Educating Arnie: The Terminator in Forest Gate - in his own words

Arnold Schwarzenegger is one of Forest Gate's most famous adopted sons. His stay in Forest Gate was the subject of this website's first-ever, and most visited, post, see here.

Arnie was in London recently, posing with one of the city's "Boris bikes" - see photo, below. So, we thought it would be timely to give his account of his days in Forest Gate - from his autobiography: Total Recall (see footnotes for details).

Arnie, posing recently in London, on a 'Boris bike'

We pick up the story in 1966, when Arnie has just spent some time in Munich, in pursuit of his body-building career:

Three months later, I was back in London, laughing and horsing around on a living room rug with a jumble of kids. They belonged to Wag and Dianne Bennett, who owned two gyms and were at the centre of the UK bodybuilding scene. Wag had been a judge at the Mr Universe contest, and he'd invited me to stay with him and Dianne in the Forest Gate section of London (ed: in what is now the burned out house on Romford Road, opposite Emmanuel's church) for a few weeks of training. They had six kids of their own, they took me under their wing and became like parents to me.

Arnie, Dianne and Wag with some
of the Bennett children, referred to above,
 posing outside his temporary Forest Gate home

Wag had made it clear that he thought I needed a lot of work. At the top of the list was my posing routine. I knew there was a huge difference between hitting poses successfully and having a compelling routine. Poses are like snapshots, and the routine is the movie. To hypnotise and carry away an audience, you need the poses to flow. What do you do between one pose and the next? How do the hands move? How does the face look? I'd never had a chance to figure very much of this out. Wag showed me how to slow down and make it like ballet: a matter of posture, the straightness of the back, keeping the head up, not down.

This I could understand but it was harder to swallow the idea of actually posing to music. Wag would put the dramatic theme from the movie Exodus on the hi-fi and cue me to start my routine. At first I couldn't think of anything more distracting or less hip. But after a while I started to see how I could choreograph my moves and ride the melody like a wave - quiet moments for a concentrated, beautiful three-quarter back pose, flowing into a side chest pose as the music rose and then wham!, a stunning most muscular pose at the crescendo.

Dianne concentrated on filling me up with protein and improving my manners. Sometimes she must have thought I'd been raised by wolves. I didn't know the right way to handle a knife and fork or that you should help clear up after dinner. Dianne picked up where my parents Fredi Gerstl and Frau Matscher had left off. 

One of the few times she ever got mad at me was when she saw me shove my way through a crowd of fans after a competition. The thought in my head was 'I won. Now I'm going to party'. But Dianne grabbed me and said 'Arnold, you don't do that. These are people who came to see you. They spent their money and some of them travelled a long way. You can take a few minutes and give them your autograph.' That scolding changed my life. I'd never thought about the fans, only about my competitors. But from then on, I always made time for the fans.

Even the kids got in on the Educating Arnold project. There's probably no better way to learn English than to joining a lively, happy London household where nobody understands German and where you sleep on the couch and have six little siblings. They treated me like a giant new puppy and loved teaching me words.

A photo of me during that trip (see below) shows me meeting my boyhood idol, Reg Park, for the first time. He's wearing sweats, looking relaxed and tanned, and I'm wearing my posing trunks looking star struck and pale. I was in the presence of Hercules, a three-time Mr Universe, of the star whose picture I kept on my wall, of the man on whom I'd modelled my life plan. I could hardly stammer out a word. All the English I'd learned flew right out of my head.

Arnie, with his idol, Reg Par, at the Romford
 Road Bennett gym, 1966. The 'W' on his vest
 stands for 'Wag'. Courtesy Schwarzenegger archives

Reg now lived in Johannesburg, where he owns a chain of gyms, but he came back to England on business several times a year. He was friends of the Bennetts and had generously agreed to help show me the ropes. Wag and Dianne felt that the best way for me to have a good shot at the Mr Universe title was to become better known in the United Kingdom.

Bodybuilders did that in those days by getting on the exhibition circuit - promoters all over the British Isles would organise local events, and by agreeing to appear, you could make a little money and spread your name. Reg, as it happened, was on his way to an exhibition in Belfast, Northern Ireland, and offered to bring me along. Making a name for yourself in bodybuilding is a lot like politics. You go from town to town, hoping the word will spread. This grassroots approach worked, and the enthusiasm it created would eventually help me to win Mr Universe. ...

