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Wednesday 25 November 2009

Web Page No 790

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FIRST PICTURE: A COLLECTION OF CHILDREN’S BOOKS FROM THE 1950’S. THIS IS TO BE FOUND IN THE MUSEUM OF CHILDHOOD IN BETHNAL GREEN.












SECOND PICTURE: TYPICAL 1960’S MODERN SUNBURST WALL CLOCK.




HOW

Were you a member of the I-Spy Club from the daily paper the News Chronical? I was and I was dead keen on filling in all sorts of I-Spy Books but I only got one feather for my war bonnet because I soon realised that if I sent off my completed book to Big Chief I-Spy to get my coloured feather, only the feather and an Order of Merit came back and not the book. So after the first book that I sent off I satisfied myself with the single feather and kept the hard won filled up books at home.
The I-SPY books were and still are spotters' guides written for British children, and were particularly successful in the 1950s and 1960s being based on things that the children could see in and around Great Britain.
The I-SPY Tribe was based on the I-SPY Books, of which there were forty four different titles, of small spotters books that sold in hundreds of thousands. Each book covered a subject such as I-SPY Cars, I-SPY on the Pavement, I-SPY Churches, I-SPY on a Train Journey, etc, etc. As children spotted objects such as coalhole covers, oak trees, semaphore signals, police boxes, stations, plants, fire engines, whelks, and so on, they recorded the event in the relevant book, and gained points. Once the book was complete, it could be sent to Big Chief I-SPY for a feather and an Order of Merit, a child could also belong to the I-Spy Club and could proudly wear a News Chronical I-Spy Club members badge. (a subtile way of advertising)

The club was supposedly run by a Red Indian chief called Big Chief I-Spy. The original Big Chief I-Spy was Charles Warrell, who was a former headmaster and who created I-Spy towards the end of his working life. He retired in 1956, but lived on until 1995 when he died at the age of 106. After Charles Warrell's retirement his assistant Arnold Cawthrow became the second Big Chief, and served in this role until 1978. For part of this time he also worked as an antiques dealer in Islington. He died in 1993, and is commemorated by a stone plaque placed on the outside of the Boatmen's Rooms, the house where he spent some of his last years in Deal, Kent.

Members of the I-Spy Tribe were called Redskins, and the head office was variously known as the Wigwam by the Water or the Wigwam by the Green. The former was located for some years next to the Mermaid Theatre at Blackfriars, while the latter was in London's Edgware Road.

The books were originally self-published by Charles Warrell but, after a brief period when they were published by the Daily Mail, they were taken over by the now long departed News Chronicle and based in the paper's building in Bouverie Street. The regular I-SPY column, which appeared in the News Chronicle, reverted to the Daily Mail when the News Chronicle ceased publication, and continued to appear until the late 1980s. The books have had various publishers over the years including the Dickens Press, a company set up to continue the book publishing interests of the 'News Chronicle', and Polystyle Publications, a publisher of children's comics.

The books became very popular, with most print runs going well into six figures. Big Chief I-Spy had a succession of assistants, usually known as "Hawkeye". In the early 1970s, this position was held by Ralph Mills. Earlier assistants included Max Heinz and John Tagholm. In the 1980s, following a short-lived third Big Chief, Robin Tucek, Professor David Bellamy of TV fame replaced Big Chief I-Spy as the person to whom completed books were sent, and the earlier Red Indian connections were quietly dropped, I suppose by this time the ethnic connections were politically incorrect!

I-Spy books were still being sold, until recently, by Michelin Travel Publications and there has been talk of Michelin licensing the I-SPY brand to another publisher in the future.

I really do hope that another publisher can be found as the books were a really good grounding for children and nurtured an inquistive mind. However one thing does occur to me and that is with over 40 different titles covering 40 different subjects it really must have been a nightmare keeping these books up to date! Still they were great fun and I spent hours going round recording things in my books. Maybe I should try to introduce my grandson to the wonder of I-Spy!

