Web Page 1092
1^st November 2012

Top Picture : Standard Fireworks Poster

Second Picture: Stars in the sky

A penny for the Guy, was a penny for a banger.

Do you remember the things you could do with a penny banger! When I look back now I wonder how on earth none of my mates or I were not seriously injured. Plenty more were. It must have been nearing the end of the fifties when we went out on our own with a pocket full of them. When I was younger I would never have been allowed, and had to stay with my parents.
I must admit that my attitude towards the selling of fireworks has changed a great deal since those days.

The few weeks leading up to November 5th were always exciting. All pocket money was saved, and spent on penny bangers. Some of dad's old clothes were stuffed with newspapers, a football for a head, with a Guy Fawkes mask and hat attached and off we went pushing an old pram we got from somewhere to a busy spot near the local shops for the “penny for the guy” fund raising. Your parents were going to supply the basic fireworks on the actual night, so bangers and Jumping Jacks were the thing you needed for the days leading up to it. We did this for a couple of week’s prior the actual day.

We were always trying to think of new ways to explode the bangers. We would float them down the creek on a tobacco tin lid; hang them off the bridge with cotton; put them in scaffold tubes, in fact anything to make a different noise. We used to bury them in the mud on Farlington Marshes and have competitions as to who could blow the biggest hole. There were always some old tin cans and milk and beer bottles lying about, so needless to say, we used these to contain the explosions and just see what would happen. I know many kids over the firework season were badly burned but luckily enough none of our group of friends ever suffered that way.

So that was it. The weeks of waiting were over. The big night arrived and you let your own fireworks off with your mates earlier on and now your turn at home. An hour or so later Dad had done his duty, lighting at arms length and keeping the box closed. Everything had gone according to plan. Except for the occasion when the force of a rocket knocked the bottle over. Have you ever seen a rocket travel along the ground at speed; go through someones legs (burning holes in both of his long socks as it went) and end up lodging itself in the under body of a parked car inches from the fuel tank? I have! Dad let off our Aeroplanes, Strombolli, Wizzers, Jumping Jacks, Roman Candles and Catherine Wheels all we were allowed to handle were Sparklers and coloured matches ( why were they only ever red or green?)

Anyway, after that we would stick lengths of wire into spuds to roast them in the embers and later we got as black as the ace of spades from the smoke and the now black skins of the potatoes, and suddenly it was all over for another year. You could smell the smoke for days after.

To build the biggest bonfire year people got rid of their old junk, as long as it would burn. There were floorboards, scaffold boards, old wardrobes, beds, kitchen doors. You name it and if it was capable of burning, on it went. I think that it would normally have taken months to get rid of the accumulated junk lodged in old air raid shelters sheds and cellars.

Did you know that there was an on line Firework Museum? Take a look at http://www.fireworkmuseum.co.uk/ and remind yourselves of some of these brands. Pains, Brocks, Standard, Astra, Wells and Benwell Garden Fireworks. Looking back I am sure we all took risks but they were great days!!!!!

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Peter

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Pj.keat@ntlworld.co.uk

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On this day 1^st November 1960-1965

On 01/11/1960 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.

On 01/11/1961 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 01/11/1962 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 01/11/1963 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 On 01/11/1964 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 01/11/1965 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 7 die in UK hurricane-force winds.

Web Page 1090
24^th October 2012

Top Picture : Lonnie Donegan Poster

Second Picture: Skiffle advert

A plea for help. Below is a picture of a United Brewery Steam Lorry dressed for a special occasion but the owner of the picture has no idea what the occasion was. Can you help?

Skiffle

Who remembers Skiffle? I am sure we all do and wanted to grab a guitar or washboard or tea chest and broom stick. It is amazing that it is now over fifty five years since Skiffle hit the headlines. It was a short lived phenomenon, but was the first time British youth could influence popular music. Skiffle was a wholly UK inspired music form which burst into public consciousness in January 1956 when Lonnie Donegan’s ‘Rock Island Line’ hit the charts. For the recording Lonnie (who played in the Chris Barber Jazz Band) was backed by Chris Barber on bass and by Beryl Bryden on washboard. Within a week tea chests and washboards were almost unobtainable as everyone tried to play this new music form.

At that time the hit parade was dominated by the likes of Doris Day and Denis Lotis. Actually Skiffle evolved out of the poor US classes, its main influences were blues, spirituals and the work song. Later Skiffle would be refined but it remained essentially the music of the working classes. The sound created was not entirely Jazz or Blues but was a hybrid which embraced a number of styles.

In the UK, after the War, Traditional Jazz became the youth music. During the Festival of Britain celebrations of July 1951 in the presence of Princess Elizabeth at the new Royal Festival Hall, a colossal Jazz concert was organised and subsequently a number of recordings were released and several became big sellers, however as there was no ‘chart’ there was no indication of their popularity. Chris Barber had enlisted the Colyer brothers and Tony Donegan. (Later to be re-christened ‘Lonnie’ Donegan.)

Skiffle from being a niche interest soon exploded and everyone wanted a piece of the action, Chas McDevitt and Nancy Whiskey's ‘Freight Train’ was a slow starter but was to become the Oriole record company’s first million seller, and subsequently became the first British group to conquer the American charts, leading to appearances on the Ed Sullivan show.

Lonnie Donegan went on to produce a string of hit records; meanwhile Ewan McColl and Peggy Seeger formed the Ramblers; Wally Whyton joined the Vipers and in 1956 it seemed the country had gone Skiffle crazy. Skiffle even had the accolade of a comedy alter ego; Morris and Mitch, to be joined by Marty Feldman who parodied the ‘Six Five Special’ theme. Even Clinton Ford recorded Skiffle.

The era also had its scandal. When Nancy Whiskey announced she was to marry, she unfortunately forgot to check that her intended was not already married - he was … and the newspapers had a field day.

Every coffee bar had its resident group. In London the Irani brothers established the Two ‘I’s’ as the premier Skiffle venue and Chas McDevitt opened the ‘Freight Train’ coffee bar. Promoters cashed in on the craze and many ‘Skiffle’ contests were held.

Skiffle was limited and repetitive. By 1960 the Skiffle era had run its course and only Lonnie Donegan was to continue and he continued to play Skiffle right up to his death in 2002.

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Peter

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This is way before our 1960’s period but my 92 year old uncle has written his memories of East Cosham in 1925. I hope you find them interesting.

Memories of Kenneth George Keat re his home Croslands in Lendorber Avenue

                  

1925. I remember the moving day from our house on the Copnor Road in Portsmouth which was then on the extreme northern boundary of Portsmouth Town, close to what is Stubbington Avenue. I was sent to stay with my Uncle and Aunt (the Winnicotts) at their house in the London Road opposite Ophir Road. That evening I was picked up and taken to our brand new house. Imagine my amazement to be introduced to electric light in OUR house after being used to gas lighting. I shared a bedroom on the west side of the house with my sister (9). Being young (5) and carefree my memories are happy ones. Among those are coming downstairs for breakfast to find that the maid had lit a nice warm fire in the breakfast room- that was the night that my father looked out of an upstairs window and spotted her and her boyfriend kissing outside the side gate (what ever next!) the result was “pack your things and leave in the morning”. I later learned to do my courting away from home. I remember a tree on the Cosham corner of Lendorber Avenue where the family gathered to wait for the king (George V) and Queen to drive by on their way from Goodwood Races to join the Royal Yacht for Cowes Week.

The front lawn was quite full of weeds and we got 1d for every 50 we dug up. I also remember my father digging a trench next to the fence into which every stone was put ready for a concrete path.  Whether one was ever built I don’t know.

My sister and I had little plots of grass, about 2ft x 1ft  on which we made our own gardens with paste pots as ponds and little stones as paths etc. At the bottom of the garden was a garage into which our cat would run when he heard the car arriving – with tragic results.

The houses next door were occupied by the Jones and Rowes. The Jones garden was L shaped with land beyond our garage and was overgrown with stinging nettles into which I was frequently pushed by the Jones boys. The large chestnut tree in the back came in very welcome for the nuts at Christmas  despite brown fingers preparing them.

The Surrounding Area

Lendorber Avenue was gravel with no surfaced footpaths. Turning right towards Drayton on the south side were several new houses. On the first corner (Court Lane) was a very old thatched cottage, which was knocked down when the road was widened. On the opposite corner was the Gammons estate. Turning left beyond our three houses was a paddock extending to Mulberry Lane. In the top far corner was a barn used for milking cows and housing them for the night.

A nursery occupied  the site of St Colmans church. From there to East Cosham Road were only three houses on the north side of the Havant Road. Each had extensive grounds. My Uncle purchased the first –Cosham House- and proceeded to vandalise the grounds by making a new driveway to the house – which he occupied- and cutting the rest up by making Padwick and Burrill Avenues. The original driveway can still be seen (I think) at the end of Widley Road. The extent of the original property can be seen by the length of the brickwall on the frontage.

The second property extended from the eastern end of the wall to the eastern boundary of Lodge Avenue. It consisted of a large house with a lodge at the end of the driveway. The entrance, nearly opposite Croslands can, I believe, still be seen by a small curved section of the entrance wall. The lodge was the home to the chauffeur/ gardener and his wife and two sons. Immediately opposite Croslands was a field where the cows mentioned earlier were kept during the day before being driven down the road to the farm mentioned earlier. If we were luck the gardener would mow a wicket in this field for us to play cricket. The house and lodge were eventually demolished to make way for Bernard and Lodge Avenues to be built.  

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The State of California has released its annual list of the 500 biggest tax evaders and once again it includes Dionne Warwick. The New Jersey native's been on the list since 2003. The state says she owes $2.6 millionbut her spokesperson says she's worked out a "repayment plan."

On this day 24^th 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 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.The big news story of the day was Britain launches first nuclear submarine.

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 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 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.

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.

On 24/10/1964 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 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.

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Web Page 1088
17^th October 2012

Top Picture : Model Housewife?

Second Picture: Typical 1950’s kitchen

How women stayed slim in the 1950’s!

I came across this article the other day and thought it was worth sharing!

Our mothers may not have worked out in the gym regularly, or competed with men in the office or even followed the Atkins Diet. But 50 years ago they still managed to burn up many more calories than their counterparts do today.

Research suggests that normal housework and day to day general exercise that stay-at-home housewives did in 1953 were more far successful at shedding the pounds than most of today’s diets and exercise programmes.

Our mothers and grandmothers burnt well in excess of 1,000 calories a day through their normal domesticated lifestyle, according to a study by the magazine Prima. Ladies today get through only 556 calories, even though seven out of ten think they are far healthier than the post-war generation. Modern women also consume a lot more calories, 2,178 a day now as opposed to 1,818 then. This could be down to eating more convenience and junk food as the women in 1953 were far more likely to cook meals from scratch with a mixture of ingredients.

Not everything in 'the old days' appears to have been healthier. 1950’s woman would often eat twice as many eggs and used almost twice as much cooking fat as women today. They also ate far more sugar and less chicken. Most meals were served with vegetables, although it was more likely to be swede, peas, turnips and sprouts rather than the aubergines, mange- tout or rocket.

Washing machines and dishwashers have also played their part in reducing the amount of calories burned. In 1953 a woman would spend three hours a day doing the housework, an hour walking to and from the shops in the local town or village centre, an hour on the shopping itself and another hour making dinner.

Many also had lunch to prepare, too, as many husbands and children came home to eat in the middle of the day. More calories would have been burned, of course, walking the children to and from school, since the family car was still a rarity. Compare that with today when women now drive rather than walk, have freezers which mean fewer shopping trips and use supermarkets which provide everything under one roof, no more hunting the streets for the cheapest items! It is all a far cry from 50 years ago when they would have to traipse between the butcher's, to the baker's, the greengrocer's and other specialist stores.

Women 50 years ago didn't have the benefit of 45 minutes on the treadmill or an evening class in Pilates. In 1953, their idea of relaxation was listening to Housewives' Choice while they washed up the breakfast things or Mrs Dale's Diary when they stopped to enjoy tea and a biscuit for elevenses. The children needed playing with, too, as few families had a TV set to keep them quiet. Evening entertainment involved listening to the radio again, curling up with a book or playing board games. And in a less disposable age there was always plenty of darning and mending to do by the fire.

Looking back it is telling that modern technology has made us two-thirds less active than we were. Exercise and diet are not the only things to radically change over the last half-century. In the 1950s, a new home cost £2,000 but an office worker's average wage was just £ 14 a week. A loaf of bread and a pint of milk was the pre-decimal equivalent of 3p, a pint of beer 9p and 20 cigarettes just 18p.

Now here is a thought the survey also claims that housewives in the 1950s enjoyed much more active sex lives than women of today because their time was not divided between career, childcare and socialising as it is now!

