Robert Temple - Author of The Sphinx Mystery

FAMILY

Myself, aged 5 months
At the age of eight months in 1945. I seem to be unsure of something, and I still am
My first birthday, astonished at the strange
On the run at the age of one
My first flight. My mother carries me onboard as a one year-old baby, in 1946. The plane was a Dakota, otherwise known as a DC-3. My mother told me when I was older, saw this photo and asked about it, that I stared at the clouds, transfixed, all the way. Unfortunately, I don't remember the experience.
A reflective cowboy - me aged 3
A wistful moment at the age of three. Possibly I was looking at some flowers. From that age I became obsessed by them, could never have enough, and with our friends Friedel Muschenheim from Wiesbaden in Germany, would go on 'flower raids' of peoples' gardens, gathering armfuls. We were always very careful only to take flowers from gardens which had plenty to spare, as we did not believe in a 'scorched earth' policy.
At the age of three I seem to have had a momentary interest in racing cars, but it soon passed, and has never returned. I have an aversion to speed in all its forms.
When I was very young I spent the summers at St. George's Episcopal Camp on the Hudson River. It was a camp run by St. George's Episcopal Church of Stuyvesant Square in New York City, and that delightful camp, which I enjoyed so much, no longer exists. Here another boy and I are deeply engrossed in playing in the sand beside the Hudson. We used to swim in it every day, for in those days people did not think about the pollution. The camp was divided into three sections: girls, boys and 'midgets'. The latter were people under the age of seven, the girls and boys under that age being put into the same building. ... more»
I loved this woman, and was always holding her hand. She was the laundress at St. George's Camp on the Hudson River, where I spent the summers when I was ... more»
I am standing in the middle of this game of Blind Man’s Bluff. I am aged four, and having a wonderful summer at St. George’s Episcopal Camp near Saugertees, New York, on the banks of the Hudson River.
Me and Lida Martin on adjoining swings in Virginia
My fishing career began and ended at the age of four, seen here. I caught some little fish called sunfish, and was distressed to see that they flapped and squirmed ... more»
Fishing for sunfish, aged four
I have always enjoyed chatting with girls. Here I am flirting with a girl named Carol Hundertmark, whose mother was my mother's friend. They lived in Doylestown, ... more»
Me and Carol Hundertmark
My mother and myself enjoying a moment of mirth. I remember those shorts were too tight.
This is a group shot of my third grade class, taken by my mother. At left is Mrs. Lexie Dean, our teacher for every subject. She was a truly wonderful person and teacher. I hid at ... more»
My life in the Third Grade. The entrance to Hickman Street School, which was a charming and relaxed place which all the students and teachers loved, so naturally it was closed down the next year.
A photo taken by my mother of my favourite teacher, Mrs. Lexie Dean, surrounded by some of her favourite pupils. I am to the left of her, looking over her shoulder at the book. I was her favourite pupil because I was top of the class.
Sitting on the steps of the school with a girl in my class named Janet, who alternated between being charming and really horrible.
A ‘class photo’ of my Third Grade class. I am at the top left. Most of the girls were really nice, and possibly the sweetest natured was the one at the left of the bottom row, but ... more»
They say that a dog is ‘man’s best friend’. Never was it truer than for me. This is my best friend Rusty. She was not so much a sister as a mother. She looked after me. And ... more»
This is a photo my mother took of me when I was eight years old. I had just become an acolyte in our Episcopalian Church (what is known in England as the Church of England). I remember ... more»
A school photo from Kentucky when I was about eight. The checked shirt I was wearing was too big on purpose because I was supposed to 'grow into it'.
Aged ten, rubbing noses with a couple of two year-old mares at Calumet Farm in Kentucky. I would whinny and they would all run from the far fence half a mile ... more»
Another friend of mine, Citation, one of the champion race horses of all time. He was a placid bay, a wise old fellow, who never made any trouble and kept his thoughts to himself.
I had these two pet pigs when I was about ten in Kentucky. However, I was heavily persuaded that I could only have one, so I surrendered the dark one and kept the little ... more»
I had this pet lamb for a while, but he was very stupid, I am afraid. I came to realize that sheep lack the intelligence to be acceptable pets, and pigs are far preferable. I did try ... more»
When I was 11 I did a TV show with these two fellows and I got to know Don Ameche at that time.
A snapshot when I was fourteen or fifteen. At that time, it was the fashion to wear ultra-thin ties, and I was very keen on this one which was dark green. It was briefly stolen ... more»
Here I am in the summer of 1959 (the smaller figure) in my Civil Air Patrol sergeant's uniform, aged 14, with Mr. Mattingly, a delightful man (partially handicapped ... more»
The summer of 1961, when I was 16. This was the last time I ever saw dear 'Georgie P.' She was like a foster mother to me when I was a child in Kentucky. Her maiden name ... more»
Myself, aged 18
A photo of me in Reading, Berkshire, in the summer of 1963, aged 18. At left is Sammie Mitchell-Hedges, discoverer of the rock crystal 'Skull of Doom', at the Maya ... more»
Ancestral reflections. Here I am in the 1970s sitting on the tomb of Peter Temple (from which the brasses disappeared centuries ago) and on the wall behind is the memorial ... more»
Olivia and our dog Kim silhouetted in the ancient window of the ruined chapel at Rames Head in Cornwall. I always think of this ... more»
Olivia crouching over an orchid which we discovered in a field on one of our walks.
Olivia taking a break on a windy walk by the sea in Cornwall.
Olivia and our precious dog Kim at the sea in Cornwall. Kim is looking at me with smug satisfaction and saying: 'I've got her! She's mine!' about Olivia. Olivia was Kim's 'Mummy', and was the Aplha Male of our pack, with me being only the Number Two and a mere hanger-on.
Olivia could have been an actress. Here she is pretending to wonder what to think of me.
Me chatting to Edward Heath in 1976 at a publishers party. On right, Sir Charles and Lady Forte.
Immanuel Velikowski, author of Worlds in Collision. I took this photo in the late 1970's.
Livio Stecchini, co-author of Secrets of the Great Pyramid. I took this photo in about 1978 at his home in New Jersey.
This is John Cely-Trevilian, who was my best friend, and who died in 2006 of cancer. He is making a typical histrionic ... more»
John O'Reilly
This is my childhood friend Buddy Rogers, of Winchester, Kentucky. He owns and runs the Ale-8 company, which produces my favourite soft drink. (Alas, I have ... more»
With my friend Peter Mitchell, in his house, Glyn, in Cornwall, about 1980. Peter was one of the world's most brilliant and original scientists, and he won the Nobel Prize for ... more»
These are Mr. and Mrs. Goetze, who were two of my godparents. Mr. Goetze was a Captain in the Merchant Navy. They were both English, although they lived in ... more»
 
poetic addresses
Poetic Addresses, written down for me by the poets in years gone by.
 
 


 

 



© Robert Temple 2009-2022