Down Memory Lane...

...or to be more precise, down Leicester's Gipsy Lane.

Last week I had to go to a meeting on the other side of town. This meant driving past the street where I was born and along the road that I used to cross on my way to school (I really mean the road that Mum used to drag me across. I hated school), the same road where I used to trail after Mum from shop to shop on her daily trip to buy food (no fridges in those days). There are still shops there but the grocers and greengrocers have gone.

I used to wait for the bus to Grandma's house on Gipsy Lane. The bus stop is still there. I can remember holding Mum's hand, looking forward to being at Grandma's, trying not to turn and look at the Towers Hospital behind me.

An old photograph of The Towers Hospital
 from The Leicester Mercury archives

Last week, as I crawled along in a line of traffic, I glanced at that same Towers Hospital. It stands in its own grounds and, although it is no longer a mental institution (formerly referred to as a lunatic asylum), it is still largely unchanged from the outside. I was surprised at how close the building was to the road. In infant school, we were taken there each Spring for nature walks. I remember walking along a little piece of woodland beside an iron-railed perimeter with the scarily imposing building safely at a distance. I know a lot has changed but the iron-railed perimeter hasn't moved and the building hasn't moved. It's only my memory that has had a size-change. That 'little piece of woodland' is merely a narrow path with trees and bushes alongside it.

It's strange how we remember things from long ago as being smaller or larger, nearer or further away. Maybe our memories can't retain size proportions accurately. Have you ever returned to a childhood location and been surprised by your memory's inaccuracies?

How do all our memories fit in?

I've been doing a bit of yoga recently, trying to clear my head, put some good thoughts there and remove some of the worries. This has got me thinking about our thoughts and our memories. What makes memories linger in our brain? I'm not talking about bad memories here, not today. I'm just talking about the good ones, the kind that can be replayed over and over in your head, the kind that can take you to a better place when you're feeling fed up.

What amazes me is that there seems to be no limit to how many memories any one brain can hold. The popular image of a memory is that of a filing cabinet, where each memory is stored away in some kind of sensible order. That's how I like to think about mine anyway and it will come as no surprise to my blog friends that a lot of my memories appear to be filed away under the heading of 'pop songs'. It's not only music that can bring memories to life, though. Smells, tastes, even colours can be evocative of times past.

I remember from my GCE Biology (yes, they were called GCEs in those days before GCSEs had been invented!) ...I remember that memories are stored in the hippocampus but that doesn't help me to understand how it works because the hippocampus is a very small part of the brain. How do all the memories fit in? I also remember learning that the average brain weighs about 3 lbs and 80% of that is made up of water. Mum helped me to revise Biology and we did it so well that a lot of this stuff is still stored in my memory. Why is it not overflowing?

What's more, our memories can be 'jogged'. Go to a reunion or meet up with an old friend and a whole file full of memories can be reopened. You start thinking about things you did all those years ago, things that you'd almost forgotten about, but now the memory has been 'jogged', they're as vivid as if they happened yesterday.

Of course, the bad news is that our memories can start to lose their 'search facility' as we get older. That old chestnut of walking into a room and forgetting why you're there happens to most of us and it's apparently because by the time we reach 50 the connections between neurons in our brains are starting to show their age.

I'm not sure how scientifically effective it is but I'm doing my best to keep my brain active in the hope that it will maintain its full search facility functions for as long as possible. I play Bridge at least once a week and I play word games and do crosswords every day, although the Guardian cryptic crossword is much tougher these days than it used to be - humour me! It is tougher, isn't it?!

What do you do to keep your brain active?

Collecting Happy Memories

We've just spent a bit of quality time with our amazing grandkids. I have to admit that I am now exhausted but it was lovely to see them and I've gathered up lots of happy memories while we were there. We saw monkeys in the monkey forest playing and chasing each other. We played on the swings in the local park and I plucked up the courage to swing high, like when I was a kid. Then there were the stories that we read together and the games that we created whilst crawling on the floor. The best memories are the hugs and kisses and the words, "I love you, Grandma Ros and Grandpa Rod".

