Heroes & Villains, the Aston Villa fanzine

Heroes & Villains => Heroes Discussion => Topic started by: maidstonevillain on April 25, 2019, 07:37:22 AM

Title: Archibald Leitch
Post by: maidstonevillain on April 25, 2019, 07:37:22 AM
Died 80yrs ago today. Short Beeb article, although Villa references are a bit light, other than nice piccie of present Holte End.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-48028660
Title: Re: Archibald Leitch
Post by: Nev on April 25, 2019, 07:53:46 AM
For us football ground bores, this man is a Saint and his influence at our club should never be underestimated.

Part of the allure of our club, it's splendour, dignity and stature within the game not only came from events on the pitch but the magnificence of the Trinity Road Stand, in particular the frontage.
Title: Re: Archibald Leitch
Post by: maidstonevillain on April 25, 2019, 08:38:16 AM
Died 80yrs ago today. Short Beeb article, although Villa references are a bit light, other than nice piccie of present Holte End.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-48028660

If you follow the link on the Beeb article for the Simon Inglis book, the sample pages shown address Villa Park, although they don't appear to add much to the info given in the recent Villa park thread.

http://www.playedinbritain.co.uk/pdf/engineering-archie-140-141.pdf
Title: Re: Archibald Leitch
Post by: Chico Hamilton III on April 25, 2019, 08:44:04 AM
I've got Engineering Archie by Inglis. It's a masterpiece.

I think the book goes for silly money now as well
Title: Re: Archibald Leitch
Post by: TheMalandro on April 25, 2019, 08:47:12 AM
I've got Engineering Archie by Inglis. It's a masterpiece.

I think the book goes for silly money now as well

A book I let someone borrow, not seen it in five years.
Title: Re: Archibald Leitch
Post by: Andy_Lochhead_in_the_air on April 25, 2019, 09:50:54 AM
https://twitter.com/The_SimonInglis

@The_SimonInglis
 1h1 hour ago

"Archibald Leitch died April 25 1939. Buried East Sheen, London. His sole obituary was 2 lines in journal of the Institute of Mechanical Engineers, describing him as a consulting engineer and factory architect. No mention of football."

(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/D4-0YZfWwAE6YxN.jpg)

How many millions of people have must have wonderful moments etched in their memory banks against a Leitch inspired backdrop.
 
I think I read a story about Simon Inglis (Villa fan and THE authority on football grounds) flying across Europe and his wife asking what country they were over. "Germany" he replied, "right over Frankfurt" as he instantly identified the Eintracht stadium from 30,000 feet.


Title: Re: Archibald Leitch
Post by: Nev on April 25, 2019, 10:34:57 AM
https://twitter.com/The_SimonInglis

@The_SimonInglis
 1h1 hour ago

"Archibald Leitch died April 25 1939. Buried East Sheen, London. His sole obituary was 2 lines in journal of the Institute of Mechanical Engineers, describing him as a consulting engineer and factory architect. No mention of football."

(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/D4-0YZfWwAE6YxN.jpg)

How many millions of people have must have wonderful moments etched in their memory banks against a Leitch inspired backdrop.
 
I think I read a story about Simon Inglis (Villa fan and THE authority on football grounds) flying across Europe and his wife asking what country they were over. "Germany" he replied, "right over Frankfurt" as he instantly identified the Eintracht stadium from 30,000 feet.




Oh yes, whenever I'm flying I am looking out for football grounds, of any size, trying to indentify them. I bought Inglis' first book on football grounds when I was about 15, I couldn't believe there was anyone else as obsessed as I was about grounds. It remains a great interest, but I'm no groundhopper.
Title: Re: Archibald Leitch
Post by: Chico Hamilton III on April 25, 2019, 11:02:11 AM
I spent a fantastic evening many years ago above a pub in North London listening to Simon Inglis and Richard Whitehead talking about Villa and football grounds. A few others from here were there as well. Nerd heaven.
Title: Re: Archibald Leitch
Post by: Towser on April 25, 2019, 11:15:49 AM
(https://i.ibb.co/ZfFmnX8/5863197-450-450-73045-0-fit-0-d30cdd7ebd31f2a3f8f1cdc677c826f8.jpg) (https://ibb.co/ZfFmnX8)

