Web Page No 2742

 

19th December 2020

 

1^st Picture: Giles Christmas book cover

2^nd Picture: Grandma Giles and Vera

3^rd Picture: Grandma’s statue with the kids and the dog

4^th Picture: Chalky the teacher

5^th Picture: Giles himself

 

 

Giles

For years Christmas was not Christmas without the annual Giles cartoon Album. I know my father in law always wanted one for Christmas.

The cartoons were drawn by Ronald "Carl" Giles OBE (29th September 1916 – 27th August 1995), often referred to simply as Giles, and was best known for his work for the Daily Express. Giles's cartoons appeared in the Express and he used his cartoon family to illustrate and comment on topics of the day.

His cartoon style was a single topical highly detailed panel, usually with a great deal more going on than the single joke. Certain recurring characters achieved a great deal of popularity, particularly the extended Giles family, which first appeared in a published cartoon on 5 August 1945 and featured prominently in the strip. Of these, the most remembered is the enigmatic matriarch of the family, known simply as Grandma. 'Grandma' seated with knitting first appeared in November 1947.

The Giles family, as portrayed  belongs to the better-off British working class and was usually seen living in a semi-detached house. The scenes in which they are depicted usually comment on a topic headlining the news of the day. The Giles family is patriotic but suspicious of authority. The ages of the family members remained the same throughout the 46-year run of the cartoon series, but their home, their hobbies and their dress reflected the changing British fashions and standard of living.

The Giles family consists of the following:

Grandma, the most distinctive character of the series. Always present but rarely given a direct voice. She is the ultimate head of the family (despite what Father may think). She is seen using such things as skis, a motorbike, a hang glider, a Sinclair C5, and playing the tuba. A proper battle-axe of a woman, who is crossed at one's peril.

Father, Grandma's son. A mild and philosophical character. Still deludedly regards himself as the head of the family. He works, but it's never revealed where. He is passionate about boats, football, racing, fishing, betting, and hiding from the younger, louder family members. Would do anything for a quiet life and is often seen lounging in the garden.

Mother, the power behind the dynasty: she organises everyone else. Cheerfully tackles endless housework and mountains of cooking for the extended Giles family. People mostly tend to do as she tells them.

George, Mother and Father's elder son, is an avid reader and is very rarely seen without a book in his hands. Smokes a Sherlock Holmes style pipe and wears a beret and sandals. Absent in later cartoons. He is married to the skinny bespectacled Vera who constantly suffers from a cold. They have one baby son, George Jr.

Ann, the eldest daughter, and her babies, the twins, Lawrence and Ralph. The twins' absent father is a G.I.

Carol, blonde daughter, always seen lounging about reading magazines.

Ernie, the younger son. A smaller version of Father in looks and attitude, but with a child's cheekiness.

Bridget, the youngest daughter. Wears a gymslip and has never been in any trouble because she never gets caught.

Grandma's Parrot, called Attila the Hun.

Butch The dog, a shaggy Airedale terrier.

Second dog, a Border collie.

Natalie, a black cat.

Larry (aka "Stinker"), the mop-haired kid from next door. When not up to mischief he can be seen with a camera recording the mischief or embarrassing situations involving others. Said to be the alter ego of Giles himself.

Chalkie the schoolmaster, a humourless, walking-skeleton of a man. Modelled on one of Giles's own teachers, he is Giles's revenge for what he felt was unfair treatment at school.

There is a statue of Grandma in Queen Street in Ipswich where she stands looking up at the newspaper office window where Carl Giles used to work.

In the 1980s the family appeared in television cartoon advertisements for Lyons Quick Brew tea, one of which included Grandma racing around on her motorbike.

Giles finally quit working for The Daily Express in 1989; his cartoons had been allocated less and less space in the newspaper, and he said that the last straw was being stood up following a trip to London to lunch with the editor. He continued working for the Sunday Express until 1991. He never actually sold any of his creations, preferring to donate them to friends and to charitable organisations, like the RNLI, of which he was Life President and which continues to issue charity Christmas cards each year bearing his work.

