Web Page No 2470

30th April  2018

First Picture: Ladybird logo

Second Picture:  Ladybird catalogue

Third Picture:  Ladybird badge

Forth Picture:  Ladybird Adventure Club

Ladybird

Ladybird was and still is a well-known children's clothing brand in the UK and Ireland. It focused on clothing and footwear for children aged 0 to 13 years old, and today is owned by Shop Direct, the UK's largest online retailer and parent company to household names like Littlewoods, K & Co, and Isme. Ladybird is still the third largest kidswear brand in the UK, with a growing market share of 5%.

The main aim of Ladybird has always been to make kids' clothing that's both fashionable and functional, designed to cope with the rough and tumble of a child's life, from messy playtimes to smarter occasions. Ladybird has a long history dating back to the 18th century, with the Ladybird clothing name first appearing in 1938.

Ladybird children's clothing first appeared in the UK in 1938. The brand was owned by Adolf Pasold & Son, and sold through various well-known high street retailers, including Woolworths and Littlewoods. The name "Ladybird" was bought by Adolf Pasold & Son for just £5 from the Klinger Manufacturing Company because, according to legend, company founder Johannes Pasold had seen a ladybird in a dream when first starting the family firm in the 18th century.

The 1950s saw the first of the famous Ladybird press adverts, depicting Ladybirds in various human-like roles including scientists and computer boffins. In the early 1960s Ladybird clothing was being promoted by "The Ladybird Adventure Club", a full-colour comic strip in the children's magazine Swift. This was drawn by John Canning, and depicted the unlikely adventures of three Ladybird-wearing children who contrived to flash their "secret sign" (the Ladybird label) in every episode. By the 1960s, Ladybird had established itself as one of the UK's best-known names in children’s wear, although it was often sold under a different brand name in chain stores like Woolworths and Littlewoods. At this time, Ladybird effectively sold two ranges; in high street stores, the clothing was cheaper and more accessible to ordinary families; while in independent retailers, where the Ladybird brand name was used, the garments were generally more expensive, high quality pieces bought for Sunday best or by more well-off families.

In 1965, as British manufacturing started to decline, Ladybird merged with the world's largest sewing thread manufacturer Coats Patons. The deal gave Ladybird access to a huge range of wool and thread, opening up possibilities for new ranges. Coats Patons starting discussing the possibility of offering Woolworths exclusive rights over the Ladybird range in 1984. Sure enough, in 1986 the collaboration went ahead. Fourteen years later in 2000, Coats Viyella (as Coats Patons had become) sold the Ladybird name to Woolworths outright. Over the next few years, it became the favourite kids' clothing in the UK for under-5s, and was sold globally through stores in countries as diverse as China, Saudi Arabia, India and Malaysia.

However the Credit Crunch of 2008 brought problems for parent company Woolworths, and the organisation went into administration in 2009. Both Woolworths and Ladybird were rescued by Shop Direct, the UK's largest online retailer, and relaunched online in the same year. Ladybird is now sold exclusively through Shop Direct outlets, in fact their Very company and Littlewoods advertise next day delivery. The age-old brand values remain, with a focus on creating fun, fashionable, functional kidswear. Many of our parents remembered Ladybird as being the gold standard for kids clothes albeit in very conservative designs. They were impressed by Woolworth's combining the latest styles and designs with the robust, double-stitched quality standards that made Ladybird Clothes so durable. Doubters were reassured by a money back guarantee.

We all must have worn some of their items although I doubt if the boys will admit that they wore clothing with Ladybird on the label.!!!!!

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Peter

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On this day 30th April 1960-1965.

On 30/04/1960 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.

30/04/1961 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 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 On 30/04/1962 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.

On 30/04/1963 the number one single was How Do You Do It? - Gerry & the Pacemakers and the number one album was Summer Holiday - Cliff Richard & the Shadows. The top rated TV show was Labour 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 30/04/1964 the number one single was A World Without Love - Peter & Gordon 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.

30/04/1965 the number one single was Ticket to Ride - The Beatles 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 2468

23^rd April  2018

  First Picture: National Dried Milk

Second Picture:  My ration book

 Third Picture:  National Orange Juice

Forth Picture:   National Cod Liver Oil

Post War Memories

We must all remember having the distinctive tins of National Dried Milk around at home. This was full-cream milk that had been roller-dried into a powder and then artificially fortified with vitamin D. It was intended for feeding to children at a time when milk rationing was still in operation. It was also convenient for mothers.

At first, it was available only to children under 1 year of age; later 2 years. The National Dried Milk scheme had been announced by the autumn of 1940; by then, doctors and nutritionals were debating how it should best be served to infants and whether full-cream was indeed the best Product for them.