Arnie and Wag, by the recently
 removed lamp post outside the
 now dilapidated Romford Road
 house that was home
 to Schwarzenegger in 1966 

My initial success in London had reassured me that I was on the right track and that my goals were not crazy. Every time I won, I became more certain. After the 1966 Mr Universe contest, I won several more titles, including Mr Europe ... 

I knew I was already the favourite to win the 1967 Mr Universe competition.  But that didn't feel like enough. I wanted to dominate totally. ...

So, I poured my energy and attention into a training plan I'd worked out with Wag Bennett. For months I spent most of my earnings on food and vitamins and protein tablets designed to build muscle mass. ...

Arnie went on to win his second Mr Universe title in September 1967.  Forest Gate and the Bennetts slip from his story for a while, but Dianne, in particular, is back making an impact with him in 1971. After four more years of success, following his second Mr Universe title, he was passing through London. The autobiography picks up the story:

On my way through London, I called Dianne Bennett to say hello.

'Your mother has been trying to find you', she said, 'Call her. Your father is ill.' I called my mother and then went home quickly to Austria to stay with them. My father had suffered a stroke."

His father died soon afterwards, when he was back in Los Angeles.  The outline of Arnie's story from there is well-know: after the body-building came Hollywood stardom and a marriage into the Kennedy family then the governorship of California. You can read the detail in the autobiography.

Wag (centre) and Arnie in 2001

Forest Gate and the Bennetts do not get a further mention in Arnie's book, but the close contact between him and his Forest Gate mentors remained, as the photo of him and Wag, celebrating his election as Governor of California in 2001 illustrates (above).

Footnote: Total Recall - my unbelievably true life story, by Arnold Schwarzenegger, with Peter Petre, published by Simon and Schuster, 2012. Available from all good bookshops and Amazon, pb £8.99. Thanks to all concerned for being able to publish the above - and make the story available to a wider, local audience.

Two years and counting

This is the second anniversary of this blog; so - time for a little retrospection.

Below is an account of how we are faring, in "hit" terms and our most popular postings.  This is followed by a cursory glance at some of the significant changes that have hit E7 since we started. Feel free to comment, and join a conversation on the good, the bad and the indifferent of Forest Gate's recent past.

In terms of output/contact/readership, since we started we:

• have posted 90 articles on this site
• receive over 250 visits per day to the site
• have a supporting Twitter account, with over 700 followers (@e7_nowandthen)

The five most viewed articles since the site was established have been (each with the hyperlink to the article and a reflective illustration):

• Fire Guts Famous Gym This blog's first post coincided with a fire at the former home of Wag Bennett, where Arnie Schwarzenegger lived in the mid 1960's while training to be Mr Universe.

Arnie and Wag, outside the gym
 and house on Romford Road. The
 house now boarded up,
 after a fire, two years ago.

• The Upper Cut Club, part 1 - the rise There is a plaque on an iron gate, next to Percy Ingle's on Woodgrange Road, denoting that on the site of the railway ventilation shaft behind the gate stood the Upper Cut Club. This was owned by Boxer Billy Walker and for one brief year, in the mid 1960's, showcased the very best in British and American popular music of the day.

Billy Walker, recently celebrating
 The Upper Cut's golden era

• The Forest Gate Good (and not so) Pub Guide A look at Forest Gate's remaining pubs, from a drinker's standpoint, with full notes on some of the area's now-closed, former pubs.

The Princess Alice (pre WW2 bombing),
 once a giant pub at the foot of
 Woodgrange Road, now a restaurant

• Christmas Day in the Forest Gate Workhouse In what is now a refurbed block of flats on Forest Lane is a building that has been a maternity hospital, but which was originally constructed in the mid 19th century as an Industrial School, for the children of workhouse inmates from East London. This is a contemporary press account of conditions in that Workhouse school in the mid 1890s.

Christmas day in the Workhouse

• The Rise and Decline of Forest Gate's Jewish Community Forest Gate hosted a significant Jewish community from the 1890s until the Second World War. This post looks at the growth and decline of that community and particularly its Synagogue, which was for many years the largest in Essex.

