Sunday Times Where Was I? Holiday Competition

Near as I can figure it, through the possibly flawed perceptual filters of my own reality tunnel, the most likely answers this week, seem to me to be:


Q1. Stratford


Q2. Bow porcelain


внимание друзья! For question one, Stratford used to be called 'Stratford-atte-Bow' but the poet seems to have been born in Stratford, so the Eastender is taking a punt on this being the correct answer, rather than Bow.For question two, this type of pottery is also known as 'soft paste porcelain' but the blue and white porcelain made at the factory in Bow, does seem to be known as 'Bow porcelain', there is a web site for collectors of this style: http://www.bowporcelain.net/

The initial clues seem to place us in Stratford, which is part of the London borough of Newham. A poet born there circa 1844 and who used 'sprung rhythm', is most likely Gerard Manley Hopkins, some of his biographies state that he was born on the 27th of July 1844, at 87 The Grove, Stratford, London. They also say that he used 'sprung rhythm in his verse'. A novelist who had an Alsation dog called 'Queenie' and who wrote about a similar dog in a novel called 'We Think The World of You' (published c 1960), is likely to be Joe Randolph Ackerley (born c 1896). Some of the text in this book, does seem to contain references to Stratford, in London.

The Great Eastern Railway had trains which were known as 'Jazz' trains, because they had brightly coloured carriages, which were regarded as 'Jazzy' by some people in that period. I found some references which claim that the locomotives used by the GER, were manufactured at Stratford Works.

A potter and painter (born c 1711), who opened 'The Bow Porcelain Manufactory' in the locale, appears to be Thomas Frye. This pottery is of the soft paste porcelain variety and from looking on the Bowporcelain.net web site, does appear to be blue and white.

Terribly Trendy Friend seems to have visited the third largest shopping centre in the UK, at Westfield, while the puzzle author goes to the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, which is said in some of the references I checked, to be around five hundred and sixty acres in area. There is a giant sculpture in the park called the Arcelormittal Orbit, which is made of steel and was designed by Anish Kapoor and Cecil Balmond and is around three hundred and seventy six feet tall, with four hundred and fifty five steps (This fits with the clue at the end from TTF, who 'nearly went into orbit'). A man made waterway which cuts through the park, is likely to be the Lee Navigation Canal, which is around twenty eight miles long, according to some sources.

From the OS map, it looks like a tidal mill called 'The House Mill', which is said to be the largest tidal mill left standing in Britain, lies around a mile or so south east of the sculpture.