MM Links July 2010 (Week 1)
This is “King” John (aka Rockfordill), newly crowned and ready to pick up the MM orb and sceptre and try my utmost to continue with the honoured role of Links setter. I am relieved that I have been elevated above “Prince” John – not my favourite character from history! Whilst talking of names, “Rockfordill” perhaps looks puzzling but it is simply the town in the Midwest of the USA, where I spent most of my working life -- find Chicago on an atlas and go about 90 miles NW and you will see the medium-large city of Rockford, Illinois.
My dad was an artist in New Zealand who emigrated to the UK in the 1930s, there not being much scope for artists in NZ during the depression era. He worked his passage on a freighter through the Panama Canal and on to the Port of London, where he got work with J Lyons (Chocolate) as an illustrator of box covers, etc. He didn’t find the work very fulfilling, but it paid some of the bills. Twenty some years later, I in turn emigrated to the USA settled, married, raised a family and lived in Rockford. At that time, it was a great place to work and raise a family, but perhaps not so hot now.