Web Page No 790

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FIRST PICTURE: A COLLECTION OF CHILDREN’S BOOKS FROM THE 1950’S. THIS IS TO BE FOUND IN THE MUSEUM OF CHILDHOOD IN BETHNAL GREEN.












SECOND PICTURE: TYPICAL 1960’S MODERN SUNBURST WALL CLOCK.




HOW

Were you a member of the I-Spy Club from the daily paper the News Chronical? I was and I was dead keen on filling in all sorts of I-Spy Books but I only got one feather for my war bonnet because I soon realised that if I sent off my completed book to Big Chief I-Spy to get my coloured feather, only the feather and an Order of Merit came back and not the book. So after the first book that I sent off I satisfied myself with the single feather and kept the hard won filled up books at home.
The I-SPY books were and still are spotters' guides written for British children, and were particularly successful in the 1950s and 1960s being based on things that the children could see in and around Great Britain.
The I-SPY Tribe was based on the I-SPY Books, of which there were forty four different titles, of small spotters books that sold in hundreds of thousands. Each book covered a subject such as I-SPY Cars, I-SPY on the Pavement, I-SPY Churches, I-SPY on a Train Journey, etc, etc. As children spotted objects such as coalhole covers, oak trees, semaphore signals, police boxes, stations, plants, fire engines, whelks, and so on, they recorded the event in the relevant book, and gained points. Once the book was complete, it could be sent to Big Chief I-SPY for a feather and an Order of Merit, a child could also belong to the I-Spy Club and could proudly wear a News Chronical I-Spy Club members badge. (a subtile way of advertising)

The club was supposedly run by a Red Indian chief called Big Chief I-Spy. The original Big Chief I-Spy was Charles Warrell, who was a former headmaster and who created I-Spy towards the end of his working life. He retired in 1956, but lived on until 1995 when he died at the age of 106. After Charles Warrell's retirement his assistant Arnold Cawthrow became the second Big Chief, and served in this role until 1978. For part of this time he also worked as an antiques dealer in Islington. He died in 1993, and is commemorated by a stone plaque placed on the outside of the Boatmen's Rooms, the house where he spent some of his last years in Deal, Kent.

Members of the I-Spy Tribe were called Redskins, and the head office was variously known as the Wigwam by the Water or the Wigwam by the Green. The former was located for some years next to the Mermaid Theatre at Blackfriars, while the latter was in London's Edgware Road.

The books were originally self-published by Charles Warrell but, after a brief period when they were published by the Daily Mail, they were taken over by the now long departed News Chronicle and based in the paper's building in Bouverie Street. The regular I-SPY column, which appeared in the News Chronicle, reverted to the Daily Mail when the News Chronicle ceased publication, and continued to appear until the late 1980s. The books have had various publishers over the years including the Dickens Press, a company set up to continue the book publishing interests of the 'News Chronicle', and Polystyle Publications, a publisher of children's comics.

The books became very popular, with most print runs going well into six figures. Big Chief I-Spy had a succession of assistants, usually known as "Hawkeye". In the early 1970s, this position was held by Ralph Mills. Earlier assistants included Max Heinz and John Tagholm. In the 1980s, following a short-lived third Big Chief, Robin Tucek, Professor David Bellamy of TV fame replaced Big Chief I-Spy as the person to whom completed books were sent, and the earlier Red Indian connections were quietly dropped, I suppose by this time the ethnic connections were politically incorrect!

I-Spy books were still being sold, until recently, by Michelin Travel Publications and there has been talk of Michelin licensing the I-SPY brand to another publisher in the future.

I really do hope that another publisher can be found as the books were a really good grounding for children and nurtured an inquistive mind. However one thing does occur to me and that is with over 40 different titles covering 40 different subjects it really must have been a nightmare keeping these books up to date! Still they were great fun and I spent hours going round recording things in my books. Maybe I should try to introduce my grandson to the wonder of I-Spy!

Stay in touch and Take Care

Peter

DUSTYKEAT@aol.com
Pj.keat@ntlworld.com

YOU WRITE:
Peter Writes
My father started working in Baker & Sons Ltd; in 1946, after he qualified as a Pharmacist, which was owned then by Mr Baker. He took the business over circa 1953 when Mr Baker retired and he renamed the business "Bakers of Cosham". Incidentally, Mr Baker lived at and owned Lumley Mill at Emsworth. In those days, it was just one residence. After he retired, my mother made him a Christmas Cake every year until he died. Either me or one of my brothers had to catch the No 31 bus ( Southdown ) and take it to him.

Seems I have digressed a bit from your Manor Court theme but soon I will send you some more school memories, although I was at Court Lane immediately before it changed to Manor Court.

NEWS AND VIEWS:
Max Robertson, writer, broadcaster and sports commentator, has died aged 94. He was the first presenter of Panorama, of Going for a Song, and was a commentator at the Queen's Coronation in 1953; but he was best known as the "other voice of Wimbledon", alongside Dan Maskell.
He covered every Wimbledon final for the BBC from 1946 to 1986. He was chosen to do the commentary for the first postwar Grand Prix at Silverstone in 1948 and covered summer and winter Olympiads. He also covered the royal tour of Canada in 1951 when the young Princess Elizabeth deputised for her father who was too ill to travel.
ON THIS DAY 29TH NOVEMBER 1960-1965
On 29/11/1960 the number one single was It's Now Or Never - Elvis Presley and the number one album was South Pacific Soundtrack. The top rated TV show was Labour Party Political Broadcast (all channels) 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 29/11/1961 the number one single was Little Sister/His Latest Flame - Elvis Presley and the number one album was Ipswich Town. The top rated TV show was "Coronation Street (Granada) and the box office smash was One Hundred and One Dalmations. A pound of today's money was worth £ 13.25.The big news story of the day was Sunday Night at the London Palladium (ATV)".

On 29/11/1962 the number one single was Lovesick Blues - Frank Ifield 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 29/11/1963 the number one single was She Loves You - The Beatles 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. The big news story of the day was 119 killed in Montreal jet crash.

On 29/11/1964 the number one single was Baby Love - Supremes 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 29/11/1965 the number one single was The Carnival is Over - Seekers 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 788

Three more pictures from Peter Barlow. Thank you so much Peter.





First Picture: 1940-50








Second Picture: 1930’s








Third Picture: 1963













THE DAILY SKETCH FRIDAY APRIL 5TH 1957

Now for all those who have been waiting a week to find out what Joan Collins meant by the phrase ‘Lets get back to honest sex’ here is the answer. At that time she was in a film called ‘The Sea Wife’ and in this wartime story she is cast adrift, first in a rubber boat and then onto a deserted island with Richard Burton and Basil Sydney. The trouble is that she plays a nun and spends the whole film with no make up and dressed only in a shift. How frustrating for the men in the party!! Hence her quote after the release of the film of ‘Lets get back to honest sex!’ Incidentally there was a third star in the film the coloured Jamaican calypso singer Cy Grant, this was his first film but I expect most of you will remember him when he appeared nightly on the ‘Tonight’ programme with Cliff Mitchelmore.

Right what else was in this particular paper. On the front was an advert saying ‘I’d love a Babycham’. Inside there was speculation whether the defence cuts announced by the Defence Minister Duncan Sandys would be enough to reduce taxation; it wasn’t. The new Navy, it was declared would consist soley of aircraft carriers and it was announced that plans were being made to scrap HMS Vanguard.

Miss Ghana entered the Miss World contest and stunned the press with her 40-38-46 figure, and there was a half page advertisement for a story in the Sunday Dispatch (now who remembers that?) entitled ‘I married a Maharajah’, the English girl, Janet Hicks’ fascinating story. Another article declared that the Italian actress Sophia Loren receives 1,000 love letters a day and that she was working hard to learn English so she can be in a Hollywood film (well Goodness Gracious Me!)

The Archbishop of Malta banned girls in his congregation from wearing English fashions as he classed them as indecent. The BBC Festival of Dance Music at the Albert Hall featured Ted Heath, Sid Phillips, Oscar Rabin, Alex Welsh, Dennis Lotis, Jill Day, The Stargazers, Betty Smith and bottom of the bill Tommy Steele, seats from 12/6 to 3/-.

