Interview with William Edward Godrich

Brief memory of River Soar, Leicester, freezing in early 1900s. Describes family, sleeping three to a bed, lack of money, bread deliveries; brief description of food. Talks about school, not being academic, smoking cigarettes, discipline. Recalls outbreak of First World War (WWI), fear, friend dying. Describes work at British United shoe factory, then with Bill Warner. Recalls courting with wife-to-be, places to buy clothes, where to meet girls; describes popular turns in theatres, such as Chun Lin Su. Mentions Robert Slack's aeroplane at Thurmaston, woman dying when parachute didn't open, Blaby. Brief mention of General Strike [1926]. Describes how bought house on Valence Road, Braunstone, then a new estate; condition of area at time, floods. Briefly recalls bomb, crashing areoplane during Second World War. Brief mention of spotting aeroplanes pre-WWI, brief anecdote of Billy Paul of Billy Paul's Music Hall in Nottingham, choking on tripe