On The Buses

As the song goes: "Maybe it's because I'm a Londoner that I love ..." London buses. I rode the number 12 to school every day when I was a young, school cap wearing lad (the public would report us to our headmaster if we were seen without a cap on our heads on a schoolday).

The number 12 plied a route from London's Oxford Circus down the Brighton Road to Croydon where I hopped on the old Routemasters.

So, not surprisingly, that old British TV show "On The Buses" kindles nostalgic memories of riding the red double deckers when I was a not-so-innocent young Cockney street kid. As you may be aware, the uncrowned star of the show, Reg Varney, passed away recently. What surprised me about his passing was his advanced age - he was 92.

In the TV show, Varney played the part of 35 year old bus driver Stan Butler. In fact he was 53 years old when the show first started. By contrast his nemesis, the much older looking inspector "Blakey" was played by actor Stephen Lewis who was, in real life, 20 years his junior.

The TV show was originally filmed in North London, but later when the production studios moved to South London, the new facility was too small to accommodate double decker buses. As a result, single decker buses with a plywood upper deck mock-up were employed.

Another interesting fact about the show was that seven of the thirteen episodes of the fourth series were filmed in black and white as a result of ITV's colour strike. Early in the 1970s, in support of a pay dispute, ITV technicians disabled the part of their cameras that produced colour information.

Other members of the cast are also no longer with us. Doris Hare, who played Stan's mum died in 2000 at the age of 95. Bob Grant, who played cheeky, philandering bus conductor Jack Harper, took his own life as a result of depression in 2003 aged 71. Michael Robbins who played the role of disgruntled husband Arthur Rudge died of cancer in 1992 aged 62.

The only survivors are Anna Karen (Olive Rudge) aged 68 and Stephen Lewis (Inspector Blake) aged 72 and, until recently, still working in the show "Last of the Summer Wine".