     The diets half a century apart 

Average calories consumed a day 

1953 
Breakfast: One slice white toast and butter and a boiled egg, tea 220 
Lunch: Corned beef sandwich and butter, tea 430 
Snack: Slice Victoria sponge, tea 175 
Dinner: Two pork chops, boiled potatoes, swede, cabbage, tinned pears and custard, tea 993 
TOTAL: 993 

Average calories burned a day  1953 
Three hours housework (150 cals an hour): 450 
One hour walking to shops (280 cals an hour): 280 
1 hour shopping (200 cals an hour): 200 
1 hour cooking (162 cals an hour): 162 
TOTAL: 1,092 

2003 
Breakfast: Two slices wholemeal toast, margarine and honey, mineral water: 378 
Snack: Crisps and chocolate bar fruit drink: 400 
Lunch: Slice toast and full fat cheese spread, chocolate biscuit, mineral water: 250 
Dinner: Home-made chicken curry, rice and naan bread and Snack: chocolate bar: 1150 
TOTAL: 2,178 

Average calories burned a day  2003 
Two hours housework (150 cals an hour): 300 
30 minutes gardening (350 cals an hour): 175 
30 minutes cooking (162 cals an hour): 81 
TOTAL: 556

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Peter

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Elvis & Priscilla Presley’s Beverly Hills, California home, bought in 1967 and sold in 1973 around the time of their divorce, is on the market. The 5,367-square-foot home and 1.18 acre lot can be yours for only $12.9 million. When Elvis sold it, he got $500,000 for the mansion.

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. The big news story of the week was US places embargo on goods to Cuba.

On 17/10/1961 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 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.

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.

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.

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.

Web Page 1086
13^th October 2012

Top Picture: RJ Winnicott and workforce building houses in Portsmouth 1907. Mr Winnicott is the third from the left in the front row

Bottom Picture: 5ton Winnicott Commer Lorry in the mid 1930’s and pictured in Southsea.

RJ. Winnicott (Builder)

Within Portsmouth there several well known and well respected building firms; GA Day, Trollope and Colls and RJ Winnicott. It is the later I have an interest in as he was my great uncle. I remember very little about him, in fact I can only ever remember meeting him once. He and Great Aunty Daisy lived in East Cosham House (picture on the side bar), a very large detached building in its own grounds on the north side of the Havant Road near St Colman’s church and I only remember visiting here on a single occasion and we never got further than the hallway!

All I can remember about Great Uncle Bob was that he was Lord Mayor of Portsmouth the year I was born in 1946 and that he owned a Rolls Royce.

I am indebted to the company web sit for the following information although as it has not been updated since 2004 some of the information may be out of date.

The founder of the firm, Robert John Winnicott (Great Uncle Bob), began his business in Portsmouth in 1904 at the age of 21.  He started in a small way - building walls and extensions and carrying out general repairs for private clients, but he was soon asked to build houses for these same clients.  By 1907 he was buying land and building houses in the Copnor area of the town. The business developed successfully and he was able to keep a number of the houses as investment properties, selling the rest.  During the First World War he signed up and served in the Fleet Air Arm and the business was carried on by his staff.  

After the War he took up the reigns of business again and his activities moved to speculative house building and continued from offices and workshops in Copnor, moving from one side of Copnor Road to the other side in Moneyfield Lane. At this time a further company, "The Grit Company" was formed with other Portsmouth builders. This company then went on to construct houses at Eastney and began the Cosham (Wymering) Estate for the Portsmouth Council.

 By the mid 1930s "RJ's" son Harold had joined the business and contracting work was added to their activities, in addition to the already successful speculative housing branch of the enterprise and the firm became a Limited Company in 1938.

During the Second World War, the work force was involved in much defence work in and around Portsmouth, including the making of aircraft components in the company’s joiners' shop.  Harold Winnicott then followed his father aviation lead and served in the RAF during the War.

In the late 1930’s, "Deerleap", a large house and grounds in the Rowlands Castle area was purchased by the company as a land bank for housing development.  However, with the intervention of Second World War this went by the wayside.  Instead, after the war, a branch of the business was established together with a small retail outlet catering for a growing DIY market.  By this time contracting was taking a greater role in the business and by the end of the 1950’s speculative house building had ceased.