Former West Ham Synagogue,
 Earlham Grove

The last twelve months

Meanwhile, the five most viewed posts, of those published in the last year, have been (with hyperlink and illustration):

• 24-hour Forest Gate Gourmet Trail An illustrated wander around six Forest Gate eateries, with a different meal/nibble at each. Delicious - follow the trail, and be ready to let out your belt a notch or two!

CoffE7 - part of the gentrification
 of Forest Gate - but with a damn
 good breakfast and coffee offer!

• Fascists in 1930's Forest Gate Forest Gate hosted a thriving Fascist group in the 1930's, with a base close to Wanstead Flats. The British Union of Fascist held rallies on the Flats. Many rare photos included in this blog.

Woodford Road site of Fascists' 1930's
 Forest  Gate HQ and bookshop

• Forest Gate Industrial School Story This post gives a history of the Industrial School, mentioned above - from its origins, extending to its more recent post-school story.

Site of Forest Gate Industrial
 School, Forest Lane

• Tragic End to World War 1 Romance Local resident, Paul Holloway, has recently self-published There are No Flowers Here - a touching story of his Forest Gate grandmother's romance with local lad Jack Richardson. Two posts summarise the story, and its tragic end on the World War 1 battlefields. 

Jack Richardson - one
 half of the tragic romance

• Wanstead Flats Saved from Post World War II Development Wanstead Flats had a busy part to play during the Second World War. In its immediate aftermath there were plans for considerable housing construction there to accommodate East Enders bombed out during the conflict. This post examines the struggle.

Map produced by Wanstead Flats
 Defence Committee, showing
 areas planned for the "land grab"

Retrospective glance

Clearly, there have been significant changes to the area in the short time that we have been running - most notably the continued "gentrification"/house-price-lunacy that has affected the area.

Arm-in-arm with this has been an explosion of related social activities - most notably the massive improvement to the local food and drink offer. We've seen the opening of three independent coffee shops in a little over the two years (Kaffine, CoffeE7 and Compotes) and a serious upgrading of the local alcohol range, thru the new Forest Tavern, eclectic Wanstead Tap and the recently revamped and face-lifted Golden Fleece.

The up-market food options are beginning to emerge, too. There are already good cheese, organic veg, bread and charcuterie stalls on Woodgrange market, together with regular tasty options and menus at the Tap, Tavern and CoffeE7, and a bit more initiative from Aromas, the best Indian eat-in/takeaway around. On the horizon are the eagerly awaited Pie Republic, on Upton Lane and the well-trailed Pyramid Pizza at the junction of Forest Lane and Woodgrange Road.

One downside on the foodie angle is the imminent demise of the popular Siam Cafe on Woodgrange Road, closing this weekend, after a reported (and shocking) hike of 140% in the rent, come lease renewal time.

Brik-aBrak has gone upmarket too, with The Emporium, some interesting offers at Woodgrange Market and frequent pop-up "vintage fairs" in a variety of local venues. Environmental and related conservation issues are moving up the agenda apace, with the recently established (but yet to open) Community Garden on Earlham Grove and the frequent "Clean up Wanstead Flats" forays, so effectively run and supported.

The Arts are beginning to assert themselves more vigorously, with live music regularly on show at the Tavern, the Tap and CoffeE7, and the emergence on an interesting Arts trail in the district.  All of these initiatives are backed and their efforts re-enforced by the recently established, on-line E7 Magazine (www.E7magazine.com).

The downsides are almost the flipsides of some of the above. With gentrification has come the pricing out of local young people from being able to afford to live independently in the area in which they were brought up - always a serious sign of social dysfunctionality (like the fate of the Siam Cafe - see above). Some of the area's old boozers, notably the Live and Let Live (or in its case, Die) have gone under and some of our few local historic treasures (Old Spotted Dog, Wag Bennett's old gym) are being left to rot and decay under our eyes.

Heritage under threat - The Old Spotted
 Dog, boarded up, and rotting

But there is life in the Old Dog yet - in an odd kind of way - at least on the football terrace side of things. Clapton FC has been one of the true success stories on English non-league football over the last couple of season. Two years ago you could count the number of spectators at the Old Spotted Dog ground in the length of time it took to line up and take a corner kick (about 30 fans).

In a recent match (on an international break, when major league football was not being played in the country) over 400 showed up. The "Tons" are widely regarded as having some of the best non-league support in the UK, lead by the dedicated Ultras (pyros, banners, chants and all). And now they have an appearance in their first cup final in years to look forward to on 2 May. Just such a shame that the club's owner seems to hostile and disinterested.

Pyros and anti-homophobia
 demos - there's more than just
 football, supporting Clapton FC,
 at The Old Spotted Dog ground,
 these days

Politically, E7 continues to be an all red patch in the one party state that is Newham. But the local councillors seem to be very effective within the extremely limited scope within which they are able to operate - particularly the three young women councillors in Forest Gate North and the more experienced Diane Walls in Forest Gate South.

A shame that their efforts are clouded by the absurdity of the Mayor appointing a personal "Advisor on Forest Gate" - on a sinecure - who is not from among them. We'll return to this in a future post.

In summary, it would seem that overall, the Forest Gate's curate's egg is mainly good, but unpalatably expensive for the children of the last generation's inhabitants, and longer established eateries - which leaves a rather sour taste in the mouth, of an otherwise story of sweet success. (Ok - a strained metaphor too far. I'll get my coat).

Updates to previous blogs

From time to time we come across images or additional material that adds significantly to earlier posts.  This article is a collection of some of those items.
 
We have added the relevant sections as postscripts to the original article, for ease of access for future visitors, and added, at the end of each section, the hyperlink to the location of the original article, with its post script.

We know that this site can only be a first draft of bigger stories for each of the short articles we produce, and are always keen to hear of more information about the subjects covered.  Please feel free to add memories to the comments section of any blog, or send in details of further information, that we will be happy to acknowledge and display, in future update round-ups.

Forest Gate Industrial School fire, 1890

Illustrated London News 11 Jan 1890,
Industrial school fire, dormitory
where children suffocated (1)

We have recently come across a copy of the Illustrated London News of 11 January 1890.  This included sketches of the fire at the Forest Gate Industrial School, on the previous New Year's Eve.
We reproduce these, below, which should be viewed in conjunction with our article on the fire, in May of this year.

Illustrated London News 11 Jan 1890,
Industrial school fire, general view of building

 The original story, with the sketches added as postscripts, can be accessed here.

Illustrated London News 11 Jan 1890,
Industrial school fire, dormitory
where children suffocated (2)

Forest Gate cinemas

A Cinema Miscellany no 24 (2003) by Brian Hornsey has provided valuable additional local material about a few of the local cinemas covered in our history of them in our Every Picturehouse tells a story feature, of July 2013. We thank him for his painstaking research.

The Imperial Palace (also known as the Regal and Rio) was for a while, around the outbreak of World War 1 known as the Forest Gate Electrical Theatre ( shortened to The Electric).

The Forest Gate Public Hall etc. In its early days had 1,000 seats, but following refurbishment around the outbreak of World War 1 they were reduced to 750 - suggesting that the earlier seating was on benches, replaced by single seats after the refit.  Prices for show around the start of World war were from 5d to 1/3d (depending on sitting within the cinema).

The Queen's.  Millionaire A E Abrahams had had such success with his Manor Park Coronation Cinema (built, nor surprisingly in 1902) that he built this - a sister cinema to it, near his Forest Gate home. Following its 1928 refit it became one of the first cinemas in the area to show talkies (introduced that year) and full length feature films.

Queen's Cinema

Poor reproduction of photograph
 of interior of Queen's Cinema

Another poor reproduction photo
 of Queen's Cinema exterior

The Odeon. It was opened on 1 March 1937 with "Thank Evans", when prices ranged from 6d to 1/-, with continuous showings from 12.30pm, daily. After the emergence of Odeon the two main cinemas in Forest Gate were it and the Queen's - operated by two of the country's major cinema chains. From this time, these two cinemas tended to show the major recent releases and the other local cinemas were left showing re-runs and 'B' movie feature films.

