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| KIDS' QUIZ IS HISTORY A MYSTERY TO YOU? Legoland Windsor recently carried out a history survey of 8 -to-16 year olds and were stunned to discover that although more than seven out of 10 of the youngsters said they enjoy history. More than two thirds considered themselves to be good at the subject. most could not answer basic history questions regarding the Romans, the Pyramids, King Henry VIII, the Gunpowder Plot or even the Battle of Hastings.. The reality is that many schoolchildren are so uninformed about their British History that some think that Guy Fawkes plotted to blow up the O2 arena ( the old Millenium Dome near Canary Wharf). We can't believe that with the Internet and all the books and information available that our children can be so ignorant so we're running a History campaign (no adult help allowed)..we here at Leyton Life have decided to ask the same questions below. please email us the answers and there will be a prize for the child aged 8 to 16 who gets the most right....(no adult help allowed) |   | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Black History Month Quiz
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Test your Knowledge of History1. Who built the pyramids in Egypt? The Ancient Greeks - The Romans - The Egyptians - The Vikings2. How many wives did Henry VIII have? 1,3, 4, 6, 8 3. Who of the following were wives of Henry VIII? Tick all you think are right - Catherine of Aragon, Elizabeth I, Jane Seymour, Catherine Parr, Queen Victoria, Anne Boleyn, Mary Queen of Scots 4. Where did the Romans come from? Ireland - Italy - Africa - Spain 5. Where did the Vikings come from? Scandinavia - America - Spain - Africa - France 6. When was the Battle of Hastings? 1066 - 1599 - 1667 - 1999 7. What were the two main countries involved in World War II? Spain - Germany - Great Britain - Africa 8. What country did Christopher Columbus discover? Australia - Africa - America - Antarctica 9. When was the Great Fire of London? 1485-1666-1865-1966 10. What did Guy Fawkes try to blow up in the gunpowder plot? Buckingham Palace - The Houses of Parliament - The Millennium Dome - The Tower of London |  | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Attractions and Museums Looks at 19th and early 20th century washing, ironing, cooking and serving utensils. Looks at toys that were played with or manufactured in Waltham Forest during the 19th and 20th centuries. Uses part of the collection to reconstruct a typical local parlour from about 1890. Looks at local companies and industries that have left their mark on the borough during the 19th and 20th centuries. Contains examples of clothing from the 18th to 20th centuries. Vestry House was once used as a police station, and one of the original cells still remains. A scene from 1861 has been recreated - a local labourer is arrested for being drunk and disorderly. | History And Heritage Meanwhile here's some history about Leyton, Leytonstone, Wanstead and Walthamstow Leytonstone The name "Leytonstone" is derived from "Leyton-atte-Stone", the stone in question being a Roman military marker now commonly known as the "High Stone". This can still be seen today at the junction of Holly Bush Hill and New Wanstead Road. The stone was moved from it's original position when the A12 road extension was built at the tail end of the 1990's. Until the latter part of the 19th century, Leytonstone was a beautiful, sleeply hamlet. However, the arrival of the railway brought with it a massive population explosion and Leytonstone very quickly grew. Many of the Victorian houses built then are still home to Leytonstone's residents today, particularly in the Upper Leytonstone and Bushwood areas. Wanstead The name "Wanstead" appears in the Domesday Book (1086), however settlements have existed there from at least Roman times (excavations in Wanstead Park during the 18th century revealed extensive remains of a Roman villa). Many large houses were built in and around Wanstead, particularly during the 18th century. None were grander than Wanstead House, "an English Versailles" which was tragically demolished in 1824. Walthamstow The historic centre of Walthamstow is Walthamstow Village, located around the medieval St.Mary’s Parish church (pictured left) where the Morris family worshipped and where William was baptised. Nearby are the Tudor timber-framed Ancient House and Vestry House Museum, housing Waltham Forest’s local history collections. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
MEMORIES OF WORLD WAR II: EVACUATION FROM LEYTON
Contributed by Bournemouth Libraries People in story: Mr. John Earthy Location of story: Leyton, East London and Wales Background to story: Civilian Article ID: A3061405 Contributed on: 28 September 2004 Residing in Leyton, East London, I was evacuated as a boy of ten at the end of 1939. My parents were divorced and I was living with my mother, brother and grandmother. My brother stayed with my father in Newbury, which was considered safe. The rest of us went down to a farm in Wales for a year. On the farm I would go around and collect eggs for the farmer; he had chickens running free all over the place. He would pay me a few pence for doing this. What I didn't like was when he used to slaughter pigs in the shed. As nothing seemed to be happening in London at that time, it was decided that we would return home. Soon after we got back, the bombing started. We had two shelters; a Morrison, which was at the bottom of the garden, was where we stayed overnight. There was also an Anderson shelter, which was really just a reinforced table with a steel top, inside the house. Anybody indoors would sleep beneath it. Both shelters were named after cabinet ministers. The Morrison, being undergound, was much the safer. We used to sleep in the Morrison shelter night after night. There were bunks; one on top, one underneath and one on the floor. We would take food and drink with us. I can remember looking out and seeing barrage balloons in the sky which weren't very effective. Planes would try to shoot them down and they would have to be replaced. I would get sick of the shelter and smuggle myself back to the house. My mother would come and fetch me and bring me back down again. There were Air Raid Patrol wardens. They would make sure people were off the streets when an air raid was due. They would come banging on your door if there was a chink of light showing through the blackout curtains. The air raid sirens had two different sounds. The all clear was a constant noise but when there was a raid it was a wind up sound. If this happened at school, we were sent to the school shelter and lessons carried on as usual. Nearby was the Essesx County Cricket ground. They had a couple of bombs fall on them. Although there was rationing I have no memories of being hungry. We had lunch at school and these meals were always substantial. My grandfather had a butchers shop that got hit by a bomb. He opened another a few yards along the same road. Meat was rationed but we were all right because of him. The milkman still came round every day though. We never saw a banana until after the war. As I set off for school one morning, when I came to the end of the road I saw police and ARP wardens. There was a landmine, which they used to send down from enemy aircraft, suspended on a lampost. It was waving in the wind and only 8ft. from the ground. If it had touched the ground the whole street, including my house, would have been blown up. Bomb disposal people came with a lorry and picked it up. They took it to a nearby area of common and exploded it. I remember going to school with shrapnel laying all over the place. I would pick up pieces and keep them as souvenirs. There weren't raids every night, but if it was cloudy the planes would come more often as they couldn't so easily be picked up on the searchlights. The only thing that really worried me was towards the end of the war. That was when the Germans started using rockets. They used to come out of the blue with a bang. This went on only for three or four months, as by this time we were in Europe and our forces tried to capture the rocket sites as soon as they could. There were the V1s, which were the doodlebugs. These had engines that would cut out, so you had some warning of their approach and you could see them coming. One day I was at the open-air swimming pool just outside Leyton. I was on the top diving board when I could see a doodlebug coming over. Suddenly its engine cutout, so I knew it was coming down. I dived into the pool and stayed there It went off a mile away. The V2s were the silent killers. You never knew when they were coming. My family was very scared, my grandmother in particular. Theyprotected me and I saw it all as an adventure. The firemen were marvellous, trying to get people out of bombed houses. I saw a body being dragged out one morning, which was very upsetting. There was little or no entertainment. We listened to the radio a lot. Once mother took me to London Zoo. There were hardly any animals there, but I remember the snake house. After the war it took a long while for London to get back on its feet. (PK) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Contributed by Civic Centre, Bedford People in story: Frank Chandler Location of story: Brentwood in Essex Background to story: Civilian Article ID: A2686502 Contributed on: 01 June 2004 I was evacuated from Leyton London to Brentwood on the 1st of Sept 1939. When the siren went on Sept the 3rd it was a test , I was on a bike ride and dropped my bike and ran down the road screaming because I thought it was a big monster roaring and coming over the roof tops. In the blitz we went down to the air raid shelter every night for 12 months. There was seven of us in an Anderson shelter then the german aircraft dropped sea mines on parachutes. One night at 3 oclock in the morning, we heard this rustling noise and we looked out the shelter door and there was a white envelope which made us think it was our last days on earth. It turned out to be a barrage balloon that had broken loose. It rose in the air and took all the slates and chimney pots with it. I was evacuated again to Rhubina near Cardiff for 18 months and returned again in time for the flying bombs. We were in the shelter when a flying bomb came straight to our house the noise was such that I was trying to push myself to Australia through the floor. The engine didn't stop and it veered left and hit Leyton garage which was about 200 yards from us. The wooden shelter door disintegrated and came in all over us. We climbed out and there was lots of smoke and people screaming, my dad went out into the street and there was a man lying dead in the street with his clothes on fire, we wern't aloud to see things like that. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Contributed by Isle of Wight Libraries People in story: Daphne Gibson Location of story: Leyton, East London Background to story: Civilian Article ID: A6136300 Contributed on: 14 October 2005 This story was submitted to the People's War site by Simon Falla and has been added to the website on behalf of Daphne Gibson with her permission and she fully understands the site's terms and conditions. I was eleven years old and living in Leyton, east London at the outbreak of World War 2. At this time we had not received the Anderson shelter that was later installed in the garden with the help of friends. My father had gone to fight in the army while my mother worked as a 'Nippy' at the famous Lyon's Corner House. In the absense of our own shelter, when the air raid siren sounded we had to rush to nearby Abbot Road Park where a tunnel had been dug to protect the residents. I remember the shelter being so crowded that I had to be careful not to kick the people on the floor as I sat on the side benches. After our own shelter had been installed, we had a close shave when a nearby bomb blew all the windows out of our house. Our neighbours, the Breedons, a family renowned for making cricket bats, were sadly all killed in the explosion | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Local history societies
| London Borough of Waltham Forest pages
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