Ian Richards

History Columnist

Ian Richards is a regular contributor and writes a fortnightly history column for the Gazette's Flashback Thursday feature.

Ian Richards is a regular contributor and writes a fortnightly history column for the Gazette's Flashback Thursday feature.

Latest articles from Ian Richards

Basingstoke Flashback: History of Blue Peter Retreads Ltd

The Moniton trading estate at Worting is a collection of small companies, some at the beginning of their lives, hoping to grow and become larger, repeating the history of what happened on this site in 1926 when Auto Tyre Services was formed, a small tyre company with dreams of becoming larger and more successful.

Flashback: The extraordinary history behind Merton Road in South View

Following my investigations into the street names of Basingstoke, they have led me to the name of Walter de Merton, the namesake of Merton Road in South View. Unfortunately, there is little information about the birthplace of Walter except that it was possible that he was born in Basingstoke as his family were landowners in the area, and that he was educated in Merton, Surrey; but - there is a lot of information of his life.

Flashback: Fond memories of the wonder of Woolworth’s

Woolworths! A name that everyone knew with a branch on every high street in Britain and abroad. A typical story of ‘from small acorns large Oak trees grow’. Two brothers, Frank Winfield aka ‘The Merchant Prince’ and Charles Sumner aka ‘Sum’, created, perhaps, the largest business empire in history with over 5,000 stores around the world,

Flashback: A music scale's unlikely links to town

Music teachers throughout the world are familiar with the musical notation method of sight-singing tuition called Tonic Sol-Fa, brought to the attention of the public in The Sound of Music with Julie Andrews as Maria teaching the Von Trapp children the rudiments of music with the song Do-Re-Me.

Flashback: Story of The Rising Sun Public House on Chapel Hill

With Hampshire being a principal hop growing county and a major brewery situated in Basingstoke since 1751, that of John May & Co, it comes as no surprise that at the time of the 1911 census, and a population of only 11,540 people, there was a total of fifty-three pubs in the Basingstoke area.