Web Page No 2524

4th November 2018

1^st Picture. Family Bonfire Party

2nd Picture. Aspirin Packet

3^rd Picture. The Magic of Sparklers

Bonfire Night

For years Guy Fawkes Night has generated many varied opinions. Today when there are very few garden displays we tend to forget the complaints and comments that were generated by these small displays. Here are precis of three articles that appeared in the local press at the time. The first is dated 1952 and the other 1955. They are both windows into the attitudes of the past.

1952

‘Fireworks’ on Bonfire Night anecdotes about dogs point out a moral, but the true story of what happened to Buller, a big terrier, on Guy Fawkes night, will be a lesson for all married men. Just before Nov. 5th. letters appeared warning dog lovers that their pets, being highly- strung should be kept in on bonfire night, as fireworks might upset their nerves. There upon, the wife of the correspondent arranged that he should stay at home with the dog while she went to the cinema. On the appointed evening off she went leaving her husband dozing in the chair and Buller in his usual place on the hearth rug.

I heard a rap on the door and on answering it a very attractive young lady said ‘excuse me but do you have a dog?’ Just then Buller lurched his way along the passage a picture of outsized contentment and she explained that as she was a member of an Association of Animal Lovers she was going around from door to door where dogs were kept with aspirins for them and could she give may dog a few.

The gentleman in question stated that he never liked to hinder people from doing a good deed even to a do and a couple of aspirins were very unlikely to upset Buller. The animal lover was such a charming girl that he invited her into the house and we set to dosing the dog. As we were doing this she happened to have her hand on mine and her hat on the table, he looked up and saw his wife and her mother standing in the doorway looking most interested, they had come back for a forgotten handbag.

It took me quite a time to explain to my wife and her mother just what was going on and to make things worst the dog got up and walked away and husband could swear that it winked at him, twice.

He finished his letter to the paper by saying that next year would any Society that were going to send round callers to offer sedatives for dogs on Guy Fawkes Night from door to door, please would they send them out in the hands of an old man with whiskers so as to keep the peace in his house.

May 1955

Women Oppose Fireworks Ban. The sale of fireworks should be banned except in the week before Guy Fawkes night declared speakers at Women's Institute conference. For the common firework-night squib had become a public menace in the hands of Teddy Boys, it was said. At the Council meeting speakers went on to the platform to tell what the Teddy Boys were doing. Two people had been blinded by a squib put in a milk bottle; a milk-cart pony had been frightened into dashing through a shop window, killing itself and injuring two people: passers-by had been frightened and mail damaged when fireworks were dropped into letterboxes. Two months before Guy Fawkes night squibs are being thrown. One lady told that a house in her village had been partly destroyed and the woman occupier badly shocked all through a firework. One delegate thought that if any sort of ban was made boys would make their own fireworks and cause even more harm that way. Another thought it might make more voting people into delinquents if they were to prosecuted for letting off fireworks.

Happy Bonfire Night.

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Peter

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On this day 4^th November 1960-1965

On 04/11/1960 the number one single was It's Now Or Never - Elvis Presley and the number one album was Tottenham Hotspur. The top rated TV show was Bootsie & Snudge (Granada) and the box office smash was Psycho. A pound of today's money was worth £ 13.68.The big news story of the day was Conservative Party Political Broadcast (all channels).

On 04/11/1961 the number one single was Walkin' Back to Happiness - Helen Shapiro and the number one album was Twenty One Today - Cliff Richard. The top rated TV show was The Royal Variety Performance (ATV) and the box office smash was One Hundred and One Dalmations. A pound of today's money was worth £13.25 and Ipswich Town were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions.

On 04/11/1962 the number one single was Telstar - The Tornadoes and the number one album was Out of the Shadows - Shadows. 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 04/11/1963 the number one single was You'll Never Walk Alone - Gerry & the Pacemakers and the number one album was Please Please Me - The Beatles. The top rated TV show was The Royal Variety Performance (ATV) 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 US recognises new regime in Saigon.

On 04/11/1964 the number one single was (There's) Always Something There to Remind Me - Sandy Shaw 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 04/11/1965 the number one single was Get Off Of My Cloud - Rolling Stones and the number one album was The Sound of Music Soundtrack. 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 Liverpool were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions.

Web Page No 2522

27th October 2018

1^st Picture. Mr Ed with Alan Young 

2nd Picture. Lassie

3^rd Picture. Champion the Wonder Horse and Ricky North

4^th Picture. Johnny Morris

Animals on TV

Looking back how many animal TV stars can you remember from the 1950s and 60s? Here are a few to jog your memory.

