Oral history of British science
Raynor, Frank (Part 2 of 18) An Oral History of British Science
- Add a note
Log in to add a note at the bottom of this page.
- All notes
- My notes
- Hide notes
- Add to playlist
Log in to add this item to one of your personal lists.
- Add to favourites
Log in to add and display this item in your personal list of favourites on the right hand side of this page.
The British Library Board acknowledges the intellectual property rights of those named as contributors to this recording and the rights of those not identified.
Legal and ethical usage »
Type
sound
Duration
01:04:44
Shelf mark
C1379/76
Subjects
Electronics
Recording date
2012-05-14
Recording locations
Interviewee's home, Abingdon
Interviewees
Raynor, Frank, 1922- (speaker, male)
Interviewers
Lean, Thomas (speaker, male)
Abstract
Part 2: [1:04:44] Comments on installing electricity in 1930s: unpopularity of yellow electric light compared to Aladdin mantle lamps; local suppliers' offer of 5 lights and a 5amp plug for free; installing electricity on farms for machinery, robust installations to withstand farm environment; customer's reactions to electricity; electrical appliances, radio and irons; [03:35 pause] safety warnings; amount of work involved in installing electricity in houses and bungalows; safety considerations; arrangements for two way switching; purchase of electrical components and installation in house; porcelain and Bakelite switches replacing brass equivalents; anecdote about dangerous electrical switch in grandmother's home; FR duties on installation; further details on farm installations of motors, star delta motors; [10:30] FR working for father but not with him much; father's 1937 Austin Ruby and trailer, paid for by Calender Cables; sale of appliances, without hard sell; father's stand at 1936 Lincolnshire county show; father's unsatisfactory arrangements for paying him; disagreements with father, aged about 16, leading FR to find another job. [14:30] Comments on job at Joseph Ogle and Sons sawmill: hardwood and exotic empire wood dealer; foreman offering him job; FR learning much about timber, keeping collection of timber blocks; processing of wood, seasoning, sawing, selling Elm and Oak coffin boards to undertakers; supplying pitch pine for trawler soles, seasoning wood in docks; [19:10] speciality nature of timber business compared; differences between pines and other softwoods; FR duties as sawyer’s mate; different sorts of saw; FR interest in types of wood; skill of work of sawyer, but limited prospects of work; anecdote about FR avoiding a practical joke; FR enjoying work and learning new things; FR return to work for father. [24:00] Remarks on radio: father's electrician, Dick Wilmore, interesting FR in radio; father's earlier interest in radio; working of radio, resonance circuits, rectifiers; FR learning about television in 1930s; lack of money in 1930s; reading 'Practical Wireless.' [28:10] Discussion about interest in model aircraft: FR making a model plane from scratch while he was in hospital aged about 16 with diphtheria; description of making model aircraft balsa to plans; elastic band power; expensive American model engines; flying model aircraft with friend Fred Hildon; disruption of friendships by war. [35:00] Remarks on: working with father on construction of RAF Binbrook for Air Ministry; father's practical skills; run-down of father's business in favour of airfield building work; FR apprenticeship with Electrical Installations Limited [EIL] from 1939 until call up for force. [37:45] Remarks on grandparents: kindness; grandfather's cycle business workshop and previous employment for Elswick Hopper at Barton-upon-Humber; FR's childhood Hopper cycle; grandmother; FR attending Welholme School Grimsby; FR feelings about grandparents; Uncle Bob living at home due to wartime gas injuries; moving back with Father when he remarried Lillian Reading in 1927, after which FR lived with them in Brereton Ave in Cleethorpes, Algernon St in Grimsby and Holton le Clay. [44:20] Remarks on: family moves, possibly for father to buy house; father's brothers and business activities. [45:30] Remarks on stepmother: kindly, treated him well; difficult conditions at home; childhood memory of mending his shoes with cardboard; spending last happy 27 years of her life living with son; persuading all her children into joining forces; anecdote about FR rejected from navy after failing medical due to knock-knees; FR limited confidence when growing up; anecdote about father's parenting style; father's influence on FR, FR's happy marriage. [51:40] Comments on FR's four half brothers: dates of birth; FR getting eldest brother an electrician job before he became a truck driver and then had a military career; next brother's RAF career; third brother's career as a hotelier, eventually owning Carlton Hotel in Blackpool, death from liver troubles; family Christmases in brother's hotels; youngest brother, electrical goods salesman for Braun Bavaria, after army service; differences between brothers military service; [1:02:00] experience growing up with brothers, more connection as adults; father's engineer job at RAF Warton.
Description
Interview with technician, Frank Raynor
Related transcripts
Frank Raynor interviewed by Thomas Lean: full transcript of the interview
Related links
Visit this interviewee's page on the 'Voices of Science' web resource
Metadata record: