Web Page 942

Top Picture: A publicity picture from the early 1960’s promoting the mini skirt, who would have thought it would have lasted so long?




Second Picture: This postcard says award winning Portsmouth, how wrong could anyone be, I think most of the residents of Portsmouth were glad to see the Tricorn go.

Fashion


I know that fashion is a subject that I have looked at a couple of times before but very recently I have had three different conversations with ladies of my own age and they all came out with the same basic fashion story. I wonder if ladies you can relate this tale that they all related?

“My Father was dead against modern fashion but Mum usually managed to pour oil over troubled waters whenever I came home with a new dress or skirt that Father did not think ‘proper’. Eventually we came to a compromise as to the length of my skirts and for a time we drifted along on an even keel. However once Father had got used to seeing, and accepting, the skirt length of my favourite skirt I thought that I could quietly make the odd alteration without him noticing. How wrong I was! During the weekday evenings, when I was in my room supposedly doing my homework, I was actually unpicking the hem of my smartest skirt and taking it up about an inch at a time. I though this was very clever as when I went out on Saturday evenings Father had got used to the skirt and passed no comment. But I was not prepared for the observation powers of Father because over three or four weeks the hem of that skirt went up by about an inch at a time and I thought I was very clever getting away with it. But, as we all know, parents are cleverer than we give them credit for and one Saturday evening as I was coming down the stairs getting ready to go out Father looked up at me, then looked at the hem and said ‘there is no way a daughter of mine is going out wearing a skirt like that, it makes you look like a tart, go up and change.’ Of course in those days Fathers word was law so I meekly went up and changed into my second best, longer skirt and he was happy, but he never, ever let me wear that skirt again.”

Does this tale ring any bells girls?

Mind you it was not only you girls who suffered fashion problems. I myself came across it. My mother was dead against winkle picker shoes and I was told that all the time I was at school and they were buying my clothes I would have what they wanted me to wear. Like most of us I managed to get a part time job when I was in my latter years at school, I worked in a garage, for the Post Office and in a record shop. The upshot of this was that I had money of my own. So one Saturday afternoon I plucked up my courage and cycled into Cosham and bought myself a pair of winklepickers, sorry Mary-Ann I did not buy them from your fathers shop, Christophers. Having got them I felt very proud but on the way home I realised that I somehow had to get them into the house and not only that when I wanted to wear them I had to get them out again. I had not thought the problem through. On the way home it dawned on me we lived in a semi detached house and I could get past the kitchen window and into the back garden and from there into the large shed we had half way down the garden. So I developed a plan to creep past the kitchen, up the garden and hide the shoes in the back of the shed. This I successfully managed and I wandered into the house as if nothing was wrong. The two things that I had forgotten were that whenever I wanted to wear the shoes I had to say goodbye, go out the front door get down on my hands and knees and crawl past the kitchen window and once I had reached the shed, which had no electrical power in it, I had to rummage around in the dark until I found the shoes. Of course I had to reverse the process when I came home. This worked well during the winter months and early spring but come the lighter evening my father would often spend some time outside gardening and in so doing putting the retrieval of the shoes impossible. Still by the time the summer came and I was getting ready to go to college the ‘in’ footwear were sandals, Mum did not mind them and so the winkle pickers were left in the back of the shed. I cannot remember ever retrieving them when I left home or even when my parents moved, so if the shed is still being used there could well be a 50 year old pair of winkle pickers wrapped in newspaper jammed between the boards in the back left hand corner! If they are I don’t think I will claim them back!!!

Stay in touch,

Yours,

Peter

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

You Write:

More from Jonathon:

The chap I reported into on a daily basis at the Coop Bakery was a charge hand called Alex Rose, a dour middle aged Scot.

Did you ever work there. I don't recall names well but there were certainly some characters on my shift. One was a chap who was not completely all there because of his war experiences. He was a POW in WW2 who got involved in one of the infamous "death marches" from central Germany into Russia, he was as tough as old boots and used to do several jobs around the clock. His idea of a summer holiday was lifting potatoes at a farm on Farlington Marshes!!!!!

There were a number of different jobs that I got tasked to do at the bakery. The least favourite was in the Proving space, where you were cut off from the rest of the staff and received a constant stream of machine kneaded dough "lumps" that had to be placed in tins on moving shelves on one side of the space that had been vacated by moving the tins of proved dough and on the other sides's shelves.

Humping huge sacks of flour in the mixing attic was another and my commonest job "oven hand" where I would physically lift and bang out baked bread and simultaneously load proved dough into the oven......2 tonnes an hour!!!!!!

Some days we had the treat of preparing sweet cakes for the coop, this involved taking the cake sponges about 8 inches in diameter. Slicing them through the middle and filling them with cream and jam before boxing them.

News and Views:

Pete Townsend of the Who has announced that he is writing an autobiography. The as-yet untitled tome will be published in Autumn 2012 by HarperCollins.

On this day 29th May 1960-1965.

On 29/05/1960

the number one single was Cathy's Clown - Everly Brothers and the number one album was South Pacific Soundtrack. The top rated TV show was Wagon Train (ITV) and the box office smash was Psycho. A pound of today's money was worth £13.68 and Burnley were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions. The big news story of the day was Sterling Moss wins Monaco Grand Prix.

On 29/05/1961

the number one single was You're Driving Me Crazy - The Temperance Seven and the number one album was GI Blues - Elvis Presley. The top rated TV show was Probation Officer (ATV) and the box office smash was One Hundred and One Dalmations. A pound of today's money was worth £13.25 and Tottenham Hotspur were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions.

On 29/05/1962

the number one single was Good Luck Charm - Elvis Presley and the number one album was Blue Hawaii - Elvis Presley. 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 Ipswich Town were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions. The big news story of the day was London share values crash.

On 29/05/1963

the number one single was From Me To 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 Everton were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions.

On 29/05/1964

the number one single was You're My World - Cilla Black and the number one album was Rolling Stones - The Rolling Stones. 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 Liverpool were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions.

On 29/05/1965

the number one single was Long Live Love - Sandie Shaw and the number one album was Bringing It All Back Home - Bob Dylan. 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 Manchester United were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions

Web Page 940

Top Picture

: A Chinese Checkers Board from the 1950’s

Second Picture:

The outside of the Odeon, North End. This is now a bargain store.

Table Games

I thought in this electronic age I would take a look at the simple games that we played with as kids, games that could be played indoors and on a dining room table and did not need to be plugged in or fitted with batteries.

The first game that came to mind was Chinese Checkers, a game I never really took to and could see little point in, mind you the same went for Ludo and Solitaire! However looking for sheer tension and excitement you really could not beat a good game of Snakes and Ladders even though you nearly always landed on the long snake that was just before the winning square. Chess, Draughts, Monopoly, Totopoly and if you were posh Backgammon sets some or all of these were normally hidden somewhere in the toy cupboard as were the many and varied card games. Now let’s see how many of these card games I can remember. Old Maid, Happy Families, Snap, Pit, Lexicon and Kan-U-Go, there must be more!

Getting towards maths based games we come across some old favourites domino’s, shove halfpenny, bagatelle and cribbage, all of which are still very popular games today although now they have moved away from the children and out of the homes because they are now mainly played in rural public houses.

Back to children’s games on the table, if we were lucky enough to have a largish dining table out would come the Table Tennis or Ping Pong set and after fixing the net onto the table with the clamps, making sure that they did not scratch the polished surface, fast and furious games would ensue until someone stepped on the last ball and flattened it. End of game. The other full tabletop game was Blow Football, this was before Subuteo superseded it. How well I remember placing the goals in the right places, checking my blowing tube or straw and then attempting to huff and puff and blow the ping pong ball into the opponents goal. But children being what they are, the blow tubes soon filled up with spit and dribble and very soon the whole of the table top was covered with little wet pools. This meant the game had to stop the pitch cleaned and dried before the second half could begin. Yuk!!!

While sitting round the table we could of played a game we knew as Housey, Housey, little did we know that with a name change to Bingo this game would sweep the country in a few years time.

Games involving only pencil and paper were always popular noughts and crosses, Beetle, Hangman, consequences, and battleships to name just a few.

