Comments on: John Gillman’s Bus Ticket Collection

By: Bus booking

Bus booking — Sat, 23 Oct 2021 11:46:08 +0000

By: roger rix

roger rix — Thu, 29 Apr 2021 11:32:59 +0000

Sometime in the mid sixties two companions and I boarded a Green Bus at Welwyn Garden City about 8 am. We then travelled via Harlow, then South of the Thames and skirted South London to Woking and then finally back Northwards to finish at Welwyn Garden City at about 8 pm. We had successfully circumnavigated London on a 5 shilling Green Rover ticket.

By: Michelle

Michelle — Mon, 15 Feb 2021 17:24:17 +0000

Coming to this late, reading posts saved. I love this collection and the meticulous attention to detail in keeping these records. I’m so glad it gets a place in the Bishopsgate Institute.

The handwriting is precisely the type I learned in the 1970s in the UK and the pattern with which John decorated the cover of his book was one we had to practice daily in the classroom. I still enjoy doing those lacy loops to this day. Thank you for sharing this, GA.

By: nick

nick — Wed, 18 Nov 2020 17:16:40 +0000

Get a life – start doing jigsaw puzzles or something

By: Diane DOBLE LEEMANS

Diane DOBLE LEEMANS — Wed, 18 Nov 2020 01:06:43 +0000

Fantastic article. Reminded me of using London Transport as a child when my sister and I collected the tickets and made colourful concertinas from them. We also spent many weekends and holidays with our parents taking the red buses and the Green Lines to full advantage of their 1400 miles potential. Our parents bought tickets ( Red Rovers and Green Rovers) for 2/6 and 5/ and would travel to a place for a long walk, then take another bus to see a museum, or down to Westerham to see the statue of General Wolfe. Then take more buses to bring us home. We also took our I-Spy books from the News Chronicle to note down and tick off many things like street signs, statues, manhole covers, and so forth. It made us super observant! Happy days for families who did not need or could not contemplate owning, or using a car.

By: Pamela Traves

Pamela Traves — Wed, 18 Nov 2020 00:36:18 +0000

What a Great Collection of John Gillman’s Bus Tickets was Wonderful!! I Love it Very Much!!????????

By: SJ Kurtz

SJ Kurtz — Wed, 18 Nov 2020 00:16:02 +0000

My jaw is on the floor and my heart is in my throat. This is absolutely splendid. My alpha/color organized collection of bus transfers is jealous of his attention to detail.

I am in awe. Marvelous.

By: Stephen Barry

Stephen Barry — Tue, 17 Nov 2020 17:00:15 +0000

A wonderful treasure trove. I must be around the same age as John because in the 1950s I also collected bus tickets, as well as bus and trolleybus numbers. The highlight of my week was sneaking into bus garages, sometimes with the agreement of staff, and emptying the used ticket bins. One foggy day in the East End, at Bow garage I think, I came across about six pre-war double-deckers covered in dust and found lots of really old tickets. Such innocent pleasures! Now I’m in my 70s and retired, I’m reliving my youth by volunteering at the London Bus Museum in Covent Garden (sadly shut at present) and boring the grandchildren about my exploits in the 1950s. As people have said, the Red Rover(at 2/6p) was wonderful and taught me so much about history of London. Best wishes to John.

By: Marcia Howard

Marcia Howard — Tue, 17 Nov 2020 16:40:24 +0000

My second eldest brother (I’m the youngest of 5 siblings) also used to collect bus tickets, although 10 years before in the very early 1950s. He had an excellent collection of different coloured ones, each colour denoting a certain fare paid. These all sat in a wooden spring rack held by the conductor on the bus, who clipped the ticket you needed for your fare. One day, my brother foolishly took his collection to Westminster City Grammar School which he attended, and his precious collection had mysteriously disappeared before that same day was out! He never did get it back.
What lovely neat writing John Gillman had, and I noticed by the name Winfield that his exercise hat been purchased from Woolworth’s – another piece of history!

By: DAVID LAWSON

DAVID LAWSON — Tue, 17 Nov 2020 15:37:51 +0000

And I thought I was a nerd! Seriously though that is brilliant. John wasn’t alone in pastimes like this. Many collected Engine numbers and I recall writing down car registration numbers at one time which does seem to have been a particularly fruitless occupation especially compared to John’s endeavours. I am however delighted to see the reference to the adding the digits to try make twenty one which I remember well though I must admit I had forgotten where that was supposed to lead.