As you get older, do you sometimes find that the things which happened to you as a child in the dim and distant past are clearer in your mind than more recent events of a few months, weeks, or even days ago? Do you still recall, as if it were only yesterday, happy scenes from your childhood: Your summer holidays, Christmas, Easter, Blackberry Week and all the "ordinary" events such as wash-day, going to the corner shop or playing in the street or back lane. Do you remember when the summer days were long and hot and went on forever and when real snow fell and frost hung around for days. Do you remember thick fog, torrential rain which never seemed to stop.
If you do then this page is for you! (Photo right: A Boogie)

Who Are We?
We were born before television, before penicillin, polio shots, frozen foods, Xerox, plastic, contact lenses, Frisbees and the pill. We were born before radar, 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 for tea. We existed before house husbands, computer dating, dual careers, when a "meaningful relationship" meant getting along with your cousins, and "sheltered accommodation" was where you waited for the bus.(lol) 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 a word. The term "making out" referred to how you did in exams, "stud" was something that fastened your clothes and "going all the way" meant staying on the double-decker bus to the depot.........giggle!
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. "Rock music" was a lullaby and a "gay person" was the life and soul of the party. (Above right: Simon Dee)

No wonder we are so confused.
And how old are we?
Just hitting 60! or maybe 70! But we are not old, just unwanted!
 

I Remember!
At 6.45 in the evening the streets we would clear the streets to the cry of "Dick Barton's on" An eerie silence would descend over the country. Families would huddle round the wireless, to listen to 'Dick Barton Special Agent'. The exploits of Dick, Jock and Snowy, keeping the world safe for us mortals was the programme that kept the whole of Britain in it's grip.

Vic Oliver was a regular on such programmes as Henry Hall's Guest Night and Workers Playtime. He made me laugh. I can still hear his voice and remember Victor Sylvester whom I hated. Still do!

Gracie Fields (1898 - 1979)
Her rags-to-riches story inspired a nation: from a back street terrace in Rochdale to a villa in Capri, armed with nothing but a glorious voice and bags of personality.
She was born over a chip shop, and from an early age was pushed by her mother into talent shows and reviews (not that she needed much pushing). By her teens she was touring the halls. She met her first husband, struggling comic Archie Pitt, in 1915. He soon became her manager and built a show around her, Tower of London, which toured the provinces for four years.
She worked hard through the 20s, at one point appearing in four different productions each evening. By the time talkies arrived, she was a huge star and it was inevitable she appeared in films.
She signed with Basil Dean at ATP. She hated filming and she loathed Dean (the feeling was mutual) but the public loved the result. This success, and her reluctance to film, kept her price high. She met director Monte Banks while making Queen of Hearts and they soon hit it off. Her marriage to Pitt was failing and after the divorce she married Banks in 1940.
Unfortunately, Banks was still an Italian citizen and would have been interned when Italy entered the war. The couple went to Canada to raise funds for war charities and the press went wild. They accused Gracie of fleeing the country out of fear and taking her wealth with her. She denied this, though much of her family had moved to America "for health reasons".
Whatever her reasons for going, she was soon back; touring factories and army posts at home and abroad, and making innumerable radio broadcasts. The press were still against her, but her audience remained loyal.
After the war, she started to slow down her workload. Banks died in 1950 (a heart attack on the Orient Express), but she soon took husband number three. He was Boris Alperovici, a stateless resident of Capri. Love blossomed and they were soon married. Despite being semi-retired she continued to make special appearances notably on the Stars on Sunday TV series in the early 70s.
In 1979 she was made a Dame of the British Empire and died later in the same year of a heart attack. She left behind a string of songs which she made her own (Sally, Wish Me Luck, Sing As We Go, The Biggest Aspidistra in the World) and some classic films. In an era dominated by Mayfair accents, she was one of the few working-class women to keep her identity and translate it into worldwide success.

