Danny Varney: Magic and the Home Front at the Hackney Empire (Part 2)
Air-raids
Living in London, Danny Varney faced the dangers of German air-raids, even after the major period of bombings, known as the Blitz, ended. In 1943, he was watching a tightrope act on stage at the Hackney Empire.
“The alert had sounded, but I didn't see anybody pay it any attention. Nobody left their seat. Ack Ack [anti-aircraft] guns were heard cracking away in the distance, but nobody bothered, we all took the chance somebody else would cop it. The performer was doing a difficult part of his routine and nearly fallen a couple of times - but always recovered - of course to build up tension. Then literally all hell broke loose! It seemed as if every gun in London had opened up on the Jerry [German] plane right overhead. It was a deafening barrage, possibly the loudest most of us ever heard, judging by the reaction.
“Undeterred by the noise of the guns, shell explosions, and the shrapnel pinging and hitting the roof like heavy hail and rain, the tightrope walker carried on with the act as if the audience were still silenced by his skills. The gunfire and bursting shells slowly, slowly receded from our hearing as Jerry crossed our part of London. The act finished to a double-strength applause: one for skill - the other for carrying on despite the double-danger he was in; one shared together, the other he faced alone with skill and courage.”
Danny Varney survived that attack. The German aircraft dropped its bomb, but it didn't explode and a UXB [unexploded bomb] squad later defused it.
V-1 flying bomb
As a Messenger Boy in the Civil Defence Service, Varney played a role in the response to the dreaded V-1 flying bomb attacks.
The first V-1 (Fi 103) flying bomb launched against Britain took place on 13 June 1944. A week earlier, the D-Day and the Normandy landings had signalled the beginning of the end of the war in Europe. Unkindly, just when the possibility of success and peace looked not too far away, Hitler's Vergeltungswaffen 1 [German: Vengeance Weapon 1], known as the ‘doodlebug’ or ‘buzz bomb’ by the Allies, burst from the skies.
Dispensing with the need for a pilot meant that the V-1 could be half the size of a conventional bomber aircraft, making it difficult for anti-aircraft guns to hit. They travelled at 400 mph and each contained 850 kg of high-explosive. After nearly five years of war and the horrors of 1940-41 Blitz, Hitler's latest secret weapon was devastating.
Hear an original sound recording of a V-1 rocket here (opens in YouTube).
The main V-weapon target was London and, later, the Port of Antwerp in Belgium.
“A ‘doodlebug’ dropped at the bottom of Sydney Road on the first Sunday morning of the V-1 attacks [18 June 1944]. We attended the incident. Germs of centuries floated in the thick dust that hung over the site for a while, then disturbed again as victims were pulled from the debris.
“A soldier died that morning along with civilians. This young soldier, not much older than I, was killed when a V-1 hit at the bottom of Chatsworth Road. At first, just a foot in an army sock stuck up through the debris. Then, as we dug down, we uncovered the youth in a bent position with his head buried deep into his chest.”
Within a few weeks of the start of the V-1 bombing campaign, most theatres in London closed. By July, less than ten remained open in the West End, attracting a mere handful of patrons each night. But, after a while, they reopened and the shows went on (albeit with smaller audiences). Like in the Blitz, theatre management informed audiences when an attack was in progress, but the performance continued, and individual audience members made their own decision about staying or leaving for the safety of an air-raid shelter.
In summer 1944, Varney was usually working nights at the Castle Cinema. When there was an alert, the management turned on a simple-cut sign under the screen, warning the audience.
“My job was to get on to the Castle roof when there was an alert and watch and listen for any doodlebugs coming our way and posing a threat. If the V-I’s motor cut out and looked like diving on to, or near us, I was to shout down to the bio-box and they were supposed to frantically flash the alert sign and presumably the audience could duck down under the seats.
“I had no fears for myself. It was all a great big adventure. Fortunately, that system never had to be used, but I had a grandstand view of many V-1s dropping. One did not behave as programmed by the Germans. Instead of diving, it glided for miles, silently, and passed ominously between the Castle at its rooftop height and Homerton High Street to crash elsewhere.”