World War 11 and local cinemas. All places of entertainment - in Forest Gate, and nationwide - were closed on 3 September and all but essential staff were laid off (without compensation). When it became clear that the threatened invasion was not about to happen, cinemas reopened gradually, after about two weeks. 

There were four local cinemas operating by October 1939: The Odeon (1,800 seats), The Queen's (1,700 seats), The King's (600 seats) and the Splendid (550 seats). The Kings closed first, in 1940 (the circumstances are not clear). The Splendid, dropped its curtain for the final time, around then.  The Queen's was badly bombed on 21 April 1941, and its near neighbour the Odeon less severely hit.  The Odeon was repaired, but the Queen's was now gone for good.

So, by the end of the war the Odeon was the sole surviving local cinema, brining to an end a frantic half century of openings, closures, name changes and mergers locally.  The Odeon was fully restored and operating at its peak level by 1950. It was fitted with a Cinemascope screen in 1954.

Original article, with these notes and photos added as a post script, can be accessed here.

Wag Bennett and Arnie Schwarzenegger's gym

One of the most viewed articles on this site was the first (it's been all downhill since!), on the fire at Wag Bennett's gym, on Romford Road in April 2013.

Wag's house and gym (1), November 2014

The post has been viewed by a large number of both body builders and Arnie fans, as far as we have been aware. Not all of them will pass the sorry state that is the building, eighteen months after the fire.

The building has been squatted and vandalised, but has more recently been boarded up and secured.  Quite how effective this will prove to be, without a roof (!), remains to be seen.


Wag's house and gym (2), November 2014

So we are producing a two photos taken a couple of days ago, primarily for the benefit of blog visitors from beyond our local boundaries.

The original article, with these photos as a postscript i can be accessed here.

The Upper Cut Club

As visitors to this site may feel, we have an almost unhealthy obsession with this club, which ran for a single year in 1966/7 on Woodgrange Road.

We have recently come across a couple of gems that can be added to our regular coverage. Paul Osborn, who has an interest in the former pirate radio stations, of the 1960's, contacted us with a fascinating MP3 recording, attached, below.

The Club used to host regular sessions of the Giggle, Goggle, Guggle Club - essentially a disco held on Sunday afternoons, hosted by DJs from the pirate radio stations. Tony Blackburn and Ed Stewart, among others appeared.

The You Tube clip, below, is from an advert broadcast on Radio London ("Big L") on 12 August 1967. It was promoting an appearance at the Upper Cut Club, by DJ Mike Quinn, who could be seen for "Half a crown"!

Pete Drummond on Radio London reading
an advert during the morning show for the
Giggle, Goggle Guggle Show, at the
Upper Cut Club, on Saturday 12 August 1967.

Click link:  to hear. Thanks to Paul Osborn for the link

We have placed this as a postscript to the article on The Summer of Love, we published in August this year. It can be viewed here.

Prominent Rock music journalist, Peter Guralnick produced a book, published by Penguin, Sweet Soul Music in 1986. It includes photos of both Sam and Dave and Otis Redding, appearing at the Upper Cut on 18 March 1967. Close inspection of the photos shows posters on the wall of the club, adverting the event.

Sam and Dave at the Upper Cut
 Club, 18 March 1967

Guralnick credits Fred Lewis for the use of these photos.  We have been unable to track Mr Lewis down, but would like to thank him, for our ability to use them. Any other, similar photos, would be very gratefully received! We have placed these photos on our article on the Stax Tour, of April this year, which can be accessed here.

Otis Redding performing at the
Upper Cut Club, 18 March 1967

Forest Gate - the chic and the shabby

Thriving centre of Forest Gate - 1914 and 2014

Few can doubt that the last year or so has witnessed an acceleration in the transformation of the fortunes - in all senses of the word - of Forest Gate, mainly focused around the Woodgrange Road Market Place.

So, two new, very different and successful, coffee shops have popped up, joining the weekly market and a trendy brik-a-brak shop at Number 8
.
A new social centre has emerged at the recently opened Forest Tavern, offering good drink, food, music, comedy and conviviality.  The Women's Institute, community gardening in Earlham Grove and Lindy Hopping at BBs on Hampton Road have all emerged, to offer very different recreation options to the traditional local mix.

