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Ivan Stevenson's
Photographic Collection
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| Ivan is a much respected speedway historian, Newcastle fan and
collector. He was also Pits Marshall at Brough Park Newcastle for many years.
Ivan has decided to share some images of his photographic
collection with us on this page. Thank you very much Ivan. I
know you don't use the Internet so an even bigger thank you for sharing
some of your photos with fans on the net. Some of the photos are of
speedway's lesser lights which are unlikely to appear anywhere
else on the internet. |
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Tommy Landley
Harry Whitfield
Charlie May
1930 Coventry Riders
Alec Peel
Bert Gerrish & Dog!
Geoff
Wilson J Ward
Bert Round
Stan Dell Syd Griffiths
Ron Johnson
Roger Frogley
Arthur Buster Frogley
Stan Fairburn
George Lovick
Triss Sharp
Bryan Donkin
Bert Spencer
Norman Broadside Dawson
Frank Varey
Bill Clibbert
Dick Ince USA West Ham
1940s Cliff Parkinson |
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| Roger Wise |
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| Bristol Bulldogs 1947,1948,1951. Oxford 1951, Bristol 1952. |
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| This photo shows Roger apparently on
board a Royal Enfield. The Enfield company dabbled with
speedway way back around 1930 but this bike is not a speedway
bike. I think it was a Scrambler (That is motor cross to you
younger browsers!). Roger was probably an all-round
motorcyclist which would explain the photograph |
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Tommy
Landley
1928/1929 |
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Harry Whitfield |
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| Harry Whitfield, Salford Albion
1929, Middlesbrough 1928, Wembley 1929/1930/1934, Sheffield 1939,
Newcastle Magpies team manager 1949 |
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| Another picture of a
Douglas, this time from the other side, showing the gear change
bolted to the fuel tank. Early Machines of other makes did
have gears too, but when the JAP came along in approx 1931 they
had no gears and that became the norm for speedway bikes. |
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| Charlie May |
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| Charlie May
Wembley 1946/1947, Walthamstow 1950/1951, Cardiff 1951/1952,
Southampton 1956 |
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1930 Coventry Team |
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| Coventry team 1930 Tom Farndon, G
Allbrook, Wilmot Evans. All 3 riders mounted on Douglas
machines |
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Alec Peel
Norwich
1937
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| Alec Peel Norwich 1937, Middlesbrough
1929, Leeds 1931 aboard an early JAP machine |
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| Bert Gerrish,
Harringay 1929 |
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| Bert Gerrish Harringay 1929.
Dog Tracks have hosted Speedway as landlords at many stadiums over the years
but this is the first time I have seen a Dog on a speedway bike! |
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Geoff Wilson,
Halifax 1929 |
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| I am strangley drawn to mentioning
Geoff''s "Hitler Moustache!" but at least he was sporting the
'tache 10 years before the war. |
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J Ward
Belle Vue
1928 |
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| Jack Chapman Australia |
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| Jack Chapman Australia. 1930
Sheffield, 1930 Belle Vue, 1932 Stamford Bridge, 1933 Nottinghan,
1933 Harringay Tigers, 1934 Birmingham. |
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Bert
Round Barnsley 1929 |
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| John says: I could have removed the yellow
tinting but the photo looks great as it is, so why fix what isn't
broken! |
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| Stan Dell |
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Stan Dell West Ham
1934-1936, Hackney 1937, Nottingham 1938, Birmingham 1948. |
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| Syd Griffiths |
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| Syd Friffiths or Griffiths? Harringay 1934,1935,1936, Southampton
1937,1938 |
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Ron Johnson
New Cross
1
1934-1950 |
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Ron Johnson
New Cross
2
1934-1950 |
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| Ron Johnson New Cross 1934-1950. This action shot is a
candidate
for the best Speedway photo on the website. |
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Roger Frogley
Crystal Palace
1930-1931 |
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| Roger Frogley; Crystal Palace 1930-1931: Look at the hook over
the right thigh. This device was in use in the early days but
disappeared as the sport developed. If you know why it was
necessary then but not now please let me know.
John |
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Arthur "Buster" Frogley
Wembley
1929-1931 |
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| E Young |
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E Young: Do you know his full name, his team and year
the picture was taken?
John
I don't recognise
the engine, do you? It has two exhaust ports and a strange
looking cylinder head there is a lot of space between the rocker
cover and the lower fuel tank tube. Could be a Rudge as the
frame looks like a Rudge or maybe some other engine fitted into a
Rudge frame. |
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Stan Fairburn
Lea Bridge
1929-1930 |
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George Lovick
Crystal Palace |
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Triss Sharp
Crystal Palace |
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Bryan Donkin
Crystal Palace |
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| Bert Spencer |
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Norman "Broadside" Dawson
White City 1928 |
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| A great photo showing a Rudge machine with
the larger diameter wheels . This is Norman "Broadside" Dawson
at White City 1928. The Rudge battled it out with the flat twin
Douglas and the Harley Davidson Peashooter and eventually became
the bike to have until Tottenham's JAP came along in about 1931. |
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| Gordon Baxter
Crystal Palace |
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| Dickie Wise |
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Frank Varey
Belle Vue
1929-1939 |
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| The Red Devil |
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| Frank Varey Belle Vue 1929-1939 aboard his 500cc
watercooled Scott two
stroke. He was the bike makers main rider. Frank
may have been the only one who persisted after the others had
stopped using the Scott in favour of Douglas and Rudge. |
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| 1929 Bob Coll |
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| Bob Coll
1929 aboard a Douglas DT machine, the main choice of riders
around 1929. The Douglas was a longer wheelbase bike than the other speedway machines,
mainly the Rudge and the Harley Davidson. |
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| Bill Clibbett |
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| Bill Clibbett 1930 Portsmouth- 1932/33
Harringay- Wimbledon 1931- Plymouth 1933/34-Hackney Wicks
1936/37/38- Bristol 1939. Bill is sitting on a JAP which
made its first appearance as a speedway machine around 1930.