My grandmother was a card fanatic, off she would go to the Whist Drive three or four times a week in different hall in the area, but she also played card games with us at home. Beat my Neighbour, Matrimony, 21’s and of course whist were all favourites, others come to mind such as Rummy and patience, I never did get the hang of Bridge and my grandmother and her friends would spend hours around the table playing a game called Bezique, a game I never understood at all!

Then there were the hoards of board games which were very loosely based on popular radio and TV programmes. Do you remember the Dixon of Dock Green Game, the Lone Ranger Game and the Wells Fargo Game? No nor do I but they were all around when we were young!

These are just a few of the games that were around I am sure you can add more to the list, Pick-a-Sticks, has just come into my mind and so has Yahtse. So come on get you thinking caps on and see if we can drag up a few more bygone games.



Stay in touch,

Yours,

Peter

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


Web page from 9 years ago

We the Over 50's

Maybe I am getting cynical in my old age but ….
We were born before mass television was popular, before penicillin, polio shots, frozen foods, Xerox, plastic bags, contact lenses, Frisbees and the pill. We were born before credit cards, split atoms, laser beams, and ball-point pens; before dishwashers, tumble dryers, electric blankets, air conditioners, drip dry clothes.......
We got married first and then lived together. We thought "fast food" was what you ate in Lent, a "Big Mac" was an oversized raincoat, and "crumpet" was what you had buttered for tea. We existed before househusbands, computer dating, dual careers, when a "meaningful relationship" meant getting along with your cousins, and "sheltered accommodation" was where you waited for the bus. We had never heard of FM radio, tape decks, word processors, yoghurt, pizzas, or young men wearing earrings. For us a "chip" was piece of wood or a fried potato, "hardware" meant nuts and bolts and "software" wasn't even a word. The term "making out" referred to how you did in exams, "stud" was something that fastened your clothes with and "going all the way" meant staying on the double-decker bus to the depot.........
In our day, cigarette smoking was fashionable, "grass" was mown, "coke" was kept in the coal shed, and a "joint" was the piece of meat you ate on Sundays or a connection in a water or gas pipe. "Rock music" was a lullaby for a baby and a "gay person" was always the life and soul of the party.
No wonder we are so confused. And how old are we? We will soon be just hitting 65+! But don’t you tell anyone!!


You Write:

Mary Writes:-

The new stained glass window in St Colmans Church was donated by the Daly girls, and also Lady Daly who was Lady Mayoress during the war. The Daly girls were all past pupils at Daly School in Kingston Crescent. The window is of St Teresa, and at the bottom there is the Guildhall on fire during the war, and the searchlights, very effective I think.





News and Views:

Plans to restore Wymering Manor have received a boost after two heritage groups offered to support a campaign to save the Manor. Both English Heritage and the Heritage Lottery Fund have said they believe the building’s refurbishment should be a priority for the city. English Heritage has agreed to add the deteriorating historic landmark to its ‘at risk’ list, and confirm it as its ‘number one priority’ Portsmouth building. And representatives from the Heritage Lottery Fund have told Portsmouth North MP Penny Mordaunt plans she has developed with local campaigners would be something they could look to fund. The manor, in Old Wymering Road, was built in 1581, and last used in 2006, when it was a youth hostel. It has repeatedly been offered for sale by the council, but has failed to reach its £350,000 minimum price – in part because of woodworm and water damage. Tom Southall, the council’s head of property, said: ‘Wymering Manor is important to Portsmouth’s heritage and we’ll do whatever we can to preserve it. The options available are limited, but we’re looking again at options that will help prevent deterioration.’


On this day 22nd May 1960-1965.

On 22/05/1960 the number one single was Cathy's Clown - Everly Brothers and the number one album was South Pacific Soundtrack. The top rated TV show was Royal Variety Performance (ATV) and the box office smash was Psycho. A pound of today's money was worth £13.68 and Burnley were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions.

On 22/05/1961 the number one single was On the Rebound - Floyd Cramer and the number one album was GI Blues - Elvis Presley. The top rated TV show was Bootsie & Snudge (Granada) and the box office smash was One Hundred and One Dalmations. A pound of today's money was worth £13.25 and Tottenham Hotspur were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions.

On 22/05/1962 the number one single was Nut Rocker - B Bumble & the Stingers and the number one album was Blue Hawaii - Elvis Presley. 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 Ipswich Town were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions.

On 22/05/1963 the number one single was From Me To You - The Beatles 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 Everton were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions.

On 22/05/1964 the number one single was Juliet - Four Pennies and the number one album was Rolling Stones - The Rolling Stones. 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 Liverpool were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions.

On 22/05/1965 the number one single was Where Are You Now (My Love) - Jackie Trent and the number one album was Freewheelin' Bob Dylan. 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 Manchester United were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions.

Web Page 938

Top Picture

: The Sunshine Inn. Maxi’s Café was where the brick building is on the left.

Bottom Picture

Christophers shoe shop, Cosham High Street





Business Again

Last weeks page about small business really sparked off your interest, so much so that the whole of this weeks page is comprised of two emails I have had, one from Jonathan and one from John. I hope you enjoy them. Also I have added a few comments of my own now and again.

Memories from Jonathan

You mentioned working for a small store and being paid in records and it reminded me of some of the jobs I did as a young teenager growing up with requirements that outstripped the pocket money my parents could afford.

I used to work at an off licence in Cosham stacking bottles on shelves and remember the delightful smells of beer that adhered to the place; but I cannot remember the name of the store. ( could it have been Smeeds ? Peter)

I delivered meat for the Farlington butcher Frank Vine, on a bicycle with a big wicker basket on the front to some of the large houses along the Havant Road. (sounds a bit like Granville to me, Peter)

I delivered Newspapers on my Lambretta scooter for the Newsagents opposite the Sunshine Inn in Farlington now a Tesco's I think. ( was that Bevis ? Peter)

For three years running in my long vacations from college I slaved as a nightworker at the Coop Bakery in Drayton near the railway triangle....I think it is a housing development now. I worked as an oven hand. I know that I used to work in atrocious conditions probably not allowed by Health and Safety these days. The heat and humidity were tremendous and l would lose 2 stone in weight each long vac. My job was to take tins of baked bread out of an open oven, knock out the bread onto a belt and load the empty oven shelf with tins of proven dough. The trays were always moving past the operating opening and if you got it wrong you got burns on the back of your forearms. (I think the head baker at that time was Mr Osborne, Peter.)

I worked at Drings stripping stacks of box blanks so that the boxes could be assembled.

I worked as a guillotine operator at Power Brakes in Paulsgrove. My job was to use a magnetic clamp to lift a sheet of metal from a stack by trapping air under it and sliding it smoothly from the stack onto the guillotine bed then cut pieces to size.....that job used to earn me nasty cuts all over my hands and arms. One poor lad I worked with accepted my output to roll the cut sheets in a set of rollers to form cylinders that would be welded into air reservoirs for lorry braking systems. One day he caught his fingers in the rollers. The protection for the operator was non existent. By the time we heard his screams and the foreman switched off the rollers his arms were up to his wrists in the damned thing and I believe he lost his hands that day.....................my God how things have changed.

I worked as a parcel sorter on nights at the Post Office at Christmas ( so did I, Peter) while I was at college. We used to wait for the train to come in with huge bags of parcels to be sorted into frames filled with sacks for onward delivery to other areas. I persuaded my colleagues to work really hard for half an hour after delivery so that we could play bridge for half an hour before the next train came in.

I worked as a navvy for Charlie Wager on his Caravan Site on Hayling Island called the Odd Spot digging out excavations for septic tanks for his individual caravan sites. I used to dig them so deep that his son Tony used to have to pull me out on completion. 5 shillings an hour.

My very last part time job that I recall was working for the Admiralty as an Assistant Experimental Officer at Gosport Admiralty Experiment Works (AEW) for 6 months between being expelled by the Headmaster of the Southern Grammar School for smoking and refusing to be caned and going up to Emmanuel College. I think I was the only boy in the history of the school who had a place at Oxbridge and got fired!!!!!!!!!