Stay in touch and Take Care

Peter

DUSTYKEAT@aol.com
Pj.keat@ntlworld.com

YOU WRITE:
Peter Writes
My father started working in Baker & Sons Ltd; in 1946, after he qualified as a Pharmacist, which was owned then by Mr Baker. He took the business over circa 1953 when Mr Baker retired and he renamed the business "Bakers of Cosham". Incidentally, Mr Baker lived at and owned Lumley Mill at Emsworth. In those days, it was just one residence. After he retired, my mother made him a Christmas Cake every year until he died. Either me or one of my brothers had to catch the No 31 bus ( Southdown ) and take it to him.

Seems I have digressed a bit from your Manor Court theme but soon I will send you some more school memories, although I was at Court Lane immediately before it changed to Manor Court.

NEWS AND VIEWS:
Max Robertson, writer, broadcaster and sports commentator, has died aged 94. He was the first presenter of Panorama, of Going for a Song, and was a commentator at the Queen's Coronation in 1953; but he was best known as the "other voice of Wimbledon", alongside Dan Maskell.
He covered every Wimbledon final for the BBC from 1946 to 1986. He was chosen to do the commentary for the first postwar Grand Prix at Silverstone in 1948 and covered summer and winter Olympiads. He also covered the royal tour of Canada in 1951 when the young Princess Elizabeth deputised for her father who was too ill to travel.
ON THIS DAY 29TH NOVEMBER 1960-1965
On 29/11/1960 the number one single was It's Now Or Never - Elvis Presley and the number one album was South Pacific Soundtrack. The top rated TV show was Labour Party Political Broadcast (all channels) and the box office smash was Psycho. A pound of today's money was worth £13.68 and Tottenham Hotspur were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions.

On 29/11/1961 the number one single was Little Sister/His Latest Flame - Elvis Presley and the number one album was Ipswich Town. The top rated TV show was "Coronation Street (Granada) and the box office smash was One Hundred and One Dalmations. A pound of today's money was worth £ 13.25.The big news story of the day was Sunday Night at the London Palladium (ATV)".

On 29/11/1962 the number one single was Lovesick Blues - Frank Ifield and the number one album was Out of the Shadows - Shadows. The top rated TV show was Coronation Street (Granada) and the box office smash was Lawrence of Arabia. A pound of today's money was worth £12.89 and Everton were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions.

On 29/11/1963 the number one single was She Loves You - The Beatles and the number one album was Please Please Me - The Beatles. The top rated TV show was Coronation Street (Granada) and the box office smash was The Great Escape. A pound of today's money was worth £12.64 and Liverpool were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions. The big news story of the day was 119 killed in Montreal jet crash.

On 29/11/1964 the number one single was Baby Love - Supremes and the number one album was A Hard Day's Night - Beatles. The top rated TV show was Coronation Street (Granada) and the box office smash was Dr Strangelove. A pound of today's money was worth £12.24 and Manchester United were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions.

On 29/11/1965 the number one single was The Carnival is Over - Seekers and the number one album was The Sound of Music Soundtrack. The top rated TV show was Coronation Street (Granada) and the box office smash was The Sound of Music.A pound of today's money was worth £11.69 and Liverpool were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions.

Web Page 788

Three more pictures from Peter Barlow. Thank you so much Peter.





First Picture: 1940-50








Second Picture: 1930’s








Third Picture: 1963













THE DAILY SKETCH FRIDAY APRIL 5TH 1957

Now for all those who have been waiting a week to find out what Joan Collins meant by the phrase ‘Lets get back to honest sex’ here is the answer. At that time she was in a film called ‘The Sea Wife’ and in this wartime story she is cast adrift, first in a rubber boat and then onto a deserted island with Richard Burton and Basil Sydney. The trouble is that she plays a nun and spends the whole film with no make up and dressed only in a shift. How frustrating for the men in the party!! Hence her quote after the release of the film of ‘Lets get back to honest sex!’ Incidentally there was a third star in the film the coloured Jamaican calypso singer Cy Grant, this was his first film but I expect most of you will remember him when he appeared nightly on the ‘Tonight’ programme with Cliff Mitchelmore.

Right what else was in this particular paper. On the front was an advert saying ‘I’d love a Babycham’. Inside there was speculation whether the defence cuts announced by the Defence Minister Duncan Sandys would be enough to reduce taxation; it wasn’t. The new Navy, it was declared would consist soley of aircraft carriers and it was announced that plans were being made to scrap HMS Vanguard.

