Web Page 806

FIRST PICTURE: The Buster Comic











SECOND PICTURE:

A Reunion Of The Portsdown Divisional Rover Crew At Scoutlands In Farlington. L To R: Davy Johns, Me, Dave Bartlett, Tom Holland, Muddy Clay, Roy Johns




















Firstly with thanks to Haley Storey take a look at this Youtube link, film of Portsmouth in the 50’s and 60’s. Let me know what you think.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bimvoo2CrWQ&feature=youtu.be&a




And a new school friend has just joined us Sandra Churchyard.


THE GOOD OLD DAYS



Now this is really going to make you feel old! Did you realize that this year marks the 50th anniversary of the start of the 60’s So I thought that I would take a look at what was happening in 1960 fifty years ago!

Lets start with TV. A new comedy series started ‘Sykes and...’
In August 1960 the cameras first entered 24 Sebastopol Terrace. Eric Sykes playing the a proud work-shy bachelor with childish tendencies and Hattie Jacques was his timid spinster sister Hattie! The series was actually called Sykes Versus TV but each week featured a subtitle which began with 'Sykes and ....'. It was written by Eric and Johnny Speight who created Alf Garnett. After 59 episodes the show ended in 1965, but in 1972 returned in colour for another 68 shows, but Eric and Hattie had moved two doors down to Number 28. The series ended in 1979 with a programme to celebrate twenty years of the series in 'The BBC Honours Sykes'.

Another newcomer to our screens was ‘Candid Camera.’ The concept of hidden camera television was born in the USA and Allen Funt set the ball rolling by secretly taping his army buddies complaints and broadcasting them on Armed Forces Radio. In 1948 'Candid Microphone' was born and five years later it moved to TV as 'Candid Camera'. In 1960 the show arrived in England and a young star Bob Monkhouse launched the series on an unsuspecting public.

The one programme we all remember is ‘Jukebox Jury’ but few people know that it actually began on US Television in 1948 starring DJ Peter Potter. It came to the UK in 1959, presented by David Jacobs, but only became a 'hit' itself in 1960. One of the highlights of the show was when The Beatles appeared on December 7th 1963. They rated songs by artists including Billy Fury, Elvis Presley and The Swinging Blue Jeans - all of which became hits. On the night, seven of the Beatles' predictions were right and three were wrong.

Now to the big screen. Firstly ‘Psycho’, famous for that scene in the shower. Criminal Marion Crane (Janet Leigh) stumbles across the motel with the least used guest book - The Bates Motel. At the front desk is Norman Bates (Anthony Perkins) who seems to have an unnatural obsession with taxidermy and his mother. Of course crime doesn't pay and Marion meets a particularly sticky end - Hitchcock used gallons of chocolate syrup instead of blood, as Norman cuts up Marion with the carving knife, all to the sound of screeching violins. Psycho was badly remade by Gus Van Sant in 1998, but his opportunity to indulge in a vast chocolate-fest was scuppered by advances in film technology (i.e. it was in colour).

The ‘Magnificent Seven’ was an epic Western but was a remake of Akira Kurosawa's Seven Samurai just swap 17th Century Japan for 19th Century Mexico and pick cinema's most sinister baddie to lead some of the decade's top male leads and you've had a sure fire hit! Steve McQueen, James Coburn, Charles Bronson, and Robert Vaughn were amongst the crew, led by Yul Brynner. The desperate villagers of a Mexican outpost, constantly under attack by bandits, hire the seven gunslingers to sort out the invaders once and for all. Mix the whole thing up with a Oscar Nominated soundtrack from Elmer Bernstein and you've got a classic movie.

‘Spartacus’ was a real epic saga in which rebellious slave Spartacus (Kirk Douglas) leads a revolt against the Roman Empire, and it has become one of the most famous and controversial action pictures of all time- strangely not because of the violence but because of fears that it had 'homosexual overtones'. The original version included a scene where Laurence Olivier attempts to seduce Tony Curtis. When the Production Code Administration and the Legion of Decency objected, the scene was cut. This scene was put back in for the 1991 restoration, but since the soundtrack had been lost and Olivier had died, Curtis and Anthony Hopkins had to dub in the dialogue. A couple of other interesting points of trivia are that the sound of the crowd cheering "Spartacus!" was recorded at a Spartans American Football game rather than in Rome, and that Stanley Kubrick spent a quarter of the entire Spartacus shoot directing a single battle sequence.
I will only take a quick look a one single artist of this period,Lonnie Donegan, the man who launched skiffle. He even released an album called 'Lonnie Donegan, King of Skiffle'. He is best remembered for his hits 'Does Your Chewing Gum Lose Its Flavour (On The Bedpost Overnight)?' and 1960's 'My Old Man's a Dustman', although he clocked up more than thirty hits between 1958 and 1962. He was born Anthony but changed his name to Lonnie as a tribute to bluesman Lonnie Johnson. Among the many bands who cited the influence of Lonnie Donegan's music on theirs was The Beatles. John Lennon's 'The Quarrymen', which Paul McCartney joined, were a skiffle group. Lonnie Donegan died in November 2002, at the age of 71 whilst on tour.

Fashion is a funny thing who would have thought that ‘Doc Martens’ would become a fashion accessory? When German Dr Maertens injured his foot in a ski-ing holiday he could not have imagined that the orthopaedic shoe he designed for himself would still be going today, let alone become a boot of rebellion. In 1958, the Grigg family acquired rights to the air cushioned sole and started making boots at their factory in Wollaston. The first boot was produced on the 1st April 1960, and so was christened the 1460. The 1460, in black and later cherry red, was popular with postmen and policemen and then the 'mods' began to adopt them in the mid-60s. They became notorious when the steel-toe capped variety was used to inflict harm on football fans and rival gangs. There are 70,000 possible varieties of Doc Martens, starting at 3-eye and rising to a 20-eye boot. Elton John wore an enormous pair in the rock opera movie 'Tommy'.

The other side of the coin was the Beatnik: Quaintly described as a member of the Beat generation who was a nonconformist in dress and behaviour. One of the big hits of 1960 was the carry over of late 50's Beatnik fashion, which also influenced design later in the decade.
The Beatnik message was 'Be Cool, man!' The look was flat shoes for women, sandals for men and beret's became the must have fashion item for everyone. In 1960 Adam Faith starred in the cult film "Beat Girl", the story of a teenager who falls in with a beatnik crowd. It helped confirm the beatnik style as major fashion trend of the period.

And for the kids Etch-a-Sketch, basically it's was just big bag of dust with two magnets and some knobs to twiddle to move them with. It was easy to get rid of the drawing too - a quick shake and you've got a clean slate again. But where did it come from? In the late 1950s Arthur Granjean invented L'Ecran Magique - the magic screen and after several years of being ignored by businessmen L'Ecran Magique was bought by an American toy firm and renamed Etch-a-Sketch and the first sets were produced in July 1960. Most people think the Etch-a-Sketch is filled with iron filings, but the filings are actually aluminium and all the filings were made in the same metallic powder plant in the USA.

I cannot let the 60’s pass by without mentioning Lego, coming from the Danish words 'LEg GOdt' meaning play well, Lego seems to have been around for ever - but not in Britain. It was seen at the Brighton Toy Fair for the first time in 1960 - and took Britain by storm, massively outselling the Loopyloop (whatever that was) which the pundits had thought was going to be the hit of the year. Lego model kits weren't available until the mid-sixties, but the bricks sold by the bucket load, and it is still going today. The British Association of Toy Retailers has named Lego as the toy of the century. In fact my 5 year old grandson has just been given his first set which meant that we had to climb up into the loft to retrieve his dad’s old Lego collection. I am no sure who has most fun with it father, son or grandson.

Lastly a new comic for 1960 was ‘Buster’, it may not be as famous as The Beano or The Dandy, but Buster still has a place in the hearts of men of a certain age. The first issue came out in May 1960, cost 4d and came with a free balloon bleeper as well as great stories featuring the Terrors Of Tornado Street, Turtle Boy, and Phantom Force Five. The Buster of the title was originally billed as the 'Son Of Andy Capp', as he was based on the Daily Mirror strip and his adventure always occupied the front page. Buster was a great success for many years merging with rival Whizzer and Chips it provided a home for characters including Bonehead, Faceache, and Dinah Mite.

Reading all of this I must be getting old!!!!


Peter

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

You Write:

Sue writes:

Having read your blog on all the things our mothers did wrong, by modern standards and all the things we did which children are no longer allowed to do made me think.

I went to Sydney and climbed the bridge on 21st December 2009.
We were told - with reluctance - that the bridge ends and the bases for the bridge were built by the Scots.

We were told - reluctantly - that the bridge itself was built by the men of Middlesbrough. The steel shipped over by sea.

We were asked how many men we thought had died during the construction of the bridge.

They had no harnesses - which the workmen now have.
They had no safety net - which the workmen now have.

They had no communication devices - which the workmen now have.

They had no hard hats - which the workmen now have to wear

They had no safety clothing - which they now have to wear.

They had no steel toed boots - which they now have to wear.

They had limited tools

They worked in gales

They worked in rain

They worked in heat

They finished ahead of time

14 died in the workshops below.

The only safety requirement was rubber soled boots

2 fell to their deaths.


News and Views:
Yoko Ono has announced that she is writing her memoirs, including her years with late-husband John Lennon. She expects to finish in the next five years.

On this day 30th January 1960-1965

On 30/01/1960 the number one single was Why - Anthony Newley and the number one album was South Pacific Soundtrack. The top rated TV show was not listed and the box office smash was North by Northwest. A pound of today's money was worth £13.68 and Burnley were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions.

On 30/01/1961 the number one single was Are you Lonesome Tonight? - Elvis Presley and the number one album was GI Blues - Elvis Presley. The top rated TV show was No Hiding Place (AR) and the box office smash was One Hundred and One Dalmations. A pound of today's money was worth £13.25 and Tottenham Hotspur were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions. The big news story of the day was Oral contraceptive made available in UK.

On 30/01/1962 the number one single was The Young Ones - Cliff Richard & the Shadows and the number one album was Blue Hawaii - Elvis Presley. 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 Ipswich Town were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions.

On 30/01/1963 the number one single was Dance On - The Shadows and the number one album was Out of the Shadows - Shadows. The top rated TV show was The Prime Minister (All channels) and the box office smash was The Great Escape. A pound of today's money was worth £12.64 and Everton were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions. The big news story of the day was Composer Poulenc dies.

On 30/01/1964 the number one single was Needles & Pins - Searchers and the number one album was With the Beatles - The Beatles. The top rated TV show was Labour Party Political Broadcast (all channels) and the box office smash was Dr Strangelove. A pound of today's money was worth £12.24 and Liverpool were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions.
On 30/01/1965 the number one single was Go Now! - Moody Blues and the number one album was Beatles For Sale - The Beatles. 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 Manchester United were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions. The big news story of the day was Churchill's funeral.

WEB PAGE NO 804

FIRST PICTURE: The service D to Farlington but where was it photographed ?










SECOND PICTURE: The original Southern Television logo.



A FEW MORE ODD MEMORIES

To start with that bus picture brought back some memories, I most certainly remember Portsmouth Corporation buses running to Farlington and turning at Forty Acres or Rectory Avenue, I cannot remember the number of the service but I am almost sure that it was not this particular service. I remember the 147 and 148 Dockyard Main gate to Leigh Park services passing through Drayton and Farlington but not the ‘D’ and of course I remember the Southdown 31 on the Brighton run, six hours from Portsmouth to Brighton – you really had to be dedicated to undertake that particular trip. What I found really interesting in the bus picture was the Rentaset advert on the bus side. This must date the picture to the mid 1950’s as this was the heyday of TV rentals. The other big name in this field was Radio Rentals. It seems strange now to be able to rent a radio, a washing machine or a TV set but I suppose for many people it was the added insurance of if one of these new fangled things broke down they were repaired for free. This was very noticeable when colour television was introduced and was very expensive to buy and to repair. We only ever rented a television set and this arrived in 1956, a magnificent piece of furniture with a 16” screen made by Sobell, but I have spoken of this before.