The storage and distribution of National Dried Milk across the country was contracted out to a company called SPD. You needed ration coupons to purchase it with and it could only be got at chemists. There was a proviso, though, which housewives learned to watch for: once the tin at the store was past the "Not for consumption after..." date, it could be sold off to anyone and was off the ration, providing a real windfall to the lucky average shopper. A half-cream version of the Dried Milk was introduced in 1941 but it is the full fat version that is mostly remembered.

Well after the war, National Dried Milk was still being sold right through until mid-1965, though by that point, it only accounted for 12 percent of milk sales. People on welfare could purchase it at subsidized prices, but there was a limit to how much you could buy at these prices. Everyone else could buy unlimited quantities at regular prices.

In the mid-1960s, a 1 lb. (450g) tin sold for 4/-, or 2/4 at the subsidized price. National Dried Milk was finally discontinued in 1976, when there was no longer any point, as people were opting to purchase the special infant formulas that had started to flood the market instead.

Many people in their Second World War, and post war, memoirs confuse National Dried Milk with "Household Milk" which was a dried skimmed milk for general consumption; National Dried Milk was dried "full cream" milk aimed at feeding infants like you and me.

One unforeseen benefit was that after the tin was emptied it was very handy for storing nuts, bolts, screws and washers. Every shed or garage had at least three of these on the shelf. However, one very surprising use was developed by my father in law. In the early 1950s they lived in Newcastle upon Tyne and in the greenhouse attached to the house he nurtured a superb grape vine with sweet black grapes on it. Come the picking season he would harvest bunches of grapes, wrap them up carefully and place them in a Dried Milk tin. This he would seal and wrap and post off to his mother in Ringwood and apparently, they always arrived in prime condition.

All children under five were allocated cod liver oil; those under three got daily milk (fluid or full-cream dried) and orange juice as well. Our mothers would collect the bottles of cod liver oil and concentrated orange juice, both of which were provided by America, at the local clinic or "Welfare Centres" that were especially set up to monitor public health. I remember that the orange juice was sticky but tasted wonderful but the cod-liver oil was absolutely disgusting. No matter how much I complained my mother made sure that I took it.

Clearly the refusal to take cod-liver oil was widespread, as it soon became available as 'cod liver oil and malt', this became a totally acceptable brown sticky substance that tasted like toffee and had to be spooned out of a large jar, this was a totally different matter and made the medicine popular and once we were at school, there was free milk, but I have spoken of this before.

To obtain all these essential ‘goodies’ mother had to present my ration book which can be seen at the top of the page.

Just one other thing that comes to mind is that my mother, being an ex-nurse, insisted on me swallowing a large spoon of ‘opening medicine’ to keep me ‘regular’ every Saturday morning. Yuck!!!!!

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Peter

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Mary Writes:

I admit it, I love Jelly Babies,  Sugared Almonds, Pontefract Cakes and Turkish Delight. Rarely do I indulge myself but the memories live on! I remember taking huge containers of Bassetts Allsorts to Australia where my sister in law craved them. She said that they don`t taste the same in Australia. Lots of lovely things there but nothing like British sweets.  Last night as I was about to switch off the TV I saw the sixties pop star Jess Conrad on a programme about older stars in Las Vegas. He is still a nice looking man but there he was struggling to open a cereal pkt. He said his wife did everything for him and how he misses her. I found that very sad, especially when I remembered seeing him at the Guildhall in Portsmouth. 

On this day 23rd April 1960-1965.

On 23/04/1960 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.The big news story of the week was 1500 killed in Iranian earthquake.

On 23/04/1961 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 Bootsie & Snudge (Granada) and the box office smash was One Hundred and One Dalmatians. 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 23/04/1962 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.

On 23/04/1963 the number one single was How Do You Do It? - Gerry & the Pacemakers and the number one album was Summer Holiday - Cliff Richard & the Shadows. The top-rated TV show was Labour 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 23/04/1964 the number one single was A World Without Love - Peter & Gordon and the number one album was With the Beatles - The Beatles. The top-rated TV show was Liberal 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. The big news story of the week was the head of Denmark's Little Mermaid was stolen.

On 23/04/1965 the number one single was Ticket to Ride - The Beatles 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 2466

16th April  2018

First Picture: Jelly Babies Packet

 Second Picture:  Tom Baker and Jelly Babies

 Third Picture:  Beatles Babies

Forth Picture:   Jellyatrics

Fifth Picture:   Bassetts advert 1926

Jelly Babies

'Jelly Babies' are known to have been on sale since the Riches Confectionery Company of 22 Duke St, London Bridge in 1885 introduced them along with a variety of other baby-sweets including 'Tiny Totties' and 'Sloper's Babies'. But the pricing of these at a farthing each suggests that they were very much larger than the modern Jelly Baby.

Sweets called "unclaimed babies", which may pre-date Jelly babies, are known to have been produced by Thomas Fryer of Nelson in Lancashire, and seem to have been hugely popular in the early 20th Century. In 1939 it was reported that, of all the comforts sent to troops abroad, "the sweets which are in greatest demand are those which we all know as 'unclaimed babies'".

An uncorroborated, but widely reproduced, story is related in The History of Temptation by Tim Richardson  published in 2002. Here he states that the sweets were invented in 1864 by an Austrian immigrant working at Fryers of Lancashire and that in 1918 they were produced by Bassett's in Sheffield as "Peace Babies" to mark the end of World War I. Production was suspended during World War II due to wartime shortages. In 1953 the product was relaunched as "Jelly Babies".

The most noted modern manufacturer of Jelly Babies, Bassett's, now allocate individual name, shape, colour and flavour to different 'babies': Brilliant (red - strawberry), Bubbles (yellow - lemon), Baby Bonny (pink - raspberry), Boofuls (green - lime), Bigheart (purple - blackcurrant) and Bumper (orange). The introduction of different shapes and names was an innovation, circa 1989, prior to which all colours of jelly baby were a uniform shape. In 2007, Bassett's jelly babies changed to include only natural colours and ingredients.

There are many brands of jelly babies, as well as supermarket own brands. A line of sweets called Jellyatrics were launched by Barnack Confectionery Ltd to commemorate the Jelly Baby's 80th birthday.

Like most other gummi sweets, they contain gelatin. Jelly babies manufactured in the United Kingdom tend to be dusted in starch which is left over from the manufacturing process where it is used to aid release from the mould. Jelly babies of Australian manufacture generally lack this coating.

Jelly babies are similar in appearance to gummi bears, which are better known outside the United Kingdom, though the texture is different.

A popular science class experiment is to put them in a strong oxidising agent and see the resulting spectacular reaction. The experiment is commonly referred to as "screaming jelly babies".

In 1962, Jelly Babies were referred to as "those kids' candies" in a Supercar episode;"Operation Superstork". When Beatlemania broke out in 1963, fans of The Beatles pelted the band with jelly babies (or, in the US, the much harder jelly beans) after it was reported that George Harrison liked eating them.

In the British television programme Doctor Who, jelly babies were often mentioned in the classic series as a confection The Doctor favoured. First seen being consumed by the Second Doctor, they became most associated with Tom Baker's Fourth Doctor, who had a predilection for offering them to strangers in order to defuse tense situations (and in one episode bluffing another alien into thinking them a weapon).

The Fifth, Sixth, Seventh, Eighth, Eleventh, and Twelfth Doctors also offered them up in different episodes. The Doctor's nemesis the Master in "The Sound of Drums" offers them to his wife on board the Valiant. In the series, they were often identified simply by the fact the Doctor (and later the Master) usually carried them around in a simple white paper bag. The Twelfth Doctor, however, once carried his in a cigarette case.

In Terry Pratchett's Discworld Series, the country of Djelibeybi (meaning 'Child of the [River] Djel') is the Discworld's analogue of Ancient Egypt. The main setting of Pyramids, the country is about two miles wide along the length of the Djel, serves as a buffer zone between Tsort and Ephebe and is in dire financial straits due to the construction of its many pyramids. The name 'Djelibeybi' is a pun of the name 'jelly baby'.

In May 2013 Australian singer Alison Hams released "Jelly Baby Song"^[ - its content alluding to the consumption of jelly babies by type 1 diabetics to overcome hypoglycaemic episodes - as a way to raise awareness for type 1 diabetes for JDRF Australia (Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation) who sell especially-packaged jelly babies as the focus of their annual "Jelly Baby Month" campaign.

In 2009, a poll of 4,000 British adults voted jelly babies their 6th favourite sweet.

And you thought that they were just a packet of sweets.

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Peter

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On this day 16^th  April 1960-1965.

On 16/04/1960 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 16/04/1961 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 Budget (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. The big news story of the day was Bay of Pigs landings in Cuba.

On 16/04/1962 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.

On 16/04/1963 the number one single was How Do You Do It? - Gerry & the Pacemakers 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 16/04/1964 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 The Budget (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. The big news story of the day was Shea Stadium opens in New York.

On 16/04/1965 the number one single was The Minute You're Gone - Cliff Richard and the number one album was Freewheelin' Bob Dylan. 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 2464

9th April  2018

First Picture: Raymond Baxter Fighter pilot

 Second Picture: Raymond Baxter Motor Racer

Third Picture:   Raymond Baxter OBE 

Raymond Baxter

It seemed for a time in the 1960s that every time we turned on the television there was Raymond Baxter with his extrovert polish and buoyant optimism, in fact he did possibly more than any other broadcaster to popularise science and bring new British inventions into the public eye. In 1965, he became the first presenter of TV's Tomorrow's World. He broadcast from Concorde, in its early stages; he introduced the pocket calculator, microwave, and the barcode- and also less likely hopefuls such as a wheelbarrow designed with a ball instead of a wheel. He remained at Tomorrow's World, which attracted audiences of up to 10 million, until, in 1977, when a new editor, Michael Blakstad, ushered in an era of more "investigative" reporting.

Glyn Jones, the first editor of Tomorrow's World, had given Raymond Baxter the job because of his outside broadcast experience and a capacity to deal with the unexpected, was rare in live studio broadcasting. Colleagues found him the archetypal, unruffled frontman, brilliant at delivering words written by others, although they were not so praising about his editorial judgment. A further complication was that Glynn Jones had come from the Daily Mirror, which was far from being the newspaper Raymond Baxter most favoured. However, with the onset of Michael Blakstad’s regime, Raymond, at 55, had allegedly become a "dinosaur", who vulgarised science by talking about it in a tone that suggested - to one newspaper critic - that he was addressing half-witted foreigners.

His background suggested little formal connection with science, except that his father was a science teacher. His schooldays at Ilford County High school ended early when the second world war broke out. He became a qualified Spitfire pilot by the time he was 18 and served with 65, 93, and 602 squadrons in Britain and abroad, instructed fighter pilots, and made dive bomber raids on German V2 rocket bases in the last year of the war.

After the war, he auditioned for British Forces Broadcasting in Cairo, and returned to Britain a year later in an attempt to join the BBC, but was referred back to Forces radio for more training. This he did in Germany, finally becoming civilian deputy director of the then British Forces Network. Facilities in Germany were basic and he had to be a jack-of-all-trades. But when he had another crack at the BBC two years later, he was a master of his craft. At least, he thought so, though the BBC insisted he got regional experience as well in Bristol.

He loved motor racing, and competed in the Monte Carlo, the Alpine, Tulip and RAC rallies; he also took part, as a crew member, in the New Zealand Air Race of 1953. As an outside broadcasts reporter, he was a natural to cover air shows and boat races, while his manner also made him suitable for state funerals and the 1953 coronation.

He staked his claim as a science populariser in 1958 with a television series called ‘Eye On Research’. It showed the possibilities, and some said, the limitations, of using a keen-eyed and enthusiastic layman to present complicated science. Three years after the launch of Tomorrow's World he left the BBC staff to go freelance - though continuing with the programme - so that he could become director of motoring publicity for the ailing British Motor Corporation. He was not a natural company man and the arrangement lasted only a year.

A few months before his departure from Tomorrow's World, the gardener on his estate at Denham, Buckinghamshire, took him to an industrial tribunal amid much publicity after being sacked for incompetence. Raymond Baxter won the case, but not without cost: he uncharacteristically broke down in tears during the hearing. A year later he sold the estate a moved to Henley.

His own departure from the BBC had, he admitted, also been bitter. He did not include Tomorrow's World in his Who's Who entry, except for the mention of the books he wrote on it with James Burke and Michael Latham. However, he carried on working occasionally for the BBC, covering the Farnborough Air Show many times, and was heard in the BBC's programmes in commemoration of D-Day.

He sailed a lot and enjoyed his honours, including an OBE awarded in 2003 and being made a freeman of the City of London.

Raymond Frederic Baxter was born on 25^th January 1922 and died on 15th September 2006 at the age of 84. His American wife, Sylvia, whom he married in 1945, died in 1996. Their children, Graham and Jenny, survive him.

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On this day 9^th  April 1960-1965.

On 09/04/1960 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 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.

On 09/04/1961 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 Labour Party Political Broadcast (all channels) and the box office smash was One Hundred and One Dalmatians. 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 09/04/1962 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 The Budget (All Channels) 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 Film director Michael Curtiz and ex Beatle Stu Sutcliffe die.

On 09/04/1963 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. The big news story of the day was Atomic US submarine sinks killing 129.

On 09/04/1964 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 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. The big news story of the day was Beatles have 13 records in US chart.

On 09/04/1965 the number one single was Concrete & Clay - Unit 4 Plus 2 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.