On the 22nd August North London Branch members joined a Bomb Tour of Central London led by Ian Jones MBE (see bio below) starting at Aldwych and ending at the Guards Museum Birdcage Walk, via Embankment and Whitehall.
Ian presented a fascinating guide to bombing campaigns in the 1800’s, IRA campaigns in the 1930’s to more recent ones, some of the group had personal memories of. As a former bomb disposal officer in both the military and Police, Ian’s knowledge and storytelling had us all gripped. He’d brought artifacts including a rather sharp sizeable piece of shrapnel, to real German detonators from WW2. We were invited to sniff the latter which had us all puzzled how to describe it - damp leather with a touch of 1960’s linoleum was my take !
A wealth of photographs accessed individually on our smart phones and IPads ensured we could all see images as Ian described the scene. We’re all more mindful to look up at the stone buildings, which still bare the signs of blasts and some monuments, such as the cast lions on embankment that we’ve all passed but never noticed the gauges in the metal and stonework peppered with marks.
Photos show some of the places we stopped at including next to the new, New Scotland Yard.
We were very lucky to have someone with Ian’s experience and knowledge to guide us. Here’s a snapshot of Ian’s career:
The speaker has spent 40 years involved with bomb disposal operations. His first Explosives Ordnance Disposal (EOD) tour of duty was as a corporal in Northern Ireland in 1974. He then gained a commission, returned to the Province in 1982 and, as a captain, was responsible for all bomb disposal operations in Belfast. In 1992, as a major, he was Officer Commanding 321 Company RAOC, responsible for all bomb disposal operations in the whole Province. This was followed by a year in an intelligence post gathering information on Improvised Explosive Devices worldwide. He left the Army in 1994 and joined the Counter Terrorist Command of the Metropolitan Police where, he served as an Explosives Officer dealing with all incidents involving explosives in London. He answered over 2000 calls for assistance in the following 18 years before retiring after the 2012 Olympics.
He has written two books, Malice Aforethought - The History of the Booby Trap and London - Bombed Blitzed and Blown Up, a history of the bombing of the capital from 1867 to 2007. For many years he was a member of the Durand Group that open and explore WW1 tunnels, he is a keen shooter of old military rifles and, much to his wives dis-pleasure, collects antique ammunition.
