Top Picture: Paulsgrove Chalk Pit
Second Picture: A Monarch Record Player with a BSR deck
The Early ’60’s and Chalk Pits
The first quarter of the year 1960 was to turn out to be a very eventful and significant year musically, just take a look at what occurred that year.
In February the manufacturing of records changed dramatically when Columbia decided with the introduction of the 45rpm disc to stop the production of the 78rpm record. The artist who had the privilege of having his record become the last Columbia 10” 78rpm single was Russ Conway. The title of the record was ‘Royal Event’ a now long forgotten track but Columbia presented Russ Conway with a gold disc of the record to mark the occasion. Whilst in April RCA Victor Records announced that it would release all pop singles in mono and stereo simultaneously, being the first record company to do so. Elvis Presley's single, "Stuck on You," was RCA's first mono/stereo release.
The biggest star in the pop world made his one and only visit to the UK in March 1960. As a serving sergeant, he was only promoted to sergeant in January of that year, in the US Army the plane returning Elvis Presley back to the US to be demobed landed at Prestwick airport for 80 minutes just to refuel. This was the only time that Elvis ever set foot in the British Isles. A car soon whisked him away after he had had a very brief chat to a small group of reporters who were waiting at the airport. Elvis then made a flying visit to the nearby US bases’ NCO and teenage clubs. The visit allowed some of the local girls to actually glimpse him being only separated from him by a chicken wire fence several girls claimed that Elvis came over and kissed them, but this was treated with much scepticism by those at the back of the crowd. Elvis then reboarded the plane and disappeared off to the USA never to return to the UK. In April Elvis returned to Hollywood for the first time since coming home from Germany to film G.I. Blues.
Also in March Eddie Cochrane died in a car accident in which he and Gene Vincent were travelling. Eddie Cochrane and Gene Vincent were returning to London after a highly successful concert in the Hippodrome in Bristol when their Ford Consul taxi swerved and hit a lamppost on the A4 near Chippenham. One part of this tragic story is well know and has gone down as a pop legend and that is that the police cadet Dave Harman, who was later to become Dave Dee, was charged with taking care of Eddie Cochran’s guitar. But what is less well known is that three days earlier a young 13 year old lad called Mark Feld had carried that same guitar to Eddie Cochran’s waiting car, that lad became Marc Bolan!
In April the first fashion pair of Doc Martens boots went on sale.
The early 60s produced some of the best music of all time. Even today it is listened to not only by the 60s generation but by our children and grandchildren. Oldies stations playing the 60s are popping up everywhere. The music is as popular today as it was when we were kids.
Now for something completely different:
Chalk Pits
Most of us knew thay were there and many of us played in them but have you ever stopped to think how many there were?
There were three pits very close together on Portsdown Hill. There was the Old Chalk Pit North of Upper Drayton Lane on the right. Then on the left further up the same road was another smaller one with a hut in it where, what we called The Hermit, lived. I wonder who he was and what happened to him? On the main A3 on the left hand side was yet another Chalk Pit with a cave cut into it which at one time was the cold store for the Cliff Dell Tea Gardens which were built there in Edwardian times. Behind this on the Wymering side was another pit and there was also another above the Paulsgrove estate but these we did not frequent. This at one time had a tramway which connected it to Paulsgrove Quay. The only other pit I can remember is the one on the right hand side of Waterworks Road which was a haven for those who wanted to go birds nesting! Can anyone remember any more?
Stay in touch,
Yours,
Peter
DUSTYKEAT@aol.com
Pj.keat@ntlworld.com
You Write:
Jonathan Writes:-
Fablon was invented by a British Company:
Commercial Plastics Ltd
Willington Quay
Wallson on Tyne
Northumberland
The product was registered for US Patent on Wednesday March 9th 1960
and patent Number 72092447 for "A self adhesive flexible plastic material for general use as a decorative and protective coating" was granted on 25th October 1962.
This patent has now lapsed.
News and Views:
Louise Cochrane, the creator of Rag Tag and Bobtail has died aged 93. Rag, Tag and Bobtail’s innocent woodland capers delighted children in that period when only one-third of homes had a television and screens went blank between 6 and 7pm so that small children could be put to bed . To those brought up in the early 1950s, the Watch With Mother line-up - Picture Book on Monday; Andy Pandy on Tuesday; The Flowerpot Men on Wednesday; Rag, Tag and Bobtail on Thursday; and The Woodentops on Friday, is probably more familiar than memories of their first school.
On this day 7th April 1960-1965
On
07/04/1960the 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
07/04/1961the 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.The big news story of the day was British liner burns in Persian Gulf - killing 100.
On 07
/04/1962the 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 07
/04/1963the 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 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 JFK makes Winston Churchill a US citizen.
On 07
/04/1964the 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 Labour wins first GLC election
On
07/04/1965the 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
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