Web Page  No 2128

1^st February 2015

Top Picture: Morris Bristow’s AA bike

 Middle Picture: Another sign of summer, the open top bus service.

Lower Picture: Coaches waiting for tour customers 1950

Bottom Picture: Jerry ‘Here comes summer’ Keller

Here Comes Summer!

I know that it is only February but hopefully Spring is only just round the corner, but do you remember this time of year when we were kids? The weather was either wet or cold or both, the evenings were long and dark and going out meant wearing coats, scarves, gloves and even sometimes hats.

We could not wait for those long cold, dark evenings to disappear and we looked for the first sign of spring and the official start of Summer Time. But what actually marked the coming of summer? We all know daffodil’s and crocus’ but there were other more subtle changes in daily life that may have been forgotten, so let me try to remind you of some.

To start with the Ice Cream man would resume his interrupted round much to the delight  of the local kids and the Corona man also would start to appear again selling his bubbly drinks, but other deliveries like the coalman and the paraffin delivery man in his pink van were no longer being required and so would go off  into hibernation.

One of the sure signs that summer was on the way would be change of uniforms. I do not know the official change over date (doubtless someone will tell me) but the crews on both the Southdown and Corporation buses would suddenly appear in stone coloured linen jackets and with white covers over the top of their uniform caps. When you saw this you knew that Summer was coming.

Other uniforms were also affected. My father had a friend, Morris Bristow, who was an AA patrolman and he dreaded the summer coming because he could never remember where he had put his white hat cover when he put it away the previous year. For many years he was a motorcycle patrolman out on the motorcycle and side car so a white top did not apply but it did when he moved into the luxury of an AA van. Back to the motorbike and sidecar; when I was a young lad he would call in if he had a quiet patrol and would sit me on top of the side car tool box and take me for a spin around our back garden. Imagine my surprise when many years later I visited the National Motor Museum at Beaulieu and there on display was his bike a BSA M21 registration number YUC 593 and as of last June it was still there. Take a look at the photograph and see but unfortunately the sign on the sidecar  in the picture does not mention the highly irregular garden trips that this particular bike made. Whilst talking about road patrols I believe that the RAC also used white hat toppers on their uniform caps in the summer.

Another sign of summer was the appearance of the deck chair attendant along Southsea front (where did they all go in the winter?). The attendant was always male, I never remember a female attendant, complete with his long buff coloured storekeepers coat with the Portsmouth coat of arms on the lapels, a Corporation employees cap with white top, ticket machine and money pouch.

At this time all the seaside kiosks would be open as was the pier. Another seaside sales person was the photographer. I only got caught once when I was walking along the front with Jenny and we were caught by a ken photographer and were persuaded to buy the photograph he said he had taken. However we did have to pose for another one which actually turned out very well when it arrived. I still have my copy and I know that Jenny still has hers!

The other thing on the seafront that heralded summer was the opening of the Coach Tour ticket kiosks. I expect we can all remember the rows of coaches lined up along the prom ready to take the visitors on a day trip. Coach company’s such as White Heather, Byngs and Meatyards all offered a jolly day out on four wheels.

Just about Easter time the Hilsea Lido swimming pool would open providing salt water bathing in a sheltered position. Isn’t it a shame that when the built the M275 the contractors managed to bury the sea water intake pipe and so it was decided to fill it with fresh water instead and so Portsmouth lost the only salt water swimming pool that it had.

As I have said before, it all happened a long time ago. But finally do you remember the song ‘Here comes summer’ by Jerry Keller?

Stay in touch

Peter

DUSTYKEAT@aol.com

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On this day 1^st February 1960-1965

On 01/02/1960 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 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 01/02/1961 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. The big news story of the week was Oral contraceptive made available in UK.

On 01/02/1962 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 01/02/1963 the number one single was Dance On - The Shadows and the number one album was Out of the Shadows - Shadows. he top rated TV show was The Prime Minister (All channels) 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 01/02/1964 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 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 Liverpool were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions.

On 01/02/1965 the number one single was Go Now! - Moody Blues 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. The big news story of the week was Sir Winston Churchill's funeral.

Web Page  No 2126

25th  January 2015

Top Picture: Here is an interesting Question

Middle Picture: Nit Nurse at work

 Lower Picture: The Polio prevention campaign

Bottom Picture: British Empire Map

Had this sent to me a couple of months ago and I thought you would all enjoy it.

Schooldays in the 1950s and 1960s

We all have strong memories of our first few days at primary school, although nowadays most children tend to go to pre-school, so it is not such a shock to the system for them as it was for the children of the 1950s!

In the 1950s there were no state pre-schools or nurseries, so for most children just turning 5 years old, their first day at school was the first time they had been on their own, away from home. Most mothers did not work outside the home, so for many children this was also the first time they had been apart from their mothers.

Consequently the first day of school was sometimes a very tearful event for both child and parent! Having got over the first pangs of separation, school life soon fell into a predictable routine. School milk was part of this routine, uniformly detested by most children. In Post War Britain school milk, a third of a pint per child, was introduced in schools to supplement the child’s diet. In 1971 school milk for the over-sevens was withdrawn  by Margaret Thatcher, then Secretary of State for Education – for this she was dubbed 'Thatcher, Thatcher, Milk Snatcher' in the press.

During the harsh winter months, it was a common sight to see the small crates of milk outside the school gates with the shiny bottle tops standing proud above the bottles on a column of frozen milk. Of course the only way to defrost the school milk was to place it by the radiator, and then the poor children were forced to consume watery, lukewarm milk. And forced they were – “milk is good for you child, you WILL drink it all up!”

The School Broadcasting Council for the United Kingdom had been set up in 1947 and the wireless or radio played a great part in the education of school children in the 1950s,. ‘Music and Movement’ was one such program and all over the country in school halls, children could be found leaping and stretching to the commands on the radio. ‘Now children we are going to sway like trees in the wind’ would be the instruction on the radio and all the children, boys and girls, would begin to sway with their arms in the air; but not in any class I was ever in thank the Lord!

There was no ‘gym kit’ in primary schools so the children just removed their outer clothes and did P.E. in their vests, knickers or underpants and bare feet or plimsoles (usually purchased from Woolworths).

Another such program was ‘Singing Together’ where the class would gather to sing traditional folk songs and sea shanties such as ‘Oh soldier, soldier, won’t you marry me’, ‘A-Roving’, ‘Michael Finnegan’, ‘The Raggle-Taggle Gypsies’ and ‘Oh No John’. However, when as an adult you examine the content and meaning of some of these old folk songs, whether they were indeed suitable for the under 11’s is another question!

Visits from the school nurse would break up the daily routine. The nit nurse used to make regular visits to check for head lice and all the children in each class would line up to be examined in turn, their hair being combed carefully with a nit comb to see if there was any infestation. There were also routine eye and hearing tests, but the school dentist was based in the QA Hospital.

There was also the polio vaccine, given at school to every child on a sugar lump. Measles, German Measles and Mumps were not vaccinated against; most children contracted these diseases in childhood. German Measles, or Rubella, can affect unborn babies in the womb if contracted in pregnancy and so if a girl in the class caught German Measles, it was not uncommon for her mother to throw a tea party for the rest of the girls so they could also catch the disease and gain immunity.

Class sizes in the 1950s and early 1960s were large, often over 30+ children to a class, as these were the ‘baby boomers’, children. There were no classroom assistants, just the class teacher and so discipline was strict. It was quite common for a disruptive child to be rapped over the knuckles, on the buttocks or on the palm of the hand with a ruler or cane.

In the 1960’s it was very much a ‘talk and chalk’ education, with the teacher at the front of the class and the children sitting at desks facing the board. The Three ‘R’s were very important, as was learning by rote. Times tables were learnt by chanting aloud in class and poetry would be learnt by heart for homework. Neat hand writing was seen as very important and practised daily. Nature study was popular and often the only science taught at primary school, with children being asked to bring in things such as leaves and seeds for the teacher to identify and then to use later in craft work. 

