50s/60s Britain and Now

[Phil Parker]

Just now, 62613 said:

Has anyone any views on haggis?

 

Fried - delicious.

Boiled - disgusting.

[caradoc]

As an Englishman living in Scotland, properly done a haggis supper (ie haggis in batter and chips) can be heavenly !

 

[St Enodoc]

11 minutes ago, 62613 said:

Has anyone any views on haggis?

Yes.

[Nearholmer]

We used to have the occasional rabbit stew, also the occasional roast pheasant.

 

These pheasants had a habit of running out in front of my uncle’s car and getting knocked down. Curious thing was that you had to pick shot out of them as you ate.

[St Enodoc]

Just now, Nearholmer said:

We used to have the occasional rabbit stew, also the occasional roast pheasant.

 

These pheasants had a habit of running out in front of my uncle’s car and getting knocked down. Curious thing was that you had to pick shot out of them as you ate.

He didn't drive an Aston Martin DB5 did he?

[Nearholmer]

No, a fifty-second hand Citroen traction avant with dodgy suspension, and a twelve-bore wrapped in a sack in the back seat.

 

 

 

 

Edited May 5, 2020 by Nearholmer

[Steamport Southport]

4 hours ago, caradoc said:

As an Englishman living in Scotland, properly done a haggis supper (ie haggis in batter and chips) can be heavenly !

 

 

It's probably English anyway. First documented in 1430 in Lancashire.

 

Don't tell them that the kilt is Scandinavian, tartan is French, whilst whisky was first distilled in the Middle East and probably brought back by the Crusaders....

 

 

 

Jason

[jcm@gwr]

6 hours ago, Steamport Southport said:

 

It's probably English anyway. First documented in 1430 in Lancashire.

 

Don't tell them that the kilt is Scandinavian, tartan is French, whilst whisky was first distilled in the Middle East and probably brought back by the Crusaders....

 

 

 

Jason

 

And the Chinese will have 'evidence' that they invented everything before anyone else!

[Hroth]

10 minutes ago, jcm@gwr said:

 

And the Chinese will have 'evidence' that they invented everything before anyone else!

 

Including the current World Problem?

 

[Hroth]

6 hours ago, Steamport Southport said:

Don't tell them that the kilt is Scandinavian, tartan is French, whilst whisky was first distilled in the Middle East and probably brought back by the Crusaders....

 

And the bagpipes were known to the Hittites, the Greeks and the Romans.  Nero played the bagpipes, probably as badly as he played the lyre, though not the "fiddle" which developed 8 centuries later in the Byzantine empire.

 

Now where were we?

 

[The Johnster]

On 04/05/2020 at 18:19, Unicorn1 said:

How about a nice cup of tea at this point.

 

Dad brewing up - probably on the A3 - in about 1965.

 

We seemed to do this on every journey that was more than an hour or so- and at the destination the whole kit would reappear, with tins of new potatoes etc.

 

Note the proper tea pot - and there were no tea bags!

 

Les

 

 

 

Scanned from an old print.

Why don't Marxists like proper tea?  Because proper tea is theft...

 

On 04/05/2020 at 20:29, Reorte said:

 

I beg your pardon. Being a miserable so-and-so who's had it with the entire human race, and must therefore be extremely racist, I must contradict you. I'm not violent.

I contend that you are not a racist either, at least not from that evidence.  You treat the entire human race with equal disappointment, favouring or disfavouring no particular section of it.  'Had it with the entire human race' sounds an extremely sensible and balanced viewpoint, and one I rather condone...

[The Johnster]

7 hours ago, Steamport Southport said:

 

Don't tell them that the kilt is Scandinavian,

First I've heard of it; plaid kilts have been worn by Celts at least since they were described by the Greeks as the Keltoi, in fact the words 'Celt' and 'Kilt' are probably connected.  Tartan is indeed a French word, though, like beef or pork.

[Nearholmer]

5 minutes ago, The Johnster said:

 Tartan is indeed a French word,

 

Absolutely. A pattern of weaving developed to imitate the way slices of apple lie on an open fruit pie.

[Fat Controller]

32 minutes ago, Nearholmer said:

 

Absolutely. A pattern of weaving developed to imitate the way slices of apple lie on an open fruit pie.

And a Tarte Tartan is an upside-down version...

[iL Dottore]

I am pleasantly surprised at how this thread has taken off and I have greatly enjoyed everyone’s contributions.

 

Clearly, we have been looking back at the 50s and 60s and remembering it through childhood eyes; so it’s very interesting to look at old films from that period, films that are set in the real world (unlike, say, a western or a science fiction film) and compare what the film shows with what I remember from my childhood. Given that many of these films have been watched over and over again, it is easy to concentrate on the background rather than on the stars and story.

Some films that I would recommend for their detailed backgrounds include

> The Lady killers (the original Ealing Studios comedy - for 1950s postwar London)

> The Ipcress File (1960s London)

> Funeral in Berlin (1960s London and Berlin)

 

On a more exotic note, the early Bond films (pre-80s) such as From Russia with Love, Dr No, Goldfinger, Thunderball, etc., whilst fictional, nonetheless were/are excellent snapshots of “exotic“ destinations – such as the Jamaica,, Hong Kong, Tokyo - which served as background to the story. And in those days, on film, the transition between live location shots and studio shot material was not as seamless as today, so It’s very easy to pick out the authentic background details. As I have visited, as an adult, most of the destinations featured in the early Bond films, I find it interesting to compare what I observed and remember from my ”modern day” visits to the 60s/70s versions portrayed on film.

[rockershovel]

That’s true of most of the Ealing comedies - Passport to Pimlico, The Man In The White Suit...

 

Another thing which has come back with a vengeance after all these years, transient populations living in rented, subdivided housing... 

[rockershovel]

 

I think it was a military-service thing, the British Army basically marched, trained and stood-to for 50 minutes in the hour, followed by a short break. 

Edited May 6, 2020 by rockershovel

[tomparryharry]

I won't eat offal:- Ever. I had a step-mother who couldn't cook, and used to continually serve things like kidneys & liver. I determined that when I left home I would not eat the stuff, and thus far, I've kept it that way.  

[45568]

On 24/04/2020 at 14:38, billy_anorak59 said:

Not quite complete due to the lack of Hornby Dublo, but this painting sums up my 60's childhood bedroom pretty well.

Painting is from a Birthday card sent to me by my sister.

It would be interesting to see, if it exists, the 'girls' version of this painting, and what it contains from the 1950-60s.

I remember that toys and amusements were specifically aimed at boys and girls, and the twain did not meet. Girls played with dolls, prams toy cookers etc. and had their own comics, (I remember Girls Crystal?? from having an older sister).

 It would be good to hear from the RMWeb Ladies, and there are some I believe, their thoughts on 'back in the day". Do ladies not get nostalgic for their childhood, or do they grow up and become adults, unlike us men who just become older little boys??!!

Cheers from Fortress Oz,

Peter C.

[rockershovel]

16 minutes ago, 45568 said:

It would be interesting to see, if it exists, the 'girls' version of this painting, and what it contains from the 1950-60s.

I remember that toys and amusements were specifically aimed at boys and girls, and the twain did not meet. Girls played with dolls, prams toy cookers etc. and had their own comics, (I remember Girls Crystal?? from having an older sister).

 It would be good to hear from the RMWeb Ladies, and there are some I believe, their thoughts on 'back in the day". Do ladies not get nostalgic for their childhood, or do they grow up and become adults, unlike us men who just become older little boys??!!

Cheers from Fortress Oz,

Peter C.

 

I suspect that they don’t, not in that sense, anyway. Most of them would have played at being mothers and housewives, and gone on to live it out in real life. Very few boys would have gone on to be spacemen, divers, racing drivers or engine drivers, footballers, pilots or soldiers ..

 

Edited May 6, 2020 by rockershovel

[Kingzance]

3 hours ago, rockershovel said:

Another thing which has come back with a vengeance after all these years, transient populations living in rented, subdivided housing... 

Come back? I didn’t think it ever went away - certainly not in some areas of most cities in any decade. Perhaps it being raised in The Media brings it more to the forefront?

[Fat Controller]

On 04/05/2020 at 20:29, Reorte said:

 

I beg your pardon. Being a miserable so-and-so who's had it with the entire human race, and must therefore be extremely racist, I must contradict you. I'm not violent.

If you're indiscriminate about those you've had it with, that makes you a misanthrope, not a racist...

[Reorte]

5 minutes ago, Fat Controller said:

If you're indiscriminate about those you've had it with, that makes you a misanthrope, not a racist...

Fair point

[Philou]

Girls comics? I used to read my sisters' Judy and Bunty, but they didn't seem to want to read my Lion, Victor, Beano, Dandy or Buster, and I don't know why.

 

Regarding food, I will not touch any internal organs, my mother put me right off that by serving brains in black butter (over cooked), beef heart that was under cooked (it's a French thing), kidneys that were frankly acid (probably not cleansed enough) and chitterlings that distinctly smelt of pooh. I can still smell it in andouillette over here. Top tip, if over here and you like andouillette, insist on 5A rating. It is top quality, but I just can't go it now, too late for me.

 

I have a tale to tell why I won't eat rabbit, though I admit it's very tasty: When I were a lad of about 10, and we'd go to France on our summer holidays, the local farmer who knew my grandparents well (both males served in the same regiment in the Great War) would allow us to feed their rabbits. On arrival that year, I was asked if I would like to look after a rabbit ('my' rabbit).

 

On August the 14th (the 15th being a national holiday) the farmer's wife said to me 'hang on a mo' you can take your rabbit home with you'. No sooner said the rabbit was out of the hutch, nailed to the barn door, throat slit, guts drawn and fed to the dog (who must have known what was going to happen), blood collected in a bowl, skinned and in two minutes wrapped in a tea towel on a tray with the warm blood in the bowl and sent on the way home with 'my' rabbit that was served up the next day. Never, ever knowingly eaten rabbit since!!!

 

Back to the photo, I had the meths burner and teapot, that had a screw end over the spout to increase the pressure no doubt, in which my UK grandparents (not the ones above) would make tea on the long drive between Cardiff and Dover in their Ford Prefect (not the sit-up-and-beg one, the later four-door model) on our way to Belgium - I cannot believe looking back that the little car took three adults and three children all the way from Cardiff to within 15miles of where I am now via Oostende and then onwards to Switzerland and all the way back again!!

 

Cheers,

 

Philip

Edited May 6, 2020 by Philou

[Devo63]

One of my favourite meals growing up was steak and kidney pie made by my grandmother. They used to be a staple of most bakeries as well but these days it is nearly impossible to find s&k pies in any modern establishment. I have found a bakery in the town of Mount Barker (about 20 miles away)  that makes an acceptable version with nice, big chunks of kidney and usually buy a small supply for my freezer when I visit the town. 

For a long time it was difficult to get a nice pork pie in Adelaide but that situation has changed over the last few years with a company called 'UK Foods' producing  very nice pies. I just need to find a black pudding that meets my taste and I'll be quite happy.

Another favourite treat was the thick, dark juices found at the bottom of the dripping bowl. It was great spread onto a nice slab of freshly baked bread - or bread that was a little stale fried in that same dripping. Most bread that was past it's best usually ended up in a nice bread and butter pudding which was the Sunday night desert special.

As my late grandmother and myself were the only members of the family to like rabbit (stews, pies etc.) I have only had it a few times since she passed away over twenty five years ago. In my younger years I called rabbits 'sitting ducks'. This goes back to some of my earliest memories when my father was the first police officer in the town of Coonalpyn which was about 90 miles from Adelaide. He was required to practice shooting his service pistol about once a month and this entailed a family outing to one of the farms in the district to shoot rabbits. Although he was a crack shot with his rifle, his pistol aim left a lot to be desired. I would hear a couple of bangs from his gun and my mother would say 'you can't hit a sitting duck with that thing!' while I watched the rabbit running away. 

 

Dave