V-2 rockets
By September 1944, Hitler's forces had developed the V-2 rocket. This was the world’s first rocket-powered, long-range ballistic missile. Over the next few months, nearly 1,400 struck London and its environs. They were less accurate than V-1 missiles, but since they travelled at the speed of sound, and so made no warning noise before impact, it was almost impossible to defend against them.
Varney heard a V-2 rocket for the first time while watching a Saturday afternoon matinee at the Empire. Performing at the time was a male vocal solo act. The baritone continued despite his and the audience’s unease at the load explosion not too far away. The rocket hit a suburban street market, killing and wounding many people. There were no supermarkets in those days, and the week’s shopping was usually done on the Saturday.
“A few weeks later, I was at the first house of an Empire show. That familiar ‘CRrr... umPP’ came again, but a little closer than the one felt at the Empire. The first half was just finishing. I made my way home. Looking down Marsh Hill from Hackney Hospital, the bottom near Daubeny Road looked like a scene from Dante's Inferno. A gas main was belching a huge bluish flame in the air, and by its light the rescue squads were digging away in the rubble and crater. An Army searchlight on off-focus gave better illumination. There was some damage to the walls of my home, but just plaster lathes showing through the walls of the rooms.
“On with my Civil Defence uniform and down to the incident and got the odd job to do. A Mrs Binnet was in the Incident Office, setup in a shop. She was very distraught. Seeing me, she recognised me said. ‘I can’t find David or Alfie’ (Two of her three sons, a very common complaint after an incident) which I treated too lightly, and murmured, ‘they'll soon be here,’ then I got another job to do. Then slowly, information came in and the Intelligence Section built up its records.
“There had been several boys on the corner with their bikes when the V-2 hit.
“My last memory of V-2 rockets is the one that hit the gasometers at Haggerston... That fell one morning before 8 am. I was walking to work along Morning Lane when that familiar ‘CRruummmMP’ came. I looked down the street behind the Polikoff factory and there was a huge dull, orange, and red Sun rolling along behind the factory and rooftops. Many people were incinerated in their homes that morning.”
To read more about magicians and Hitler's V-1 and V-2 weapons, click here.
Victory in Japan
When he turned 18, Danny Varney joined the British Army. He enlisted just before the end of the war and remembered VJ (Victory in Japan) Day well.
“I was in a camp in Yorkshire and was being transferred to the Isle of Wight to join the Parachute Regiment. Six of us fresh-faced kids were making our way from one railway station to the other. In FSMO [Field Service Marching Order] or everything the Army had issued, or you owned. Kitbag over one shoulder, rifle over the other, and festooned with large pack, small pack, pouches, water-bottle, bayonet et al, we asked our way from station to station.
“So, on VJ Day [14 August 1945], I joined the Para’s with indelible memories.”
Post-war
Danny Varney served just a few years in the Army, demobilising after he'd served his minimum service. Later, he moved to Perth, Australia and joined the Australian Army, achieving the rank of Captain.
His interest in entertainment and magic continued through his life. Over time, this evolved into an interest into sceptical inquiry. A member of the Australian Sceptics, he promoted “scientific inquiry, critical investigation, and the use of reason in examining controversial and extraordinary claims,” mostly involving claims of psychic ability. In 1983, for example, under the alias of Dr Barney Daniels, Varney demonstrated (using trickery) psychic surgery to disprove claims it was real.
Having learned basic first aid with the Civil Defence Service, Varney also got involved in medicine, working in nursing in Australia, with St. John’s Ambulance and in junior sports medicine.
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Read Part 1 of this blog here to learn about Danny Varney's visits to the Hackney Empire to watch magicians in the 1920s, 1930s and 1940s, and his time as an evacuee.
Quoted text is from an article written by Danny Varney in 1991, and revised in 2010. The copyright holder, Matthew Lloyd, has granted permission to use the text in this blog. The original, longer article is hosted on Lloyd's excellent website www.arthurlloyd.co.uk, along with further details about the history of the Hackney Empire.
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