Anida remembers:


I remember Chapman's very well indeed since my Mums best friend lived in their staff accommodation which was a dark and gloomy block of flats next door to the works in Kingston Crescent so we were frequent visitors. I actually knew the area around Kingston Crescent very well since my Great Aunt lived in Malins Road and my Nan in North End. Looking back there were some very lovely houses in the crescent which had been allowed to go to rack and ruin I recall - one reputedly had a ballroom! On the corner of course was Burtons the tailors, I well remember hanging around while the long drawn out process of choosing the material and being measured for a suit was ceremoniously carried out - the Burton chain was started by Montague Burton but did you know that in 1945 they produced the demob suits for men leaving the services which were known as the 'Full Monty' since they consisted of a three piece suit shirt and tie!

As a child a treat was to go and have tea in the cafe above Smith and Vosper in North End, it was all silver service and very posh or so it seemed! Another of my favourite North End shops was McIlroys and I can remember spending many a Saturday afternoon there, possibly before going to the Odeon to see one of the block buster films that you had to buy a ticket for beforehand. I also remember that next door to the Odeon was I think a dry cleaners but they used to have a lady who mended stockings sitting in the window. How far removed are we in this throw away society from having somebody mend the hole in your stockings, no such things as tights then of course!

Verrechias in North End was by the bus stop and as a child I was also fascinated by the enormous ice cream cone advertising piece that stood in the doorway, and of course the Chocolate King was the place for a treat after going to the pork butchers next door but one, another unimaginable shopping experience - a butchers shop that sold the pig, the whole pig and nothing but the pig!

Oh well back to ordering my groceries on line for home delivery - a nod to the past there of course but instead of a boy on a bike its a man in a high tech refrigeratored van, but at least it means I don't have to slog to the shop with all the packing and unpacking that involves!

As for Cadena Cafe, there was one in Southampton, Above Bar, and a Cadena Cake Shop in Waterlooville.


John remembers:-

Another of the food outlets that also spring to mind before McDonald's, KFC & The Pizza Hut was Bert's Cafe on the Southampton Road just west of the Harbour, I was a Paulsgrove boy before moving to Highbury and can vividly remember my Nan who worked for a while at the old Smith Crisp factory opposite Bert's cafe take myself my sister and brother for fish & chips.

Oh well another institution gone.

(Hey how about Maxi’s next to the Sunshine Inn at Farlington, that was another transport café like Berts. Peter)

Thanks for those memories, stay in touch,

Yours,

Peter

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

You Write:

Mike Writes:

Observations on Growing Older

Your kids are becoming you...and you don't like them...but your grandchildren are perfect!

Going out is good. Coming home is better!

When people say you look "Great"... they add "for your age!"

When you needed the discount, you paid full price. Now you get discounts on everything but you're too tired to use them.

You forget names .... but other people forgot they even knew you!!!

The 5 pounds you wanted to lose is now 15 and you have a better chance of losing your keys than the 15 pounds.

The things you used to care to do, you no longer care to do, but you really do care that you don't care to do them anymore.

You sleep better on a lounge chair with the TV on than in bed. It's called his "pre-sleep".

Remember when your mother said, "Wear clean underwear in case you GET in an accident"? Now you bring clean underwear in case you HAVE an accident!

You miss the days when everything worked with just an "ON" and "OFF" switch..

You used to use more 4 letter words ... "what?"..."when?"... ???

You have a night out but are home by 9:00 P.M. Next week it will be 8:30 P.M.

You read 100 pages into a book before you realize you've read it.

Everybody whispers.

But old is good in some things: old songs, old movies, And best of all, OLD FRIENDS

News and Views:

People magazine that Paul McCartney and his girlfriend for the last four years, Nancy Shevell, are engaged to be married. It would be 68 year-old Paul’s third marriage, 51 year-old Nancy’s second.

On this day 14th May 1960-1965.

On 14/05/1960 the number one single was Cathy's Clown - Everly Brothers and the number one album was South Pacific Soundtrack. The top rated TV show was Wagon Train (ITV) and the box office smash was Psycho. A pound of today's money was worth £13.68 and Burnley were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions

On 14/05/1961 the number one single was Blue Moon - The Marcels and the number one album was GI Blues - Elvis Presley. The top rated TV show was Bootsie & Snudge (Granada) and the box office smash was One Hundred and One Dalmations. A pound of today's money was worth £13.25 and Tottenham Hotspur were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions.

On 14/05/1962 the number one single was Wonderful Land - The Shadows and the number one album was Blue Hawaii - Elvis Presley. 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 Ipswich Town were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions.

On 14/05/1963 the number one single was From Me To You - The Beatles and the number one album was Please Please Me - The Beatles. The top rated TV show was Liberal 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 Everton were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions.

On 14/05/1964 the number one single was Don't Throw Your Love Away - Searchers and the number one album was Rolling Stones - The Rolling Stones. The top rated TV show was Conservative Party Political Broadcast (all channels) and the box office smash was Dr Strangelove. A pound of today's money was worth £12.24 and Liverpool were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions.

On 14/05/1965 the number one single was King of the Road - Roger Miller and the number one album was Beatles For Sale - The Beatles. The top rated TV show was Coronation Street and the box office smash was The Sound of Music. A pound of today's money was worth £11.69 and Manchester United were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions.

Web Page 936

Top Picture: Cox’s Hotel, Little Charlotte Street



Bottom Picture: ‘Take a Brick Home’ was the slogan of Neilsons Ice Cream.

A Little Bit of Business

Whilst looking through a book on Portsmouth the other day my eye alighted on the shops and trade names in the background and I soon became aware that many of the names and businesses had long ago disappeared so I thought I would try to remember some of them.

Being a teenager in the 1960’s one of the first shops to come to mind was Weston Harts especially the one in Cosham High Street. It was here that I bought my first record, a 78rpm of Tommy Steele singing Nairobi, now that dates me! However my allegiance to Weston Harts soon waned as I started to work for RA Fraser in Dayton and he had a record department. I served in the shop made deliveries and generally helped out. I did not get paid I received records instead, which started my record collection. Mind you we sold more than records we sold old-fashioned needles (steel and fibre), styli, record cleaners and racks, posters and pictures. Mind you Bob Frazer did sell other things such as vacuum cleaners and fridges as well. Incidentally Steve Carter and his brother Nicky also worked in this shop for a time. One other record shop that I remember was one, which dealt only in second hand records of all sorts. This was the House of Wax in Lake Road but I think this disappeared when that area was redeveloped.

In this modern age where we buy most things from the supermarket we tend to forget the family and larger businesses that our parents relied on when we were kids. Take bakers for instance. What happened to Campions the bakers, Greens, Smith and Vosper and the Coop. They all had shops and they all had regular rounds and would deliver to your door.

Another collection of names, which have now long gone, are those of laundry’s and drycleaners. Now who remembers Chapmans with their works in Kingston Crescent. The Convent of the Cross a strange business for a Convent to be in I always thought. Then there was Brunswick, Bollom and dear old Daisy Dampwash.

As a family we never went out for a meal so the likes of the Swiss Café were never within our grasp but I do remember having tea in the first floor Black Cat Café in Commercial Road and having a milk shake in Marys Milk bar later to become the Palm Court in Cosham High Street. One other name that comes to mind is the Cadena Café but I cannot remember where it was. As I grew up my tastes, along with most youngsters changed and I frequented the first Wimpey bar in Portsmouth, the Manhattan coffee bar in Southsea and of course Verrechias in the Guild hallSquare.Much has been written about this place but I often wonder just how many people remember that there was actually a branch in London Road, North End? Also in the same area were two well known Portsmouth sweet shops, Maynards and The Chocolate King.

As youngsters we did not need petrol and very often the only time we went to a garage was to buy paraffin, but even the petrol company’s have changed. Where did Regent and National Benzole with its cheap grade of Power at 3/10d a gallon go? How do I remember the price? We I like many other kids, Adrian Gee included worked in Smiths garage in Farlington for a time. Anyone who worked in a garage would remember the phrase ‘Four gallons and four shots lad’. The four shots were of an upper cylinder lubricant called Redex, it cost 1d a squirt and was supposed to protect the valves of the engine!

Whilst petrol based we no longer see Southdown buses or coaches or White Heather Luxury Coaches on mystery tours, Byngs Coaches, Portsmouth Corporation service buses or Meatyards Coches and taxis. All gone!

Maybe someone can answer this question for me. Why did top class tobacconists like Finlay’s in Commercial Road always sell walking sticks. It was a long standing tradition but I have no idea how it started.


Now here is a question for you. Who remember Tony’s Crisps? Who owned the company and where were they based.

With demise of the traditional street market in Charlotte Street so much was lost in the redevelopment of the area. Who now remembers the Charlotte Street Cellars and the Cox’s Hotel in Little Charlotte Street? One of the shops on the south side of the street was The Shirt King who sold nothing but shirts, ties, handkerchiefs and socks, there was also a branch in Cosham High Street and I remember buying many a fashion shirt in there.

Every kid liked ice cream but whatever happened to Neilson Cornish ice cream or Eldorado’s drink on a stick?

I suppose the most famous advertising animal act must have been the TV Chimps of Brooke Bond Tea. They toured the country making personal appearances. In fact I understand that back in the 1960’s my step sister in law had her photograph taken with those chimps. An Evening News photographer took the picture so her picture was published in the following days paper.


The more you look back the more you remember Green Shield stamp shops, Timothy Whites & Taylors the chemist, the Home & Colonial Food Stores, Pinks, David Greig the grocer and Liptons were just a few, as were Weaver to Wearer, Hepworths Taylors and Dunns the hatter.

It was a totally different world then.

Stay in touch,

Yours,

Peter

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

You Write:

Griff Writes abut ‘our ‘enry

" I must be one of the few people who has given Sir Henry Cooper a smack in the face and lived to tell the tale.
In 1972 I was entering Woolworths in Commercial Rd on a very wet and dreary Saturday afternoon. and as I went through the glass swing door my wet hand slipped on the glass door and the door swung back with some force and struck the person behind me who only turned out to be Henry Cooper.
I looked back and apologised profusely. "Oh! I am so sorry Mr. Cooper but my wet hand slipped on the door and I couldn't stop it" Henry replied in his that well mannered fashion of his. That's alright Son, my nose has had bigger things smash into it"
Henry was going into Woolworths to promote Brute aftershave. He use to be the front advertising man for Brute and we all remember the selling catchphrase......"Splash it All Over !"
But not me. I preferred "Tabac" aftershave in those days.

RIP Sir Henry Cooper.

News and Views:

Marie Osmond re-married her first husband on Wednesday May 4th in a ceremony at the Mormon Temple in Las Vegas. The two had been married from 1982 to 1985 before she divorced him for "mental cruelty." Marie wore the same wedding dress as 29 years ago.

On this day 8th May 1960-1965.

On 08/05/1960 the number one single was Cathy's Clown - Everly Brothers and the number one album was South Pacific Soundtrack. The top rated TV show was Wagon Train (ITV) and the box office smash was Psycho. A pound of today's money was worth £13.68 and Burnley were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions.

On 08/05/1961 the number one single was Blue Moon - The Marcels and the number one album was GI Blues - Elvis Presley. The top rated TV show was No Hiding Place (AR) and the box office smash was One Hundred and One Dalmations. A pound of today's money was worth £13.25 and Tottenham Hotspur were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions.

On 08/05/1962 the number one single was Wonderful Land - The Shadows and the number one album was Blue Hawaii - Elvis Presley. 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 Ipswich Town were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions. The big news story of the day was London trolley buses decommissioned

On 08/05/1963 the number one single was From Me To You - The Beatles and the number one album was Summer Holiday - Cliff Richard & the Shadows. The top rated TV show was Labour 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 Everton were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions.

On 08/05/1964 the number one single was Don't Throw Your Love Away - Searchers and the number one album was Rolling Stones - The Rolling Stones. The top rated TV show was Conservative Party Political Broadcast (all channels) and the box office smash was Dr Strangelove. A pound of today's money was worth £12.24 and Liverpool were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions. The big news story of the day was Comedian Max Miller dies.

On 08/05/1965 the number one single was Ticket to Ride - The Beatles and the number one album was Beatles For Sale - 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 Manchester United were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions.

Web Page 934

Top Picture: Don Lang and his Frantic Five appearing on the 6.5 Special.



Bottom Picture: Southdown Bus Garage, Hilsea

Don Lang

To most of us the name Gordon Langhorn means absolutley nothing but mention the trombone playing group leader of the late 1950’s and early 1960’s, Don Lang, our minds rush back to programmes like the 6.5 Special.

Gordon Langhorn (Don Lang) was born in Halifax on 19th January 1925 and died in London on 3rd August 1992.

DON LANG was that rare species, a popular entertainer and household name during his heyday in the late 1950s who still retained the respect of his fellow jazz musicians and the critics alike. A natural performer, he could stir an audience to cheers with one of his 300-words-a-minute patter songs (remember The Auctioneer?) and the next instant pick up his beloved trombone and play a sublime jazz ballad in the style of his favourite artist, Bill Harris.

Don had the large physique even as a child to follow his father and also his grandfather into professional rugby football but preferred first the piano, then double bass, only progressing to trombone at 21 after hearing recordings of the American jazzman Jack Teagarden. An obvious natural, he was soon asked to play with the local dance bands while still working daytime as an electrician. But his first fully professional engagement, on the Isle of Man in 1947 and this really set the course for the rest of his life.

He spent engagements with several bands especially the Peter Rose and the Teddy Foster orchestras which led to a telephone call from Vic Lewis who was then putting together what he termed a 'progressive' big band to tour Europe and he wanted someone with a creative trombone style. As a featured soloist, he cut a series of fine solos on Vic Lewis recordings such as 'Sunday Girl' and 'The Man I Love'.

It was during the next four years when he was with the Ken Macintosh Orchestra that he began to sing regularly, initially as a gag with the in-house vocal quartet called the Macpies but, as his confidence grew, also as a solo and he often broadcast as a vocalist. It was with Ken Macintosh that he co-wrote and recorded the hit instrumental 'The Creep', which was covered no less than 17 times in the US alone, notably by Stan Kenton.

Encouraged by his success and tired of spending his life 'up and down the A5', Don decided to form his own group and develop his style. After producing his own demonstration record in his own style he was immediately signed up by HMV in 1955 and the resulting record, 'Cloudburst', was an instant success. Now renamed Don Lang, this name was chosen on the premiss that 'the shorter the name, the bigger the billing', he was chosen with his band the Frantic Five to be one of the cornerstones of the new BBC informal 'teenage' show The Six Five Special in 1959. As most of us will remember he also sang the theme song to the show, ( Over the points, over the points, Over the points etc)

After signing for the BBC Don appeared for two years as resident accompanist on the show and he also performed in his own right every week on live television. His repotoire included such hits as 'Six Five Hand Jive', 'Red Planet Rock' and 'I Want You To Be My Baby'.

Whilst enjoying his popularity and a firm believer in giving the public what it wanted, on the demise of the Six Five Special he retained his firm foothold in the jazz and big-band fields, but continued to make successful records like 'The Witchdoctor'. As a music reading musician the popularity of the Merseybeat did not affect him as badly as many of the other rock-and- rollers: indeed it helped him to survive, in fact when he was working as a session man on the recording on the Beatles ‘White Album’ John Lennon actively sought him out to say hello.

Working in cabaret with his own band and as a featured soloist with larger bands he worked throughout the Seventies and early Eighties, but the last few years saw him in virtual retirement, apart from the occasional rock-and-roll revival show and some rehearsal band workouts just to keep his lip and trombone in good shape.

He was a strong but gentle man, who could keep people amused for hours over a long lunch, he retained the affection and respect of both the public and the many musicians in all spheres who knew him. Typically his long fight with cancer was born bravely and with humour. He died in London on 3rd August 1992.


Stay in touch,

Yours,

Peter

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

You Write:

Mary Writes:

Hi Peter, just read your site. Many thanks for a very interesting morning - I have spent a lot of time reminiscing! St Colmans Church - my next door neighbour is very involved there, and they have been fundraising for a very long time for a new stained glass window, which has now been installed.


Cosham Park House was for further education and I attended there for a calligraphy course, it is now a Doctors surgery.

I also regularly went to the Savoy on Friday's Big Band nights.

I moved into Kinross Crescent in 1956 I think we were the second people to buy it, and I have at the back of my mind that it was one of the show houses, the block of 3 numbers 1,3, & 5.

My son Gordon went to a Nursery School in Court Lane, just opposite the Manor House, and another pupil was the son of Drs Stock and Lunt who lived in Magdala Road. They were our Doctors, and they sold their practice just over 30 years ago to Dr Allcock, who is still our Doctor and has his own Health Practice in Cosham, where his 2 daughters are also dentists.

Gloria writes:-

My husband says Bond made the three wheeler cars featured last week.



News and Views:

What a shame to here of the death of ‘Our ‘enry’.

Sales of specially-designed Keith Richards T-shirts have raised $138,000 for victims of earthquake-and-tsunami ravaged Japan, according to his web site.

On this day 1st May 1960-1965.

On 01/03/1960 the number one single was Why - Anthony Newley and the number one album was South Pacific Soundtrack. The top rated TV show was not listed and the box office smash was Some Like It Hot. A pound of today's money was worth £13.68 and Burnley were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions. The big news story of the day was First plain paper photocopier introduced.

On 01/03/1961 the number one single was Sailor - Petula Clark. The top rated TV show was The Army Game (Granada) and the box office smash was One Hundred and One Dalmations. A pound of today's money was worth 13.25 and Tottenham Hotspur were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions. The big news story of the day was Bootsie & Snudge (Granada).

On 01/03/1962 the number one single was Rock-a-Hula Baby/Can't Help Falling In Love - Elvis Presley and the number one album was Blue Hawaii - Elvis Presley. 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 Ipswich Town were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions. The big news story of the day was 93 die in New York plane crash.

On 01/03/1963 the number one single was The Wayward Wind - Frank Ifield and the number one album was Summer Holiday - Cliff Richard & the Shadows. The top rated TV show was Labour 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 Everton were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions.

On 01/03/1964 the number one single was Anyone Who Had a Heart -Cilla Black and the number one album was With the Beatles - The Beatles. The top rated TV show was Labour Party Political Broadcast (all channels) and the box office smash was Dr Strangelove. A pound of today's money was worth £12.24 and Liverpool were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions.

On 01/03/1965 the number one single was I'll Never Find Another You - Seekers and the number one album was Beatles For Sale - 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 Manchester United were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions.

Web Page 932

First Picture: Now who remembers those odd three wheelers like this one? But who manufactured them?


Second Picture: Another picture of the Southsea Miniature Railway





Bring back any memories? I like these they make you think!!!

Some younger person asked me the other day, 'What was your favourite 'fast food' when you were growing up?' I said, 'We didn't have fast food when I was growing up,' and I informed him. 'All the food was slow.' 'C'mon, seriously’. He said ‘ Where did you eat?' I answered 'It was a place called 'home,'' I explained. 'Mum cooked every day and when Dad got home from work, we sat down together at the dining room table, and if I didn't like what she put on my plate, I was allowed to sit there until I did like it.' By this time, the lad was laughing so hard I was afraid he was going to suffer some serious internal damage, so I didn't tell him the part about how I had to have permission to leave the table.

But here are some other things I would have told him about my childhood if I'd figured his system could have handled it:

Some parents NEVER owned their own house, wore jeans, set foot on a golf course, travelled out of the country or had a credit card. My parents never drove me to school. I had a bicycle and had to use it. And my mother never did learn to drive.

We didn't have a television in our house until I was 10. It was, of course, black and white, and the station went off the air at 10 pm, after playing the national anthem and epilogue; it came back on the air at about 6 a.m. And there was usually a locally produced news and farm show on, featuring local people...

I never had a telephone in my room because we never had a phone!

Pizzas were not delivered to our home... but milk and paraffin was. All newspapers were delivered by boys and girls, seven days a week. Most of them getting up at 6AM every morning.

Growing up isn't what it used to be, is it?

Film stars kissed with their mouths shut. At least, they did in the films. There were no movie ratings because all movies were responsibly produced for everyone to enjoy viewing, without profanity or violence or almost anything offensive.

If you grew up in a generation before there was fast food, you may want to share some of these memories with your children or grandchildren. Just don't blame me if they bust a gut laughing


MEMORIES from a friend:

My Dad was cleaning out my grandmother's house and he brought me an old Royal Crown Cola bottle. In the bottle top was a stopper with a group of holes in it. I knew immediately what it was, but my daughter had no idea. She thought they had tried to make it a salt shaker or something similar. I knew it as the bottle that sat on the end of the ironing board to 'sprinkle' clothes with because we didn't have steam irons. Man, I am old.

How many of these do you remember?
Headlight dip-switches on the floor of the car.
Ignition switches on the dashboard.
Hand operated chokes
Trouser leg clips for bicycles without chain guards.
Soldering irons you heated on a gas burner.
Using hand signals for cars without turn indicators.

Older Than Dirt Quiz:

Count all the ones that you remember, not the ones you were told about.

Ratings at the bottom.


1. Sweet cigarettes
2. Coffee shops with juke boxes
3. Home milk delivery in glass bottles
4. Party lines on the telephone
5. Newsreels before the movie
6. TV test patterns that came on at night after the last show and were there until TV shows started again in the morning.. (There were only 2 channels [if you were fortunate])
7. Peashooters
8. 33 rpm records
9. 45 RPM records
10.78 RPM records
11. Hi-fi's
12. Metal ice trays with levers
13. Blue flashbulb
14. Cork popguns
15. Wash tub wringers
16. Spud guns
17. Making your own bow and arrows
18. Going out to play and going home at 'meal time'

If you remembered 0-3 = you're still young
If you remembered 3-6 = You are getting older
If you remembered 7-11 = Don't tell your age If you remembered 12-15 = You're positively ancient!
I must be 'positively ancient' but those memories are some of the best parts of my life.

Don't forget to pass this along!!

Especially to all your really OLD friends... I just did!!!!!!!!!

Stay in touch,

Yours,

Peter

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

School Report.

Web Page from 9 years ago.

The School TripIt is strange but I have very little recollection of school trips or visits when normally you would think that any event that took us out of school during term time would be indelibly impressed on the brain. Those I do recall are only very sketchy memories. A trip to London, one to Wookey Hole and one to the Isle of Wight, I know some of our year went to Paris, but I do not remember being offered that and I seem to remember that some people in lower years went on the ‘SS Uganda’ sailing round the Med. But not me.

The reason for the visit to London I believe was to visit the Royal Tournament and the day that was picked was one of the days when the Portsmouth Field Gun Crew raced, so I supposed we cheered ourselves hoarse, but I don’t remember if they won or not. What else comes to mind from that day ? We stopped at the café at Hindhead on the way up and back and we had lunch outside the then almost brand new Royal Festival Hall and now comes the only clear memory of the day. Here I took a snap of Reg Davies and Bill Greer as they talked outside the hall. This photo is the eighth picture posted in the Manor Court pictures section of the Friends Reunited Web Site. There are also some pupils in the shot but who they are ………..? I have no idea, but I believe that both Steve Carter and Melvyn Bridger were amongst the happy band on this trip.

The Wookey Hole visit is the one that caused me acute embarrassment, nothing of the visit remains in my memory except being sick in the coach coming home. I was looked after by one of the female teachers, I do not remember whom, and eventually was sick into an old school towel. When we got back to school I was given the towel in a bag to take home and have washed. I was so embarrassed that I could not bring myself to tell my mother what had happened so when I got home I sneaked up the garden and hid the towel under the hedge. I never took it out so I suppose someone years later had a nasty surprise. I went to school for the next few days dreading being asked for the newly laundered towel, luckily this request never came much to my relief.

The visit to the Isle of Wight is equally as vague but I do remember that June Blitz was one of the accompanying teachers, why do I remember that? No idea. I we visited Carisbrook Castle and watched the donkey on the treadmill then on to Blackgang Chine but the only clear memory I have of the trip is climbing the steps up to the light at St Catherines Point whilst talking to Peter Westcott, Melvyn Bridger and June Blitz.

There were also visits to the Portsmouth Schools music festival in a church somewhere in Copnor Road and School Prize giving in the Northern Grammar School hall before we moved into Manor Court itself. A visit to the Kings Theatre to see Macbeth and as Melvyn Bridger reminded me the bus trips to East Lodge on sports days where we all had to try and change in the bus on the way, very tricky.

Obviously School trips were wasted on me no lasting impressions were made and memories stored. What do you remember? Can you fill in the gaps in my memory banks?


You Write:


Griff Writes re renaming the school:-Best guess is that the Secondary Modern title was dropped when the school became a Comprehensive School so Portsmouth Education Council probably decided to change the name at the same time.

If anyone knows what link "Springfield" has to the siting of the school or the area then I would like to know myself because it doesn't relate to anything I know about the area whereas Manor Court does.

What they have achieved by name changing is to basically air-brush out the previous 20 years of the school when it was called Manor Court thus destroying any school heritage......It's like we never existed!

They have school reunions held at the present School but only if you attended as Springfield student/pupil.

News and Views:A collection of hundreds of letters and postcards written by John Lennon will be published in October in the appropriately-titled "The Lennon Letters,". The book, apparently the first in a series, has been authorized Yoko Ono.



On this day 24th April 1960-1965.
On 24/04/1960 the number one single was My Old Man's a Dustman - Lonnie Donegan 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 Burnley were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions. The big news story of the day was 3000 killed in Persian earthquake.

On 24/04/1961 the number one single was Wooden Heart - Elvis Presley and the number one album was GI Blues - Elvis Presley. The top rated TV show was Bootsie & Snudge (Granada) and the box office smash was One Hundred and One Dalmations. A pound of today's money was worth £13.25 and Tottenham Hotspur were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions


On 24/04/1962 the number one single was Wonderful Land - The Shadows and the number one album was Blue Hawaii - Elvis Presley. 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 Ipswich Town were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions.

On 24/04/1963 the number one single was How Do You Do It? - Gerry & the Pacemakers and the number one album was Summer Holiday - Cliff Richard & the Shadows. The top rated TV show was Labour 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 Everton were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions. The big news story of the day was Mandy Rice-Davis arrested.

On 24/04/1964 the number one single was A World Without Love - Peter & Gordon and the number one album was With the Beatles - The Beatles. The top rated TV show was Liberal Party Political Broadcast (all channels) and the box office smash was Dr Strangelove. A pound of today's money was worth £12.24 and Liverpool were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions. The big news story of the day was Hunt on for Nazi fugitive.


On 24/04/1965 the number one single was Ticket to Ride - The Beatles and the number one album was Rolling Stones Number 2 - The Rolling Stones. 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 Manchester United were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions.

Web Page 930

First Picture: The good old Secret Seven






Second Picture: Now girls who remembers wearing clothes like these?

New member today; welcome to Joy Coots.



Lashings of Lemonade.

I expect that you like myself and Pam were all brought up on the stories of Enid Blyton. I know when i was very young I could not wait for the the next Noddy Book to come out and we could go off to the bookshop in Cosham to buy it. I think that during mmy infant and junior school days I must have collected the whole set. At that period of time no one worried that the names Big Ears and Golly were not PC correct we just enjoyed the books.

After Noddy we then progressed onto the Famous Five and then the Secret Seven to us they were just jolly good tales and adventures with ‘lashings of ginger beer and biscuits’.To us there was no threat in the books, this was generated later as the PC world took hold.

However until the television play starring Helena Bonham Carter in 2009, I did not realise what an unusual character she was. She was born on 11 August 1897 in East Dulwich the eldest child of Thomas Carey Blyton, a salesman of cutlery, and his wife, Theresa Mary Harrison. She had two younger brothers, Hanly and Carey who were born after the family had moved to Beckenham, at schoolshe excelled at her leaving as head girl. She enjoyed physical activities along with some academic work, but not maths. She was also a talented pianist, but gave up her musical studies when she trained as a teacher. She taught for five years writing in her spare time. Her first book, Child Whispers, a collection of poems, was published in 1922. In2August 1924 Blyton married Major Hugh Pollock the editor of the book department in the publishing firm which published two of her books that year. The couple moved to Beaconsfield to a house named Green Hedges by Enid Blyton's readers following a competition in Sunny Stories. They had two children Gillian who died in 2007 and Imogen.

By 1939 her marriage was in difficulties. In 1941 she met Kenneth Darrell Waters a London surgeon. After each had divorced, they married 20 October 1943, and she subsequently changed the surname of her two daughters to Darrell Waters. Major Pollock remarried and had little contact with his daughters thereafter. Blyton's second marriage was very happy and, as far as her public image was concerned, she moved smoothly into her role as a devoted doctor's wife, living with him and her two daughters at Green Hedges.

Her husband died in 1967. During the following months, she became increasingly ill. Afflicted by Alzheimers she was moved into a nursing home three months before her death on 28 November 1968, aged 71.

The truuth then came out as her daughter Imogen was quoted as saying "The truth is Enid Blyton was arrogant, insecure, pretentious, very skilled at putting difficult or unpleasant things out of her mind, and without a trace of maternal instinct. As a child, I viewed her as a rather strict authority. As an adult I pitied her."
During her lifetime Enid Blyton wrote hundreds of books for young and older children: novels, story collections and some non-fiction. She also filled a large number of magazine pages, particularly the long-running Sunny Stories which were immensely popular among younger children. An estimate puts her total book publication at around 800 titles, not including decades of magazine writing It is said that at one point in her career she regularly produced 10,000 words a day. Such prolific output led many to believe that some of her work was ghost-written Yet, no ghost writers have ever come forward. She used a pseudonym Mary Pollock for a few titles. She also wrote numerous books on nature and Biblical themes.

Her books often mirrored our childhood fantasy’s when we were free to play and explore without adult interference. Adult characters are usually either authority figures (such as policemen, teachers, or parents) or adversaries to be conquered by the children. Her books are generally split into three types. One involves ordinary children in extraordinary situations, having adventures, solving crimes, or otherwise finding themselves in unusual circumstances, eg the Famous Five and Secret Seven, and the Adventure series. The second and more conventional type is the boarding school story, the plots of these have more emphasis on the day-to-day life at school, the world of the midnight feast and the practical jokes eg the Malory Towers stories, the St Clare's series, and the Naughtiest Girl books.
The third type is the fantastical. Children are typically transported into a magical world in which they meet fairies, goblins and elves or other fantasy creatures. lternatively, in many of her short stories, toys are shown to come alive when humans are not around.

Her status as a bestselling author is in spite of disapproval of her works which has led to altered reprints of the books and withdrawals or “bans” from libraries. In the 1990s, Chorion, the owners of Blyton's works, edited her books to remove passages that were deemed racist or sexist.

It was frequently reported (in the 1950s and also from the 1980s onwards) that various children's libraries removed some of her works from the shelves. The history of such "Blyton bans" is confused. There is however no evidence that her books' popularity ever suffered. She was defended by populist journalists, and others. Her response is said to be that she was not interested in the views of critics aged over 12.

In November 2009 it was revealed that the BBC had a longstanding ban on dramatising her books on the radio from the 1930s to the 1950s. Letters and memos from the BBC Archive show that producers and executives at that time described her as a "tenacious second-rater" who wrote "stilted and longwinded" books which were not suitable to be broadcast. She tried to get her work on the radio in 1940, but was again turned down, on the grounds that the stories were not good enough. Eventually, in 1954, her works appeared on air for the first time.

Her books are very much of their time, our time particularly the titles published in the 1950s. Some have suggested the depictions of boys and girls in her books was sexist. For example, a 2005 Guardian article suggested that the Famous Five depicts a power struggle between Julian, Dick and George (Georgina), with the female characters either acting like boys or being heavily put-upon. To me they were just jolly good reads!!!!

Stay in touch,

Yours,

Peter

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

You Write:
Steve Writes:

Ref: Where in Portsmouth is the picture on the side bar. It looks like Albert Road facing east just beyond the Kings Theatre Southsea.


Masefield was Green as that was my House.

Also a big thanks for reminding me of my past, I left Manor Court over 41 years ago so is its good to remember.

Do you remember David Baker Science Teacher and Mr Tregus English teacher he was my first form teacher at Manor court in the 60s, I can vividly remember old Hodgy the Maths teacher he was a bit keen with the cane.

I sometimes go past the old school when I pay my odd visit back to Portsmouth it has not changed to much just the name, who's idea was it to change to Springfield ???

John adds:

I believe the road may be ALBERT Road in Southsea, If you stand to the left side of the entrance to the Kings Theatre and face east the road does bend at this point. The shops and area does strike a cord with me, but I may be wrong.

I worked at an old family Butchers called MARCHMENTS when I was a lad who were on Albert Road opposite the old Southsea Police Station now long gone, and I also worked as a Traffic Warden at the old nick.

I also believe that MARCHMENTS had a shop in the Drayton area


News and Views:

Keith Fordyce The easy-going host of Ready Steady Go!, which started in 1963 died Devon 15 March 2011. Keith Fordyce Marriott – he was to drop his surname as a professional broadcaster – was born in Lincoln on in 1928. In the forces, he worked as an announcer and producer for the Forces Broadcasting Service, where his commanding officer was Cliff Michelmore.He gained a wide experience in presenting record programmes, which he put to good use in civilian life. After the forces, he studied for a law degree and was president of the University Law Society during 1951-52. On getting his degree, he worked as a football commentator for BBC TV, his first broadcast being on 22 November 1952. He presented Housewives' Choice, for a week in August 1955, and fought a municipal election for the Conservatives and won a seat on Wimbledon Council, but he was to move to Radio Luxembourg as a staff announcer. He presented their weekly Top Twenty programme and stayed with the station for three years. He wrote for New Musical Express and two records by unknowns that he correctly tipped for No 1 were "Diana" by Paul Anka in 1957 and "When" by the Kalin Twins the following year. In 1960, he compared Wham! which featured Billy Fury, Little Tony and Dickie Pride. That was short-lived but he became the original host for Thank Your Lucky Stars and the Sunday morning radio show, Easy Beat. In April 1963 he interviewed the Beatles on the BBC's Pop Inn.

In August 1963 he hosted the first edition of Ready Steady Go! with Cathy McGowan and Michael Aldred. Through the 1960s and '70s, he hosted variety shows and quizzes on television and radio including Come Dancing and Miss World. In 1979, he was the first presenter of Radio 2's Sounds Of The Sixties and on the same day, he presented the quiz show, Beat The Record. During the 1980s, he followed another passion by running the Torbay Aircraft Museum in Paignton. He broadcast locally on Radio Solent and Radio Devon. He wanted to broadcast until he died but he developed Alzheimer's and was forced to retire. He leaves four children.

On this day 17th April 1960-1965.

On 17/04/1960 the number one single was My Old Man's a Dustman - Lonnie Donegan and the number one album was South Pacific Soundtrack. The top rated TV show was Wagon Train (ITV) and the box office smash was Psycho. A pound of today's money was worth £13.68 and Burnley were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions.

On 17/04/1961

the number one single was Wooden Heart - Elvis Presley and the number one album was GI Blues - Elvis Presley. The top rated TV show was The Budget (All Channels) and the box office smash was One Hundred and One Dalmations. A pound of today's money was worth £13.25 and Tottenham Hotspur were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions. The big news story of the day was Bay of Pigs landings in Cuba.

On 17/04/1962

the number one single was Wonderful Land - The Shadows and the number one album was Blue Hawaii - Elvis Presley. 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 Ipswich Town were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions.

On 17/04/1963

the number one single was How Do You Do It? - Gerry & the Pacemakers and the number one album was Summer Holiday - Cliff Richard & the Shadows. 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 Everton were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions.

On 17/04/1964

the number one single was Can't Buy Me Love - The Beatles and the number one album was With the Beatles - The Beatles. The top rated TV show was The Budget (All Channels) and the box office smash was Dr Strangelove. A pound of today's money was worth £12.24 and Liverpool were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions. The big news story of the day was Shea Stadium opens in New York.

On 17/04/1965

the number one single was The Minute You're Gone - Cliff Richard and the number one album was Freewheelin' Bob Dylan. 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 Manchester United were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions.

Web Page 928

First Picture: Double or Drop with Eamonn Andrews and Jillian Comber






Second Picture: Peter Glaze and Leslie Crowther

Crackerjack 1955 - 1984 (UK)

Probably the best remembered children’s TV programme was Crackerjack, I know that as a kid I never missed it! The programmme was filmed in front of an audience of mainly children at the BBC Television Theatre (now the Shepherds Bush Empire). The format included games for teams of children, a music spot, a comedy double act and a finale in which the cast performed a short comic play, adapting popular songs and incorporating them into the action.

One of the highlights of the show was called Don and Pete, being Don Maclean and Peter Glaze in a silent comedy style section lasting about five minutes. Shows had them fishing, as sweepers, barbers, at a riding school, on a building site, on a farm, at a circus, window cleaners, bellboys, removals, etc.

One of the most memorable games was the quiz called "Double or Drop", where each contestant was given a prize to hold for each question answered correctly, but given a cabbage if they answered incorrectly. They were out of the game if they dropped any of the items they were holding or received a third cabbage.

It was an unwritten rule that whenever a presenter said the word 'Crackerjack', the audience would shout "Crack-er-jack!" loudly. This custom has passed into popular culture. A standard consolation prize to children who appeared on the show was the Crackerjack Pencil (later upgraded to a Crackerjack pen). These were kept in a special locked cabinet and only handed out to people who had won them and when an official asked for one once, he was refused. One exception was made in 1961 when the Queen visited the set and was given pencils for Prince Charles and Princess Anne.
The show was introduced with the phrase "It's Friday, it's five o’clock . . . It's Crackerjack.

In 1977 a talent contest element was added, this was "Crackerjack Young Entertainer of The Year" and featured children who had successfully passed audition stages. In 1982, in a bid to try and boost flagging ratings, Crackerjack introduced gunge into its games and launched a new game called 'Take a Chance' in which the celebrity guests could score extra points for the contestant they had teamed up with. Failure to answer questions correctly led to Stu Francis and/or the celebrity guest being covered in gunge.

Crackerjack was cancelled in 1984 at the same time as many other long running series.

Now who do you remember?

The Main Hosts were:- Eamonn Andrews, Leslie Crowther, Michael Aspel, Ed "Stewpot" Stewart and Stu Francis

Others who appeared regularly, firstly the blokes:- Jack Douglas, Joe Baker, Ronnie Corbett, Peter Glaze (he always seemed to be there!), Don Maclean and Bernie Clifton,

The ladies were:- Jillian Comber, Pip Hinton, Christine Holmes, Jacqueline Clarke, Jan Hunt, Leigh Mile.

And also in later years:- The Krankies, The Great Soprendo (Geoffrey Durham) and Basil Brush.

The first show was transmitted on 12th September 1955 and soon each week thousands of kids would pile into the Theatre for the filming.

The programmes creator was Johnny Downes, who also produced a number of other shows, including Call My Bluff, David Nixon's shows, Child's Play and The Basil Brush Show.
Some odd facts about the programme that you may not know or may have forgoten:- Contrary to popular belief, Crackerjack wasn't always screened on a Friday, but was shunted around the schedules. It wasn't until the 1970s that a regular Friday slot was established.

During its heyday the Crackerjack pencil was as coveted as the Blue Peter badge is today. Were kids were easily pleased in those days?

In 1958 comedy and song was provided by Pearl Carr and Teddy Johnson, the husband and wife duo who famously came second in the 1959 Eurovision Song Contest with their song Sing Little Birdie.

A number of big names made early appearances on Crackerjack to promote their pop career, including Adam Faith, Tom Jones, The Bee Gees, The Who and Status Quo.
Over the years a number of Crackerjack annuals were produced. The 1969 annual, for example contained a Don Maclean and Peter Glaze comic strip, a look at the history of clowns, 'Crackerjack games for boys and tomboys', plus classic jokes.
Peter Glaze was actually an accomplished actor, and can be seen (although, you'd be hard pushed to recognise him) in an early Doctor Who.

Double or Drop was devised by Eamonn Andrews. When he left the show he took the format with him, and so the show's most popular fixture disappeared. In the 70s a deal was made and the game returned.

You may have be wondering how many episodes were made and transmitted the answer is 400!!!
Ah! Those memories!!

Stay in touch,

Yours,

Peter

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

You Write:

Anida sends this clip take a look!!!

http://www3.hants.gov.uk/wfsa/film8.htm


Gloria Writes:-

I was looking at the photo's again today and the skating rink was where I spent many an hour learning to skate and then to roller dance. Dad and I were only talking about it last week. When we last visited Southsea I took my husband Tony to see it. Not a lot has changed except you can use a skateboard there now. When I first moved to Broadstairs we used to visit the skating rink in Dreamland most weeks, I could out dance most of my friends. Then I got married and had the kids and was not able to skate anymore. I love to have a go now but the old arthritis would play havoc for weeks after.


News and Views:

Ringo Starr briefly shared the stage with a 17 year-old brain cancer patient at the Hard Rock Café in Los Angeles on March 31 and later awarded the drum set to the boy, who told his father he dreamed he met Ringo. Thanks to the Make-A-Wish Foundation, the dream came true.

On this day 10th April 1960-1965.

On 10/04/1960 the number one single was My Old Man's a Dustman - Lonnie Donegan and the number one album was South Pacific Soundtrack. The top rated TV show was The Budget (All Channels) and the box office smash was Psycho. A pound of today's money was worth £13.68 and Burnley were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions.

On 10/04/1961 the number one single was Wooden Heart - Elvis Presley and the number one album was GI Blues - Elvis Presley. The top rated TV show was Labour Party Political Broadcast (all channels) and the box office smash was One Hundred and One Dalmatians. A pound of today's money was worth £13.25 and Tottenham Hotspur were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions.

On 10/04/1962 the number one single was Wonderful Land - The Shadows and the number one album was Blue Hawaii - Elvis Presley. The top rated TV show was The Budget (All Channels) and the box office smash was Lawrence of Arabia. A pound of today's money was worth £12.89 and Ipswich Town were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions. The big news story of the day was Film director Michael Curtiz and ex Beatle Stu Sutcliffe die.

On 10/04/1963 the number one single was Summer Holiday - Cliff Richard & the Shadows and the number one album was Summer Holiday - Cliff Richard & the Shadows. 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 Everton were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions. The big news story of the day was Atomic US submarine sinks killing 129.


On 10/04/1964 the number one single was Can't Buy Me Love - The Beatles and the number one album was With the Beatles - The Beatles. The top rated TV show was Labour Party Political Broadcast (all channels) and the box office smash was Dr Strangelove. A pound of today's money was worth £12.24 and Liverpool were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions. The big news story of the day was Beatles have 13 records in US chart.

On 10/04/1965 the number one single was Concrete & Clay - Unit 4 Plus 2 and the number one album was Rolling Stones Number 2 - The Rolling Stones. 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 Manchester United were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions.

Web Page 926

First Picture: Patti Boyd and George Harrison





Second Picture: A rare sight these days, an AA box, this one was in Scotland!

Pattie Boyd

Patti Boyd was born Patricia Anne Boyd on 17th March 1944 in Taunton. She became well known as a English model and photographer and wife of the stars and was the former wife of both George Harrison and Eric Clapton. She was the eldest child of the family being followed by Helen Mary (later known as Jenny who later married Mick Fleetwood of Fleetwood Mac), and Paula who was born in 1951. The Boyd family moved to Nairobi from 1948 to 1953, after her father's medical discharge from the RAF following a severe injury as a pilot, her parents were divorced in 1952 and her mother brought her childrn back to England with her. After leaving school Patti moved to London in 1962, first working at Elizabeth Arden’s as a shampoo girl and it was here that a client who worked for a fashion magazine asked her if she had thought of modelling as a career.

She started modelling in 1962, but was rejected by many photographers owing to her unconventional looks she had rather prominent front teeth and one photographer unkindly said she looked more like a rabbit. However she got modelling work in London, New York and Paris for Mary Quant and others designers and was photographed many times by David Bailey and Terance Donovan.

She was nineteen going in twenty in 1964 when she met George Harrison during the filming of A Hard Days Night in which she was cast as a schoolgirl fan. Out of loyalty to her boyfriend she initially declined George’s requests for a date; however several days later, when Patti was recalled for another day's work on the film, George asked her out again and she accepted. So started a relationship with the Beatle, in fact she was present, along with George, John and Cynthia Lennon, during their first encounter with LSD in early 1965. A dentist, John Riley, the son of a London police officer, laced their coffee with it. The four of them were furious and left extremely scared. In an agitated state, Patti Boyd threatened to break a store window until George Harrison managed to drag her away.

Whilst driving through London in December 1965 George proposed but said he would have to talk to Brian Epstein first just to make sure no Beatles' tours had been planned before they could set the day. They married on 21 January 1966 at the old Registry Office in Epsom with Paul as Best Man and Brian Epstein in attendance. John and Ringo had gone abroad on holiday with their wives so distracting journalists from finding out about the wedding.

While John Lennon was in Spain filming in September 1966, George and Patti flew to Bombay as guests of the sitar player Ravi Shankar. Through her interest in Eastern mysticism Patti inspired the Beatles to meet the Maharishi Mehesh Yogi in London in August 1967, she also accompanied them on their visit to the Maharishi in India in 1968.

It was rumoured that both John Lennon and Mick Jagger were also attracted to Patti with Mick Jagger admitting in the 1980s that he had failed to seduce her after trying for years. She then had a brief affair with future Rolling Stone Ronnie Wood in 1973, her marriage at the time was failing fast and they split in June 1974 and she flew to Los Angeles to stay with her sister Jenny.

In the late 1960’s, Eric Clapton and George Harrison became close friends, and began writing and recording music together. Eric Clapton fell in love with Patti and it was when she rebuffed his advances in late 1970, that he became a serious Heroin addiction. They married eventually in 1979 after Eric had treatment. The outward image of the perfect couple masked struggles within their marriage. Although she drank and admits to past drug use, unlike Eric Clapton she never became an alcoholic or a drug addict in fact she says that she left him at one point due to his refusal to seek treatment for his alcoholism, and she began seeing a photographer, Will Christie. In 1984, Eric began a relationship with Yvonne Kelly; they had a daughter, Ruth, born in January 1985. Clapton and Boyd divorced in 1989.

An exhibition of photographs that she took during her days with George Harrison and Eric Clapton took place at the San Francisco Art Exchange in February 2005 and it also ran again in San Francisco in February 2006 and then for six weeks between June and July 2006, in London.

As of 2008, she lived in a 17th-century cottage in deepest West Susex.

Stay in touch,

Yours,

Peter

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

You Write:

Had this sent to me: The pedestrian crossing outside north London's Abbey Road recording studio-- made famous by the cover photo on the Beatles' album, "Abbey Road"-- has been designated a site of national importance. That means it can be altered only with the approval of local authorities.



News and Views:

Carl Bunch, drummer with Buddy Holly on his ill-fated Winter Dance party tour who developed frostbite on the unheated tour bus and was hospitalized, died on March 26th after a lengthy illness. He was 71.

On this day 3rd April 1960-1965.

On 03/04/1960 the number one single was My Old Man's a Dustman - Lonnie Donegan and the number one album was South Pacific Soundtrack. The top rated TV show was Wagon Train (ITV) and the box office smash was Psycho. A pound of today's money was worth £13.68 and Burnley were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions.

On 03/04/1961 the number one single was Wooden Heart - Elvis Presley 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 One Hundred and One Dalmations. A pound of today's money was worth £13.25 and Tottenham Hotspur were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions.

On 03/04/1962 the number one single was Wonderful Land - The Shadows and the number one album was Blue Hawaii - Elvis Presley. 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 Ipswich Town were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions. The big news story of the day was First military satellite TV broadcast.

On 03/04/1963 the number one single was Foot Tapper - The Shadows and the number one album was Summer Holiday - Cliff Richard & the Shadows. The top rated TV show was The Budget (All Channels) and the box office smash was The Great Escape. A pound of today's money was worth £12.64 and Everton were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions.

On 03/04/1964 the number one single was Can't Buy Me Love - 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 Dr Strangelove. A pound of today's money was worth £12.24 and Liverpool were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions. The big news story of the day was British troops in Cyprus fist fights.

On 03/04/1965 the number one single was The Last Time - Rolling Stones and the number one album was Rolling Stones Number 2 - The Rolling Stones. 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 Manchester United were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions.