Comments on: From Old Bedlam To Liverpool St

By: Ian Silverton

Ian Silverton — Wed, 21 Aug 2019 02:13:24 +0000

So sad a storey really got to me about there sad journey and there arrival at Liverpool Street Station , well done London Cabbies, the thing I noticed about the children was how well fed and well clothed they all looked, unlike many poor London Children of that time. Liked Roger Carr storey of Jan the Welsh/German Guy bet he could tell us something about the Horrors those children went through back then. Learnt something today that I never new, and I past Liverpool Street ever day as a school boy back in the 50s also going there train spotting never new, how sad is that.

By: Roger Carr

Roger Carr — Sun, 11 Sep 2016 02:11:13 +0000

In 1960, we moved from Liverpool to Stevenage, Herts. My father, rather surely at best, made friends with a young, handsome, Welshman who lived a few houses up. They washed their cars, shared a lawn mower, smoked pipes and went for a pint together. The Welshman talked endlessly about Wales, his childhood in Wales, his family there, and his many trips home each holiday, with his wife and kids, so that he wouldn’t loose his Welsh language. The only incongruity was that his name was Jan – not Ivan, or David. It turned out that Jan was a kindertransport kid from Hungary, via Austria, to Liverpool Street Station, fostered to an Eastend Jewish family, and then evacuated to rural Wales and a hill farming family who spoke Welsh as their first language. He chose to stay on in Wales after the war. I don’t think he ever talked about his family in Europe. My father didn’t talk about the war either.

By: Caroline Bottomley

Caroline Bottomley — Wed, 07 Sep 2016 07:54:12 +0000

Can’t help with the story, but again, loved reading about it.
So sad.

By: Annie G

Annie G — Wed, 07 Sep 2016 07:33:04 +0000

Fascinating. I have always rather liked Liverpool St station, even back in the 70s when I passed through it regularly from tube to bus, en route to St Leonards Hospital. Back then, it was dark and rather mysterious, all those strange, high walkways. Now it looks much cheerier and more welcoming. I had never heard that story before, nor noticed the statues.

By: John Barrett

John Barrett — Wed, 07 Sep 2016 06:52:54 +0000

The taxi drivers mentioned here were so kind in looking after the young Jewish Kindertransport refugees in 1939. Its still remembered today, as shown in the Imperial War Museum. My heroine is the young Anne Frank she did not escape to England about this time. She was ‘holed up’ in a flat in Amsterdam she died in in a concentration camp in 1945. *Just read her poem’s. on the web. John B

By: Valerie-Jael

Valerie-Jael — Wed, 07 Sep 2016 05:11:36 +0000

Very interesting report today. Two of the old people at the Old People’s home I worked at here in Germany told me about their lives in England after the ‘kindertransporte’, and one lady said they were saved by cabbies – perhaps that is the incident she was telling about. Valerie

By: Joan

Joan — Tue, 06 Sep 2016 23:29:34 +0000

A wonderful tale about the Jewish refugee children. But please do not be too.harsh about the fact the City of Liverpool gives its name to a London station. You cannot catch a bus from Warwick Avenue to Warwick Castle. I grew up in a street called Raphael but I am neither an angel or an artist. Enjoying these posts though. Hopefully when thr digging is done, Crossrail will be a boon. Though I hate the fact Tottenham Court Rd doesn’t lead right on to Charing Cross Road anymore.