Web Page  No 2358

1^st April 2017

Top Picture: Bob a Job Sticker

Second Picture: 1950s kitchen

Third Picture:  Cubs at work

Bob-a-job week

Hey Lads were you ever a Wolf Cub or Boy Scout and if so do you remember the dreaded Bob-a-Job Week? For nearly forty years, bob-a-job week saw enthusiastic boy scouts and wolf cubs lending a hand in their local areas, helping out with tasks from washing cars to shining shoes, going shopping, weeding the garden and cutting the lawn and one enterprising troop even managed to clean a jumbo jet at Heathrow airport.

Bob-a-job week was introduced as a one-off fund raiser in 1914 by Lord Baden-Powell himself as a good turn day and after WW2 it was revived during Easter week in 1949 and it became a regular community from then onwards.

The scheme was officially known as Scout Job Week and was re- launched after the Second World War in a bid to encourage young people to assist friends and neighbours within their community and also to make money for the troop or pack.

The idea of the scheme was that in exchange for a small payment, boy scouts and wolf cubs turned their hand to any minor unskilled job including gardening, car cleaning, shopping and household chores from dog walking to window cleaning. Although it was not unknown for some unscrupulous householder to work the boys much harder that was expected.

The scheme got its nickname from the shilling or 'bob' - that the youngsters were paid for completing their good turn. During the Easter Holidays eager scouts and cubs would knock on doors in their local areas, offering to do jobs for neighbours and friends of their parents. The rivalry really began when there were more than one troop in the area, this is when the leaders had to stipulate specific boundaries for each troop.

Over the years, 'bob-a-job' became one of the Scout Association's most familiar catchphrases, giving scouts a reputation for helpfulness and entrepreneurialism.

The scheme helped raise the profile of the organisation, with scouts getting publicity for taking on unusual jobs such as washing elephants at the zoo. Bob-a-job was also an important source of funding for the scouts bringing in around £100,000 a year by the 1980s.

The cash earned was shared between scouting headquarters, regional divisions and the troops providing funding for camping trips, scouting equipment etc.

By the 1990s, however, the scheme was scrapped following concerns over health and safety and child protection legislation.

Leaders said there were too many young people organising fundraising activities on their own without adult supervision, and Scout Job Week officially ended in the UK in 1992.

Since then, many scout groups have continued to take part in unofficial bob-a-job weeks throughout the year, with modern chores including supermarket bag packing and volunteering work.

But looking back to when I was a Wolf Cub and Boy Scout the world was a very different place. Our parents would happily wave goodbye to us for the day as we marched off in groups of two or three dressed in full scout uniform (this was a requirement to prove who we were), with our Job Record Card and pen in our hands and our packed lunch in our pockets. We would wander all over the neighbourhood knocking on door and looking for jobs to do. Once those jobs were done to the customer’s satisfaction a Job Done sticker was placed in the window or doorway and members of the movement were then honour bound not to call again. After a day out Bob-a-Jobbing we would go home tired and happy having had a good day and the important thing was that our parents did not worry because they knew what we were doing and were safe.

Mind you great rivalry used to develop between Patrols and individuals as to who could collect the most money, there was never a prize just the satisfaction of completing the task.  This was just a boy thing, I assume that the powers that ruled the Girl Guide movement would not have been happy sending the girls out on similar missions.

Keep in touch

Peter

gsseditor@gmail.com

PS the 1^st of April 1945 was my parents Wedding Day, what a day to choose!

On this Day 1^st April 1960-1965

On 01/04/1960 the number one single was My Old Man's a Dustman - Lonnie Donegan and the number one album was South Pacific Soundtrack. The top rated TV show was Wagon Train (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 01/04/1961 the number one single was Wooden Heart - Elvis Presley 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 01/04/1962 the number one single was Wonderful Land - 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. The big news story of the week was the first military satellite TV broadcast.

On 01/04/1963 the number one single was Foot Tapper - The Shadows and the number one album was Summer Holiday - Cliff Richard & the Shadows. The top rated TV show was The Budget (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 01/04/1964 the number one single was Can't Buy Me Love - The Beatles and the number one album was With the Beatles - The 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 Liverpool were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions. The big news story of the week was British troops in Cyprus fist fights.

On 01/04/1965 the number one single was The Last Time - Rolling Stones and the number one album was Rolling Stones Number 2 - The Rolling Stones. 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 2356

25th March 2017

THE NEW BOOK

 Top Picture: Boyfriend

Second Picture: Petticoat

Third Picture:  Jackie

1960s Pop Magazines

It's February 1963. The Beatles are No 2 in the charts with Please Please Me and it's time to meet the press. An anonymous reporter from Boyfriend goes to interview them for "an exclusive scoop" and her impressions are revealing: "their sound, although novel, isn't exactly a revolution. But there's something about it, a strange compelling something. They are almost frightening-looking young men," she continues, "even more modern than modern. The funny thing is that when they smile - not often - they look perfectly wholesome and nice. But the rest of the time they look wicked and dreadful and evil, in an 18th-century sort of way. You almost expect them to chant magic spells." Tthe Boyfriend article ("Pop A La Mod") was one of the first in-depth articles about the group. It was well-written, informative and makes it clear how weird they were when they first arrived.

As a magazine aimed at young women, with colour pin-ups, ads for cosmetics and hair lacquer, and plentiful picture stories Boyfriend picked up on the hysteria surrounding the Beatles and invested heavily in the British pop boom that they helped to create. In the summer the magazine produced "Big New Beat", the first of several supplements "about the Northern Raves". The Beatles were on the cover, standing amid the rubble of Euston Road. Inside were group shots and close-ups with large type comments: "They have a knack of looking as if they'd just landed on this planet. They're otherworldly, that's what they are."

The photographs were taken by Fiona Adams, a Boyfriend regular: one of her shots was used for the front cover of the Beatles' Twist and Shout EP, which, sold so many that it made No 4 in the singles charts.

A show at the National Gallery, Beatles to Bowie: the 60s Exposed, contained Fiona Adams's contact sheets along with dozens of other photographs that have not been seen since their first publication in the music and young women's magazines of the 60s.

Between 1963 and early 1967, Britain had a vigorous pop and teen press, with at least a dozen weeklies and/or monthlies all bringing their readers the latest news, gossip and interviews about the Beatles, the Stones, the Searchers, Cilla and Dusty, right through to the Walker Brothers and the Small Faces. Selling between 70,000 copies (Record Mirror) up to 200,000 (Fabulous, the New Musical Express) a week, their total circulations combined to several hundred thousand.

By the early 1960s, there were already several weeklies catering to the teenage female market Marilyn, Mirabelle, Romeo, Roxy, and Valentine. Boyfriend was launched in 1959, with Marty - based on the popularity of Marty Wilde - following in 1960. The newer titles were pop-heavy and had "love scene" picture stories and problem pages. The star staples were Elvis, Cliff Richard, Adam Faith, John Leyton and Eden Kane.

Two important new weeklies were launched in January 1964. Jackie ("for go-ahead teens") published as a girls' "comic", a streamlined version of Boyfriend with all the same elements but with larger pages and candid shots of the stars.

Fabulous was a new tabloid pop paper that predicated "Merseymania", it contained at least one pin-up of the Beatles in every issue for two years. Selling for one shilling, Fabulous was pricier than the competition but it had more pages and better paper. It also introduced a more direct rapport between the stars and their audience. Features showing stars in their own homes were interspersed with old school photos.

After the Beatles cracked America, British pop culture entered a new phase: Britain became Pop Island and the capital a youth mecca and Fabulous published its "Shaking London Town" issue, with a spread about the best TV programme of the day, Ready Steady Go!, as well as a "POP guide to London", which featured hairdressing salons, recording studios, clubs, mod shops, and the Fabulous offices themselves.

At 2s 6d, Rave was five times as expensive as the weekly music papers, but you got an 80-page A4-size monthly, with excellent quality paper. Rave went further and deeper with articles about Stuart Sutcliffe, the lost Beatle, a fashion round table and notices about up-and-coming groups such as the Yardbirds. Like Fabulous, Rave prominently featured young women writers. Cathy McGowan was a regular, along with Maureen O'Grady and Dawn James. However, if the ads for guitars were anything to go by, Rave also appealed to young men.

1966 was the year of change. Singles' sales dropped by 10m. The papers began to feature stories about star exhaustion and unavailability: the surliness of the Kinks, the Who and the Rolling Stones. A new generation of more cheerful groups appearedthe Troggs, Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick and Tich and the Monkees.

But it was time for another change. During 1966, Fabulous became Fabulous 208; Boyfriend merged with the newly launched Petticoat, Marilyn with Valentine. Disc joined forces with Music Echo. There were new counter cultural magazines such as Oz and Rolling Stone and a revamped New Musical Express followed suit and as they say the rest is history.

 Keep in touch

Peter

gsseditor@gmail.com

On this Day 25th March 1960-1965

On 25/03/1960 the number one single was Running Bear - Johnny Preston and the number one album was South Pacific Soundtrack. The top rated TV show was Wagon Train (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 25/03/1961 the number one single was Walk Right Back/Ebony Eyes - Everly Brothers 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.

On 25/03/1962 the number one single was Rock-a-Hula Baby/Can't Help Falling In Love - Elvis Presley 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 25/03/1963 the number one single was Summer Holiday - Cliff Richard & the Shadows and the number one album was Summer Holiday - Cliff Richard & the Shadows. The top rated TV show was Conservative Party Political Broadcast (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. The big news story of the day was Alcatraz prison closes.

On 25/03/1964 the number one single was Little Children - Billy J Kramer and the number one album was With the Beatles - The 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.

25/03/1965 the number one single was The Last Time - Rolling Stones and the number one album was Rolling Stones Number 2 - The Rolling Stones. 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 2354

18th March 2017

Top Picture: Goose Grease

 Second Picture: Mustard Bath

Third Picture: Vick’s Vapour Rub

Grannies Remedies

Growing up after the Second World War, I was fortunate enough to enjoy good health. Childhood ailments like colds and sniffles seemed to avoid our house like the plague, after all mother had been an Assistant Matron in a Children’s Hospital.  Any that were encountered were simply taken in our stride and I refused to let them interfere with my play. However, should any member dare to succumb to something serious, Granny was always on hand to offer advice and her own brands of medicine and many an argument was heard comparing medical knowledge and home remedies.

“Oh, you don’t want to go annoying the doctor,” granny would say, “he’s far too busy. I’ve got just the cure for that,” and out of her room would come the most hideous concoction imaginable.

Take goose fat. We never kept geese but somehow she always managed to produce a jar, nearly full to the brim. This was especially useful if the patient had a prolonged chesty cough. The yellowish-brown fat, smelling rather rancid because of its age, was rubbed all over the victim’s chest, making sure it was applied liberally A clean, tight-fitting vest sealed in the grease, with orders that it should not be removed, except to add more ointment, until the infection had finally cleared.

Granny’s reasoning was that the goose fat would penetrate the skin and enter the lining of the lungs, thus easing the nasty cough. As to its medical success I was always doubtful, but after days of being ignored by friends who had located the cause of the dreadful odour, miraculously the cough disappeared or was desperately hidden lest any more fat be applied. Far worse than the goose fat was the vinegar bath, Granny’s instant cure for fever! That involved bathing the patient’s palms of the hands, soles of the feet and chest in vinegar. The operation had to be repeated several times a day until the sweating subsided. The idea was to lower the temperature of the fever, and Granny swore that vinegar did the trick but one whiff from the treatment any friends would be lost for a time.

Not all Granny’s remedies for coughs and fevers were quite so bad, though. Boiled lemonade just before you got into bed to sweat out the fever was rather tasty. Hot lemon juice, mixed with butter and sugar, was also recommended. Sickly at first, it left a delicious after-taste in the mouth and sugar-coated lips which could be sucked afterwards.

Strange as Granny’s concoctions may sound all her remedies had been tried, tested and proved to her satisfaction on her own family. She pooh-poohed any stupid ideas. Mustard baths were only for the stupid. And as for wearing an old sock around the neck with an onion in it, that was too silly for words. Mixing milk and whisky to be drunk before getting into bed had its good points, but it spoiled both the milk and the whisky. Far better to drink both separately when you weren’t ill was her theory.

As time passed and we moved away from Granny’s influence, mother introduced such marvels as Vick’s Vapour Rub gone were the days that if I mentioned a touch of indigestion she would be up and into the kitchen. Minutes later emerging with a piece of coal. “Here, suck on this. It’ll get rid of that in no time,” she said. And strangely it did!

She never really accepted the fact that her daughter was medically trained and that the only reason why she was not still working in the medical profession was the rule that stated that no nurse, of whatever grade, was allowed to be married!

It was sometimes a battleground at home as to the effectiveness of home remedies against medical knowledge ie iodine against bread poultices.  

Keep in touch

Peter

gsseditor@gmail.com

On this Day 18th March 1960-1965

On 18/03/1960 the number one single was Running Bear - Johnny Preston and the number one album was South Pacific Soundtrack. The top rated TV show was The Larkins (ATV) 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 18/03/1961 the number one single was Walk Right Back/Ebony Eyes - Everly Brothers 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.

On 18/03/1962 the number one single was Rock-a-Hula Baby/Can't Help Falling In Love - Elvis Presley 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 day was Skull found buried in Downing Street.

On 18/03/1963 the number one single was Summer Holiday - Cliff Richard & the Shadows and the number one album was Summer Holiday - Cliff Richard & the Shadows. The top rated TV show was Conservative Party Political Broadcast (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 champion.

On 18/03/1964 the number one single was Little Children - Billy J Kramer and the number one album was With the Beatles - The 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.

Web Page  No 2352

11th March 2017

Top Picture: Ktel Record Selector

 Second Picture: Ktel Record Vacuum

Third Picture: Compilation Album

Ktel

Do you remember Ktel from our teenage years? It was the original "As-Seen-On-TV" company, famous for its hard-selling commercials marketing compilation music albums, such as The Super Hit series, The Dynamic Hits series and The Number One Hits series and consumer products, such as The Record Selector, Veg-O-Matic, Miracle Brush, and The Feather Touch Knife.

The company’s founder was Philip Kives, a demonstration salesman who had previously sold cookware door-to-door and in a department store, used television advertising in 1962 to sell Teflon-coated frying pans to a large-scale audience. He bought and marketed a number of other products such as the "Dial-O-Matic" (a food slicer that allowed the user to "dial in" to control the thickness of slices), the Veg-O-Matic, and the "Feather Touch Knife." The combination of inexpensive goods and a simple but hard-selling pitch were a novel combination in television advertising in the early 1960s. In August 1965, he took his "Feather Touch Knife" on the road to Australia and by Christmas had sold one million knives but strangely his bestselling product was the miracle brush, selling 28 million.

Kives was born on a small farm in Saskatchewan, his family struggled and was on welfare for many years. After leaving the farm he tried his hand as a cab driver, cook and food truck operator. He eventually found his talent in door-to-door sales. Within two years, he was trying his luck in Atlantic City. He re-located back to Canada and made the first of many deals with Eaton’s Department Store in Toronto. But wanting to pitch to a larger market, he realized TV was the answer. With no cash he cut a deal. He first agreed to pay for television advertising if a store like Eaton’s would agree to stock the product then he would offer television stations a “per inquiry” deal whereby they would receive an upfront down payment (representing the guaranteed sale of a minimum number of products) and then a percentage of every product sold beyond that number.

K-tel was formally incorporated in 1968. After a successful decade in the 1970s, the company expanded rapidly and in the five years prior to 1981, K-tel sold more than $150 million LPs in 34 countries. Its sales jumped from $23 million in 1971 to $178 million in 1981. 

In 1966, Philip Kives released the company's first compilation album, a collection of 25 country songs entitled “25 Country Hits.” Every copy was sold. His second release, “25 Polka Greats,” sold 1.5 million copies in the United States alone. He never intended K-tel to be a music business, saying "I had to do something else. I thought why not do a music album? I thought it'd be a one-off. Everybody said 'that won't work.' Now all the major labels do compilation albums, but mine was the first."

The company built the business of releasing compilation albums that combined material from a number of popular artists onto a single theme album using the tag line "20 Original Hits! 20 Original Stars!". The company negotiated directly with artists and labels for the rights to reproduce their original recordings securing a long-term asset through adding those recordings to their catalog. The compilation albums largely relied on the pop charts of the time but concentrated on a specific musical genre: 20 Power Hits, for example, released in 1973, mostly concentrated on rock, though it had "Yesterday Once More" by The Carpenters on it. Some compilations were made for the disco music market (Night Moves, 1979), whereas others featured older music (Summer Cruisin' , made in about 1976, featured mostly 1950s music).

The company also created original records, the most notable of which was the Grammy-nominated Hooked on Classics series of classical recordings with the London Symphony Orchestra.

The company diversified and acquired the rival Candlelite Records in 1980. K-tel lost $15.9 million when Candlelite’s customers refused to pay for their shipments. In 1984 K-tel International, filed for bankruptcy and in 1986, moreover, the Bank foreclosed on the K-tel Canadian subsidiary. Six years later, after all the legal battles, a settlement was reached with the Bank and in 1991, Kives got his Canadian company back. Phil Kives died in Winnipeg on April 27, 2016.

But I am sure that most of us remember Ktel for the series of record accessories. The record stacker, the record vacuum and even the record brush, that little brush like item that we attached to the front of the pick-up arms to collect the dust from the record grooves.

The company still distributes music and still owns songs such as  “The Twist” by Chubby Checker, “What I Like About You” by The Romantics, “Tutti Frutti” by Little Richard, “Surfin’ Bird” by The Trashmen, and “Help Me Make It Through The Night” by Sammi Smith. It now distributes more than 200,000 songs worldwide per year on digital platforms like Amazon and iTunes.

K-tel helped define the way that people like us purchased music in the 1960s and 1970s.

Keep in touch

Peter

gsseditor@gmail.com

Griff Writes a reply to David:

The Summer ATC camp at St. Athan in Wales was full of incidents. True, Alan Clarkson did fall out of bed and hit his head. There was also an outbreak of food poisoning which put 4 of us into the RAF sick quarter's for 2 days. 

The aircraft we all took flights in was a Chipmunk 2 seat RAF basic trainer.  We all had to wear parachutes for an emergency exit in case of aircraft problems. Thankfully nobody was required to join the famous RAF "Caterpiller Club" for exiting an aircraft and using a parachute to save your life.

 The crashed aircraft we all trekked miles up hill to go and see was a WW 2 RAF Wellington bomber that had crashed into the top of the Brecon Beacons in 1942. It rained all the way up the hill...... and all the way down.

See the group picture on the side bar.

Mary writes:

Regarding smells I still see Brut and Charlie for sale here. Both of them I still like. 2yrs ago my daughter visited Cologne on her way to me. She bought me a lovely, big bottle of 4711. It`s still very popular. It was a favourite of my mothers. Me, I`m still a Chanel No 5 girl!

On this Day 11th March 1960-1965

On 11/03/1960 the number one single was Why - Anthony Newley and the number one album was South Pacific Soundtrack. The top rated TV show was The Larkins (ATV) 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 11/03/1961 the number one single was Walk Right Back/Ebony Eyes - 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 11/03/1962 the number one single was Rock-a-Hula Baby/Can't Help Falling In Love - Elvis Presley 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 11/03/1963 the number one single was The Wayward Wind - Frank Ifield and the number one album was Summer Holiday - Cliff Richard & the 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 11/03/1964 the number one single was Anyone Who Had a Heart -Cilla Black and the number one album was With the Beatles - The 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 Liverpool were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions.

On 11/03/1965 the number one single was I'll Never Find Another You - Seekers and the number one album was Rolling Stones Number 2 - The Rolling Stones. 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 day was First public talking computer.