Web Page 884

First Picture:

Spotted in a Museum in Oxfordshire Tiger Tim Annual 1950

Second Picture:

A 1950’s sweet shop, which sweets do you remember?






The big news of the day is that this is my last official day of gainful employment, I retire today!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

A Good Read

When we were young we all received an impressive grounding in reading and writing, reading has always been a favourite pastime of mine but if you saw the standard of my writing I think you would despair because even after 60 plus years it is still absolutely terrible!

I think that we were all read to at bed time when we were young children but once we started at infant school we soon started to learn our letters and the alphabet. Having eventually mastered these we then progressed onto early simple readers such as the well known Janet & John Books and then we moved on to more progressive reading. Once we had learnt to read for ourselves this soon opened up a brand new world of discovery to us, it was also a new avenue for Uncles, Aunts and other relatives to explore in the way of Christmas and Birthday presents. I know I got some really good books as presents as a child, but I also got some really terrible ones!

I know, as a child, I progressed my way through the whole gambit of children’s books. Starting with Noddy and Big Ears, Toby Twirl, Tiger Tim, Mr Turnip, Thomas the Tank Engine, Sammy the Shunter and the like. But I was soon introduced to the Famous Five and the Secret Seven books by Enid Blyton, books that both I and Pam (so she tells me) relished. These led onto books such as the Wind in the Willows, Huckleberry Finn and others. However some of my favourites were the Swallows and the Amazons, Peter Duck and Swallowdale, in fact, all the twelve books in the Swallows and Amazons series written by Arthur Ransom. (it always amazed me how he actually got away with calling one of the girls Titty!!).

But having got to grips with reading, when I reached the age of 10, I was allowed to become a member of the public library in Cosham, but, at this age, only the Junior Section. My mother and I used to take the bus into Cosham and we would walk across Spur Road and enter the hushed portals of the Portsmouth Libraries Service, Cosham sub branch. Having got my junior library tickets I was only allowed into the Junior Library section which was in a separate room to the left of the Reception Desk. Here I could wander around for ages choosing my books for the week whilst my mother was in the main section of the library. Having picked my books I waited for her so when she had selected hers we met me at the desk to have my ticket stamped. After a while, and when I had a bike, I was allowed to visit the library on my own and joy of joys when I was 14, I was promoted from the Junior Library to the Main Library and so could explore the main bookshelves.

Off to one side of the reception, opposite the Junior Library, was the Reading Room which, to me always seemed to be full of elderly men (they were probably younger than I am now) closeted behind the free newspapers and magazines. But Libraries in the 1950’s and 60’s were very different places to the ‘Discovery Centres’ of today. The whole of the business was conducted in hushed or whispered tones and talking was definitely not allowed. The other lasting memory of Cosham Library was the heavy smell of the furniture polish which was used to buff up the shelves and reading desks.

Then of course once we arrived at Manor Court School the Cosham Library was abandoned as we had a fully fitted library within the school. This was vital resource for our studies and there was a rota of pupils who actually ran the library. One of the most popular sections of the school library was the magazine section and there were always pupils thumbing through the Illustrated London News. It really summed up the news and it was a great shame when it ceased publication in 2003

Thinking back I do not remember a library at Court Lane School, maybe someone can tell me if this is something that I have forgotten, and as far as Public Libraries went the one at Cosham was the only one I ever visited during my years at school.

But over the years books have always been in my life, I really hate to think how we would all live if we never learnt to read.


So much for memory!

Stay in touch

Peter

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

You Write:

Steve Writes:-

Hi Peter, like Mary we also had an Anderson shelter in St Andrews Road Farlington when we moved there in the early 60s and likewise it was then doubling as a garden shed.
I think my Father soon demolished it though.

Regards the prefab article, I had my first home in one at Fawcett road Southsea (long gone). Possibly the only prefab there on that plot and adjacent to the Fawcett Inn. I think I sent you the photo copy of it sometime ago?
Now a question to you or possibly some of your readers might know? A betting shop run by a Mr Staley maybe in Cosham, I don't remember one in Drayton but maybe? He was previously our Butcher in Fawcett Road but moved up to Drayton (South road) shortly after we came to Copsey Grove in the very early 50s??

Just in case you don't still have the photo of the prefab here is another, you may use it if you want. That is my Parents in the doorway with my older Brother Ronald, I think my Mother was pregnant with me here.

News and Views

Elton John's mother auctioned off her collection of memorabilia from her famous son. Sheila Farebrother sold more than 100 gold and platinum discs, tour jackets and backstage passes she used at his concerts. More than 200 items went be up for auction on October 19th in Sussex. Not everything is autographed. However, as she put it, "Why would he sign it for me? I'm his mum."

On this day 31st October 1960-1965

On 31/10/1960 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. The big news story of the day was First vertical take-off aircraft tested in Surrey

On 31/10/1961 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 31/10/1962 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 31/10/1963 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. The big news story of the day was Beatlemania born.



On 31/10/1964 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 31/10/1965 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.

WEB PAGE NO 882

FIRST PICTURE

: An Early picture of Norrie Paramor and Helen Shapiro

SECOND PICTURE:

Part of the old Cosham bus shelter now in Gunwharf Quays.

Norrie Paramor

Norrie Paramor was one of EMI's top producers in pop music and rock & roll through to the end of the '60s. For a time in England, he was the only record producer whose name teenagers might recognize because of his work for more than a decade with Cliff Richard and the Shadows. He was almost single-handedly responsible for giving EMI's Columbia label the biggest stake in rock & roll of any record company in England where it had no previous presence in the field and he was the discoverer of Cliff Richard & the Shadows. Before that, he was responsible for recording such Top 50 English pop stars as Ruby Murray and Eddie Calvert and meantime he made best-selling records of instrumental pop and mood music that sold on both sides of the Atlantic.

Born in London and trained as a pianist, Norrie Paramor became a piano player and arranger for dance bands. He served in an RAF entertainment unit starting in 1941, providing music for performances in Blackpool. He began his career as a music director with the Ralph Reader Gang Show, and later in the war years became an arranger for Noël Coward, Jack Buchanan and Mantovani. He spent the period immediately after War playing piano with the Pieces of Eight band led by Harry Gold. Life as a performer didn't appeal to him and after five years he gave it up to concentrate on studio work, with an emphasis on arranging and conducting. His first work as a studio musician was playing accompaniment on various singles. He initially joined EMI Records as a conductor leading his own pop orchestra.

In 1952, he began producing records for EMI, as the head of A&R for its Columbia label. Late the following year, he chalked up his first major hit with Eddie Calvert's single "Oh Mein Papa." Another of his discoveries was Ruby Murray, who was important to the label, scoring a huge hit in 1955 with "Softly, Softly" and numerous other chart successes during the mid-'50s. For most of the '50s he was associated with pop music, including two good-selling studio orchestras that he created, the Big Ben Banjo Band and the Big Ben Hawaiian Band. He also scored well with the pop recordings of Michael Holliday and the Ken Jones Orchestra. He could not possibly have guessed, however, that his biggest discoveries were still ahead of him, and lay in a brand of music that was as new to him and to EMI as it was to most of England. By 1955, changes started overtaking popular music in England. A teenage audience emerged with its own tastes, it started with skiffle, initially the records of Lonnie Donegan on Decca and Pye but later including others. By 1957, skiffle gave way to rock & roll and the British recording industry looked for bands that sounded like Bill Haley but other influences like Buddy Holly were also felt. By 1958, British record labels were looking for homegrown talent.

Norrie Paramor won a recording competition for EMI, when in 1958 he signed Cliff Richard and the Drifters (the Shadows). It had been his original intent to sign Cliff Richard as a solo act, backed by the Ken Jones Orchestra, but the Shadows impressed him sufficiently with their clean, professional sound and their serious attitude toward music. Beginning with "Move It," Cliff Richard inaugurated a career of 40 years and decades of stardom for the Shadows.

The relationship between artist and producer was ideal. Paramor, a lanky, graying man with glasses, wore suits, was no rock & roller, but that wasn't what was needed. His judgment wasn't always perfect. On their debut single he was trying to push a romantic rocking number called "Schoolboy Crush," until music impresario Jack Good persuaded him that the other side "Move It," would be the hit. Once it was a hit, he lost no time in recording Cliff and the band doing lots of hard rock & roll. When it came time to record Cliff’s first album, Paramor did something unheard and made it a live album in front of several hundred screaming fans in February1959, albeit in the relatively controlled conditions of EMI Studio Number One. That album proved a landmark in the history rock & roll, it was the first major live album by a white rock & roll performer and was the blueprint for an idea that Parlophone Records' George Martin, had four years later, when it was time to record the Beatles' debut album -- just get them to play the set they did at their shows.

In the early '60s, as Cliff’s sound evolved, some tracks were cut with the Norrie Paramor Strings and other studio groups under the direction of the producer and Paramor also played piano on some Cliff Richard and Shadows recordings. EMI found that Cliff’s rock & roll sides didn't sell as reliably as they'd hoped and ultimately did their best to move the singer in the direction of a more romantic, pop-oriented sound ("Living Doll," etc.), similar to that of Ricky Nelson. The results didn't please the rock & roll fans, but yielded millions more sales. And when Cliff and the Shadows started recording separately, EMI-Columbia ended up with two top-selling artists.

Norrie Paramor continued to produce Cliff and the Shadows for more than a decade and at this time he discovered other performers including Helen Shapiro and Frank Ifield. He produced recordings by Judy Garland, Gene Vincent, and Al Martino and his work overlapped his success as a bandleader with his own recordings of mood music, some of which did extremely well, especially in America.

EMI in the '60s wasn't the same organization that it had been in the '50s, nor was the record business the same. Sales were soaring astronomically, especially in England, as the music business boomed thanks to the Beatles, James Bond, and the Avengers, among other cultural icons, it seemed to be at the centre of the world. The company was losing many of its best producers, including George Martin.

Paramor was considered one of the company's major assets, a successful recording artist as well as a producer who'd generated many millions of dollars. EMI treated him well, but even he left in early 1968, to become an independent producer with his own company. That same year, he scored a number one hit with the Scaffold's "Lily the Pink." He became the music director of the BBC Midland Radio Orchestra in 1972, and held the post through 1978. He died the following year -- he'd continued working with Cliff Richard as a producer, advisor, and publisher all along, and Cliff dedicated his next album to Norrie Paramor's memory.

Take care
Yours
Peter

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

Jonathan Writes:

Thanks for the great job you are doing I always enjoy reading the Manor Court Update.

Yes I have a very vivid memory of how I aquired my own Meccano Set. In the early 50's there used to be a low budget rather flimsy Woman's Magazine called Red Letter, published by Thompsons, I wonder if you remember it. My mum used to get it and in fact she wrote short stories that were sometimes published in it. There was a competition section in it and one week I entered a competition that comprised interpreting pictures and symbols and making well known phrases. I was only six and I strove to be as neat as possible as this was a criteria for the judges.

I won, and my prize was ....wait for it....a set 6 Meccano. It was delivered parcel post by the GPO to our house which at the time was in Warwick. I can remember to this day the excitement I felt at opening this enormous parcel. It was as big as me.

I was transported with delight at the things I could make with it and I am certain this was a directing force in my life and the reason I became a Mechanical Engineer.

Congratulations on both your retirement and your 43rd anniversary. Carol and I have had our 41st and have in fact been an item since we met at a Manor Court net ball match 45 years ago.

We went to the pub afterwards (under age as we were) Carol had a Babycham (do they still make them??) and I had a pint of bitter with a lemon top. We discovered that we were both Aquarians and of course I asked her what day she was born......it was the exact same day as myself....18th February 1948. The rest as they say is history.

News and Views:

English Heritage put up a "blue plaque at the London flat John Lennon shared with Yoko Ono in 1968. Yoko will be on hand for the unveiling yesterday.

On this day 24th October 1960-1965

On 24/10/1960 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 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 24/10/1961 the number one single was Walkin' Back to Happiness - Helen Shapiro 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 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. The big news story of the day was Britain grants Malta autonomy.

On 24/10/1962 the number one single was Telstar - The Tornadoes and the number one album was Best of Ball Barber & Bilk. 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 Cuban Missile Crisis

On 24/10/1963 the number one single was Do You Love Me? - Brian Poole & the Tremoloes 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 24/10/1964 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 24/10/1965 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

WEB PAGE NO 880

FIRST PICTURE:

The building of the Woolworth’s store in Commercial Road in the 1950

SECOND PICTURE:

A look down Commercial Road, Portsmouth again in the 1950’s this time the late 50’s and the new Woolworth’s store can easily be seen on the right.

Re-building Portsmouth

Most of us are of a funny age!! I know getting old! We are too young to remember the war but are old enough to remember the aftermath of it, ie bomb sites, gun emplacements, rationing and the austerity of the time.

What we did not realise as we grew up was that after the war the most pressing need was in Portsmouth was for new housing. During the War 930 people were killed in Portsmouth by bombing, also 6,625 houses were destroyed (which was nearly 10% of the total) and a further 6,549 were severely damaged. At first the council erected prefabs which were supplied throughout the country from a central depot somewhere. Some of the prefabs were erected on bomb sites. Others were erected on the slopes of Portsdown hill, on the left hand side as you travelled up the A3 above Cosham. But some where put up in King George V’s playing fields where the Income Tax office of Lynx House is today. Some went to a site at the end of the Highbury estate, I understand that Griff lived here for a time. In fact more than 700 prefab houses were built in 1945-47.

In February 1946 the council began to build more permanent houses, most of them were built off of Portsea Island. A new estate was built at Paulsgrove and the first houses being built in 1946. The estate was complete by 1953. The population of Paulsgrove now stands well in excess of 15,000.

Another estate was built at Leigh Park. The first houses here were ready in 1949 but building went on until 1974. By then the population of Leigh Park had risen to 40,000 and West Leigh had not even been thought of then.

Apart from wartime bombing another reason for building new houses on Portsea Island was slum clearance. In 1955 a Council survey showed that over 7,000 houses in Portsmouth were classed as being unfit for human habitation. In the 1960's and early 1970's the whole section of central Portsmouth was rebuilt including areas such as Landport, Somerstown and Buckland. As well as demolishing slums the council gave people grants to improve their homes if they were of a reasonable basic standard.
Several new council estates were built in the early 1970's. The worst of these being Portsdown Park, a mixture of flats and houses built on Portsdown Hill above Cosham. But Portsdown Park soon began to suffer terribly from the ingestion of damp. Efforts to cure the damp failed and in 1987 the estate was demolished. It was replaced by private housing. Other council houses were built some miles north of the city at Crookhorn and Wecock Farm.

From the late 1970's many new private houses were built in Portsmouth. An estate was built at Gatcombe Park in Hilsea ( we had our wedding reception here in 1967 Gatcombe House which was the official home of the Commanding Officer who was a friend of my father in law). In the 1980's a another estate was built at Anchorage Park on the North East corner of Portsea Island. In the 1990's a new estate and marina was built at Port Solent North West of Portsea Island. In the 1980's shopping malls were built, the Bridge Centre in Fratton and the Cascades Centre in Commercial Road which meant the loss of Charlotte Street market after centuries of trading.
In the early 20th century the main employer in Portsmouth was the dockyard. It employed 8,000 men in 1900. During the First World War the number rose to 23,000 but it fell to 9,000 when the war ended. From the 1930's the threat of another war led to an expansion of the dockyard workforce. Meanwhile other industries like brewing and corset making prospered. A new employer was the Airspeed factory, which made parts for aircraft. It opened in the North East of Portsea Island on the airfield.
After World War II the city council tried to diversify industry in Portsmouth. An industrial estate was built in Fratton in 1946-48. Other industrial estates were built in the 1950's at Paulsgrove and Farlington. In the 1960's a new industrial estate began at Hilsea north of Burrfields Road. In the 1980's new industrial estates were built at Cosham and at Hilsea. The pattern of employment in Portsmouth changed rapidly. In 1951 46% of the manufacturing jobs in the city were in shipbuilding. By 1966 this had fallen to only 14%. The dockyard workforce was drastically reduced.

Traditional industries like brewing and corset making vanished but electrical and electronic engineering became a major employer. There was also a large increase in the number of jobs in service industries. In 1968 Zurich insurance moved their headquarters to Portsmouth. In 1979 IBM UK moved their headquarters to the city. Both have since moved again!

Tourism also became a major industry. The Mary Rose was raised from the seabed in 1982 and became a museum and compliments HMS Victory. The D Day museum opened in 1984 and in 1987 HMS Warrior, Britain’s first iron warship, was moved to Portsmouth.
And this is just the tip of the iceberg as to what has happened in Portsmouth during our life times!!!