Property prices have reflected this social regeneration, and our once unfashionable post code is now being "discovered" by the broad sheet property pages, aimed at the young upwardly mobile, displaced elsewhere in London by house price inflation.
 
So, The Guardian was able to wax lyrically last week (here):
 

... here in the 'real' East End. Forest Gate, it turns out, is quite Hollywood. ... Ooh, and have I mentioned ... the schools? Or the property prices? ... The Woodgrange Estate conservation area is the first stop ... its stately streets of double-fronted late Victorian houses around the station are rather a plum find!

The near certainty of Crossrail in four years adds greatly to the appeal and pull of Forest Gate, just as the original railways did, a century and a half ago.


Number 8 Forest Gate -
part of the area's transformation

The property boom and house price inflation that all of this is fuelling is, of course, a mixed blessing.  Wilkinson's, undoubtedly the most community-minded, Forest Gate-focused of all local agents, just last week put a four bedroom house in Osborne Road on the market at £700,000.

Glee for existing house owners, who have seen their homes turn into "assets". But bad news for their children who, in a depressing feature that has destroyed communities across the country - from rural idylls to working class inner city areas -cannot afford to live as adults in the areas in which they were brought up as children.

This community dislocation has been, and increasingly will become, a feature that wrecks traditional social networks and diminishes local loyalties. Unfortunately, little can be done to prevent it in a largely market driven housing economy.

There is, however, another sense in which community destruction is at work within Forest Gate and the resources and ability to fix it are much more readily at hand.

Our neighbourhood has a fine heritage, as we've tried to show on this site over recent months.  But much of it is being allowed to rot before our very eyes, and precious little is being done to prevent what, bluntly, is local cultural vandalism.  We bring you a sorry update and recent photos of three of our most significant local landmarks
.
Forest Gate will be diminished and our history defiled, unless  action is taken to halt the damage to, and wanton destruction of them,  in the near future.
 
The Old Spotted Dog - Upton Lane

Old Spotted Dog

This 500 year old, former Tudor hunting lodge, was a working pub until 2004.  It became a nationally listed building of historic interest in 1950. But it has been allowed to rot and has regularly been subject to vandalism for a decade.  For details of the pub's history, see here. There is a local campaign (see here) aimed at  rescuing Newham's oldest surviving secular building.  Please support it.

Wag Bennett's Gym - Romford Road
This local landmark was a working gym, known as Muscle Mansion, until 2008 and the death of its founder, Wag Bennett. It was a training centre for a number of international body-building champions over its near 50 year working history, most famously Arnold Schwarzenegger in the mid 1960's.  Arnie lived with the Bennetts for a couple of years, during which time he was crowned Mr Universe, an achievement that set him on the course to Hollywood fame and fortune.


Wag Bennett's former gym, Romford Road

The gym caught fire last April, having been squatted for some time. The building has been allowed to rot and currently has no roof.  It is still squatted. Doubtless it will soon be declared too derelict to restore - and another local landmark will bite the dust. See here for our article on this landmark.

Odeon Cinema, Romford Road
This is Forest Gate's last surviving cinema building, which was built in 1937 with a seating capacity for over 1,800 film goers. It was rescued from enemy bombing in 1941, and closed as a picture palace in 1975. It has been stripped of character and allowed to become shabby and an eyesore since it became a mosque in 2001. For details of the cinema's history and that of others in Forest Gate, see here


Former Odeon Cinema - Romford Road

There are, of course, other local scruffy, unattractive, local buildings in states of disrepair - not the least of which is the dreadful garage opposite the former Odeon Cinema, and the former Freemason's Arms/ Simpson's, currently bedecked in scaffolding a little further down Romford Road.

There is little that local people or politicians can do about the social re-engineering Forest Gate is experiencing as a result of the house price boom featured in the first part of this article.  There is plenty that can be done, however, about intervening in the cultural destruction of our heritage.

Not much point in living in a million dollar mansion, if it is in the midst of a heritage-free culturally slummy desert, is there? Part of the "charm" of Forest Gate will go, and possibly even some of its "place-to-be" appeal.

Is it too much to hope that politicians, seeking our votes in three months time, may respond to this local cultural vandalism and neglect?