I also remember pay TV although I do not remember anyone I knew having it. This involved a television set with a pay meter on the side which acted rather like an electricity meter, ie the more you watched the more you paid. Other rental companies were Rediffusion and Granada and I am sure there were many other companies, Currys for example, who had a rental section for a while.

Whilst I was writing washing machines a couple of paragraph back I suddenly remembered that most households in the 1950’s boasted not one but two washing lines; one low one for clothes and pillowcases and one high one for sheets, blankets, towels and counterpanes. I think most of us in our own homes had washing lines attached to the back of our houses and a scaffold pole cemented into the ground at the garden end of the line. Both these lines were worked on the rope and pulley system but can you remember the consternation when the rope on the top line broke and wet sheets draped themselves all over the lawn and nearby bushes!!!! The other very valuable use that the high line came in for was as a flagpole especially during a game of pirates when your home made skull and cross bones could be hauled aloft to worn off all attackers. (the same went for the stars and stripes with the American 7th Cavalry, when the game was Cowboys and Indians!) Naturally these games were banned on washing days! Then, of course, on hot summers days we could drag an old sheet or tarpaulin over the line and peg it out as a tent for exploring the jungle or to be an Indian encampment.

And all this came to an end with the advent of the simple rotary or whirligig clothesline, which did away with washing lines completely; it just left a hole in the lawn. Shame!

Garden games were different after that we had to make dens and dig hole to make hidouts but that is yet another story.


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

You Write:
Sue writes:-

Telling my friend, your story from Mrs Sinden, Joyce who seems to have known everyone famous -the Wedgewoods and all the pottery families etc - tells me she trained Donald`s sister to teach. She was a good actress too but other people were not fair to her and she gave up. Joyce now 87 has some wonderful tales to tell, including being one of the first to hear that WWII had ended. Part of the choir who recorded for the BBC during the war, they had just finished recording when the news came over an open microphone. They were locked in the room until 2am!

News and Views:
Ray Ennis, who has sung lead vocals for The Swinging Blue Jeans since they formed in the 1950’s has announced his retirement. The band, who were the first ever to play at The Cavern when it opened as a jazz club, and who gave The Beatles their first chance to appear there will make their final tour of the country early this year as part of the Solid Silver Sixties line-up, ending with what will be a concert in Liverpool on May 30th.

On this day 24th January 1960-1965
On 24/01/1960 the number one single was Why - Anthony Newley and the number one album was South Pacific Soundtrack. The top rated TV show was not listed and the box office smash was North by Northwest. A pound of today's money was worth £13.68 and Burnley were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions.The big news story of the day was First Rome Synod.

On 24/01/1961 the number one single was Poetry in Motion - Johnny Tillotson and the number one album was Tottenham Hotspur. The top rated TV show was The Russ Conway Show (ATV) and the box office smash was One Hundred and One Dalmations. A pound of today's money was worth £not very interesting and 13.25 were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions.The big news story of the day was Bootsie & Snudge (Granada).

On 24/01/1962 the number one single was The Young Ones - Cliff Richard & the Shadows and the number one album was Blue Hawaii - Elvis Presley. 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 Ipswich Town were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions. The big news story of the day was Film Jules et Jim premieres in Paris.

On 24/01/1963 the number one single was Dance On - The Shadows 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 The Great Escape. A pound of today's money was worth £12.64 and Everton were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions.

On 24/01/1964 the number one single was Glad All Over - Dave Clark Five and the number one album was With the Beatles - The Beatles. The top rated TV show was Steptoe & Son (BBC) and the box office smash was Dr Strangelove. A pound of today's money was worth £12.24 and Liverpool were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions.

On 24/01/1965 the number one single was Yeh Yeh - Georgie Fame and the number one album was Beatles For Sale - The Beatles. 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 Manchester United were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions. The big news story of the day was Winston Churchill dies.

WEB PAGE NO 802

FIRST PICTURE: PETER HAIGH











SECOND PICTURE:

Shani Wallis s she appeared in Oliver








Firstly, with the able assistance of Steve and Philip I have been able to name all the boys in the picture entitled in the Woodwork Shop on the side bar.



Some names from the past you may well have forgotten!