When the founder (great uncle Bob) of the company died in November 1971, aged 88, his grandson Robert took over the business.  In 1975 the company moved out of the Portsmouth premises to a newly constructed joinery shop and offices at Rowlands Castle. This was followed in 1976 by the building of a new retail outlet facing The Green. In 1991 a second hardware shop in Emsworth was added to the business, a third was then opened in Romsey in 2000 and in 2006, the fourth in Alton.

Following Robert's retirement in 2004, the fourth generation of the family moved in to run the business.  Robert's eldest son Adrian joined the firm in 1988 to run the retail hardware side of the business along with cousin David Wagg. Adrian's younger brother Paul, who joined in 2001 to run the construction division.

During its history there have been several families from which two generations or more have served the company, some achieving 50+ years  service. 

 

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Peter

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An infected molar led to a four-hour dental operation for Cher 

On this day 13th October 1960-1965

On 13/101960 the number one single was Tell Laura I Love Her - Ricky Valance. 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 Hotspurs were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions.The big news story of the day was No Hiding Place (AR).

On 13/101961 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 13/101962 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 13/101963 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 13/101964 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 13/101965 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.

Web Page 1082
6^th October 2012

Top Picture: Earex and dropper

Bottom Picture: 1950’s medical equipment.

Ear Ache

“Oh Mum my ear aches!” “Come here and lets have a look, I expect that you are growing potatoes in there,” was often the reply. How many times did we hear this when we were kids? Ear ache seems to be a thing of the past now but in the 1950’s everyone seemed to suffer from it a one time or another. This meant a bit of home doctoring followed by a bit of nursing and then a visit to the surgery.

Firstly it was the inspection. “Put your head on one side and keep still” we were told and mother would peer into the offending ear, then grab a small twist of cotton wood which she had previously wrapped round a matchstick with the head taken off. Next came the cleaning when the match stick was inserted into the ear and twisted round, this normally resulted in the child also starting to twist around and being told to “stand still or  will poke your eardrum out”.

When the matchstick was removed and the cotton wool examined maybe all was well but normally it meant getting the ear cleaned out. Another long complicated process.

Firstly mother had to find the tiny bottle of Olive Oil (bearing in mind that in the 1950’s this was a rare commodity Britain had yet to be invaded by Italian chef using copious amounts of Extra Virgin Olive Oil) and was consequently very expensive. Next this had to be warmed up on the stove to just under blood heat and loaded into a pipette (remember those from our science classes?). Then it was a case of getting the patient to stand still and place the head on one side. Slowly the olive oil was dripped into the ear generating a strange warm feeling inside the head. When this was done it only remained for a plug of cotton wool to be placed in the ear to keep the oil in. Then off we went to school with a white plug in our ears and a slightly muffled reception in that ear. Come the evening the plug was removed, the ear cleaned out and the whole process repeated.

This went on for three days and then came the bygone the trip to the surgery. Her we sat in the waiting room terrified as to what was going to happen. When we were called in mother was asked if she had been applying the loosening oil and after a positive response the syringing could begin.

Out would come the enormous hypodermic with the long blunt needle, the warm water and the kidney bowl. Now it was a case of grin and bear it as the ear was slowly filled with warm water and the offending wax flushed out. At last it was over and full hearing restored we could go home at last it was all over. But there was always the final line from the nurse which brought you back to earth again. “Bring him back next week and we will do it again just to make sure its all out” Help another week of olive oil, cotton wool and “will you please keep still or it will be your ear drum that will suffer”.

On very rare occasions my mother would try a product called Earex but Olive Oil and cotton wool still remained the favoured treatment!

Keeping on the medical subject maybe someone can help. For years as a child I heard the adults refer to Liquid Paraffin as a laxative; just what was liquid paraffin and where did it come from?   

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Peter

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Former Ventures guitarist Nokie Edwards suffered a heart attack in mid-September while on a month-long tour of Japan He was placed for a while in a medically-induced coma to relieve fluid build-up on his heart and lungs, but has since been revived. However, he is still breathing with the aid of a respirator. The 77 year-old had received an angiogram in 1998 and suffered a heart attack in 2009.

On this day 6th October 1960-1965

On 06/10/1960 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 06/10/1961 the number one single was Kon-Tiki - The 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. British plane crashes in Pyrennees killing 34.The big news story of the day was Sunday Night at the London Palladium (ATV)'.

On 06/10/1962 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 06/10/1963 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.

On 06/10/1964 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 06/10/1965 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.