So this example would have been one of the first JAPS on the
speedway scene. |
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Oliver Hart
Outside
Bill Kitchen |
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| Oliver Hart outside leg trailing rider (Bradford
Odsal 1948) &
Bill
Kitchen (Wembley lions 1948) foot forward rider. Oliver
was a great exponent of the leg trailing method of cornering.
He was great to watch although not as successful as Bill |
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Billy Rushley Australia
On His Douglas |
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Dick Ince
USA 1930s |
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| Dick Ince
USA 1930's. The USA had two bikes the Harley Davidson
Peashooter and the Crocker but Dick appears to be mounted on
the British Jap in this picture. |
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Bob Jones
Swindon
1950's |
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| Bob Jones Swindon 1950's Not sure
about this picture it looks earlier than the 1950s. Both
bikes are old, The bike on the right is a Douglas circa 1929
ish. So maybe it was part of a historical show? |
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West Ham
Late
1940's |
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| West Ham late 40's Tommy Price
Wembley, Eric Williams Wembley, Eric Chitty West Ham, Reg
Fearman West Ham. Reg is a friend of mine and has sent
me many photos etc which are also shown on the website under
his name. He has spent his retirement days meeting up
with the speedway fraternity and snapping many a shot of
riders in their later years. Check out the Reg Fearman
pages via the links at the top of the right hand column |
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Reg Fearman says:
Nah John ! Not me. It is Tommy
Price, Freddie Williams, on the outside of him Cliff Watson
and Eric Chitty bringing up the rear. I remember it well.
Cheers, Reg PS Try me with another !!!! |
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| Cliff Parkinson |
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| Cliff Parkinson 1931 Wembley,
1935 Hackney Wick, 1934 Harringay Tigers, !933-1936 Wembley,
1937-38 Wembley, 1936 Nottingham, 1947 West Ham |
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| A big thank you to Ivan Stephenson.
He is a Newcastle man whose
collection of photos is awesome. I hope Ivan decides to
send me some more from his huge collection to show on this
page. He is always looking to swap some of his photos so
if you have similar pics and would like to arrange some swaps
with Ivan send me an email
John |
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| Ivan Stephenson has sent some me some more photo's which I am happy to display
below: - |
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| Hastings Not Hackney! |
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| This
is Hackney 1949 Jock Grierson and Ken Middleditch. The
bike is a Jap and look at the size of the wheels much bigger
diameter than modern machines. I think the bigger wheels were
replaced by smaller ones in the late 50's don't know why. |
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Colin Jewes says: The team shot
with riders wearing an ‘H’ race-jacket purporting to be
Hackney 1949 is actually HASTINGS of that year. Ken
Middleditch is 2nd from Rt, and 4th from Rt. is South African
Buddy Fuller. |
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Bob Andrews says: Hi John, the team
with the H on the front in the Ivan Stevensons photos (way
down the page.) 4th from left is Ron Clarke ( with
glasses) I met him in the 70s. here and his grandson did
sidecar racing here in N.Z. a few years ago Bob.
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| Charlie May |
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| Charlie May.. Wembley
1946 1947 Walthamstow 1949,50,51 - Cardiff
1951-1952 -Southampton 1956 |
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| 1929 Stamford Bridge |
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| Stamford bridge 1929. The start line looks busy by
modern starts. In 1929 speedway operated push starts.
I don't know why there are 5 riders in this race but all 5
riders have a trusted pusher behind them. |
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| 1929 Roger May |
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This was White City Manchester. Roger is
mounted on a Douglas DT. For the technical fans you will note the
engine sprocket which is attached by the final chain to the rear
wheel sprocket. The Douglas was a very different machine to the
bikes that came after it. Bikes in the Douglas era had massive wheels.
On the Dougie the wheels were set wide apart because of the layout
of its engine and the bike had a low centre
of gravity. Douglas riders found they had to trail their
left leg on the track as they cornered lower than the Harley,
Rudge and JAP. The JAP replaced the Douglas as the bike
to win races on by 1930/31
I like the car in the background it was probably
used to transport the Douglas to the next race meeting? |
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| Arthur
Westwood |
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| Arthur
Westwood 1929-1929 Hall Green Birningham-1929 West Ham-1931
Wimbledon Southampton Clapton Another Douglas rider.
1929 must have been ride a Douglas or get beaten. |
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George Lovick
Crystal Palace
1929 |
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| George Lovick Crystal Palace 1929. The tank
says it all "Douglas", no better bike in 1929. A pity that
the bike company didn't evolve and continue to make more
modern machines. Speedway would have been better with a
variety of makers. The Douglas made way for another
British Company JAP who went on into the 1930s as the main
bike maker for speedway until the late 1960's when the Czech
made ESO came along. |
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| These photos are the
property of Ivan Stevenson, Ivan is interested in swaps for
photos of pre-war pictures he would like. If you have pre-war
pics you would like to exchange then please let me know and I will put
you in touch with Ivan
John |
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| The contents of the site are © and should not be
reproduced elsewhere for financial gain. The contributors to this site
gave the pictures and information on that understanding. If anyone has
any issue or objections to any items on the site please
e-mail
and I will amend or remove the item. Where possible credit
has been given to the owner of each item. |
