to charge.

You have to ask yourself who is getting rich by al this stuff? They say follow the money and that's where you need to look to see where the vested interests reside. 

 

E10 Ethanol Petrol and Classic Cars and Lawnmowers

Ethanol E5 & E10 Petrol is NOT a 'Green' fuel solution -

Here is a guide to how you can safely use E10 in classic cars and lawnmowers

plus some additives and alternatives to this fuel that you can use.

Many 'fact's and statements have come out explaining this new fuel but there have been many contradictions in the published information and ambiguities between articles that are confusing people.

E10 has been touted as 'the equivalent of taking 350,000 vehicles per year off the roads' - however and interestingly in comparison, illegally introduced Wild Boar released through 're-wilding' actually generate the same CO2 released by 1 million cars as they root around in the ground, releasing trapped CO2.

An airline interestingly produces in the ten minutes from take off to altitude the same CO2 output as an average family car's 10 years motoring - equivalent to 75,000 miles approximately.

What are E5 & E10 Petrol fuels:

Ok, here is a brie overview:

E5 and E10 Petrol contains added Ethanol at 5 or 10% of the content. The Ethanol is mostly derived from Sugar Beet  which has been distilled to produce the alcohol (Ethanol). 

Wood can be used to extract Alcohol from but it is more costly to do so. Also, Beet may be grown in poorer countries where forest may be cleared, causing food poverty and environmental damage and a big transport footprint.

This Ethanol produces its own Carbon footprint and is not really 'Green' at all - the fuel is also less volatile meaning you need to burn more to get the same performance as unleaded fuel.

Also the E10 has a shelf life of around 30 days in some cases unless treated with an additive or metal fuel tank pellet to stop its volatility degrading.

Thus disposal of unviable E10 fuel will be very wasteful and a hazardous issue for the future and local authorities are not geared up for the volumes that will be generated. Do not dispose of it on bonfires! This is highly dangerous.

Where the damage occurs to your car or garden machinery:

In storage and in your metal fuel tank, water condensation forms which runs down into the Petrol. Normally in the old unleaded Petrol this only contributes to rusting the tank from the inside. 

Petrol is quite abrasive and once the interior finish coating of a fuel tank has been eroded by the fuel constantly washing over it, (steel fuel tanks have either a paint or a plated fuel tank coating) the water falls to the bottom of the tank as the fuel sits on top of it and the rusting starts when the metal is exposed with the motion of the fuel as the car is driven causing erosion of the metal too. 

Petrol also seeps and 'searches' into the crystalline structure of the bare steel which can cause danger when you have to repair a fuel tank, as the Petrol is contained inside the 'fibre' of the steel.

E10 can also damage and cause failure of some plastic and fibreglass fuel tanks.

With E5 and mainly E10, the condensation water occurring in the fuel tank in say a cold garage overnight mixes with the Ethanol alcohol in the Petrol blend.

This then starts a bacterial growth, causing a sludge to form which releases a corrosive acid into the Petrol. 

This acid then attacks the metal and plastic fuel system parts.The sludge also blocks fuel system parts eventually if not removed. You can stop this sludge forming with a few simple measures outlined below.

For classic vehicles the acid being present will cause some non-metal fuel lines to fail and will also do serious damage to fuel system parts leading to fires in some cases. Replace old plastic or rubber fuel lines with E10 proof lines.

If you have an older pre-2005 Petrol engined car that cannot use out of the pump E10 then use a fuel additive when you fill up that can neutralise the corrosive effects of the fuel.

If you do have to fill with E10, then add E5 Petrol at your earliest convenience and ensure that you use up the E10 in your tank within 2 weeks, for best fuel system protection. It is also advisable to use a fuel treatment additive. This often negates the Ethanol issues. Some metal alloy fuel pellets you can put into your tank also protect against the formation of the acid.

How do I get around these problems?

There are some easy steps - 

1. Use E5 Petrol where possible, with the addition of a fuel additive to neutralise the Ethanol content.

2. Remove the Ethanol yourself which is fairly easy to do and then add an Octane Booster additive to the remainder of the fuel.(see method below*)

3. Use a synthetic Petrol which does not contain Ethanol. These are limited on the market at present. One brand is Aspen Fuel. 

Currently Aspen synthetic fuel is intended for Garden Machinery and excise duty is possibly not applied for road use in motor vehicles so you could be fined for using it on the road -  

Aspen does cost more than E5 or E10 by about 4 times. If other synthetic fuels are produced for commercial sale for road use then they will likely include excise duty and be of a comparable price to E5 & E10. 

4. Put a special metal alloy fuel Pellet into the petrol tank which neutralises the effects of the Ethanol and ensures the fuel remains stable to use for years rather than 30 days of untreated fuels.

These measures of E5 and E10 Petrol damage apply to Garden Machinery and Lawnmowers too.