Miss Ghana entered the Miss World contest and stunned the press with her 40-38-46 figure, and there was a half page advertisement for a story in the Sunday Dispatch (now who remembers that?) entitled ‘I married a Maharajah’, the English girl, Janet Hicks’ fascinating story. Another article declared that the Italian actress Sophia Loren receives 1,000 love letters a day and that she was working hard to learn English so she can be in a Hollywood film (well Goodness Gracious Me!)

The Archbishop of Malta banned girls in his congregation from wearing English fashions as he classed them as indecent. The BBC Festival of Dance Music at the Albert Hall featured Ted Heath, Sid Phillips, Oscar Rabin, Alex Welsh, Dennis Lotis, Jill Day, The Stargazers, Betty Smith and bottom of the bill Tommy Steele, seats from 12/6 to 3/-.

There is a centre page spread featuring that seasons debutantes highlighting the 17 year old Miss Gloria Kindersley from the Isle of Wight wearing pink taffeta with lace trimmings. (if you are really interested I can send you a copy of the picture) .

The strip cartoons featured very heavily in this paper, I must admit that I really did not appreciate just how many there were in just one publication. In this edition there was ‘Blondie’ by Chic Young, ‘Pop’ by Can-can’t, ‘Tug Transom’ by Alfred Sindall, ‘Carmen & Co’ by Maz, ‘Rick Martin’ by John Diamond, ‘Jimmy Gimmicks’ by Hugh McCelland and lastly on the back page ‘Peanuts’ by Schulz.

Now whats on the telly? First ITV Robin Hood, Emergency Ward 10, Take Your Pick, Dragnet, Jack Hylton, a play followed by Palais Party, The News and at 10.45pm shut down. Whilst on the BBC there was I Married Joan, Watch With Mother, Gardening Club, The Grove Family, Armand and Michaela Dennis, Up for the Cup, Be Your Own Boss, Table Tennis, Anglo French Fortnight, the News and shut down at 10.45.

And finally the letters page or as it was called in the Daily Sketch ‘The Pungent Post’. Here are some examples:-

Women-such dull folk. WHAT dull people women radio fans are. Two of the most popular programmes on the BBC are angled at women — " Housewives' Choice" and " Mrs. Dale." They're two of the worst. If you've ever woken up to the strains of the housewives' requests you'll know what I mean. The programme is an awful jumble of all that's bad in music. And any woman who can enjoy the vicious little clique that Mrs. Dale moves in must be the battleaxe to end 'em all.— GREGORY WALLS, Bournemouth, Hants.
Don’t blame me I did not write it!!!
No cure for insomnia. Our village clock struck 668 times in 27 minutes from midnight last week. Is this a record? Miss M Ward, Thurlaston.
Busier. Is there any place in the World where the traffic congestion is worse than London. Surely there can’t be. Arnold Polter, Richmond, Surrey. He should try living 52 years later in 2009. Ed.



Stay in touch and Take Care

Peter

DUSTYKEAT@aol.com
Pj.keat@ntlworld.com

YOU WRITE:

Mary Writes:-
Thanks for all the lovely articles. I do enjoy them. I often go to vintage bus rallies with Mike, so love the photos you print. We have been lucky enough to go out on the buses for a good ride around the coutryside. They are surprisingly comfortable. On a different tack, the day I left Malta many years ago after a very enjoyable stay, standing outside my grocers was Reg Varley, the star of "On the Buses". He was quite short, and looked extremely happy, standing there in the lovely Maltese sunshine. It was more than I was having to leave and face England after such wonderful weather. A few hours later there I was at Brize Norton on a grey, damp, December afternoon!

NEWS AND VIEWS:
Callon is dead. Edward Woodward, husband of Michelle Dotrice, passed away in hospital this week. He made his reputation in our era by playing Callan against Russell Hunters ‘Lonely’. A well known actor he starred in various shows over the years including The Equalizer.

ON THIS DAY 22TH NOVEMBER 1960-1965
On 22/11/1960 the number one single was It's Now Or Never - Elvis Presley and the number one album was South Pacific Soundtrack. The top rated TV show was Take Your Pick (AR) and the box office smash was Psycho. A pound of today's money was worth £13.68 and Tottenham Hotspur were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions.

On 22/11/1961 the number one single was Little Sister/His Latest Flame - Elvis Presley and the number one album was Another Black & White Minstrell Show - George Mitchell Minstrels. The top rated TV show was Sunday Night at the London Palladium (ATV) and the box office smash was One Hundred and One Dalmations. A pound of today's money was worth £13.25 and Ipswich Town were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions.

On 22/11/1962 the number one single was Lovesick Blues - Frank Ifield and the number one album was Out of the Shadows - Shadows. The top rated TV show was Coronation Street (Granada) and the box office smash was Lawrence of Arabia. A pound of today's money was worth £12.89 and Everton were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions. The big news story of the day was First broadcast of That Was the Week That Was.

On 22/11/1963 the number one single was You'll Never Walk Alone - Gerry & the Pacemakers and the number one album was Please Please Me - The Beatles. The top rated TV show was Conservative Party Political Broadcast (all channels) and the box office smash was The Great Escape. A pound of today's money was worth £12.64 and Liverpool were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions. The big news story of the day was JFK shot dead in Dallas and we all remember where we were on that day!!!.

On 22/11/1964 the number one single was Baby Love - Supremes and the number one album was A Hard Day's Night - Beatles. The top rated TV show was Coronation Street (Granada) and the box office smash was Dr Strangelove. A pound of today's money was worth £12.24 and Manchester United were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions.

On 22/11/1965 the number one single was Get Off Of My Cloud - Rolling Stones and the number one album was The Sound of Music Soundtrack. The top rated TV show was Take Your Pick (AR) and the box office smash was The Sound of Music. A pound of today's money was worth £11.69 and Liverpool were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions. The big news story of the day was Mohammed Ali beats Floyd Patterson In Las Vegas.

Web Page 786

I am very much indebted to Peter Barlow for this weeks page all three of the pictures are his, as is the article and next week there will be three more just as fascinating photographs. So watch this space so much to remember!






First Picture: 1800’s




Second Picture: 1940-1950






Third Picture: Looking up the High Street

Cosham High Street
Peter Writes:-

I have just read your Blog regarding Cosham High Street etc; I would like to add a few additions and possible corrections. I was brought up in Cosham High Street where I lived over my fathers Chemist Shop "Bakers of Cosham" from 1946 to 1963. We were situated on the Western side of the High Street between the "Ship Inn" ( The landlord Was Mr Nuttall, who I believe, along with my father, was a founder member of Cosham Rotary Club ) and the "Swan Inn" ( The landlord was a Mr Simmons ) which to my Knowledge is still there. The shop you refer to as Dittman & Malpas, was in fact Curtis's and were next door to our shop. They were Coal & Corn Merchants. Our shop & Curtis's were eventually demolished by Murrays Demolition of Portsmouth, who we used to refer to as Murraymint in 1963. The whole plot was redeveloped by the Guy who owned Budgens Supermarkets ( more North of England. He was a Colonel somebody or other ) circa 1963 and part of the deal was that he would build my Father a new "Bakers of Cosham" where Curtis's had been and he would retain the freehold of the new site. Budgens built a new supermarket on our old site, the Ship Inn was eventually demolished and a supermarket called Finefare replaced it.

When we were children in the late 1940s and 1950s before the supermarkets arrived, the grocer in the High Street was Threadinghams where everything was weighed out into Blue Sugar Paper and the weeks groceries for my parents and 5 children were delivered in a cardboard box about 18"x18"x12".

Our Greengroceries came from Wiltons a few doors up from Boots. There was also a Grocer called Gaimans on the Corner of the Droke which lead to Portsmouth Dairies and the other Greengrocers were Peter's next door but one to Seals and also Leals in Spur Road. Our milk was delivered every day including Sunday from Gauntletts Dairy in Stakes Road, Waterlooville. our bread was delivered 3 times a week from Campions near the top of the High Street and our meat came from Pinks in the lower part of the Street. You chose your meat at the counter and then went to an Office which was like an ornate Glass Fronted Wooden Box, where Miss Rickman took your money and they would also deliver.

Working down the High street from Albert Road, was Weston Harts where I bought my first two vinyl singles - Smoke gets in your eyes, The Platters and Move It, Cliff Richard. Next to Weston Harts was the first supermarket in Cosham, Victor Value. Next was Naylors the Optician then a dry cleaners where they used to sit in the window and do invisible mending of nylons. then came a Doctors Surgery with Doctor's Sladen, Sampson & Woolas amongst others and then Chapmans Laundry. Then there was the Droke ( an Alley that went through to Mulberry Lane). Then Gaimans Grocers, Peters Greengrocers, Mays Fishshop, Smith and Vospers the Bakers and Seals Cycle and Toy shop where we used to take the accumulator out of our old Valve radio to get it re-charged for 3d. Then there was Magdalla Road with Christopher's Shoe Shop on the Corner, then a little jewellers then Hoar's sweet shop where we used to buy 2 Woodbines or Weights Fags and Penny Bangers and 1d Trebor Chews.

Going back to Timothy whites and Taylors, their Store was on the western side of the High Street, which was opposite Boots on the corner of Albert Road.

The other thing of interest was the Blue Police Telephone Box outside of Weston Harts, which used to keep dinging until the Beat Bobby came by to answer it, by which time, the person ringing from the Police Station, had probably forgotten why they were phoning in the first place.

Thanks Peter that was great. I remember most of what you are saying and I too bought my first record in Weston Harts except mine was Nairobi by Tommy Steele on a 78rpm!!!!

Take Care

Peter

DUSTYKEAT@aol.com
Pj.keat@ntlworld.com

YOU WRITE:
John’s Highbury Memories
Peter - whilst accepting there was no pub on the estate there was the "Portsbridge" at the beginning of Highbury Grove and an off-licence at the junction of Chatsworth Avenue/Dovercourt Road. The school that Mike refers to last week was, in fact, originally built as a community centre for the estate but taken over as the social club for Southern Electricity. It was used in the late 40's as a satellite for Court lane Infants - as was the hall at St Philips Church and the Tudor Drill Hall.

With regard to your comment that this was a badly designed estate does not take into account that it was complete in itself with shops at the junction of Chatsworth Avenue and both Pitrieve Road & Dovercourt Road providing most of the needs for the locals. You also mention the swimming adjacent to the railway bridge but not the steps provided at the top of Chatsworth Avenue which - I understand - was sanded/gravelled by the builders to provide a small beach.

NEWS AND VIEWS:

ON THIS DAY 15TH NOVEMBER 1960-1965

On 15/11/1960 the number one single was It's Now Or Never - Elvis Presley and the number one album was South Pacific Soundtrack. The top rated TV show was Bootsie & Snudge (Granada) and the box office smash was Psycho. A pound of today's money was worth £13.68 and Tottenham Hotspur were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions.

On 15/11/1961 the number one single was Little Sister/His Latest Flame - Elvis Presley and the number one album was Another Black & White Minstrell Show - George Mitchell Minstrels. The top rated TV show was Coronation Street (Granada) and the box office smash was One Hundred and One Dalmations. A pound of today's money was worth £13.25 and Ipswich Town were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions.

On 15/11/1962 the number one single was Lovesick Blues - Frank Ifield and the number one album was West Side Story Soundtrack. The top rated TV show was Coronation Street (Granada) and the box office smash was Lawrence of Arabia. A pound of today's money was worth £12.89 and Everton were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions.

On 15/11/1963 the number one single was You'll Never Walk Alone - Gerry & the Pacemakers and the number one album was Please Please Me - The Beatles. The top rated TV show was Coronation Street (Granada) and the box office smash was The Great Escape. A pound of today's money was worth £12.64 and Liverpool were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions.

On 15/11/1964 the number one single was (There's) Always Something There to Remind Me - Sandy Shaw and the number one album was A Hard Day's Night - Beatles. The top rated TV show was Coronation Street (Granada) and the box office smash was Dr Strangelove. A pound of today's money was worth £12.24 and Manchester United were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions.

On 15/11/1965 the number one single was Get Off Of My Cloud - Rolling Stones and the number one album was Liverpool. The top rated TV show was "Coronation Street (Granada) and the box office smash was The Sound of Music. A pound of today's money was worth £11.69. The big news story of the day was Take Your Pick (AR)".

Wednesday 4 November 2009

Web Page No 784

Firstly you will notice that I have opened a new section on the blog, ie school photo’s. I have put some there this week and I will add another one or so every week to complete the collection, at the moment I have 51 different pics from school days (not including the one of me with various young ladies!!!) so if you have any school pics to add to the list send them along so we can all share them. Also in the lower section are pics of the 60’s but not of school.




FIRST PICTURE: THE MARSHALL CAP SIX-GUN




SECOND PICTURE: THE TRADITIONAL GAME OF CONKERS.





ANOTHER LOOK AT THE PAST

£sd


To us born in the 1940’s this was pre-decimalization money not the happy pills that the letters became associated with in the 60’s . A ha’penny was half a penny, good for 4 mojos or fruitsalads at the newsagent. Tu’pence was two penny's not a separate coin, but thru’pence was a thru’penny bit; thick, brass and with 12 sides. A silver sixpence was a tanner, a good choking size for Christmas puddings and for much of my young life the tooth fairies standard rate. 12 pennies made a shilling or bob. A half-crown was 2 shillings and sixpence, a big substantial coin and my weekly pocket money later. We knew about the half crown but we never saw a full crown. Notes started at 10 shillings or 10 bob note, these and postal orders for any amount are why my generation still shake their birthday cards when they open them. Posh stuff was priced in guineas, but I have no idea why. Everyone always mocks the eccentricity of 12 pennies to the shilling, 20 shillings to the pound but it was a very practical currency. 12 is a very sharing number, divisible by 2, 3, 4 & 6. Base 10 is great for mathematics but less useful for divvying up when small people have their hands out expectantly. The tables necessary to convert old pennies to new pence in the 70's were quite something. Mind you some old fashioned shop keepers for ages refused to use the new money and carried on pricing in LSD, even though that was.
Conker Season
Crazes would suddenly happen at school and in the streets, some sort of toy or game would suddenly become popular. Stilts might appear but I never knew anyone who bought stilts, they were universally made by Dad. Conkers, marbles, bubble gum cards would suddenly show up at school for no reason and dominate the playground as would yo-yo’s, marbles and toy cars. Conkers was a profit making season for me as the next door neighbour had an enormous Horse Chestnut tree in their garden and it shed most of its conkers in our garden and I made some extra pocket money selling them by the bag. Our Comics would do promotions every now and then when circulation flagged. They would give away a cheap free gift like a flash banger - a triangular fold of paper that would unfurl with a bang when flicked. I liked the plastic pop gun; powered with enough extra elastic bands you could get a pencil to almost penetrate a cornflake packet. The free submarine which worked on Baking Powder was popular; and what was the point of the cardboard thing with the cuts that allowed you to put a policeman’s head on a ballet dancer’s torso with a footballers legs? Clickers were another pointless freebie. a piece of metal stressed so it "clicked" when bent, oh the long winter evenings just flew by...

Comics always carried adverts for instant stamp collector kits.
Cereal manufactures would do the free gift promotions too. They would put stickers in the box, transfers that you rubbed a pen over to make them stick on a scene printed on the box, divers and underwater, a space scene, you could place your transfers anywhere you liked, and they got everywhere. You could also collect packet tops and send away for something big, made in Hong Kong.
We had uncles and grandparents who had seen war, some of them two. If they hadn't, then they'd done National Service where they'd seen foreign parts. There were tales to tell either way.

Some of my friends still had air raid shelters in the garden (ours was filled in), some were concrete, some corrugated iron. We played in them, and people grew rhubarb near them or raspberries up them. Us lads all wore short trousers of course, changing to long trousers was a right of passage to start the growing up process. Long trousers on a kid would wear out too fast; bare knees were self repairing, more or less.

Central heating at home meant the fireplace and you learned to keep the doors closed behind you. Carpets were definitely not wall to wall and a fireguard was placed up front to protect the rug and the cat from tumbling coals. There was a big concrete bunker in the back garden for storing the coal which was delivered by a bloke from the Co-op (Mum wanted her divi) in a Donkey Jacket hefting Hundredweight bags of coal d into the bunker. Coal came in canvas bags with a round metal seal on the top attached by wire, from the bunker coal was taken into the house in a scuttle that stood by the fire ready for a top up, putting more coal on was very manly to small boys. Fires had to be cleaned out and produced "clinkers", twisted and fused sculptures of ash and coal, smashed up gleefully with the poker.
The local Newsagent sold everything from shoelaces to Plasticine and Newspapers of course. It closed at 5pm and like everything else only opened a half day on Wednesdays. If you needed anything; from petrol to food, after 6pm you were out of luck. Only Off-licenses opened at night, Sunday of course everything was shuttered and closed. On the other hand, if you were sick, the doctor would come to visit you, at your own bedside, 24 hours a day 7 days a week.
Furniture was a three piece suite and a sideboard and a pouffe if you were posh. Kids got the pouffe or the floor. The sideboard had everything crammed into it, booze in the cupboards, bills in the top drawer and knitting needles in the middle ones. On top was a fruit tray that never saw any fruit and a biscuit barrel.
A washing machine never appeared in our house in fact in her whole lifetime my mother never owned a washing machine. Washing was hung on the line and carrying the laundry basket and handing up clothes pegs was another kid duty. Wet shirts flapping into your face was one memory, synchronizing hands and walking together to fold sheets was another and
everything was ironed.

I loved getting guns; cap, spud or dried pea. Can you still buy caps? Newsagents and toy stores sold them, thin strips of paper with a tiny blob of gunpowder, they came in little round paper cases the size of a bottle top. Caps went bang on impact; either just for the noise in cap guns or to actually propel something like a piece of potato. Spud guns never lived up to your expectations. The black Lone Star spud gun looked like a revolver and had a side loading chamber into which you placed a small cartridge with potato embedded at one end and a cap at the other or as many caps as you could get in it. A catapult was the most offensive weapon available and some hardware stores actually sold catapult elastic by the foot, it must have been used for something else, but what?

Take Care

Peter

DUSTYKEAT@aol.com
Pj.keat@ntlworld.com

YOU WRITE:
Martin Writes:-

That teacher in the photo in the gallery on the right with a question mark is Mr. Dennison......PE teacher.......cannot yet remember his first name.


ED : there will be more Highbury Memories next week

NEWS AND VIEWS:
Connie Francis' hometown of Belleville, New Jersey will name the auditorium of Belleville High School, her old school, after her and will dedicate "Connie Francis Court," at the corner of Greylock Parkway and Forest Street where she lived for two years.

ON THIS DAY 1ST NOVEMBER 1960-1965

On 01/11/1960 the number one single was Only the Lonely - Roy Orbison and the number one album was South Pacific Soundtrack. The top rated TV show was Bootsie & Snudge (Granada) and the box office smash was Psycho. A pound of today's money was worth £13.68 and Tottenham Hotspur were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions

On 01/11/1961 the number one single was Walkin' Back to Happiness - Helen Shapiro and the number one album was The Shadows - Shadows. The top rated TV show was Coronation Street (Granada) and the box office smash was One Hundred and One Dalmations. A pound of today's money was worth £13.25 and Ipswich Town were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions.


On 01/11/1962 the number one single was Telstar - The Tornadoes and the number one album was Out of the Shadows - Shadows. The top rated TV show was The Royal Variety Performance (BBC) and the box office smash was Lawrence of Arabia. A pound of today's money was worth £12.89 and Everton were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions.


On 01/11/1963 the number one single was You'll Never Walk Alone - Gerry & the Pacemakers and the number one album was Please Please Me - The Beatles. The top rated TV show was Coronation Street (Granada) and the box office smash was The Great Escape. A pound of today's money was worth £12.64 and Liverpool were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions.


On 01/11/1964 the number one single was (There's) Always Something There to Remind Me - Sandy Shaw and the number one album was A Hard Day's Night - Beatles. The top rated TV show was Coronation Street (Granada) and the box office smash was Dr Strangelove. A pound of today's money was worth £12.24 and Manchester United were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions


On 01/11/1965 the number one single was Tears - Ken Dodd and the number one album was The Sound of Music Soundtrack. The top rated TV show was Coronation Street (Granada) and the box office smash was The Sound of Music. A pound of today's money was worth £11.69 and Liverpool were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions. The big news story of the day was 7 die in UK hurricane-force winds.