(https://i.ibb.co/znR7BwD/DKqz9fn-Xc-AA2u-De.jpg) (https://ibb.co/znR7BwD)
Title: Re: Archibald Leitch
Post by: Andy_Lochhead_in_the_air on April 25, 2019, 12:20:57 PM
(https://i.ibb.co/ZfFmnX8/5863197-450-450-73045-0-fit-0-d30cdd7ebd31f2a3f8f1cdc677c826f8.jpg) (https://ibb.co/ZfFmnX8)

(https://i.ibb.co/znR7BwD/DKqz9fn-Xc-AA2u-De.jpg) (https://ibb.co/znR7BwD)


I've had that top picture framed and on my lounge wall for about the last 15 years.
Title: Re: Archibald Leitch
Post by: purpletrousers on April 25, 2019, 12:45:37 PM
I spent a fantastic evening many years ago above a pub in North London listening to Simon Inglis and Richard Whitehead talking about Villa and football grounds. A few others from here were there as well. Nerd heaven.

It was a great evening wasn’t it. I’ve often wondered if we could do this again?
Title: Re: Archibald Leitch
Post by: dave shelley on April 25, 2019, 12:55:15 PM
https://twitter.com/The_SimonInglis

@The_SimonInglis
 1h1 hour ago

"Archibald Leitch died April 25 1939. Buried East Sheen, London. His sole obituary was 2 lines in journal of the Institute of Mechanical Engineers, describing him as a consulting engineer and factory architect. No mention of football."

(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/D4-0YZfWwAE6YxN.jpg)

How many millions of people have must have wonderful moments etched in their memory banks against a Leitch inspired backdrop.
 
I think I read a story about Simon Inglis (Villa fan and THE authority on football grounds) flying across Europe and his wife asking what country they were over. "Germany" he replied, "right over Frankfurt" as he instantly identified the Eintracht stadium from 30,000 feet.




Oh yes, whenever I'm flying I am looking out for football grounds, of any size, trying to indentify them. I bought Inglis' first book on football grounds when I was about 15, I couldn't believe there was anyone else as obsessed as I was about grounds. It remains a great interest, but I'm no groundhopper.

I'm exactly the same.  Wherever I go I'm always on the lookout for football grounds, I love to chalk a new one off the list.  Spotting them from the air is a great way to pass a few minutes when coming in to land.  Coming in to Heathrow you get some great views, Brentford especially.
Title: Re: Archibald Leitch
Post by: maidstonevillain on April 25, 2019, 01:14:39 PM
https://twitter.com/The_SimonInglis

@The_SimonInglis
 1h1 hour ago

"Archibald Leitch died April 25 1939. Buried East Sheen, London. His sole obituary was 2 lines in journal of the Institute of Mechanical Engineers, describing him as a consulting engineer and factory architect. No mention of football."

(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/D4-0YZfWwAE6YxN.jpg)

How many millions of people have must have wonderful moments etched in their memory banks against a Leitch inspired backdrop.
 
I think I read a story about Simon Inglis (Villa fan and THE authority on football grounds) flying across Europe and his wife asking what country they were over. "Germany" he replied, "right over Frankfurt" as he instantly identified the Eintracht stadium from 30,000 feet.




Oh yes, whenever I'm flying I am looking out for football grounds, of any size, trying to indentify them. I bought Inglis' first book on football grounds when I was about 15, I couldn't believe there was anyone else as obsessed as I was about grounds. It remains a great interest, but I'm no groundhopper.

I'm exactly the same.  Wherever I go I'm always on the lookout for football grounds, I love to chalk a new one off the list.  Spotting them from the air is a great way to pass a few minutes when coming in to land.  Coming in to Heathrow you get some great views, Brentford especially.

And Craven Cottage  often.
Title: Re: Archibald Leitch
Post by: Damo70 on April 25, 2019, 01:21:43 PM
https://twitter.com/The_SimonInglis

@The_SimonInglis
 1h1 hour ago

"Archibald Leitch died April 25 1939. Buried East Sheen, London. His sole obituary was 2 lines in journal of the Institute of Mechanical Engineers, describing him as a consulting engineer and factory architect. No mention of football."

(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/D4-0YZfWwAE6YxN.jpg)

How many millions of people have must have wonderful moments etched in their memory banks against a Leitch inspired backdrop.
 
I think I read a story about Simon Inglis (Villa fan and THE authority on football grounds) flying across Europe and his wife asking what country they were over. "Germany" he replied, "right over Frankfurt" as he instantly identified the Eintracht stadium from 30,000 feet.




Oh yes, whenever I'm flying I am looking out for football grounds, of any size, trying to indentify them. I bought Inglis' first book on football grounds when I was about 15, I couldn't believe there was anyone else as obsessed as I was about grounds. It remains a great interest, but I'm no groundhopper.

I'm exactly the same.  Wherever I go I'm always on the lookout for football grounds, I love to chalk a new one off the list.  Spotting them from the air is a great way to pass a few minutes when coming in to land.  Coming in to Heathrow you get some great views, Brentford especially.


I remember being on holiday in Switzerland with my parents as a kid and the groundsman at Neuchatel Xamax let me have a kickabout on the pitch.
Title: Re: Archibald Leitch
Post by: Andy_Lochhead_in_the_air on April 25, 2019, 02:33:28 PM
I remember being on holiday in Switzerland with my parents as a kid and the groundsman at Neuchatel Xamax let me have a kickabout on the pitch.

We climbed over a fence and had a kickabout on the abandoned Bradford Park Avenue pitch. Pretty sure it was before going to watch us win 4-2 at Bradford City in 1987.

Title: Re: Archibald Leitch
Post by: hipkiss92 on April 25, 2019, 05:45:38 PM
https://twitter.com/The_SimonInglis

@The_SimonInglis
 1h1 hour ago

"Archibald Leitch died April 25 1939. Buried East Sheen, London. His sole obituary was 2 lines in journal of the Institute of Mechanical Engineers, describing him as a consulting engineer and factory architect. No mention of football."

(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/D4-0YZfWwAE6YxN.jpg)

How many millions of people have must have wonderful moments etched in their memory banks against a Leitch inspired backdrop.
 
I think I read a story about Simon Inglis (Villa fan and THE authority on football grounds) flying across Europe and his wife asking what country they were over. "Germany" he replied, "right over Frankfurt" as he instantly identified the Eintracht stadium from 30,000 feet.




Oh yes, whenever I'm flying I am looking out for football grounds, of any size, trying to indentify them. I bought Inglis' first book on football grounds when I was about 15, I couldn't believe there was anyone else as obsessed as I was about grounds. It remains a great interest, but I'm no groundhopper.

I'm exactly the same.  Wherever I go I'm always on the lookout for football grounds, I love to chalk a new one off the list.  Spotting them from the air is a great way to pass a few minutes when coming in to land.  Coming in to Heathrow you get some great views, Brentford especially.

Flying back from the Canary Islands to Stansted last year provided great views of Craven Cottage, the Oval and Lord's.
Title: Re: Archibald Leitch
Post by: exigo on April 25, 2019, 07:26:13 PM
(https://i.ibb.co/ZfFmnX8/5863197-450-450-73045-0-fit-0-d30cdd7ebd31f2a3f8f1cdc677c826f8.jpg) (https://ibb.co/ZfFmnX8)

(https://i.ibb.co/znR7BwD/DKqz9fn-Xc-AA2u-De.jpg) (https://ibb.co/znR7BwD)


I did a quick colourisation job on that top shot ages back. Shame I haven't got a higher res version to play with.
(https://i.ibb.co/k3Wzh7c/Villa-Park60s.png) (https://ibb.co/k3Wzh7c)
Title: Re: Archibald Leitch
Post by: Somniloquism on April 25, 2019, 10:04:01 PM
Died 80yrs ago today. Short Beeb article, although Villa references are a bit light, other than nice piccie of present Holte End.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-48028660

I don't blame Inglis as he would have definitely talked about the Holte and it's legendary size for the time (assuming it was an actual interview and not just parts of the book), but they decide to picture the new Holte which has not anything to do with him and not mention anything at all about one of the "grandest stands of all time" in the Trinity. But they show Liverpool's poor in comparison Gable and then turn it into a Spurs lovefest at the end. Bloody BBC.
Title: Re: Archibald Leitch
Post by: Nelly on April 26, 2019, 08:45:14 AM
(https://i.ibb.co/ZfFmnX8/5863197-450-450-73045-0-fit-0-d30cdd7ebd31f2a3f8f1cdc677c826f8.jpg) (https://ibb.co/ZfFmnX8)

(https://i.ibb.co/znR7BwD/DKqz9fn-Xc-AA2u-De.jpg) (https://ibb.co/znR7BwD)


I did a quick colourisation job on that top shot ages back. Shame I haven't got a higher res version to play with.
(https://i.ibb.co/k3Wzh7c/Villa-Park60s.png) (https://ibb.co/k3Wzh7c)


Gorgeous! Thank you so much for this. Really helps bring it to life!
Title: Re: Archibald Leitch
Post by: brian green on April 26, 2019, 09:03:49 AM
I was thinking about Archibald Leitch and historic old stadiums as I watched Citeh rinse Yanited on Sky two nights ago.  All around the dug out and anywhere the TV might focus there are large painted plywood Man U crests fixed to plain brick walls.  You get the feeling that when that club achieve their ultimate destiny and become Coca Cola Devils the plywood logos can be replaced and the outfit rebranded overnight.

Time was when Archibald had the illustrious names of the clubs built into there homes.

The BBC in its tribute to Leitch damned the great man with the faint praise of his only obituary describing him as a "factory architect" completely missing the point that the greatest architects of the 19th and 20th centuries were factory architects including Walter Gropius, Mies Van Der Rohe, Le Corbusier and Buckminster Fuller.
Title: Re: Archibald Leitch
Post by: darren woolley on April 26, 2019, 10:21:50 AM
I've got Engineering Archie by Inglis. It's a masterpiece.

I think the book goes for silly money now as well

Me too I have it in my collection.
Title: Re: Archibald Leitch
Post by: cheltenhamlion on April 26, 2019, 10:32:36 AM
I've got Engineering Archie by Inglis. It's a masterpiece.

I think the book goes for silly money now as well

Me too I have it in my collection.

Darren robbed it!
Title: Re: Archibald Leitch
Post by: darren woolley on April 26, 2019, 12:07:00 PM
I've got Engineering Archie by Inglis. It's a masterpiece.

I think the book goes for silly money now as well

Me too I have it in my collection.

Darren robbed it!

LOL
Title: Re: Archibald Leitch
Post by: dave.woodhall on April 26, 2019, 12:11:29 PM
I've got Engineering Archie by Inglis. It's a masterpiece.

I think the book goes for silly money now as well

Me too I have it in my collection.

Darren robbed it!

And sold it to finance his habit.
Title: Re: Archibald Leitch
Post by: LeeB on April 26, 2019, 05:47:21 PM
I've got Engineering Archie by Inglis. It's a masterpiece.

I think the book goes for silly money now as well

Me too I have it in my collection.

Darren robbed it!

And sold it to finance his habit.

