Web Page No 2462

2^nd April  2018

First Picture: Washing Day

 Second Picture:  Kitchen Cabinets

 Third Picture:  Gas Iron

Forth Picture: Everything was plugged into the light socket !!!!!

When a woman's week revolved around the washing

A remarkable book has shown how very different things were for housewives in the Fifties, once married, women could expect to spend up to 15 hours a day on their household chores . . .

One lady, when her first child arrived in 1952, resigned from her job and turned to the task of caring for her husband, her home and her family. 

For the next 15 years, she shopped, cooked, cleaned, mended, scrubbed, laundered and baby-minded. She spent much of her life clad in an apron — scraping carrots, scouring a frying pan or rubbing her way through a mighty pile of dirty washing. Or she’s pegging out nappies or darning a frayed sleeve. In all these activities, my mother was absolutely typical of a generation for whom marriage and home were the twin pinnacles of aspiration.

Yet, today, a journey into the Fifties  can seem like alighting on another planet.

What was it really like? For most married women, the dramas of their everyday lives were played out beside the washing line, around the stove or at the kitchen sink. They had few hours to call their own. In 1951, for instance, a Mass Observation survey revealed that housewives in the London suburbs were spending an incredible 15 hours a day on domestic activities. Perhaps that figure isn’t quite so surprising when you learn that, by the start of the decade, only around 4% of British households owned a washing machine. Just 16 % owned some form of electric water heater. A quarter of homes were still cooking on coal ranges.

Many households still relied on much of the same basic equipment and materials that their parents and grandparents had used. Everyone knew that homes had to be spring-cleaned, rooms regularly ‘turned out’, carpets beaten, paintwork and curtains washed — just as they’d always been. There was only one person to do the lot, while also looking after the children, making all the meals and making sure that everything was ironed — right down to the baby’s dresses and pram sheets. No wonder the housewife’s familiar lament was that her work never seemed to get done.

In desperation, many turned to magazines for guidance that set out the average housewife’s day with the precision of a railway timetable.

‘She will rise at 7.15,’ it commands. ‘Breakfast is a rolling meal. She and her husband will eat theirs first, before he leaves for work at 8.15, at which time the children come on stream.

‘Once fed, they are packed off to school at quarter to nine. Then the real work begins: turning down beds and opening windows, washing up, dusting and tidying, followed by “weekly work”.

And what might that weekly work be? The Housewives’ Pocket Book has all the rigid answers:

Monday: Laundry.

Tuesday: Clean out bedroom and landing. Ironing in evening.

Wednesday: Clean out children’s bedroom and do stairs. Mending in evening.

Thursday: Clean out hall, bathroom, WC, cooking stove.

Friday: Clean out living rooms ready for weekend; baking for weekend, cleaning silver.

Saturday: Weekend shopping; change all linen, towels etc.

Once the housewife has done her allotted weekly tasks, she’s permitted a short rest at 11am, when she may put her feet up. Then she must go shopping, after which she can have lunch, followed by a 45-minute ‘personal recreation’ period. Tea must be on the table by 4.15pm. After tea, she must ‘tidy herself’, and prepare the evening meal, which will be served at 6.30pm. The children should be packed off to bed at 7.30pm. Then, unless the housewife needs to catch up on ironing and mending, she can more or less relax with her husband until bedtime.

It may seem extraordinary now that anyone felt they should follow these rules to the letter. But the evidence is that many women took them extremely seriously. It was a matter of pride for the self-respecting housewife to have her whites blowing on the line where everyone could see them by Monday lunchtime. 

One housewife wrote in her diary about her embarrassment one Saturday, when her daughter-in-law insisted on doing the washing on a Saturday night. What on earth would the neighbours think when they saw it hanging on the line? Early on Sunday morning, she crept down to the garden in dressing gown and slippers to unpeg the offending articles before anyone could notice them.