Mr. Ed the talking horse was derived from a series of short stories by Walter R. Brooks in 1937. The well-known comedian George Burns financed the original pilot for Mister Ed which was shot at his McCadden Studio in Hollywood at a cost of $70,000. Jack Benny was also involved behind the scenes. The title role of Mister Ed, a talking palomino, was played by gelding Bamboo Harvester and voiced by former Western film actor Allan Lane. The role of Ed's owner, a genial but somewhat strange architect named Wilbur Post, was played by Alan Young. The other main character throughout the series is Wilbur's generally tolerant young wife, Carol played by Connie Hines.

Ed's ability to talk was never explained on the show. The show was first broadcast in the UK in 1962 and lasted for six series.

Lassie this American television series that followed the adventures of a female Rough Collie dog named Lassie and her companions, both human and animal, we all remember. The show was the creation of producer Robert Maxwell and animal trainer Rudd Weatherwax and was televised from September 12, 1954, to March 25, 1973. Initially filmed in black and white, the show transitioned to colour in 1965.

The show's first 10 seasons follow Lassie's adventures in a farming community. Eleven-year-old Jeff Miller, his mother, and his grandfather are Lassie's first human companions until seven-year-old Timmy Martin and his adoptive parents take over in the fourth season. When Lassie's exploits on the farm end in the eleventh season, she finds new adventures in the wilderness alongside United States Forest Service Rangers. After traveling on her own for a year, Lassie finally settles at a children's home for her final two seasons.

The Adventures of Champion the Wonder Horse  was an American children's Western series that aired from 1955 to 1956 for 26 episodes on CBS. In the United Kingdom, the series was re-broadcast under the title Champion the Wonder Horse. Unusually for a black and white show, the series was still being repeated in the UK during school holidays as late as the early 1980s. The series starred Barry Curtis as 12-year-old Ricky North, who lived on his uncle's ranch in the American Southwest. Ricky's uncle, Sandy North, was played by Jim Bannon. Ricky's companions were a wild Mustang stallion, Champion, and a German Shepherd, Rebel, played by Blaze. In real life, the Wonder Horse, Champion, was owned by Gene Autry who over many years owned a succession of celebrity horses bearing the same name. The horse starring in The Adventures of Champion was known as Television Champion, or TV Champ, for short. He was distinguished by his chestnut coat, blond mane and tail, four white stockings and broad white facial blaze. TV Champ made frequent appearances with Gene Autry in films and television during the 1950s. Unlike his fictional namesake, TV Champ was a gelding.

The horse that played Champion was bred in the United Kingdom. The mare rejected the foal then called Dawn that was hand reared by Mr Walter Ellams and his Daughter Patricia. Due to the foal being hand reared it was extremely tame and was then later sold to play Champion.

Although uncredited, the title song was sung by Mike Stewart, and later recorded by Frankie Laine: Do you remember it?

"Champion the Wonder Horse! Champion the Wonder Horse!
Like a streak of lightnin' flashin' cross the sky,
Like the swiftest arrow whistlin' from a bow,
Like a mighty cannonball he seems to fly.
You'll hear about him everywhere you go.
The time'll come when everyone will know
The name of Champion the Wonder Horse!"

In 1991, the song was re-issued on Frankie Laine's album On the Trail Again.

I cannot write a page about animal stars without mentioning Animal Magic which ran from 1962 to 1983 from BBC Bristol. It began fortnightly and was transmitted weekly from 1964. The presenter was Johnny Morris and his charismatic style and genuine fondness for animals made the show an instant hit with children and adults alike. The show combined jovial voiceovers applied to various animals from Bristol Zoo with some basic educational features.

His co-presenters over the years were:  Gerald Durrell, Tony Soper, Keith Shackleton, Roger Tabor, Sheila Young, David Taylor and Terry Nutkins. Joe Henson and Desmond Morris also appeared on the show. Dotty the ring-tailed lemur appeared as a regular guest for eight years in the 1970s. Other animal stars included the sea lion Gemini, and 2 parrots, Cocky (a sulphur-crested cockatoo) and Brolly (an umbrella cockatoo). Much to Johnny Morris' anger, the show was discontinued in 1983 when the programme's style fell out of fashion.

The 100th edition was transmitted on 4 January 1967. Many editions of the show were junked by the BBC in the early 1990s when they were assumed to be of no further use.

The signature tune, "Las Vegas", was performed by Group Forty Orchestra, was written by Laurie Johnson in 1960. It recently featured as the theme music for BBC Two comedy W1A. Around 1980, the original orchestral version was replaced by a funk arrangment (featuring an electric guitar with a wah wah pedal).

The programme ran for 21 years with more than 400 editions. Johnny Morris died in May 1999.

