Guest post by local historian Philip Grant
Thank you to everyone who had a go at last weekend’s Wembley History Society Christmas Picture Quiz, 2022. It was a chance to take a short break from a number of more serious issues covered by “Wembley Matters”, and I hope you enjoyed it.
I included a clue, ‘in 1923’, in question 2, so hopefully at least those of you who remember the original Wembley Stadium (demolished twenty years ago) will have spotted that the men in the photograph were building one of Wembley’s “twin towers”.
Workers building the concrete walls of the Stadium, winter 1922/23. (Screenshot from an old film)
Next year will mark the centenary of the building which made the name of our district famous around the world. We will celebrate that in 2023, but I wanted to take this opportunity to pay tribute to the workers who built this reinforced concrete landmark in just 300 days (without the benefit of modern machinery, or hard hats!).
Were there a few of the pictures 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 Wembley’s past. I’ve included “links” with most of the answers, which will take you to illustrated articles giving more information, if you want to take advantage of them.
If you were feeling competitive, you can now see how many of the questions you got the right answers to. There are no prizes, but if you want to publish your score out of ten (just to let others know how well, or badly, you did), you are welcome to add a comment below – only honest claims, please!
Philip Grant,
for Wembley History Society.