Web Page  No 2286

5^th August 2016

Top Picture: Reckitts Blue

Second Picture: Golden Eye Ointment

Third Picture: Franklin D Roosevelt wearing a mourning band

Forth Picture: Austin A70 Countryman or Shooting Brake.

Things forgotten, or maybe not even known at the time.

Here is a real variety:-

It was not until recently that I realised that for those of us who were born before 1948 being before the NHS, our parents had to pay for us to be born. It is silly really but it is something that I had never thought about. From researches it appears for a mother to go into hospital to have her baby the cost would have been £25, a great deal of money in 1946 when I was born. Both my wife and her sister were born in a Nursing Home so that must have cost a lot more.

Starting with this very basic item here we go again looking at things you might have forgotten.

Blue Bag for bee stings, how many mothers have put a Reckitts Blue Bag on the sting of a screaming child? The bags contained aquamarine and bicarbonate of soda and the combination helped to relieve the pain.

Golden Eye Ointment. This is still available from chemists and was a wonder cure for any eye infection; I know my mother swore by it but when you read the ingredients, liquid paraffin with dispersed polyethylene in mineral oil, it rather frightens you.

How many of you remember Haskell and Green the record shop in Lake Road? And the even older one The House of Wax which sold not only new records but second hand ones as well.

One of the sad things about modern, comfortable living is that we no longer have open fires. They had many drawbacks but the main benefit was that you could make toast or cook crumpets in front of an open fire. Toast or crumpets cooked any other way never tasted the same again. Also something which has died with the demise of the open fire is the toasting fork. Every home had one, I think we had two.  

Some things have come and others seem to be disappearing. For example when we were kids Halloween was not a big thing; it was something they did in the USA but very rarely here. We only had Mother’s Day and Father’s Day never Grandparents Day another import from America. Last Christmas was very odd in our household for many reasons but one that stood out is that we had no carol singers whatsoever, where have they all gone! It was always a source of Christmas income for us when we were kids!

Death was a taboo subject when we were young and for many families it was only the men who went to funerals, the ladies mark of respect was that the spent the next few weeks in black or sombre colours. It was quite commonplace to see members of the deceased family wearing a wide black mourning band on their arm for some time after the death. Also if there was a death in the family I remember in the 1950s that the front curtains of the house would remain drawn for several days.

Some of the larger cars after the war were fitted with a device called   Overdrive which allowed the car to cruise at regular speed with reduced engine speed, leading to better fuel consumption, lower noise and lower wear. The most basic description of Overdrive is that it was an overall gear ratio between engine and wheels, such that the car is now over-geared and can no longer reach its potential top speed, i.e. the car could travel faster if it were in a lower gear, with the engine turning more quickly but the engaging of overdrive was designed to give a smoother ride and better miles per gallon.

Whilst we are talking about cars remember the Shooting-brake. This was a car body style that has evolved through several distinct meanings over its history. Shooting-brake originated as an early 19th century British term for a vehicle used to carry shooting parties with their equipment and game. The term brake was initially a chassis used to break in horses — and was subsequently used to describe a motorized vehicle. The term was later applied to custom-built wagons by high-end coachbuilders and subsequently became synonymous with certain forms of estate car.  In 2006, The New York Times said the shooting-brake was conceived "to take gentlemen on the hunt with their firearms and dogs." and "although [its] glory days came before World War II, and it has faded from the scene in recent decades, the body style is showing signs of a renaissance as car seek to invent (or reinvent) new kinds of vehicles for consumers constantly on the hunt for the next new thing. 

It just goes to prove there is nothing new!!!!

Keep in touch

Peter

gsseditor@gmail.com

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On this day 5^th August 1960-1965

On 05/08/1960 the number one single was Shakin' All Over - Johnny Kidd & the Pirates 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. The big news story of the day was Castro nationalises all US property.

On 05/08/1961 the number one single was Well I Ask You - Eden Kane and the number one album was Black & White Minstrel Show - George Mitchell Minstrels. The top rated TV show was Top Secret (AR) 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 05/08/1962 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 05/08/1963 the number one single was (You're the) Devil In Disguise - Elvis Presley 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.The big news story of the day was Fears over Washington Freedom March.

On 05/08/1964 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 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 05/08/1965 the number one single was Help - The Beatles and the number one album was The Sound of Music Soundtrack. The top rated TV show was Riviera Police (AR) 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.