FAMOUS CHARACTERS : STAN CULLIS
Their first work together was for the British government in its West African colonies . In 1944 Fry was appointed town planning adviser to Lord Swinton , the resident minister of British West Africa ; Jane was engaged as his assistant . Their postings continued until 1946 , when they set up in private practice . Although based in London , most of their work for the next few years continued to be in west Africa for the British colonial authorities . The Frys opened an office in Ghana ( then known as the Gold Coast ) and worked there and in Nigeria , primarily on educational establishments , often in temporary partnership with other British architects . “ The Times ” considered Fry ’ s most notable work in West Africa to be the University of Ibadan , Nigeria .
In 1951 Fry and Drew joined an ambitious project to plan and create a new city , Chandigarh . With the partition of India , the Indian part of Punjab needed a new capital . Fry and Drew persuaded Le Corbusier to participate in the project . He had previously declined invitations , but the couple visited him in Paris and he agreed to join them . He took on the designs of the new capital ’ s major governmental and legal buildings and advised on the master plan for the city . Together with Pierre Jeanneret and a team of local architects , the Frys worked for three years within Le Corbusier ’ s plan to create Chandigarh .
The pair ’ s major British commission was the headquarters of Pilkington Glass in St Helens , Lancashire . Fry and Drew took on a number of younger partners , and the practice eventually grew to a considerable size . However , in the view of “ The Times ’ obituarist , “ in these new circumstances his personal talent somehow became submerged , and the work of the firm that bore his name , though of acceptable quality , was not easy to distinguish from the competent modern work done by many other firms . Fry ’ s originality , and his sparkle as a designer , were far less evident than in his pre-war buildings ”.
FAMOUS CHARACTERS : STAN CULLIS
One of the most dramatic finishes to the Football League Championship occurred on 31 May 1947 . On that date with the title being courted by four suitors Liverpool met Wolverhampton Wanderers .
Busby ’ s Manchester United and Stan Matthews ’ Stoke were also in the running but it was to a roasting Molineux where the nation ’ s attention was drawn as the two principal contenders played out a heart-stopping game in front of a shirtsleeved and summer-frocked audience .
Liverpool ’ s lead was a slender one when Albert Stubbins ran onto Bob Paisley ’ s through ball . Ellesmere Port-born Stan Cullis and young Billy Wright gave desperate chase . This would be Cullis ’ last chance to win silverware in that beautiful old gold shirt of the Wolves ; having announced his intended retirement prior to the match .
Cullis was within tripping distance of Stubbins just before he toed the ball past Bert Williams to put the game beyond Wolves . A lesser man would have callously tripped Stubbins but such unscrupulous conduct would , thankfully , never besmirch the career of Stan Cullis .
Not to say that Cullis was weak-hearted . He became club captain at the age of 21 and led our nation on the football field just before and during the dark days of the Second World War with displays that boosted morale and bedazzled a generation of football followers .
Cullis led a one-man protest in refusing to give the Nazi salute before the 1938 international in Berlin . That decision courted the displeasure of our bureaucrats keen on appeasing the Nazi hierarchy and Cullis paid for his ethic stance by being dropped but by that stage his presence in the national side
BY ASHLEY HYNE
could not be gainsaid and he was soon reinstated .
A solid English oak of a player , Cullis ’ challenges were delivered with the force of a shell from a Sherpa tank but he was always fair and alongside school friend Joe Mercer and the prince of centrehalves Cliff Britton formed a legendary centre-half line when wearing the white shirt of England that was as classic as the Elgin Marbles . In 1943 he led our nation to its greatest ever football triumph , a staggering 8-2 defeat of the Scots at Maine Road .
From 1947 he became a driving force in the game from the Molineux dug-out , leading his young charges to the club ’ s first trophy in 41 years when they took the FA Cup from a talented Leicester City side in 1949 .
Like Ferguson after him he refreshed the club ’ s playing roster , determined that Wolves would remain at the very top . He brought in a wondrous crop of young lads to lead Wolves into the 1950s , vying with the Busby Babes as one of the games ’ lighthouses of the future . In the glum months following England ’ s traumatising loss to Hungary at Wembley , Cullis coached his young charges to inflict upon the famous Hungarian club side , Honved , a victory celebrated in our national folklore . From two-down , Wolves brushed aside their star-studded opponents , the Hungarian challenge sinking into the Molineux mud .
Cullis ’ overblown comment ( that Wolves ’ were Champions of the World ) may have raised ire over on the continent but it played its part in the development of the Champions ’ League and the high tempo , high pressure game with which Cullis calibrated his teams would remain ahead of its time for many years to come .
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