Those happy memories will keep me going for a little while until we can meet up again. (Why can't families all live round the corner from each other like in the olden days or am I wearing those tinted specs again?) But I came away from our visit with more than happy memories. I came away with a wise piece of advice from my son. (Don't you love it when your kids become wiser than you?!) On our last evening there he put little grandson to bed and came down saying, "I always like to leave him with a happy thought to take with him as he goes off to sleep. Tonight he chose the baby monkeys playing in the forest."

A lot of life is about what's in our heads, isn't it. We can think about something lovely and smile or we can think about something awful and grimace. It sounds like an obvious choice and if it was as easy as that then we'd all spend all our time thinking lovely thoughts. For me the hardest times are those hours in the middle of the night, but maybe I can turn that around if I listen to my son's advice and take a happy thought with me when I go to sleep. (If you're reading this, Son, and I know that you often do, then thanks. I'll certainly give it a go.)

Daughter update: I'm so pleased to report that my daughter is recovering well following major surgery earlier in the summer. She's hoping to get back to work after the Bank Holiday week. Thanks to everyone who sent her get well wishes.

Children's Book of Richard III update: We have almost sold out of the first print run. Because there were one or two small changes required, this next print run has become a 2nd edition. Apologies if you wanted to order a copy this week. The 2nd edition will be available either online or in person from The Reading Shop in about two weeks' time.

You don't know what you don't know...

You don’t know what you don’t know until someone tells you and then you realise that for all those years you never knew that you didn't know. Let me explain...

The title proper of my Cemetery Project is Lives Behind the Stones. This was the original interest, before we started filling in the Heritage Lottery Fund application. As we wrote down our plans we realized that we needed first to catalogue the entire cemetery, set up a database with basic information about all the graves etc. We have just about done those things and so we’ve moved on to the most interesting part; finding out about the lives behind the stones.

Some of the deceased have family still living in the community and so, rather than researching files, folders and internet sites, I’ve been visiting, chatting and gathering their stories together. That was when I realized that I didn’t know what I didn’t know… but now I do and, yes, I am going to share.

Before the war there was a street in Leicester called Wharf Street. It was a busy shopping street full of character. One of the shops belonged to a man called Sam Jacobs, the grandfather of a friend who is also a member of my project team, so I went to speak to my friend's father to find out more about Sam Jacobs.

Sam Jacobs had a shop selling ladies fashion wear. We talked a bit about the shop and about Wharf Street and then my friend’s father became animated as he remembered that his father would get the clothes altered for the customers by two sisters who lived in London. These sisters also made dresses for his mother for special occasions. They must have been very good dressmakers, I thought. My friend’s father continued,

“I was the one who was sent down to London. I was only a lad. I had to take the dresses that needed altering and bring back all the work they’d done. Then when war broke out,” he said, “They came to Leicester to escape the bombs. They stayed here after the war was over and carried on working for my father. They were two sisters, little ladies, foreign, spoke Yiddish. Their names were…”

And then I stopped him because I knew what their names were and I was right. They were good. They were my Grandma and my Great Aunt. I talked about them here a few years ago, about their private dressmaking workshop and the way I used to ‘help’ by picking up pins but I never knew that they were doing business with someone from Leicester long before war broke out. I never knew why my family chose Leicester when they evacuated from London but now I do. They had business contacts here. It’s amazing what you find out when you’re least expecting it.

On the left is a photograph of my Grandma Bessie and on the right is a photograph of my Great Auntie Alice. These were the two sisters who worked for Sam Jacobs all those many many years ago.

My Market Performance

I’ve mentioned Leicester Market a few times on this blog. It’s the largest outdoor covered market in Europe and it has a special place in my heart. Long ago Mum and Dad sold costume jewellery there and I loved going with ‘to help’. I was free to wander, in a way that children sadly aren’t able to do today, and I have rich memories of colourful market characters each acting out a performance just for me… or so I thought.

This cartoon of the light bulb man was drawn 

by Mick Wright for my Jewish Voices book. 

You can order one of his excellent cartoons 

or caricatures from Mick Wright.

