22. “Fruit Trees Turned into Modern Furniture”, Sheerness Times Guardian, 9 February, 1963, p. 3
23. “Another Firm for Sheerness”, STG, 23 June 1961, p. 5
24. Noel Jordan, Letter to Ernest Race, 14 August 1945. Quoted in Hazel Conway, Ernest Race, London: Design Council, 1982
25. Ibid., p. 26
26. Ibid., p. 45
27. “Race’s Open New Factory”, Sheerness Times Guardian, 5 April 1962, p. 2
28. “Navy Yard Workers Now Make Race Furniture at Sheerness”, Bedding, Upholstery & Furniture, May 1962
29. “Fruit Trees for Furniture”, Furniture Record, February 1962
30. Gustaaf Johannes Renier, The English: Are They Human? London: Williams & Norgate, 1931
31. “Navy Yard Workers Now Make Race Furniture at Sheerness”
32. Ernest Race, p. 66.
33. Ibid., p. 67
34. Gemma Joanna Mansi, Socio-Historical Perspectives on Young Fatherhood: Exploration of Social Change on the Isle of Sheppey, PhD dissertation, University of Greenwich, September 2013, p. 144.
35. Ernest Race, p. 66
36. The Guardian, 7 February 1962
37. Richard Carr, “The Award Winners Speak Out”, Design Journal 1966, pp. 72–3
38. Uwe Johnson, “You see, Charles?”, Letter to Walter Kempowski, 27 October 1980, Inselgeschichten, pp. 123–4
39. “Furniture by Charles Eames at the Museum of Modern Art”, press release 27, April 17 1973, p. 3
Part IV. Culture: Three Island Encounters
20. All Praise to the Sheerness Times Guardian
1. “‘An Unacknowledged Humorist’”, p. 401
2. Uwe Johnson, A Trip to Klagenfurt: In the Footsteps of Ingeborg Bachmann [1974] (trans. Damion Searls) Evanston: Northwest University Press, 2004, p. 4
3. Ibid., p. 26.
4. Anniversaries I, p. 63.
5. Ibid., p. 62
6. Anniversaries II, p. 445
7. Anniversaries I, p. 143
8. Anniversaries II, p. 441
9. Anniversaries I, p. 62
10. Anniversaries II, p. 525
11. Anniversaries I, p. 61
12. Ibid., p. 63
13. Anniversaries II, p. 443
14. Anniversaries I, p. 63
15. Uwe Johnson, Letter to Max Frisch, 18 December 1974, Inselgeschichten, p. 64
16. Uwe Johnson, Letter to Helen Wolff, 6 March 1979, Inselgeschichten, p. 141
17. “Auf der Suche nach ‘Inselgeschichten’”, p. 178
18. The Structural Transformation of the Public Sphere
19. “Sheerness County Court”, Kentish Gazette, 23 April, 1861, p. 6
20. “Vice Chancellor’s Court”, East Kent Gazette, 26 December 1863, p. 5
21. “Sheerness Police Court”, East Kent Gazette, 6 March 1869, p. 5
22. “The Alleged Libel at Sheerness”, Maidstone Journal and Kentish Advertiser, 29 July 1872, p. 8
23. Walter Cole, “Reminiscences of the ‘Sheerness Times’”, Sheerness Times Guardian, 2 Febuary 1962, p. 4
24. Uwe Johnson, Letter to Burgel Zeeh, Inselgeschichten, p. 153
25. Uwe Johnson, Letter to Christa Wolf, 11 February 1983, Inselgeschichten, p. 154
26. Sheerness Times Guardian, 27 February 1976, p. 14
27. “I Want to be Loved — Rape Charge Man”, Sheerness Times Guardian, 16 January 1976, p. 1
28. “Island Gymslip Mother’s Scandal”, Sheerness Times Guardian, 8 August 1975, p. 1
29. “500 Lose Jobs at Steelworks”, Birmingham Evening Post, 17 August 1974, p. 3
30. “The Siege of Sheerness Steel”, Sheerness Times Guardian, 20 Febuary 1980, p. 3
31. See the advertisement placed in the Central Somerset Gazette, 6 March 1980, p. 10
32. “Nurses in Revolt over Working Conditions”, Sheerness Times Guardian, 22 August 1975, p. 12
33. Inselgeschichten, p. 153
34. In fact, the Sheppey NUT association was nervous of this decision and eventually withdrew it on the grounds that the goodwill of its members had been taken too much for granted. By that time, however, the school had already decided not to leave the children locked out during the lunch break (Sheerness Times Guardian, 10 March 1978).
35. Ibid.
36. “With Faith in Mind”, Sheerness Times Guardian, 9 September 1983, p. 4
37. “With Faith in Mind”, Sheerness Times Guardian, 7 October 1983, p. 4
38. Rev. R.J. Cockrell, “With Faith in Mind”, Sheerness Times Guardian, 28 October 1983, p. 4
39. Uwe Johnson, Letter to Christa Wolf, 11 February 1983, Insel-Geschichten, p. 154
40. Sheerness Times Guardian, 15 August 1975, p. 40. Sheerness Times Guardian, 22 August 1975, p. 12
41. “Your Zulus are Wonderful”, Sheerness Times Guardian, 1 July 1977, p. 4.
42. “Carnival Crowds invade Sheppey”, East Kent Gazette, 26 August 1960, p. 1
43. “Zulus Fight for Territory”, Sheerness Times Guardian, 29 July 1977, p. 2
44. Uwe Johnson to Helen Wolff/Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 6 August 1979, Uwe Johnson-Archiv, University of Rostock, UJA/H/15246.
45. The “Sheppey Zulus” would survive considerably longer than the blackface performances of the enormously popular Black and White Minstrel Show, dropped from British television in 1978, and longer even than the “golly”, removed from Robertson’s jam jars in 2001. By the second decade of the twenty-first century, however, numbers were dwindling, funds were short, and the embattled “Zulus” were up against it on two further fronts. Their performances were increasingly constrained by “Health and Safety” regulations, which are said to have made it impossible for the “Zulus” to brandish their spears with customary vigour, or even to walk in the road without wearing High Viz jackets. Objections were also raised by people, including some islanders, who argued that the time for such egregiously racist displays was long gone. This would please the Conservative press, which reported on the challenges that eventually brought about the disbandment of the Sheppey Zulus in 2015. On 14 November 2015, the Daily Telegraph blamed “political correctness” combined with a “ferocious social media backlash”. Some would express lingering regrets, including “grandmother Maggie Bowry”, who on 13 September 2017 told the Sun it was “a crying shame” to see the end of “part of the island’s heritage”. There is, at the time of writing, still a Facebook page dedicated to the revival of the “Zulus” but volunteers appear to remain in short supply and news of the promised relaunch has not, so far as I know, been forthcoming.
46. “Mailbag Found on Beach at Sheerness”, Sheerness Times Guardian, 6 September 1963, p. 1
47. “Large Drugs Haul from Banana Boat”, Sheerness Times Guardian, 12 August 1977, p. 1
48. Boaden was planning to launch a new business in Blue Town, making fibreglass boats, garages and doors, and doing repairs too. See “Maori Tribesman Starts New Sheppey Business”, Sheerness Times Guardian, 22 January 1960, p. 2
49. “John’s Lonely Blue Town House Gets a Close Shave”, Sheerness Times Guardian, 2 May 1975, p. 8
50. “Exile barber who fled from Reds”, Sheerness Times Guardian, 12 Feb 1960, p. 4
51. “Italian Attacked Policeman, Court Told”, Sheerness Times Guardian, 2 May 1975, p. 1
52. “Resistance Memories Flood Back for Exiled Yugoslav”, Sheerness Times Guardian, 15 November 1974, p. 12
53. George Bilainkin, “Frayed Temper May Endanger the World”, interview with Bertrand Russell, printed in the Yorkshire Observer, 11 October 1956 and republished in Bertrand Russell and Andrew Bone, The Collected Papers of Bertrand Russell, Volume 29: Détente or Destruction, 1955–57, London: Routledge 2005, p. 353
54. “Father Fails in Appeal Against ‘No Access to Daughter’ Order”, Harrow Observer, 25 December 1958, p. 7
55. “500 Told: Clean Up Stations”, Birmingham Daily Gazette, 18 May 1950, p. 5
56. “Author’s Friendship with Makarios”, Sheerness Times Guardian, 12 August 1977,
