Description
The Reverand John Richards stands in the mangled wreckage of three trains. The overnight express from Perth, a local commuter train, and an express train heading from Euston to Liverpool.
Around 1000 people were aboard the three trains and 112 people died in the crash and 340 were injured. It is the worst peacetime rail crash in the UK.
The picture won ‘Britannica’ news Picture of the Year for 1952 and appeared on the front pages of newspapers around the world. There is something about the picture of the priest surrounded by the destruction that makes us realise how loose our grip on life can be. At 0819 people were sitting on the train considering their day ahead and within minutes over a hundred people’s lives had ended. 8th October 1952. see also this photo by George Phillips
Who Was George Phillips
George worked for a year as staff photographer for the Sun based in Bristol before being joining the Daily Mirror as their staffer for the west country. George was based in Bristol from 1971 and his career spanned nearly fifty years. A fellow journalist said ”He was really well known and well loved in the West Country, had the most incredible contacts and was a lovely man to work with. Everyone would sigh with relief if he turned up on a news story, we knew he’d make it come together somehow.”
George Phillips died on the 12th of November 2018 aged 84