Peter Haigh 1925 - 2001
Peter Haigh died aged 75 in 2001. He was a familiar and popular face on BBC television in the years after the War.He made his debut as an announcer in March 1952 when he stood in for McDonald Hobley. Before this he had been trying without luck for three years to get a post at the BBC, but his two-week trial at Alexandra Palace was an immediate success and he was asked to join the team of continuity announcers headed by McDonald Hobley, Sylvia Peters and Mary Malcolm. He was over six-foot tall and had a carefully trimmed moustache and beautifully modulated voice, he looked every inch the Guards officer that he had been before entering broadcasting. Newspapers columnists regularly referred to him as "Television's most eligible bachelor", a tag he forfeited when in 1957 he married Jill Adams, a Rank starlet.The previous year he had defected to ITV then the job as BBC’s chief staff announcer was offered him, but he had already started to make a good living as a freelance presenter and knew that if he accepted the BBC's offer he would not be able to continue with this additional work. He turned down the job and concentrated on activities such as compering Come Dancing, presenting television quizzes and introducing celebrity dinners at Guildhall in London. In 1956 he was voted best commentator of the year. He became perhaps most associated with Picture Parade, a weekly review of the film world which he co-presented with Derek Bond and which ran for many years.
With the coming of television he fitted perfectly into that persona of dinner jackets and clear enunciation. During the 1950s he earned and spent a great deal of money, but when the look of television began to change his career declined. His marriage broke up and he began drinking more than was good for him. In the mid-1960s he retired to Portugal, where he ran a harbour-side restaurant and bar. There he met his German-born second wife. In the 1980s they returned to Britain, where he hoped that he could resume his broadcasting career. But this did not happen. He made his final television appearance as the guest of Des Lynam on a short-lived series called It's My Pleasure, intended as a television equivalent of Desert Island Discs. Afterwards he worked occasionally for BBC Radio and did voice-overs for advertisements. He died in March 2001and was survived by his second wife, Inge, and by a daughter of his first marriage.
Elton Hayes. 1915 - 2001
Both his parents were actors and he made his first stage appearance aged nine. He wanted to be an actor, but he also learned the violin and the ukelele. In his teens, he won a scholarship to the Fay Compton School of Dramatic Arts. His first job was as assistant stage manager with the Old Stagers' Company at the Canterbury Theatre and he sang in his spare time at local social clubs.
He took up the guitar and the guitar would cause his later fame, accompanying himself while he sang old English folk songs and ballads he made an enviable reputation. Despite contracting rheumatic fever, which caused his fingers to stiffen, he continued playing. He joined the services during the war and a few days after returning to Britain from war service in India, he visited the BBC, still in uniform, to watch a broadcast of Children's Hour. He was recognised and was immediately taken on to write and perform a slot in the programme based on Edward Lear's Nonsense Rhymes. Soon after he was given a regular slot on "In Town Tonight". From then on he performed on radio and television frequently in Britain. On an eight week tour of North America, he made 113 appearances which he found very exhausting. But for most of us he was, and will always be, the singing minstral Alan-a-Dale in ‘The Tales of Robin Hood’. He was highly nervous before live performances and so retired from show business in the 1960s and, after studying at a agricultural college, became a farmer in Essex, breeding pedigree livestock. He took up carriage driving and became a member of the British Driving Society. After suffering a stroke in 1995, he had to give up his farm and moved to live with friends, who cared for him until his death. In 1942 he married Betty Inman, who died in 1982.
Shani Wallis
Shani Wallis was born in 1933 in Tottenham and made her name as an actress and singer, releasing several popular records in the 1950s. She made her first stage appearance at the age of four, and later studied at the RADA on a scholarship. Throughout he career she played many leading lady roles in the West End, but she is best known for the role of Nancy in the 1968 film production of Lionel Bart's musical Oliver! She is now a naturalized citizen of the United States, where she has lived for many years. She has appeared with Liberace, Jack Benny, Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis and has been married to agent Bernie Rich since 1965; they have one child, Rebecca, and two granddaughters. She is also the sister of jazz drummer Leon Roy and is the Life President of The Music Hall Guild of Great Britain and America.