p. 6
57. Kingston Gleaner, 21 July 1980, p. 16
58. Bel Norris, “Beating Different Drums”, Sheerness Times Guardian, 19 September 1975, p. 51
59. Interview with Curtis Pierre, https://whensteeltalks.ning.com/forum/topics/meet-curtis-pierre
60. Joseph “Reds” Perreira, Living My Dreams, Bloomington: AuthorHouse, 2011, pp. 22–3
61. Carole Contant, telephone conversation with the author, 25 April 1919.
62. Allen Whitnell, The Rise and Fall of the Beat Groups in Sittingbourne, Faversham Society, 2015.
63. “Contant Family Make Rainbows”, Sheerness Times Guardian, 22 August 1975, p. 6
64. “Rainbow Band Steals Show”, Sheerness Times Guardian, 26 December 1975, p. 27
65. “Upstairs Downstairs Brings Isle Memories of the ‘Great War’”, Sheerness Times Guardian, 24 January 1975, p. 4
66. “Did You Ever Visit the Puddin’ Shop?”, Sheerness Times Guardian, 21 March 1975, p. 4
67. Whitstable Times and Herne Bay Herald, 19 October 1895, p. 4
68. “Sheerness Police Court, Monday, before Mr. Gibson, Deputy Stipendiary Magistrate, “Throwing stones”, Guardian and East Kent Advertiser, 8 July 1905
69. “From Our Files”, Sheerness Times Guardian, 14 July 2005, p. 11
70. “Mr. Losel and Pier Tolls”, Sheerness Times, 15 July 1905
71. ‘Important Prosecution’, Bath Chronicle and Weekly Gazette, 10 August 1905
72. ‘Charge of Photographing Fortifications’, Whitstable Times and Herne Bay Herald, 12 August 1905
73. Uwe Johnson, “Oh! You’re a German?”, Inselgeschichten, pp. 9-15
21. A Painter of Our Time
1. Uwe Johnson, Letter to Hannah Arendt, 18 December 1974, Inselgeschichten, p. 75
2. Uwe Johnson, Letter to Hann Trier, 24 February 1979, in Hann Trier: Gemälde, Zeichnungen, Graphiken Retrospektive, Köln: Kölnischer Kunstverein, 1979, p. 52
3. Bruce McCall, The Last Dream-O-Rama: The Cars Detroit Forgot to Build 1950–1960, New York: Crown, 2001
4. “Artist’s work on show”, Sheerness Times Guardian, 7 February 1964
5. Billy Childish, Childish: Paintings of a Backwater Visionary, London: The Aquarium, 2005
6. Uwe Johnson, letter to Max Frisch, 18 December 1974, Inselgeschichten, p. 68
7. Anniversaries III, p. 927
8. Anniversaries IV, p. 1239
9. Two Views, p. 10.
10. UJ letter to Hannah Arendt, 18 December 1974. Inselgeschichten, p. 76
11. Tilman Jens, Unterwegs an den Ort wo die Toten sind: Auf der Such nach Uwe Johnson in Sheerness, Munich: Piper, 1984, p. 58
