Introductory blog for Christmas Picture Quiz answers, by local historian Philip Grant:
Thank you to everyone who entered into the seasonal spirit and took part in last weekend’s 2025 Wembley History Society Christmas Picture Quiz. (If you haven’t tried your quiz skills yet, please click on that “link” and have a go before you look at the answers!)
I hope you’ve enjoyed the quiz, and I’m sure that, like me, you are very grateful to Martin for providing such an interesting and varied selection of posts on his “Wembley Matters” blog. The answers document is below, at the foot of this guest post.
I included an extra question when introducing the quiz. I wonder how many of you knew, or worked out, that the 1930s speedway rider from New Zealand was Wally Kilmister (seen here with his Wembley Lions team mates in 1937)?
His sports shop near the stadium (part of which was later turned into a model shop) was at 6 & 7 Neeld Parade, although Wembley Triangle would also be an acceptable answer. This photograph showing it was taken from the top of a new office building under construction in 1963, which became Brent House.
You may have noticed that the photograph for question 3 was of a tile mural, but I’m sure that most of you recognised who it showed (some years ago, a 10-year old girl who saw the picture immediately said: “That’s Michael Jackson!”). That mural scene, along with around a dozen others in the Bobby Moore Bridge subway outside Wembley Park station, has been hidden from view since 2013, because of advertising leases issued by Brent Council to the developers, Quintain. Although the footballers’ scene, including the plaque unveiled by Bobby Moore’s widow in 1993, was put back on public view in 2019, Quintain were then allowed to cover the other subway murals with light boxes, for at least another five years.
The tile mural scenes on the east wall of the Bobby Moore Bridge subway at Wembley Park.
There was a chance to get all of the subway murals back on display when the lease came up for renewal in 2024. However, Brent’s Council Leader did not even give his Cabinet colleagues the chance to vote on the option which would have allowed that. In fact, the Cabinet members did not vote at all – they just stayed silent when Cllr. Muhammed Butt declared that the option he preferred (which would put slightly more money into the Council’s communications budget) had been approved.
There were probably a few of the questions that you didn’t know the answers to. If that’s the case, you have the chance over the Christmas / New Year break to discover more about some of the subjects via “links” I’ve included with some of the answers. These will take you to illustrated articles giving more information, if you want to take advantage of them.
If you were feeling competitive, and wrote down your answers, you can now see how many you got right. There are no prizes, but if you want to share your score out of twenty (just to let others know how well, or badly, you did), you are welcome to add a comment below!
The building in my “greetings card” above is St Andrew’s New Church, Kingsbury, and if you would like some church bells with your Christmas, you can read about and listen to them if you “click” on this “Wembley Matters” blog from December 2022. With best wishes for the festive season, and a happy and healthy New Year,
Philip Grant.
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