Web Page  No 2228

15^th January 2016

Top Picture: Prince Charles 1955

 Second Picture: Toni Advert

Third Picture: Magic Robot ( I had one of these!!!)

A Vanished Britain:

Another one of those ‘do you remember when’ pages, hope it brings back some memories.

To many people who grew up in the Britain of half a century ago, the Fifties are a fondly remembered age. 'We walked to school, had open fires and no central heating,' We played with our friends and were safe; we climbed trees, skinned our knees and ripped our clothes, got into fights and nobody sued anybody. Sweets were a treat, not part of lunch. 'We got a clip round the ear when we had been. We played cards and board games and talked to each other. We were allowed to answer the phone on our birthdays as a special treat. It was an

In the Fifties there was almost full employment, but over the entire era still hung the aftermath of the War, which had been over for a decade. Meat, butter, cheese, sugar and sweets were still rationed in 1953, and blitzed inner city remained, even if many of the inhabitants had been moved out to new estates is Paulsgrove and Leigh Park.

Airfix Spitfires, sold by Woolworths for 2s, proved to be the toy firm's most popular model, while boys' comics were full of stories of 'Braddock, Ace Pilot', 'Sergeant Allen of the Fighting 15th' and 'The Eyes that Never Closed' (about hunting German U-boats).Wartime values were still very strong. Respectability, conformity, restraint and trust were what underpinned the Fifties.

When a Sunday newspaper asked readers in 1954 what sort of school the five-year-old Prince Charles should go to, a quarter declared it was none of their business or the paper's. 'Trust the Queen and Prince Philip,' said one reader.

The BBC was slow-moving, highly bureaucratic and with no appetite for taking risks or giving offence  it was the embodiment of respectability. Everywhere the dress code was crucial, however uncomfortable it might be to wear. At the Westminster Bank, a man who wore a shirt with a soft collar instead of a stiff white one was marked down as lacking ambition and unworthy of promotion. On the Stock Exchange, one broker recalled everyone going to work in bowler hat, short black jacket and striped trousers. If he'd worn a striped shirt, people in his office would have asked why he was still in his pyjamas.

Yet, helped by informally policed public spaces - by bus conductors, by park-keepers, by lavatory attendants - and by a police force that was largely admired, this was for the most part an era of trust.

It was not until about 1957 that British motorcycles were even fitted with locks or keys. Notifiable offences recorded by the police were a little over half a million in 1957. Forty years later, they were almost 4.5 million. Violent crimes against the person numbered under 11,000 in 1957, and 250,000 in 1997.

It was a different world - whose trusting ways reflected in the fact that often a caller at the house, possibly the man from the Pru would find the books and payment on the doorstep and often a hastily scribbled note: "Please take an extra sixpence and post these letters" and "Tell the doctor Johnnie is not so well."'

In theory, education was becoming less Victorian. By 1957, the Ministry of Education was beginning to see its role as turning out well-rounded individuals. Few people disagreed with corporal punishment. A poll in 1952 found that nine out of ten teachers wanted it retained. Oddly, the victims agreed. In a survey, schoolboys were just as unanimously in favour. It was swift and brief in its execution, whereas alternative punishments, such as withdrawing privileges, were seen as generating greater resentment.

In the Fifties, parenthood was on the cusp of change. This revolution came at a price. The growing pressure to do something for the kiddies meant in practice long hours of overtime for breadwinners who, as a result, saw less of their children than they might have wished. For mothers, it brought anxiety about the best way to bring up children beware Dr Spock. 

Now some things you may have forgotten:-

Dabitoff, Windowlene, Duraglit, Brillo, Lifebouy, Silvikrin, Delrosa Rose Hip Syrup, Therm and Toni Perms.

How about:-

Hairnets, Head Scarfs, Ladybird T-shirts, cycle clips, Statrt Rite, crests on blazers, I-spy, Hornby, Triang, Meccano, Scalextric, Plasticine and Magic Robot

The arrival of rock 'n' roll with Bill Haley's Rock Around The Clock in 1955 opened the floodgates to more adult anxiety.. Scout leaders worried about the large number of boys who left its ranks in their teens. The same exodus took place in youth clubs. 'Packed it in when I started courting,' said a 16-year-old boy. 'Started going out with boy,' was the reason given by a 15-year-old girl. The most frequent reason, however, was simply 'boring'.

  Keep in touch

Peter

gsseditor@gmail.com

You Write:

Mary Writes:-

 I confess that I climbed trees, ran all over Farlington Marshes, paddled in the sea, loved scaling the chalkpits and I`m here to tell the tale. It didn`t do me any harm. It was all great fun, 

Maureen Writes:-

I have very fond memories of my Sundays'. Yes, we had to wear our Sunday clothing and for me that included best coat, hat and gloves and of course special shoes. Yes, we went to Sunday school at the Resurrection Church and then visited Grandma in Brecon Avenue, except on the first Sunday of the month when we would go to the Methodist Church for Church parade with the Brownies, Guides and Scouts.  Yes, we always had a roast dinner about 2.30pm except on the weekend that my mother gave my brother and I a Pound note to go to the butchers to buy the meat for Sunday (she thought we would get a joint of beef...... oh no!) we bought a £1 worth of lambs kidneys ......40 at 6p each. She gave Laurie of Marchments a piece of her mind for selling us all those kidneys but we had them every day that week in various guises.

 
Some Sundays in summer, we would have crab sandwiches for tea, in the winter we would toast bread by the fireside with lashings of butter but best of all was when Dad was home (not often as he was in the Royal Navy and in those days they served 18 month and 3 year commissions) but when he was home we would walk up Drayton Lane and over the hill through Stakes woods. We would learn all about the countryside from Father, a Dorset country lad and we would  stop and chat to the gypsy that occupied the corner of one of the fields.  Then onto the Fox and Hounds in Stakes Road, they had gardens for the fine weather and a family room for the colder evenings, then we would catch the last bus  at about 10pm to the top of the hill and walk back down Drayton Lane. Lovely memories.
 
NO, we were not allowed to call on our friends, we were not allowed to play in the street, we certainly were not allowed to scream and shout and make a public nuisance of ourselves and Yes I brought my children up with the same beliefs. Sundays were family days, quiet days, time to go to Church in your best clothes and we always took the children out for a walk on the Cornish Beaches and buy an ice cream on the way back to the car. Only difference was that Sunday lunch was usually a picnic so it became Sunday Dinner in our household.
 

News and Views:

On this day 15^th January 1960-1965

On 15/01/1960 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 15/01/1961 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 15/01/1962 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 week was Van Doren guilty in US quiz show fix.

On 15/01/1963 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 15/01/1964 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 15/01/1965 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.