Rediscovering Newcastle

As a student I spent 6 interesting years in Newcastle-upon-Tyne but, as noted earlier, I've not been back since 1982. That's a long time ago and I took the opportunity last week to rediscover an interesting place, which has changed considerably in the last 35 years. Join me in an amble around the city, which has a long history.

I used to live in student accommodation in Leazes Terrace shown here and, as deputy warden, had a nice room on the top floor overlooking St. James Park the Newcastle United soccer ground. I could  even watch games from my room,which overlooked the ground, but actually mostly watched from inside the ground where the atmosphere was much better.

However, I'd no longer be able to watch games from my window because the football ground now has a massive new stand opposite:

I used to walk this street through the university every day from my accommodation next to St. James Park, which you can just see in the background..

And my destination was this building where my research office was located!

 

 Down in the city I came across some lovely old buildings that I remembered from the past:

The Plummer Tower shown here was built in the 13th century and formed part of the town wall.

Alas, modernity has intruded into the city - including the freeway shown here which appears to run across the buildings where the geography department was located when I first reached Newcastle back in 1963.

 Much of central city was reconstructed in the 19th century and lined with impressive Georgian buildings, not forgetting the massive Grey's Monument - he, the second Earl Grey was British Prime Minister in the 1830s. Also shown here is the Theatre, also on Grey Street.

 

 
 Grey Street winds down to the historic heart of the city on the banks of the Tyne. This photo shows more remnants of the town wall and, in the middle, the Black Gate which was finished in around 1250 and was the main entrance to the castle. Just north of the castle is the cathedral.

 

 

From the castle I walked across the 19th century double-decker bridge with a road below and the metro above. This bridge across the Tyne provided excellent views downstream. First there is the low-level swing bridge and then something rather familiar. If it looks like the Sydney Harbour bridge, you're right! The Tyne Bridge was the model for the subsequent Sydney counterpart.

 

Views of the city centre from the double-decker bridge and back to the castle.

The redeveloped waterfront. When I was a student the waterfront area was decorated with old warehouses and was a relic of 19th century industrialisation. Now, on both sides of the river - including Gateshead - there are many new buildings, both commercial and residential. These are linked across the river by the interesting and curved Millennium Bridge which I strolled across.

And, on the Gateshead side nearby, was the graceful exhibition centre.

 

Back in the commercial centre I was drawn to Hadrian's Tipi, which was a set of stalls under wig-wams. Hadrian I can understand. Newcastle was at one end of the famous Hadrian's wall, which anticipated the great wall of China by over a thousand years and served the same purpose - keeping out aggressive heathens!

Northumberland Street is still the main retail drag, but like many other places is now pedestrianised. I was interested to see that it had also turned into a vehicle showroom!

I didn't know that Greg runs a sandwich bar!

I also walked through the Eldon Square shopping centre with its Christmas decorations.

And saw this guy's street art - a dog made from sand!

Well, that's it for now.

AS

Remembering a Great Man

One of the reasons for my recent trip to the UK was to attend the 50th anniversary of a remarkable event for me. On 13th November 1967, the University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne conferred an honorary doctoral degree on the American civil rights activist and, by then Nobel Laureate, Martin Luther King. It was his only visit to the UK. I attended that ceremony, but for me the day had much greater significance. He put in a request to meet formally 'students' and I was, at the time, treasurer of the Student Union. That in itself was great work for me as (a) the union building was not owned by the university but, like Oxford and Cambridge, run by elected students; and (b) I was nominally in charge of over 30 staff and something like 4 bars! And I was by then in my second year as a doctoral candidate.

Anyway, I was working in the Union office when the request came in and, strange to relate, my hand shot up and I immediately nominated myself. I'd long been interested in American politics and was well aware of the significance of King's role in promoting civil rights for black Americans. And so it came to pass that I and another student, whose name escapes me after the time lapse of half a century, were seated in a triangle with the great man in the middle of the Union's music room. As an aside, I had hoped to see the location of this event on my return to Newcastle 35 years after my last visit in 1982, but a remodelling of the building had removed both its music room and debating chamber modelled on the House of Commons. I attended many high-powered debates there regularly and that chamber held vivid memories for me, not to forget a brass name-plate commemorating my role as Treasurer. That, too, was missing.

To keep things short, Martin Luther King lyrically discussed his aims, strategies and achievements with us for over half an hour. His deep voice resonated through the room, but what particularly impressed me was his thoughtful and considered approach to our discussion of the complex and deeply rooted issues in which he was engaged. Also impressive was his attachment to achieving his aims via peaceful means, not violent revolution. All this made him by far the most impressive leader I have engaged with - and by the way, I have been lucky in meeting many business, government, and community leaders in my time. But, alas, many of them cannot avoid simplifying complex issues and talking glibly - as politicians usually do - in 30 second media grabs. Thus, my meeting on that day 50 years ago has remained among the most unforgettable events of my life. I was interviewed at length about such feelings by a journalist from the Newcastle Chronicle - the local newspaper - and conveyed there much of what I've just said.

And so to the celebrations about which I have a few photos. The first few are parts of the campus that I remembered well from my students days, starting with the imposing Union building and a renamed bar within it!

Here are the arches leading into the main quadrangle shown in the following photos.

And finally, here's Kings Hall where the original investiture and last week's commemoration were both held. As far as I remember, the Hall is not named after Martin Luther King!

Before the official commemoration in Kings Hall, there was the unveiling of a bronze sculpture of Martin Luther King in a nearby quadrangle. This art-work was by one of the UK's leading sculptors.

The speeches included one by the head of the University in Boston where MLK studied.

Th blue shroud is removed to reveal the statue - to great applause.

Someone kindly took a picture of me alongside the great man.

This rear view shows some of the great detail provided by the sculptor.

During the day, I met up with only one person I knew from my student days, Nick Nicholson, and our reminiscences were interesting for me.

AS