WILD AND TAMED
DAD
Henry Kenneth Wykeham Blood was born in 1917 in Johannesburg during the time South Africa had just taken control of its affairs after the Union days began in 1910. His father who was already 50 when Dad was born, had returned to South Africa from his native Staffordshire in England after fighting with the British Army during the Boer War (1899-1902)
He married an English girl; Mary living in SA
Dad was educated in Johannesburg for his initial formative years before returning with his parents to Thame in Oxfordshire in 1927. There he went to college & qualified a surveyor for road building.
Wykeham as he was called, served most of the war years in India & Burma as a sapper engineer. He was not all that keen to talk about the war years but did have some momentos of that conflict. Many of the subalterns were Sikh Indians who all carried the name Singh so they were known by their army number. Captain Blood's batman was number 64. They corresponded for a while after the war. Dad named a dog after him which I shall allude to further in this book.
Dad, before his transfer to Asia, had volunteered for the espionage assignment by the British army in Norway to destroy the heavy water plants that were being produced for Germany's proposed future nuclear project. He did not make the team as he became ill before the training began in Scotland. His replacement plus all the other saboteurs died on the mission. A film called The Heroes of Telemark was made about that very episode.
Sadly he contracted malaria & a form of minor skin cancer on his arms from his time in Asia which plagued him for the rest of his life.
After the war, Dad had an opportunity to go to Africa. He helped to build the road network in the developing nation of Northern Rhodesia. These were the roads to the new Kariba Dam... the massive hydro turbine project where the valley of the Zambezi River had been flooded. A diverse animal rescue operation was undertaken to save those beasts still in the valley called Operation Noah.
Dad bought some land near Lusaka which he developed into a farm & what would become my first home. Idle Acres was a wonderful home full of opportunities for a young boy to explore & be entertained. We farmed sheep, poultry, rabbits, crops & citrus. We were virtually self-sufficient in food. He designed sweeping lawns, and various trees of ever-reaching, ever-leafing type. We drilled for our own water; also using the unique Rhodesian boiler, had a rudimentary swimming pool, grass tennis court & a huge veranda.
...IN HIS YOUTH
HORSE REGIMENT...BOER WAR
FEDERATION OF NORTHERN RHODESIA
FARM IN N RHODESIA
MUM
Lambechta,Maria, Magereta, Josephina de Goede was born in s'Hertoghenbosch in the Netherlands in 1918.
Her father was a butcher & whilst still young the family, now growing in number, moved to Amsterdam. Eventually, there would be 13 children. Mum was the penultimate one. In fact by the time she was born the oldest brother was about to be married.
The family lived above the shop. Mum trained to be a nurse. During the war & under German occupation she said life was very difficult.
She later went to the Dutch East Indies, now Indonesia to work with the Dutch Red Cross. Again there was danger all the time with the Japanese occupying the country.
In 1950 she spent a year working in England, mainly the Isle of Weight. She toured the UK extensively.
In the early 50s, she & her mum took a trip to South Africa to visit a brother who had settled in Durban. After a while, she spent time in Johannesburg. And then traveled up to Lusaka in North Rhodesia where she found work in the Lusaka General Hospital. It was there that she met Dad who was visiting a friend. After a short courtship, they married in '55
They settled in at 'Idle Acres' It was soon discovered that they could not have children & so this is where I make an entrance into this story.
S - HERTOGENBOSCH
MUM ON WEDDING DAY
IN THE BEGINNING
I was born in August of 1958 or so it appears. Later in 1991 I was to find out all was not what it seemed.
Wykeham & Bep could not conceive so were on the lookout for a baby/child to adopt. My biological mother had become pregnant whilst living in or visiting South Africa. She hid her pregnancy & then traveled to be with a relative in Lusaka. She was admitted to the very same hospital Bep was working in before her delivery due date. Bep on finding out went & chatted with her.
I was later to find out her name was Anita Kate Read. They agreed that Anita would give up her baby to the Bloods.
The surprise to all of us was that I had a twin sister. In those days it was not easy to detect that fact. Dad & Mum did agree with Anita to take both of us. Anita went on to have 3 other children...marrying and settling in the USA. I have a half brother Colin & half sister Debra...she has children. I know nothing about my father. I have a half-brother with whom I am in touch. He lives in Kenton in Eastern Province in S Africa. Phillip was also born in N Rhodesia.
Although I have found out a bit more of a scattered family... living in different parts of the world. I have always seen myself as a combination of Rhodesian/Brit/Dutch plus whatever my biological parents were, so pedigree I am not.
LOOK THERE'S A CROC...GO AND SAY HELLO & COUNT ITS TEETH
IDLE ACRES
At 7 yrs old I was working the farm. We settled into Idle Acres which was to become my home for 11 years. Dad had put together a lovely property. I would spend endless hours exploring, getting into scrapes, getting bitten, stung through animal, bug & plant...yes plant... many poisonous ones. How I was never bitten by the many venomous snakes was purely God's protection. I encountered cobras, puff adders, mambas & others, either on the property or on my travels in the bush.
Mum would lay us out in the sun when we were babies every day to toughen us up. At age 6, I was given my own room. I was so proud. We had to be in bed by 7pm but I would creep out to the hallway & watch TV through a display cabinet reflection. Programs like The Man from Uncle, Bonanza & other imports. Only news from our local one channel station. Also it was in black/white.
We & a number of our friends contracted chicken pox & measles so we all ended up being quarantined at our home. Many a time we would spend on our large veranda with friends, especially during those typical African thunderstorms.
As Dad's & our birthdays were a day apart we would organize big gatherings with loads of visitors. Cars were parked all the way down the long drive. Mum was great in the kitchen making preserves & yogurt by hanging the curd bags to drain. We still had an old wood stove for the cooking.
Then there was the party line for the phone system. Different phones had different ring signals. Tina & I got into some serious trouble by listening in & making comments.
Had a family of very poisonous Boomslangs nest in the Bougainvillea creeper on the veranda. Dad suggested burning them out. Mum did not want to lose the creeper so it was weary days & using the back door for a few weeks...then they were gone...WHERE THOUGH!?
There was so much space & so many places to explore that I just never had enough time in a day to do all I wanted. Apart from all the crop fields, orchards & livestock, there was fishing, kite flying, swimming, swings, sand pits, rock climbing & all sorts of imaginary games. We had bikes without brakes simply using our feet' soles on the tyres. We were made of hardy stuff in those days.
Dad had put together a variety of workshops where he worked on all sorts of things including vehicles & animal pens which I loved to explore. We had a grey Morris Minor which had indicator arms...beware cyclists pulling up at a stop street
Around the district were small holdings & farms, working both crops & livestock. I had friends my age...Gerrit from the Boreman family & the Clark fam who had Russel & Linsy. We often went to Chillanga township where Mum played tennis & we swam, & enjoyed the Cement club's facilities. Mum & Dad had many friends from the Dutch & British communities so our social lives were pretty full. We enjoyed going to various cultural events with these communities.
Our neighbors were the Footes from Scotland. They were part of the Caledonian Society & hosted many a garden party for the British Embassy. The swirl of the Pipe band was often heard on a Sunday afternoon. The Hepburns were another British family nearby whom we would keep as friends in another country. Plus there were other expat friends in Lusaka.
WEDDING...2/7/1955...LUSAKA
MUM MADE THIS BANNER OF DUTCH NURSERY RYMNES...POESJE,POESJE NELLETJE,WAAR BEN JY TOG GEWEEST
FARMER RIC 7 YR OLD
LUSAKA
Lusaka's main street was called Cairo Rd. & it contained all the main stores. There was one cinema & I remember watching a film about England's World Cup Soccer success in 1966. The streets were broad & life was sedate.
There were many wholesale stores that Mum frequented. We loved going to town. There was also a drive-in cinema nearer our farm which we frequented often, taking friends & camping in front of the car, snacking on picnic food before falling asleep. Many a classic from the 60's was 1st seen at the drive in, including Ben Hur, Sound of Music,My Fair Lady.
I remember the 1st escalators came to our town in '68 at a South African newsagent chain CNA... we couldn't get enough of riding up & then down them.
PETS IN RHODESIA
My 1st pets’ were Dad's dogs Casey & Sloppy...lovely dogs.
We then got Jumpy & Tessy, great pals who we sadly had to leave on a farm in Mackenie, near Lusaka.
There were numerous cats, Punchy & Blackie being 2 of them.
JUM & TES