There was also a strong sense of being British; singing traditional folk songs and learning about the history, geography and especially the pink bits on the World map.

Of course this was also the age of the 11-plus, a series of tests and exams that the children in the top class at junior school would take before moving on to secondary education Pupils would practise previous papers in school in order to prepare for these tests, which included writing an essay, a maths paper and both verbal and non-verbal reasoning papers. A reasoning paper was designed to test a child’s IQ with a puzzles and problem-solving questions. Always – and still so today - a contentious method of school selection, the 11 plus system did facilitate social mobility, as places at the grammar schools in the 1960s were allocated according to the results of these tests, and not on ability to pay.

All so long ago.

Stay in touch

Peter

DUSTYKEAT@aol.com

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Colin Writes:-

My old school friend (68 to 72) David Blake and his wife Jane passed through Hong Kong last year. It was really great to catch up with David. 

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This week we welcome a new member Allen Plumley who fondly remembers his time at Court Lane Secondary Modern School.

On this day 25th January 1960-1965

On 25/01/1960 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 25/01/1961 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 25/01/1962 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 25/01/1963 the number one single was The Next Time/Bachelor Boy - Cliff Richard & 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 25/01/1964 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.

Web Page  No 2124

18^th  January 2015

Top Picture: Donald Sinden

Middle Picture: Bill Kerr

Lower Middle Picture: Dora Bryan

Bottom Picture: James Garner (Maverick)

 Gone but not Forgotten

What a year 2014 was for loosing celebrities, some names we have known most of our lives. Going back from December, here are a few.

Sir Donald Sinden died aged 90 on 12th September. He joined the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre at Stratford-on-Avon for the 1946-47 season. In October 1947 he made his West End debut in Richard II and in 1948 he joined the Bristol Old Vic. He left Bristol to appear in The Heiress, an adaptation of Henry James’s Washington Square. He had nine lines and appeared in all 644 performances of the show.  During the 1950s, he immersed himself in cinema work, appearing in more than 20 films, including The Cruel Sea (1953) with Jack Hawkins, and Mogambo (1954), a huge safari epic in which he received fourth billing after Clark Gable, Ava Gardner and Grace Kelly. After playing Tony Benskin, a womanising medical student in Doctor in the House (1954), He began to find himself being typecast in comic roles and played Benskin and characters like him for the next eight years. When the British film industry began to falter in the early Sixties, his film career ended so he went on to make a name for himself as a comedian appearing in There’s a Girl in My Soup at the Aldwych in 1966 and won Best Actor awards for his appearances in the Not Now, Darling (1967), Two into One (1984) and Out of Order (1990). In 1976 he was nominated for a Best Actor Tony Award for his performance on Broadway as Arthur Wicksteed in Alan Bennett’s Habeas Corpus.

Bill Kerr, Australian actor died aged 92 on 30th August. Bill Kerr made his name on the radio in Britain in the 1950s, alongside Sid James and Hattie Jacques as one of Tony Hancock’s three cronies in Hancock’s Half Hour. He was also a character actor of distinction, giving memorable performances as a racketeer in My Death is a Mockery (1952); as the bomber pilot Micky Martin in The Dam Busters (1955) and as a mentally disturbed crook in Port of Escape (1956). His other films included Appointment in London (1952), You Know What Sailors Are (1954) and The Night My Number Came Up (1955).  In 1954 he joined Hancock’s Half Hour, which ran on the radio for six series and later moved on to television. As Hancock’s Australian lodger at the dilapidated 23 Railway Cuttings, East Cheam, Bill Kerr appeared as the gormless, slow-on-the-uptake butt of his landlord’s humour. The role made Kerr a household name in Britain, and he later resumed his partnership with Sid James in the first series of the television comedy Citizen James (1960).

Lord Attenborough, actor and director died aged 90 on 24th August. Richard Attenborough was one of the pillars of British cinema, originally an actor and subsequently as an Oscar-winning director; his 1982, Gandhi, won best film of the year in the Academy Awards, Lord Attenborough himself being named best director and Ben Kingsley best actor in the title role. Having first made his name on screen in his student days, playing a Navy stoker, terrified under fire, in the war film In Which We Serve (1942), Richard Attenborough was 24 years old at the time of filming his role as Pinkie Brown, the adolescent gangster of Brighton Rock. In later years his warmth of personality came to the fore, and with Jurassic Park (1993) he endeared himself to a whole new generation of fans, playing a professor whose naivety almost proves fatal when things go awry. But it was Gandhi that was the apex of Richard Attenborough’s career and displayed a facility, unsuspected in his acting days, for handling large casts and epic, sweeping narratives.

Juno Alexander, actress, broadcaster and local politician died aged 88 2nd August. She was the older sister of Lord St John of Fawsley (Norman St John Stevas) and the first wife of the actor Terence Alexander; she made a name in her own right as an actress, broadcaster and local politician. During the war she joined the Free French and worked with the Resistance; later she served as a Conservative councillor on Richmond council. From the late 1940s to the 1960s, she made frequent appearances on television, in programmes such as The Alfred Marks Show, The Max Miller Show and The Eamonn Andrews Show. After the births of her children, she did less work, but still had small parts in films and in several television series; she also appeared on TV and radio panel shows including Petticoat Line, with Anona Wynn, Just A Minute and Going for a Song.

Neal Arden, actor and one of the voices behind Housewives’ Choice died aged 104  on 1^st  August. He was for more than 20 years one of the presenters on Housewives’ Choice, the record request programme broadcast every morning, six days a week, from 1946 to 1967 on the BBC Light Programme.  In a long and varied career in theatre, film, radio and television, he worked with many of the leading stars from Richard Tauber, Leslie Henson, Trevor Howard and Dulcie Gray to Roger Moore, Harry Secombe, Prunella Scales, Donald Sinden and Doris Day. He was an assiduous fundraiser for charity and as an actor, took numerous supporting roles both on stage and in television series such as Maigret, Ivanhoe, Z Cars, Dixon of Dock Green and I, Claudius. He also wrote songs, plays and film and television scripts. He made his screen debut in the 1934 film Princess Charming. Other film credits over the years included the wartime anti-Nazi thriller “Pimpernel” Smith (1941); John Wesley (1954); and The Shakedown (1960). His most substantial role was in Norman Walker’s Life of St Paul (1938), in which he played the saint from beardless youth to bewhiskered old age. His early theatrical credits included Toad of Toad Hall (1933); Blossom Time (1942, with Richard Tauber); Night of the Garter (1942); and The Lilac Domino (1944). In the 1950s he wrote many scripts for the new Independent Television and record reviews for newspapers and magazines.

Dora Bryan, actress and comedienne, died aged 91 on 23rd July. She was one of Britain’s most versatile performers; she was at home in revues, restoration comedies and musicals and equally comfortable in dramatic roles, most notably in the film A Taste of Honey (1961) in which she played Rita Tushingham’s mother and for which she won a Bafta award for best actress. With her tiny frame, round, friendly and mobile face, her warm-hearted grin and Lancashire gurgle, Dora Bryan had the gift of appealing to every audience as soon as she appeared. To all her work she was able to bring a breezily adaptable and engaging personality. She starred in several television series designed to showcase her talents, including Our Dora (1968), According to Dora (1968) and Dora (1972), in all of which she played various hapless, apparently simple-minded characters. She made her screen debut in the late Forties, appearing in a variety of films, including Odd Man Out (1947), The Fallen Idol (1948) and in The Cure for Love (1949), in which she co-starred with Robert Donat. Her versatility was demonstrated by her taking roles in films as diverse as the old-fashioned police thriller The Blue Lamp (1950) and the madcap comedy Mad About Men (1954)....

James Garner, actor and producer died aged 86 on 20^th  July 2014.James Garner made his reputation in the late 1950s as the shrewd gambler Bret Maverick in the series of the same name and followed it as the 1970s private investigator Jim Rockford in The Rockford Files. In 1955, Warner Brothers hired him for small roles in Cheyenne. Then, after appearing in Towards the Unknown in 1957, he was offered the lead in a new television Western series, Maverick. He said “At that time all cowboys were tough and spent their time shooting one another. Maverick was different because he avoided trouble wherever possible. He hardly shot anyone and he was always on the look-out for a fast buck.” The series was an immediate success. Maverick was the hottest show from 1957 to 1959; it reinforced ABC when the network was struggling, and won a 1959 Emmy.

Francis Matthews the star of the BBC's Paul Temple and voice of Captain Scarlet died aged 86 on 14th June. His television debut in the single-channel days was in Prelude to Glory (1954). Tall, slender and with a quietly amused expression, Francis Matthews was ideally suited to play Francis Durbridge's gentleman sleuth Paul Temple, in the popular television adaptations of the 1960s and 70s. But his 60-year career also spanned horror films, comedy and modern classics, and as the voice of Captain Scarlet he reached a new generation of admirers. His first film was the Raj tale Bhowani Junction (1956). He was an eager assistant to Peter Cushing in Hammer's The Revenge of Frankenstein (1958), then played Boris Karloff's son in Corridors of Blood (1958), with Christopher Lee. He grappled with Christopher Lee in Dracula: Prince of Darkness (1965) and Rasputin the Mad Monk (1966). Paul Temple, which started in 1969 and ran for 64 episodes, was one of BBC1's first colour series and co-starred Ros Drinkwater, playing his wife, Steve. The couple appeared almost impossibly elegant to television audiences of the day, George Sewell as their down-at-heel sidekick helping to underline their suavity. Overhearing an interview in which he did a jokey impression of Cary Grant, the puppet producer Gerry Anderson cast him in his puppet saga Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons (1967-68).

         

Sir Jack Brabham, World champion racing driver and racing car constructor died aged 88 on 19^th  May. Jack Brabham was three-time Formula One World Champion and two-time Formula One World Champion Constructor, becoming the first driver to win the title in a car of his own making. “Black Jack” Brabham, an Australian was past 30 when he started to race Formula One cars, making his debut at the British Grand Prix in 1955 driving a Cooper that he had built himself, before returning home where he won the Australian Grand Prix. The next season, he was signed by John Cooper for his Cooper Car Company team. Over the next few years he shone in minor formula races while gaining experience in Formula One. He won his first three World Championship points in 1958 and then in 1959 won the Monaco Grand Prix in a “works” Cooper car, setting a new course record. He followed this with a second place in Holland, a third in France and Italy and victory in the British Grand Prix. In his 34th year in 1959, he first won the World Championship and when, the next year, he won the World Championship again, he told his family that he might give the sport a further two years. However, he was still racing after becoming World Champion for a third time in 1966 when he had turned 40.

Efrem Zimbalist jnr the star of 77 Sunset Strip died aged 95 on 2^nd  May .He played leading roles in two of American television’s crime dramas, 77 Sunset Strip (1958-64) and The FBI (1965-74). The first of these featured a pair of former government agents who set up as private detectives with an office on Sunset Boulevard in LA. They were assisted in their investigations by “Kookie” (played by Edd Byrnes), a car-parking valet. Introduced by a catchy theme song, the series had a light-hearted edge that would become popular throughout the Sixties. During summer breaks between 77 Sunset Strip and The FBI, Warner Bros cast him in several films, including Too Much Too Soon, Home Before Dark, The Crowded Sky, The Chapman Report and Wait Until Dark in which he appeared with Audrey Hepburn. His other films included By Love Possessed and Airport 1975. In the 1990s he recorded the voice of Alfred, the butler, in the cartoon Batman series.

Sir Christopher Chataway the record-breaking athlete, broadcaster and government minister died aged 82 on 19^th January. In the 1952 Helsinki Olympics he tripped going for the lead in the 5,000 metres, recovering to finish fifth, 12 seconds behind Emil Zatopek. In his last year at Oxford he ran his best time for the mile, 4 mins 8.4 sec, then the third fastest by a Briton. In May 1953 Roger Bannister set his record of 4 mins 3.6 sec, paced by Christopher Chataway. For him the bridge from athletics to politics was television. He  joined ITN two months before ITV went live. The reader of ITN’s first bulletin on 11^th October in 1955, in 1956 he moved to the BBC as an interviewer with Panorama. After winning the June 1970 election, Edward Heath made him, not yet 40, Minister for Posts and Telecommunications. He came under immediate pressure from Mary Whitehouse to "clean up" programmes, and from colleagues to stop jamming pirate stations and to legalise commercial radio. Setting up commercial radio as Minister for Posts and Telecommunications, he spent 12 years with the medium as chairman of LBC.

Geoffrey Wheeler was the presenter of Songs of Praise and Top of the Form, and died aged 83 on 2^nd  January 2014. Geoffrey Wheeler began making radio programmes for the BBC while studying Law at Manchester University and in 1954 he was appointed the Corporation’s radio producer for the northern region. He also worked with such entertainers as Ken Dodd, Benny Hill and Morcambe and Wise. As the smartly-blazered he was the question master on Top of the Form from the early 1960s to 1975. The show began in 1948 on the BBC’s Light Programme and he joined as co-question master with Paddy Feeny. Each would present his half of the show from a different school hall, the two being connected by a then state-of-the– art landline. In 1962 the show transferred to television, slimmed down to a single location and with Geoffrey Wheeler as its sole presenter. He went freelance in 1963 and as well as presenting Top of the Form, appeared as a panellist on Call my Bluff, as a story teller on Jackanory and spent 21 years as a presenter of Songs of Praise, now the world’s longest-running television religious programme.

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Peter

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It was a surprise to hear of the death of Donna Douglas this week aged 82, to me she will always be Ellie May Clampett.

On this day 18th January 1960-1965

On 18/01/1960 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. The big news story of the day was price of large eggs cut to 3/- a dozen.

On 18/01/1961 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 18/01/1962 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. The big news story of the day was Van Doren guilty in US quiz show fix.

On 18/01/1963 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 18/01/1964 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 18/01/1965 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  No 2122

11th January 2015

Don't forget the lunchtime get together in The George on the 20th February at 12.00  - 2.00pm. I have just heard that both June Blitz and Peter Sexton will be there.

Top Picture: The Baron

Middle Picture: Callan and Lonely

Lower Middle Picture: Dangerman

Bottom Picture: Emergency Ward 10 Staff

Having just looked at The Avengers last week I realised that there were many other 1960’s programmes which came to mind. So here are some of them.

THE BARON

The first ITC series to be made in colour, The Baron (Steve Forrest) was another of the exciting, cult television classics produced throughout the 1960s. Antiques dealer John Mannering (known as The Baron), along with his glamorous, sexy assistant Cordelia (Sue Lloyd), worked in an informal capacity for the head of the British Diplomatic Intelligenc,– an informal agreement which invariably put the jet-setting playboy in dangerous, life-or-death situations. Global espionage, bank robberies, murder, it was all in a day’s work for The Baron! Based on the best-selling novels by John Creasey, The Baron is a rarely-seen series cut from the same cloth as The Saint and Danger Man and featured guest stars of the calibre of Bernard Lee, Peter Wyngarde, Sylvia Sims, Robert Hardy, Philip Madoc, Edward Woodward and Jeremy Brett throughout all thirty episodes.

CALLAN

Edward Woodward gave an electrifying performance as a reluctant professional killer working for British Intelligence. Callan actually became a national phenomenon in the late 1960s, making Edward Woodward one of the highest profile actors on television and paving the way to his eventual career in America in shows like The Equalizer. Created by James Mitchell (When the Boat Comes In) and exploring the dingy, twilight world of the professional spy, Callan was the antithesis of James Bond and presented, the, television's most realistic portrayal of government espionage. Who can forget Callan’s sidekick Lonely?

DANGER MAN

“Every government has its secret service branch: America, CIA; France, Deuxieme Bureau; England, MI5. NATO also had its own. The series featured the character John Drake and the first series consisted of the 39 half-hour stories. The series charted the exploits of John Drake - an exemplary agent for British Intelligence who is sent into situations too tricky or dangerous for normal spies to undertake. Patrick McGoohan who played John Drake was catapulted into movies and paved the way for - The Prisoner.

MAN IN A SUITCASE

Arguably the finest series ever put out in the 1960s the  ITC company, MAN IN A SUITCASE featured Richard Bradford as McGill, a discredited ex-CIA agent who is reduced to working for hire as a private investigator. Travelling the world, McGill works as a 'gun for hire', often coming into conflict with his employers due to his strong sense of personal integrity and zero tolerance for shady dealings. Richard Bradford gave an astounding performance as McGill - the coolest private eye that ever graced a television screen. Critically acclaimed and highly popular (it even got a network transmission in the States).

THE POWER GAME

The Power Game - ATV's famous boardroom drama from the 1960s starred Patrick Wymark as John Wilder, the ruthless and power-hungry executive whom everybody loved to hate. His adversarial relationship with his wife and colleagues in his fight for political power and one-upmanship set the template for many boardroom dramas to come. Patrick Wymark revelled in his role as the despicable Wilder, his strong and compelling characterisation encouraging equally high-calibre performances from co-stars Peter Barkworth, Clifford Evans, Barbara Murray, Jack Watling and Michael Jayston.

PUBLIC EYE

Over a period of ten years between January 1965 to April 1975, the ABC/Thames drama series Public Eye and its world-weary, ageing, but essentially honest central character of downtrodden private enquiry agent, Frank Marker, successfully walked the transitional path between the gloss and glamour of the adventure series of the 1960's and the grittily action of emerging new shows, such as The Sweeney, which would go on to dominate the television screens of the 1970's. Originally beginning life in black and white, the series introduced us to Frank Marker,(a subtle and perfectly judged portrayal by the Alfred Burke, unmarried, a loner, barely making a living working as an independent freelance enquiry agent in London. The trouble is that so much of the series early episodes are lost to television posterity.

Now for something totally different

EMERGENCY-WARD 10

Pre-dating Casualty and Holby City by decades, Emergency - Ward 10 was Britain's first medical soap opera. Initially thought of as a filler programme, the twice-weekly serial rapidly became a favourite with the nation's viewing public. Between 1957 and 1967 it regularly pulled in audiences in excess of 15 million and spawned two spin-off programmes and a feature-film adaptation. Set in the fictitious Oxbridge General Hospital, Emergency-Ward 10 concentrated as much on the private lives of the staff as it did on their jobs. It also introduced the viewers to medical procedures, earning praise from the British Medical Council for helping to allay the public’s fears of hospitals. High in dramatic content, the series had a low mortality rate (patient deaths were strictly limited to five per year) and made stars out of the doctors, nurses and indeed patients who walked the wards. Take care

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Peter

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You Write:

Griff Writes:-

All this interest in The Droke in Cosham  has led me to find out what the word actually means.

Droke: 

     A small watercourse or ditch, culvert.

Quite possible when you consider that Cosham High St. is on the lower slopes of a gradient for rainwater run-off from Portsdown Hill.

News and Views:

On this day 11th January 1960-1965

On 11/01/1960 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. The big news story of the week was Aswan Dam foundation stone laid.

On 11/01/1961 the number one single was I Love You - Cliff Richard & the Shadows. The top rated TV show was Emergency Ward 10 (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 11/01/1962 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 (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. The big news story of the week was Avalanche buries 16 villages in Peru.

On 11/01/1963 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 (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 11/01/1964 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 week was Anti-US demonstrations over Panama Canal.

On 11/01/1965 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 (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.