There is a centre page spread featuring that seasons debutantes highlighting the 17 year old Miss Gloria Kindersley from the Isle of Wight wearing pink taffeta with lace trimmings. (if you are really interested I can send you a copy of the picture) .

The strip cartoons featured very heavily in this paper, I must admit that I really did not appreciate just how many there were in just one publication. In this edition there was ‘Blondie’ by Chic Young, ‘Pop’ by Can-can’t, ‘Tug Transom’ by Alfred Sindall, ‘Carmen & Co’ by Maz, ‘Rick Martin’ by John Diamond, ‘Jimmy Gimmicks’ by Hugh McCelland and lastly on the back page ‘Peanuts’ by Schulz.

Now whats on the telly? First ITV Robin Hood, Emergency Ward 10, Take Your Pick, Dragnet, Jack Hylton, a play followed by Palais Party, The News and at 10.45pm shut down. Whilst on the BBC there was I Married Joan, Watch With Mother, Gardening Club, The Grove Family, Armand and Michaela Dennis, Up for the Cup, Be Your Own Boss, Table Tennis, Anglo French Fortnight, the News and shut down at 10.45.

And finally the letters page or as it was called in the Daily Sketch ‘The Pungent Post’. Here are some examples:-

Women-such dull folk. WHAT dull people women radio fans are. Two of the most popular programmes on the BBC are angled at women — " Housewives' Choice" and " Mrs. Dale." They're two of the worst. If you've ever woken up to the strains of the housewives' requests you'll know what I mean. The programme is an awful jumble of all that's bad in music. And any woman who can enjoy the vicious little clique that Mrs. Dale moves in must be the battleaxe to end 'em all.— GREGORY WALLS, Bournemouth, Hants.
Don’t blame me I did not write it!!!
No cure for insomnia. Our village clock struck 668 times in 27 minutes from midnight last week. Is this a record? Miss M Ward, Thurlaston.
Busier. Is there any place in the World where the traffic congestion is worse than London. Surely there can’t be. Arnold Polter, Richmond, Surrey. He should try living 52 years later in 2009. Ed.



Stay in touch and Take Care

Peter

DUSTYKEAT@aol.com
Pj.keat@ntlworld.com

YOU WRITE:

Mary Writes:-
Thanks for all the lovely articles. I do enjoy them. I often go to vintage bus rallies with Mike, so love the photos you print. We have been lucky enough to go out on the buses for a good ride around the coutryside. They are surprisingly comfortable. On a different tack, the day I left Malta many years ago after a very enjoyable stay, standing outside my grocers was Reg Varley, the star of "On the Buses". He was quite short, and looked extremely happy, standing there in the lovely Maltese sunshine. It was more than I was having to leave and face England after such wonderful weather. A few hours later there I was at Brize Norton on a grey, damp, December afternoon!

NEWS AND VIEWS:
Callon is dead. Edward Woodward, husband of Michelle Dotrice, passed away in hospital this week. He made his reputation in our era by playing Callan against Russell Hunters ‘Lonely’. A well known actor he starred in various shows over the years including The Equalizer.

ON THIS DAY 22TH NOVEMBER 1960-1965
On 22/11/1960 the number one single was It's Now Or Never - Elvis Presley and the number one album was South Pacific Soundtrack. The top rated TV show was Take Your Pick (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.

On 22/11/1961 the number one single was Little Sister/His Latest Flame - Elvis Presley and the number one album was Another Black & White Minstrell 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 22/11/1962 the number one single was Lovesick Blues - Frank Ifield 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. The big news story of the day was First broadcast of That Was the Week That Was.

On 22/11/1963 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 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 Liverpool were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions. The big news story of the day was JFK shot dead in Dallas and we all remember where we were on that day!!!.

On 22/11/1964 the number one single was Baby Love - Supremes 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 22/11/1965 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 Take Your Pick (AR) 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. The big news story of the day was Mohammed Ali beats Floyd Patterson In Las Vegas.

Web Page 786

I am very much indebted to Peter Barlow for this weeks page all three of the pictures are his, as is the article and next week there will be three more just as fascinating photographs. So watch this space so much to remember!






First Picture: 1800’s




Second Picture: 1940-1950






Third Picture: Looking up the High Street

Cosham High Street
Peter Writes:-

I have just read your Blog regarding Cosham High Street etc; I would like to add a few additions and possible corrections. I was brought up in Cosham High Street where I lived over my fathers Chemist Shop "Bakers of Cosham" from 1946 to 1963. We were situated on the Western side of the High Street between the "Ship Inn" ( The landlord Was Mr Nuttall, who I believe, along with my father, was a founder member of Cosham Rotary Club ) and the "Swan Inn" ( The landlord was a Mr Simmons ) which to my Knowledge is still there. The shop you refer to as Dittman & Malpas, was in fact Curtis's and were next door to our shop. They were Coal & Corn Merchants. Our shop & Curtis's were eventually demolished by Murrays Demolition of Portsmouth, who we used to refer to as Murraymint in 1963. The whole plot was redeveloped by the Guy who owned Budgens Supermarkets ( more North of England. He was a Colonel somebody or other ) circa 1963 and part of the deal was that he would build my Father a new "Bakers of Cosham" where Curtis's had been and he would retain the freehold of the new site. Budgens built a new supermarket on our old site, the Ship Inn was eventually demolished and a supermarket called Finefare replaced it.

When we were children in the late 1940s and 1950s before the supermarkets arrived, the grocer in the High Street was Threadinghams where everything was weighed out into Blue Sugar Paper and the weeks groceries for my parents and 5 children were delivered in a cardboard box about 18"x18"x12".

Our Greengroceries came from Wiltons a few doors up from Boots. There was also a Grocer called Gaimans on the Corner of the Droke which lead to Portsmouth Dairies and the other Greengrocers were Peter's next door but one to Seals and also Leals in Spur Road. Our milk was delivered every day including Sunday from Gauntletts Dairy in Stakes Road, Waterlooville. our bread was delivered 3 times a week from Campions near the top of the High Street and our meat came from Pinks in the lower part of the Street. You chose your meat at the counter and then went to an Office which was like an ornate Glass Fronted Wooden Box, where Miss Rickman took your money and they would also deliver.

Working down the High street from Albert Road, was Weston Harts where I bought my first two vinyl singles - Smoke gets in your eyes, The Platters and Move It, Cliff Richard. Next to Weston Harts was the first supermarket in Cosham, Victor Value. Next was Naylors the Optician then a dry cleaners where they used to sit in the window and do invisible mending of nylons. then came a Doctors Surgery with Doctor's Sladen, Sampson & Woolas amongst others and then Chapmans Laundry. Then there was the Droke ( an Alley that went through to Mulberry Lane). Then Gaimans Grocers, Peters Greengrocers, Mays Fishshop, Smith and Vospers the Bakers and Seals Cycle and Toy shop where we used to take the accumulator out of our old Valve radio to get it re-charged for 3d. Then there was Magdalla Road with Christopher's Shoe Shop on the Corner, then a little jewellers then Hoar's sweet shop where we used to buy 2 Woodbines or Weights Fags and Penny Bangers and 1d Trebor Chews.

Going back to Timothy whites and Taylors, their Store was on the western side of the High Street, which was opposite Boots on the corner of Albert Road.

The other thing of interest was the Blue Police Telephone Box outside of Weston Harts, which used to keep dinging until the Beat Bobby came by to answer it, by which time, the person ringing from the Police Station, had probably forgotten why they were phoning in the first place.

Thanks Peter that was great. I remember most of what you are saying and I too bought my first record in Weston Harts except mine was Nairobi by Tommy Steele on a 78rpm!!!!

Take Care

Peter

DUSTYKEAT@aol.com
Pj.keat@ntlworld.com

YOU WRITE:
John’s Highbury Memories
Peter - whilst accepting there was no pub on the estate there was the "Portsbridge" at the beginning of Highbury Grove and an off-licence at the junction of Chatsworth Avenue/Dovercourt Road. The school that Mike refers to last week was, in fact, originally built as a community centre for the estate but taken over as the social club for Southern Electricity. It was used in the late 40's as a satellite for Court lane Infants - as was the hall at St Philips Church and the Tudor Drill Hall.

