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21st September 2014

Top Picture: The weekly wash

Second Picture: Vauxhall column change

Third Picture: 1960’s Hair Rollers

I Remember When. . .

things were so much simpler. Remembering small things like a clothes line full of laundry blowing in the summer breeze, which really doesn't mean much now, but thinking back then makes all that simplicty of the 60s, make sense over the hustle and bustle of life today.

I remember mother washing and hanging clothes on that line. I can still picture her wiping the clothes line off with a wet rag to rid the line of dirt and bird droppings. The clothes would be hung with wooden clothes pegs that clipped the clothes to the line. After she hung the clothes up she would prop the line with a line pole and the clothes would just blow in the summer breeze. When the clothes were removed from the line, I still remember how fresh they smelled. I also remembered the clothes being frozen stiff on a cold winter day as they were taken from the line. Also the mad dash out of the back door to get the washing in when it rained. Then the wooden ironing boards were used. They were really popular in the 30s, 40s, and 50s but families continued to use them during the 60s.

Cars either had a gear lever or a column change that enabled some models to have a bench front seat. Headlight dimmer switches were on the floor and the ignition switch was on the dashboard and we still used hand signals to make a turn and wing mirrors and radios came as extras and if you had a car radio it needed a separate licence.

Ignition keys were left above your sun visor or in the ignition of your car was a common thing in many small towns without fear of your car being stolen. If by some break of bad luck it was stolen you walked to your neighbour's, who was also your insurance agent. There was no need to compare car insurance rates, you knew your friendly Insurance man would look out for you and get you the best deal.  

Pizzas weren't delivered then but milk was. The milkmen were the kings of 4am delivery. I remember the glass milk bottles that were delivered to your front door before you were even out of bed in the morning. The only person that heard the milkman arrive was the dog. You left your empty bottles on the front step with a note inside the bottle telling the milkman what you wanted that day.

When it came to going to school there was a dress code boys hair could not be over the ears and shirt tails had to be tucked. Girls' skirts could not be above mid knee however many got away with it especially if they had decent looking legs. Our schoolteachers dressed up while they taught us. The men teachers wore ties and a jacket while the women teachers wore dresses, their hair done and many of the women wore heels.

We never had convenient stores we got all our last minute necessities at the corner shop. If we had a telephone in the home (and we didn’t), there was only one instrument and probably it was located in the living room or the hall. It had a rotary dial and was black and had a little drawer underneath for telephone number. If you were unlucky you could have been on a party line so before you could dialled, you had to listen and make sure some person you didn't know wasn't already using the phone line.

Remember playing marbles in the school playground and losing, I don't think kids play marbles anymore. We all would go to school with our pockets bulging with marbles waiting to play our favourite game. Then later in the year we all filled our pockets with conkers.

At home we always had our meals together sitting around our large dining room table. We talked, laughed, joked and complimented my mother on her cooking. I still remember those special Sunday dinners she would cook.

On the relationship side holding hands in public was an intimate gesture between a boy and a girl and wearing each other's ring around your neck meant a real commitment. The boys would experiment with different after-shave brands and sometimes the girls would roll their hair before a date or before going to bed. I often wondered how did they sleep with those curlers?

Ah well another page of do you remember when and how things have changed. I hope I have stirred a few memories.

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Peter

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On this Day 21^st September 1960-1965

On 21/09/1960 the number one single was Apache - The Shadows 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 21/09/1961 the number one single was Reach for the Stars / Climb Ev'ry Mountain - Shirley Bassey and the number one album was Ipswich Town. 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 £Argentinian swims English Channel both ways non-stop and 13.25 were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions.The big news story of the day was Take Your Pick (AR)".

On 21/09/1962 the number one single was She's Not You - Elvis Presley 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 21/09/1963 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 21/09/1964 the number one single was You Really Got Me - Kinks 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 21/09/1965 the number one single was Make It Easy On Yourself - Walker Brothers 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.

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14^th September 2014

Top Picture: Johnny Morris

Second Picture: Terry Nutkins

Third Picture: The Hot Chestnut Man

Animal Magic

This was a programme that ran not only through our childhood but continued on to run through our childrens childhood as well. This BBC children's television series ran from 1962 to 1983 and was broadcast from BBC Bristol. Originally it was a fortnightly programme but was so popular that from 1964 it was transmitted every week.