Aspen Petrol Fuels have a 5 year shelf life - you can leave it in your fuel tank 5 years and it will still function normally.

An additive called 'Fuel Fit' made for Briggs and Stratton also counteracts the Ethanol Petrol issues and keeps fuel in a tank or can usable for 3 years. This is designed for Petrol engined garden machinery products.

This additive should be permissible for use in motor vehicles (although other specific additives will do the same job) and is currently about 52 pence a shot. The bottle includes an internal dispenser chamber so you can measure out a shot per the dilution ratio of Petrol. The bottle contains about 5-10 shots worth and works with 4 stroke and pre-mixed 2 stroke fuels alike.

E10 Petrol fails by:

Damaging fuel system parts and can cause fuel line failure

Blocking the fuel system due to biological sludge creation from the water and Ethanol as the water combines with the bio components of the refined sugar Beet present in the Ethanol.

Needing more fuel to generate the same engine performance as enjoyed previously

E10 has as little as a 30 day shelf life meaning that at the end of a gardening season the UK will perhaps have to dispose of millions of litres of untreated, failed and unused E10 petrol that is no longer viable, in Council Refuse sites which are not geared up to handle this problem. A situation which could have been easily avoided by staying with E5 Petrol.

E10 mixing with water causes acids to form which harms and causes to fail fuel system parts metal, plastic and rubber. The acid corrode metal parts too.

*Removing the Ethanol yourself. - Do this at your own risk but it works.

Fill a proper fuel container with 'out of the pump' E10 Petrol at the garage. At home, transfer 10 litres of your E10 to a fuel proof large plastic container which has a tap.

Mix up 1 litre of water and add some blue food colouring. Mix thoroughly. Add this to your E10 Petrol in the plastic container and shake well to mix. 

Leave to stand and settle overnight.

The next morning you will see a blue water layer in your barrel - drain all of this off. This blue mixture now contains water and the Ethanol from your Petrol that the Ethanol has bonded to as the Ethanol is hygroscopic (the Ethanol combines with the water readily as happens with DOT hydraulic brake fluid).

Once you drained off the blue dyed water / Ethanol mix you can add the remainder of the E10 fuel now less Ethanol to your tank and then add some Octane Booster to restore the performance to help ensure the usable shelf life of the fuel is improved beyond the 30 days of untreated fuel.

The fuel should now be safe to use and last more than 30 days shelf life of untreated E10.

If you have a lead-alloy fuel pellet or tank unit with a lead-alloy set of fuel pellets then you should not need add a fuel octane booster, depending on the alloy composition type - see your maker's instructions for the unit. Some of these units can also counteract the E10 fuel issues of bacterial sludge and acid formation fro starting.

E5 we were told would remain on sale for the foreseeable future, one source stated it would be off the market after 5 years. E10 may be gone by 2050 if the government pursues its policy of removing fossil fuels from sale. It could allow synthetic fuel use. 

However, we use oil to make plastics and Fuels are a bi-product of the oil refinement process and will need to be used as the issues of storage are dangerous in large volumes.

The classic vehicle movement is worth £17 billion a year to the UK economy. It also provides a skills base that will be lost if the movement becomes a 'museum only' exhibit.

The real problem with 'climate change' is China and unless that nation modifies its reduction of CO2 output quicker, then we are frankly wasting our time as a less than 1% contributor.

As a result of the 'race to the bottom' in embracing electric cars before they are viable, we risk losing Fuelled vehicles which are becoming more efficient year on year and certainly are more cleaner at the exhaust than they were say 30 years ago.

 

Is COP26 a Cop out? - Why not do this meeting by Zoom conferencing? Here's how we can actually fix the Climate...

 

COP26 - Good Cop or Cop out?

We already have the tools to fix the problem...

The bottom line is that unless China actively takes measures to reduce emissions now then the COP26 is just going to be a talking shop and we might as well not bother.

Are we facing an artificially created 'Climate Crisis'? Can we fix it? Yes we can...

The solution is that humans abandon their individualistic, nationalistic policies and start to work together as a collective species, putting aside religious beliefs and politics and strive for a common good. That's the theory. It could be achievable if the will was there.

But, here's what needs fixing...

Weather has been able to be manipulated for decades by humans which is a fact. 'Cloud seeding' to create rain in Deserts is nothing new. 

Satellites can be used to start fires at ground level by use of lasers, as has happened in California - where fire investigations show houses burned but not the forest around in many cases. Satellites can possibly manipulate the weather too from above.

HAARP Weather control, in use for decades can also influence weather, so can keeping weather patterns localised and ramped up, to create localised hot, cold or wet conditions, thus 'creating' a climate problem. As in Greece recently.

The 'climate change solutions' on offer being promoted in the media to fix that but, someone is making a profit from that or have you not worked that out? Is it a simple case of 'create a problem, show you have a solution and divert attention from what is really going on behind the scenes'?

When the wind turbines don't work and its too dark or cloudy of Solar, Diesel generation is used to supply power as an adjunct to Nuclear. Did you know that?

The gulf stream affects weather - the holes in the earth plates allow heat from the earth's core to escape and heat the ocean able, causing bands of warmer water, this makes the weather change and move as the plates of the Earth close over and new places emerge allowing the warmth to escape. This is natural climate change.

The Earth is subject to the Sun. In AD0001, the Romans were able to grow grapes in Britain, it was warmer then than now and didn't have the fossil fuel burning we do with a 60+ million population. In the 1500's Grapes could be grown at Hampton Court Palace. It was again, warmer than now. The ice caps are artificial, as the fossil data will show you when the ground is uncovered. 

Boris Johnson, the great history buff allegedly likened climate change to the fall of the Roman Empire. The empire fell through internecine warfare and a collapse in society not because of a few degrees of warming. Quite the opposite, when the cold came to Britain, the Romans left.

Clean and free energy has been available to humans since 1954

Yes we have had access to this since 1954 ask Dr Stephen Greer. We are kept into being an oil based commercial economy and to give away 'free' energy means you can't tax it or make money selling it. 

But we would all benefit from this clean, free energy which exists and is being suppressed for the above reasons. Greed.

COVID19 and travel - the Zoom phenomenon

Covid19 has been a welcome game changer in some ways, we can now work from home in some cases blowing that myth out of the water that this was not possible (prior to Covid 19), which saves us travel costs, travel emissions, not having to associate with people we would rather not and being work better and more productively. We don't waste time travelling either. Or pollute.

So why not conduct COP26 by Zoom? 

A big question and I am not really buying 'the need for face to face contact' argument, surely one to one appointments can be sought delegate to delegate by Zoom? 

Or is that too simple? Lead by example, not dictate and do the opposite.

EV's - Battery Electric vehicles - are they a big swindle?

You might feel 'pious in your Prius' as you drive, but the real costs of Green motoring are literally costing the Earth's finite resources.

A Battery powered vehicle costs half as much again as a petrol or diesel vehicle to buy. With the right spares backup, the liquid fuelled vehicle could last 40 years. The battery one 7 years, before its battery needs replacing and the car is likely scrap as the battery cannot be replaced in the car without pulling the structure apart. So, you balance the damage done by making 6 battery cars to equal the life of 1 fuelled car. Do the math. 'Green' doesn't add up here.

But, the charging of the electric cars is the next issue, besides the lack of points that are available or work, is the cost of charging. Some tariffs can cost you the same to charge your battery giving you 200 miles of range if you are lucky, as a tank of petrol or diesel taking you 400 miles. 

The real cost of charging, once there is a sizeable volume of electric road vehicles will hit hard because there is nothing stopping the battery chargers being changed to charge your wallet more to charge your battery. You will not be in control of the charging prices for what electricity you receive. Vehicle excise duty lost to your 'Green' car will be recouped by road pricing and through the charger. You will likely not have any option than to pay up or peter out.

China now holds control over much of the manufacturing and mineral resources concerned with motor vehicle battery production. What is to stop them raising the price a they see fit to whatever level they choose once the fossil fuelled cars are not on sale? Bet they didn't think that one through.

We could switch to synthetic petrol and diesel fuels which ARE carbon neutral. The folly of going down the battery vehicle route will soon become apparent. It grabs headlines and in time hit you in your wallet like an electric version of Dick Turpin. Highway Robbery for the 22nd century.

We can make synthetic fuels from Algae, we cannot make new Cobalt, Lithium or other rare earth metals and elements used in electric car batteries. If we can't recycle these car batteries we will have created yet another fiasco like the Fridge Henge. Why cannot people see through these simple things?

Liquid fuelled motor vehicles using petrol or diesel are the cleanest they have ever been and will get cleaner almost producing no emissions. This is the future. Battery may work in cities, it is not the answer for our needs.

The UK issue of emissions

The UK produces less than 1% of global emissions, China 25%. The place to reduce emissions is obvious. Recently a coal mine project in Britain was halted, it was to produce Coke for Steel making - British steel used by Volkswagen for instance, due to its quality, is well regarded. The mine isn't going ahead I believe, thanks to 'Green' pressure here.

So that means the jobs and the production will go to China which opens 1 coal fired power station a week and uses Coal in their Steel production. An industry which overproduces and 'dumps' cheap steel on the market.

Our British furnace might have been partly powered by renewables or nuclear which would be less damaging to heat up. Go figure. The UK Coal use would be minimal compared to China.

The UK has reduced CO2 output by over 40% it is now time others did the same before the UK is forced down  by using hobbling measures whilst other major nations pollute and do little or nothing. The UK is just looking stupid by trying to set some mythical example it has no real hope of achieving because of costs for one reason.

Burning Wet wood is banned on domestic Wood burning stoves. Yet, a power station can burn wood chips which are wet and this is 'Green' despite as a result producing enormous amounts of CO2 - likely more than efficiently burnt coal would produce. 

Plus these wood chips are from American forests being felled to feed this situation. Add in the shipping from the USA and the Green dividend looks questionable. Who thought this was a great idea? Dunces cap awaits... You could not make this up.

British manufacturing 

Covid has ramped up transport costs especially from China and this means that Britain is now viable in some situations as a manufacturing base again. But we are hobbling ourselves by introducing stringent carbon neutral and net Zero carbon policies foisted on us by eco zealots whilst China still creates large global emissions unchecked. 

Promises from China of mending their ways need to be put in place now not some arbitrary future date.

We cannot have 'real carbon neutrality' - we all breathe out CO2 for a start. Go figure. 

We live in a commercial world, we consume, we have done since the time of the Atlanteans.

At the time of the Dinosaurs the climate was far warmer than today so that the large dinosaurs could exist and the proportion of CO2 the atmosphere contained was far greater than today - the fossil record of plants shows that too. 

In year zero a millennium ago Grapes were grown in Britain as they were in the 1500's - if it was that warm then, it was warmer than the '1.5 degrees catastrophe' that people say will cause problems. Its called science. The sun dictates how warm this planet is. 

Heathrow airport expansion

Do we need this? Of the Heathrow airport expansion - 'Good for business' Mrs May said - but not good for the environment. Covid has knocked a lot of air travel on the head. Most of it was a luxury and not necessary. Our environment has benefitted from less air travel. We can keep that dividend.

E10 Ethanol Petrol - Dump this 'not Green' fuel for Synthetic fuels - these are not the future.

A big con - E10 Petrol is not green at all. 

E10 is less volatile than the old unleaded petrol meaning you need to use more fuel to gain the same performance how can this be 'Green'? The Ethanol in E10 combines with water to damage fuel system parts in some engines. It is worse performing for your engine than E5 by a long while. we proved that in an old car from 1930.

The Ethanol in the E5 and E10 is derived from Sugar Beet cultivation, which makes its own CO2 problems and denying sugar  and food growing land to local populations, potentially creating local food poverty problems too. 

Factor in clearing CO2 absorbing trees for growing this Beet and it just looks like more lunacy on a plate. It will be like Palm Oil all over again, clearing fertile ground, often forested areas to make a product that is not needed.

Creating a big carbon footprint of making the Ethanol and delivering it too is lunacy.

Untreated (with enhancing additives) E10 fuel older than 30 days will need to be disposed of as its usable volatility diminishes, so do councils have the facilities at their waste management plants to collect and store this hazardous fuel in great quantities? Treated with additives, E10 fuel can last 3 years plus and remain usable.

Millions of litres of untreated fuel as a consequence, are likely to be ending up being wasted each year from surplus unused fuel purchased for use in garden machinery alone. A percentage of all the Fuel having to be delivered to petrol stations may have to as a consequence, be 'dumped'. This is hardly green. This is stupidity on a grand scale.

Wild Boar introduced illegally as 're-wilding' measures in the 1980s create the same amount of CO2 that 1 million cars do, as their foraging releases CO2 stored in the earth. 

Rather than the 350,000 cars worth of emissions reduction the RAC claims E10 fuel introduction will make (a figure which I am personally not buying), why not get rid of the Wild Boars, a much bigger problem? Do the math, 350,000 against 1,000,000. And the E10 fuel that will need disposal. 

We are no longer in the EU, let us dump E10 and go back to E5 a better fuel that causes less problems and is more Green and more efficient. A compromise but worth it. On this note, petrol and diesel engines burn more cleanly than ever. They can only improve but not by E10 and Adblue which drastically reduces Diesel vehicle economy.

China and production

China has become the big manufacturing base of the world, it has become a commercial consumer society itself and raised the standard of living of their citizens in recent decades. 

But it also makes a lot of crap we consume and don't need to consume, because our markets create artificial demand for this stuff as part of our 'consumer society'.

We can do without the single use plastic stuff produced for 'Secret Santa' and 'Halloween' events, which are just commercial opportunities. This is the stuff that gets sent to landfill sometimes unused. Why the hell are we doing this? 

Developing countries

Countries that are not currently at 'western' levels of development - should these be encouraged not to develop and given aid not to advance? Can the world's resources cater for their new needs and materials demands if they advance? Do they need to develop?

Since 1970 our world population has almost doubled. That's part of the problem.

As a planet run along commercial lines, unless we find ways of doing that in a better way, we will not make any progress towards the ideals that this sort of conference aims to employ.

We will also run out of resources. Like the elements needed for batteries, whilst Algae we can use to make synthetic fuels is infinite. Go figure.