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Blandford Mouth Organ Band & Other Amazing Facts

 

        Not a lot of people know that:

  •  Blandford was famous for its mouth organ band popular for its performances across Dorset.
  • A soldier facing a court martial at Blandford Camp in December 1953 refused to wear his army clothes in a cell. So military policemen forcibly dressed him to appear before his commanding officer. Upon returning to his cell he stripped off again.
  • In 1952, a man suffering from a loss of memory was given a newspaper to read in Blandford Hospital. Suddenly, he shouted, ‘that’s me’ and pointed to a report on the disappearance of  48 year-old, Harold Jarvis. Police checked and found he was right!
  • Most Reverend Dr Nevill, Bishop of Dunedin and Primate of New Zealand was married in Blandford in September 1906. His lordship was in his 70th year and his new and second wife, Rosalind Margaret Fynes-Clinton was aged only 30 years.
  • Blandfordia is a suburb on the southern side of the Australian capital, Canberra. 
  • A schoolboy was admitted into Blandford Hospital in Septrember 1977 after being attacked and bitten by a pike. He was helping a friend land the fish when it leapt and buried its jaws into his kneecap. Then, the pike jumped back into the river.
  • John Downton (21) from Blandford St Mary was sentenced in 1851 at Dorchester Assizes to be transported to Australia for 10 years for stealing a raincoat.
  • A Blandford man travelled to London in February 1948 to find a tattooist who could erase the picture of a girl on his arm. His wife had good reason for disliking the tattoo because it was a picture of the girl he had bigamously married during the war. She had told a probation officer, ‘If he had covered it up, I wouldn’t have so much reason to nag him!’
  • Blandfordia Nobilis is a flowering plant which can be found in New South Wales, Australia. It is also known as Christmas Bells because of the time of year when it comes into flower.

(Illustration: Blandford’s famous Mouth-Organ Band)

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