The presenter was and his charismatic style and genuine fondness for animals made the show an instant hit with children and adults alike. The show combined jovial voiceovers applied to various animals from Bristol Zoo with some basic educational features. Animal Magic was intended to teach children all about animals and their care in a fun and amusing way and to this end Johnny Morris always appeared dressed as a zoo keeper.

He had many co-presenters over the years including Gerald Durrell,  Tony Soper, Keith Shackleton, Roger Tabor, Sheila Young, David Taylor and Terry Nutkins. When Terry Nutkins joined the show in the early 1980s, the producers tried to update it, using new video effects technology. This allowed them to do such things as "shrink" the presenters to allow them to see life from an ant's viewpoint, or to swim in a riverbed for example. Dottie the ring-tailed lemur appeared as a regular guest for eight years in the 1970’s. Much to Johnny Morris' anger, the show was discontinued in 1983 when it was thought the programme's treatment of animals was less than dignified.

The 100th edition was transmitted on 4 January 1967, eventually it ran for 21 years and for more than 400 editions.

Many editions of the show were junked by the BBC in the early 1990s when they were assumed to be of no further use making recent documentaries resort to using clips from off-air recordings of some shows.

The signature tune, "Las Vegas", performed by Group Forty Orchestra, was written by Laurie Johnson in 1962

Johnny Morris was born in 1916 and was a farm manager when he was talent spotted. BBC Radio Bristol producer Desmond Hawkins found Johnny one evening in a pub telling stories to the customers. He was quickly signed up as a storyteller and to cover local events. One of the many radio shows that Johnny presented in the 50's was Pass the Salt in which he tried out different jobs for a day, including that of a zookeeper.

In 1953 Johnny became the Hot Chestnut Man, reading stories on children's television. That job ended in 1961, just as the BBC was setting up its Natural History Unit. Remembering Johnny, Pat Beech, former News Editor of BBC West, hired him to present a new show called Animal Magic. She thought of the name because she thought children love both animals and magic.

Contrary to popular belief, Johnny Morris' Animal Magic outside broadcasts weren't always from Bristol Zoo Gardens. A number of zoos were used.

Johnny also narrated the Watch With Mother animal series Tales of the Riverbank.

During his career, Johnny presented various travel shows for the BBC, including Ticket to Turkey, Johnny Morris in Mexico, Johnny Morris North from Lion City and Oh, to be in England.

BBC bosses eventually axed the programme in 1982 because they considered it not educational enough. It was replaced with The Really Wild Show presented by, amongst others, Terry Nutkins.

Johnny Morris was an awarded an OBE in 1984.

Johnny returned as his zookeeper character one last time for the short silent film The Magic Keeper (broadcast on Channel 4, Christmas Eve 1998).

Johnny Morris died on 6th May 1999: Just before he was taken ill, Johnny Morris was hired to present Wild Thing for ITV. He had even completed some footage at Hampshire's Marwell Zoo. He was greatly looking forward to his return to TV but this was not to be.

  

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Peter

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On this Day 14^th September 1960-1965

On 14/09/1960 the number one single was Apache - The Shadows 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 14/09/1961 the number one single was Johnny Remember Me - John Leyton and the number one album was South Pacific Soundtrack. 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. The big news story of the day was First Mothercare shop opens in Surrey.

On 14/09/1962 the number one single was She's Not You - Elvis Presley and the number one album was Pot Luck - 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 Everton were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions.

On 14/09/1963 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 14/09/1964 the number one single was You Really Got Me - Kinks 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 14/09/1965 the number one single was (I Can't Get No) Satisfaction - Rolling Stones 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.

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7^th September 2014

Top Picture: Secret 7 Adventure books

Second Picture: Granny’s favourite 4711

Third Picture: 54321

Forth Picture: A ‘99’ Cone

Numbers

Whilst talking to a friend recently we got to discuss the significance of numbers to our lives when we were teenagers, numbers seemed to be everywhere. So let’s take a look at some of the common numbers in use at the time and see how many you can remember. (nb. these items are in no special order).

Starting with books we were all very aware of Enid Blyton’s Secret Seven and the Famous Five with all those titles involving the many adventures that featured in those books complete with lashings of ginger beer (although this phrase was never used in the books, just the film and TV versions). We all remember those books but who remembers Fry’s Five Boys Chocolate? The wrapper had five little boys on it each with a caption, they were Depression, Pacification, Expectation, Acclamation and Realisation that it’s Fry’s. All this could be washed down with bottles of 7up.

Grandmother would wear the 4711 toilet water and this would always be an easy birthday or Christmas present, not much thought required here.

Tobacco was another area where numbers predominated; Players No. 6, Benson and Hedges 555, A1 rolling tobacco, 4 Square pipe tobacco and Churchmans No1.

In Pop music first there was the 6.5 Special then the Fab Four and we cannot forget 54321 by Manfred Mann, 76 trombones from the Music Man, Love Potion Number 9 by practically every R&B band as was Route 66. Plus Seven Little Girls sitting in the Back Seat, Only 16 by Sam Cooke, 123 by Len Barry, Take 5 by Dave Brubeck and 8 days a Week by the Beatles Some of the bands were Unit Four + 2, the Temperance Seven, the John Barry 7 there were the Four tops, the Three Degrees, the Jackson 5 and the Four Aces. The Dave Clark Five,

Friday 13th was always regarded as a bad luck day but it was the only day I was top of the class (strange that!). Films featured the Magnificent 7, 1 Million Years BC, Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, The 7 year Itch, 101 Dalmatians and of course Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.

We were encouraged to read Three men in a Boat or the Three Musketeers, or maybe we just watched 77 Sunset Strip with Ephram Zimbalist Jr !!! But by this time we were too old for Four Feather Falls, Joe 90 and Fireball XL5.

TV programmes featured Emergency Ward 10, Police 5 and Three of a kind. Food and drink were not exempt with Heinz 57 and VAT 69.

Before we had cars we relied on buses the 31 travelled to Brighton (I believe that took nearly all day to get there) or the 147 to the Dockyard gate.

And if we are really pushing the envelope we could include Hancocks Half Hour!

But think about it the whole era in which we grew up was named after numbers, the 60’s and the Prisoner was not a number he was a free man and the new Mini was still known as the Austin Seven! There was also the Austin A35 and A 40.

Still that is enough otherwise I will start talking about the marks out of ten we got for our homework at school so I think I will go and sit down and get myself a nice ice cream, preferably a  ‘99’. Then I can sit here dreaming of a 36-24-36 !!!!

  

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Peter

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On this Day 7^th September 1960-1965

On 07/07/1960 the number one single was Apache - The Shadows and the number one album was South Pacific Soundtrack. The top rated TV show was Rawhide (ITV) 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 07/07/1961 the number one single was Johnny Remember Me - John Leyton and the number one album was South Pacific Soundtrack. 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. The big news story of the day was Charles de Gaulle escapes assasination attempt

On 07/07/1962 the number one single was I Remember You - Frank Ifield and the number one album was Pot Luck - 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 Everton were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions.

On 07/07/1963 the number one single was Bad to Me - Billy J Kramer 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 07/07/1964 the number one single was Bad to Me - Billy J Kramer 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 07/07/1965 the number one single was (I Can't Get No) Satisfaction - Rolling Stones 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.

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31st August 2014

Top Picture: Roy Castle, Jimmy James Junior, Eli Woods

Bottom Picture: The original Jimmy James.

In The Box

Back on 1^st May Eli Woods died aged 91. He was one of the very last links to the great era of twice-nightly British variety theatre, the Music Hall. A stooped and gangling figure with a long, lugubrious face and permanently gaping mouth, clad in flapping trousers, too-tight jacket and deerstalker hat, he had a stammer which he greatly exaggerated to tremendous comic effect. He spent his early career as a stooge for his uncle, Jimmy James, the well-known music-hall comedian who bypassed traditional jokes in favour of elaborate and sometimes surreal flights of fancy and was revered in the business as "the comedian's comedian".

Jimmy James was too unusual and often unpredictable to reach the highest pinnacle of stardom, but he was loved by discerning audiences as well as fellow pros. His act was mostly improvised around two or three basic sketches, supported by a pair of grotesque individuals – the belligerent Hutton Conyers, who always arrived on stage shouting "Are you putting it around that I'm barmy?" and the gormless Bretton Woods, who got the biggest laughs with his wonderfully timed, stuttering interpolations. The role of Bretton Woods was taken by Eli Woods, whereas Hutton Conyers was often played by Jimmy James's real son and Eli Woods's cousin, Jim Casey and later by the later to become famous, Roy Castle.

Their best-known sketch involving Eli Woods was the In The Box sketch, it was almost as famous in its day as Monty Python's Dead Parrot. The way it worked was that Jimmy James and Eli Woods would be chatting inconsequentially when Hutton Conyers entered carrying a shoebox in which he claimed he kept two man-eating lions.

Jimmy James asks Eli Woods to get some coffees while he engages Hutton Conyers pending the arrival of medical help. It is then that Hutton Conyers informs them that he also has a giraffe in the box.

The basics of the sketch were as follows:-

James: "Where do you keep it?"

Conyers: "In the box."

James (to Woods): "Get on the phone. I'll keep him talking till they come."

Conyers: "Are you telling him about the giraffe?"

James: "No, I'll tell him. He's got a giraffe in that box."

Woods: "Is it black or white?"

James: "I'll ask him. He wants to know if the giraffe is black or white?"

Woods: "No, the coffee I mean."

Conyers says he also owns an elephant.

James: "Is it male or female?"

Conyers: "No, an elephant."

James: "I don't suppose it makes any difference to you whether it's male or female."

Woods: "It wouldn't make any difference to anyone but another elephant."

James: "I shall have to stop you going to those youth clubs."

The sketch actually survived the death of James in 1965, and was still being presented (notably in a Royal Variety Performance in 1982) up to 30 years later, with Jim Casey taking his father's role, with various star comedians as Hutton Conyers and always Eli Woods in the part he had by then played for more than four decades.

Eli Woods was born John Casey in Stockton-on-Tees. He attended St Bede's school and had early theatrical ambitions, accepting that his stammer would restrict him to comedy. His Uncle Jimmy had been working mostly as a solo act. By the late 1940s, he had devised several routines that required stooges, and one night in 1948, when the regular performer couldn't make it to the Preston Hippodrome, his nephew was drafted in to play Bretton Woods. A few months later they were starring with Max Miller at the London Palladium and in 1953 they appeared in the Royal Variety Performance. Jack, now known professionally as Eli Woods, also acted in two films with Jimmy James, Over the Garden Wall (1950) and Those People Next Door (1953).

After Jimmy James’ death, Woods remained popular in pantomime, on television and in clubs, where he showed he shared his uncle's gift for ad-libbing. Asked if he had a snappy comeback for hecklers, he said: "Yes, so long as they'll w-w-w-wait for it."

Les Dawson was a close friend and often used Eli in TV shows, he also introduced Eli Woods to his second wife, Pamela. He also worked with Kenny Everett and Des O'Connor. During the late 1970s and early 80s, he featured in two BBC radio series: The Show With Ten Legs and The Show with No Name. On television, he was in Last of the Summer Wine occasionally between 1988 and 2002 and appeared in programmes including Heartbeat, You Rang M'Lord, Little Dorrit and Super Gran. He also had a part in the film A Private Function (1984). He continued taking In the Box on tour in old-time music-hall shows with Jim Casey through the 1990s. Jim Casey died in 2011.

Eli Woods, who lived in Stockton all his life, retired 10 years ago when he was 80. He is survived by his second wife, Pamela, a former dancer, five children, Giselle, Simon, Neil, Mark and Nicola, six grandchildren and one great-grandson.

One of the last stars of Traditional British Music Hall

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Peter

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Mark Chapman, murderer of John Lennon, was denied parole for the eighth time on Friday August 22nd. He had been interviewed earlier in the week by New York prison officials. John’s widow, Yoko Ono, wrote a letter to the parole board reaffirming her belief that the 59 year-old Chapman should not be released. He was sentenced to 20-years-to-life in jail for the 1980 murder. His next chance for parole will be in two years.

On this Day 31^st  August 1960-1965

On 31/08/1960 the number one single was Apache - The Shadows and the number one album was South Pacific Soundtrack. The top rated TV show was Rawhide (ITV) 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 31/08/1961 the number one single was You Don't Know - Helen Shapiro and the number one album was South Pacific Soundtrack. 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 were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions.The big news story of the day was Burma becomes world's first Buddhist republic.

On 31/08/1962 the number one single was I Remember You - Frank Ifield 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 Everton were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions.

On 31/08/1963 the number one single was Bad to Me - Billy J Kramer 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 31/08/1964 the number one single was Do Wah Diddy Diddy - Manfred Mann and the number one album was A Hard Day's Night - 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 Manchester United were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions.

On 31/08/1965 the number one single was I Got You Babe - Sonny and Cher 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.