Lew Tassell At The Queen’s Silver Jubilee
Another time-travelling adventure escorted by our old friend Detective Constable Lew Tassell of the Fraud Squad, thanks to his personal photographs published here for the first time
“As I recall, the day was dull and overcast but this did not stop crowds coming out to line the route from Buckingham Palace to St Paul’s Cathedral. As you can see from my pictures, I was situated on the south side of Fleet St at the western end. The dull weather did not help me at all, taking pictures with a manual camera and lens, especially as I used an Agfa transparency film which was very “slow.” Consequently some of my photographs are not as sharp as they might be, particularly Earl Mountbatten with Princess Margaret. The date was 7th June 1977. I was a Detective Constable during the summer of the celebrations, attending a course at the Detective Training School at Peel House in Hendon. Before going to Hendon, I spent a lot of time doing preparatory security work along the route of the procession and returned to the City for the big day.” – Lew Tassell
Spot the boys in flares sitting on the canopy
Earl Mountbatten & Princess Margaret
The Queen & Prince Philip
Detective Constable Lew Tassell of the Fraud Squad, 1977
Photographs copyright © Lew Tassell
You may also like to take a look at
On Night Patrol With Lew Tassell
On Top Of Britannic House With Lew Tassell
These pictures conjure up very different memories for me — it was the dawning of punk rock, and Vivienne Westwood and McLaren — I am not talking of the later touristy and dumb Mohican version of punk — I mean the original stirrings, which took inspiration from The Situationists, Blake, Shelley, Proudhon, Durrutti, Dickensian London, and 18th and 19th century sedition, all of which gave us a very different prism on the English monarchy.
Wordsworth was prescient : “Bliss it was in that dawn to be alive. But to be young was very heaven.”
Brilliant photos!
Wonderful photos! Valerie
Wonderful pictures. Thanks for sharing!
These photos are first class. Imagine if we wanted to show anyone from abroad who has never ever seen England, and never seen the pageantry? These photos alone would give such an excellent impression.
Yesterday l travelled along Fleet Street on the bus in the rain marvelling with the conductor that thankfully the buildings and therefore its atmosphere has not changed too much since my 20s meeting in;n the old taverns and on this happy Jubilee Day which l attended with my college crowd.
My vivid memory is the relaxed smiling Queen in a floaty dress & coat in sugar pink. The most modern l had ever seen her wear. The matching pink hat was unique and fascinating with its small loose pink flower bells dangling to one side. She had never worn a hat shape which so suited her as her 1977 Jubilee cloche, in my humble opinion.
The other vivid memory these photos invoked is our fantastic night picnicking (in our flares + platforms) in St James’ with thousands of others – all waiting for the fireworks.
l cannot recall the actual fireworks but l can recall the excitement l felt to be out late at night so relaxed in the heart of our capital with my best chums in huge crowds, with absolutely no fear.
l can feel it now looking at these stunning images.
And sitting under those suspected lime trees began a sudden epidemic of coughing, sneezing and wheezing. None of those spluttering, may have realised to this day, what had triggered the mass allergic reaction.
As a keen dressmaker and costume maker, my highlight may have been the Queen’s pink attire in the Gold Coach and my memorable lowlight was my very first episode of hayfever.
Thank you TGA and Lew once more for stirring happy memories of togetherness and of the “bestist” ever years of my life.
Great photos. When did Robert Dyas start up?
Richard, I checked that out – I was amazed to find that Robert Dyas was founded in 1872!