FRANK JAMES 1940-2020

[chunnybh]

South Africa Expert Senior radio-gram thingy, which I believe were all going to Chunny?

That was correct. I was supposed to collect that last winter. Unfortunately the pandemic messed that up. If anyone is in touch with Frank's family. I would be grateful if that information could be passed onto them. Of course, I'm still in no position to decide when I will next be in the UK.
That beautiful Mk Xb was one that Frank always wanted to hold onto.

[epigramophone]

South Africa Expert Senior radio-gram thingy, which I believe were all going to Chunny?

That was correct. I was supposed to collect that last winter. Unfortunately the pandemic messed that up. If anyone is in touch with Frank's family. I would be grateful if that information could be passed onto them. Of course, I'm still in no position to decide when I will next be in the UK.
That beautiful Mk Xb was one that Frank always wanted to hold onto.

Alastair and I are in touch with the James family and will pass the information on to them.

Meanwhile another book by Frank has come to light. "Marsh Court : The Missing Chapters" published in 2015.

Roger.

[Steve]

South Africa Expert Senior radio-gram thingy, which I believe were all going to Chunny?

That was correct. I was supposed to collect that last winter. Unfortunately the pandemic messed that up. If anyone is in touch with Frank's family. I would be grateful if that information could be passed onto them. Of course, I'm still in no position to decide when I will next be in the UK.
That beautiful Mk Xb was one that Frank always wanted to hold onto.

I've been in contact to get the funeral details and also hopefully the memorial service in the fullness of time. I'll PM you the family contact details so you can liaise directly to arrange collection in the future.

[old country chemist]

Hello all, I found this picture, taken in 2017 on one of our visits to Frank. It looks like a derelict hovel-and it certainly was, but by last year, 2020, Frank had brought it up to a very good standard, and it was unrecognisable from the picture. Sadly I have no picture of it up to date.
Now, I am reading a book on "The Old Inns of England" and to save making a new entry on the forum, I am placing a picture from the book, published first in 1934, but my edition is 1952. An unusual spot for a gramophone -on a bar counter. Can we guess at the title of the record that the chap is pointing to?-perhaps "Roll Out the Barrel"I had to include the other picture as it was on the same page.

[old country chemist]

Hello all, I was sorting some papers today, and came across this slip of paper that Frank had sent me some years ago. It is a scan of a photocopy, so the detail is not too good. It was taken at Graham's a few years ago. Frank's writing has always been a difficult item to decipher, and myself having spent years reading doctors scribbles, did not help in that respect. I think Graham may have posted the picture earlier in an appreciation of Frank. He is seen listening intently to the amazing

"Kraken" horn gramophone that Graham owned.
The caption reads "TWO OLD THINGS ALMOST COMPLETELY WORN OUT!"

[Inigo]

Yes, ha! Good Francis... He wrote three letters to me that took some time to be deciphered! Good bless him! These were full of help. Actually he showed me how to make bamboo needles!

[chunnybh]

To celebrate the life of Francis James, the James family has kindly agreed to give The EMG Story in searchable PDF format to anyone who wishes to read it.
You can download it here.
http://www.gramophonemuseum.com/francis-james.html

[emgcr]

This is brilliant Chunny and very many thanks for the information. Such action is an extremely generous gesture by the family and please thank them greatly on behalf of the many enthusiasts worldwide. I am also sure that you will have had a big input into this happening, particularly on the technical side, so many thanks to you too.

It is wonderful that you have Frank's collection in your fine care, thus ensuring the future preservation and use of these iconic and very rare gramophones just as Frank would have wished. Superb.

[Steve]

I second Graham's comment that this is a welcome and very generous move by the James family. We are all grateful and I'm sure Frank would have approved of the gesture.

It saddens me when I see copies of the book offered at extortionate prices online, thus excluding so many potential readers from learning and understanding about one of the quirkiest families and companies during the acoustic gramophone era.

[chunnybh]

I've had a few people contact me saying the pdf file shows up in different page sizes. It works fine on my PC so it may be a Mac based problem. I'd like some feedback on this so I can try and solve the problem.