Take care
Yours

Peter

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

Mary Writes:

On the subject of washing up could it be Sunlight soap? I remember my inlaws had an Anderson shelter in their back garden. It was still in use in 1985 as a garden shed, and in perfect condition. I wonder if it`s still there, in Shirley Avenue, Milton.

News and Views:

It has been released that David Essex was secretly married under his real name of David Cook Monday on September 20th at a church in Bangor, North Wales. He met his bride when they appeared in the West End stage musical production of "All The Fun Of The Fair" two years ago and were engaged at Christmas. It's David's third marriage. He's 63. She's 37.

On this day 17th October 1960-1965

On 17/10/1960 the number one single was Tell Laura I Love Her - Ricky Valance 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 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 17/10/1961 the number one single was Michael - The Highwaymen and the number one album was The Shadows - Shadows. 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 17/10/1962 the number one single was Telstar - The Tornadoes and the number one album was Best of Ball Barber & Bilk. 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 Hyde Park Underpass opens.

On 17/10/1963 the number one single was Do You Love Me? - Brian Poole & the Tremoloes 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 Macmillan resigns as Prime Minister.

On 17/10/1964 the number one single was Oh Pretty Woman - Roy Orbison 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. The big news story of the day was Brezhnev replaces Krushchev.

On 17/10/1965 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 Lesley Ann Downey's body found on Pennines.

Web Page: No 878

Top Picture:

The motorcycle set, The Rockers.

Bottom Picture:

Cosham railway gates in 1959 showing the concrete tank traps still in place.

This week we welcome Dave Milton into our little group. Also this weekend I retired and celebrated our 43rd wedding anniversary, I really must be getting old!!!

Post War

When I look around I cannot help but wonder just how much longer will they last. What am I talking about? The relics of the last war which are still around on our streets if we look carefully even though it is over 65 years since the end of hostilities.

For example very near to my sons house is an almost perfect Anderson Air Raid Shelter. It is painted dark green and has doors attached to each end and is actually in superb condition. It looks as though at one time it was used as a garage for a very small car but is now in service as a garden shed. This is a remarkable survival if you take into account its history. In November 1938, the Prime Minister, Neville Chamberlain, placed Sir John Anderson in charge of Air Raid Precautions. He immediately commissioned the engineer, William Patterson, to design a small and cheap shelter that could be erected in people's gardens. Within a few months nearly one and a half million of what became known as Anderson shelters were distributed to people living in areas that expected to be bombed. Made from six curved sheets of corrugated iron bolted together at the top, with steel plates at either end and measuring 6ft 6in by 4ft 6in the shelter could accommodate six people. These shelters were half buried in the ground with earth heaped on top. The entrance was protected by a steel shield and an earthen blast wall. Anderson shelters were given free to the poor but men who earned more than £5 a week could buy one for £7 but whether bought or given the householder had to erect the shelter themselves. By the time of the coming of the Blitz two and a quarter million shelters had been built. They were dark and damp usually with a pool of muddy water in the bottom and people were reluctant to use them at night and in low-lying areas they tended to flood badly and sleeping was difficult, so the survival of this one is all the more remarkable. But as kids we had a great time playing in them.

Elsewhere on the streets other wartime items can still be found. For example in several place in Portsmouth on houses and walls can still faintly be seen painted letters SWS with an arrow and a distance painted in on them. These were the signs to direct the fire service to the specially built Static Water Supply. These large temporary water tanks were erected on any area of open space and were specifically for providing a constant supply of water to fight the fires caused by the bombing. The surviving signs are normally found on north facing walls where they did not fade in the sun light.

So many other little things are left around; on the hill we can still see pillboxes and gun emplacements and Deadmans Wood, whilst on the Marshes and along Portscreek bits and pieces from Operation Starfish and other defences are still evident. During the blackout many of the lampposts and other street furniture were painted with horizontal white strpies so they could be seen in the dark. This practice continued way into the 1960’s and I expect we can all remember the posts of Zebra Crossings and Traffic Lights having these stripes on them.

Probably one of the most numerous reminders of wartime are the many War Graves that are around, there is at least one in each cemetery in town and in the graveyard at Christchurch, on top of the hill, there is a whole section of War Graves of about one acre which is managed by the War Graves Commission. And of course there are the many War Memorials and Tablets within the City.

Other things really have to be searched out, in some areas one can spot an isolated post about 20 ft tall serving no useful purpose at all; these were the support posts for the Air Raid Sirens. I remember the one behind the New Inn on the Havant Road in Drayton and here in Gosport the last remaining one was only dismantled two years ago.
Looking around in central Portsmouth the route of the old Dockyard Branch railway from Portsmouth High Level station and along Edinburgh Road, although long gone, is still very much in evidence. It was along this line that much of the essential freight and personnel travelled into the Naval Base during the wartime period. One amusing tale relating to the movement of sailors, especially new recruits during the wartime period is that fact that they were locked in until they could be processed. The section of track along side Edinburgh Road approaching Unicorn Gate was walled in on both side with a platform built on the wall attached to the barracks. This section of line had tall grey lockable wooden gates at each end effectively isolating this part of the line. When a troop train arrived it was parked between the two sets of gates and the gates both ends were locked before the sailors were let out of the carriages. The drill then was for them to line up on the platform, undertake the joining paperwork and when all this was done the gates at Unicorn gate end were unlocked and the men marched directly into the Dockyard. There was no escape!!!

So much for memory.

Keep in touch

Peter
DUSTYKEAT@aol.com
Pj.keat@ntlworld.co.uk

You Write:

I write or ask: What did our mothers washup in before Fairy Liquid or Squezy?

News and Views:

Sad to see the death of Sir Norman Wisdom at the age of 95 a real icon from the past.

Singer Eddie Fisher, one-time husband to Debbie Reynolds, Connie Stevens and Elizabeth Taylor, who charted 60 times from 1948 to 1967, died on Wednesday September 22 of complications from hip surgery at his home in Berkeley, California. He was 82. He married Debbie Reynolds (his co-star in the movie, "Bundle Of Joy") in 1955 but scandalously dumped her for the newly-widowed Elizabeth Taylor in 1958. That led to the cancellation of his two year-old NBC-TV series. He was dropped from RCA a year later (though he returned in 1966) and never had another top 40 hit. In 1967 he married Connie Stevens. The marriage lasted but two years, but produced two daughters-- actresses Joely Fisher and Tricia Leigh Fisher. Eddie wrote two autobiographies.

On this day 9th October 1960-1965.

On 09/10/1960 the number one single was Tell Laura I Love Her - Ricky Valance and the number one album was Tottenham Hotspur. 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. Worst flooding in Southern England since 1953. The big news story of the day was No Hiding Place (AR).

On 09/10/1961 the number one single was Kon-Tiki - The Shadows and the number one album was The Shadows - Shadows. 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 09/10/1962 the number one single was Telstar - The Tornadoes and the number one album was Best of Ball Barber & Bilk. 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 09/10/1963 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 Dam malfunction kills 2000 in Italian flood

On 09/10/1964 the number one single was Oh Pretty Woman - Roy Orbison 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 09/10/1965 the number one single was Tears - Ken Dodd and the number one album was Help - 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 Liverpool were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions.

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Top Picture:

Every boy’s dream a Meccano Set

Bottom Picture:

The BSA Bantam, an underpowered, uncomfortable machine much beloved by the GPO for putting Telegram Boys on.






Firstly a big welcome to Richard from Craven Arms, he is not an old school mate but loves Nostalgia.

Play and Present

When we were kids there were two distinctive forms of play, In doors and Out doors and very often those friends that you played with in doors were different from the friends you played with out doors.

INDOORS

For us toys were something you got at Christmas and on your Birthday, possibly when you were ill or had done something really good or maybe when a relation came to stay and that was it. These presents were often treasured items, which you would carefully look after as if life itself depended on it!

As a lad I remember playing with toy soldiers or model cowboys. I would scrounge an old Corn Flakes Box from my Mum and cut out a few turrets and towers I would then stack cushions all around this homemade cardboard fort to represent hills and valleys and I would play like that for hour after hour.

Around the mid 1950's I was given my first Meccano Set as a Christmas present. I cannot remember the size or number set it was but I do know that it was a large enough to build a crane with working lifting gear and a bucket.

For Christmas one year I had a clockwork Hornby Train Set with two locomotives, one green and one black but both always seemed to go so fast they kept coming off the tracks. I also remember that someone, an uncle I think, at sometime bought me an electric train set that ran on batteries with screw terminals on the top of them. This set had a London Underground profile so that once the line was laid and working enormously elaborate tunnels made out of books had to be constructed.

I had a bay window to play in the front room at home. There was space enough between the sofa and window big enough for me to manoeuvre myself around in quite easily. This area kept me occupied for ages. It became my ship’s bridge, the cockpit of a spacecraft or an international space station or even a pirate ship sailing the Spanish Maine. Most of us around that period of time simply didn't have the distractions of the other things that are around today TV, electronic games etc, We had fewer toys but a lot more imagination!

OUTDOORS

Outdoors, whether it was your own garden, someone else’s or a piece of common land just down the road, consisted of an endless list of play things. The tree's in my own garden were about the best thing for me. They became houses, mountains, castle's and hideouts and dens. The other, most important, thing was that they became the supplier of twigs in the shape of a Colt revolver or a bow to fight off the nasty Sheriff of Nottingham's men, a stave for Little John, or even the basis for a catapult. Sometimes if we could find a piece of wood and some old rope we would make a swing! And there was always conkers, sticky buds and apples and pears to scrump.
Normal things became, by necessity something else; the wheelbarrow was the 31 bus to Brighton or a massive steam locomotive speeding it's way from Portsmouth to Plymouth. Yes, the wheelbarrow could be transformed into almost any thing!
As the 50's progressed I, and my contemporary’s ,started to get fewer and fewer smaller presents but these were swapped for a few 'larger presents'. My first bicycle being one. This was a Royal Enfield Bermuda which was purchased from the toy and bicycle shop run by Mr Wynn in Drayton. This was a prized possession and was something I cleaned once a week or got my ears clipped. This substituted the Wheelbarrow and before long the imaginary journey's of the garden were transferred to the pavement.

Every Christmas and Birthday wish was for quite some time was for something new to do with the aforementioned train set or bike although Airfix Kits were popular and I soon built up a collection of aircraft, ships, car and buildings.
The 1950's were hard years for our parents, we knew little of their struggles, they had come out of a War in which they lost some of the most important years of their life and it couldn't have been easy for them.
But, as we found out as kids if you couldn't find happiness in reality, you could in your imagination!

Keep in touch

Peter

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

Martin Writes:

To answer Keith's (actually his name was Chris, my mistake last week, Peter) question.........His name was William (Bill) Ternouth..........and Tin Tack was his nom de plume......he was well known by the the lads in Court Lane......any infringement he would haul us to the front of the class take an open palm hand in his left and bring down his right hand on it........at some point (when we all had Dinky Toy race cars in our pockets) we would cover our palm with 3 in one oil....Thought we had him........ but the oil only made the sting harder......and he sent us off to wash our hands..........Ken Milne hated him He actually was a good hearted soul....He drove and upright Green Ford Prefect and moved his wife and two kids into a new housing development off of Court Lane........as I recall that street was fairly close to Stephen Long's house..............Whenever we saw him out and about he would always say hello Vale and shake hands with my Mum and Dad........I had no idea dear old Florence lost it in her later years........I still have crystal clear visions of her walking around the school corridors and classrooms in the summer with our family pet cat (Rosalind) under her arm............Perhaps that was the writing on the wall........



News and Views:

A London judge ruled that Gary Glitter still poses a "significant danger to children here and abroad" and extended the ban on Gary travelling from England for another year. Gary was deported from Vietnam to England two years ago after serving three years in prison for child molestation.




On this day 2nd October 1960-1965.

On 02/10/1960 the number one single was Tell Laura I Love Her - Ricky Valance and the number one album was Down Drury Lane to Memory Lane - A Hundred and One Strings. The top rated TV show was No Hiding Place (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 02/10/1961 the number one single was Johnny Remember Me - John Leyton. 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 Ipswich Town 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 02/10/1962 the number one single was She's Not You - Elvis Presley and the number one album was Best of Ball Barber & Bilk. 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 02/10/1963 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 US predicts Vietnam victory by 1965.

On 02/10/1964 the number one single was I'm Into Something Good - Herman's Hermits 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 02/10/1965 the number one single was Tears - Ken Dodd and the number one album was Help - 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 Liverpool were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions.