history – BRUCE AND HOLLY

The Real Pirates Behind the Films

January 9, 2026 bruceandholly

Even as a child, I would not have read Harry Potter. It’s just that I was not into wizards and magic spells. But give me Pirates! And that’s something else! It’s also why I watched all of the Pirates of the Caribbean films over the Christmas and New Year period. But did you know that each of those films had their roots in fact? I’ll prove it to you.

As a child I would lay in bed reading Edward Dingle’s ‘Sinbad’s Book of Pirates’, which was written in 1936 and had been given to me as a hand me down.

I’ve never been a pirate and wouldn’t be qualified to write a pirate book. Dingle was qualified because before becoming an author he had spent 22 years at sea and had survived five shipwrecks. In 1893, Dingle joined the salvage schooner Black Pearl to look for sunken treasure. They found the sunken wreck and strong box but we’re unable to move it. Strong gales then blew the ship away. A return voyage was wrecked near St Paul’s Island Australia. The crew survived but the Black Pearl was lost. They survived by eating rabbit, goat and fish before they were rescued. Eventually they did find treasure in another shipwreck. Does his story sound familiar?

Was it a coincidence that the name Black Pearl was used in Walt Disney’s first 2003 ‘Pirates of the Caribbean: the Curse of the Black Pearl’?

For me, the best pirate film was the 2011 ‘On Stranger Tides’ which again featured real historical characters and ships. The lead character in that film was Edward Teach, the famous Blackbeard and his ship, Queen Ann’s Revenge. Teach lived from 1680 to 1718 and operated around the West Indies and Britain’s then North American colonies.The Blackbeard name derived from his awesome appearance.So what about the mermaids?

Did mermaids actually exist? All we know, is that throughout most of human history, sailors believed in them. Mermaids were unlucky Omen. So what is it that I’m trying to say? That everything you write has to have an element of authenticity, Even if it’s fantasy fiction. It’s all about the research. About getting it right.

Postscript: in a moment of madness I went on to the Amazon site and ordered a used copy of Dingle’s 1936 book. It was as I’d remembered it. Almost word for word. And guess what? It is the World’s only surviving copy

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London Borough of Redbridge v G Romford County Court 5th February 2025 – Housing Possession

June 14, 2025 bruceandholly

I’m sorry but if you thought you were going to be able to download a transcript of this important judgement, I’m afraid that you are going to be disappointed. That’s unless you are prepared to pay the court stenographer yourself to listen to the tapes and type up that transcript. And that’s going to be expensive. Because Romford County Court is not a court of record. But the case is important because it reminds local authority conveyancers what can happen if they complete on the purchase of a property which happens to be occupied by a residential tenant. Even if that tenant had previously occupied under a shorthold tenancy, which could be ended as any time on 2 months written notice. What is worse, is that an existing shorthold tenancy automatically then converts into a fully secure tenancy under the Housing Act 1985. What a bonus for that residential tenant! Not only do they now have lifetime security. They’ve also got a statutory right to buy. And all because of a simple conveyancing error.

It is standard conveyancing practice that the existence of any residential adult occupier of the property must be disclosed to the buyer before contracts are exchanged. That will include anyone occupying under a shorthold tenancy. If this is not done and those occupancy rights are not brought to an end before completion, the buyer will take subject to those rights of occupation forevermore. Which was what had happened in this case. In fact there was nothing to suggest that the landlord had taken any formal step to terminate the shorthold tenancy, before that transaction completed.

A further physical inspection should take place on the morning of completion just to make sure that the property is in fact vacant before the balance of the purchase money is released. Getting it wrong is always expensive.

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Essential Law for Cemetery and Crematorium Managers 2025

December 1, 2024 bruceandholly

We are pleased to announce the release of Essential Law for Cemetery and Crematorium Managers 2025, which replaces the earlier edition published June 2021 and which became Amazon’s best selling business law book within days of publication.

So far as we are aware, it still remains the only book on the UK market dealing with this particular aspect of law. The Institute of Cemetery and Crematorium Management, which represents the cemetery and crematorium industries in the UK, commissioned the publication of this book, as it did the earlier version. The book is priced at £46.00 for the paperback.

Ebook and hardback versions are also planned for the new year and we will keep you updated regarding this. The earlier version, published June 2021, has now been withdrawn from sale. Updated content includes: new arrangements for death certification, following adoption of the statutory medical examiner system on 9 September, 2024; future legal changes regarding re-use of existing graves, which are expected as a result of the Law Commission consultation on burial and cremation launched 3rd October 2024 which is currently underway; as well as recent case law concerning the interpretation of burial rights and involving a well-known London cemetery. The book also includes three real-life case studies on matters in which ICCM has recently been asked to advise.

history, Uncategorized

A Trip to the Gasworks

August 24, 2022 bruceandholly

Back then we didn’t have natural gas. Instead we made our own gas by chucking coal into a retort and cooking it. The stuff which came off was deadly poisonous. But we weren’t there to sniff it. It powered our gas cookers. No-one had gas central heating. It was all solid fuel. At the beginning of every winter, grimy faced men would come round and deliver a ton of coal into the shed in our back garden.

There were no gas bills. It was all pre-pay. When the money ran out so did the gas. That was until Mum pushed half a crown into the gas-meter and re-lit the stove. A half crown was equivalent to 25 pence in new money. It was enough to buy 20 cigarettes or half a gallon of petrol and keep the gas running for the next couple of days. People were also different.

They were slimmer than most people are today. There were no pot bellies. Because we walked everywhere. Yes-we might take a bus or train if they were not on strike. And they were always on strike.

One day I took a tour of our local gas works which was situated behind a big yellow wall fronting Southend Seafront. Across the road and extending about 200 yards into the Thames Estuary was a short pier. At the end of it were two small white steam-cranes. We peered inside the one which was working, as it lifted coal from a barge and loaded it onto a wagon. The driver said it was oil-fired. The second crane, which sat silent, was coke fired. We walked back along the pier and into the gasworks building.

Through the sweltering orange half-light, we saw bare-chested men shovelling coal in to the retorts. Coal dust hung in the air.

Next was the pump house, where a massive rumbling steam engine drove gas along the network of pipes into our homes.

Within a year, the gasworks had closed. It was 1967. The men were laid off. Natural gas had arrived. Other men came to our homes and converted our gas cookers to the new fuel. Even then it all seemed to me too good to be true. Cheap gas from the sea? What would happen when it all ran- out? As it must run out at some time? Would we then have to build new gasworks and go back to making town gas? It’s the big unanswered question. Within a couple of years the buildings themselves were demolished and all that remained were a couple of large gasometers and the remains of the pier.

If you would like to know more about our industrial heritage and the way we lived, please take a look at, ‘British Imperial and U.S. Customary Units Explained’. See the enclosed link. Thank you/