12. Uwe Johnson, letter to Burgel Zeeh, 26 August 1982, Inselgeschichten, p. 82.
13. Anniversaries I, p. 44
14. Uwe Johnson, Postcard to Leila Vennewitz, 25 January 1971”, Ich überlege mir die Gerschicht” p. 323
22. A Job for the Town Photographer
1. Uwe Johnson, Letter to Hann Trier, 24 February 1979, Hann Trier: Gemälde, Zeichnungen, Graphiken Retrospektive, p. 49
2. Uwe Johnson, Letter to Hann Trier, 11 January 1979, Ibid., p. 45
3. Mr Fred Warner would later blame the decision to sell rather than redevelop the site on “Sheppey’s fading attraction as a holiday resort” compared with “places like the Isle of Wight”. “Warner’s site for Sale”, Sheerness Times Guardian, 24 June 1983, p. 3
4. Margaret Loxton, The Job, London: Longman, 1977
5. Margaret Loxton, Inside and Out, London: Hutchinson & Co. (Spirals), 1979
6. Margaret Loxton, The Dark Shadow, London: Hutchinson & Co. (Spirals), 1981
7. George Poule, email to the author, 25 November 2015
Part V. Society: “I Don’t Want to Get Personal”
23. Becoming “Charlie”
1. Jeremy Thornton, Praise and Applause: Meyrick Road Hall Sunday School and Theatre, A History, Sheerness: Terrestial and Universal Publications UK, n.d. p. 15
2. Newman (1969), p. 439
3. “School to Come Down”, Sheerness Times Guardian, 16 May 1975, p. 1
4. Bel Norris, “The Tech School Makes Way for Other Things”, Sheerness Times Guardian, 15 August 1975, p. 35
5. In 1978, the building would be listed Grade II for conservation together with the Catholic Church of St Henry and St Elizabeth.
6. “Relief as Blight Notice is Removed”, Sheerness Times Guardian, 10 January 1975, p. 1
7. “Marine Town is Well Worth Saving”, Sheerness Times Guardian, 17 December 1976
8. “Council Offers Bath and Basin Grants”, Sheerness Times Guardian, 30 April 1976, p. 12
9. Inselgeschichten, p. 142
10. Ian Lambeth, email to the author, 20 May 2015. Mr Lambeth got in touch after hearing my BBC Radio 3 documentary, A Secret Life: Uwe Johnson in Sheerness. Accessible at: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b05qyjsr
11. Uwe Johnson, Letter to Lore and Joachim Menzhausen, 2 September 1978, Inselgeschichten, p. 107
12. Inselgeschichten, p. 80
13. Uwe Johnson, Letter to Helen Wolff, 6 March 1979, Inselgeschichten, p. 142
14. Ibid., p. 141
15. UJ letter to Burgel Zeeh, 4 April 1979, Inselgeschichten, p. 111
16. Tilman Jens, Unterwegs an den Ort wo die Toten sind: Auf der Suche nach Uwe Johnson in Sheerness, München & Zürich: Piper, 1984, p. 29
17. Günter Kunert, “Ein Fremdling”, in R. Berbig & E. Wizisla (eds.), “Wo Ich Her Bin…”, Uwe Johnson in der DDR, Berlin: Kontext, 1993, p. 129
18. Inselgeschichten, p. 129
19. “Uwe Johnson: A Friendship”, p. 110
20. Unterwegs an den Ort wo die Toten sind, p. 27
21. She wasn’t to know that Johnson understood quite a lot about the bombing of Coventry by 450 German planes on 14 November 1940, or that in Anniversaries II he had weighed that destruction (“there was a cathedral there too”) against the firestorm that the RAF created over St Mary’s Church in Lübeck on 28–9 March 1942 (Anniversaries II, p. 757)
22. Unterwegs an den Ort wo die Toten sind, pp. 109 & 113
23. Ibid., p. 8. See also photographic insert, pp. 32–3
24. Uwe Johnson, Letter to Walter Kempowski, 3 August 1981, Inselgeschichten, pp. 135–6
25. Uwe Johnson, “Unfreiwillige Reise”, Inselgeschichten, p. 102
26. The Rise and Fall of the Beat Groups in Sittingbourne
27. Telephone conversation with Bel Austin (formerly Norris), 3 October 2019
28. “A Trip Down Memory Lane”, Sheerness Times Guardian, 4 October 1974, p. 4
29. Sheerness Times Guardian, 28 February 1975, p. 2
30. Sheerness Times Guardian, 5 November 1976
31. Uwe Johnson, Letter to Helen Ritzenfeld, 20 December 19 75, Inselgeschichten, pp. 150–1
32. Uwe Johnson, Letter to Alice and Dorothy Hensan, 15 September 1978, Inselgeschichten, pp. 153–4
33. “Publican Nominated for a National Title”, Sheppey Gazette and North-East Kent Times, 28 December 1978, p. 1
