Web Page 1118

3rd February 2013

Top Picture: A Sweep from the mid 1960’s

Bottom Picture: So much cleaner today!

Chimney Sweeps

One thing that we very rarely see any more is the Chimney Sweep. But when we were kids it was really something to get excited about? As a little boy I can remember waiting by the gate for the sweep to arrive. I would eagerly await the arrival of his dark green van and watched this thin and blackened man with his poles, brushes and blankets unload everything and carry it into the house ready to start the operation. The rooms whose chimneys were to be swept had previously been cleared, the mantelpiece and fireplace had all the knick knacks removed and the remaining furniture was covered with dust sheets and pages of the Daily Mirror were laid out on the floor from the front door to the fireplaces to be swept.

After the initial setting up, the sweep would slowly put together the poles and after fixing the backing sheet to the fireplace would begin to slowly feed the brush and poles up the chimney. By this time I was always told that if I stood well back, and did not get in the way, I could watch.  Then at the appointed time I was told that I could rush outside and wait for the brush to pop out the top of the chimney. Oh what great joy! There’s something about it you can’t explain. I guess the chimney was a young persons mystery, a place never visited, a place where children used to be sent to hand brush if your chimney was big enough. A very dark and mysterious place and also of course it was where Santa Claus would have to drop through with his presents on Christmas Day and I never did wonder why his clothes never got dirty!

Sixty plus years ago the biggest development in chimney sweeping was the introduction of a giant Hoover which replaced the mountains of blankets and soot filled sacks which still didn’t stop your carpet throwing up soot every time you walked on it for days afterwards. When fitted up on went the Hoover and out went the cat and for 20 minutes or so, our fireplaces got their yearly clean out.

When the sweeping was completed there was always that strange smutty smell which is something which has been lost from the modern house which does not have chimneys.

Occasionally the sweep would inform Mum or Dad that there was some loose cement coming down with the soot, which meant that sometime in the near future we would have to get a builder in to correct the loose surfaces. But normally the chimneys passed all their tests though maybe more Kos Fire Cement would be needed to stick the firebricks back together once more!

It was not long after things had been cleaned and put back before the cat gingerly made its way back to the hearthrug and took up its usual place sleeping about three inches away from the fire! Winter in the 1950’s had its bad parts, but to come down the stairs in the morning to that comforting smell of an open fire was always a sign of a happy home!

For a time one could buy a tin of a preparation called ‘A Chimney Devi’l which, by lighting a wick in the top sent some form of acrid smoke up the chimney and was supposed to loosen and dislodge all the soot without the need to employ a chimney sweep. As I remember my father tried it once and it made such a mess that it took days to clear up the mess and my mother told him he was not to use it again and he never did. Apart from that he was left with bags of soot that he had to dispose of somehow. I don’t know how he did it, as he did not have a car at the time, or even a bike, so I suppose he must have dug it into the garden somewhere.

Those were the days but I don’t think that I would like to do without my central heating now! But just a couple of things you might remember from those coal-fired days. The coalman delivering sacks of coal on his back, the buckets of ash that had to be cleared out each morning, chopped fire wood, fire lighters and the most dangerous of all trying to draw the fire up with a newspaper and we won’t even think about chimney fires!

It was always regarded as being lucky to have a chimney sweep at a wedding, I don’t know why and over the years I cannot ever remember attending a wedding where there has been a sweep present.

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Peter

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Pj.keat@ntlworld.co.uk

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Gloria Writes:-

I went to a small private school before I came to Manor Court it was called Walkers College, it was situated in a road off Elm Grove, Southsea. When I visited Portsmouth and Southsea last year we tried to find the road without success. Has anyone else heard of it and perhaps they might remember the road. The Headmistress was a Mrs Lane. I still have my school reports unfortunately they do not have an address on them.


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On this day 3^rd February 1960-1965

On 03/02/1960 the number one single was Why - Anthony Newley and the number one album was South Pacific Soundtrack. The top rated TV show was not listed and the box office smash was Some Like It Hot. 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 03/02/1961 the number one single was Are you Lonesome Tonight? - Elvis Presley and the number one album was GI Blues - Elvis Presley. The top rated TV show was No Hiding Place (AR) and the box office smash was One Hundred and One Dalmations. A pound of today's money was worth £13.25 and Tottenham Hotspur were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions.

On 03/02/1962 the number one single was The Young Ones - Cliff Richard & the Shadows and the number one album was Blue Hawaii - Elvis Presley. The top rated TV show was Coronation Street (Granada) and the box office smash was Lawrence of Arabia. A pound of today's money was worth £12.89 and Ipswich Town were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions.

On 03/02/1963 the number one single was Diamonds - Jet Harris & Tony Meehan 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 Liz Taylor films Cleopatra.

On 09/02/1964 the number one single was Needles & Pins - Searchers and the number one album was With the Beatles - The Beatles. The top rated TV show was Steptoe & Son (BBC) 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 USSR tops medals at Winter Olympics.

On 09/02/1965 the number one single was You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin' - Righteous Brothers 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

Web Page 1116

27^th January 2013

Top Picture: Boundary Oak Gatehouse

Bottom Picture: Convent of the Cross School

The Other Schools.

Whilst most of us went to the normal state schools in the Portsmouth area there were still a few private schools running in Portsmouth in the 1950’s and 1960’s. Here are just three.

Boundary Oak

Boundary Oak School was founded about 1918 by Miss Napier when it was originally sited in Waterlooville. It soon moved to Portsdown Lodge in Widley, the interesting thing about this house was that the Commissioner for Powder of Portsmouth, Sir Francis Austen, who was Jane Austen’s brother, had previously owned this house. Portsdown Lodge lay on the Parish Boundary of Portsmouth and around its perimeter there was a line of oak trees. One of these fine old trees was a staging post for the annual Portsmouth “beating of the bounds” ceremony, and it is from this tree that the school took its name. Originally there was a flagpole outside the school building and it was customary the have a flag flying every day. Each time a boy passed the flagpole he had to raise his cap and the Headmaster’s study was conveniently placed to ensure this happened. The school thrived in the 1930’s with Mr Miller, who owned the school for over 20 years, as Headmaster. After his death in the mid 1950s the school was in the care of the Vicar of Christ Church for a short time before being sold to David Foster. He revitalised the school and decided to look for a larger site. The old site was sold for residential development and there is evidence of the school in the present street names, Oak Tree Close, The Dell and Boundary Crescent. The school moved to Roche Court in 1961. Roche Court dates back to 1280 and evidence of its age can be seen in the very thick walls to a number of rooms including the Headmaster’s Study. Just 3 families had owned the site from 1280 to 1936, when it was split up. The land was sold to the Southwick Estate and the house was used for ‘refugees’. During the war a battalion of Canadians were billeted in the house and moved out, on D-Day plus one, to go over to France. After the war it was then used as a vehicle repair station  and a victualling supply base until 1960.

The historic Manor buildings were refurbished to accommodate boys rather than stores. The old vehicle repair station was converted into the lower gym, and pantomimes were regularly performed there. The Deputy Headmaster’s flat was originally the School Hall; assemblies and hymn practices were held in there as was the solemn reading of the ‘Quarterly Orders’. In 1961 David Foster, the then Headmaster, changed the school to an Educational Trust and a Governing Body was formed. David Foster resigned through ill-health in 1967 and Howard Limon became Headmaster. Roger Bliss took over as Headmaster in 1985 and over the next 18 years the number of pupils at the school rose with the development of the Junior Department buildings. The Nursery was opened in 1987, and in 1992 the school became co-educational with the first girls in the Reception class.

Daley’s School

Daley's school was in Kingston Crescent, North End Portsmouth. Sadly now it doesn't exist anymore.
It was a private school originally for girls aged 5-16yrs, but there was an intake of small boys too! It was owned and run by the Daley Family who were a prominent Roman Catholic family and very well known in Portsmouth but children didn't have to be RC to attend the school. I believe it may have become a sort of convent school for a while before it closed. The back gate of the school was in Garfield Road and in the area was Chapmans the laundry, a junior school at the end of the road and Maynards sweet shop. There were no playing fields so sports such as netball and tennis were undertaken in Southsea. Miss Kathlene Daley was tall and strong and a strict disciplinarian.

The Convent of the Cross School

The Convent of the Cross School in Purbrook is now the site of Oaklands Catholic comprehensive school.  In 1902 a small group of sisters arrived in Southsea from Boscombe, to found an independent Catholic school for girls and small boys. It was established in Grove Road, and named Covent of the Cross after the school the sisters had left in Boscombe. During the Second World War the women and children of The Convent of the Cross were evacuated to Gloucestershire. Meanwhile the buildings at Grove Road were used as a field hospital and were damaged by enemy action. When the war came to an end it would have been difficult to re-establish the convent. Oaklands was the home of General Napier a famous soldier who fought against Napoleon in the Peninsular War.

In 1946 Oaklands was purchased by the sisters but it was in no fit condition for a school. For a while some of the sisters travelled to Southsea to teach the few students who were there. In 1947 when the school opened Stakes Hill Road was a lane with ditches on either side. The area and the school grew rapidly and in 1959 the junior department became a separate school under the name Holy Cross. In 1966 The Convent of the Cross amalgamated with another Portsmouth school, Daley’s, and became Oaklands Convent School.

Since then the school has continued to grow purpose built blocks were built to house the Sixth Form and Year 11. John Major spent several hours touring the school. In 1997 Oaklands celebrated its 25th year as a comprehensive school.

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Peter

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Bobby Rydell has appeared in his first Golden Boys concert since his major heart and lung transplant. The other two golden boys on the bill were Franky Avalon and Fabian.

On this day 26^th January 1960-1965

On 26/01/1960 the number one single was Why - Anthony Newley and the number one album was South Pacific Soundtrack. The top rated TV show was not listed and the box office smash was North by Northwest. 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 26/01/1961 the number one single was Are you Lonesome Tonight? - Elvis Presley. The top rated TV show was The Russ Conway Show (ATV) and the box office smash was One Hundred and One Dalmations. A pound of today's money was worth £not very interesting and 13.25 were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions. The big news story of the week was Bootsie & Snudge (Granada).

 On 26/01/1962 the number one single was The Young Ones - Cliff Richard & the Shadows and the number one album was Blue Hawaii - Elvis Presley. The top rated TV show was Coronation Street (Granada) and the box office smash was Lawrence of Arabia. A pound of today's money was worth £12.89 and Ipswich Town were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions.

 On 26/01/1963 the number one single was Dance On - The Shadows and the number one album was Out of the Shadows - Shadows. The top rated TV show was Coronation Street (Granada) and the box office smash was The Great Escape. A pound of today's money was worth £12.64 and Everton were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions.

 On 26/01/1964 the number one single was Glad All Over - Dave Clark Five and the number one album was With the Beatles - The Beatles. The top rated TV show was Steptoe & Son (BBC) and the box office smash was Dr Strangelove. A pound of today's money was worth £12.24 and Liverpool were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions.

On 26/01/1965 the number one single was Yeh Yeh - Georgie Fame and the number one album was Beatles For Sale - 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 Manchester United were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions.

Web Page 1114

19^th January 2013

First of all the follow up to the booklet 'The Time of Our Lives' is now ready. It is called 'The Days of Our Youth' and is available at the same price as the first book, ie £2.95 +75p P&P. Take a look below.

Top Picture: Kon Tiki

Bottom Picture: Thor Heyerdahl

Kon Tiki

It was an episode straight out of the Boys Own Adventure Book and it happened (just) within our lifetime. The journey of Kon-Tiki the raft used by Norwegian explorer and writer Thor Heyerdahl in his 1947 expedition across the Pacific Ocean from South America to the Polynesian islands. It was named after the Inca sun god, Viracocha, for whom "Kon-Tiki" was said to be an old name. Kon-Tiki is also the name of Heyerdahl's book and the Academy Award-winning documentary film chronicling his adventures. Thor Heyerdahl believed that people from South America could have settled Polynesia in pre-Columbian times, although most anthropologists now believe they did not. His aim in mounting the Kon-Tiki expedition was to show, by using only the materials and technologies available to those people at the time, that there were no technical reasons to prevent them from having done so. Although the expedition carried some modern equipment, such as a radio, watches, charts, sextant, and metal knives, Thor Heyerdahl argued they were incidental to the purpose of proving that the raft itself could make the journey.

The Kon-Tiki expedition was funded by private loans, along with donations of equipment from the United States Army. Heyerdahl and a small team went to Peru, where, with the help of dockyard facilities provided by the Peruvian authorities, they built the raft out of balsa logs and other native materials in an indigenous style as recorded in illustrations by the Spanish conquistadores. The trip began on April 28^th  1947. Heyerdahl and five companions sailed the raft for 101 days over 4,300 miles across the Pacific Ocean before smashing into a reef at Raroia in theTuamotu Islands on August 7^th , 1947. The crew made successful landfall and all returned safely.

Thor Heyerdahl's book about his experience became a bestseller. It was published in 1948 as The Kon-Tiki Expedition: By Raft Across the South Seas, later reprinted as Kon-Tiki: Across the Pacific in a Raft. A documentary film about the expedition, also called Kon-Tiki was produced from a write-up and expansion of the crew's filmstrip notes and won an Academy Award in 1951. It was directed by Thor Heyerdahl and edited by Olle Nordemar. The voyage was also chronicled in the documentary TV-series The Kon-Tiki Man: The Life and Adventures of Thor Heyerdah. l The original Kon-Tiki raft is now on display in the Kon-Tiki Museum in Oslo The Kon-Tiki had a six man crew.  All were Norwegian except for Bengt Danielsson, a Swede. Thor Heyerdahl (1914–2002) was the expedition leader. A crew member, Erik Hesselberg, was the navigator and artist. He painted the large Kon-Tiki figure on the raft's sail.

Kon-Tiki carried 275 gallons of drinking water in fifty-six water cans. For food they took 200 coconuts, sweet potatoes, bottle gourds and other assorted fruit and roots. The U.S. Army Quartermaster Corps provided field rations, tinned food and survival equipment. In return, the Kon-Tiki explorers reported on the quality and utility of the provisions. They also caught plentiful numbers of fish, particularly flying fish, "dolphin fish", yellowfin tuna, bonito and shark.

On April 28, 2006, a Norwegian team attempted to duplicate the Kon-Tiki voyage using a newly built raft, the Tangaroa, named after the Māori sea-god Tangaroa. Again based on records of ancient vessels, this raft used relatively sophisticated square sails that allowed sailing into the wind. It was 52 ft long by 26 ft wide. It also included modern navigation and communication  equipment, including solar panels, portable computers, and desalination equipment.

The crew of six included Olav Heyerdahl, grandson of Thor Heyerdahl. The voyage was completed successfully in July 2006. On January 30, 2011 An-Tiki, a raft modeled after Kon-Tiki and piloted by four senior citizens, began a 3,000 mile, 70-day journey across the Atlantic Ocean to the island

In 1969 and 1970, Thor Heyerdahl built two boats from papyrus and attempted to cross the Atlantic from Morocco. Based on drawings and models from ancient Egypt, the first boat, named Ra (after the Egyptian Sun god), was constructed by boat builders from Lake Chad using papyrus reed obtained from Lake Tana in Ethiopia and launched into the Atlantic Ocean from the coast of Morocco. After a number of weeks Ra took on water after its crew made modifications to the vessel that caused it to sag and break apart. The ship was abandoned and the following year, another similar vessel, Ra II, was built in Bolivia and likewise set sail across the Atlantic from Morocco, this time with great success. The boat reached Barbados, thus demonstrating that mariners could have dealt with trans-Atlantic voyages.

The book, The Ra Expeditions, and the film Ra (1972) were made about the voyages. Apart from the primary aspects of the expedition, Heyerdahl deliberately selected a crew representing a great diversity in race, nationality, religion and political viewpoint in order to demonstrate that at least on their own little floating island, people could cooperate and live peacefully. Additionally, the expedition took samples of marine pollution and presented their report to the United Nations.

Thor Heyerdahl built yet another reed boat, Tigris, which was intended to demonstrate that trade and migration could have linked Mesopotamia with what is now modern-day Pakistan. Tigris was built in Iraq and sailed with its international crew through the Persian Gulf to Pakistan and made its way into the Red Sea. After 5 months at sea and still remaining seaworthy, the Tigris was deliberately burnt in Djibouti, on April 3rd, 1978, as a protest against the wars raging on every side in the Red Sea and Horn of Africa.

Thor Heyerdahl died, aged 87, from a brain tumor. After receiving the diagnosis he prepared for dying by refusing to eat or take medication. The Norwegian government granted Heyerdahl the honour of a state funeral in the Oslo Cathedral on April 26^th 2002. His cremated remains lie in the garden of his family's home in Colla Micheri.

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On this day 19^th January 1960-1965

On 19/01/1960 the number one single was Why - Anthony Newley and the number one album was South Pacific Soundtrack. The top rated TV show was not listed and the box office smash was North by Northwest. 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 19/01/1961 the number one single was Poetry in Motion - Johnny Tillotson and the number one album was GI Blues - Elvis Presley. 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 Tottenham Hotspur were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions

On 19/01/1962 the number one single was The Young Ones - Cliff Richard & the Shadows and the number one album was The Young Ones - Cliff Richard. The top rated TV show was Coronation Street (Granada) and the box office smash was Lawrence of Arabia. A pound of today's money was worth £12.89 and Ipswich Town were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions.

On 19/01/1963 the number one single was The Next Time/Bachelor Boy - Cliff Richard & the Shadows 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 The Great Escape. A pound of today's money was worth £12.64 and Everton were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions.

On 19/01/1964 the number one single was Glad All Over - Dave Clark Five and the number one album was With the Beatles - The Beatles. The top rated TV show was Steptoe & Son (BBC) and the box office smash was Dr Strangelove. A pound of today's money was worth £12.24 and Liverpool were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions.

On 19/01/1965 the number one single was Yeh Yeh - Georgie Fame and the number one album was Beatles For Sale - 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 Manchester United were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions.

Web Page 1112

12^th January 2013

Top Picture: Jim Clark at Silverstone with Colin Chapman

Bottom Picture: Princess Alexandra married the Hon. Angus Ogilvy.

1963

Take a look at the sidebar, there is now a companion booklet to 'The Time of our lives'. It is called 'The Days of Our Youth' and like the previous one is priced at £2.95 + 75p P&P

All those years ago

At the start of another year I thought that I would take a look back 50 years to when we were at School in 1963 and I was seventeen and just leaving school. What a year that was, so much happened we were teenagers and believe it or not the Queen was only 37. So what of 1963?

The Average Weekly Wage in 1963 was only £18.2s.2d  and my Dad bought his first car since my parents were married in 1945.                                      

A  Sliced white loaf from Campions or Smith & Vospers cost 1s 2d (5.8p)                                                                                      
20 untipped Cigarettes - 4s 11d (24.6p)                                                                                         A Litre of petrol - 1s 0.24d (5.1p) 4/10p a gallon                                                                                A Pint of milk - 9d (3.8p)                                                                                                   A Pint of beer - 1s 6.5d (7.8p)

It was a very eventual year and one, which would seem to change the World, as we knew it.

In the UK the Beatles first made it into the Charts and were followed rapidly with other 'Groups' playing the new 'Mersey Sound'. Gerry and the Pacemakers, Billy J. Kramer and The Seachers were first on the list.

The year ended with the assassination of President John F Kennedy in Dallas Texas. This sent shock waves around the World ( I think we can all remember where we were when this happened. I was in the Manor Court Youth Club). The new smiling face of American Politics had gone and the United States were in turmoil.

The Cold War continued but the people, especially the young were ready to take action and be heard and the Peace Movement came to the fore.

The Main news Stories here at home.

The Winter of 1963 was the worst winter since 1948 with snow lasting in some areas until well into April

In April Princess Alexandra married the Hon. Angus Ogilvy.

Double Agent Kim Philby disappears having defected to the Soviet Union

Charles De Gaulle first vetos the United Kingdom's entry into the EEC

In Paris, 6 people are sentenced to death for conspiring to assassinate President Charles de Gaulle.

The Labour Party elects Harold Wilson as its new leader and he becomes the Leader of the Opposition

The Beatles release the album Please Please Me

The Alcatraz Island federal penitentiary in San Francisco Bay closes after years of campaigning

Doctor Beeching announces huge cuts in the railway system in an attempt to make British Rail viable but in so doing cutting off hundreds of communities from the railway system

Coca Cola start the production of Diet Coke

70,000 protesters march from Aldermarston to London to demonstrate against Nuclear Arms

Tottenham Hotspur are the first British Team to win a European Trophy (European Cup beating Athletico Madrid 5 - 1)

The Christine Keeler affair forces Secretary of State for War, John Profumo to resign causing much scandal amongst the Government and many reshuffles in Ministerial posts

The Great Train Robbery takes place in Buckinghamshire

Prime Minister Harold MacMillan resigns through ill health

Alec Douglas Home takes over as Prime Minister

The Dartford Road Tunnel opens linking Essex and Kent under the Thames

The first episode of Doctor Who is broadcast

Lee Harvey Oswald, the alleged assassin of John F. Kennedy, is shot dead by Jack Ruby in Dallas, Texas

The years top selling Album (UK)

With the Beatles - The Beatles

The Years top selling Single (UK)

She Loves You - The Beatles

The best Movie Oscar

Tom Jones

The best Actor Oscar

Sidney Poitier - Lilies of the Field

The best Actress Oscar

Patricia Neal - Hud

The notable films that were distributed to our local Cinemas in 1963 were

The Birds, Charade, Carry on Cabby, Carry on Jack, Cleopatra, From Russia with Love, The Great Escape, 
The Nutty Professor, Lord of the Flies, Jason and the Argonauts, The Mouse on the Moon, This Sporting Life

Famous people born in 1963 (now this will make you feel old!)

James May, Philip Glenister, Jarvis Cocker, David Seaman, Eva Cassidy, Michael Jordon, Jimmy Osmond, Graham Norton, Johnny Depp. Helen Hunt, Whitney Houston, Brad Pitt

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Peter

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Mary Writes:-

I went to the Kings last week it brought back happy memories of seeing Charlie Drake in a panto many years ago. When Charlie Drake walked along the road from the theatre people shouted out to him and he would shout back "Hello, my Darlings". I remember seeing Billy Cotton on stage at the Kings in the early 60`s. He was amazing and his energy , well!!! I wasn`t that keen on him when my parents watched his show on TV, but I really enjoyed a live show.

Gloria writes:

I remember Verrechia's, I loved their ice cream and I was very disappointed to see it had gone on my first visit back to Portsmouth with my husband. As a child I can remember the van's coming round the streets and we would go out with a bowl and get enough scoops for us to have with our tinned fruit for our tea.

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In the New Years Honour's list Stella McCartney will receive an OBE for designing the country's Olympic uniforms.

On this day 12th January 1960-1965

On 12/01/1960 the number one single was Why - Anthony Newley and the number one album was South Pacific. The top rated TV show was not listed and the box office smash was North by Northwest. A pound of today's money was worth £13.68 and Burnley were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions. The big news story of the week was Aswan Dam foundation stone laid.

On 10/01/1962 the number one single was Moon River - Danny Williams and the number one album was Blue Hawaii - Elvis Presley. The top rated TV show was Coronation Street 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. The big news story of the week was Avalanche buries 16 villages in Peru.

On 10/01/1963 the number one single was The Next Time/Bachelor Boy - Cliff Richard & the Shadows and the number one album was Black & White Minstrel Show - George Mitchell Minstrels. The top rated TV show was Coronation Street and the box office smash was The Great Escape. A pound of today's money was worth £12.64 and Everton were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions.

On 10/01/1964 the number one single was I Want to Hold Your hand - The Beatles and the number one album was With the Beatles - The Beatles. The top rated TV show was Steptoe & Son (BBC) 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 Anti-US demonstrations over Panama Canal.

On 10/01/1965 the number one single was I Feel Fine - The Beatles and the number one album was Beatles For Sale - The Beatles. The top rated TV show was Coronation Street and the box office smash was The Sound of Music. A pound of today's money was worth £11.69 and Manchester United were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions.

Web Page 1110
5^th January 2013
Top Picture: Verrechia’s in the Guildhall Square

Bottom Picture: 1950’sWoolworths window (that’s over 60 years ago!!!!)

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

 

Panto Time and The Spinners

About this time of year when we were kids it was off to the pantomime (Oh! Yes it was!) to see modern stars and some of the Music Hall stars who were still performing. I do not remember being taken to the Kings or the Theatre Royal very often but my father and mother took me to the Dockyard Pantomime every year which featured the HMS Vernon Band.

Back in the late 1950’s and early 1960’s all sorts of people appeared in Portsmouth, no soap stars then! Way back in 1957 two up and coming performers appeared in Puss in Boots at the Kings Theatre, these two were Charlie Drake, who had relations in Southampton and had his own television show at the time and Bruce Forsyth who had just started presenting ‘Sunday Night at the London Palladium’.

The following year the same theatre put on Babes in the Wood and featured two other very popular comedians, Mike and Bernie Winters whose agent was Joe Collins the father of Joan and Jackie Collins. Also on the bill was the Morton Fraser Harmonica Gang a very popular musical act at the time.

When it came to the starring role in the 1959 pantomime, Cinderella, the management turned to the musical world for its headliner and John Hansen appeared as the top of the bill.

From here until about 1964 pantomime in the Kings Theatre died. But the other side of the coin was the summer shows and these were the showcase for all sorts of talent. Who do you remember from this list?

Cyril Fletcher, Monswer Eddie Grey, Arthur English, Peter Sellers, the Three Monarchs, Audrey Jeans and Joan Regan. Tommy Trinder, Flanagan and Allan,Norman Vaughan and George Melly.  Even Davy Kaye appeared in the theatre on South Parade Pier! Portsmouth in the 1950’s was a good place to be to see the stars of the day. And I do actually remember waving to Billy Cotton as he crossed the road outside the Kings Theatre back in 1958.

The Spinners

The Spinners were a very popular 1960’s folk group from Liverpool. They formed in September 1958 and originally consisted of Hughie Jones, Cliff Hall who was born in Cuba, Mick Groves, Tony Davis, Joan Davis, Beryl Davis; although as they progressed in the musical world the group became a quartet dropping the two girls.

Cliff Hall was born in Cuba, brought up in Jamaica, and came to the UK to serve in the Royal Air Force. The group was unusual for its time in having a multiracial membership. John McCormick was the group's bassist and musical director for the final seventeen years.

The band actually began as a skiffle group with a mainly American repertoire until they were prompted to include sea shanties and other old English folk songs. They started out as The Gin Mill Skiffle Group, which included guitarist Tony Davis and washboard player Mick Groves. The group played the Cavern Club, Liverpool for the first time on Friday 18 January 1957, with The Muskrat Jazz Band and The Liverpool University Jazz Band. They played there subsequently on several occassions. They became The Spinners in September 1958 and founded a folk club in Liverpool, the 'Triton Club', but soon were performing in London at places such as 'The Troubadour'. Their first album, Songs Spun in Liverpool, was recorded by Bill Leader from live performances. In 1962 Peter Kennedy of the English Folk Dance & Song Society recorded an album called Quayside Songs Old & New. In 1963 Philips Records signed them, and they recorded eight more albums over the next eight years. They signed for EMI Records in the early 1970s.

They became popular by reviving some of the greatest folk music and singing new songs in the same vein. Although sounding like traditional English folk songs, some of their material was in fact composed by Hughie Jones, such as "The Ellan Vannin Tragedy" and "The Marco Polo". One of their best known songs, particularly in their native Liverpool, was "In My Liverpool Home", written by Peter McGovern in 1962. Cliff Hall also introduced traditional Jamaican songs to their repertoire.

They produced over forty albums, and made numerous concerts and TV appearances. In 1970, they were given their own television show on BBC One that ran for seven years. They also had their own show on BBC Radio 2. They retired in 1988, after thirty years together, although they led the community singing at the 1989 FA Cup Final and played some Christmas shows in the early 1990s. Some members of the group still perform, although Cliff Hall retired to Australia, where he died in 2008.

Their version of the Ewan MacColl song, "Dirty Old Town", was included in the Terence Davies' 2008 documentary of Liverpool, Of Time and the City.

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