The Blandford Express

Gordon Arnold Lonsdale was an apparently successful London based, Canadian businessman who had made his money by hiring out and selling jukeboxes, bubble gum and gambling machines. Another of his products, an electronic car locking device was awarded a gold award at an International Inventors’ Exhibition in Brussels. He was a stocky built man of medium height with a broad cheerful face and ‘very intelligent eyes. ’ On the 28 th June 1960, he had booked himself into the Crown Hotel in Blandford Forum. Yet, all was not what it seemed as Gordon Lonsdale was not his real name neither was he Canadian. His real name was Konon Trofimovich Molody and he was a 38 year old, Moscow born, Russian intelligence agent and master spy. He spoke excellent English with an American accent as he had lived for several years in the USA. Molody had stolen the identity of a dead man who had died in 1943. Purpose of his Blandford stay was later to meet two associates at a house in Meadow View Road, Weymouth...

In the 1700s, if you were looking to order a peruke or periwig then Blandford was most definitely the place to go. But what was a peruke or a periwig? Perukes and periwigs were an expensive fashion statement in the 18 th century. All members of the gentry, who were anybody, would delight in flaunting their latest acquisition. A visit to Richard Kerby’s barber shop in Salisbury Street, Blandford in 1790 would cast light on what perukes and periwigs were. Both were types of powdered wigs. As 18 th century Blandford was neither clean nor hygienic, the regular delousing of wigs was a lucrative sideline for hairdresser, Kerby. As a show of wealth, periwigs became larger, more ostentatious and bizarre. Consequently, they became more and more valuable so wig snatching from the heads of wearers became quite common. The fashion of wig wearing had begun in France with Louis XIV. As baldness was considered to indicate a lack of masculinity so to hide his follicle challenge, Louis appeared i...

  Maryland is a lost village which could be found on the west side of Brownsea Island in Poole Harbour. Originally the island had been called Branksea but apparently so many visitors got off trains at Branksome by mistake that later the island became better known as Brownsea. The lost village was named after the wife of its founder, Colonel William Petrie Waugh. The Edinburgh born Scot’s wife, Mary Murray Halloway-Carew was an amateur geologist. Apparently she was convinced after poking her parasol in the soil that the  island held clay suitable for making high quality pottery. Former Indian Army officer, Waugh had decided to buy the island for £13,000 as a money making scheme. It is said he had returned to England with little property of his own. The purchase was after he had been told by a geologist that Brownsea Island contained a ‘ valuable bed of the finest clay’ worth ‘ at least £10,000 an acre .’ As Waugh was a recently appointed director of the London & Eastern ...