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

You Write:
Mary Writes: I do so agree with the article. I feel sorry for children today, as we had such freedom. I spent hours on Farlington Marshes and developed a real love of wildlife, which has never left me. I loved to climb trees, chalkpits, and slide on the ice, all very "elf&safety" today. I used to climb trees while my brother stood at the base of the tree holding my coat. Later my brother joined the RM reserves and got his para wings! I actually do not like heights these days! Also we used to walk everywhere. I still remember how we used to walk from Cosham Odion on a Saturday, save the bus fare and buy a cake in the bakers in Drayton.

News and Views:
The U.S. Postal Service announced its commemorative stamps for 2010. Gene Autry and Roy Rogers will be honoured as part of an American Cowboy series.

On this day 17th January 1960-1965

On 17/01/1960 the number one single was Why - Anthony Newley and the number one album was South Pacific Soundtrack. The top rated TV show was not listed and the box office smash was North by Northwest. A pound of today's money was worth £13.68 and Burnley were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions. The big news story of the day was the price of large eggs cut to 3/- a dozen.

On 17/01/1961 the number one single was Poetry in Motion - Johnny Tillotson and the number one album was GI Blues - Elvis Presley. 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 Tottenham Hotspur were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions.

On 17/01/1962 the number one single was The Young Ones - Cliff Richard & the Shadows and the number one album was The Young Ones - Cliff Richard. 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 Ipswich Town were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions.The big news story of the day was Van Doren guilty in US quiz show fix.

On 17/01/1963 the number one single was The Next Time/Bachelor Boy - Cliff Richard & the Shadows 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 The Great Escape. A pound of today's money was worth £12.64 and Everton were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions.

On 17/01/1964 the number one single was Glad All Over - Dave Clark Five and the number one album was With the Beatles - The Beatles. The top rated TV show was Steptoe & Son (BBC) and the box office smash was Dr Strangelove. A pound of today's money was worth £12.24 and Liverpool were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions.

On 17/01/1965 the number one single was Yeh Yeh - Georgie Fame and the number one album was Beatles For Sale - The Beatles. 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 Manchester United were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions.

Web Page No 800

FIRST PICTURE: MARILYN MUNRO EVERY TEENAGE BOYS FANTASY












SECOND PICTURE: A PLACE TO COOL OFF AFTER LOOKING AT THE FIRST PICTURE, HILSEA LIDO.


Firstly with the help of Steve and Tim I have now managed to name almost all of the pupils on the 27th picture down on the Blog Side Bar. Are you there?


CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL MY FRIENDS WHO WERE BORN IN THE 1940s AND 1950s!




I have seen many of these remember when articles but I think this is one of the best! So I have localised it a little.

First, we survived being born to mothers who sometimes smoked and/or drank while they carried us and lived in houses made of, or full of asbestos. They took aspirin (my mother took Rennie by the cwt when she was carrying so I was told), ate blue cheese, raw egg products, loads of fatty bacon and pork, processed meat, tuna from a can and never thought of getting tested for diabetes or cervical cancer.

Then after that trauma, our baby cots were often second hand and repainted by Dad with bright coloured lead-based paints.

