Web Page 1160
30^th June 2013

Top Picture: Flatley Dryer

Middle Picture: View Master

Bottom Picture: The Honeys

Life in the 1950’s

Here we go again! Just a few things from way back, when we were kids. After a visit to a nostalgia web site recently I started to think about life when I was ten in 1956. I was still at Solent Road Junior School and was worrying about the looming Eleven Plus, little knowing then what a good time I would have when I eventually joined the Secondary Modern School. So let’s just take a look at life at home in 1956.

We, like many of us, had no car, no telephone (we never ever had a phone at home we always had to use a neighbours), no central heating, no fitted carpets, no double glazing and on our beds we had sheets and blankets with an eiderdown and counterpane, no duvets (they were strange continental things!) Heating came from an open fire or a smelly paraffin heater and some folks had those very strange circular reflectored electric fires with a coil-heating element in the middle or maybe a one, two or three bar electric fire. However the modern thing to have was the new Berry Magicoal electric fire complete with imitation real coal fire which could be placed in the grate! The only washing machine mother had was the kitchen sink and a boiler on the gas ring, with the washing either strung on the line outside or on a rack hanging from the kitchen ceiling. That was until the new invention, the Flatley clothes dryer came along, an upright enamelled box with wooden rails in it over a heater element, no good for really wet washing but ok for the half dry stuff!  (See picture).

These were the days of Bobbies on the beat, when you knew your local policeman and respected him (never a her) , Riley Police Cars, Velocette water cooled Police Bikes and Police boxes on many city corners and the large one on the Drayton side of the junction between the Havant Road and the Eastern Road.

The days of post boxes set into the wall of the Post Office with a stamp machine attached where you could buy a book of stamps. The CND Ban the Bomb Aldermaston Marches led by Canon John Collins were still in the future, we were more interested in our comics, the Beano and Dandy for the boys and the Beryl and Bunty for the girls; and boys do you remember the cap bombs illustrated above and the problems we had in obtaining those little round caps, we nearly almost always had to cut down reels of caps to fit?

There was Crackerjack with Eamon Andrews, Fry’s Chocolate Creams, Duncan Walnut Whips, Viewmasters with pictures of the World or animals and reel to reel tape recorders.

Talking about reel to reel tape recorders I understand that Barry is looking for a reel to reel tape recorder to play recording, which I believe his father made in someone’s front room in Kinross Crescent. The recording is of a local close harmony group called the Liddal Sisters. They were actually sisters and lived in Kinross. They started singing together in the early 1950’s, their names were Pearl, Anita and Vilma. They later changed their name to The Honeys (see Picture) and in this guise toured the dancehalls of the country often appearing on the same bills as the likes of Adam Faith, Helen Shapiro and the Beatles. This early recording could be fairly rare as the group never made any professional recordings that I can trace.

We all brushed with tingling fresh SR toothpaste (I wonder what the SR stood for) or even Gibbs dentifrice. We went to the cake shops run by Smith and Vosper, Campions or Greens or the Coop, bought groceries in Pinks, the Home and Colonial Stores, David Greig’s or Macfisheries. Coal was delivered from either Smiths, barnes or again the Coop (must buy it in the middle of the year to get the summer prices!)

Life revolved around Clarke’s sandals, Chilproof Aertex vests, shopping from a neighbours mail order catalogue and not worrying too much about keeping up with the neighbours. By 1956 we had got our first TV set, a 16” Sobell and so within a few years we were happily watching Crackerjack, Tonight, Your Life in Their Hands, The Verdict is Yours and Lockheart of the Yard the television world was with us. Life was slowly changing and we were becoming aware of the world around us and I suppose this is when the rat race began, but for us life was good most of the time as we grew up and for most of us we had the teenage years to look forward to!  

 

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Peter

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Pj.keat@ntlworld.co.uk

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News and Views:

On this day 30^th  June 1960-1965

On 30/06/1960 the number one single was Three Steps to Heaven - Eddie Cochran 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 Burnley were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions. The big news story of the day was Ghana and Somalia become republics.

On 30/06/1961 the number one single was Runaway - Del Shannon and the number one album was South Pacific Soundtrack. 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 Tottenham Hotspur were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions.

On 30/06/1962 the number one single was Come Outside - Mike Sarne with Wendy Richard 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 Ipswich Town were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions.

On 30/06/1963 the number one single was I Like It - 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 Everton were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions.The big news story of the day was Zip code introduced in US

On 30/06/1964 the number one single was It's Over - Roy Orbison and the number one album was Rolling Stones - The Rolling Stones. The top rated TV show was Club Night (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 30/06/1965 the number one single was I'm Alive - Hollies 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 Manchester United were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions.

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