Washing, drying and ironing dominated women’s lives. Blankets, sheets, curtains and clothes were all hand-washed, using water boiled up in a vast copper, then rinsed and put through an unwieldy wrought-iron mangle. Cleanliness was next to godliness —and that extended to the net curtains.

Even after all the jobs were done, Fifties magazines — such as Good Housekeeping — were spurring the homemaker to do more. Here she’d learn that her sinks should be disinfected and her dishcloths regularly boiled. Her cupboards should be full of home-made jam, jellies and bottled beans, and her children’s nutritious packed lunches made the night before.

Did women find this truly fulfilling? Maybe some did, but plenty look back on their endless tasks with something akin to horror. One housewife spoke for millions when she wrote this diary entry on June 26, 1950: ‘I have washed. And being a good drying day, also ironed; been to the library, bought rations, typed a letter, had two cups tea, and here I am . . .Housework is endless.

Food shopping, as The Housewives’ Pocket Book said needed to be done daily. Most people didn’t have fridges, so food that lingered too long in the pantry led to many outbreaks of food poisoning in the summer. In 1951, a Mass Observation survey revealed that the average housewife spent 57 minutes a day shopping for necessities.

Grocery stores weighed goods individually. Cheese was sliced off the block with a wire, and butter was moulded with wooden paddles into half-pound rounds. At the butcher’s, entire carcases hung from hooks, while pigs’ heads stared balefully from behind the counter. You chose the cut you wanted and, if the price was too high when the butcher weighed it, you had it cut down to the size. Chicken was a luxury, but every housewife knew the difference between a boiling fowl and one to roast. Cabbage, cauliflower and Brussels sprouts were preferred to spinach or pumpkins, which were rarely available. Avocados and fruit-flavoured yogurt were unknown

From the moment commercial television arrived in 1955, people on buses could be heard humming the advertising jingles. Suddenly, everything seemed to be changing fast. The High Street shops was being threatened by self-service supermarkets. By 1958, these already had a 17 % share of the grocery market.

Why soak porridge oats overnight when you could buy cornflakes, or Ready Brek? Why make a sponge cake from scratch when you could concoct ‘the perfect sponge in 12 minutes with Green’s Sponge Mixture.’ For an easy evening meal, there was Birds Eye Quick-frozen Chicken Pie followed by Lyons Ready-Mix Suet Puddings.

There could be little doubt that the life of the housewife was being transformed — at least in some ways.

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Peter

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ON THIS DAY 2^nd April 1960-1965

On 02/02/1960 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 The Budget (All Channels) 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 Budget increases price of cigarettes by 2d a pack.

On 02/02/1961 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 02/02/1962 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 day was James Hanratty hanged for A6 murder.

On 02/02/1963 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 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 02/02/1964 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 day was Video recorder first demonstrated.

On 02/02/1965 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 2460

26^th  March  2018

 First Picture: With Sid James recording Hancock

 Second Picture:  The young Australian Star

Third Picture:  Bill in later life

Bill Kerr

The last surviving member of the cast of Hancock's Half Hour, Bill Kerr, died on 28th August 2014. Bill Kerr was born on 10th June 1922 into an Australian showbiz family while they were on tour in South Africa. His first gig was as a babe in arms-as he later recalled: "My mother took about 10 weeks off to have me, and when she returned to the stage the producers said rather than bother with a doll for the baby, why didn't she use me? So you could say my stage career began when I was only a few weeks old. I was such a hit, I retired in 1922 and made a comeback at seven," he said. At the end of the tour his family returned to Australia and settled in Wagga Wagga, where Bill claimed he was "elocuted to death" in anticipation of a showbiz career. At the age of seven he was billed as "the Jackie Coogan of Australian vaudeville" and made his first film appearance in 1933's Harmony Row, in which he was billed as "Wee Willie Kerr."