I didn't know he was a nun.
Title: Re: Archibald Leitch
Post by: Clark W Griswold on April 27, 2019, 09:18:17 AM
Well, that's me educated. I thought you were on about John Cleese's character in 'A fish called Wanda'.
Title: Re: Archibald Leitch
Post by: curiousorange on April 27, 2019, 09:34:29 AM
I know times change and all that, but while everyone was banging on about Spuds' new enormo-dome I was thinking about how cold those places leave me. Aside from the obvious beauty of the Holte, there's a strange aesthetic quality to a ground where the stands don't match. VP isn't as nice looking as maybe it was but it's a unique home all the same. Me and the new missus have just been to Munich and I dragged her to the Allianz and the Olympiastadion. We saw the Allianz lit red as we came in from the airport and it looked incredible, but close up it's nothing special really, whereas the Olympiastadion still looks mint. Completely one of a kind.
Title: Re: Archibald Leitch
Post by: brian green on April 27, 2019, 12:42:33 PM
It's called architecture curious.  And that is not having a pop it is defence of an art form.  There are new stadiums being built that are as relevant to art as Archibald Leitch's Trinity Stand was.  It encapsulated the brash, swaggering, self aggrandisement of the age in which it was built.  It was a masterpiece of architecture, urban renaissance and social history.  Now it is somewhere in a sealed off landfill site under Chelmsley Wood.  There are new stadiums blazing a trail in social relevance.  I used to go to games at Cannes.  Their then new stadium was absolutely, unashamedly, proudly part of a huge industrial estate.  Archie Leitch would love it.
Title: Re: Archibald Leitch
Post by: Chico Hamilton III on April 27, 2019, 02:04:20 PM
Well, that's me educated. I thought you were on about John Cleese's character in 'A fish called Wanda'.

Or Cary Grant
Title: Re: Archibald Leitch
Post by: jon collett on April 28, 2019, 07:16:52 PM
I spent a fantastic evening many years ago above a pub in North London listening to Simon Inglis and Richard Whitehead talking about Villa and football grounds. A few others from here were there as well. Nerd heaven.

I chaired that meeting.

Think it was at the North Star on Finchley Road. Early 2000s
Title: Re: Archibald Leitch
Post by: Pat McMahon on April 28, 2019, 11:14:35 PM
I spent a fantastic evening many years ago above a pub in North London listening to Simon Inglis and Richard Whitehead talking about Villa and football grounds. A few others from here were there as well. Nerd heaven.

I chaired that meeting.

Think it was at the North Star on Finchley Road. Early 2000s
I spent a fantastic evening many years ago above a pub in North London listening to Simon Inglis and Richard Whitehead talking about Villa and football grounds. A few others from here were there as well. Nerd heaven.

I chaired that meeting.

Think it was at the North Star on Finchley Road. Early 2000s

It was indeed. I shared the tube journey with Richard Whitehead after the Literary Lions night and I recall it was a week or so before the 3-1 win at Southampton on a Monday night in September 2001
Title: Re: Archibald Leitch
Post by: brentastonb6 on April 29, 2019, 02:35:06 AM
(https://i.ibb.co/ZfFmnX8/5863197-450-450-73045-0-fit-0-d30cdd7ebd31f2a3f8f1cdc677c826f8.jpg) (https://ibb.co/ZfFmnX8)

(https://i.ibb.co/znR7BwD/DKqz9fn-Xc-AA2u-De.jpg) (https://ibb.co/znR7BwD)


I've had that top picture framed and on my lounge wall for about the last 15 years.

Wow that picture is magnificent, always loved the old pictures of Villa Park , and I hate what Doug Ellis allowed to happen to the Trinity Road Stand . How can you get a copy of it please ?
Title: Re: Archibald Leitch
Post by: Andy_Lochhead_in_the_air on April 29, 2019, 04:47:24 PM
(https://i.ibb.co/ZfFmnX8/5863197-450-450-73045-0-fit-0-d30cdd7ebd31f2a3f8f1cdc677c826f8.jpg) (https://ibb.co/ZfFmnX8)

(https://i.ibb.co/znR7BwD/DKqz9fn-Xc-AA2u-De.jpg) (https://ibb.co/znR7BwD)


I've had that top picture framed and on my lounge wall for about the last 15 years.

Wow that picture is magnificent, always loved the old pictures of Villa Park , and I hate what Doug Ellis allowed to happen to the Trinity Road Stand . How can you get a copy of it please ?

I picked mine up at a car boot. There must be places on the internet selling these photos.
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