Visitor At No. 10 Downing Street

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VISITOR AT NUMBER TEN | DOWNING STREET | LONDON 1968 (photo Arthur Steel) Arthur recalls:

“I had been on a late shift for the Newspaper and clocked off at around 1a.m. in the morning. As I drove home, I took the route down Whitehall. To my astonishment, as I drove past Downing Street there were three policeman rolling a enormous snowball. Needless to say, I quickly pulled my car over and grabbed my camera. I trudged through the snow and managed to get a shot of the three officers rolling the giant ball.

But once it dawned on the officers that I was a press photographer and I had caught them in the act whilst on duty, the atmosphere turned a little frosty. And so, I made a deal with them; I promised that I wouldn’t publish the picture of them forming the snowman if they simply posed next to the finished frozen figure. ‘Visitor at No.10’ was published the following day and it’s only now – over 50 years later that I’m able to reveal the picture of them rolling it – at the end of the day they were simply trying to keep themselves warm and pass some time.”