When we rode our bikes we rode on the road and not the pavement because we knew a policeman would tell us off if we did, we had no helmets or protective clothing. Later some of us took up hitchhiking without a thought of danger. As children, we would ride in cars with no seat belts or air bags and we often rode in the front seats on Mum’s lap.
Take away food was limited to fish and chips, (in our case from Fishy Francis in Drayton) there were no pizza shops, McDonalds , KFC or Subway but there were Wimpey Bars if you could find them.
Even though all the shops closed at 5.30pm and didn't open on Sundays, somehow we didn't starve to death and Dad still got his DIY done!
We could collect old drink bottles and cash them in at the corner store and buy Toffees, Gobstoppers, Bubble Gum and some bangers to blow up the mud on Farlington Marshes with.
We ate sugar heavy cupcakes, white bread and real butter and drank soft drinks with loads of sugar in it, but we weren't overweight because.......WE WERE ALWAYS OUTSIDE PLAYING!! We would leave home in the morning and play all day, as long as we were back when the streetlights came on. No one was able to reach us all day. And we were still O.K.
We would spend hours building our go-carts out of old prams and then ride down the hill, only to find out we forgot the brakes. Then come the winter we would build sledges to use on Portsdown Hill. We built tree houses and dens and played in the garden with Matchbox cars.
We did not have Playstations, Nintendo Wii , X-boxes, no video games at all, no 999 channels on SKY or cable, no video/dvd films, no mobile phones, no personal computers, no Internet WE HAD FRIENDS and we went outside and found them!
We fell out of trees, got cut, grazed and scratched ourselves, broke bones and teeth and there were no lawsuits from these accidents. Only girls had pierced ears! We ate worms and mud pies made from dirt, and the worms did not live in us forever. You could only buy Easter Eggs and Hot Cross Buns at Easter time...We were given air guns and catapults for our 10th birthdays. We rode bikes or walked to a friend's house and knocked on the door or rang the bell, or just yelled for them! Mum didn't have to go to work to help Dad make ends meet!
RUGBY and CRICKET had tryouts and not everyone made the team. Those who didn't had to learn to deal with disappointment. Imagine that!! Getting into the team was based on MERIT.
Our teachers used to hit us with canes and gym shoes, threw blackboard rubbers or chalk and bully always ruled the playground at school. The idea of a parent bailing us out if we broke the law was unheard of. They actually sided with the law!
Our parents didn't invent stupid names for their kids like 'Kiora' and 'Blade' and 'Ridge' and 'Vanilla'
We had freedom, failure, success and responsibility, and we learned HOW TO DEAL WITH IT ALL ! And YOU are one of them! CONGRATULATIONS!
You might want to share this with others who have had the luck to grow up as kids, before the lawyers and the government regulated our lives for our own good.
And while you are at it, forward it to your kids so they will know how brave their parents were.

PS –It might be an idea to foreword this to friends in big type because their eyes are not too good at their age.
Stay in touch and Take Care and how often did you say,’yes I remember that’?

Peter

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

YOU WRITE:
Someone told me the other day that back in the mid 1950’s when ‘Fish Figures’ were first put on the market the launch was delayed because it was decided to change the name of the product. I really do wonder just how long they would have lasted under the original name ‘Cod Pieces’ !!!!!

NEWS AND VIEWS:
Royal Mail will issue a series of stamps depicting legendary album covers. Among them are "Let It Bleed" from the Rolling Stones, Mike Oldfield's "Tubular Bells," David Bowie's "Rise And Fall Of Ziggy Stardust" and the album known simply as "Led Zeppeliv IV."


ON THIS DAY 10th JANUARY 1960-1965
On 10/01/1960 the number one single was Why - Anthony Newley and the number one album was South Pacific Soundtrack. The top rated TV show was not listed and the box office smash was North by Northwest. A pound of today's money was worth £13.68 and Burnley were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions.The big news story of the day was Aswan Dam foundation stone laid.


On 10/01/1961 the number one single was I Love You - Cliff Richard & the Shadows The top rated TV show was Emergency Ward 10 (ATV) and the box office smash was One Hundred and One Dalmations. A pound of today's money was worth £13.25 was Tottenham Hotspur were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions. The big news story of the day was Sunday Night at the London Palladium (ATV).


On 10/01/1962 the number one single was Moon River - Danny Williams and the number one album was Blue Hawaii - Elvis Presley. 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 Ipswich Town were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions. The big news story of the day was Avalanche buries 16 villages in Peru.


On 10/01/1963 the number one single was The Next Time/Bachelor Boy - Cliff Richard & the Shadows and the number one album was Black & White Minstrel Show - George Mitchell Minstrels. 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 Everton were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions. The big news story of the day was Sylvia Plath publishes her only novel The Bell Jar.


On 10/01/1964 the number one single was I Want to Hold Your hand - The Beatles and the number one album was With the Beatles - The Beatles. The top rated TV show was Steptoe & Son (BBC) and the box office smash was Dr Strangelove. A pound of today's money was worth £12.24 and Liverpool were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions. The big news story of the day was Anti-US demonstrations over Panama Canal.


On 10/01/1965 the number one single was I Feel Fine - The Beatles and the number one album was Beatles For Sale - The Beatles. 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 Manchester United were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions.