Web Page 1154
9th June 2013
Top Picture: Gibbs Tooth Powder
Bottom Picture: Phillips Stick on Soles
What Happened to ……………..
Recently I had a day when I found myself saying ‘I
wonder what happened to ……’ and a whole selection of things came to mind, so I
thought I would share a few with you all.
Firstly, when we were kids if we went with our
mothers to the chemist there were always those very large glass flasks with
coloured liquid in them upon a shelf or in the window. What happened to them?
Then the containers that medicines and potions came
in were different than the ones we get today. Medicines always came in thick glass
bottles with standard measures moulded into the back and the bottles were
always sealed with a cork and the chemist always asked us to bring the bottles
back when we had finished with them and all the poison bottles were blue. What
happened to them?
Pills were another standard prescription and
whatever the pills were they would be supplied in round-waxed cardboard pill
boxes and similar boxes would be used for special ointments with the directions
for the dose on the lid. What happened to them?
On the shelves we would see bottles of tonics and
patient medicines such as Dr. Collis Brownes Chloradine, Andrews Liver Salts
and cans of a strange sticky mixture to make a poultice, the cure all for a
myriad of ills. What happened to them?
Whilst in the chemist mother may well have bought
some Gibbs Dentifrice tooth powder in
different coloured tins or father a strop for his cut throat razor. What
happened to them?
The Chemist also sold all sorts of other home
comforts, glass boat shaped feeding bottles for baby, rubber hot water bottles
in red, blue and green along with a fancy cover for them to protect your feet.
However these bottles were tame compared to the old cylinder stone very hot
water bottles with the screw top that our grandparents swore by, they were
lethal to the feet but again they were considered tame compared to the other
cylindrical bottles made of metal, they would certainly burn your feet if they
were put into the bed without a ‘cosy’. What happened to them?
But it was not only in the chemist shop that things have
changed, what about in the Ironmongers. Back in the 1950’s a new product was on
the market to help the new D-I-Yer, Rawlplastic (the forerunner of the fibre
Rawlplugs and then the plastic ones). Rawlpastic came in an orange tin and from
memory it was a powder laced with flakes of asbestos. The tin came with a round
punch to make the required hole in the wall, the powder was wetted down and
pushed into the hole and then the screw applied whilst still wet and when the
mixture dried the screw was firmly fixed. Father could also buy stick on soles
and heels for the families shoes and as every household had a shoe last ( I
still have my fathers) home soling and heeling was common. The soles came in a
paper bag with a round tin rasp with a turned up end to roughen up the leather
and a tube of special shoe glue. These were the days when you had to walk to
the nearest ironmonger to buy a gallon of paraffin which was pumped up by hand
from a holding drum into a measuring jug and then into your special paraffin
can. What happened to all these?
When we went to the dentist, (does anyone remember
the school dentist Mr Butcher?) and we had to have a filling the dentist, in my
case Mr Conroy) injected your gum with what he called Cocaine! What happened to
that?
You could go on and on remembering things such as lemonade
powder, buying a half of a pint of shrimps in the fishmongers, chewing gum
cards, The Beezer comic and The Children’s Daily Mirror, Saturday Morning
pictures, Caramac, Pink Witch Bicycles, home made go-carts and sledges, roller
skates with steel wheels, catapults and spud guns. But I could go on and on so
I will just say ‘what happened to all these?’ The answer is that we just grew
up.
Stay in Touch
Peter
You Write:
On June 2nd I watched the Coronation in our front room in Farlington with a lot of neighbours. I remember being told off for making a noise so I left room and went to play in the garden. (I did see the important bit)
What I do remember in detail was on June 15th Spithead review.
I was at that time at Prep School Boundary Oak we were bussed to Portsmouth Harbour to take a trip on the Gosport Ferry our school had hired for the day.
We were given lunch in a box and we
were told under pain of the cane not to move from our allocated seat. (I
remember that we were very small and our feet did not reach the deck.)
There wear many hundred of ships but I never did find the one the Queen was on.
My lunch consisted of a plain sandwich of bread and butter and a boiled egg. This egg was in its shell, which this 6 year old had to remove. On taking the last bit of shell off the egg it slid out of my hand rolled down my lap, down my legs and balanced between my feet.
I looked at that egg and had to balance the consequence of dropping it
and then retrieving it resulting in getting the cane or keep it balanced until
an older boy could retrieve it.
I estimate I balanced that egg for two
hours, I never took my eyes off it. I just looked down at my closed feet
working out what I should do.
I never really had sight from that time on of the last major naval review this country would have, just this dam egg.
When it was time to get off the boat we were told to stand and at that point the egg rolled onto the deck and was lost in the trampling kids (some who had been sea sick)
I bet most of you remember the crowds, the cheering, the decorations all through Portsmouth and Southsea. You remember the parties the bonhomie the day off School.
But all I remember is that bloody egg.
What I was doing
in 1953 Coronation celebrations.
On June 2nd I watched the Coronation in our front room in Farlington with a lot of neighbours. I remember being told off for making a noise so I left room and went to play in the garden. (I did see the important bit)
What I do remember in detail was on June 15th Spithead review.
I was at that time at Prep School Boundary Oak we were bussed to Portsmouth Harbour to take a trip on the Gosport Ferry our school had hired for the day.
There wear many hundred of ships but I never did find the one the Queen was on.
My lunch consisted of a plain sandwich of bread and butter and a boiled egg. This egg was in its shell, which this 6 year old had to remove. On taking the last bit of shell off the egg it slid out of my hand rolled down my lap, down my legs and balanced between my feet.
I never really had sight from that time on of the last major naval review this country would have, just this dam egg.
When it was time to get off the boat we were told to stand and at that point the egg rolled onto the deck and was lost in the trampling kids (some who had been sea sick)
I bet most of you remember the crowds, the cheering, the decorations all through Portsmouth and Southsea. You remember the parties the bonhomie the day off School.
But all I remember is that bloody egg.
News and Views:
Would you believe it Little Richard (the Revd. to give him his full title) has just turned 80!!!!!
Would you believe it Little Richard (the Revd. to give him his full title) has just turned 80!!!!!
On 09/06/1960
the number one single was Cathy's Clown -
Everly Brothers and the number one album was South Pacific
Soundtrack. The top rated TV show was Wagon Train (ITV) 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 09/06/1961
the number one single was Surrender - 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 09/06/1962
the number one single was Good Luck Charm -
Elvis Presley 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 09/06/1963
the number one single was From Me To 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 Everton were on the way to becoming the
Season's Division 1 champions.
On 09/06/1963
the number one single was From Me To 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 Everton were on the way to becoming the
Season's Division 1 champions.
On 09/06/1965
the number one single was Long Live Love -
Sandie Shaw and the number one album was Bringing It All Back Home -
Bob Dylan. 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.
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