His first major movie role was at the age of twelve playing a blind youngster in The Silence of Dean Maitland, one of Australia's first talking pictures. During the war Bill Kerr became a close friend of Peter Finch and the pair served in the Army putting on numerous stage shows in Australia and overseas. Bill moved to Britain in 1947 to pursue his show business career, and decided he would have more chance of landing roles if he retained his Australian accent. He worked on variety bills such as the Camberwell Palace, where he delivered a four-minute deadpan monologue filled with doom and gloom, in a broad Australian drawl. His opening line which became something of a catchphrase for Bill was "I've only got four minutes." Gig's at the Windmill Theatre followed in which he appeared on the same bill as Harry Secombe and Peter Sellers. "Peter Sellers used to do an impression of me," he recalled "and he actually sounded better than me!"

Bill's first break in the UK came on BBC radio's Variety Bandbox in 1948. When presenter Derek Roy was taken ill Bill became his replacement for six weeks. Working with Frankie Howerd and with occasional scripts written especially for him by Bob Monkhouse and Spike Milligan, Bill soon became a well-known performer. Around this time Bill worked on the radio series Happy Go Lucky, it featured a number of up-and-coming comedy stars such as Graham Stark, Peter Butterworth and Tony Hancock. But the show was a complete flop and in desperation the BBC employed the new writing team of Galton and Simpson in an attempt to revive its fortunes. The final Happy Go Lucky was recorded at the Playhouse Theatre in Lower Regent Street, London. It was here that the writers had their first conversation with Tony Hancock. As they were leaving the theatre the star came up to them and making reference to a sketch they had written about a children's party said; "Did you write that sketch?" They nodded. "Very funny," said Hancock walking away, "very funny." With Hancock steadily building a reputation the BBC gave the go-ahead for a thirty-minute radio sitcom.

Bill was cast as an Australian lodger in Hancock's Half Hour. At first he was cast as a fast-talking wise-guy, but he gradually adopted a laconic Australian drawl and his character became a slow-witted simpleton who was often the butt of jokes. "It was a marvellous period of my life." He said but when Hancock finished Bill found himself typecast and it took him a long time to convince anyone that he could do something else. But he got a break when he was cast as the Devil in the original West End production of Damn Yankees, He appeared in a touring production of the play The Teahouse of the August Moon in 1956. He also worked with Spike Milligan in The Bed-Sitting Room in 1963.

He was also cast in The Wrong Arm of the Law starring Peter Sellers, Bernard Cribbins and Lionel Jeffries. He also played a number of 'straight' roles including Giles Kent in the Doctor Who adventure The Enemy of the World. Then in 1972 he co-starred with Anthony Newley in the long- running musical, The Good Old Bad Old Days.

But in 1979 Bill decided to move back to Australia, settling in Perth where his son William lived. He worked in a couple of films including Gallipoli and A Year of Living Dangerously and on the Australian stage during the 1980s, in musicals such as My Fair Lady. In addition to serious roles, he also continued to appear in comedies including The Coca-Cola Kid in 1985 and in 2001, in the Australian comedy Let's Get Skase. In 1980 Bill had played the part of Douglas Kennedy in the soap opera The Young Doctors.

On 26 January 2011 Bill Kerr received the 2011 Walk of Honour in Wagga Wagga. Bill Kerr died at his home in Perth aged 92 years. His son Wilton Kerr said his father was born to perform.

Bill Kerr carved himself an enduring place among an elite generation of comedians who changed the face of British comedy after the Second World War. Bill was an essential part of the comedy chemistry that entertained a generation of fans at a time when radio comedy was king.

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Peter

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ON THIS DAY 26^th March 1960-1965

On 26/03/1960 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 26/03/1961 the number one single was Wooden Heart - Elvis Presley and the number one album was GI Blues - Elvis Presley. The top rated TV show was The Dickie Henderson Show (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 26/03/1962 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 day was US Air Force consider using lasers to shoot down missiles.

On 26/03/1963 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 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 26/03/1964 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 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 day was Radio Caroline starts broadcasts.

On 26/03/1965 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 2458

19^th  March  2018

First Picture: A Ewbank just like my mum had

 Second Picture:  The workings of a Ewbank

 Third Picture:  Early Ewbank advert

Fourth Picture: Early American Bissell machine

Carpet Sweepers

Remember the Ewbank Carpet Sweeper, every household seemed to have one? I know my mother had a wooden bodied one at home in the 1950’s

They were originally popular before the introduction of the vacuum cleaner and have been largely superseded by them. However, they continued to be used in many homes as they were lightweight and quiet, enabling users to quickly clean small messes up from the floor without disturbing babies and pets etc.

A carpet sweeper typically consists of a small box. The base of the box has rollers and brushes, connected by a belt or gears. There is also a container for dirt and fluff. The arrangement is such that, when pushed along a floor, the rollers turn and force the brushes to rotate. The brushes sweep dirt and dust from the floor into the container. Carpet sweepers frequently have a height adjustment that enables them to work on different lengths of carpet, or bare floors. The sweeper usually has a long handle so that it can be pushed without bending over.

Founded in Accrington, Ewbank has its origins in a 1864 company which was founded by John Ramsbottom and George Hacking, which made water meters. They were joined by John Haworth, James Entwisle, and James Kenyon, and when the founders retired the company was renamed Entwisle and Kenyon Limited.

Entwisle & Kenyon started making manually operated washing machines around about 1875 and they also manufactured mangles. While one of the company’s representatives, Richard Walton Kenyon, was in the United States in 1882 to source wooden blocks for mangles, he visited a carpet sweeper factory in Chicago and saw the potential for the product, which was already popular in the US. Back home in the UK. Kenyon designed the first Ewbank branded carpet sweeper, which went on sale in 1889. It became the most popular product of its type in Britain, where carpet sweeping became known as “ewbanking”.

The ‘Ewbank’ name came from the Ewbank area of Accrington where the factory was located. Ewbank became a major manufacturer of floor-care products after World War II, including carpet shampooers, mangles, ladders and many more, selling both in the UK and, via an export wing, internationally.

Ewbank has a heritage to be proud of, it’s a household favourite and a much-loved brand that has been providing cleaning solutions for over 150 years. Innovative design, reliability and customer satisfaction have always been a top priority and a byword for their quality.

Today, Ewbank is still selling carpet sweepers and other products, including floor polishers, vacuum cleaners, shampooers and steam cleaning solutions meaning that Ewbank now, and always, has had a practical solution to everyday cleaning.

But what was the item that Richard Kenyon saw in the USA? It was a cleaner designed and patented by Melville R. Bissell of Grand Rapids, Michigan, in 1876. Bissell began selling carpet sweepers in 1883. They became popular in the UK after the first Ewbank model went on sale in 1889. New powered versions were designed at the beginning of the 20th century, with rechargeable batteries and an electric motor to spin the rollers and brushes.

The legacy of carpet sweepers lives on in floor cleaning robots that have limited suction power and rely on sweeping to collect larger bits of debris from the floor. While some research models of robotic vacuums only rely on vacuum motors, models on the market such as Roomba invariably combine suction and sweeping.

Looking back I remember that when Pan and I got married 50+ years ago we were given one as a wedding present. Anyone still have a Ewbank in use?

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Peter

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ON THIS DAY 19^th March 1960-1965

On 19/03/1960 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. The big news story of the day was Venereal disease rising in teens.

On 19/03/1961 the number one single was Wooden Heart - 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.

On 19/03/1962 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.

On 19/03/1963 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.

On 19/03/1964 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 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 19/03/1965 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 2456

12^th  March  2018

 First Picture: Kent Walton commentating

 Second Picture:  His DJ Days

 Third Picture:  Mick McManus

Fourth Picture: Friends, family, fans and old opponents say farewell to the wrestling legend Mick McManus.