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Peter

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On this Day 27^th October 1960-1965

On 27/10/1960 the number one single was Only the Lonely - Roy Orbison and the number one album was South Pacific Soundtrack. The top rated TV show was Bootsie & Snudge and the box office smash was Psycho. A pound of today's money was worth £13.68 and Tottenham Hotspur were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions.

On 27/10/1961 the number one single was Walkin' Back to Happiness - Helen Shapiro and the number one album was The Shadows - Shadows. The top rated TV show was Coronation Street and the box office smash was One Hundred and One Dalmations. A pound of today's money was worth £13.25 and Ipswich Town were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions.The big news story of the day was Stalin removed from Lenin's tomb.

On 27/10/1962 the number one single was Telstar - The Tornadoes and the number one album was Out of the Shadows - Shadows. The top rated TV show was The Royal Variety Performance 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 27/10/1963 the number one single was Do You Love Me? - Brian Poole & the Tremoloes and the number one album was Please Please Me - The Beatles. The top rated TV show was Coronation Street 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.

On 27/10/1964 the number one single was (There's) Always Something There to Remind Me - Sandy Shaw and the number one album was A Hard Day's Night - Beatles. The top rated TV show was Coronation Street 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 27/10/1965 the number one single was Tears - Ken Dodd and the number one album was The Sound of Music Soundtrack. The top rated TV show was Coronation Street 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.

Web Page No 2520

20^th October 2018

1^st Picture. Built in washing copper

2nd Picture. Traditional Sweet Shop

3^rd Picture. Typical 1950s family

4^th Picture. Hobbies Magazine 

I am always very grateful for anything that you send me and so this week’s page is a poem sent in by Steve Timms, I am sure that as we read through it we will all be able to identify with it all or in the least recognise quite a lot from the days of our youth.

I Remember it well

I remember the cheese of my childhood
and the bread that we cut with a knife.
When the children helped with the housework,
and the men went to work, not the wife.

The cheese never needed a fridge
and the bread was so crusty and hot.
The children were seldom unhappy
and the wife was content with her lot.

I remember the milk from the bottle,
with the yummy cream on the top.
Our dinner came hot from the oven,
and not from the fridge; in the shop.

The kids were a lot more contented,
they didn't need money for kicks.
Just a game with their mates in the road
and sometimes the Saturday flicks.

I remember the shop on the corner,
where a pen'orth of sweets was sold.
Do you think I'm a bit too nostalgic?
Or is it....I'm just getting old?

I remember the 'loo' was the lavvy
and the bogey man came in the night.
It wasn't the least bit funny
going "out back" with no light

Hung on a peg in that loo,
were interesting items to view,
from newspapers cut into squares.
It took little to keep us amused.

Dirty clothes were boiled in the copper,
with plenty of rich foamy suds.
But the ironing seemed never ending
as Mum pressed everyone's 'duds'.

I remember the slap on my backside
and the taste of soap if I swore.
Anorexia and diets weren't heard of
and we hadn't much choice what we wore.

Do you think that bruised our ego?
or our initiative was destroyed?
We ate what was put on the table
and I think life was better enjoyed.

But a huge fact not hereto mentioned
in this mushy tale of nostalgic rejoice,
is the reason we all "enjoyed" our lot
Was that we had NO BLOODY CHOICE

My comments:-

I remember my grandmother cutting bread with the loaf held against her chest and the bread knife getting very close to her chest. In our house the only cheese was cheddar or at Christmas Edam as well.

I remember Viennese loaves or French sticks.

My mother boiled her whites, on a Monday of course, in a large pan which was place on the gas cooker, the flame lit and the water and clothes boiled.

Are we all still looking back through rose tinted glasses?  If so, it certainly is fun!!

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Peter

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On this day 20^th October 1960 -1965

On 20/10/1960 the number one single was Only the Lonely - Roy Orbison 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 Psycho. A pound of today's money was worth £13.68 and Tottenham Hotspur were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions.The big news story of the day was Britain launches first nuclear submarine.

On 20/10/1961 the number one single was Walkin' Back to Happiness - Helen Shapiro and the number one album was Black & White Minstrel Show - George Mitchell Minstrels. The top rated TV show was Sunday Night at the London Palladium (ATV) and the box office smash was One Hundred and One Dalmations. A pound of today's money was worth £13.25 and Ipswich Town were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions

On 20/10/1962 the number one single was Telstar - The Tornadoes and the number one album was Best of Ball Barber & Bilk. 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 20/10/1963 the number one single was Do You Love Me? - Brian Poole & the Tremoloes 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.

On 20/10/1964 the number one single was Oh Pretty Woman - Roy Orbison 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 20/10/1965 the number one single was Tears - Ken Dodd and the number one album was The Sound of Music Soundtrack. 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 Liverpool were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions.

Web Page No 2518

13^th October 2018

1^st Picture. Pig Swill Bucket

2nd Picture. Scrubbing the step

3^rd Picture. The first NHS birth certificate

4^th Picture. Who can forget Dr Finlay’s Case book

Looking Back Again

Those of us who are now in their 70s, which I assume are most of my readers were brought up in a unique time. For example, I was born I 1946, naturally I do not remember the war but I do remember the aftermath of it and the regulations and restrictions that were put into place. How many of these do you remember?

Firstly, looking at the home life we led. Our mothers would always drain the fat off a roast joint and pour it into a flattish dish and put it in the larder where it would set into dripping and gel. My grandmother, who lived with us, loved dripping sandwiches, I hated them. I also disliked the gel which set underneath the fat. Another food related item that I remember is the pig swill bucket. Outside our back door my mother kept a bucket with an attached lid that the local pig breeder, Mr. Cooper, supplied and into this went all the cooked food waste (not that there was much waste at that time) and the lid firmly put down. In our household all the raw waste food such as potato peelings etc were collected up and placed into the potato trench in the back garden. Back to the pig swill! Twice a week Mr Coopers van would come round and take the bucket away and replace it with a clean one. This continued well into the 1950s when the Ministry of Food declared that boiling pig swill was unhygienic and so the process was stopped. Actually, it was not until March 2001 that the government totally banned the boiling and use of pig swill.

Whilst talking about food and provisions we all had MoF Orange Juice to keep us healthy and our mothers were getting used to the fact that there was now a new National Health System and patients no longer had to pay to see the doctor. As with most of you who are around my age we were all pre NHS babies so our parents had to pay for us to be born. Before July 1948 mothers wishing to have a doctor in attendance at childbirth had to pay not only his fee, but also for any medicine they required. Plus there was also the obligatory laying in period of ten days after the birth.

In the home labour saving devises were few and far between. Cleaning was done with a scrubbing brush, a bucket of hot water and a bar of Sunlight Soap. It must have been well into the early 1950s that my mother became the proud owner of a vacuum cleaner. Up until then its was a stiff brush and damp tea leaves to clean the carpet of the wooden bodied Ewbank Carpet cleaner. How things have changed.

One of my other lasting memories is travelling into Portsmouth on the bus and as we approached the Buckland area seeing all the bombed out houses, shops and businesses still laying undeveloped as the city concentrated on providing homes in Leigh Park and Paulsgrove for those who were still billeted in temporary accommodation. These were the glory days of Charlotte Street with its multitude of stall holders and market traders. Several of our neighbours would travel down to Charlotte Street on a Friday or Saturday to buy their vegetables for the weekend. This market continued until the building of the Tricorn which totally destroyed the atmosphere. Here I have to declare an interest because for a short time whilst I was at college on a Saturday I worked on a fancy goods stall (all seconds, I know this because I spent many an hour with an ink rubber removing the words from the soles of the beach flip flops).

Looking back the market was a great place to get bargains if you were a bit wary of what you bought. However, I think Pam and I did well as we bough a couple of Witney blankets in the market before we were married and we still have one of them left and that is 51 years ago!!!!

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Peter

gsseditor@gmail.com

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On this day 13^th October 1960 -1965

On 13/10/1960 the number one single was Tell Laura I Love Her - Ricky Valance and the number one album was Tottenham Hotspur. The top rated TV show was Bootsie & Snudge (Granada) and the box office smash was Psycho. A pound of today's money was worth £13.68.The big news story of the day was No Hiding Place (AR).

On 13/10/1961 the number one single was Kon-Tiki - The Shadows and the number one album was The Shadows - Shadows. The top rated TV show was Sunday Night at the London Palladium (ATV) and the box office smash was One Hundred and One Dalmations. A pound of today's money was worth £13.25 and Ipswich Town were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions. The big news story of the day was Heller's Catch-22 published.

On 13/10/1962 the number one single was Telstar - The Tornadoes and the number one album was Best of Ball Barber & Bilk. 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 13/10/1963 the number one single was Do You Love Me? - Brian Poole & the Tremoloes 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.

On 13/10/1964 the number one single was Oh Pretty Woman - Roy Orbison 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. The big news story of the day was XVIIIth Olympics in Tokyo.

On 13/10/1965 the number one single was Tears - Ken Dodd and the number one album was Help - The Beatles. The top rated TV show was Coronation Street (Granada) and the box office smash was The Sound of Music. A pound of today's money was worth £11.69 and Liverpool were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions.

On 13/10/1967 the number one single was The Last Waltz - Engelbert Humperdinck and the number one album was The Sound of Music Soundtrack. The top rated TV show was Coronation Street (Granada) and the box office smash was The Jungle Book. A pound of today's money was worth £10.99 and Manchester City were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions.