Web Page 832

Top Picture: Hilsea Lido Gardens in the early 1950’s.






Bottom Picture: A 1960’s icon Bob Dylan

I know I have posted things like this before but I like this one!

WE WAS BRUNG UP PROPER !!

CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL WHO WERE BORN IN THE 1940's, 50's, 60's. First, we survived being born to mothers who smoked and/or drank while they carried us and lived in houses made of asbestos. They took aspirin, ate blue cheese, raw egg products, loads of bacon and processed meat, tuna from a can, and didn't get tested for diabetes or cervical cancer.

Then after that trauma, our baby cots were covered with bright coloured lead-based paints, and they had butterfly nuts on the bolts which, after a bit if fiddling we learnt to undo ourselves.

We had no childproof lids on medicine bottles, doors or cabinets and when we rode our bikes around the garden, the playing fields or rough ground, we had no helmets or shoes, not to mention, the risks that some of us took when we were teenagers when we started hitchhiking.

As children if we were ever lucky enough to ride in a car, we rode in the front seat with no seat belts or air bags.
Take away food was limited to the local fish and chip shop, no pizza shops, McDonalds, KFC, Subway or Burger King.

Even though all the shops closed at 6.00pm and didn't open over the weekends, somehow we survived and didn't starve to death! We all shared one soft drink with four friends, from one bottle and NO ONE actually died from this.

We could collect old drink bottles and cash them in at the corner store and buy Toffees, Gob stoppers, Bubble Gum and some bangers to blow up frogs with and no one questioned it.

We ate biscuits, white bread and real butter and drank soft drinks with 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 our parents were happy. No one was able to reach us all day. And we were O.K.
We would spend hours building our go-carts and sledges out of old prams and bits if wood, then we would ride down the hill, sometimes with disastrous results . We built tree houses and dens and played in riverbeds and streams with matchbox cars.

We did not have Playstations, Nintendo Wii , X-boxes, no video games at all, no 999 channels on SKY , no video/dvd films, no mobile phones, no personal computers, no Internet or Internet chat rooms...........WE HAD FRIENDS and we went outside and found them! We fell out of trees, got cut, broke bones and teeth and there were no Lawsuits from these accidents. Only girls had pierced ears!

We made mud pies made from dirt, and 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!
FOOTBALL, RUGBY and CRICKET had try outs 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 and bully's 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 -The big type is because your eyes are not too good at your age anymore.

Take Care and keep in touch

Peter

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

You Write:

Steve Writes:-

Re Anida’s article: My Father kept chickens in our garden in Copsey Grove and maybe before that when we lived in Southsea but I was to young to remember that. Whether he sold the birds for the table or the eggs was a mystery to me then. I do remember, when he wasn't working, him sitting outside in the evenings with an axe, to kill the rats that were invading the Chicken coup! It probably set the scene for the much later T.V. series 'The Good Life' ? Back in the Fawcett Road (Southsea) prefab days, which was my first home and my earliest memories, I remember him growing copious amounts of spinach and him telling me I would grow up strong like Popeye if I ate my Spinach! Well, that became true as I have always prided myself on my fitness and strength.

But life was like that in those early and poor days of the late fifties.

News and Views:

Bob Dylan (see picture) has been denied permission by the Chinese government to perform in Shanghai and Beijing and so has cancelled his entire planned Asian concert. Said a promoter, "The chance to play in China was the main attraction for him. When that fell through everything else was called off. "

On this day 28th April 1960-1965

On 28/04/1960 the number one single was Do you Mind - Anthony Newley and the number one album was South Pacific Soundtrack. The top rated TV show was Wagon Train (ITV) and the box office smash was Psycho. 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 28/04/1961 the number one single was Wooden Heart - Elvis Presley and the number one album was GI Blues - Elvis Presley. The top rated TV show was Bootsie & Snudge (Granada) 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 28/04/1962 the number one single was Wonderful Land - 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 28/04/1963 the number one single was How Do You Do It? - Gerry & the Pacemakers and the number one album was Summer Holiday - Cliff Richard & the Shadows. The top rated TV show was Labour 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 Everton were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions.

On 28/04/1964 the number one single was A World Without Love - Peter & Gordon and the number one album was With the Beatles - The 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 Liverpool were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions.
On 28/04/1965 the number one single was Ticket to Ride - The Beatles and the number one album was Rolling Stones Number 2 - The Rolling Stones. 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 830

21st April 2010

Top Picture: One of the Hilsea Gas Works Saddle Tank locomotives in store in 1973








Bottom Picture: The Sunshine Inn with Max’s transport Café behind




THE DUSTBIN MEN AND CHILDHOOD WINTERS.


When we were kids the old refuse or bin wagons used to come around regularly every week. This was well before the days of wheelie bins and different collections on alternate weeks. In those days the dustbin men would walk up the garden path to where your family normally kept the bin, lift the heavy metal bins, made even more weighty with the daily ashes from the grates of all the coal fires, onto their shoulders, carry them down to the lorry and then empty them into the wagon through a hatch which had a sliding top. He then would return to bin to its rightful place in the garden, no putting the bin out in front of the house in those days. Those were also the days when a half crown pressed into the dustman’s hand ensured that any old household rubbish or awkward size or shape, providing that it could be fitted into the dust cart was willingly taken by those men with the leather pads on their shoulders and funny lop sided caps. I also remember that we had a separate galvanised bucket with an attached lid outside the back door for pigswill, I do not remember who collected it (I know it was not the dustmen), where it went or when this collection stopped.

Looking back at the winters of our youth, on snowy or icy days the householders would scatter the ashes from the living room fire onto the paths, drives and pavements just to give a good foothold. After a period of snow, which had turned to ice on the pavements, council workmen would come along and break up the ice with shovels and throw it into lorries to be taken away and dumped in the sea. Kids would often make snowmen with lumps of coal for eyes and mouth and create giant snowballs by rolling an ordinary size snowball downhill in the snow until it got bigger and bigger. Snowball fights were common, especially in the mornings while waiting for school to start, and when the overnight fall was still fresh. How well I remember the pain of freezing cold woollen gloves after one of these fights! Sledging took place and lying face down on the sledge and steering with your feet was known as going belly-flappers. With all the dirt of industry, smoky chimneys, steam locomotives etc. the snow did not stay pure and white for long. But one of the best things was to make ice slides along the pavement or in the playground. These were far from popular with the teaching staff who would instruct the caretaker to go out before school and after playtime to sprinkle, ashes, salt or sand around so as to ruin the slides we had painstakingly made.

Something else that we do not see very often these days is a street cleaner. When we were kids there always seemed to be a guy with a two wheeled rubber tyred bin trolley which held a selection of brooms and shovels for keeping the gutters clean and free from litter and leaves and the pavements clear of papers and dog mess. In fact all these cleaners seemed to have a regular route and an area for which they were responsible. Today all we see is a large, left handed driven mechanical vehicle that sprays a minimal amount of water around and slowly moves down our streets with fast rotating round brushes on the front and a vacuum tube behind. These might be modern but they do not sweep under parked cars or round other obstacles like the old road sweeper did and so today we tend to get only partly swept streets. Another thing that seems to have completely disappeared from the road scene is the council tanker lorry with the long snorkel attachment at the back that was used to suck the muck up out of drains. Long gone but I suppose that is why we see so many blocked drains in the autumn now! This must be nature’s revenge!

All these things are now things of the past as are police cars, ambulances and fire engines with bells, fire engines with extension ladders with large wheels attached so they could be manhandled, rag and bone men, police boxes, two postal deliveries on a Sunday and three a day during the week, the Corona man and other door to door traders.

I (we) really must be getting old !!!!!!

Take Care and keep in touch

Peter

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


You Write:

Jonathon Writes:-

Your article on Izal Bog Paper was both memorable and funny.......yes we all hated the stuff and as you said the adjustment in finger pressure with the advent of tissue took a few times to master!!!!!!!!! ;-)

The other thought provoking subject was remembering the free school milk we got which was great in winter....cold and creamy ......but in summer after standing in the sun all morning awaiting first break could often be a bit yeukky in the after taste department.

Remember who took it away from us????? Margaret Thatcher, erstwhile Minister of Education......remember how we used to chant Thatcher Thatcher Milk Snatcher.



News and Views:

I understand that the Scots singer Kenneth McKeller died a few days ago.

For those of you that did not know one of our comedy icons, Sir Norman Wisdom (now proudly 933/4) has had to give up his home on the Isle of Man and move into a care home. With the agreement of his son and daughter his dream home on the island is being sold to help pay for his care.

On this day 21st April 1960-1965

On 21/04/1960 the number one single was My Old Man's a Dustman - Lonnie Donegan and the number one album was South Pacific Soundtrack. The top rated TV show was Armchair Theatre (ABC) and the box office smash was Psycho. 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 Brasilia becomes Brazil's new capital.


On 21/04/1961 the number one single was Wooden Heart - Elvis Presley and the number one album was GI Blues - Elvis Presley. The top rated TV show was The Budget (All Channels) 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 21/04/1962 the number one single was Wonderful Land - 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 21/04/1963 the number one single was How Do You Do It? - Gerry & the Pacemakers and the number one album was Summer Holiday - Cliff Richard & the 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 21/04/1964 the number one single was Can't Buy Me Love - The Beatles and the number one album was With the Beatles - The Beatles. The top rated TV show was Liberal 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. The big news story of the day was BBC2 goes on air but is soon blacked out.

On 21/04/1965 the number one single was The Minute You're Gone - Cliff Richard and the number one album was Freewheelin' Bob Dylan. The top rated TV show was Coronation Street 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 828

Top Picture:

Holiday Poster for Southsea

Bottom Picture:

The miracle hair preparation for men.

When we were born

Have you ever thought what life must have been like for our parents when we were born? I am thinking of the period 1946-1950.

Well let’s take a look. All the examples cover the whole of the country and not especially our area, but there are a few surprises to be found.

Also do not miss the great piece from Anida in the You Write Section.

In the last few years of this decade almost a quarter of British homes had no electricity and there were often more than three children in every family. People often lived in the same town or area all their lives near their families and sometimes the only time they left home was when they were called up for National Service.

One third of the British population went to the cinema at least once a week but with the advent of television even this started to decline as did attendances down at the ‘local’. There were only 14,500 television sets in the whole country and there was only one channel (BBC). Very homes had a television in fact in 1954 only 46% of homes had a set and in most cases it had been set up in what was always the holy of holies, the Parlour, but most families still listened to the wireless for their entertainment. This set was usually in the dining room or kitchen.

Many homes did not have a telephone or in many northern and Midland cases, an indoor toilet.

Cooking was done from scratch using produce grown locally. Our mothers could only buy items that were in season and most of what you bought was made or grown in the UK. Fridges were rare and in Wales only 8% of homes had one. Frozen food was just about getting going with Birds Eye Chicken pies and Fish Fingers. Rationing ended in 1954 when the last two items, meat and bacon came off the ration.

Cleaning was far harder then with only 18% of households having a washing machine. Most people washed their clothes by hand and hung their clothes out to dry on a line. In wet weather the clothes were hung in front of the fire making the whole house damp and steamy.

There were only just over a million cars on Britain's roads. Petrol rationing remained until 1954. For most people, this made the car an unaffordable luxury. Most people used public transport to get around. Air travel was mainly for the rich. To go abroad, most people travelled by ship.

The home was an important aspect of lifestyle. It's decoration and furniture revealed what type of person you were and how well off you appeared to be. There was no central heating. Houses were kept warm from the heat of the fire in the fireplace. Few houses had fitted carpets; most homes had wooden or stone floors.
In 1948, the average weekly wage was £3 18s, most people in Britain worked in manufacturing industries. Heavy industries like coal mining, iron and steel making, ship building and engineering employed millions of workers. Most of these workers were men as the majority of women stayed at home to look after their families and their homes.

Today, most people work in service industries such as education, health, shops, banks and insurance, where they provide services for other people. New technology means that factories use more machines to do the work and fewer people. Far more women work today, it now seems to be a necessity of modern life.

There were no supermarkets in the 1940s. To do your weekly food shopping you would have needed to visit several different shops, one for fruit, one for bread, one for meat and so on. Our mothers did not serve themselves in the shops, they stood or sat on a conveniently placed chair on one side of the counter and the shopkeeper would serve them. The first supermarket (a Co-op) was opened in Southsea in 1954 and the first Tesco opened in Essex in 1956.

The Education Act became law in 1944 and this gave every child a free education up until the age of 15 (raised to 16 in 1973). But what I do remember about my early days at school is that the classrooms were cold and the windows were high up so you couldn't look out. We all had our own desk with a lid. Lessons were formal and we learnt things by heart. There were very few textbooks so most things had to be copied off the blackboard. The teachers were strict and corporal punishment was common. Children were punished for being naughty or getting their work wrong by getting the cane or slipper, (this mainly applied to the boys)

One bright spot was Free Milk, since the thirties, the government paid for all children to receive free school milk. I am sure we can all remember the small glass third of a pint bottles and the drinking straws.

As kids we had very few, if any expensive toys and we spent a lot of time making up their own games and weren’t they fun?

But all this is coming on for 60 years ago!!!!!
Take Care and keep in touch

Peter

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

You Write:

Great piece here from Anida:-

It’s in the genes!
Long before Tregarron Avenue and most of Old Manor Way were developed the land was utilised as allotments in the Government’s ‘Dig for Victory’ campaign in World War II. Both my Grandfathers had a plot here and produced vegetables for their families both of whom were living in Pangbourne Avenue at the bottom of Court Lane. The man who lived next door to my mother and her parents bred rabbits in his back garden, not for pets of course, but for their meat to supplement a very restricted wartime diet. He also had a lucrative side line in producing items made from the rabbit skins i.e. gloves, pram covers, so nothing was wasted.

Bizarrely my grandparents chose to leave their Cosham home and return to North End to live as my Grandmother didn’t like living ‘in the country’! They, of course, had to endure the nightly air raids and the immense difficulties encountered in the aftermath of each raid.
After the war, my Grandfather decided that I needed to have a regular supply of eggs so in a miniscule back garden he had several chickens which did the job very effectively!

My father then took up the allotment challenge and he obtained a plot next to the sewage works at the end of Court Lane. This might suggest that the productivity of these allotments were considerably higher than any others, I don’t remember this being so but they were extremely smelly at certain times! I used to trudge off with him, to dig my own plot and bring home the produce to my mother to be turned into good wholesome meals taken at lunch time every day.

Later my father had a further allotment at the rear of Roseberry Avenue, I wonder if they are still there or have been swept away by development?

And so I find myself very many years later enjoying the spring sunshine on a South facing slope overlooking a beautiful South Devon valley digging my own allotment. Despite the fact that allotmenteering is now very fashionable I have been ‘digging for victory’ for five years and can only but recommend it for fitness, companionship and of course healthy eating. Thinking about it though maybe it’s just in the genes!

News and Views:

Bobby Rydell underwent "major shoulder surgery" Wednesday (April 7). He slipped on hail after a concert in Oregon Saturday and fractured his shoulder in three places, requiring a plate and screws be installed. As a result, he had had to bow out of concerts April 8-11 with Lou Christie filling-in for him. Bobby is at home recovering. I am in contact with Bobby and will keep you updated as to how he is doing.

On this day 14th April 1960-1965

14/04/1960 the number one single was My Old Man's a Dustman - Lonnie Donegan and the number one album was South Pacific Soundtrack. The top rated TV show was Wagon Train (ITV) and the box office smash was Psycho. 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 14/04/1961 the number one single was Wooden Heart - Elvis Presley and the number one album was GI Blues - Elvis Presley. The top rated TV show was Labour Party Political Broadcast (all channels) 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 14/04/1962 the number one single was Wonderful Land - The Shadows and the number one album was Blue Hawaii - Elvis Presley. The top rated TV show was The Budget (All Channels) 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 14/04/1963 the number one single was How Do You Do It? - Gerry & the Pacemakers and the number one album was Summer Holiday - Cliff Richard & the 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 14/04/1964 the number one single was Can't Buy Me Love - The Beatles and the number one album was With the Beatles - The Beatles. The top rated TV show was The Budget (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. The big news story of the day was Two footballers suspended over match fixing allegations.

On 14/04/1965 the number one single was Concrete & Clay - Unit 4 Plus 2 and the number one album was Rolling Stones Number 2 - The Rolling Stones. 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 826

Top Picture: The icon of the 50’s the Izal Toilet Roll






Bottom Picture: Time for tea in the 1950’s kitchen.





A Delicate Subject


Do you, like me, remember those terrible Medicated Izal toilet rolls? These rolls are now a part of history and I suppose they are long enough ago for us to get nostalgic about them rather than hating them as much as we did at the time. To us kids these rolls were really terrible things as were their competitors the non-Medicated Bronco toilet roll. For those readers who are too young to know what I am talking about and therefore fortunate enough not to have experienced the Izal toilet roll here is a brief description. It was a sort of shiny white thing which had the consistency of wrapping paper and smelt strongly of tar. One side of the sheets were glossy and the other rough. It was always a major decision what side to use, as what ever side you used it still didn’t really do its job properly. Actually there is no delicate way of putting this, using Izal tended to spread rather than clean.
But Izal toilet paper and its accompanying other disinfectant products had a long history. From the middle of the 19th century, when it was first produced, the Izal disinfectant experience was claimed to be a miracle cure for almost everything including tuberculosis, cholera, diphtheria and typhus.
The decline of the ‘outside lavvy’ or ‘the one out the back’ and the growth indoor plumbing and the introduction of the inside toilet meant that many more people decided to buy Izal toilet rolls and its cheaper, non-medicated competing brands, than to continue to use the more traditional forms of torn up newspapers hung on a string from a nail hammered into the toilet door; or if you were lucky your Mum managed to scrounge some tissue orange wrappers from the green grocer.

A really clever marketing campaign instigated by Izal saw all municipal and public buildings, including schools, with free roll rolls providing that they placed a bulk order of some of the accompanying disinfectant made by the same company (now I know why when I was a kid I saw Izal everywhere!). I can remember the Izal toilet roll attached to the walls of the school toilets, especially the outside ones when I was in Junior and Infant school in Drayton. For us a fortunate bye product of these outside toilets was that during the very cold winter weather in February and March they froze and we had to be sent home from school and as my birthday was in February there was a good chance that I might not be at school on my birthday!!!
But by the Sixties a more sophisticated clientele had started to demand a toilet roll that wouldn’t do untold damage and and cause embarrassing soreness to those delicate parts of our bodies and by the Eighties the Izal toilet roll was no more. The surprising thing was that it took that long to die.
But the cession of Izal actually did bring with it another problem. These stiff, rough rolls were replaced by the first generation of toilet tissue and using these rolls was a totally different ball game to the good old Izal, one had to take a little more care as they were a bit delicate to the touch.
So what do we know of the production of Izal? The Izal factory was situated in Chapeltown a suburb of Sheffield. Here the production line was set up and the rolls cut made and packed. The company was a major employer in the area but the workers always refered to themselves as workers in the paper factory not as workers on the toilet roll production line!

The company always claimed that their busiest time was just before Christmas. Why the lead up to Christmas should encourage an increase in the demand for toilet rolls is really beyond me. Believe it or not quality control did exist in this factory where the rolls were packed 72 rolls in a box ready for dispatch and here the quality control supervisor would select rolls at random, undo them and count the number of squares to make sure that the public wasn’t being shortchanged! One other fact that I found incredible was that if the tops of the rolls weren’t flat there was an operative especially employed to sandpaper them flat. Maybe it was the residue of the sanding that made the paper so rough on the skin!!!
Even the government hard tissue Izal toilet paper was specially manufactured and each sheet stamped with the words ‘Government Issue’. This was the standard issue for many years. In the late 1970s, however, came the revolution soft toilet paper!
So that is the story of Izal but what I do tend to wonder is with the demise of Izal and Bronco what do the school children of today use as tracing paper?

Take Care and keep in touch

Peter

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


You Write:
Mary Writes:-

When we were driving past the Johnsons factory my brother saw the logo on the wall. He must have been about six at the time and he said quite excitedly "that’s where babies are made". He was sixty last year and is the father of two daughters so I hope he now knows that babies are not made there,



News and Views:


Try cutting and pasting this link and take a look at this traction engine made by Ken Wells that has been put on You Tube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=znHWUJ6unUc

The text reads:- This is a Traction Engine that was built as a school metalwork project following the instructions laid out in the book Step by Step Metalwork 3 by Kenneth Wells. Mr Wells was the metalwork teacher at Manor Court School.

On this day 7th April 1960-1965

On 07/04/1960 the number one single was My Old Man's a Dustman - Lonnie Donegan and the number one album was South Pacific Soundtrack. The top rated TV show was The Budget (All Channels) and the box office smash was Psycho. 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 07/04/1961 the number one single was Wooden Heart - Elvis Presley and the number one album was South Pacific Soundtrack. 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.


On 07/04/1962 the number one single was Wonderful Land - 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 07/04/1963 the number one single was Summer Holiday - Cliff Richard & the Shadows and the number one album was Summer Holiday - Cliff Richard & the Shadows. The top rated TV show was The Budget (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.

On 07/04/1964 the number one single was Can't Buy Me Love - The Beatles 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. The big news story of the day was Grand National jockey faces life in wheelchair.


On 07/04/1965 the number one single was The Last Time - Rolling Stones and the number one album was Rolling Stones Number 2 - The Rolling Stones. 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.