More than a little bit tricky this week, very obscure question about a chocolate marketer which you need acccess to databases to find out about....
Q1. Glasgow School of Art
Q2. George James Harris.
(NB for question 2 I'm not totally sure about this one, there was a George James Harris who was chairman and marketing director of Rowntree and some unconfirmed sources say that he was born in Paisley road west, in Govan c1896)
From the initial clues, the puzzle author is travelling on 'The Clockwork Orange' or 'The Shoogle' as Glasgow's underground railway is better known. Allegedly, it takes 24 minutes to complete a circuit on this particular train set. From the positional information given, he is likely at Cowcaddens station and south west of there lies an art school, 'Glasgow School of Art', which was founded in 1845. The building was designed by a brilliant artist and architect, regarded as the innovative Banksy of his day , Charles Rennie Mackintosh (b 1868). He won a competition to design the art school c1894. Sauchiehall street means 'Alley of Willows' or 'Meadow of Willows' and it's where Rennie Mackintosh implemented his 'Willow tearooms' project, which I believe are still there, though have not been in them for a few years. The entrepreneur who commissioned Mackintosh to design the tearoom, was Catherine Cranston (b 1849).
Travelling south takes us to St Enoch's underground station, near the river Clyde, which to quote Robbie Coltrane, "is long and wide", around 106 miles long according to some references. There was a large overground station there and what was at one time Scotland's largest hotel. These however, were not demolished until around 1977, to build a shopping mall. Heading west on the Shoogle, brings us to Ibrox, home of the now defunct Rangers football club, which has unfortunately been home to two disasters, in which people were crushed to death, one in 1902 and one in 1971.
Turning north west brings us to Govan, home of Govan Old Church which is the oldest church in the area and which has gravestones with viking carvings on them. I'm not a hundred percent sure about this one but according to some sources, the chocolate manufacturer might be George James Harris, chairman of Rowntree and born in Paisley road west c1896....
North from Govan brings us to the lively and bustling district of Partick, which the famous football club known as 'Partick Thistle Nil' is named after. Partick Thistle Nil, were runners up in the 1953 league cup and their ground is nearer to Maryhill, than Partick. The first international football match, according to some sources, was played at a cricket club ground in Hamilton crescent. Travelling east then south east brings us to St Georges cross station, which is close to the Mitchell Library, which was donated to the city by a tobacco manufacturer called Stephen Mitchell.
I worked out it must be GJ Harris as well by a long and circuitous route. First I found that many relatives of the Rowntrees worked in Glasgow as engineers and architects. Then I searched the Rowntree family tree (nothing) and then the national archives for any influential family members/executives born in 1896. Only Harris fitted the bill - he was Marketing Director behind Aero, Kit Kat, Black magic and other brands from 1930s still used today so it seemed right. And he married into the family, but I could not find any evidence on line of him being born in Govan (or Ibrox or Glasgow generally).
ReplyDeleteHe has an entry in the Oxford DNB but I don't have a copy and you need a subscription to access online.
Very difficult to find any information on the second question, I found some sources which claim that GJ harris was born in Paisley road west in Govan but they are not what you could call reliable. I agree with you that from what little information is freely available on him, he could be a good fit for the answer....
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