34. Inselgeschichten, pp. 129–131
35. Inselgeschichten, p. 102.
36. Uwe Johnson, Letter to Antonia and Felix Landgraf, 31 October 1982, Inselgeschichten, p. 132
37. Uwe Johnson, Letter to Burgel Zeeh, 4 April 1979, Inselgeschichten, p. 111
38. Ibid.
39. Letter to Antonia and Felix Landgraf, Inselgeschichten, p. 132
24. Sheerness as “Moral Utopia”
1. Uwe Johnson, “Ein Vorbild”, first published in Literaturmagazin 10, February 1979. Reprinted in Inselgeschichten, pp. 12–15
2. Inselgeschichten, pp. 17–18
3. Johnson read about this initially in the Sittingbourne, Sheppey and Faversham Evening Post (11 December 1974, p. 1) and later in the Sheerness Times Guardian, which reported the Harris brothers were facing murder charges (21 Febuary 1975) and noted the sentence on 25 July 1975
4. Mia Dolan, The Gift: The Story of an Ordinary Woman’s Extraordinary Po
wer, London: Element, 2003
5. “The Psychic Keeping up Fergie’s Spirit”, Daily Mail, 11 August 2010
6. N. Tertulian, “Lukács’ Ontology”, in Tom Rockmore (ed.), Lukács Today: Essays in Marxist Philosophy, Dordrecht: Reidel, 2012, p. 265
7. Bertolt Brecht’s Me-ti: Book of Interventions in the Flow of Things, edited and translated by Antony Tatlow, London: Bloomsbury, 2016,
8. Ibid. For a description of Johnson’s edition see Tatlow’s “Introduction”, Ibid., p. 13
9. Ibid., pp. 125 & 127. See also Jost Hermand, “Brecht on Utopia”, Minnesota Review, No. 6. Spring 1976, pp. 102–4
10. Theodore Roszak, Where the Wasteland Ends: Politics and Transcendence in Post-Industrial Society, London: Faber, 1973, p. 465
11. Martin Cockerham, “Old boot wine”, Spirogyra, Bells Boots and Shambles, Polydor, 1974
12. Marshall Sahlins’ Stone Age Economics (London: Tavistock, 1972) is acknowledged in R.E. Pahl, Divisions of Labour, p. 12. For the Unabomber’s critique of Sahlins’ idea of the “original affluent society” see Ted Kaczynski, “The Truth about Primitive Life: A Critique of Anarchoprimitivism”, The Anarchist Library, 2008
13. Divisions of Labour, p. 334
14. J.I. Gershuny & R.E. Pahl, “Work Outside Employment: Some Preliminary Speculations”, New Universities Quarterly, 34:1, Winter 1979/80, p. 122
15. Divisions of Labour, p. 334
16. “Work Outside Employment: Some Preliminary Speculations”, p.120
17. Divisions of Labour, p. 2
18. Ibid., p. 9
19. Ibid.
20. Inselgeschichten, p. 163
21. Divisions of Labour, p. 9
22. Jonathan Gershuny, “Informal, but not ‘an economy’”, Graham Crow & Jaimie Ellis, Revisiting Divisions of Labour: The Impacts and Legacies of a Modern Sociological Classic, Manchester University Press, 2017, p. 111
23. R.E. Pahl, “Employment, Work and the Domestic Division of Labour”, International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, 4 (1), 1980, p. 1
24. Divisions of Labour, p. 200
25. Ibid., p. 3
26. E.P. Thompson, “The Poverty of Theory or An Orrery of Errors” in The Poverty of Theory and Other Essays, London: Merlin Press, 1978, pp. 193–397
27. Cyril Poster, The School and the Community, London: Macmillan Education, 1971, p. 13
28. Ibid., p. 77
29. Ibid., p. 81
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