Enter stage left, the light bulb man waddling and swaying from one empty stall to the next, wearing a special jacket which had one enormous pocket spreading around his body. The pocket bulged and clinked with light bulbs as he leapt across wooden-planked stalls, inserting bulbs with an expert twist of the wrist into the hanging flexes. In the winter that swinging bulb was the only source of warmth for Mum and Dad’s frozen fingers.

Next came the skip boys, pushing fully laden wicker skips from the cellar store rooms beneath the old Corn Exchange. The skips smelt musty and the skip boys strained to push their weight across the cobbles.

By now shoppers were arriving, their stiletto heels clicking, voices rising into a cacophony of sounds with brash sales patter, promising only the best, only the cheapest. "This jumper was made for you, me duck." And the rhythmic call from the fruit and veg section. "Get your oranges, lovely and sweet."

Sometimes I’d skip through the arcade to a clearing in the stalls, an open space for the pitch boys. They towered above my head, balanced on boxes, singing their sales patter to gathering crowds. Their assistants held up sets of matching plates, packs of saucepans. There was always a bargain and always someone in the crowd who appreciated a cheeky aside. "But to you, sweetheart, a special offer!"

And so I wandered on into the dusk and the market’s closing performance, the street sweepers, pushing wide brushes of mounting debris, vans and cars hooting, the skip boys returning refilled skips to their dusty dungeon home, the light bulb man, thin and ordinary, feeding his jacket with hot light bulbs until he was full and waddling again.

It was time to return to our stall, to help pack unsold jewellery into boxes and sit on the wooden planks swinging my legs and ‘guarding the stock’ while Mum and Dad packed up our little car. I always waved to the light bulb man as I squeezed into the back seat and perched beside piled-up boxes, but I don’t think he ever saw me.                 

Teenage Angst - a poem

After lunch on a Sunday we’d head for the park,

My transistor would crackle and hiss,

Playing Pick of the Pops, Alan Freeman, ‘Not ‘arf!’

Just one hour of musical bliss.

We’d hang round the boating lake hoping to walk

Past the big, handsome boat-keeper lad.

Then we’d stand on the solid stone bridge and we’d talk

Of a time we’d no longer be sad.

We knew we both wanted to meet Mr Right,

Get engaged, buy a house of our own

Have a couple of kids, leave our childhood behind,

Have a better life once we were grown.

We both worked so hard with our homework and worse,

Like the weekly clean-up of our room!

We wanted to leave all that hard work behind

And be rid of our teenager gloom.

Now, I know that I’m not the first person to want

To turn time back so my friend and me

Could still listen to music and dream all our dreams

Of how great being grown-up would be.

[The park was Abbey Park in Leicester. The boating lake and big stone bridge are still there but these days the lads in charge of the boating lake look so young! As for my friends, sometimes I walked round with Linda and sometimes Sylvia. I’ve not been in touch with either for decades. Wonder if they remember our Sunday walks round Abbey Park.]

Where did you go walking when you were a teenager and did you have the same sort of dreams?

Tom Bear's Bath

My new writing den is still not completed [sigh] but I’ve dragged in a chair so I can sit at the window and write this post.

If we hadn’t altered Daughter’s bedroom to accommodate my den then Tom Bear’s bath would never have happened. The memories would still have been caught up in his dusty fur.

Charlie the cat is suspicious of the damp bear.

I used a bowl of soapy water and a cloth. I didn’t want Tom Bear to be soaked through and through. I carefully wiped his head and ears and through the smell of musty wool came memories, a pink frilly dress that I bought for Daughter, the hair ribbons, the baby ballet classes.

I rubbed Tom’s arms... The pink frills were discarded, replaced with black. Just a phase.

I scrubbed his chin... When she practised her flute I’d stop my chores, sit and listen.

I rubbed at his tummy... When she got her degree we ran together up the steps of the University to see the words on the notice board, 1^st class honours.

I worked the soapy cloth around his feet rubbing harder with each memory... her packed bags, a move to London, a first job, a new life. That was when Tom Bear climbed to the top of the wardrobe, all those years ago, and he only just came down and now I have to thank him for reminding me how proud I am of her and how precious our memories are.

A to Z 1950s/60s Nostalgia: Z

Z Smell:

Zubes - I used to take a tin of Zubes to school with me in the winter. It rattled in my satchel (yes, we did have satchels, leather ones.) The Zubes were strong and warming but I must have smelt horrible!

