IRA Broadgate Bomb 1939

Here's an aerial view of the cathedral and the rear of the council house. It shows St. Mary Street too which may help the previous post.

No problem Paul. On a similar subject you must have heard of Colin Jordan - the leader of the National Socialist Movement in the 60's. A shocking connection with Coventry as seen here when he married Francoise Dior - heir to the Dior Fortune in Coventry in 1963. Even more shocking are the Nazi salutes in the shadow on the Cathedral just 18 years after the war had ended A random BTW is that I work in Warwick literally a stone's throw from Enoch's grave - not everyone realises he is buried there. Edited by member, 22nd Oct 2018 6:01 pm

I remember seeing Colin Jordan. It was on 21/11/1974 and he was standing in Foleshill Rd, just by the old ambulance station. A small crowd had gathered to watch the IRA collecting what was left of their would be bomber James McDade who had blown himself to bits whilst planting a bomb at the telephone exchange. Some of those present sympathised with the IRA but others did not. They were all easily outnumbered by the police officers present. There was a certain amount of shouting, chanting and scuffles involving both sides but the hearse was able to leave without any real problems. Jordan stood back from this with a smile on his face. He was, in my opinion, nothing more than an anarchist. He did not support the ideals of the IRA nor those who opposed them, but what he was witnessing was public unrest and that suited his anarchistic views. Later the same day these events were overshadowed by the IRA setting off two bombs in Birmingham pubs which killed 21 people and injured 182. The blame for those terrible crimes rumble on through the courts to this day.

Thanks again for that video link. Never seen it before. Funnily enough just last week I was in an archive reading personal correspondence between Jordan and Dior (who was part of the famous Dior family, but ostracised) just after she had left him. The majority of Jordan's letters, in archives due to the covert work of Searchlight magazine no doubt, had a Swastika on the header. Paul Jackson has written about Jordan; https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/colin-jordan-and-britains-neo-nazi-movement-978147.... Like much academic lit, its currently a snip at £70ish.. Jordan founded the White Defence League, the NSM and eventually the BM, and lived for a long time in Tudor Avenue in Coventry. He pretty much left politics after being caught stealing three pairs of womens knickers from the Leamington branch of Tesco in 1974. (He was fined £30). Thank you Not Local, Its very interesting to know that he was at the funeral of McDade. I imagine he would have been very happy to see a failed operation by the IRA. They were a key enemy of the far-right, who also recruited widely in the Birmingham area from members with links to the UDA (they called for a national strike against the IRA, held a candelight procession through Brum, set up offices in Belfast, and still have links to the DFLA, with members of the Justice Campaign still speaking at their marches). I would dispute the idea that he was an anarchist, but he certainly was bats**t crazy, and undoubtedly a neo Nazi in every sense.

P Rae - Jordan was not at McDade's funeral because that was held somewhere in Ireland. He was just watching the collection of McDade's remains so they could be transported back to Ireland for the funeral. My opinion about Jordan and his cronies being anarchists is based on their apparent willingness to upset people across the whole spectrum of society from those with left wing views right through to those with right wing tendencies. I base my opinion on what I saw at the time. A few years later I saw them wind up unfortunate working class people who had lost their jobs when the steel industry collapsed in Corby. On the same day I also saw them winding up the ultra left agitators who had turned up just to confront the National Front. The result was the good people of Corby gave everyone who was not from Corby some very robust advice, and they left town. Is it true that Jordan was once a school teacher in Coventry? Edited by member, 22nd Oct 2018 9:41 pm

According to his Wikipedia entry, he taught at Stoke Secondary Modern.

I was working in Birmingham during the troubles of the 70s. I distinctly remembered when James McDade's' remains were being flown back to Ireland. I was driving back to Coventry along the A45, it was about 1700 hours, pitch dark, and the traffic was moving very slowly. There were hundreds of people, maybe thousands, lining the A45 near Birmingham Airport, and I have never witnessed such a heavy police presence, an officer every few yards. The day after the bombings in the centre of Birmingham, a youngish man, although older than I, turned up to work late - about 1100. He was ashen and still shaking. We sat him down in the boss's office and got him a hot tea. he had been out with his girlfriend on the other side of the road when an explosion occurred. The shock wave pushed a plate glass window into a shop, and took the pair of them with it simultaneously. They were uninjured, but badly shaken up, lucky to be alive.

I lived in Warwick 1981-1991 and saw and chatted with him on a few occasions in the pub he frequented, (favourite chair), during this time. It was the one on the corner virtually opposite the Royal Warwick's Museum. I've just 'Google Streetviewed' it, now as the 'Castle Limes Hotel' Edited by member, 23rd Oct 2018 11:42 am

mods - I did not realise he actually lived in or near Warwick in his later years. I have worked in Warwick for 25 years now. I understood that his dying wish was to be buried there from his service with the Royal Warwicks. Although looking at his Wikipedia entry he was born in Stechford which was then classed as Warwickshire (we all are still in my eyes!). There is a small Commonweath War Grave section in the cemetery where he is with a few other servicemen/women. As a slight aside as we've mentioned the IRA - I happened to be baptised by one Father Fell at All Souls in Earlsdon. A few years later he was arrested for being a leader of an IRA cell around Coventry.

I was there on the day although I didn't see Colin Jordan, not having a clue what he looked like anyway. Eggs were thrown at the hearse as it left and the guy playing the pipes on the Ambulance Station roof was identified as a worker from the Cov. Gauge & Tool, who could not go back to work and eventually was paid off. Incidentally, I was drinking in the Three Tuns when the Coventry bomb went off and McDade's accomplice was apprehended outside and locked in the cellar until police arrived after being 'roughed up'. It is a known fact that the intended target was the New Cathedral as a service was being held that night (November 14th) to commemorate the Blitz with members of all Armed & Civilian Forces in attendance. Apparently McDade was priming the device outside the Telephone Exchange when it exploded. Another known fact is that Nazi Germany had an 'agreement' with the IRA during WW2 and had been supplying weapons for an uprising in the north to cause civil unrest which never happened, so maybe Jordan had something similar on his mind that day! Don't forget that the IRA had been active in London and other cities prior to the Second World War including the Broadgate Bomb.

Wearethemods - I had forgotten about the egg throwing. I did know that the piper was identified and had to suffer the consequences once he returned to work. I was told that another McDade supporter was identified as a track worker at Massey Ferguson. The next day he had to be moved from the track because those working round him complained about the constant hail of tractor wheel nuts being thrown in his direction.

Which reminds me - my employer in Birmingham (Acocks Green) did a lot of work for the various Joseph Lucas factories around Birmingham. A man piping a lament for James McDade was on the evening televison news, and co-workers at one of the Lucas plants recognised him. They arrived at work early and strung up a noose from one of the roof trusses, lying in wait for the piper to turn up for work. Security and police had to intervene to thwart the planned revenge. I have no idea what the eventual outcome was.

And in my eyes too. Never met him, but can still picture him from the papers - thin, slightly-built, short black hair, glassses - quite a harmless looking chap.

Colin Jordan tried to copy Oswald Mosley but never succeeded, his party amounted to little. His British People's Party crumbled, Jordan and his party were never a threat or as powerful like Mosley's British Union of Fascists. Born in Brum, lived in Warwick, taught at Stoke School, he was small fry, that tried to act big, He chose Coventry to create trouble being the centre of the blitz. People should have ignored him.

Kaga - Your description of Jordan and his cronies is spot on. They were just small fry who tried to stir up trouble around the area. Generally people recognised them for what they were, and just ignored them. Occasionally they did go a bit too far, or they picked on the wrong people. In the early 60's they painted racist slogans on walls and bridges in Leamington Spa - the locals were not amused. In the late 70's they upset the big Scotsmen in Corby just at the time they been told that they were losing their jobs in the steel industry. These same men had moved to the new town of Corby only a few years before to escape unemployment in Scotland. The Corby people were adamant they would fight their own fight with the government of the day and they gave that message very robustly to Mr Jordan's lot, to those who had come only to oppose the right wing, and in fact to everybody who was not from Corby.