• Short Summary

    Stephen Warboys roller skates, cycles and plays tennis like a pro at seven years of age.

  • Description

    Highams Park, Essex.

    Various shots of seven-year-old Stephen Warboys skating around an outdoor roller skating rink in roller boots; his parents sit watching on a stripy sun lounger. Stephen does a small jump, skates backwards and comes to a halt - ta-da!

    Fade into M/S of Stephen getting on a bicycle; his father starts him off with a stopwatch, and we see the boy cycling round the concrete cycling track. Commentator informs us Stephen's father built the track for him around their tennis court; he also built the skating rink.

    M/S as Stephen gets off his bike and joins his father on the tennis court; various shots of the two playing tennis, including high angle L/S of the play.

    Note: print used for telecine transfer is quite badly scratched; neg is cut and impossible to synch up. On file is correspondence from Stephen's father, Jack Warboys detailing the boy's sporting achievements to date. Jack was also quite a sportsman, playing at Wimbledon four times and at the time of this film held the Veterans All England Championship.

  • Tags

  • Data

    Film ID:
    143.08
    Media URN:
    1765
    Group:
    Colour pictorials
    Archive:
    British Pathé
    Issue Date:
    26/06/1961
    Sound:
    Sound
    HD Format:
    Available on request
    Stock:
    Colour
    Duration:
    00:02:04:00
    Time in/Out:
    01:45:25:00 / 01:47:29:00
    Canister:
    CP 339

Comments (1)

  1. GarethJones says

    The Warboys house was off Warboys Cresent in HIghams Park E4, between Larkshall Rd and Coolgardie Avenue. As a child I lived around the corner and can just about recall the wooden gates that guarded the property. The houses built in the 1930s on Larkshall Rd that backed on to the property had no windows on the upper storey to prevent the Warboys family being overlooked.

    The estate was sold off and in the late 60s / early 70s and the site was developed to become the current Avril Way, Village Close and Greenwood Drive.

    Tottenham Hotspur's Jimmy Neighbour lived in a house on Avril Way when it was first built, recalling a time when top flight footballers earned a relatively modest amount, compared to today.

    x
    Report comment
    Report comment

We always welcome comments and more information about our films.
All posts are reactively checked. Libellous and abusive comments are forbidden.

Add your comment