Web Page  No 2182

3^rd August 2015

Top Picture: Catapult

Middle Picture: Pea Shooter

Bottom Picture: Air Pistol

Boys Weapons.

All my life I have never been a good shot and so when we were growing up and as young kids the home production of bows and arrows was the order of the day, I made them but could never accurately use the. At the top of our long garden we had a thick row of hazelnut trees and with a bit of searching a correctly selected branch could be found and cut and turned into a bow with a good strong pull. Having cut the bow, notched it and strung it with stout twine, smaller branches were then selected and cut, stripped, sharpened, grooved and feathered ready for use. These homemade arrows never travelled very far and mine hardly travelled at all.

Another weapon that these hazelnut trees were good for was to make catapults. With a bit of searching for a strong ‘Y’ shaped branch the frame for a reasonable weapon could be fashioned. If we wanted better, stronger and more accurate catapults this involved spending our hard won pocket money in the toy shop, Wynns, in Drayton. Here Mr Wynn sold splendid ones with light metal frames and thick square elastic as the propulsion unit, every boys dream!. Mind you if we could not afford these smart ones it was a trip to Mr Shaw’s tuck shop on the junction of Solent Road and Highlands Road because in here he sold inferior and cheaper models and this is where most of us went. Mr Shaw, on his children’s counter, always sold a strange variety of things apart from the normal tuck shop goodies. I remember that once in the mid 1950’s he bought in a couple of boxes full of flying goggles and many a young boy could be seen pretending to fly around the streets with these ex MOD goggles on. Going back to catapults I understand that on Ebay a vintage catapult in good condition these days can fetch over £30 each.  

Another item that could be bought in many of these tuck shops was tin pea shooters. These were very popular and so with a 3d pea shooter and a handful of dried peas lots of boys were off patrolling around the area shooting everything in sight. Again this was something that I could not really get the hang of and I tended to dribble more than shoot. Not a pretty sight.

I was never allowed to own an air rifle or an air pistol along with the pellets or darts, so I cannot really comment on these items although I do remember that the two most popular brands were Diana and Webley and firing other boy’s guns in their back gardens. The nearest I ever got to owning a gun which shot projectiles was a spud gun! But that really does not count.

The upside of this period of time when I was a boy growing up is that we had one of the longest gardens in the area and it was just right for digging underground bens, roofed over with corrugated iron from the deconstructed Anderson shelter. We took great pains to dig these dens, cover them and camouflage them with branches and earth, fix in candles for lighting and old carpet for flooring. All this was great until it rained when the whole thing flooded and we would have to bail it out and start again. Our garden was large but I am sure that I could still walk around there and take you to at least four den sites that we used.

At the top of the garden was a large tree in which we built a tree platform and where we would sit on warm afternoons. It was a strange thing to do as if we looked one way all we saw was the row of hazelnut trees and if we looked the other way we looked straight into Solent Road School playground which was the last thing that any school child wanted to see during the long summer holidays!

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Peter

DUSTYKEAT@aol.com

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Mary Writes after reading last week's blog on remedies:- 

Have just read this week’s blog and had a laugh. Some of these remedies were dreadful but strangely enough many worked. I remember the belladonna plasters sold at Boots and they gave relief. They were sold at the chemists in Devon in the eighties. Camphorated Oil was a good old standby. Some ideas though were quite beyond it! My aunt was taken to the doctors for bedwetting and an old lady in the surgery told my grandmother that mouse pie would cure it! In Devon I was told that fresh, warm, horse manure between sheets of brown paper and slapped on the chest would cure a bad cough. Thank God for Alexander Fleming and penicillin! 

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On this day 3^rd August 1960-1965

On 3/08/1960 the number one single was Apache - The Shadows and the number one album was South Pacific Soundtrack. The top rated TV show was 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 3/08/1961 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 Blackpool Tower Circus (ATV) 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.

On 3/08/1962 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 3/08/1963 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 sh ow 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 3/08/1964 the number one single was Have I the Right? - Honeycombs 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 3/08/1965 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

Web Page  No 2180

27^th July 2015

Top Picture: Wrights Coal Tar Inhaler

Middle Picture: 1950’s bottle of Iodine

Bottom Picture: The Nit Comb

Home Remedies

I expect that all of us suffered, at home, with our mother’s odd, but well meaning, home or old family remedies. Believe me having a mother who once was an assistant Matron in a Children’s Hospital was no joke, every cough, pimple, cut or graze was always minutely examined!

I have put together a collection some of the most popular home medicines that seemed to be popular when we were kids. How many do you remember?

Let’s start at the top –Nits. The accepted treatment for this was oil of Sassafras, you may not remember the name but I think that I can guarantee that you will remember the terrible pungent smell that went with it. Of course don’t forget the fine toothed nit comb that went with it!

Ear ache was normally cured by pouring warmed oil into the ear. There were various types of oil favoured by different mothers. My normally used Olive Oil but Camphorated Oil of Liquid Paraffin was also used. One old country remedy which came from my godmother in Essex was to put a warm Spring Onion in the ear. As far as I can remember I was never made to suffer this treatment.

There were a myriad of cures for warts ranging from rubbing a toad on the wart to covering the wart with fresh meat for a day and then burying the meat and as the meat rotted so the wart would drop off. Something that, luckily, as a child I never had to undergo.

The treatments for colds varied from the rubbing on of goose grease to the inhalation of Menthol and Eucalyptus vapour. Neither of these do I remember but I do recollect my mother putting a Wrights Coal Tar Vaporiser in my bedroom overnight when I had a bad cold or sore throat.

One of the favourite remedies for back ache was a Belladonna Plaster. These were warmed and then strapped onto the back and stayed there until they fell off. Mustard Plasters and many other herbal remedies were very common for the treatment of back aches.

For infection a Bread and Milk Poultice was the answer. I remember someone telling me this tale. “When I was a young girl I stepped on a rake and it went almost through my foot. I was rushed to hospital where they cleaned and dressed the wound but did not give me a Tetanus injection as I had had one recently. I went to see the family doctor a couple of days later and it was discovered that I had blood poisoning half way up my leg.  The doctor told me to soak my foot in hot water and to take Antibiotics. My grandmother happened to be visiting us at the time and she scalded some milk, put in a slice of white bread until it had absorbed all the milk, then put it on a cloth and applied the poultice to the wound. It drew out a lot of the infection each time we applied it and within a few days the blood poisoning was gone”.  I understand that the same type of poultice was very good for treating boils.

One of the dreaded illnesses was diarrhoea and my mother’s cure for this was starvation, this was then steamed fish followed by Arrowroot to drink, it was terrible!

Some parents believed in prevention rather than cure so they regularly fed their children with odd ‘health giving’ mixtures. Once upon a castor oil was a staple in every medicine cabinet. For some reason, mothers used it as a cure-all for any sort of tummy ailment. In reality, the only condition castor oil was suitable to treat was constipation, and even in that case doctors tend to discourage its use, as the results are often unpredictable and can result in severe cramping and involuntary explosive bowel movements that last for hours.

Now who remembers Syrup of Figs and Brimstone (sulphur) and treacle and the many other strengthening medicines that parents inflicted on their children?  

In the home First Aid Kit there was always Iodine which burned like fire when applied to an open wound; this was mainly because the tincture sold for home use had an alcohol base. The skull and crossbones on the label along with the word POISON in capital letters probably gives a clue as to why this old school remedy is rarely found in home first aid kits anymore.

Finally, in the days of our youth the most popular treatment for "lazy eye" was a pirate-style pink eye patch worn over the good eye for some considerable time. Thanks to new treatments like specialized lenses and eye drops, patching is used only in a small percentage of cases these days, so children suffering with this complaint today do not have to look like Long John Silver or Moshe Dayan.

Luckily things have moved on over the last few years and the use of these remedies has almost died out, BUT one thing that I am very grateful for is that I was never, ever treated by using leeches!

 

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Peter

DUSTYKEAT@aol.com

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On this day 27^th July 1960-1965

On 27/07/1960 the number one single was Good Timin' - Jimmy Jones 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 Burnley were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions.

On 27/07/1961 the number one single was Temptation - Everly Brothers 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 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 27/07/1962 the number one single was I Can't Stop Loving You - Ray Charles 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 27/07/1963 the number one single was Confessin' - Frank Ifield 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 27/07/1964 the number one single was A Hard Day's Night - Beatles and the number one album was A Hard Day's Night - Beatles. The top rated TV show was Conservative 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 27/07/1965 the number one single was Mr Tambourine Man - Byrds 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.

Web Page  No 2178

20^th July 2015

Top Picture: Andrée Melly

Middle Picture: Betty Marden with the Round the Horne Team

Bottom Picture: Heather Chasen

Forgotten Ladies!

During the 1950’s and 60’s, especially on radio, there were a number of bit part actresses which seem to have been forgotten so I will try to correct this a little bit.

Firstly Andrée Melly . She was born on 15^th  September 1932 in Liverpool and appeared in many British films, including The Belles of St Trinian's (1954) and the Hammer Horror film The Brides of Dracula (1960). In 1958 she appeared with the Jamaican actor Lloyd Reckord in the Ted Willis play Hot Summer Night, a production which was later adapted for the Armchair Theatre series in 1959. She continued to appear on British television until 1990. She played Tony Hancock's French girlfriend in two series of Hancock's Half Hour (1955–56) radio series.