He also contributed cartoons to Men Only and other publications, drew advertising cartoons for Guinness, Fisons and other companies, and designed Christmas cards for the Royal National Institute for the Deaf and Game Conservancy Research Fund.

He married Sylvia 'Joan' Clarke, his first cousin, on 14^th  March 1942 in East Finchley. The couple never had children but were married for over 50 years. The last decade of Giles's life was plagued with failing health, including sight loss and encroaching deafness, and in 1990 he suffered the amputation of both legs due to poor circulation issues. He was reported to have never got over the death of his wife, on Christmas Day 1994, and died himself just over eight months later at Ipswich Hospital on 27 August 1995 aged 78.

Collections of Giles's cartoons have been produced annually since 1946 and until his death in  Giles himself selected which cartoons would be in the annual.[7]

 

Giles stopped producing new cartoons, in 1991. Most of the annuals included a foreword from an editor of the Express newspapers or a celebrity fan, including Margot Fonteyn, Adam Faith , Spike Milligan , Sir Malcolm Sargent , Jim Clark , Sean Connery,  Frank Sinatra and Tommy Cooper  .

In April 2000, he was voted 'Britain's Favourite Cartoonist of the 20th Century'.

A Bronze statue depicting "Grandma" is in Ipswich, England. She stands looking up at the newspaper office window where Giles used to work.

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Peter

 

gsseditor@gmail.com

 

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News and Views:

 

On this day 19^th December 1960-1965

On 19/12/1960 the number one single was It's Now Or Never - Elvis Presley and the number one album was Tottenham Hotspur. The top rated TV show was The Army Game (Granada) and the box office smash was Psycho. A pound of today's money was worth £not very interesting and 13.68 were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions.The big news story of the day was Bootsie & Snudge (Granada).

On 19/12/1961 the number one single was Tower of Strength - Frankie Vaughan 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 19/12/1962 the number one single was Return to Sender - Elvis Presley 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 19/12/1963 the number one single was I Want to Hold Your hand - The Beatles and the number one album was With the Beatles - The Beatles. The top rated TV show was Coronation Street (Granada) and the box office smash was 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 19/12/1964 the number one single was I Feel Fine - The Beatles 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 19/12/1965 the number one single was Day Tripper/We Can Work It Out - The Beatles 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 2740

 

13th December 2020

 

Steve sent me this some months ago and I think it is worth sharing

 

1^st Picture: Victorian Village Wedding

2^nd Picture: Old thatched cottage

3^rd Picture: Cast iron cooking pot

4^th Picture: Lead drinking cup

Whoever said history was boring

"Most people got married in June because they took their yearly bath in May, and they still smelled pretty good by June.  However, since they were starting to smell, brides carried a bouquet of flowers to hide the body odour. Hence the custom today of carrying a bouquet when getting married."

 "Baths consisted of a big tub filled with hot water.  The man of the house had the privilege of the nice clean water, then all the other sons and men, then the women, and finally the children. Last of all the babies. By then the water was so dirty you could actually lose someone in it. Hence the saying, ‘Don’t throw the baby out with the bath water!’"

"Houses had thatched roofs with thick straw-piled high and no wood underneath. It was the only place for animals to get warm, so all the cats and other small animals (mice, bugs) lived in the roof. When it rained, it became slippery and sometimes the animals would slip and fall off the roof. Hence the saying,  ‘It’s raining cats and dogs.’  There was nothing to stop things from falling into the house. This posed a real problem in the bedroom where bugs and other droppings could mess up your nice clean bed.  Hence, a bed with big posts and a sheet hung over the top afforded some protection. That’s how canopy beds came into existence."

 "The floor was dirt. Only the wealthy had something other than dirt. Hence the term, ‘dirt poor.’ The wealthy had slate floors that would get slippery in the winter when wet, so they spread thresh (straw) on the floor to help keep their footing. As the winter wore on, they added more thresh until, when you opened the door, it would all start slipping outside. A piece of wood was placed in the entrance-way.  Hence, ‘ a thresh hold.’"

"In those old days, they cooked in the kitchen with a big kettle that always hung over the fire.  Every day, they lit the fire and added things to the pot. They ate mostly vegetables and did not get much meat. They would eat the stew for dinner, leaving leftovers in the pot to get cold overnight and then start over the next day. Sometimes stew had food in it that had been there for quite a while.  Hence the rhyme,  ‘Peas porridge hot, peas porridge cold, peas porridge in the pot nine days old.’ Sometimes they could obtain pork, which made them feel quite special.  When visitors came over, they would hang up their bacon to show off. It was a sign of wealth that a man could ‘bring home the bacon.’ They would cut off a little to share with guests, and would all sit around and ‘chew the fat.’ "

 

"Those with money had plates made of pewter. Food with high acid content caused some of the lead to leach onto the food, causing lead poisoning death. This happened most often with tomatoes, so for the next 400 years or so, tomatoes were considered poisonous. Bread was divided according to status. Workers got the burnt bottom of the loaf, the family got the middle, and guests got the top, or the ‘upper crust.’"

 

 "Lead cups were used to drink ale or whisky. The combination would sometimes knock the imbibers out for a couple of days.  Someone walking along the road would take them for dead and prepare them for burial. They were laid out on the kitchen table for a couple of days and the family would gather around and eat and drink and wait and see if they would wake up.  Hence   the custom of ‘ holding a ‘wake.’"

 

"In old, small villages, local folks started running out of places to bury people. So they would dig up coffins and would take the bones to a bone-house, and reuse the grave. When reopening these coffins, 1 out of 25 coffins were found to have scratch marks on the inside, and they realized they had been burying people alive. So. they would tie a string on the wrist of the corpse, lead it through the coffin and up through the ground and tie it to a bell. Someone would have to sit out in the graveyard all night  (‘the graveyard shift’)  to listen for the bell. Thus, someone could be ‘saved by the bell,’ or was considered a 'dead ringer'."

 

Now, whoever said history was boring?

 

This incredible piece about "the way things were" is a great reminder to respect our rich history the way it was, and not try to rewrite it, as is so popular today.

 

Stay in touch

 

Peter

 

gsseditor@gmail.com

 

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On this day 13^th December 1960-1965

 

On 13/12/1960 the number one single was It's Now Or Never - Elvis Presley and the number one album was Tottenham Hotspur. The top rated TV show was The Army Game 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 Bootsie & Snudge.

On 13/12/1961 the number one single was Tower of Strength - Frankie Vaughan and the number one album was Another Black & White Minstrell Show - George Mitchell Minstrels. The top rated TV show was Coronation Street and the box office smash was One Hundred and One Dalmations. A pound of today's money was worth £13.25 and Ipswich Town were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions. The big news story of the day was the American Folk Artist Grandma Moses dies at the age of 91.

 

On 13/12/1962 the number one single was Return to Sender - Elvis Presley and the number one album was On Stage with the Black & White Minstrels - George Mitchell Minstrels. The top rated TV show was again Coronation Street and the box office smash was Lawrence of Arabia. A pound of today's money was worth £12.89 and Everton were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions.

 

On 13/12/1963 the number one single was I Want to Hold Your hand - The Beatles and the number one album was With the Beatles - The Beatles. The top rated TV show was Coronation Street and the box office smash was The Great Escape. A pound of today's money was worth £12.64 and Liverpool were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions.

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On 13/12/1964 the number one single was I Feel Fine - The Beatles and the number one album was A Hard Day's Night - Beatles. The top rated TV show Coronation Street and the box office smash was Dr Strangelove. A pound of today's money was worth £12.24 and Manchester United were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions.

On 13/12/1965 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 you’ve guessed it, Coronation Street and the box office smash was The Sound of Music. A pound of today's money was worth £11.69 and Liverpool were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions. The big news of the day was that the first ever edition of Jackanory was broadcast on BBC.

 

 

 

 

 

Web Page No 2738

 

6^th December 2020

 

1^st Picture: Eric Sykes and Tommy Cooper

2^nd Picture: Jimmy Edwards as a policeman

3^rd Picture: Roy Castle in a dust cart

4^th Picture:  The destination for The Plank

 

The Plank

 

Do you remember the film called The Plank?  It was fifty minute  classic British slapstick comedy film made for television in 1967 by Associated London Films. It follows the misadventures of two builders who require a single floorboard to complete a job after one of the characters uses the last floorboard for heating in a brazier, so  the two hapless carpenters, played by Eric Sykes and Tommy Cooper  have to buy a replacement. They return to the house with the plank on top of a Morris Eight, but the journey is fraught with unexpected difficulties.

The film is a series of "plank jokes" elaborating on the "man with a plank" slapstick routine seen for many years on the Music Halls and silent films, and adding a few new visual jokes. For instance, at one point the plank is tied to the top of the car and projects backward into the open back of a large van. A man (played by Roy Castle) enters the back of the van and sits down. The van drives away, leaving him suspended in mid-air sitting on the end of the plank.

The story was based on an episode of Eric Sykes' BBC comedy series Sykes and a... from 1964, called "Sykes and A Plank". Although not strictly a silent film, it is unusual in having little dialogue; instead, the film is punctuated by grunts, other vocal noises and sound effects.

The cast features many of the top comedians and comic actors of the time.

·         Eric Sykes as the Smaller Workman

·         Tommy Cooper as the Larger Workman

·         Jimmy Edwards as Policeman

·         Roy Castle as the Delivery Man

·         Jimmy Tarbuck as the Barman

·         John Junkin as the Van Driver with the Eye Patch

·         Bill Oddie as the Window Cleaner

·         Stratford Johns as the Station Sergeant

·         Graham Stark as the Amorous Van Driver

·         Jim Dale as the House Painter

·         Hattie Jacques as the Woman with the Rose

·         Libby Morris as the Tourist's wife

·         Johnny Speight the Pipe Smoker in Bus Queue

·         Kenny Lynch as the Dustbin Lorry Driver

·         Dermot Kelly as the Milkman

·         Joanna Lumley as Hitchhiker

·         Derek Guyler

·         Arthur Lowe

·         Diana Dors

·           Harry H. Corbett

·           Charles Hawtrey

·           James Hunt

·           Kate O'Mara

·           Ann Sidney

·           Frank Windsor

A real whose who in the entertainment world. The timber yard entrance scenes were filmed in Delamere Road Hayes, the yard itself was in Ashburnham Road on the corner with Willow Bank, Ham near Richmond and the internal scenes filmed inside number 13 Elstow Avenue in Reading.

However the real star of the show was The Plank and this sold at auction after filming was complete for £1600.

The film was remade in 1979 in a truncated version lasting only thirty minutes This version won the prize at the 1980 Festival Rose d'Or, held in Montreux, Switzerland.

Stay in touch

 

Peter

 

gsseditor@gmail.com

 

Griff Writes:

 

Reading Peter's article on washing lines got me thinking. My Mum never owned a washing machine in her lifetime. Not ever.  Come to think about it even more I have absolutely no idea why she didn't have one.

I do know that my Sister use to take her bed sheets etc. and wash and iron those for her in her later life.

Rotary lines for me rather than the straight washing line ones with the obligatory large support pole.

I wonder who came up with the idea for rotary washing lines in the first place?

 

 

Peter writes; Neither did my mum

 

 

News and Views:

 

On this day 6^th December 1960-1965

On 06/12/1960 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 Armchair Theatre (ABC) 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.

 

06/12/1961 the number one single was Tower of Strength - Frankie Vaughan The top rated TV show was "Coronation Street (Granada) and the box office smash was One Hundred and One Dalmatians. 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 Sunday Night at the London Palladium.

 

06/12/1962 the number one single was Lovesick Blues - Frank Ifield and the number one album was On Stage with the Black & White Minstrels - George Mitchell Minstrels. 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 06/12/1963 the number one single was She Loves You - The Beatles and the number one album was With the Beatles - The Beatles. The top rated TV show was Coronation Street (Granada) and the box office smash was 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 06/12/1964 the number one single was Little Red Rooster - Rolling Stones 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 Poet Edith Sitwell dies

 

On 06/12/1965 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.