The mosaic of ‘Psycho’
What started as a nostalgic day out down memory lane, re-visiting the location where me and the good lady wife Angela first met some 43 years ago – also and unintentionally, ended up as a sort of ‘baby-blog’ in terms of a ‘culture’ day – as we made a return to Leytonstone, London E11, the scene of our first meeting, and also the birthplace of one of the town’s most famous sons – film writer, director and producer….Sir Alfred Hitchcock.
The exact location of our very first meeting was Barclays Bank 839 High Road Leytonstone, in January 1974, when I opened the large old wooden doors of the branch, to let in a girl named Angela Clark, who had been transferred in from nearby Bethnal Green branch.
That is where our ‘journey’ began, and the rest, as they say, is history – and we have been together every day since (I know, I deserve a medal for endurance and resilience!!!).
So we spent an enjoyable few hours re-visiting all our old haunts and other local landmarks, and although some have quite naturally changed considerably over the past 40 or so years, it was pleasing to note that there was still a good little vibe going on there – and it was good to go back.
What struck us while we were there was the town’s acknowledgement to the achievements of film producer Sir Alfred Hitchcock – something they are obviously and quite rightly proud of.
Hitchcock was born in Leytonstone in 1899, and his dad owned and ran a grocery store in the high road.
Apparently, as a small child, Hitchcock was a bit of a wrong’un, and one day, to teach him a lesson, his father march him down to the local cop shop and asked the officer in charge, to lock young Alfred up in one of the cells for a few minutes.
The fear that he experienced as a result of this ordeal, was allegedly the catalyst behind the psychological dread and terror than was prevalent through the majority of his films. In fact, Hitchcock was once quoted as saying “There is no terror in the ‘bang’ – only the anticipation of it”.
Anyway – his achievements are acknowledged throughout a number of places in Leytonstone, from street art murals, to pub names and in particular, a number of excellent mosaics throughout Leytonstone tube station, that depict scenes from some of his more famous films – a nice touch, and what a way to be remembered.
All in all – an enjoyable little trip out 
-
- Me and Angela outside Barclays Bank 839 High Road, Leytonstone, London E11 – where we first ‘encountered’ each other 44 years ago 🙂
-
- Me with Barclays Bank 839 High Rd Leytonstone branch in the background
-
- St John’s Church – Leytonstone High Rd
-
- Street view of the top of Leytonstone High Road
-
- Fish Bros-Jewellers – an old and long standing Barclays Leytonstone customer – Long gone now, but the street clock still remains 🙂
-
- The ‘North Star’ pub – in the Leytonstone ‘Village’ area of the town. A location where me and Angela used to sneak off to, to be alone for a quite cheeky one ………beer, that is
-
- Cottages located within Leytonstone ‘Village’
-
- Me, with what was the famous ‘Green Man’ pub in the background. A pub that was a leading venue for ‘live’ music throughout the 60’s and 70’s, where a lot of the big bands at the time played – and a pub that I used to frequent, on my way home from work and at weekends
-
- The Red Lion – another very famous ‘lost’ music pub – in Leytonstone High Rd. Led Zeppelin played their very first London gig there back in the late 1960’s – and all the top bands such as Status Quo, Thin Lizzy, Slade and Roxy Music to quote a few, used to play
-
- Me necking down a cheeky one in The Red Lion pub
-
- A couple of ‘ghost signs’ at Leytonstone tube station – advertising local stores that were once the mainstay of family shopping in the area. These were discovered during some renovation work and the decision was made to retain them, for historic purposes 🙂
-
- A street art mural – depicting Alfred Hitchcock’s association with Leytonstone
-
- What used to be (in my days there) The Crown pub, directly opposite the Barclays branch – now it is known as The Birds – in its association with Alfred Hitchcock
-
- The plaque displayed in Leytonstone tube station that summarises all of the Hitchcock film mosaics on display in the subways
-
- The mosaic of ‘Psycho’
-
- Another mosaic of a Hitchcock film
-
- The mosaic depicting Hitchcock’s ‘The Birds’ film
-
- Another mosaic of a Hitchcock film
-
- This mosaic captures Hitchcock directing a movie
-
- Another mosaic of a Hitchcock film
-
- Having spent a few hours wandering down memory lane – two old Leytonstone’ers make their way back home 🙂
Yoս seem tօ know a lot about this subject, ⅼike you wrote thе boⲟk in it օr sⲟmething. I think that you coսld do with a few pics to drive the message home a bit, but other thаn that, this is excellent blog. A great read. I’ll certainly ƅe back – Julius
I want to say that this article is awesome, nice written and come with almost all significant infos.
I ԝould like to see extra posts liҝe this – Bennet