In the early years of the long-running BBC radio comedy, Just a Minute she was a regular panellist. Along with Sheila Hancock, she was one of the most regular female contestants, appearing in fifty-four episodes between 1967 and 1976. In 1972, she chaired an episode. She was the first panellist to win points for talking for the prescribed 60 seconds without hesitation, repetition or deviation. During her career she also appeared in several episodes of the Benny Hill Show. One thing that is very rarely noted is that she is the sister of the late jazz musician George Melly. She now lives in Ibiza with her husband Oscar Quitak.

Remarkable, unique, unforgettable Betty Marsden was one of Britain's most talented comedy actresses, best known for her multiple roles in the Kenneth Horne shows on BBC radio in the 1960s.

Betty Marsden was born in Liverpool on 24th February 1919, and appeared at Bath Pavilion aged 11 as the First Fairy in A Midsummer Night's Dream. She made her London debut later that year in a fairy play with music.

Gaining a scholarship for six years to the Italia Conti Stage School, she first acted in the West End in 1935. And other pre-war West End work came in up until 1939. During the Second World War she entertained the troops with ENSA. In 1947 she won critical praise as the amorous Mrs Corcoran to Alastair Sim's murderous Dr Angelus and in Don't Listen, Ladies! In 1948.

Then came 12 years in revue. But it was in the 1960s she was at the peak of her career, appearing on BBC radio's Round the Horne with Kenneth Williams and Kenneth Horne. She delighted millions of listeners who never knew what she looked like, with her radio characters, such as Daphne Whitethigh, the cookery expert, whose delivery owed something to Fanny Craddock. And there was a regular double-act with Hugh Paddick in the Brief Encounter genre.

Her most famous film role was the guffawing character of Harriet Potter, alongside Terry Scott and Charles Hawtrey in Carry on Camping. In her later years, she appeared in French and Saunders and Casualty.

For many years she, her family and dogs lived on the Thames on an 80 foot converted coal barge "just like Noah's Ark". It was a stylish houseboat; the eight rooms were centrally heated and there was room at table for 14. She particularly loved the Turneresque sunsets over the water. She was married to Dr James Wilson Muggoch, a consultant anaesthetist, who predeceased her; they had a son and a daughter.

In July 1998, 24 hours after moving into a residential home for old actors, she had been chatting to friends in the home's bar when she collapsed and died. She was 79 and had been recovering from a bout of heart problems and pneumonia.

Heather Chasen was born on 20^th  July 1927, in Singapore where her father was an English ornithologist, who left England in 1921, to work at the Raffles Library and Museum in Singapore, He married, Agnes H McCullock, in 1926 but after the birth of Heather and her sister Christine Elizabeth her parents split in 1938, and both remarried.  Heather and her mother left Singapore on the last boat away from Singapore before the Japanese occupation

The family moved to E

ngland and Heather started training at RADA after which she went on tour with the likes of Frankie Howerd, Sybil Thorndike and Douglas Fairbanks Jnr.  In 1949, she married John Webster and has one son with him, Rupert, born in 1955.

Her acting career progressed through the stage and radio where she became best known as WRN Chasen, Mrs Ramona Povey, Rita Murray, Morpeth Goldstein, Natasha Snogitoff, Lady Quirk, Miss Simpkins, Lady Todhunter-Brown, Lucy Doll, Queen Jaratova in the long running radio series The Navy Lark. She has appeared in many programmes on radio and also in early episodes of Crossroads and latterly in Surgical Spirit and Eastenders.

She seems to be one of those actresses who always seem to be working somewhere.

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Peter

DUSTYKEAT@aol.com

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On this day 20^th July 1960-1965

On 20/07/1960 the number one single was Good Timin' - Jimmy Jones 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 Burnley were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions.

On 20/07/1961 the number one single was Runaway - Del Shannon and the number one album was South Pacific Soundtrack. The top rated TV show was Labour Party Political Broadcast (all channels) 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 20/07/1962 the number one single was I Can't Stop Loving You - Ray Charles 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 20/07/1963 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.

On 20/07/1964 the number one single was House of the Rising Sun - Animals and the number one album was Rolling Stones - The Rolling Stones. 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 20/07/1965 the number one single was Crying in the Chapel - Elvis Presley 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. The big news story of the week was First Mariner 4 photos of Mars received.

Web Page  No 2176

13^th July 2015

Top Picture: A Bush Transistor from the late 1950’s. Still got one in my shed!

Middle Picture: The innards!!!

Bottom Picture: Coco cola novelty radio

The Trannie

It was the iconic item of the 1960’s, the transistor radio. Just before they arrived on the scene I remember I had a flattish, mini valved radio which was portable but took enormous batteries.

The sixties was the decade of pop music, and pop and the transistor radio went hand in hand. We used transistor radios to listen to pop music outdoors, in the street, in the park or on the beach and drew criticism from the older generation wherever we went. By the end of the sixties, the transistor radio helped people throughout the world, from the poorest to the richest, to keep in touch with news and opinions.

The transistor was invented in 1948. It replaced the valve as an electronic component that could amplify sound. The transistor made the first shirt pocket sized radio possible. Texas Instruments marketed the Regency TR1 in the United States just in time for Christmas 1954. Japanese companies were not far behind and a few years later Sony established itself as the market leader.  The Sony TR-610 became a best seller in the US.

The UK market was more sheltered from the Japanese invasion and UK manufacturers dominated the market in the late fifties. Their offerings differed little from the portable valve sets of the early fifties In some cases they looked exactly the same, but weighed considerably less. By the early sixties, British radios were smaller in size. They were split into portable radios, such as this Dansette 111 from 1961 and personal radios which could fit into a pocket.

In 1961, the British public bought two million transistor radios. They were rapidly becoming part of day to day lives. The small size and weight of the transistor radio meant it could be carried anywhere. Many young people listened to music on the move, but unlike today's MP3 players and earlier Walkman cassette players, listening to music on the trannie was far from a personal thing. Few made use of the tiny earphone provided with the set and proudly blasted out their favourite pirate radio hits for everyone to hear.

This behaviour drew criticism from the older generation. In May 1961 a journalist complained that there were no bands playing in London's parks; instead visitors had to put up with transistor music blaring from every second teenager's radio. It was not only the young that could cause annoyance with a transistor radio.  In 1962 in St Helen's in Lancashire, postmen were banned from taking a transistor radio on their rounds. In Capri, transistor sets were banned from the beaches and all public places. There was also concern that criminals were using transistor radios to tune into police radio.  The transistor was well and truly here and making its presence felt.

By the mid-sixties, the transistor radio became a standard accessory for the Mod movement.  It was as essential as a scooter, mohair suit or parka. Transistor radios also found their way into high office, as Harold Wilson was pictured with one on his desk.

Very soon it was the Japanese transistor radio that set the standard in the UK as well as the US. Japanese imports were soon joined by cheaper products from Hong Kong and the Soviet Union. British manufacturers struggled to compete in the middle years of the sixties.By the end of the sixties, the transistor radio had become an essential item in most peoples' lives. There was one in every kitchen and people listened to them at work. Even in places as remote as Afghanistan there was a radio service. People in almost every country in the world wanted a transistor radio to listen to the BBC World Service or local broadcasts.

With transistor radios firmly cemented into the national consciousness, companies began having to adapt to draw customers to their product. One way that many did this was through the production of novelty radios, which often looked quirky and a lot different from the traditional model. Companies from outside the radio market also tapped in to the craze, producing novelty radios that bore their trademark or slogan on them. This realization of the power of radio really cemented their popularity amongst the whole nation.

The market for transistor radios remained steady throughout the 1960s, but when the 1970s came around companies were starting to offer alternatives and the design became out of fashion and slightly redundant. Boom boxes and other portable music devices moved in on the transistor radios’ territory and by the end of 1970 the last American maker of these radios ceased production.

There are still places in the world where transistor radios are made, with the most notable being China as the rise of digital radio and MP3 players has made the need for them diminish.

It is strange to think that when they were introduced they were almost a luxury item whereas today I can go into the local 99p shop and buy a tiny radio complete with earphones, batteries and built in torch for less than a pound.

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Peter

DUSTYKEAT@aol.com

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Had this sent to me recently

Most seniors never get enough exercise. In His wisdom God decreed that seniors become forgetful so they would have to search for their glasses, keys and other things thus doing more walking. 
And God looked down and saw that it was good.

Then God saw there was another need. In His wisdom He made seniors lose coordination so they would drop things requiring them to bend, reach & stretch. And God looked down and saw that it was good.

Then God considered the function of bladders and decided seniors would have additional calls of nature requiring more trips to the bathroom, thus providing more exercise. God looked down and saw that it was good

So if you find as you age, you are getting up and down more, remember it’s God’s will. It is all in your best interest even though you mutter under your breath. .......at last an explanation to all of this losing things and more. God has a sense of humour doesn't He?

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Shame to hear about the death of Val Donegan at the age of 88, he was never our type of music in the 1960s but he always seemed to be around on TV when we were growning ip, him and his rocking chair and jumpers.

On this day 13^th July 1960-1965

On 13/07/1960 the number one single was Good Timin' - Jimmy Jones 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 Burnley were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions.

On 13/07/1961 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 13/07/1962 the number one single was I Can't Stop Loving You - Ray Charles 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.

On 13/07/1963 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 week was UK Ministry of Defence proposed to replace the war office.

13/07/1964 the number one single was It's All Over Now - Rolling Stones and the number one album was Rolling Stones - The Rolling Stones. 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 13/07/1965 the number one single was Crying in the Chapel - Elvis Presley 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. The big news story of the week was Mont Blanc Tunnel officially opened.