leyton.org

Over the last few days, I’ve been gathering together various articles that were written about my Grandfather, Paul Leyton, following his death in 1998. It’s been a plan of mine for some time, but the time just hasn’t presented itself until now.

My Grandfather was known as the Chief Rocket Development Engineer of Black Knight, part of Britains rocket programme, and a restaurateur at the Miners’ Arms in Priddy, Somerset, which was recommended by Egon Ronay and Raymond Postgate, and visited by a host of celebrities. In both he made national headlines. The Independent obituary is my particular favourite, written as it was by Julian Leyton, his youngest son.

In collating his obituaries, I have scanned in the original image, but also created PDF copies of the text as many of the scans are several Mb in size. See the main link for the PDF, and the (Scan) link for the image. The Independent (Scan); The Times (Scan); The Guardian (Scan pt1 Scan pt2); The Telegraph (Scan); The Western Daily Press. My Grandfather was a truly remarkable man, and he lead a life of such extraordinary variety. He had a formidable interest and intellect in everything he put his mind to, and became a nationally known character on several occasions, not least as he was the Chief Rocket Development Engineer of Black Knight, which boasted the most successful rocket launch rate, and briefly had Britain leading America in the space development race. So much so, in fact, that a cartoon of the time shows Harold Macmillan arriving in Washington in black knight attire to ask the Americans “Excuse me – want any help?”. The programme was heralded as remarkable for costing a mere £50m. Until it was confirmed a few days later that it had cost £5m. His resignation letter to the Times made front page news.

After a short period in industry, as director of engineering at Black & Decker, he finally wanted to “work for the only person I’ve never argued with”. He looked to buy a pub, and found the Miners’ Arms – actually a restaurant – in Priddy, Somerset. Visitors included Egon Ronay, Malcolm MacDowell, Anthony Hopkins, Kate Adie, and Lord Sieff of Brimpton and the Marquess of Bath, as well as a number of other well known people. He was a national authority on snails, introducing them onto the menu, and developing special feeds and processes for rearing them in large numbers. The Marquess of Bath was a regular customer, and my grandfather indulged his life-long passion for poetry and music by writing the “Lion Song”, stored in the Old Library at Longleat. Indeed, he even helped in the initial design for the fencing for the Lion enclosure at Longleat.

The Miners’ Arms was also at one point the smallest brewery in the country, and brewed the well known Own Ale. The picture features a picture of me, alongside my Grandfather and Grandmother, aged about 3 or 4, advertising Own Ale….

Beyond all of that of course, he was my Grandfather, and a truly remarkable one at that. Our holidays to their house (Leigh Cottage, on the Military Road, known to many as ‘the house with the windmill’) on the south west coast of Isle of Wight were special: A house of wonders, as there was no mains supplies, and Grandpa had wired and plumbed it up himself, generating his own electricity and pumping his own water.

In all of the obituaries I have made available, the Independent’s is the most evocative of my Grandfathers character. It was written by my Uncle Julian, his youngest son, and does a remarkable job, especially compared to the other professionally written obituaries.

Family was very important to my Grandfather, not least my Grandmother, Nancy. Throughout their life together she kept a diary, until Alzheimer’s disease cruelly took that from her. However, her diaries prove a remarkable insight into her life, and paint a picture of a devoted mother and grandmother living a remarkable life.

In putting much of this information together and available online, I’m hoping that much of it will be of interest to curious internet passers by. I’m also hoping that it may be useful to people doing any research into areas my Grandfather contributed to, not least the British rocket programme, but also his time as a renowned restaurateur. Finally, to the people who may have known him, and possibly search to find out more. In any case, please please e-mail me at richard@leyton.org, and I’ll be happy to provide more information, or pass on contact details to members of the Leyton family.

This entry was posted on Sunday, February 8th, 2004 at 12:54 pm and is filed under Personal, Thoughts. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.