Web Page 3021 20th April 2024 Patrica Hayes First Picture: Early publicity picture

Second Picture: Edna the inebriated woman

Third Picture: With Irene Handl and Warren Mitchel

Fourth Picture : With Benny Hill

Patricia Lawlor Hayes OBE was born on 22th December 1909 and fame in many stage and television dramas as well as regular appearance in both TV and Radio comedy shows. She was born in Streatham the daughter of George Frederick Hayes and Florence Alice Hayes. Her father was a clerk in the civil service and her mother was a schoolmistress. As a child, she attended the Sacred Heart School in Hammersmith. In 1928 she graduated from RADA and then spent the next 10 years in repertory theatre. She became an actress because her mother had been stage struck so attended RADA and won a gold medal but despite that she was out of work for a year. An early success was as Ruby in Getting Married at St Martins Theatre in 1938, As a small child she was sent to an acting teacher who taught her to recite The Murder of Nancy Drew by Charles Dickens and used to recite it in childrens competitions and win prizes She was featured in many radio and television comedy shows between 1940 and 1996, including Hancock's Half Hour, Ray's a Laugh, The Arthur Askey Show, The Benny Hill Show, Bootsie and Snudge, Hugh and I and Till Death Us Do Part. She played the part of Henry Bones in the BBC Children's Hour radio programme Norman and Henry Bones, the Boy Detectives from 1943 to 1965. She also played the part of the saucy boy in several early radio shows. She was cast in supporting roles for films including The Bargee (1964), The NeverEnding Story (1984), A Fish Called Wanda (1988) and was also featured as Fin Raziel in the Ron Howard film Willow (1988). Her most substantial television appearance was in the title role of Edna, the Inebriate Woman (Play for Today, 1971) for which she won a BAFTA award. She provided the character voice for comedy puppet performances for television programmes such as Gran (Woodland Animations, 1982). She was the subject of This Is Your Life in 1972 when she was surprised by Eamonn Andrews. In April 1975, she was interviewed by Roy Plomley for Desert Island Discs. A sizeable, yet incomplete, extract is available to listen to and download via the programme's website on the BBC. In 1977, she appeared on the BBC's long running TV variety show The Good Old Days; she had been an early member of the Players' Theatre in London, an old time music hall club, from the 1950s onwards. In 1985, she starred in the title role of the TV play Mrs Capper's Birthday by Noël Coward. She was the mother of British actor Richard O'Callaghan (born Richard Brooke) by her marriage to Valentine Brooke, whom she divorced. She never remarried. She was formerly the head of the British Catholic Stage Guild, which her son later chaired. She was awarded an OBE in 1987. Patricia Hayes died in September, 1998 in Puttenham but she appeared posthumously in the 2002 film Crime and Punishment which had been filmed in 1993, but delayed because of a legal case. She is buried at Watts Cemetery, Compton, Surrey. She had become one of the best known ‘also rans’ on television and the cinema screen. Stay in Touch Peter gsseditor@gmail.com

Web Page 3119 13th April 2024 First Picture: Sheath Knife

Second Picture; Catapult

Third Picture: ex WW2 handgranade

Fourth Picture; Winchester Riflee Weapons We must have lived a charmed or sheltered life but as a group we never came across the weapons that seemed to be around in todays schools and youth clubs. Most boys in our year carried a pen or pocket knife as these were useful for sharpening pencils or whittling away at twigs and sticks. For most boys who were in the Boy Scouts a sheath knife was normally an essential part of the uniform and were carried on the scout belt. We had access to all these knives but there was never any thought of attacking someone with them and murder was not in our vocabulary at the time. However I do remember that the Mods and Rockers and the Teddy Boys normally carried flick knives, but I never personally came across these although there were gangs around in Portsmouth. Most of us lads had or made their own catapult, many of us would search the local trees or bushes for suitable Y shaped branches we could cut out and attach some strong elastic to. For some folks, who had more pocket money the most of us, they could go to the local tuck shop or Wynns toy shop in Drayton and purchase an aluminium catapult with the elastic fixed to the forks. I could never afford one of these so homemade catapults had to serve for both myself and my friends. One other weapon that could be homemade was the sling shot. It may have been ok for the likes of David in the Old Testament when he slayed Goliath. However, neither I or any of my friends could ever work how to make the sling work properly. There is another weapon that I think when we became over 12 years of age we could buy over the counter. This was either the air pistol or air rifle, using pellets or darts, the makes that I remember are Diana and BSA. Very few boys actually owned an air gun, I was never allowed to own one which is ironic because one day whilst rooting through one of the sheds we had in the back garden, there were two sheds, one in use and the other in a derelict state. During this rooting session with a friend in the derelict one we came across an ex-World War Two army Winchester rifle this was about 1959 so it must have been there since the war and left there by the previous occupants of the house, we moved in I946. On taking it indoors my mother was horrified and that evening she insisted that my father take it to Cosham police station. I never did work out how he got it there as at that we did not have a car so he must have wrapped it up and taken it there on the bus. The mind boggles! The story does not end here because a couple of years later another friend and I discovered half a dozen or more hand grenades and shells buried in his back garden but it was up to his father to dispose of them. I understand that this particular garden, which was part of market garden, was the wartime ammunition dump for Drayton’s Home Guard during the war under the leadership of Captain Copsey. Stay in touch Peter gsseditor@gmail.com

Web Page 3115 30th March First Picture: Leeds Variety theatre

Second Picture; Leonard Sachs

Third Picture: The Audience

Fourth Picture; Danny la Rue

Every weekend my parents would settle down in front of the television set to watch The Good Old Days. The Good Old Days was a very popular BBC television programme which was produced by Barney Colehan which ran for 30 years from 20st July 1953 to 31st December 1983. (actually, Barney Colehan was the cousin of my next-door neighbour when we moved into Gosport, Colehan also owned and ran a bric a brac shop in Shanklin). Early in 1953 Barney Colehan had devised a one-off show entitled "The Story of the Music Hall" which was presented by Deryck Guyler. The programme proved so popular that it was decided to create a series under the title of "The Good Old Days”. The Good Old Days was performed at the Leeds City Varieties theatre and recreated an authentic atmosphere of the Victorian–Edwardian music hall with songs and sketches of the era performed in the style of the original artistes, You must remember seeing that that the audience always dressed in period costume and joined in the singing, especially "Down at the Old Bull and Bush" which closed the show each week. The show was compered throughout its whole run (except for the first two shows) by Leonard Sachs, who introduced the acts from a desk situated at the side of the stage. In the course of its run it featured about 2,000 performers. Each show was up to an hour long. The orchestra pit was deliberately visible in front of the main stage. The orchestra leader for many years was Bernard Herrmann who was a flautist and later became conductor with the BBC Northern Dance Orchestra. The show was first broadcast on 20th July 1953 and the first two shows were compered by Don Gemmell. Early series of the show were broadcast live. The show included many regulars such as Joan Sterndale-Bennett, Tessie O'Shea, Dudley Stevens, Hattie Jacques, Loraine Hart, Ray Alan, Roy Castle, Roy Hudd, Ken Dodd, Barbara Windsor, Eartha Kitt, Danny La Rue, Hylda Baker, Les Dawson, Larry Grayson, Tommy Steele, Frankie Vaughan, Richard Hearn and Arthur Askey. Critical to the show was not only the performers who were "in character": the entire audience was required to dress in period costume, adding greatly to the atmosphere and allowing shots of the audience to be interspersed with the acts, particularly in the multiple sing-along acts. Out of 245 episodes, only 108 are believed to survive complete in the archives. 63 of the surviving programmes were rebroadcast on BBC Four between December 2015 and February 2018. On 16th December 1983, Goodbye to the Good Old Days was shown, this was a documentary celebrating the end of the 30-year run that year; Barry Cryer served as narrator for the documentary. The final show aired on New Year's Eve that year. One of the benefits of the programme, especially in the early days were appearances of several of the old music hall stars, many of these acts would have been lost for ever, stars such as Rob Wilton, Hilda Baker and Nat Jackley. Stay in touch Peter gsseditor@gnail.com Pictures from Carl can you fill in the gaps