With regard to your comment that this was a badly designed estate does not take into account that it was complete in itself with shops at the junction of Chatsworth Avenue and both Pitrieve Road & Dovercourt Road providing most of the needs for the locals. You also mention the swimming adjacent to the railway bridge but not the steps provided at the top of Chatsworth Avenue which - I understand - was sanded/gravelled by the builders to provide a small beach.

NEWS AND VIEWS:

ON THIS DAY 15TH NOVEMBER 1960-1965

On 15/11/1960 the number one single was It's Now Or Never - Elvis Presley and the number one album was South Pacific Soundtrack. 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 and Tottenham Hotspur were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions.

On 15/11/1961 the number one single was Little Sister/His Latest Flame - Elvis Presley and the number one album was Another Black & White Minstrell Show - George Mitchell Minstrels. The top rated TV show was Coronation Street (Granada) 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 15/11/1962 the number one single was Lovesick Blues - Frank Ifield and the number one album was West Side Story Soundtrack. 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 15/11/1963 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 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 15/11/1964 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 15/11/1965 the number one single was Get Off Of My Cloud - Rolling Stones and the number one album was Liverpool. 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. The big news story of the day was Take Your Pick (AR)".

Web Page No 784

Firstly you will notice that I have opened a new section on the blog, ie school photo’s. I have put some there this week and I will add another one or so every week to complete the collection, at the moment I have 51 different pics from school days (not including the one of me with various young ladies!!!) so if you have any school pics to add to the list send them along so we can all share them. Also in the lower section are pics of the 60’s but not of school.




FIRST PICTURE: THE MARSHALL CAP SIX-GUN




SECOND PICTURE: THE TRADITIONAL GAME OF CONKERS.





ANOTHER LOOK AT THE PAST

£sd


To us born in the 1940’s this was pre-decimalization money not the happy pills that the letters became associated with in the 60’s . A ha’penny was half a penny, good for 4 mojos or fruitsalads at the newsagent. Tu’pence was two penny's not a separate coin, but thru’pence was a thru’penny bit; thick, brass and with 12 sides. A silver sixpence was a tanner, a good choking size for Christmas puddings and for much of my young life the tooth fairies standard rate. 12 pennies made a shilling or bob. A half-crown was 2 shillings and sixpence, a big substantial coin and my weekly pocket money later. We knew about the half crown but we never saw a full crown. Notes started at 10 shillings or 10 bob note, these and postal orders for any amount are why my generation still shake their birthday cards when they open them. Posh stuff was priced in guineas, but I have no idea why. Everyone always mocks the eccentricity of 12 pennies to the shilling, 20 shillings to the pound but it was a very practical currency. 12 is a very sharing number, divisible by 2, 3, 4 & 6. Base 10 is great for mathematics but less useful for divvying up when small people have their hands out expectantly. The tables necessary to convert old pennies to new pence in the 70's were quite something. Mind you some old fashioned shop keepers for ages refused to use the new money and carried on pricing in LSD, even though that was.
Conker Season
Crazes would suddenly happen at school and in the streets, some sort of toy or game would suddenly become popular. Stilts might appear but I never knew anyone who bought stilts, they were universally made by Dad. Conkers, marbles, bubble gum cards would suddenly show up at school for no reason and dominate the playground as would yo-yo’s, marbles and toy cars. Conkers was a profit making season for me as the next door neighbour had an enormous Horse Chestnut tree in their garden and it shed most of its conkers in our garden and I made some extra pocket money selling them by the bag. Our Comics would do promotions every now and then when circulation flagged. They would give away a cheap free gift like a flash banger - a triangular fold of paper that would unfurl with a bang when flicked. I liked the plastic pop gun; powered with enough extra elastic bands you could get a pencil to almost penetrate a cornflake packet. The free submarine which worked on Baking Powder was popular; and what was the point of the cardboard thing with the cuts that allowed you to put a policeman’s head on a ballet dancer’s torso with a footballers legs? Clickers were another pointless freebie. a piece of metal stressed so it "clicked" when bent, oh the long winter evenings just flew by...

Comics always carried adverts for instant stamp collector kits.
Cereal manufactures would do the free gift promotions too. They would put stickers in the box, transfers that you rubbed a pen over to make them stick on a scene printed on the box, divers and underwater, a space scene, you could place your transfers anywhere you liked, and they got everywhere. You could also collect packet tops and send away for something big, made in Hong Kong.
We had uncles and grandparents who had seen war, some of them two. If they hadn't, then they'd done National Service where they'd seen foreign parts. There were tales to tell either way.

Some of my friends still had air raid shelters in the garden (ours was filled in), some were concrete, some corrugated iron. We played in them, and people grew rhubarb near them or raspberries up them. Us lads all wore short trousers of course, changing to long trousers was a right of passage to start the growing up process. Long trousers on a kid would wear out too fast; bare knees were self repairing, more or less.

Central heating at home meant the fireplace and you learned to keep the doors closed behind you. Carpets were definitely not wall to wall and a fireguard was placed up front to protect the rug and the cat from tumbling coals. There was a big concrete bunker in the back garden for storing the coal which was delivered by a bloke from the Co-op (Mum wanted her divi) in a Donkey Jacket hefting Hundredweight bags of coal d into the bunker. Coal came in canvas bags with a round metal seal on the top attached by wire, from the bunker coal was taken into the house in a scuttle that stood by the fire ready for a top up, putting more coal on was very manly to small boys. Fires had to be cleaned out and produced "clinkers", twisted and fused sculptures of ash and coal, smashed up gleefully with the poker.
The local Newsagent sold everything from shoelaces to Plasticine and Newspapers of course. It closed at 5pm and like everything else only opened a half day on Wednesdays. If you needed anything; from petrol to food, after 6pm you were out of luck. Only Off-licenses opened at night, Sunday of course everything was shuttered and closed. On the other hand, if you were sick, the doctor would come to visit you, at your own bedside, 24 hours a day 7 days a week.
Furniture was a three piece suite and a sideboard and a pouffe if you were posh. Kids got the pouffe or the floor. The sideboard had everything crammed into it, booze in the cupboards, bills in the top drawer and knitting needles in the middle ones. On top was a fruit tray that never saw any fruit and a biscuit barrel.
A washing machine never appeared in our house in fact in her whole lifetime my mother never owned a washing machine. Washing was hung on the line and carrying the laundry basket and handing up clothes pegs was another kid duty. Wet shirts flapping into your face was one memory, synchronizing hands and walking together to fold sheets was another and
everything was ironed.

I loved getting guns; cap, spud or dried pea. Can you still buy caps? Newsagents and toy stores sold them, thin strips of paper with a tiny blob of gunpowder, they came in little round paper cases the size of a bottle top. Caps went bang on impact; either just for the noise in cap guns or to actually propel something like a piece of potato. Spud guns never lived up to your expectations. The black Lone Star spud gun looked like a revolver and had a side loading chamber into which you placed a small cartridge with potato embedded at one end and a cap at the other or as many caps as you could get in it. A catapult was the most offensive weapon available and some hardware stores actually sold catapult elastic by the foot, it must have been used for something else, but what?

Take Care

Peter

DUSTYKEAT@aol.com
Pj.keat@ntlworld.com

YOU WRITE:
Martin Writes:-

That teacher in the photo in the gallery on the right with a question mark is Mr. Dennison......PE teacher.......cannot yet remember his first name.


ED : there will be more Highbury Memories next week

NEWS AND VIEWS:
Connie Francis' hometown of Belleville, New Jersey will name the auditorium of Belleville High School, her old school, after her and will dedicate "Connie Francis Court," at the corner of Greylock Parkway and Forest Street where she lived for two years.

ON THIS DAY 1ST NOVEMBER 1960-1965

On 01/11/1960 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 (Granada) 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 01/11/1961 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 (Granada) 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 01/11/1962 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 The Royal Variety Performance (BBC) 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 01/11/1963 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 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 01/11/1964 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 01/11/1965 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. The big news story of the day was 7 die in UK hurricane-force winds.

WEB PAGE NO 782

FIRST PICTURE: MR KEN WELLS WAS THE METAL WORK TEACHER AT MANOR COURT. KEN PASSED AWAY ABOUT 18 MONTHS AGO.


SECOND PICTURE: SOMETHING FROM THE PAST A SCAMMELL MECHANICAL HORSE USED BY THE BRITISH ROAD SERVICES DIVISION OF BRITISH RAILWAYS. THESE WERE OFTEN SEEN DELIVERING AROUND THE TOWN IN THE 1960’S. THIS PICTURE WAS TAKEN AT A RALLY AT GOODWOOD RACE TRACK IN MAY!


THOSE NOT SO SMALL SHOPS.

Shopping when we were kids were as a very different experience than it is today. I know in pat mailings I have dealt with the corner shop and local deliveries (way before Tesco’s You Shop We Drop, it’s funny how things come round again!) and before the giant supermarkets of today. I know that the first supermarket in the country was a Coop store in Southsea but at that time it was the small chains of shops that held sway in the High Street.

The Home and Colonial Store, or to give it its full name The Home and Colonial Tea Store was one of the leaders in this field. These stores were distinguished by having the name displayed in gold on ceramic tiles inside their shop windows and the fact that all their counter assistants wore long white aprons. The Home and Colonial, as far as I know never progressed into supermarkets not like their rivals The International Stores, again the complete title was The International Tea Stores. This was originally a Cambridge company which was set up to do exactly what its name suggested, dealing with groceries, mainly tea, from all over the world. Over the years it grew and had stores all over the country. The International Stores Group was taken over by British American Tabacco (BAT) in 1972, later the Dee Corporation took control and changed the shop names to Gateway and now Somerfield. Other companies in the International Stores Group were, Payantake, Priceright and Ridgways Tea.

Moving on I remember the David Greig store that was at the top of Cosham High Street just up from Ye Olde Sweet Shoppe on the corner of Spur Road. My mother was a devotee of this shop and every Saturday morning we had to get the bus to Cosham to do the weekends shopping in David Greigs. David Greig was the supermarket chain of the Greig family. With its grocery stores across Britain it was at one time a rival to the ever growing Sainsburys. There was actually personal rivalry between the two families dating back many years. The first store was opened in in 1888 and by the 1960s there were more than 160 stores across the country but the company collapsed after the payment of crippling death duties when several of the men in the family died in quick succession.

Another of the popular stores at the time was Macfisheries I really do not know a vast amount about this company so al I can do is direct you to its fascinating web site which can be found at http://www.macfisheries.co.uk/index.htm

One non-food store which had its home in Portsmouth was Timothy White’s, later Timothy White & Taylor Ltd. It was taken over by Boots in 1968, who briefly retained the brand for a chain of kitchenware shops. The dominance of the chains in the market was so high that saying "I'm just going to Boots" or "I'm just going to Timothy White's" as a line in a novel or play would be immediately understood that someone was going to the chemist's and with no further explanation being necessary. It is amazing how far the influence of Timothy White’s streched as there were references to it in episodes of "Dads Army" and in “Monty Python's Flying Circus” one of the characters refers to"Timothy White's suncream". The store I remember was again in Cosham High Street on the corner of Albert Road, opposite Weston Harts electrical and record shop but that is another story.

Pinks is the store I really remember and the shop which I knew best was the one on the south side of the Havant Road in Drayton. This was a real old fashioned place, the sort of place where there was a seat for the ladies by the counter, the cheese was cut from a block with a cheese wire, bacon was still sliced on the hand driven Berkel slicer, butter was cut from a block with special butter pats and sugar came loose and was weighed loose into blue paper cones. Ahhhhhhhhhh those were the days.

What other stores have disappeared from Cosham High Street over the past few years? Weston Harts as I have already mentioned, Ditman and Malpas the Corn and Seed Factors who had a large outlet on the western side of the High Street almost opposte Weston Harts. Mendalls the furniture store near the crossing gates and is Whitmore Jones still there?

In town many old names have gone Rumblelows, Seals, Picket and Purser, Saqusi & Laurence, LDB, the Shirt King and the Chocolate King and many many more.

Mens outfitters also seem to be in short supply today as well. What happened to Weaver to Wearer, Dunn & Co, Hepworths or John Colloier John Collier the window to watch? And girls serving in Burtons that was unheard of. I really must be getting old!



Take Care

Peter

DUSTYKEAT@aol.com
Pj.keat@ntlworld.com

YOU WRITE:

Geraldine sent me this warning:-
Just last weekend on Friday night we parked in a public
car park. As we drove away I noticed a sticker on the
rear window of the car. When I took it off after I got home, it was a receipt for petrol. Luckily my friend told me not to stop as it could be someone waiting for me to get out of the car.Then we received this email yesterday.

WARNING FROM POLICE

THIS APPLIES TO BOTH WOMEN AND MEN

BEWARE OF PAPER ON THE BACK WINDOW OF YOUR VEHICLE-- NEW WAY TO DO CARJACKINGS (NOT A JOKE)'

Heads up everyone! Please, keep this circulating.. You walk across the car park, unlock your car and get inside You start the engine put it into Reverse. . When you look into the rearview mirror to back out of your
space, you notice a piece of paper stuck to the middle
of the rear window. So, you stop and jump out of your car to remove that paper (or whatever it is) that is obstructing your view.
When you reach the back of your car, that is when the carjackers appear out of nowhere, jump into your car and take off. They practically run you over as they speed off in your car.

And guess what, ladies? I bet your purse is still in the car.
So now the carjacker has your car, your home address, your
money, and your keys. Your home and your whole identity are
now compromised!


BEWARE OF THIS NEW SCHEME THAT IS NOW BEING USED.

If you see a piece of paper stuck to your back window, lock your doors and just drive away.
Remove the paper later. And be thankful that you
read this e-mail. I hope you will forward this to friends and family, especially to women. A purse contains all kinds of personal information and identification documents, and you certainly do NOT want this to fall into the wrong hands.

Please tell all your friends


NEWS AND VIEWS:
Sad to say that one of our school contemporaries died last week Linda Mack passed away after a long struggle against illness. We send our sympathy to her sister Sandra and all the family.
Al Martino, the Italian crooner who charted 37 times died on October 13th in his Pennsylvania home at the age of 82. Born Alfred Cini in south Philadelphia in 1927, He worked as a bricklayer before joining the Marines (where he was wounded in the invasion of Iwo Jima), all the while hoping to be a singer like his friend Mario Lanza. Upon his return he adopted his grandfather's surname and began work in New York nightclubs, eventually winning a recording contract with Capitol Records in 1952. His first single, "Here In My Heart" topped the charts that year and was followed by "Take My Heart". Unfortunately, this drew the attention of organized crime figures, who bought out his management contract. He fled to England and had no American chart records for the next seven years, until a friend was able to work out his safe return in 1958. Over the next twenty years, he had six top 20 hits. He possibly is best remembered for the role of Johnny Fontane in "The Godfather" trilogy of movies, which many say was based on Frank Sinatra, a claim Al always denied.

ON THIS DAY 1ST NOVEMBER 1960-1965

On 01/11/1960 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 (Granada) 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 01/11/1961 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 (Granada) 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 01/11/1962 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 The Royal Variety Performance (BBC) 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 01/11/1963 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 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.

The big On 01/11/1964 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 01/11/1965 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.The big news story of the day was 7 die in UK hurricane-force winds.

Web Page 780

FIRST PICTURE: SGT ERNIE BILKO




SECOND PICTURE: THE LONG FORGOTTEN MINIATURE TRAIN AT HILSEA.













BILKO OR THE PHIL SILVERS SHOW ‘YOU’LL NEVER GET RICH’.

The Phil Silvers Show (originally entitled You'll Never Get Rich) was one of the most popular American comedy television series which ran from 1955 to 1959 for a total of 143 episodes (including a 1959 special).The series starred Phil Silvers as Master Sergeant Ernest G. Bilko of the United States Army. The series was created and written by Nat Hiken and won three consecutive Emmy Awards for Best Comedy Series. The show is sometimes titled Sergeant Bilko or simply Bilko in reruns. The show's success transformed Phil Silvers from a jobbing comedian into a major star.

By 1955, most American television had moved to Los Angeles, but Nat Hiken insisted on filming the series in New York City. Early episodes were filmed at Dumont's television centre in New York (with later episodes shot at the CBS Studios in the Chelsea, Manhattan. Most of the series was made to simulate a live performance. The actors memorized their lines, as in a play, and performed the scenes in sequence before a studio audience. Thus, there are occasional awkward pauses. This method of filming changed when Mike Todd made a guest appearance and refused to memorize the script. He insisted on the episode being filmed like a Hollywood movie, one scene at a time, and out of sequence. It was found that Todd's way was faster, cheaper, and was less demanding for the actors, so the series changed production methods. The finished films were screened for a live audience, whose response was recorded and added to the soundtracks.

Bilko's right-hand men were Cpl. Rocco Barbella and Cpl. Steve Henshaw. The large supporting cast included Private Sam Fender, the slovenly Private Duane Doberman and Private Dino Paparelli. Some episodes gave Bilko a romantic interest (with Sgt. Joan Hogan). Paul Ford (Col. Hall) was notorious for forgetting his lines and when he would get a blank expression on his face, the cast knew that they had to do something. They would then say something to the effect of "Oh you remember Colonel, the top brass is coming." At that point, Ford would pick up where he left off and the audience would respond by laughing.

The series was originally set in Fort Baxter, a sleepy U.S. Army base in the fictional town of Roseville, Kansas. Master Sergeant Ernest G. Bilko trying to wheedle money through various get-rich-quick scams usually behind the back of Col. Hall with his soldiers regularly helping him. Through it all, the platoon was fiercely loyal to Bilko and would depend on him to get them out of any military misfortune.

The show's setting changed with the fourth season, when the men of Fort Baxter were reassigned to Camp Fremont in California. This mass transfer was explained as being the inadvertent result of a Bilko con gone wrong. In reality, creator Hiken had left and it was an excuse to move the production to California and fill the episodes with guest appearances from nearby Hollywood.


In the series finale, Bilko discovers a cook who is the exact double of Colonel Hall. Bilko hires him to impersonate the colonel, so he can cheat the other officers in a bogus charity effort. The real Colonel Hall learns of the scam, and Bilko, Henshaw, and Barbella end up being locked in the guardhouse. As Colonel Hall looks at his prisoners on a closed-circuit TV he says "It's a wonderful show, and as long as I'm the sponsor, it will never be cancelled." The camera cuts to Bilko finally behind bars who waves to the camera and says, "Th-th-that's all, folks!" So ended the series.


Phil Silvers was born Philip Silversmith in Brooklyn the youngest of eight children in a Russian Jewish family. His father was one of the workers on the early New York skyscrapers. He started entertaining at age 11, when he would sing in theatres when the projector broke down. Two years later, he left school to sing professionally, before appearing in vaudeville as a stooge. He worked in short films for the Vitaphone studio and on Broadway. He made his major film debut in ‘Hit Parade of 1941’. Over the next two decades, he appeared in films for MGM, Columbia, and 20th Century Fox, in such films as ‘Lady Be Good’, ‘Coney Island’, ‘Cover Girl’, and ‘Summer Stock’.

A little known fact is that Phil Silvers wrote the lyrics for Frank Sinatra's "Nancy (With the Laughing Face)". Although he was not a songwriter, he wrote the lyrics on a whim while visiting Sinatra's home with composer Jimmy Van Heusen and meeting Sinatrs’s daughter.

He became a household name in 1955 when he starred as Sergeant Ernest G. Bilko in The Phil Silvers Show. Throughout the 1960s he appeared in films such as ‘It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World’ and ‘40 Pounds of Trouble’. He was featured in Marilyn Monroe's last film, the unfinished ‘Something's Got to Give’. In 1967 he starred in ‘Carry On, Follow That Camel’. He also appeared as a guest on The Beverly Hillbillies, The Carol Burnett Show, Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In, and The Dean Martin Show.

In 1972, he suffered a stroke from which he never fully recovered. Despite his poor health, he continued working into the early 1980s including an appearance on Happy Days as the father of "Jenny Piccolo" (played by his real-life daughter Cathy Silvers). He died on November 1, 1985 in Century City, California at the age of 74. The cause of death was a heart attack. He was interred at Mount Sinai Memorial Park in Los Angeles, California.

A few years ago a remake of Sgt Bolko was made staring Steve Martin but this was a poor shadow of the original.

Take Care

Peter

DUSTYKEAT@aol.com
Pj.keat@ntlworld.com

YOU WRITE:

Steve writes:-
Hi Peter, reading your blog and the announcement of the upcoming solid silver 60s tour and P.J.Proby, reminded me of a conversation I had with a second hand record shop owner in Evesham some years back.

According to this chap P.J.Proby lives or did live in Evesham and the Man himself used to frequent his emporium occasionally.

The shop owner also ran the Billie Davis fan club and had met her a few times and She was currently (back then)touring with Jet Harris the ex and original bass player in The Shadows.

I was taking this info at face value only unless.....someone out there knows better?

NEWS AND VIEWS:

Elvis Presley's 17 year-old grandson, Benjamin, has been offered a $5 million, five-album deal by Universal Music. "The music will be nothing like Elvis, nothing like him at all," said the teenager.


ON THIS DAY 24TH OCTOBER 1960-1965

On 24/10/1960 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 Take Your Pick (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.

On 24/10/1961 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 Coronation Street (Granada) 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 Britain grants Malta autonomy.

On 24/10/1962 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. The big news story of the day was Cuban Missile Crisis. Very scary at the time.

On 24/10/1963 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 24/10/1964 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 (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 24/10/1965 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 778

FIRST PICTURE: SOME OF THE ORIGINAL FITTINGS THAT CAME WITH THE HOUSE WHEN A PURCHASER BOUGHT A HOUSE ON THE HIGHBURY ESTATE.





SECOND PICTURE: A BLAST FROM THE PAST A ROYAL BLUE COACH PASSING THROUGH FAREHAM IN JUNE THIS YEAR.


Three programmes from our Youth


ALL OUR YESTERDAYS

This was an ITV documentary series featuring archive news footage of the previous 25 years. Unusually its duration time was only 20 minute duration and ran for two series. 1960 - 73. 1987 - 89.

It was of Granada Television's most successful series of all time, and began in 1960 and was presented by James Cameron who linked together edited version of two 1930s cinema newsreels from the same week twenty-five years ago. In 1961 Brian Inglis took over and it was with him that the programme became best remembered.

Each programme took a somewhat light-hearted look at past life; but by 1964 it took on much more serious overtones as it concerned itself with the outbreak of World War Two. In fact a friend of my mothers saw her husband going off to war on film and unfortunately he never came home again. This really upset her and she wrote and complained to Granada who sent a standard letter of apology in reply. Studio guests and newspaper articles were used to get a flavour of the time. The programme continued with the war years throughout the rest of the 1960s and in the early 1970s took a look at post war austerity and how the Britain came to terms with the after-effects of the conflict. 'All Our Yesterdays' finished in 1973 after thirteen years. The series was revived in 1987 and was presented by Bernard Braden, utilising footage from the archives of Granada, ITN and Pathe Newsreel-but it finally disappeared from our screens in 1989.

Animal Magic

Who can forget this unique BBC programme all 440 half hour episodes of it between 1962 and 1984!

Presented by Johnny Morris 'Animal Magic' was a firm children's favourite on BBC television for 21 years. Johnny Morris had previously hosted a radio show in the West Country in which he became a jack-of-all-trades, doing other people's jobs for a day. The shows were 15 minute slots and went out under the title 'Pass The Salt.' Later on he became television's Hot Chestnut Man, telling a weekly self-penned children's story whilst standing on a street corner waiting to sell his next bag of hot chestnuts from his barrow. It proved hugely popular and ran for 8 years. The year after he finished with The Hot Chestnut Man, he was asked to host a new show when the BBC's Natural History Unit was formed. It was thought that the show should be about animals that was instructive and entertaining. It was said that "Children love animals and they love magic," so it was called 'Animal Magic.'" Originally the programme staggered along to start with until a new producer was found and it was under him that Johnny Morris became the zookeeper who was responsible for looking after all the animals at Bristol Zoo. You never saw the boss - he was a voice off-stage who shouted out from time to time, 'Morris, what do you think you are doing?”

In order to get close up Johnny would often enter the animal's cages as a nervous cameraman filmed him. Mostly, the cameraman took as little equipment as possible into the cages because once a young gorilla ripped a tripod from a camera man's grasp and hit him over the head with it. Oddly enough it was years before the BBC realised that they hadn't taken out an insurance policy on their star presenter. In spite of its success, 'Animal Magic' drew criticism. To make animals appear as though they were talking was absolutely unscientific and complaints were received that it was a cheap way to entertain children. Despite this 'Animal Magic' became a runaway success and soon other nations zoos realised they had increased attendances. 'Animal Magic' was very much a show of the 1960s. The zoos may have provided the animals, but it was Johnny Morris who provided the magic.

OUT OF TOWN


Out of Town was a hugely successful series from our local station Southern Television that ran for 25 years, each episode presented by Jack Hargreaves offering viewers an insight into rural life of years gone by, as well as their dwindling traditions.

Jack Hargreaves effortlessly managed to cross the generation gap and imparted his knowledge of country life of times gone by. Up to the age of 17 he went to a market every Wednesday at 6mph behind a grey pony called Quicksilver. At 23 he sailed to America in five days on the Aquitania to take part in a programme called 'The March of Time'. He had listened with earphones to Big Ben chiming midnight on 31st December 1921: this was 2LO, the first station of the British Broadcasting Company. As an army cadet he learned to shoot a Lee Enfield rifle and was blown up in Antwerp by a V2. At 22 he became associated a radio entertainment and when he was 44 he was asked to do a few television programmes about the old country life.
but he believed people had little interest in the past. How wrong he was as 'Out of Town' on for 25 years.

Jack Hargreaves was not born a country boy he came from North London on the last day of 1911, to James and Ada Hargreaves. Jack (christened John Herbert) was one of three brothers. The family was rooted in Huddersfield but in his youth Jack was placed by his mother with old family friends at Burston Hill Farm north of Aylesbury. Later, he went on to study at the Royal Veterinary College at London University, but left to earn a living as a copywriter, journalist and script writer for radio and films. By the late thirties he had established a enviable reputation.

With the outbreak of war in 1939, it was recognised that broadcasting would become an important part of the war effort and his talents meant he would possibly be recruited by radio. However, he wanted active service and joined the Royal Artillery as a private. He working his way up to an NCO and entered the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst and then commissioned into the Royal Tank Regiment. He could not escape his reputation as a communicator and was recruited to the staff of General Montgomery to help setting up broadcasting services to allied forces before and after D-Day. He left the army in 1945 as a major.

After the war, he returned to the media and during the 1950s became editor of the magazines 'Lilliput' and Picture Post. He was recruited to the National Farmers Union by Lord Netherthorpe and developed the NFU's Information Department, founding the 'British Farmer' magazine. In 1959, as representative of the NFU, Jack was sent to Southern Television to talk to Roy Rich following an inaccurate TV programme on 'meat marketing', that had incensed the union. From that, Southern Television began a series called 'Farm in the South'. and Jack was offered the post of programme maker and assistant programme controller, which he accepted. Roy Rich he'd heard Jack was a bit of a fisherman, and asked if he would he take a cameraman and catch a fish for them live on air. Once again Rich was impressed and offered Jack the chance to do another show like the last one. Allegedly, Jack replied "I'll do six, for a lark!" and Rich said okay. Those six shows went out under the title 'Gone Fishing'. The signature tune to 'Gone Fishing' was sung by Bing Crosby and Louis Armstrong 28 editions of the programme were made.
'Gone Fishing' led straight into 'Out of Town' which began in 1963. An article in 'Television and Radio 1978', informed viewers that 'whether it shows the shoeing of horses, angling or rabbiting, 'Out of Town' presents a complete and unsentimental picture of country life in all its aspects. It is not a programme solely about fishing, nature or gardening, but all of these things as they effect the countryman; if it is interesting and part of country life it will be in the programme.' Jack received a 1972 silver award from the Royal Television Society for outstanding creative achievement in television in front of the camera, and later still an OBE from the Queen.

Jack Hargreaves became a household name in England during the 1960s and 70s. He devised and co-presented the long running 'How! shown from 1966 until 1981 when Southern Television lost its franchise. His country TV programmes continued in the 1980s with 'Country Boy' and 'Old Country' for C4. Jack Hargreaves passed away on 15th March 1994. The series may well be a distant memory, but its legacy lives on. The Inner London Education Authority found Jack a fifty acre farm at Beaulieu, Hampshire where a hostel was built called the 'Out Of Town Centre', to show children what rural ways and life in the English countryside were really like. Jack regarded this as his retirement project and, still going strong today as part of the Countryside Education Trust.
Take Care

Peter

DUSTYKEAT@aol.com
Pj.keat@ntlworld.com

YOU WRITE:

NEWS AND VIEWS:
To be confirmed
Next spring, the Solid Silver 60s tour will be The Troggs, Swinging Blue Jeans, plus Vanity Fare who will back Brian Poole, Dave Berry and Mike Pender.
In the autumn, The Searchers undertake a large tour, with Gerry and The Pacemakers, PJ Proby and The Tremeloes with Chip Hawkes

ON THIS DAY 17TH OCTOBER 1960-1965

On 17/10/1960 the number one single was Tell Laura I Love Her - Ricky Valance 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.


On 17/10/1961 the number one single was Michael - The Highwaymen 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.


On 17/10/1962 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. The big news story of the day was Hyde Park Underpass opens.

On 17/10/1963 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. The big news story of the day was Macmillan resigns as Prime Minister.

On 17/10/1964 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 Brezhnev replaces Krushchev.

On 17/10/1965 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. The big news story of the day was Lesley Ann Downey's body found on Pennines.

Web Page No 776

FIRST PICTURE: THIS SOMETHING THAT MOST OF US LADS COULD DO WITH THESE DAYS, A ‘BEATLE WIG’.


SECOND PICTURE: IT WAS THE CAMERA FOR THE MASSES BOTH POST WAR AND PRE WAR, THE KODAK BOX BROWNIE.




Smile Please and watch the Birdie

One of the things that have changed out of all recognition since we were kids is they way we take photographs and the number of picture we take today.

My first camera was bought second hand from a Boy Scout Jumble Sale in the Scout Hut in Farlington and was a Kodak Eastman Box Brownie. A very basic box with a shutter release on the side, very slow shutter speed and not at all tolerant of bad light conditions. The first Brownie, was introduced in February 1900 and was a very basic cardboard box camera with a simple lens that took 2¼-inch square pictures on 120 roll film.

In my early teens I was bought for Christmas 1960 a Kodak Brownie 127, millions of which were sold between 1952 and 1967. The Brownie 127 was a simple bakelite camera which used 127 roll film. This was cutting edge technology at the time Three models of the 127 were produced. Model 1 introduced in 1952 and Model 2 in 1959 (this was mine) had a side in orange filter but I never found out what it was supposed to be used for. The model 2 was discontinued in 1963. However the brand identity was so strong that two years later a model 3 was introduced and was produced for four years. Despite sharing the name, this was a complete redesign, with little in common with the original models. They all had the famous Kodak logo on the front and the model 2 the selling price in 1960 was £1 4s 6d. The model 2 originally took 8 6 x 4 pictures on a roll of film but this was soon stepped up to 12 4 x 4 pictures. In those days a roll of film, which was developed at the chemist, was expensive to process so a roll or two would probably have lasted you all year. It was at this time that my father an I set up dark room in the kitchen and developed and printed our own black and white prints. This was a relatively easy process as the negatives were the same size as the prints so an expensive enlarger was not needed. I then progressed on to having a flash gun with single use flash bulbs for inside work, with this new innovation we did debate going into colour processing but the chemicals were too expensive so when colour became popular it was the long walk back to the Chemist.


From the 127 type of camera things rapidly developed with the mass production of SLR (single lens reflex) cameras and the introduction of German and Japanese products at affordable prices. Most of us had one or more of these with their interchangeable lens whilst the ladies carries those small flat miniature cameras, the Instamatic type, that would fit into a handbag, I know my wife did.

From here technology moved onto Polaroid cameras and other self-processing cameras. I am not going to touch other sorts of cameras, the 8mm cine camera which progressed onto the Super 8 and if you were really good 16mm. Then on to video and huge video cameras down to the one I have now which I can put into my pocket.

But look at today all this has been bypassed and even the transparency market is falling off with the introduction of the instant view and easily printed digital camera which most of us have now.

All very efficient and we no longer have to work out exposures, lens settings, shutter speeds and the ASA speed of the film. A little gismo within our modern cameras does all this for us and gives great results but somehow we seemed to have lost the challenge of composing and taking a good picture. And all this can be done just as easily on you mobile phone today!!!!!!!


So stay in touch
Peter

DUSTYKEAT@aol.com
Pj.keat@ntlworld.com

YOU WRITE:

Ray Writes:

Thanks as always for your, so interesting' articles and here is some additional notes on the song: Diggin' My Potatoes was the second track on side B of the E.P. released on Decca DFE 6345 under the title "the LONNIE DONEGAN Skiffle Group", (how imaginative was that?) following behind "Bury My Body", another track which didn't meet with BBC approval at the time, both tracks having been recorded at the Royal Festival Hall on October 30th 1954. Side one consisted of "Rock Island Line" and "John Henry" which was a studio recording made on July 13th 1954. I have a (almost mint) copy of the original EP here in front of me although the cover is a little discoloured (as am I!!) but not too surprising after 50 years


NEWS AND VIEWS:

A survey of sales of records over the years has led to a definitive list of the top 40 selling Beatles singles in the UK. "She Loves You" is no.1 and "I Want To Hold Your Hand" is no.2, followed by "Can't Buy Me Love," "I Feel Fine" and "Day Tripper/We Can Work It Out."


ON THIS DAY 10TH OCTOBER 1960-1965 +2

I know I normally only cover 1960-65 but today I have to cover 1967 as well as it was our wedding day!!!

On 10/10/1960 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 10/10/1961 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 10/10/1962 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 10/10/1963 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 10/10/1964 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 10/10/1965 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 10/10/1967 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. The big news story of the day was Che Guevara confirmed dead and there was a very interesting wedding in St Andrews Church in Farlington!

3rd October 2009

Web Page No 774


FIRST PICTURE: POST WAR ROAD SIGNS.







SECOND PICTURE: THE TRADITIONAL PHONE BOX WITH BUTTONS ‘A’ AND ‘B’.




On the Streets


Walking along the street the other day I came to a set of traffic lights and as I waited I remembered that when we were kids each set of traffic lights were preceded by a rubber counting strip set into the tarmac. It was always a challenge for us to jump up and down on the strip to try to get the light to change, of course it never worked as we were far too light to make any impact on the mechanism but we would always try. But then I thought, with the coming of electronics we do not see these strips any more, when did they go? I really do not know. This naturally set me off to thinking about other street items we no longer see.


The first thing I thought about was lamps and lamp posts. In the 1960’s most of the major roads were illuminated by large square glass lamps which gave off an eerie blue glow which made everyone look as though they were dead! But the minor roads were lit by what looked like conventional light bulbs (I assume they were a different voltage from the domestic ones, otherwise they would not have lasted long), which gave a warm yellowish glow. From the top of Portsdown hill looking down on Portsmouth the scene showed a fascinating view of different coloured lights all over the city. Today, of course, the City is lit wholly by modern lights with their bright orange glow, far more efficient than the old ones but nowhere near as pretty from a distance! Associated with street lights were lamp posts and in the minor roads these were silver painted cast items with the city crest set into the door at the bottom. This also applied to the long disused tram poles that survived in certain areas in the city and the trolley bus poles.

Something else which is long gone is the policeman on point duty, standing in the middle of a cross roads keeping traffic moving. For greater visibility the Officer would wear long white arm bands on each arm and during evening rush hours in the dark days of winter he was very often illuminated by a big overhead light. Of course the most famous traffic constable was the one on Fratton Bridge, PC ‘Dutch’ Holland, I am sure you all remember him and if you look back at my emails three or four years ago you will find a whole article about him.


Even the road signs have changed! Remember the School sign before the one of the two children stepping off the kerb. The flaming torch was used for many years and affectionately known by generations of school children as the ice cream cone. The hospital sign used to be a black St. Johns cross on white background which was replaced by the simple ‘H’ years ago, but the strange thing is that the sign for an ungated railway crossing is still a steam engine and we have not used them regularly on the main line railway for decades. A sign which has subtly changed is the hill or gradient sign, I knew what a 1 in 12 meant but I have to think what a 20% gradient means!

What else? Bus stop signs without the words ‘Fare Stage’ attached to them, telephone boxes which took pennies and were worked by pushing button ‘A’ and ‘B’. Police boxes small and large like the very large one at the top of the Eastern Road. Bubble gum machines that took ha’pennies and pennies, milk machines, postage stamp machines (where have they gone?), newspapers hanging in racks outside the paper shop, a match stand on the counter of the tobacconists for the convenience of the smoker. Those were the days when you just turned up at the doctors and waited to be seen and did not have to telephone (if you had one) for an appointment and if you asked for a home visit your own doctor actually turned up on your doorstep.


Flashing Belisha Beacons, road sweepers with their hand carts, drain cleaners with long snorkels which sucked up the muck and dustmen who carried the dustbins on their shoulders and emptied them into side filling lorries.

Ah well so much for memories, I am sure you can add a whole list of things to the items that I have mentioned. I look forward to hearing from you.


So stay in touch
Peter

DUSTYKEAT@aol.com
Pj.keat@ntlworld.com

YOU WRITE:
Peter Writes: -

I have recently read your Manor Court Update. I went through school at Court Lane from Infants to Juniors to senior Secondary Modern at Court Lane School in Hillary Avenue. Manor Court started as I left the 5th year in September 1958. I now live in Murcia, Espania. I started school at Court Lane Infants in 1948 having first attended a preparatory school in Carmarthen Avenue Run by a Miss Neville. My parents had a Chemist Shop in Cosham High Street, "Bakers of Cosham". Every morning, A miss Woodman picked my brother Robert and I up in the High Street, And walked with us along the Havant Road to Carmarthen Avenue, where she was a helper/teacher.

In 1948, I started at Court Lane Infants School which was at the Salisbury Road End of the School. This was before the new infants school was built at the other end of the site at the Court Lane End. In the same part of the infants school, was the Junior Girls school and after a gap, was the Boy's school, Juniors and seniors. I remember my parents taking me there on the first day of term in September and handing me over to the Head Mistress Miss Henderson. I seem to remember my first teacher was a Mrs Wallis? there was also Miss Haysom. We sat at very old fashioned desk's with an old canvas bag attached to the back of the chair for our books. I remember the names of one or two of the other children in my class. There was Elizabeth Primmer, who lived in Hillary Avenue, Mary Foster, Simon Ward, Pearl Wilson.



Griff Writes:

An elderly man in Queensland had owned a large property for several years. He had a dam in one of the lower paddocks where he had planted mango and avocado trees. The dam had been fixed up for swimming when it was built and he also had some picnic tables placed there in the shade of the fruit trees.

One evening the old farmer decided to go down to the dam to look it over, as he hadn't been there for a while. He grabbed a ten litre bucket to bring back some fruit. As he neared the dam, he heard voices shouting and laughing with glee. As he came closer he saw it was a bunch of young women skinny-dipping in his dam. He made the women aware of his presence and they all went to the deep end.One of the women shouted to him, 'We're not coming out until you leave!' The old man frowned, 'I didn't come down here to watch you ladies swim naked or make you get out of the dam naked.' Holding the bucket up he said....................

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'I'm here to feed the crocodile.'

NEWS AND VIEWS:
Mary Travers, of Peter, Paul & Mary, lost her battle with leukemia at the age of 72. She died in a Danbury, Connecticut hospital on Wednesday September 16th.

ON THIS DAY 3RD OCTOBER 1960-1965

On 03/10/1960 the number one single was Tell Laura I Love Her - Ricky Valance and the number one album was Down Drury Lane to Memory Lane - A Hundred and One Strings. 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.


On 03/10/1961 the number one single was Johnny Remember Me - John Leyton and the number one album was Ipswich Town. The top rated TV show was "Coronation Street (Granada) and the box office smash was One Hundred and One Dalmations. A pound of today's money was worth £not very interesting and 13.25 were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions.The big news story of the day was Sunday Night at the London Palladium (ATV)".


On 03/10/1962 the number one single was She's Not You - Elvis Presley 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 03/10/1963 the number one single was She Loves You - The Beatles 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 03/10/1964 the number one single was I'm Into Something Good - Herman's Hermits 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 03/10/1964 the number one single was I'm Into Something Good - Herman's Hermits 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 03/10/1965 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.

Web Page No 772

FIRST PICTURE: FRANKIE VAUGHAN AT THE HEIGHT OF HIS CAREER




SECOND PICTURE: EAST COSHAM HOUSE WHICH WAS PUT UP FOR SALE IN MAY FOR £1,250.000. THIS WAS MY GREAT UNCLES HOUSE UNFORTUNATELY WE COME FROM THE OTHER SIDE OF THE FAMILY!!!


Another school pal has just come on board, welcome Peter Barlow.


FRANKIE VAUGHAN

He did high kicks, chuckled in the middle of a song, made love to Marilyn Monroe on screen and, at one time, was Britain's most successful popular entertainer. Frankie Vaughan, who died aged 71 in 1999, was loved for himself as well as for his talent. The fact that boys' clubs all over Britain once had plaques and photographs of him in their huts and halls told another part of his story. He gave them his money as well as his talent.

One of the reasons for his huge success was that he was not like the other crooners of his generation. He had a very distinctive style - he wore a tuxedo on stage, and carried a shiny top-hat and a cane. Entertainers had not done that for over twenty years when he hit it big in the early 1950s. His theme song, Give Me The Moonlight- and others like Green Door, Garden Of Eden and Kisses Sweeter Than Wine - were hits at a time that young men were still being enlisted into national service while their girls danced in full frilly full skirts.

Later, in the 1960s, came Tower Of Strength and Loop De Loop. He also recorded the title numbers of shows such as Cabaret, Mame and, biggest of all, Hello Dolly. His voice was also different from other pop singers. It wasn't just the chuckle, which, along with the kick, was always the cue for the girls to scream. You couldn't miss the Liverpool twang - he put that city on the map long before the Beatles made their appearance. But there was something else. Like his idol, Al Jolson, there was much of the music of the synagogue in his voice. In fact, his earliest appearances were singing in the choir at services in Leeds, the city where he grew up.

He was born Frank Abelson in Liverpool his parents struggled to provide a decent home for their son and two daughters. Both parents seemed to spend every waking hour working - his father as an upholsterer, his mother as a seamstress. As a result, young Frank spent a great deal of time with his grandmother. It was she who, indirectly, was responsible for his change of name. When he first went into show business, his agent, Billy Marsh, said that Frank Abelson wasn't the name to get him up in lights. Frank remembered that his grandmother always called him - in her Russian Jewish accent - "my number vawn grandson". So he took her at his word and became Frankie Vaughan.

Before that, he had thought of becoming a boxer. He had taken up boxing at the Lancaster Lads Club, this was the beginning of his life-long connection with the Boys' Club movement. He also studied at Lancaster College of Art, to which had won a scholarship at the age of 14. There, he sang in the dance band but his studies were interrupted by national service in the Royal Army Medical Corps, although he spent most of his time boxing and was an army champion. On demob, he became a student teacher at Leeds College of Art.

Soon afterwards, he managed to go to London on the proceeds of a prize to design a furniture exhibition stand. He came second in the radio version of Hughie Green's Opportunity Knocks talent show - working with a girl singer named Irene Griffen. They had no intention of developing a permanent act; it was the only way that Frankie could get on the show. Then, he had his first big break: at the Hulme Hippodrome, where he topped the bill at the then huge sum of £100 a week. In 1954, Vaughan made his first recording for HMV, My Sweetie Went Away. He sang with the Ken Mackintosh Band numbers like No Help Wanted and Look At That Girl. He then really made it big with a tour of the then vast Moss Empire variety theatre circuit, during which he discovered an old piece of sheet music in a Glasgow shop. It was Give Me The Moonlight. His record of the song sold more than a million copies, establishing him with the young fans who bought the new 45 rpm discs as well as the versions on 78’s.

In 1960, he was invited to go to Hollywood to make the film Let's Make Love, with Marilyn Monroe. He had earlier appeared in Arthur Askey's comedy Ramsbottom Rides Again (1956) and a musical, The Lady Is A Square, with Anna Neagle. Marilyn Monroe tried to entice him into an affair, but he maintained that he loved his wife, Stella, whom he had met at the Locarno ballroom, Leeds, after the war, and that they needed to live in London. Back home, he filled the Talk of the Town restaurant for weeks, and became a sort of elder statesman among British performers. He also carried out significant charitable work on social projects for which he received an OBE in 1965 and a CBE in 1997. In 1985, Vaughan had one of his most notable successes - starring in what turned out to be his swansong role, the lead in the musical 42nd Street at Drury Lane. He left the cast after a year at the start of what turned out to be a terminal series of illnesses. He died in 1999. Frankie Vaughan wrote his own his epitaph. "I am lucky to have a talent, lucky to have met such a wonderful girl as my wife Stella, lucky to have such a wonderful family, and lucky to have a job I adore." What else could anyone ask for?

In the summer of 2000 the Frankie Vaughan Archive was donated to Liverpool John Moores University by Mrs. Stella Vaughan. Frankie was an Honorary Fellow of the University. The archive consists of sheet music, scores, orchestral and band parts used by Frankie Vaughan throughout his career. Many of the scores and parts have handwritten notes relating to the occasions they were used, including stage directions, lead-ins and running orders for stage and television appearances.


Take Care

Peter

DUSTYKEAT@aol.com
Pj.keat@ntlworld.com
Thanks

Thanks to Copnorboy for sending me the YouTube film of Nero and the Gladiators.


YOU WRITE:

Griff writes:

I recently visited Southsea and was witnessing the demolition of the Savoy Ballroom which brought back a flood of memories of the good times spent there on a Friday and a Saturday night. Just think of all the bands and the groups of the time who appeared there and who went on to be famous if not already famous. I can think of a few and many I met back stage waiting to go on for their turn. Freddy and the Dreamers, Spotniks, Swinging Blue Jeans, Shane Fenton and the Fentones (he went on later to become Alvin Stardust (!) ) Billy J Kramer and The Dakota's, The Searchers, The Fortunes, Paul Jones... and you could probably fill in the gaps of those I can't remember.
I use to help out a famous local Portsmouth band of the day called Ricky Dean and the Rivals who use to front the stage before the big names came on.
The lead singer's real name was Ron Rickwood and he worked at Gauntlett & Walkers Dairies in Purbrook (now a housing estate ! ) in the day job and I got to know him because I worked there as a "Saturday Boy" bottling milk in the dairy plant.
Like all singers in those days they were just waiting for their 'big break' and a record deal and so many people went from total obscurity to being famous in just a week or so and many did. Helen Shapiro instantly springs to mind as just one of many others in the early 60's.
I got to know Ron really well and in no time at all I was helping out the band with setting up the stage equipment.
The big time eluded this group even after they had won the South Coast Best Group Award and eventually they split up like most pop groups do. Anyway, it was a great 18 months or so helping out.
Ron is still singing in the Northern Clubs and Holiday Parks and we still keep in touch from time to time by email




Above is the only known photo of Ricky Dean and the Rivals taken at the Savoy Ballroom circa. Summer 1961 .........unless you know any different of course.


NEWS AND VIEWS:
Gerry Marsden of Gerry & the Pacemakers, premiered his new documentary on the band, "It's Gonna Be Alright," in Liverpool on Wednesday August 26th. Gerry also launched the campaign to get his home town selected as the host for the 2018 soccer World Cup.


ON THIS DAY 26TH SEPTEMBER 1960-1965

On 26/09/1960 the number one single was Apache - The Shadows and the number one album was Down Drury Lane to Memory Lane - A Hundred and One Strings.The top rated TV show was The Army Game (Granada) 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 26/09/1961 the number one single was Reach for the Stars / Climb Ev'ry Mountain - Shirley Bassey and the number one album was The Shadows - Shadows. The top rated TV show was Coronation Street (Granada) 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 26/09/1962 the number one single was She's Not You - Elvis Presley 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. The big news story of the day was Flood kills 333 in Barcelona.

On 26/09/1963 the number one single was She Loves You - The Beatles 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 26/09/1964 the number one single was I'm Into Something Good - Herman's Hermits 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 26/09/1965 the number one single was Make It Easy On Yourself - Walker Brothers 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.