Nostalgia ain't what it used to be

[AleisterCrowley]

I can still remember watching stuff on the old B&W telly, particularly early Dr Who - Pertwee era. To me the Pertwee stories will always be black and white, although they were all filmed and broadcast in colour I think

[marronier]

A friend had an old copy of a 1955 edition of "The Motor" , which had an advert for a new Morris Oxford ( Mondeo of the time ) priced at £595 plus car tax £249 , total £844 , 120 % of the average wage. Today a Mondeo is 60% of the average wage.

Cuttings of a former local paper editor ( campaigning against purchase tax in the early `50s ) had an advert for a vacuum cleaner at £7. 5s (£7.25p) plus £3. 5s (£3.25) tax , PT. of 45%.

[bungeejumper]

With all these references to b/w tv it reminds me of the Ted Lowe snooker commentary quote I read about, obviously during the transitional period, which was something along the lines of "for those of you watching in black and white, the pink is next to the green." Classic.

Among my friends and (male) workmates, at least, the arrival of TV snooker was a powerful excuse to ditch the old black/white set and go out and buy a colour TV set. Wives didn't always approve of the extravagance, but I don't recall anybody regretting the decision.

However, the way I recall it, if you were watching a snooker match in black and white you could quite easily tell the colours with a little bit of practice. There were some oddities, admittedly - such as that the green seemed darker than the brown - but once you got the hang of it you could follow the game just fine. After my divorce I went back to a life of penury with a B/W set, and it served me well enough for another four years. What finally forced me to get a colour set was the arrival of home computers in 1982/83. You needed a TV screen to plug them into, and somehow black and white just didn't cut it any more.

BJ

[LadyGagarin]

pictured at the presumably glamorous venue of Lydd Airport with a Ford Cortina being loaded on to a plane in one of the photos (though it's hard to imagine that a humble Cortina driver could have afforded to fly it anywhere).

Cortinas were a status symbol back then, weren't they? Even as far as the late 70s/early 80s there were those who still thought so

[brightncheerful]

Amongst my tiny collection of things from my experience of way back then is a train ticket, London Underground, Ealing Broadway single fare 3d. Also a British Railways London, Paddington to Minehead (Somerset) 1st class single fare 68/3d (68 shillings 3d). Also some London Transport bus tickets, fare 3d, when the tickets were of this style (first row shown via the link) - http://www.classicbuses.co.uk/Tickets.html

[redsturgeon]

pictured at the presumably glamorous venue of Lydd Airport with a Ford Cortina being loaded on to a plane in one of the photos (though it's hard to imagine that a humble Cortina driver could have afforded to fly it anywhere).

Cortinas were a status symbol back then, weren't they? Even as far as the late 70s/early 80s there were those who still thought so

Tom Robinson

"Grey Cortina"

Wish I had a grey Cortina
Whiplash aerial, racing trim
Cortina owner - no one meaner
Wish that I could be like him...

[UncleEbenezer]

A friend had an old copy of a 1955 edition of "The Motor" , which had an advert for a new Morris Oxford ( Mondeo of the time ) priced at £595 plus car tax £249 , total £844 , 120 % of the average wage. Today a Mondeo is 60% of the average wage.

Cuttings of a former local paper editor ( campaigning against purchase tax in the early `50s ) had an advert for a vacuum cleaner at £7. 5s (£7.25p) plus £3. 5s (£3.25) tax , PT. of 45%.

OK, 1955 was before my time, but ...

Surely that 120% vs 60% is only a small part of the story. The difference after essentials (direct tax, rent, food) would be many times greater?

[brightncheerful]

In 1967, my first job upon leaving school I was paid £400 a year. I worked out that if I didn't spend any of it then after just over 2 years I could buy a new MGB - buy, not afford to run it!

[bungeejumper]

In 1967, my first job upon leaving school I was paid £400 a year. I worked out that if I didn't spend any of it then after just over 2 years I could buy a new MGB - buy, not afford to run it!

Not quite in the same league, but in 1977 I bought a shiny new Honda motorbike (£350) with the money that I'd saved from packing in the ciggies for two and a half years. My sixth form pupils were quite impressed. Actually, so was I.

BJ

[Alaric]

Cuttings of a former local paper editor ( campaigning against purchase tax in the early `50s ) had an advert for a vacuum cleaner at £7. 5s (£7.25p) plus £3. 5s (£3.25) tax , PT. of 45%.

That was the big change in 1993 after the UK joined the EEC. VAT at 10% instead of all those much higher Purchase Tax rates, which made some consumer goods cheaper. With inflation peaking at around 30% in 1975, prices soon bore no resemblance to those of the 1960s.

[DiamondEcho]

Some wonderful reminiscences
To add another small one... Leeds Uni Student Union bar in 1983, the stocked range of draft beers priced between 20-25p/pint.

[AndyPandy]

Blackjacks (as previously mentioned), 8 for a penny. Polos 2d.
Sweet cigarettes with the red end to look like they were lit
Chocolate cigars
Cereal where the gift was actually in with the cereal, dive those hands in.
Spending all Christmas day taking it in turns to dial 00 1 604 7533xxx on a rotary telephone to try and get a line to rellies in Canada. Still know the number now.
Chewing (bubble?) gum with stickers - you had to get the set - I remember spoof products and also slogans such as 'quiet, genius at work'

TV
Top of the Form
Holiday, always with a topless woman in the opening credits
The Boy from Space, really weird serial that spooked me. Found some episodes on YT. Hasn't stood the test of time.
The Double Deckers
Camp Runamuck

Born 1963 three weeks before JFK assassinated, if anyone can relate to these musings.

[AleisterCrowley]

Blackjacks (as previously mentioned), 8 for a penny. Polos 2d. -Coke 5p a can, ice lollies 2p-5p. Comics sub 5p
Sweet cigarettes with the red end to look like they were lit
Chocolate cigars -yes, Christmas stocking fillers, tasted funny
Cereal where the gift was actually in with the cereal, dive those hands in. -yep, some plastic novelty hiding in the bottom
Spending all Christmas day taking it in turns to dial 00 1 604 7533xxx on a rotary telephone to try and get a line to rellies in Canada. Still know the number now. -Airmail Christmas letters from Australia
Chewing (bubble?) gum with stickers - you had to get the set - I remember spoof products and also slogans such as 'quiet, genius at work'
Plus;
Unigate dairies 'Watch Out There's a Humphrey About' red and white stickers from the milkman
TV
Top of the Form -Yes!
Holiday, always with a topless woman in the opening credits Sunday nights, -Gordon Giltrap guitar theme. School tomorrow
The Boy from Space, really weird serial that spooked me. Found some episodes on YT. Hasn't stood the test of time. -No idea
The Double Deckers -Oh yes indeed, still remember the theme
Camp Runamuck -No idea !

Plus Dr Who (of course), Colditz, Superstars, Two Ronnies, Midlands Today and Nationwide, The Goodies, Seaside Special, wrestling on World of Sport, Basil Brush, Happy Days, Six Million Dollar Man, The Professionals etc etc

[Clitheroekid]

Cortinas were a status symbol back then, weren't they? Even as far as the late 70s/early 80s there were those who still thought so

Another mention of the Cortina in a poem by John Betjeman from 1974. As Lady Gagarin said, plus ca change, plus c'est la meme chose...

I am a young executive. No cuffs than mine are cleaner;
I have a Slimline brief-case and I use the firm's Cortina.
In every roadside hostelry from here to Burgess Hill
The maitres d'hotel all know me well, and let me sign the bill.

You ask me what it is I do. Well, actually, you know,
I'm partly a liaison man, and partly P.R.O.
Essentially, I integrate the current export drive
And basically I'm viable from ten o'clock till five.

For vital off-the-record work - that's talking transport-wise -
I've a scarlet Aston-Martin - and does she go? She flies!
Pedestrians and dogs and cats, we mark them down for slaughter.
I also own a speedboat which has never touched the water.

She's built of fibre-glass, of course. I call her 'Mandy Jane'
After a bird I used to know - No soda, please, just plain -
And how did I acquire her? Well, to tell you about that
And to put you in the picture, I must wear my other hat.

I do some mild developing. The sort of place I need
Is a quiet country market town that's rather run to seed
A luncheon and a drink or two, a little savoir faire -
I fix the Planning Officer, the Town Clerk and the Mayor.

And if some Preservationist attempts to interfere
A 'dangerous structure' notice from the Borough Engineer
Will settle any buildings that are standing in our way -
The modern style, sir, with respect, has really come to stay.

[bungeejumper]

Well, if we're getting into Cortina quote territory we could hardly let the occasion pass without Ian Dury, could we?

Had a love affair with Nina
In the back of my Cortina
A seasoned up hyena could not have been more obscener
She took me to the cleaners
And other misdemeanours
But I got [[i]continued at http://tinyurl.com/ze8ulby]. Don't want to get banned, do we?


Billericay Dickie, of course. Classic.

BJ

[redsturgeon]

My first company car was a Cortina Mark 4, 1.6L ( the L was very important, my manager had the GL) , the one after the very Yank tank looking one. Fantastic car and the first I ever drove at 100mph (indicated).

Never had anything go wrong in 60,000 miles, built in Germany, plus ca change.

John

[DiamondEcho]

wrestling on World of Sport

Giant Haystacks and Big Daddy

I recall being genuinely shocked when someone told me or I finally figured out the whole thing was scripted.

[DiamondEcho]

Well, if we're getting into Cortina quote territory we could hardly let the occasion pass without Ian Dury, could we?

Continuing the meme... 'Ullo John! Gotta New Motor? by Alexei Sayle:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/'Ullo_Joh ... _New_Motor?
'Lyrical themes...
Recurrent among these themes is the Ford Motor Company's announced decision to replace the long-running Ford Cortina brand with the new Ford Sierra by September 1982. The song asserts the "poetry" of the Cortina, and the superior sound of the name "Cortina" to "Sierra", with varying degrees of vigour, during "Part II" to "Part IV" of the song.

This lyrical theme was reflected in the marketing of the single: the single's front cover features Sayle leaning against a Ford Cortina Mark V, the rear cover features a reproduction of a Ford press release for the 1973 Cortina 2000E model, and the 1983 reissue included a picture disc format featuring Sayle reclining on the bonnet of a Cortina Mark III.[1]'

[jfgw]

Yep, and I'll raise you the yellow paper sherbet fountains, the dayglow-pink American bubble gum, the Black Jacks, and the Wagon Wheels that were big enough to last you the whole morning. (And no, that wasn't just because our faces were smaller in those days.) Then there were the old-style Spangles (made with wartime sweetener rather than sugar until the 1960s, I believe? We preferred the old ones to the new ones.) And Pez, which you can still get apparently.

Black Jacks, Fruit Salad, Sherbet Fountains, available here and elsewhere, http://www.allmarksweets.co.uk/sweets-r ... red&page=1 .
Snickers bars were called Marathon, Starburst were called Opal Fruits.

My mother didn't like buying me Pontefract cakes as it made me use lots of Izal Medicated Toilet Tissue.

Julian F. G. W.

[jfgw]

Oh, and don't forget Victory Vs. Not the relatively bland ones you can get today, although I'm sure that even the more potent ones from my childhood were not to the original recipe (that had cannabis in it). They did contain ether and, IIRC, creosote. Even the current ones contain linseed oil.

Julian F. G. W.