Web Page 3105 23rd February 2024 First Picture: Ever Ready bell battery

Second Picture; Ever Ready Torch

Third Picture: Ever Ready Radio

Fourth Picture; Ever Ready cycle lamp and battery

Batteries When we were young there were only three companies that supplied us with batteries for torches etc so I thought I would look at the most popular. The British Ever Ready Electrical Company (BEREC) was a British firm formed in 1906 as the export branch of the American Eveready Battery Company. In 1914 it became independent of its American parent company and functioned independently. For decades the firm dominated the UK battery market and had several factories in the UK, the largest of which at Tanfield Lea, County Durham, in 1968. Other factories included Dawley, Four Ashes, Maldon, Newburn, London (Victoria Works, Forest Road and from 1936, the St Ann's Works in Harringay) and Park Lane, Wolverhampton. The company's research was centred upon the Central Laboratories in St. Ann's Road, Harringay. The company's head office was Ever Ready House in Whetstone, London. Overseas manufacturing sites included South Africa, Nigeria, Sri Lanka and Jamaica. The company was the subject of a hostile takeover by Hanson Trust in 1981. Upon acquiring the company the Hanson Trust closed factories, cut jobs and sold the German and Italian subsidiaries to Duracell. Shortly before this the British Ever Ready Electrical Company changed its name to Berec Group. From the 1950s the BEREC name was only used for exports of batteries and radio sets (as British Ever Ready Export Company). One of Hanson's first decisions was to revert from BEREC to Ever Ready as the UK brand. In 1992, the company was sold by Hanson Trust to Ralston Purina, owners of the American Eveready company, and is now a part of Energizer Holdings. The company closed its Tanfield Lea centre, it was last UK factory, this was in 1996. Production of some Ever Ready batteries (PP6, PP7 and PP9) continued in the UK until 1999 by Univercell Battery Company, near the old Dawley factory, using the original Ever Ready machinery. The company was also a producer of torches and bicycle lamps. They manufactured radios from 1934 up until 1964. With the 1922 founder of Lissen forming Vidor in 1934, Ever Ready took over Lissen completely. Many models of radio set were manufactured in both Lissen and Ever Ready versions until 1941, when the Blitz ended production. From 1942 until 1945 only one Ever Ready radio model was produced. In 1981 three "offshore" models were produced, one from Hong Kong and two from Malaysia. Tanfield Lea. wis a small village with a large factory, where batteries were made, the factory employed 1,500 people and produced more than 3 million batteries a day. Now it employs 200, makes half a million units a day, and is Ever Ready's last outpost. Stay in touch Peter gsseditor@gmailcom

Web Page 3103 16th February 2024 First Picture: Tin of Elastoplast

Second Picture; Tube of Salvon

Third Picture: Wrights Coal Tar Inhaler

Fourth Picture: Lucozade Advert

Medical Things When we were young and living at home Mum always kept a well-stocked medical box or tin for use when we injured ourselves. A box that contained all sorts of country remedies plus the usual proprietary medical products. As my mother was an ex assistant hospital matron (she had to leave nursing when she married as was the norm in those days) hers had plenty of professional and unusual medical items. But what did the normal box contain here are some items I remember. Surgical scissors and tweezers, little gold safety pins, Elastoplast dressings for the scratched and bruised knees plus the shiny waterproof version Sleek. For the more serious injury out would come the little brown glass bottle of iodine which we all knew meant a stinging sensation would follow when it was applied using a cotton wool ball and it would leave a yellow stain on the skin but mum thought it was important. When it came to minor injuries the medicants of choice were often a tube of Savlon or a tin of Germoline whilst Golden Eye Ointment and Optrex with its eye bath were the major treatment for anything optical. Olive oil for earache was common and Zambuck for pain relief and every first aid kit always contained a thermometer and a packet of cotton wool and lint. Mother always had a plentiful supply of bandages and dressings, slings, medical pads and eye patches. I assume many of them came from her nursing days. I particularly remember one very large sling with many types of bandages illustrated on it. There was also a medical book but it contained lots of words that I did not understand then and still do not so I left it alone. The one thing that I really do remember about being ill at home is that it was the only time I was allowed to have Lucozade, I loved it. Another thing that I remember is when my mother applied a bread poultice to some part of my body, I don’t remember where or what it was for but I know I did not like it. The poultice was normally applied to draw out any infection from an injury, but what infection I had or what the injury was I really do not remember. The other medicant that I remember is the Wright Coal Tar Inhaler which was set up in my bedroom at night when I had a cold. The other medicant at this time was the dreaded Vick Vapour Rub or Inhaler Aspirin, Andrews Liver Salts, Alka Selter and many small bottles with preparations mixed together by the local chemist, the word pharmacist was rarely used in those days. Jonathon writes:- Liquorice All sorts are my very very favourite sweets Its quite amazing how a packet ALWAYS accidentally falls into the trolley at our local supermarket usually in the queue aisle where it is narrow and I guess my trolley knocks them off the little display hooks. I prefer the South African Beacon sweets to the Basset ones in the UK. As we spend 6 months each year in Johannesburg I get lots of opportunity. My favourites are the mini sorts.....they last longer. The best of all are the ones covered in hundreds and thousands and the all liquorice cylindrical ones. Mary Writes:- Just love these Allsorts sweets but these days limit my sugar intake. In 1992 I went to Australia to visit my sister in law & family & was asked to bring some. She says that the ones in Australia aren`t the same. She was very pleased with them. My son has also taken some out to her. On visits to the UK we make sure that some are ready & waiting. Griff Writes:- Peter has just written an article on Bassett liquorice allsorts and Bertie Bassett, the figure made up of liquorice all-sorts which has to be one of the all time best advertising figures ever known. Here is my association with Bertie Basset and my story. I was an aircraft engineering technical officer back in the 1990's working for the MOD at RAF Boscombe Down at the Empire Test Pilots School where top RAF pilots were trained to be test pilots, a very coveted job and highly skilled pilot job in the RAF. My main aircraft responsibility was to look after all engineering aspects of a BAC 1-II with a small team of aircraft engineers. The BAC 1-11 was used mainly for training test pilots on how to recover from a stall and the flat spin that would follow but enough of that aircraft. I also had, as a sideline the responsibility of an aircraft known as a Beagle Bassett which was brought into service every year in the Summer to train mainly Indian pilots stall warning characteristics and stall recovery procedures for a twin engine aircraft The Bassett sweet company somehow got to know about this aircraft at Boscombe and a 12" exact copy figure of Bertie Basset was produced to fly with the aircraft and he was ceremonially positioned on a hook at the back bulkhead of the cockpit as the aircraft mascot. Needless to say the pilots loved this mascot and our very own "Bertie Basset" always flew with the aircraft. I left Boscombe Down in 1995 for pastures new, so, is Bertie Bassett still flying and smiling at the two front pilots?.........I would like to think so. Picture No.1 Boscombe Bertie Bassett.

Picture No.2 Boscombe BAC 1-11

Melvyn (Griff) Griffiths, Stay in touch Peter gsseditor@gmail.com

Web Page 3101 9th February 2024 First Picture: Allsorts

Second Picture; Bertie Basset

Third Picture: The Bassett factory

Fourth Picture: Bertie and Betty Bassett wedding

Liquorice Allsorts As we all know Liquorice Allsorts are made up of assorted liquorice confectionery sold as a mixture. Made of liquorice, sugar, coconut, aniseed jelly, fruit flavourings, and gelatine, they were first produced in Sheffield, England, by Geo. Bassett & Co Ltd. Allsorts are produced by many companies around the world, but are most popular in Europe, especially Britain and the Netherlands, where they are called Engelse drop, meaning English liquorice. They are also common in Scandinavia, where they are called Engelsk konfekt or Lakridskonfekt, and in Finland, where they are called Englannin lakritsi. South African confectionery giant Beacon produces substantial quantities of the product, selling it locally and exporting it to Australia, Canada, and Portugal. In 1899, Charlie Thompson, a Bassett's sales representative, supposedly tripped over and dropped a tray of samples he was showing a client in Leicester, mixing up the various sweets. After he scrambled to re-arrange them, the client was intrigued by the new creation. Quickly the company began to mass-produce the allsorts and they became a successful product.] Bassett's have released two varieties of allsorts that do not feature any liquorice. Fruit Allsorts feature mixed-fruit flavoured sweets, while Dessert Allsorts have flavours such as apple tart and lemon cheesecake. Both retain the shapes and textures of the original sweet. Red allsorts, with fruit-flavoured liquorice, were briefly released in the late 1990s, discontinued and later reintroduced to the UK with flavours including Blueberry Cube, Strawberry Check, and a red liquorice "Betty Bassett". The original items mixed by Thompson were "chips, rocks, buttons, nuggets, plugs and twists". It is not clear which, if any, correspond to Bassett's traditional allsorts, though certainly newer items have been introduced, such as the Bertie. The Bassett's company mascot is Bertie Bassett, a figure made up of liquorice allsorts, which has become a part of British popular culture. The character's origins lie with advertising copywriter Frank Regan, who used the sweets and a number of pipe-cleaners to construct what was the original version of Bertie]/ One of the sweets in the modern day allsorts mix is a liquorice figure shaped like Bertie. The Doctor Who television serial episode The Happiness Patrol featured a villain called the Kandy Man, who was made from liquorice allsorts and was thought by some to resemble Bertie Bassett. Although an internal investigation concluded that the programme had not infringed on Bassett's trademark, the BBC promised Bassett's that the Kandy Man would not appear again. In the 2001 satirical comedy film Mike Bassett: England Manager, the figure of Bertie Bassett appears in a short scene on a newspaper with the headline "Bassett's Allsorts". As a publicity stunt, Bassett's staged a mock wedding between actors dressed as Bertie and Betty Bassett, another character composed of confectionery, at its Sheffield factory, in February 2009. Stay in touch Peter GSSeditor@gmail.com

Web Page 3099 2nd February 2024 First Picture: Tessie O’Shea

Second Picture; With the Beatles

Third Picture: With Ken Dodd

Fourth Picture: Her 78rpm record

Two Ton Tessie O’Shea When we were growing up a fair amount of the variety on television involved quite a few of the old music hall stars. Tessie O’Shay was one of them. Tessie O'Shea was born at 61 Plantagenet Street in Riverside, Cardiff to newspaper wholesaler James Peter O'Shea, who had been a soldier and who was the son of Irish emigrants, and his wife Nellie Theresa Carr. She was brought up in the British music hall tradition and performed on stage as early as age six, billed as "The Wonder of Wales". When staying at Weston-super-Mare as a child, she got lost and was only discovered when her mother heard her singing the Ernie Mayne hit, "An N'Egg and some N'Ham and some N'Onion". By her teens she was known for her BBC Radio broadcasts and appeared on stages in Britain and South Africa. She frequently finished her act by singing and playing a banjolele in the style of George Formby. While appearing in Blackpool in the 1930s, she capitalised on her size by adopting "Two Ton Tessie from Tennessee" as her theme song. In the 1940s, she was a frequent headliner at the London Palladium, and established herself as a recording artist in the 1950s. In 1963, Noël Coward created the part of the fish and chips peddler "Ada Cockle" specifically for her in his Broadway musical, The Girl Who Came to Supper. Her performance of traditional Cockney tunes charmed the critics and helped win her a Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Musical. In 1963, O'Shea was a guest on The Ed Sullivan Show. She was popular enough that she came back in 1964 and shared the billing with the Beatles. Their joint appearance drew what was then the largest audience in the history of American television, helping bring her to American audiences. She was a member of the repertory company on the short-lived CBS variety show The Entertainers (1964–65). In 1968, She was cast in the television movie The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, which earned her an Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Drama. In December 1970 and January 1971, she entertained American troops in Vietnam with versions of her musical act. On December 24, 1970 she performed for troops at Long Binh and took time afterwards to greet each soldier and wish them "Happy Christmas". She starred in a short-lived British sitcom As Good Cooks Go, which ran from 1969 to 1970. She appeared in films including London Town, The Blue Lamp, The Shiralee and Bedknobs and Broomsticks. She regularly appeared on BBC Television's long running variety show, The Good Old Days. She died of congestive heart failure at age 82, at her home in East Lake Weir, Marion County, Florida. Her life was celebrated in the BBC Two documentary Two Ton Tessie!, first broadcast in March 2011. She was aptly and affectionately dubbed "Two Ton Tessie" not only for her plentiful girth but for the tons of talent she possessed as one of the British Isle's most beloved, unabashed music hall entertainers. Give her an audience and bawdy Tessie O'Shea could have them on their feet in seconds flat.