Top Picture: The Practical Householder




Web Page 966


Second Picture: Barry Bucknell

DIY

We grew up just as the movement to do it yourself was starting to make inroads into the average household. Men who had never previously held a paint brush were starting out on the home decoration road and painting and wallpapering became more and more popular, with some.

One incident comes swiftly to mind to me took place at home in the late 1950’s. We had a kitchen table which we had inherited but its surface was in poor condition so it was decided to catch the bus into Cosham and buy a length of sticky backed Fablon. This we did every summer without fail renewing the Fablon to keep the table looking nice. But then my father heard about Formica and he decided that the next time the table was covered it would be with Formica and this would last for years and years.

Mother and I were set to peal off the old Fablon whilst Dad caught the bus into Cosham with the Formica measurements. All went well our end but I think that the thing that had slipped Dad’s mind was that you cannot roll up Formica like Fablon and bring it home on the bus. So two hours later he arrived home with Formica sheet under one arm and tin of Evostick under the other. He was not best pleased!!
Then came the fitting, after a sufficient rest, and the table was carried out onto the back lawn because we read that the glue had heady fumes which could cause drowsiness. The able top was all prepared and Dad opened the can of Impact Adhesive and found out almost instantly why the glue was so called because he managed to knock the onto the sticky surface and had a devil of a job to get it off again. However the job which should of taken about and hour had taken nearly all day. To finish off he managed to use his new Surform plane to smooth off the edges. I never remember him Formicaing anything ever again!

Into this world of amateur builders and decorators, as they say: Cometh the hour, though, cometh the man, and the supposed hero of this particular hour in Britain’s domestic history was a Barry Bucknell. There are still men out there who are now in their late 80’s and cannot rememeber what they had for lunch, but they remember Barry Bucknell all right. ‘The TV DIY man,’ they cry the minute his name is mentioned.

Barry Bucknell, was a trained mechanical ¬engineer, and first appeared on the nation’s black-and-white TV screens in 1956 in a popular afternoon ¬programme for practical housewives, About The Home. He got his own show, Do It Yourself, in 1958, and was soon receiving upwards of 35,000 letters a week from viewers desperate for top tips on putting up shelves, papering ceilings and building plywood porches.
Boosting its audience, no doubt, was the fact that the programme went out live, resulting in a regular flow of amusing mishaps. At each of them, Barry would cheerily cry: ‘Ah! Well, that’s how not to do it.’ This is what people remember most!
Barry’s monument, however, was without doubt Bucknell’s House, a 39-part weekly series in 1962 and 1963 in the course of which he completely renovated a derelict Victorian house in Ealing that the BBC had acquired for the purpose. The building, at 79 The Grove, had not been touched for decades, ¬suffered from extensive dry rot, wet rot and woodworm, and a surveyor had strongly advised against ¬purchasing it. But Barry Bucknell, with the nation watching open-mouthed, transformed it into a bright, attractive family home featuring every ¬modern gadget and design idea. A house that still stands today, I wonder how many residents realise that this particular address was once a TV star?
Stay in touch,

Yours,

Peter

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

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Nothing this week !!!!!

News and Views:

The remainder of the Monkees tour was apparently cancelled Monday (August 8). While no real official word has been issued, Davy's web site lists no Monkees dates after the July 23 concert in Milwaukee. Pollstar and at least one of the venues say dates in August and September were cancelled. And the Davy Jones Facebook page has a message annoucing the cancellation and asking that the band's privacy be respected. The ony reason reportedly given was the standard "unforeseen circumstances" and further speculation is useless.

On this day 19th August 1960-1965.

On

19/08/1960

the number one single was Please Don't Tease - Cliff Richard & the Shadows and the number one album was South Pacific Soundtrack. The top rated TV show was Rawhide (ITV) 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

19/08/1961

the number one single was You Don't Know - Helen Shapiro and the number one album was Black & White Minstrel Show - George Mitchell Minstrels. The top rated TV show was Harpers West One (ATV) and the box office smash was One Hundred and One Dalmations. A pound of today's money was worth £13.25 and Ipswich were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions.


On

19/08/1962

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


On

19/08/1963

the number one single was Sweets For My Sweet - Searchers 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

19/08/1964

the number one single was Do Wah Diddy Diddy - Manfred Mann and the number one album was A Hard Day's Night - Beatles. The top rated TV show was Conservative Party Political Broadcast (all channels) 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

19/08/1965

the number one single was Help - The Beatles and the number one album was Liverpool. The top rated TV show was 'Coronation Street (Granada) and the box office smash was The Sound of Music. A pound of today's money was worth £ 11.69 were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions. Watts race riots in US and the big news story of the day was Riviera Police (AR)