Z Memories:
I could write about Zombie Movies in the 1960s - The Night of the Living Dead - but that's far too grim a topic for my liking and so, as this is my last A to Z post, I thought I'd do a bit of a summing up. To be honest, it's not actually me doing the summing up. I've decided to let a video do it for me:

A to Z for the last time:

This video scrolls its way through lots of the adverts, street scenes, fashions and music from the 1950s. There are many things that we've mentioned and some things that we haven't. It includes some long lost songs too. Look out for these bits that made me go, "Oh yes!":

• I'd forgotten how those big black phones had a little drawer underneath that contained a small card for phone numbers.
• I'd have loved that mod black and white dress on the lady lounging across the moped.
• Radio valves! Dad would never be without spare radio valves!
• What a cute little policeman's car.
• Open milk pales on a milk delivery... health and safety?
• While Nellie the Elephant is playing there's a young girl wearing an elasticated swimsuit. I had a green one exactly like that... or rather it was a hand-me-down from my sister [right, Rifka?]
• We never had three ducks flying across our wall but lots of people did.
• I loved my Meccano set.

Z Programmes:

The car in Z-cars was just a front screen with a movie going on behind
them to pretend they were driving. It was basic but we all loved it. 

On TV:
Z-cars
Zorro
Zoo time
Zoo Quest with David Attenborough

Film:
Zorba the Greek
Zulu

Florence and Dougal with Zebedee from the Magic Roundabout

Z Names:
Zebedee
Frank Zappa

Led Zeppelin
The Zombies who provide the...

Z Music:

The Zombies singing She's Not There

Thank you so much for helping to make this 

A to Z nostalgic journey such an enjoyable one.

A to Z 1950s/60s Nostalgia: Y

Y Smell:

Yardley talc - We all used talcum power in those days, bathroom floors white with it, skin pores clogged with it, the air full of lavender powder.

Y Memories:
Yardstick - I still can't think in metres and centimetres but I no longer think in yards. There are three feet to a yard and a yard can roughly be measured from your nose to the tip of your middle finger. I can remember salesmen measuring out yards of material in this way when I went shopping with my private dressmaker Grandma and Great Aunt. They had a wooden Yardstick in their workshop and while they sewed I used it as a hobby horse. *Giddy-up Yardstick*...

...and now I'm really excited because Mr A has produced THE Yardstick. It was in a cupboard for safe keeping and here it is...

Youth culture - Teenagers were 'invented' in the 1950s. Before the war people in their teens went to work and dressed exactly like their parents and this continued during the war where they fought alongside adults.

In the 1950s a new culture emerged with teddy boys, pop music, coffee bars, rock and roll and clothes that were fun and, most importantly, different from the older generation. The culture was further spread by stars like James Dean in the film, Rebel Without a Cause.


Yodelling - Frank Ifield, Karl Denver, what was it about pop singers and yodelling in the 1960s? Aren't you glad the fad is over? *yod-ell-ay-ha-ay*

Y Programmes:

On TV: 
Yogi Bear
Mike Yarwood in persons
Yellow Submarine

Iconic Song:
Yesterday by the Beatles with over 1,600 cover versions

Films:
You only live Twice
The Young Ones *

* That's Cliff Richard IN the Young Ones and not Cliff Richard AND the Young Ones which happened much later!

Y Names:
Jimmy Young
Mike Yarwood

The Yardbirds who provide the...

Y Music:
The Yardbirds singing For Your Love

Almost there! What have I missed today?

If you're enjoying these memories then you'll also enjoy

Anne Mackle's blog at Is Anyone There? 

Her A to Z Challenge is about memories of the 1960s and 70s.

A to Z 1950s/60s Nostalgia: X

[Please excuse any cheating on today's A to Z post. It's been a long month!]

X Smell:

eXtremely smelly bath salts [I know! I know! but...*shrugs*] - I loved tipping loads of bath salt crystals into my bath or dropping a bath salt square into the water and watching it dissolve. I wasn't too discerning about the perfume that came with them!

X Memories:

X-rays - A machine called a Shoe Fitting Fluoroscope was installed in most shoe shops in the 1950s. This was an x-ray machine that checked our precious baby toes to make sure they weren’t squashed inside our new shoes. The machines started to be withdrawn in the 1960s when dangers were highlighted but some were still in use as late as 1970... scary isn't it! I mentioned these machines in a previous post. I've copied out the relevant verse from a poem that I posted up called A Tiny History of Shoes. [If you fancy reading the whole poem just click on the post title.]

My first shoes were Clarks, always measured to fit
Then checked with an X-ray machine.
In those days we none of us knew of the risks
And we all loved to look at the screen...

Christopher Lee as Dracula

X Certificate films - The method of giving films an x certificate for age 16-and-over viewing was introduced in 1951. I've never been keen on horror films and so I never tried to 'sneak into an X' but my sister... [look away now Rifka if you don't want to be reminded] ...used to go and see Dracula films and then we had to sleep with the landing light on all night!


X Programmes:

On TV:
Os and Xs Test Card


Film:
The Man with the X-ray eyes



X Names:

DiXie Cups

Tom PaXton
Xavier Cugat who provides the...

X Music:
Xavier Cugat plays She's a Bombshell from Brooklyn

With only a few cheats ;-)

If you're enjoying these memories then you'll also enjoy 

Anne Mackle's blog at Is Anyone There? 

Her A to Z Challenge is about memories of the 1960s and 70s.

A to Z 1950s/60s Nostalgia: W

W Smell:

Wisps of pipe smoke - I've always loved the smell of pipe smoke. I once had a Sunday School teacher who smoked his pipe throughout our weekly lesson.

W Memories:

Andy and Teddy waving goodbye

Watch with Mother - I've been looking forward to this one. I worshipped Watch with Mother. I watched it long after I needed my Mother to sit with me to watch... even though the episodes were repeated so regularly that I could mouth most of the words. These were the programmes:

On Monday it was Picture Book. My favourite bit was remembering all the items on a tray and then spotting what they'd removed.

On Tuesday it was Andy Pandy. I loved Andy Pandy and Teddy more than I can ever say. My clearest memory is of Andy Pandy waving in a circular motion and Teddy waving frantically up and down as they sang "Time to Go Home"... [la la la... Andy is waving Goodbye, Goodbye, Goodbye... *waves circular with one hand and frantically with the other*.]

Bill, Ben and Little Wee-eed

On Wednesday it was The Flower Pot Men. I was ecstatic each time they said "Flobadob" to each other. Weed used to warn them when the gardener was coming by screaming "Weeee-eeeed!" and I always worried that they'd be caught.

On Thursday it was Rag, Tag and Bobtail, three gentle characters, a hedgehog, a mouse and a rabbit.

On Friday it was The Woodentops. I still occasionally copy the way that Spot the Dog did scissor walks across the screen.





Bert Weedon - Sadly Bert Weedon died just a few days ago aged 91. His love of guitar playing, his amazing techniques and his easy-to-follow tuition books influenced so many great guitarists it's hard to know where to begin.

Weedon's Play in a Day books taught The Beatles, Queen's Brian May, Eric Clapton and many more to play. Paul McCartney called him Britain's Mr Guitar and it's hard to imagine how the UK music scene would have developed without his influence.

W Programmes:

William Hartnell, the first and some say the best, Dr Who

On TV:
Watch with Mother
Wicker's World
Wack-O!
The Wombles
Dr Who
Wagon Train
What's my Line
The White Heather Club

On Radio:
Workers' Playtime
Woman's Hour

Marty Wilde, father of Kim Wilde

W Names:

Harold Wilson PM

John Wayne

Bert Weedon

Marty Wilde

Dionne Warwick

Walker Brothers

Mary Wells
Jackie Wilson
Junior Walker and the Allstars

Stevie Wonder

The Who who provide the...

W Music:
The Who singing My Generation live at Woodstock. For more memories about Woodstock pop along to  Anne Mackle's blog at Is Anyone There?  

Thanks for making this challenge so much fun by adding 

your memories. Keep on telling me what I've missed!

A to Z 1950s/60s Nostalgia: V

V Smell:

Parma Violets - They were sold as a natural breath freshener. I don't think they worked.

V Memories:
Variety Shows - I really miss Variety Shows on the television. I used to love the song and dance format with the occasional comedian, juggler, magician. It was pure, light-hearted entertainment and we don't get enough of that sort of thing these days. My favourite was...


Sunday Night at the London Palladium: It was first presented by Tommy Trinder "You lucky people!" and then by Bruce Forsyth, who's still going strong with his "Nice to see you, to see you nice!" catch phrase. The show always began with a line of dancers, usually the Tiller Girls.

Before the big star turn there was a short game show involving people from the audience.

As a child the highlight for me was the finale when the guests all stood behind huge letters on a rotating stage and waved as they came round to face the audience. I waved back!

The Good Old Days: This was a revival of the music hall. Everyone, both on and off stage, had to wear Victorian or Edwardian clothes and the songs and entertainment were all from that era too. It took place in a theatre in Leeds and was compered by Leonard Sachs. The show always ended with everybody singing "Down at the Old Bull and Bush" [tra la la la la]


Music/chat shows: Many music stars of the time had their own shows which were a cross between variety and chat. There was the Cilla Black Show, The Andy Williams Show, The Cliff Richard Show and many more. Even these no longer exist. I think that TV producers should lighten up a bit and bring back variety!!

V Programmes:

On TV:
Vision On

On Radio:
Variety Bandbox

Film:
Viva Las Vegas

Frankie Vaughan with his top hat and super-smooth bow tie.

V Names:

Gore Vidal

The Ventures
Velvet Underground
Bobby Vee

Frankie Valli

Ricky Valence

Frankie Vaughan

Gene Vincent who provides the...

V Music:
Gene Vincent singing Be-Bop-A-Lula

Not many V programmes but I'm sure you know of more!

If you're enjoying these memories then you'll also enjoy Anne Mackle's blog at Is Anyone There? and her A to Z memories of the 1960s and 70s.

A to Z 1950s/60s Nostalgia: U

U Smell:

Underarms - Although roll-on deodorants have been around for well over 100 years, it wasn't usual for men to wear deodorant in the 50s and so I give you my U smell! Gasp!

U Memories:

Uncle Mac's Children's Favourites - Every week we'd sit by the radio and listen to Uncle Mac saying, "Hello, children everywhere." I've so many favourite songs from that programme that I'm having trouble listing them all out. So I've selected my favourite top ten:

1. I’m a Pink Toothbrush, you’re a Blue Toothbrush [we met by the bathroom door...]
2. The Ugly Duckling [with feathers all stubby and brown...]
3. Me and my Teddy Bear [got no worries got no cares...]
4. I tawt I saw a puddy tat [a creepin up on me...]
5. The Runaway Train [and she blew, wee-ooo...]
6. Nellie the Elephant [packed her trunk and said, “goodbye!” to the circus...]
7. The Three Billy Goats Gruff [I’m a troll, foll-de-roll...]
8. The King’s New Clothes [look at the King, the King, the King, oh...]
9. Bimbo [Bimbo where you gonna go-e-o...]
10. Gilly Gilly Ossenfeffer [Katzellen Bogen by the sea-ee-ee-ee...]

...and now I recommend that [after you've finished reading my post and adding some memories of your own, of course] you go over to the Children's Favourites site. You can hear the original introduction music and read the lyrics of the many, many songs that were played by Uncle Mac.

Marlon Brando in A Streetcar Named Desire
wearing the infamous T-shirt... phwah!

Underwear - There are so many differences between 50s/60s underwear and the under-garments we wear today, a result of fashion, fabric technology and changing views on modesty.

Corsets and Stockings: Women wore corsets that not only held their stomachs in firmly but also provided the suspenders to hold up their stockings. When I was about 11 Mum bought me a tiny suspender belt and it was the most uncomfortable piece of underwear I’ve ever worn.

Panties: Most ladies pants before the 2^nd world war were large and white and no one expected to see them in public. After the war, panties became more colourful. In 1955 an Italian tennis player, Lea Pericol, caused a sensation at Wimbledon when spectators saw her lacy panties.

Vests: Pre-1950 T-shirts were an item of men’s underwear. In 1951 Marlon Brando wore a T-shirt in A Streetcar Named Desire and began a fashion trend... but only for men!

U Programmes:

On TV:

Robert Vaughn and David McCallum in The Man from UNCLE

Man from UNCLE
Up Pompeii

On Radio:
Under Milk Wood

U Names:
Peter Ustinov
Union Gap
Gary U.S. Bonds who provides the...

U Music:
Gary U.S. Bonds singing Quarter to Three and just look at that 'groovy' dancing!

Another tough letter. Do you have any more Us?

If you're enjoying these memories then you should go and visit Anne Mackle's blog at Is Anyone There? Her A to Z Challenge is about memories of the 1960s and 70s.

A to Z 1950s/60s Nostalgia: T

T Smell:

Tar - I've always loved the smell of tar but as a kid our Mums would stand us beside road repairers because they thought it fended off whooping cough.

T Memories:
Television sets - Some idiosyncrasies of the 1950 TV.

• It was a big square box with a tiny screen that had to be turned on at least 10 minutes before watching to give it time to warm up. 
• When turned off the picture would disappear into a dot in the middle of the screen.
• When the linehold went the picture kept scrolling up and off the screen. We had to fiddle with knobs on the back of the set to stop it.
• There were no remote controls so you had to get out of your chair to turn over - assuming you had ITV which didn't start transmitting until 1955 and was only received by a small number of households until the early 1960s.

Telstar - Although the first man-made satellite in space was Sputnik in 1957, it made little difference to our lives. It wasn't until Telstar was launched in 1962 that we started to receive live transmissions from America. I can remember that even though the reception was poor, we all marvelled at how unbelievable it was to see someone from America talking live.

Toys - Very few toys were battery operated and the only toy I can think of that needed to be plugged in was my electric train set [I loved my train sets. I had a chunky Hornby clockwork one and a smaller electric one.] We had plenty of wind-up toys with clockwork springs that pinged and broke if you over-wound them but nothing like kids play with today.

Some of my other favourite toys that come to mind [and I know you'll think of more] are:

• A jack-in-the-box which frightened me. [I was a sensitive little girl.]
• My plastic dolls with fixed joints and head but they came alive in my mind all the same.
• Many of you have already mentioned paper dolls. I loved my bag of paper dolls.
• Colouring books with crayons or coloured pencils. We had no felt tips.
• Yoyos made of wood
• Kaleidoscopes that you looked through and saw a myriad of patterns. I used to think they were magic.

T Programmes:

On TV:

Torchy

Take your Pick, Michael Miles and shouts of "Open the box!" "Take the money!"
Torchy, the battery boy
This is your Life, Eamonn Andrews and that infamous red book.
Thunderbirds
That's Life, Esther Rantzen and dogs who said, "Sausages!"
Tomorrows World




On Radio:

Take it from here
Twenty Questions, animal, vegetable or mineral?
Top of the Form

T Names:

The Temptations who always looked so smart

Harry S. Truman, USA

Fred Trueman, cricketer
Shirley Temple
Mel Torme
The Temptations
The Troggs
Tammi Terrell
Traffic
The Tornadoes who provide [no surprises here]...

T Music:
The Tornadoes playing Telstar which includes a tribute to NASA. I'd forgotten how noisy this piece of music is at the beginning.

Any more Ts anyone?

If you're enjoying these memories then you'll also enjoy

Anne Mackle's blog at Is Anyone There? 

Her A to Z Challenge is about memories of the 1960s and 70s.

A to Z 1950s/60s Nostalgia: S

S Smell:

Sooty, smoky streets - Sometimes I walk down the street and catch a vague smell of someone burning a real fire. In the 50s everyone had fires and it was a constant winter smell.

S Memories:
Sweets - Rationing ended in 1953 and, although I was too young to understand it, I do remember there being a certain excitement around buying sweets. A twisted stick of barley sugar was a favourite. I also loved Fry's Five boys chocolate bars and Fry's Five Centres.  And then there were sherbet dips, and  aniseed balls, fruit salad chews, and Spangles, pear drops, and love hearts, Bluebird toffees and what about sweet cigarettes with the little red tip to make it look as if it was alight! I used to walk around pretending to smoke! And liquorice pipes with red sugar strands on the end! And as for gobstoppers, Health and Safety would be having a hundred pink fits.

The faces represented desperation, pacification, expectation, acclamation and realisation.
Hey! I've just got what it means! The boys were asking for chocolate!

Steam trains - We used to take the train from Leicester to London to visit family. When we went through tunnels the smoke poured in through the little sliding window that had the instructions, "Do not open beyond these arrows" printed above it. The smoke made my eyes sting and it hurt so much it made me cry. We sat in individual carriages with a corridor along one side and the train made a lovely clickety-clack noise with the occasional woo-woo from the steam whistle.

I thought you might like to have a quick trip on a steam train for yourselves. London to Brighton in four minutes, the film having been speeded up, of course. It takes about an hour and a half even now. It was another of the Interlude films but I decided to save it for today.

The Saint with a young Roger Moore as Simon Templar

S Programmes:

On TV:
The Saint
Stingray
The Sooty Show
The Phil Silvers Show
Steptoe and Son

On Radio:
Saturday Club with Brian Matthews
Sing Something Simple

S Names:

Omar Sharif

Peter Sellers

Graham Sutherland

Dr Spock

Phil Silvers

Omar Sharif

Jimmy Stewart

Small Faces

Supremes

Eric Sykes

Frank Sinatra

Tommy Steele

Del Shannon

Dusty Springfield

Sandy Shaw

The Searchers

Neil Sedaka

Helen Shapiro who provides the...

S Music:
Helen Shapiro singing You Don't Know

There must be more sweets but have I missed anything else?

If you're enjoying these memories then pop over and visit Anne Mackle's blog at Is Anyone There? for her A to Z Challenge about memories of the 1960s and 70s.

A to Z 1950s/60s Nostalgia: R

R Smell:

Rancid butter - In the days when we didn't own a fridge, the butter often had that machine-oil-rancid aroma. 

We thought these transistor radios were so modern!

R Memories:
Radio - In the 1950s the BBC had the monopoly of radio stations. There was no advertising, strict censorship for 'social correctness', announcers were not allowed to speak with a local accent, Queen's English was to be spoken at all times. This was the set up:

• The Home Service: news and current affairs 
• The Light Programme: light entertainment [with only a smidgen of pop music] 
• The Third Programme: classical music

There was something called 'needle time' which meant that the musicians union limited the amount of records that could be played on the radio. They feared that their jobs would be at risk. It wasn't until the 1970s that the present system was introduced, including Radio 1 and wall to wall pop music.

A Dansette record player

Record Player - This was one of the few ways we could listen to our favourite songs. Every week I'd go to the record shop and ask to hear a record or three in the sound booth. Then I'd buy the latest top of the pops, take it home and play it over and over again with the arm up on the record player so that the needle kept returning to the beginning of the record.

I mainly bought singles, one song on each side played at 45 revs per minute. My sister had some Elvis songs that were the old heavy 78s. They whizzed round on the record player while LPs (long players) turned at a sedate 33 revs. If you left a record in the sun it melted. If you sat on it, it broke. If you danced too enthusiastically the needle jumped across the record and once it got scratched it clicked and crackled... but I'd rather have a record than a CD any day.

Cathy McGowan, Queen of the Mods,
presented Ready Steady Go with Keith Fordyce

R Programmes:

On TV:
Brian Rix farces
Roy Rogers... and Trigger the horse of course
Rawhide... yah!
Robin Hood
Rin Tin Tin
Ready Steady Go

On Radio:
The Al Read Show
Ray's a Laugh, with Ted Ray


R Names:

Cliff Richard as he appeared on my bedroom wall, Phwah!!

Michael Redgrave

Robert Redford

Cliff Richard

Johnny Ray

Ronettes

Martha Reeves and the Vandellas

Otis Reading who provides the...





R Music:
Otis Reading singing Try a Little Tenderness

What Rs have I missed?

If you enjoy nostalgia then pop over and visit Anne Mackle's blog at Is Anyone There? Her A to Z Challenge is about memories of the 1960s and 70s.