Kent Walton

For years television viewers in the UK would tune in to ITV on a Saturday afternoon hear Kent Walton's opening line "Greetings, grapple fans" as he introduced Saturday afternoon wrestling as part of ITV's long running World of Sport programme. One of those fans who would never miss this programme was my granny who would sit there and shout and scream at the wrestlers!

Kenneth Walton Beckett was born in Cairo on August 22nd, 1917, he was the son of the Minister for Finance in the colonial government and grew up in Surrey and was educated at Charterhouse. He studied acting at the Embassy School of Acting in London and then appeared in repertory before the start of World War Two at which time he joined the RAF as a radio operator and front-gunner. At the same time he began to supress and moderate his public school accent while mixing with the Canadian airmen on the base. After the war he briefly returned to acting but soon became both a sports commentator and a Radio Luxembourg DJ. In 1949 he married Lynn Smith, the ex-wife of Leslie Grade  and they had a son.

When ITV was given the green light to broadcast to the nation in the mid 1950s Kent Walton sent in his application and was hired by head of Associated-Rediffusion, Roland Gillett. He was assigned to sport, covering such events as tennis, badminton and football. He also introduced one of the earliest commercial TV pop music shows, Cool for Cats (now who remembers that?) Soon promoted to Sports Programme Organiser, he became very much involved in the planning and operation of ITV's weekly Cavalcade of Sport.

He was chosen by Associated Rediffusion's Head of Sports, Ken Johnstone, to commentate on the first televised wrestling bout in 1955. The problem was that he was given the job with just a week's notice despite never having been to a wrestling bout in his life. So a couple of days before the broadcast he went down to the gym with Mick McManus and got him to demonstrate the various holds. Soon he had mastered the terminology and allegedly began to make up names for moves himself.

 On 9th November 1955, at 9pm he introduced TV viewers to All In Wrestling for the first time. The show was broadcast from West Ham Baths and signalled the start of a 30 + year run which was only ended in 1988 by ITV's Head of Sport, Greg Dyke, because he felt it 'presented the wrong image' to the channel's viewers and advertisers. But during that run wrestlers such as Mick McManus, Steve Logan, Les Kellett, Giant Haystacks and Big Daddy became household names. It was a poor decision by Dyke and a few years after wrestling was axed, backed by the big US networks, American Wrestling became a multi-million dollar industry.

At the height of its popularity Saturday afternoon wrestling in the UK attracted a regular audience of 12 million viewers. Finishing just before the football results, Kent Walton would sign of with his trademark "Have a good week - till next week." Reportedly among wrestling's biggest fans were Margaret Thatcher and the Queen.

During his career Kent Walton did numerous voice-overs for television commercials and was one of the founders of Pyramid Films responsible for making a number of easily forgettable 1970s cheap 'skin-flicks'.

But to wrestling fans of a certain age throughout Britain, Kent Walton will be always remembered quite simply as "The Voice of Wrestling". Kent Walton passed away on August 24th, 2003, just two days after his 86th birthday.

One final note: Wrestling legend Mick McManus was literally counted out for the last time at the crematorium in June 2013 as his family, friends, fans and old foes from the ring packed his funeral.

As the curtains were about to close around the coffin, the crowd stood in silence as a ringside bell tolled ten times to signify his passing. He was 92 and died at a home for retired entertainers in Twickenham, South West London, the previous month. Many closest to him said it was from a broken heart as he had been left devastated by the death of wife Barbara earlier this year after sixty years of marriage.

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Peter

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ON THIS DAY 12^th March 1960-1965

On 12/03/1960 the number one single was Why - Anthony Newley and the number one album was The Explosive Freddy Cannon - Freddy Cannon. 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 12/03/1961 the number one single was Walk Right Back/Ebony Eyes - Everly Brothers and the number one album was The top rated TV show was Bootsie & Snudge (Granada) 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 day was The Dickie Henderson Show (AR).

On 12/03/1962 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 12/03/1963 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 12/03/1964 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 12/03/1965 the number one single was It's Not Unusual - Tom Jones 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.