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General => The Common Room => Topic started by: Mart 'n' Al on Saturday 04 November 17 19:00 GMT (UK)
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I think this was early 1950s, but I know not where. Help needed please.
(http://Photo Early 1950s.jpg)
Martin
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maybe folkestone?
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Iolaus, do you have any reason or support for Folkestone? Do you recognise something? Using Google StreetView, I can't see anywhere hilly away from the coast. I might be looking in the wrong place.
Martin
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It reminded me a bit of pictures I've seen of Torquay. However, I don't know the place at all, and I haven't found any pictures online that quite match this one.
The shadows seem to suggest somewhere on the south or west coast, and the scale of the buildings might suggest a fairly large town.
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Although I have no idea, I thought the fishing harbour and the grand buildings would make it easy. I'd love to know (it's my late dad) but I have spent so long on this.
Martin
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Spanish flag flying on the nearest flagstaff
Would guess its not UK
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There are so many horizontal tricolour flags, it could be anywhere?
Austria, Latvia, Netherlands, Hungary and Yugoslavia spring to mind.
The red stripes on the Spanish flag are narrower; so I don't think it's Spain?
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But I was going by the crest in the middle of the white
only others I can think of are Argentina, Lesotho and Lebanon
But looking at the buildings they look British as have Chimneys in the British style
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Many seaside resorts display flags of many countries - they still do, here!
It might be me, but I think the upper stripe is slightly darker than the lower stripe?
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I think AthurUK was right - Torquay.
Vane Hill, from the harbour.
https://www.francisfrith.com/torquay/torquay-vane-hill-from-the-harbour-c1950_t62505
Yorkslass
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That felt a bit of a fluke! I didn't have time earlier to go looking through the Francis Frith photos, so thanks for finding that. All the ones I came up with seemed to have a different roof line on the main block of buildings in the middle.
Note the similar shadows, wind in the opposite direction, and another eclectic collection of flags.
Since the Friths photo is about 1950, it might be possible to pin Martin's down a bit more precisely if we knew when the block of flats at the top was built (there's something different on Friths').
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Following up that lead...https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/4851660
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Just before I turned this off last night, I looked at the pic and thought ' looks like Torquay' :)
Forgot about it until now ::)
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I live near Torquay and as soon as I looked at it, I also thought 'looks like Torquay'
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PC just crashed, brief thanks, update to follow with some background. Thank you.
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My apologies for not having updated this, but Microsoft's latest upgrade disabled my PC, requiring a full reinstallation, which isn't easy when it doesn't work.
Thanks to everybody for your suggestions especially those who identified Torquay. (I really get annoyed with restaurants that put flags of the world outside their premises as it makes it so hard to identify the location!!)
I nearly suggested that I thought that picture was from the north east or the south east, so, being the south west I'm glad I didn't. I was also reasonably sure that it was the UK as my father didn't go abroad until over 30 years later when he, in applying for a ten year passport discovered that he wasn't who he thought he was, but that's a long story (http://www.martinhwatson.co.uk/loughborough_sedcole_watson.html (http://www.martinhwatson.co.uk/loughborough_sedcole_watson.html)). Identifying this picture as Torquay means a lot to me. Thank you again. Ironically I have been there several times and didn't recognise the angle!
Martin