Interlude - Two Tales

When travelling through distant places sometimes you come across curious and amazing stories. Thus, as a short interlude from wildlife and wild places in South Australia, here are two tales from the City of Adelaide, relating to people and events of which Adeladians are very proud, justifiably so.



Yeah, Yeah, Yeah...

If you happen to be walking towards the Town Hall in the City of Adelaide, your eye might be caught by a flicker from the balcony over the Town Hall's entrance, first image below. You may stop and stare, and look again in some bewilderment because gazing down at you are The Beatles, yes, The Beatles, the most famous pop group in history are looking down at you and waving. Well, of course what is there is not actually the real living Beatles, but a perspex mounted more or less life size group photograph. You have stumbled across one of Adelaide's most famous and enduring tourist attractions - the commemoration of the visit to the City in June 1964 of The Beatles. The was some considerable Beatle Mania, and the group attracted a crowd of 300,000, then half the population of Adelaide, to their appearance on this very balcony. Here is a link to the  events and I urge you watch the video at the very least, and to read the text, if you have the time, that describes the occasion. 

www.adelaidenow.com.au/lifesty…





Adelaide is very proud to have been a part of the history of The Beatles, even now 50 plus years on. If you go inside the Town Hall you can go up to the balcony and see the Guys for yourself, and there is a poster of them as well, second image...look carefully! There's John ,Paul, George, and R.... Oh! That's not Ringo, is it? I nodded knowingly to my wife and said, "Must be Pete Best - before Ringo's time." Everybody knows Pete Best was the drummer before Ringo Starr, don't they? However, such hubris deserves puncturing - I was wrong - that is not Pete Best, but does anyone know who it is?





The tour of the Beatles that was scheduled to take in Australia including Adelaide had got off to a bad start. Ringo Starr, the drummer, was taken ill on the eve of departure with severe tonsillitis and pharyngitis. He was admitted to hospital. Rather than cancel the tour, the organisers brought in a session drummer called Jimmie Nicol who at this short notice flew out with The Beatles and performed with them for 13 days on tour before Ringo was able to rejoin the Group. It is Jimmie Nicol who is pictured in the exhibits. Jimmie Nicol was not just any old session player. He was a talented musician who used the same drumming style as Ringo and who had played as the drummer with another great group of the time Georgie Fame and the Blue Flames. After his stint, Jimmie flew home, and was, in effect, never heard of again. However, if you follow the links below, some enterprising folk have tried to track him down and some of his subsequent life is now known - well worth checking these out. But no one knows for sure whether he is alive or dead!

www.beatlesbible.com/people/ji…

daytrippin.com/2013/02/24/what…





From Humble Beginnings

If you wander down just about any street in the City of Adelaide you will see a curious sign on many buildings. In bold blue-on-white the word "Polities" exclaims its presence on the side of building after building. When we first saw this, we hadn't a clue as to its meaning. At first, I mistook it for "Police", and thought the residents must be an unholy bunch to have so many police stations. Next, I thought it must be a sign for a chain of shops, like Sainsbury's or Tesco (in the UK), but there seemed to be few premises with the sign that were shops. As we were walking through a pub and club area at the time, I had the notion that they were signs to pubs or clubs, or other places of possibly carnal entertainment. But, no that didn't pan out either. 



Google is a marvelous source of information, and so back at our hotel I looked up "Polities" and discovered that it is the name of a man, Constantine George Polities (1919 - 2001), who rose from being a humble farmhand as a youth to being a property tycoon owning hundreds of properties throughout Adelaide, all with the characteristic blue-on-white sign. Here are two links with neat summaries of the life of Con Polities:

blog.adonline.id.au/polites/  and www.adelaidenow.com.au/news/so…

The question arises, however, as to why he felt he had to adorn each building he owned with a sign. Here is an extract from the first link giving his alleged reply:

"In 1992, Con Polites told The Advertiser that he had always wanted to have his name up in lights, but that it was not an ego thing. “It’s to do with a feeling of satisfaction that one has achieved success…I just feel proud that I have achieved these things…And you let people know that you are around. That’s all” he was quoted as saying.""

And from the second link:

"Mr Polites explained that the signs he hung from buildings were not to advertise his wealth but show Australians that Greek migrants were friendly and happy to be part of the community."

Hmmm...The accounts make clear that as well as being a very astute business man who amassed a fortune, Con Polities was an all round good guy, a philanthropist who brought prosperity to the City of Adelaide, and someone who lent a hand to those in need. I know no different, but I suspect that there is a much simpler explanation of the signs: simple advertising. Other property developers do it, although maybe not in such a flamboyant style; chains of shops do it; the birds and the bees do it (no, that's something different), but you know what I mean - simple advertising to show the extent of his empire. But, so what? "Polities" is Adeladian for Success!

Cheers

David  aka

CSS Journal Coded by FleX177 editted byOkavanga