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The Newlands Inn anticipates Apollo by 14 years

Pioneer Pub

Pioneer Pub (22 Jul 1969)

Bert Plumpton changed the name of his pub at West Heath, Birmingham, from The Man in the Moon to The Man on the Moon at the weekend and hung out a new inn sign to celebrate the American astronauts' feat.

But at Newlands Inn, Eynsham, the regulars are not at all impressed by his quickness of mind and forethought. In fact, they think he's a bit behind the times. They've had a sign depicting the lunar landing for so long that nobody can remember exactly when it was first put there though it must be all of 14 years ago.

It depicts a rocket standing on four legs like those of the moon-bug in a landscape similar to that in the television pictures the Apollo 11 mission has been relaying to Houston in the last two days.

Stars and Stripes

In the foreground two astronauts dressed in space-suits almost identical to those worn by Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin are obviously gathering rock samples because one of them has a small lump hammer in his hand.

But perhaps what is most remarkable of all is that painted quite clearly on the side of the rocket is the Stars and Stripes of the United States.

"It really is astonishing how accurate it is," says Tim Locke, the landlord, " considering how long ago it must have been done. But to be honest with you I don't think many of our regulars realised the significance of it until they started watching the moon landing on Sunday night.

"It is an eye-catching sign and a lot of people take pictures of it. As a matter of fact we had a couple of Germans travel over to Eynsham last year after spotting it in a car sales brochure especially to have a look at it because they're compiling a book of unusual inn signs.

"The youngsters who come to our pub at the weekend talk about 'going up The Spaceman' and a lot of our other customers have caught the habit from them. But if you'd asked them to describe the inn sign before the weekend I don't suppose one in ten of them would have been able to give you an accurate answer. I'm not sure I could have done myself."

Newlands Inn actually takes its name from Newland Street, the road it is in, and according to the Oxfordshire Dictionary of Place Names that in turn takes its name from the new borough created to the north of the old one in 1215 because the latter was inadequate for the influx of settlers attracted by Eynsham market.

But obviously the artist wasn't very interested in the historical connections of the hostelry when he was commissioned to paint a new inn sign. He simply wanted to find an eye-catching emblem and after casting around in his mind for a bit he hit upon the notion of using a lunar theme to illustrate the idea of new lands.

Ind Coope (Oxford and West) Ltd., the brewery which owns Newlands Inn, couldn't tell me when the sign was commissioned though they thought it might have been in 1955 when there were extensive alterations to the pub. But they were able to give me the name of the artist.

And Stan Court, of Thame, the man in question, quickly confirmed that he was responsible for anticipating man's first walk on the moon. "That's right, I did it," he said, "oooh ten, possibly twelve, perhaps even 14 years ago and the curious thing" is that I painted it entirely from imagination.

"I just wanted to produce an inn sign that was different and I suppose I painted the stars and stripes on the side of the rocket because being part of Western civilisation I hoped the Americans would get there before the Russians did. At the time it was just another job.

"But I can tell you for nothing I've thought a lot about it during the last 48 hours."


Anthony Wood, Oxford Mail 22 July 1969

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