Identity of Snake Pit's cool cats revealed | Nostalgia

He says: ‘That's me leaning against the wall.

‘The chap nearest is Robbie Robinson and the fella in the middle is the late Mick Yerbury.

‘Marilyn Cole – as we knew her – and Donna Parker were close friends at that time. A group of us from the sixties still keep in touch with frequent lunches.

‘We have about six large albums of old photos from our youth, including some of Rod Stewart from his time staying in Portsmouth, and on the Aldermaston CND Marches.’

I am hoping I will get to see Ian’s photographs.

Bob Probee tells me: ‘I wouldn’t have regarded it as being on Eastney Beach.

‘My recollection is that, although it was east of South Parade Pier, it was almost directly opposite the Rose Gardens.

‘I’m not sure where the dividing line between Southsea beach and Eastney beach is, but I always considered it to be at St George’s Road.

‘In my student days (mid-1960s) I did two summer sessions as a deck chair attendant – one session was at Clarence beach and the other session was at Eastney beach.

‘The area I attended at Eastney certainly didn’t include the area I knew as the Snake Pit.’

Henry Yelf says: ‘You may know already but the so-called Snake Pit was almost adjacent to Lumps Fort and close to the blocks.’

Meanwhile, Alfred Gapper reveals: ‘I well remember the Snake Pit, it was the steps from the prom down to the beach and was the second set of steps east of the Boom Defence.

‘I never knew why it was called the Snake Pit, but it may have been because so many people (mainly fishermen) used it as a public toilet.’ Charming.

He goes on: ‘Having given up fishing 60 years ago, I have no cause to go there anymore and nostalgia is a sad sickness!’

Mark Newman has another opinion. ‘The Snake Pit is not at Eastney. It is on Southsea beach in front of Canoe Lake car park/ Model Village, although that part of the seafront road is called Eastney Esplanade.’

The men have their backs to the promenade wall facing the sea. The Snake Pit wording is on the concrete side of the steps that lead from the prom to the beach.

I went to the beach last Sunday with the hope of seeing the faded words – no chance.

There was much shingle washed up and much more placed as sea defences.

The beach where the three men are sitting was some 10 feet below. It is now just three feet below the level of the promenade.

• Did you know that if you looked foreign in the late Victorian times you would have had little chance of entering Portsmouth Dockyard?

My daughter, Ursula, kindly bought me Bradshaw’s Handbook, originally published in 1863. As we know, Michael Portillo uses a Bradshaw’s exclusively for his excellent railway programmes.

Under Portsmouth, Bradshaw states: ‘The dockyard covers 117 acres with a waterfront of four-fifths of a mile.

'To go through the yard apply at the gate for permission. You write your name down and when there are half a dozen people gathered a policeman takes you round.

'If you are a foreigner, you should apply to the Admiralty, through your Ambassador, for an order. If you resemble one in appearance it is advisable to provide yourself with an Admiralty order.’

Just imagine if that were the case today.

• In May I wrote about the prefabs on Portsdown Hill and how I remembered some standing somewhere in a side street in the Fratton area. I used to deliver to them when a milk boy.

Mrs W Hope dropped me a line saying the ones I remembered could have been in Toronto Road at the junction with Balliol Road, Kingston.

‘There was a dairy in South Road, quite nearby, and the milk was delivered by horse and cart’, she tells me.

I’m not quite that old Mrs Hope, but thank you.

She added that during the war she lived in Langley Road and used to take empty jam jars to the local garage and received a few pennies in exchange. Such times.

• Why is it that sailors appear to be wearing a beret more than the traditional cap, with the cap tally bearing their wearer’s ship’s name in gold?

Perhaps, as suggested by a former chief petty officer who hates the things, it is because no one can tie a bow any more.

If there was a decent cap badge to wear instead of a plastic looking anchor it might make them more attractive. Leave the berets to the army and Frenchmen.