The Festival of Britain was a national exhibition which opened in London and around Britain in May 1951. The principal exhibition site was on the south bank of the Thames next to Waterloo station . At that time, shortly after the end of World War II, much of London was in ruins and redevelopment was badly needed. The Festival was an attempt to give Britons a feeling of recovery and progress and to promote better-quality design in the rebuilding of British towns and cities following the war.

What is a Teddy Boy?
He is someone who cares about the way he looks. He wears suits that are made to measure, and spends as much time picking out the lining as he does for the suit material. He is growing up in a world that has just had a major war. Adults tell him he should be grateful.
He hangs around in bomb sites, he sees queues in shops that have little in them.
He is told that the war is over, but he is also told he must join the army for two years. There is still small wars all over.
He is just a teenager who in a few years must go and lay down his life, in the mean time he is marked down a thug and a misfit because he does not buy his clothes in 'Weaver to Wearer'
A 'Ted' was just your average teenager. Throughout history teenagers have rebelled, and said "We can do it better than our parents". It is only when they are given the chance to do it, they realize that they can't,
As a rule 'Teds' could be found standing around. They were very good at standing around.
They would stand around street corners.
They would stand around shops, especially ones that had mirrors in their windows.
Mostly you could find them standing round the edges of dance halls.

The man who broke the mould. Wilfred Pickles was the first man on the wireless with a regional accent. Brought to the BBC as 'The Common Man', 'Man Of The People', call it what you will, he was the biggest thing on the wireless. His regular audience was twenty million people. He would start each programme with a piano playing his signature tune (played by Violet Carson, Ena Sharples from 'Coronation Street') and the whole audience singing, "Have a go Joe, come and have a go". He would then open the show with, " 'Ow do, 'ow are yer". He would take his show to the people, going to the factories, docks or anywhere the people were. Such was the power of this man, he could get normal, ordinary people to come up on the stage and tell the world their most intimate secrets and answer a few questions for very little money. Wilfred would say " 'Ow much money on the table Mable", then, "Give him the money Mable". The Mable was his wife and the money 5/- for answering a question with a jackpot of £1/19/11d. The very first question asked "Are yer courting".

Educating Archie
As improbable as it may sound one of the most popular programmes started on 6th June 1950. Educating Archie was born. In fact the wireless was the best medium for Peter Brough the ventriloquist, because when he made his rare appearances on the television, every body could see his lips move, so back to the wireless. Many up and coming stars cut their teeth on the show. Eric Sykes and Sid Colin wrote the scripts and stars like Beryl Reid (Monica), Harry Secombe, Tony Hancock, Alfred Marks, Bernard Miles, 13 year old Julie Andrews and Gilbert Harding as the handyman with lines like, "Blimey Archie lad, and what have you bin a-doin' of ?", the BBC was not well pleased with that. Educating Archie won the coveted title The Daily Mails National Radio Award three years running, 1951, 52, 53. Archie was involved in the first mass marketing of a radio star. Sweets, books, scarves, slippers you name it there was an Archie something. Children were given the Archie doll for Christmas with a book on how to be a ventriloquist. It did not work. I know! "Gottle of Gear".
"A Good Idea....Son" Having said it shouldn't work on the wireless, how about a record? There was a record of Max Bygraves and Archie singing together something about, "Taking Legs Off Some Old Chair", to make another Dummy. In 1951, Archie was kidnapped, millions followed the story in the press as if it was a real child. The person responsible sent an anonymous note saying Archie could be found at the Lost Property Office at Kings Cross Station. Archie made his last broadcast in 1958. You couldn't make it up could you?
 

I See the Moon

Blueberry Hill

Are You Lonesome Tonight

Splish Splash

China Doll

Born to  be with You.

Crying Game

Blue Tango

Grand Coulee Dam

The Alfred Hitchcock Hour

Dixon of Dock Green

Thee London Palladium

Much Binding in the Marsh

Music While you Work

Housewives Choice

Dick Barton

In Town Tonight

Have a Go

Down Your Way

Al Read