by Paul Feeney
Robin Hood (The Adventures of Robin Hood) (1955–60) ITV. Weekly half-hour adventures of the legendary Robin Hood and his band of merry men who stole from the rich and gave to the poor in Sherwood Forest; starring Richard Green as Robin Hood, Alan Wheatley as The Sheriff of Nottingham, Archie Duncan as Little John, Bernadette O’Farrell and later Patricia Driscoll as Maid Marian, Alexander Gauge as Friar Tuck and Paul Eddington (later famous for his roles in The Good Life, Yes Minister, and Yes Prime Minister) as Will Scarlet. This was a hugely popular children’s programme. The theme song was written by Carl Sigman and sung by Dick James – Robin Hood, Robin Hood, riding through the glen …
Sir Lancelot (1956–7) ITV. The adventures of Sir Lancelot du Lac, a knight of King Arthur’s Round Table and Queen Guinevere’s champion. In each of the thirty episodes we saw Sir Lancelot, played by William Russell, fight off the baddies and save his fellow knights from danger, and he was always there to rescue the queen or any princesses that might find themselves locked up in the tower.
Six-Five Special (1957–8) BBC TV. Britain’s first rock and roll and jazz live music television programme, produced by Jack Good and presented by Pete Murray. It took its name from the time it was broadcast – five past six on Saturday evenings. Pete Murray, a hip thirty-two-year-old disc-jockey back then, littered his presentation with trendy 1950s words like square, cat, cool, gas, get with it and have a ball. The co-producer and narrator, Josephine Douglas, would translate Pete’s trendy slang words for the benefit of any 1950s parents that might be watching the show. Regulars on the show included Kenny Baker and his Jazzmen, Michael Holliday, Bobbie and Rudy, and the King Brothers. Other guests included Petula Clarke, Jim Dale (went on to present the show), Terry Dene, Lonnie Donegan, Vince Eager, Johnny Dankworth, Russ Hamilton, Tubby Hayes, Cleo Lane, Don Lang, Freddie Mills, The Mudlarks, Joan Regan, Ronnie Scott and Marty Wilde. The show also included sport, news and comedy segments. Another essential watch for kids of all ages who wanted to see all the top artists of the day perform live.
The Sooty Show (1955–92) BBC TV. The yellow glove puppet bear with black nose and ears was devised by Harry Corbett in 1948 and first appeared on our screens in BBC TV’s Talent Night in 1952. Sooty and Harry then became regulars on the BBC’s children’s show Saturday Special from 1952–5. In 1955 they were awarded their own show, The Sooty Show. In 1957, Harry introduced a friend for Sooty called Sweep, a dog with long ears and red nose (not that the colour mattered on black and white television). In 1967, The Sooty Show transferred from BBC to ITV, and Sooty with his magic wand continued to entertain kids with different presenters until 1992. ‘Bye bye everyone! Bye bye!’
Sportsview (1954–68) BBC TV. This was the first television sports magazine programme, and Peter Dimmock presented it. Its most memorable sports coverage items included Roger Bannister’s four-minute mile.
ITV’s television line-up for Val Parnell’s Sunday Night at the London Palladium on Sunday 27 January 1957.
Sunday Night at the London Palladium (1955–67) ITV. British television variety show produced by Val Parnell. The regular 1950s hosts were Tommy Trinder (1955–8) and Bruce Forsyth (1958–60). There were also other hosts that stood in from time to time during this period, including Dickie Henderson, Alfred Marks, Bob Monkhouse and Robert Morley. Entertainment included the Tiller Girls, speciality acts, and guest artists like Gracie Fields, Bob Hope, Guy Mitchell and Johnny Ray. The middle of the show featured the popular game show Beat the Clock, in which members of the audience were invited to complete unusual tasks in a short period of time, measured by a large clock at the back of the stage. The show ended each week with all the guests assembled on a revolving stage.
Take Your Pick (1955–68) ITV. Quizmaster Michael Miles invited contestants to answer simple questions for 60 seconds without using the words Yes or No. Alec Dane stood next to him with a gong, ready to gong the contestant out if they said the forbidden words. If the contestant got through that round then they could select any key from one of thirteen boxes. Miles would offer them increasing amounts of money in exchange for the key. If the money didn’t tempt the contestant then he or she went on to open their chosen box with the key. Three of the boxes would contain booby prizes and box 13 would contain a mystery prize. There was also a ‘treasure chest of money’ and a ‘star prize’, which was always a three-piece-suite … ooooh!
This is Your Life (1955–64) BBC TV. Hosted by Eamonn Andrews with the ‘red book’, which each week was filled with a ‘surprise’ guest’s life story. Andrews was himself the first unwitting victim of the show (he thought he was going to surprise Freddie Mills but the guest turned out to be Andrews himself). There were just a few that rejected the surprise, most notably footballer Danny Blanchflower in 1961, who didn’t take kindly to the invasion of his privacy and just walked off.
Torchy, the Battery Boy (1958–9) ITV. The adventures of Torchy, the puppet boy who is powered by battery, and his friends in Topsy-Turvy Land. The series was produced by AP Films and Gerry Anderson (he of later Thunderbirds fame) at a time when you could still see the puppet’s strings.
Tugboat Annie (The Adventures of Tugboat Annie) (1957–61) ITV. ‘Tugboat’ Annie was the widowed captain of the tugboat Narcissus. The stories revolved around the rivalry between ‘Tugboat’ Annie Brennan, played by Minerva Urecal, and her long time rival, Captain Horatio Bullwinkle, played by Walter Sande, captain of the Salamander. They each did all they could to hinder the other’s activities, trading insults all the way.
Twizzle (The Adventures of Twizzle) (1957–8) ITV Associated Rediffusion. Twizzle was a boy doll that could extend its arms and legs to be ‘as tall as a lamppost’ by twizzling them. The series started with Twizzle running away from a toy shop to avoid being bought for two shillings by a horrid little girl. Twizzle met lots of new friends and had a series of fun adventures. His first new friend was Footso the black cat who helped him build Stray Town where stray toys could live safely, away from owners that mistreated them. Other friends included Jiffy the Broomstick Man, Chawky the white-faced Golliwog, Polly Moppet, Candy Floss, and Bouncy the ball that had lost its bounce. The series was made by AP Films, Arthur Provis and Gerry Anderson’s newly formed independent production company. They had a long way to go in television puppetry, what with all those jerky movements and thick strings that were as visible as the puppets themselves.
Wagon Train (1958–65) ITV. Very popular hour-long western series, starring Ward Bond as wagon master Major Seth Adams, and Robert Horton as Flint McCullough. You will probably also remember old Charlie Wooster, the comical cook, played by Frank McGrath. Each week, the wagon train team managed to save some pioneering settlers from the Indians as they made their way through the endless deserts and rocky mountain passes in covered wagons. Lots of exciting horseback chases, with loads of guest stars.
Watch With Mother (1952–73) BBC TV. Created by Freda Lingstrom as television’s answer to radio’s Listen With Mother. Originally known as For The Children, which had been on television since before the war and first introduced us to Muffin The Mule in 1946, Watch With Mother brought together a daily sequence of programmes aimed at preschool children, including Picture Book (on Mondays from 1955), Andy Pandy (on Tuesdays from 1950), Flowerpot Men (on Wednesdays from 1952), Rag, Tag and Bobtail (on Thursdays from 1953), and The Woodentops (on Fridays from 1955). See separate programme headings for more details about these shows.
Peter Sellers kept us all laughing throughout the ’50s as one of the Goons on BBC Radio’s Goon Show, and with his comedy appearances on other radio shows like Ray’s a Laugh and Workers Playtime.
Whack-O! (1956–60) BBC TV. British comedy sitcom series, written by Frank Muir and Denis Norden, and starring Jimmy Edwards as Professor James Edwards MA, a scheming, gambling, drunken, cane-wielding headmaster of fictional Chiselbury public school. The show also starred Arthur Howard, who played Professor Edwards’ long-suffering assistant, Mr Oliver Pettigrew. You may remember Professor Edward
s’ favourite saying, ‘Bend over, Wendover!’
The Woodentops (1955–7) BBC TV. Part of the Watch With Mother series, written by Maria Bird. It was about a family of wooden dolls who lived on a farm. The main characters were Mummy Woodentop, Daddy Woodentop, Jenny, Willy and Baby Woodentop. The series was devised to introduce children to the ways of the country.
Zoo Time (1956–68) ITV. Featured Desmond Morris, with the help of various animal experts and zoo staff from Regents Park Zoo in London. It offered lots of information about animals, using pictures taken from around the zoo. The early shows always featured Congo the chimpanzee.
Seven
SCHOOL LIFE
Your first day at school; it was the loneliest day of your young life. You were just four years old when your mum took you into the school, kissed you on the cheek, then turned and walked away, leaving you alone and abandoned. There were no working-class nursery schools, kindergartens or playschools to prepare you for the distress you felt that day. Up until that moment, you had always followed in your mum’s shadow. You had never before been left alone with strangers and you are suddenly forced to realise that your mum had always done everything for you. For the first time in your life, adults that you don’t even know are asking you questions and telling you to do things, and your mum isn’t there to deal with it for you. You are in strange surroundings that are filled with odd smells, and there are unfamiliar things all around you, with lots of kids that you have never seen before. Your mum had taught you to be well-behaved but you weren’t prepared for the discipline of school life. The teacher shows you to your seat and tells you to sit still and be quiet. This is not going to be any fun at all – and where are all the toys?
Many schools had a school uniform policy, which was designed to be affordable and could also be worn outside school. Girls’ uniforms were often just a white blouse, grey gymslip or pinafore dress, white socks and navy blue knickers – girls never wore trousers to school. Boys would wear a white or grey shirt and short grey flannel trousers with itchy long grey ribbed woollen socks – with at least one uncomfortable darned toe. There was frequently a school tie and some schools also had very tasteful headgear as part of the uniform. Both boys and girls would wear a blazer that often doubled as a best jacket for the boys to wear on Sundays. School shoes were generally heavy black round-toed monstrosities that were nicknamed ‘fish-boxes’, and there were black plimsolls for games and PE (physical education). As a rule, it was a bit uncool for boys to wear raincoats or overcoats, but girls regularly wore them. These coats were always bought two sizes too big to allow for growth and to give at least a couple of years’ wear; and because they were indistinguishable they all had the owner’s name neatly sewn into the collar.
If you lived in a rural area, you may have travelled by school bus or train, but most 1950s kids walked to school and some lucky ones cycled, sometimes quite long distances. Very young children were escorted to school by one of their parents, but once they knew how to get there then most children made their own way to school, particularly if they had older siblings or friends to accompany them. The streets were safer then, and you never heard of children being abducted. Walking to and from school could in itself be an adventure; running alongside cars and trying to keep up with them, hopping from flagstone to flagstone while avoiding every crack, running along the tops of walls, climbing trees, and the annual ritual of collecting conkers that fell from the horse-chestnut trees every autumn.
You had to pay to go by bus unless you lived a qualifying distance from the school, whereby you got a bus pass. In the towns and cities, with car ownership still relatively low, trolleybuses were the main means of transport to school for children that lived too far away to walk. Travelling by bus was quite different then; everyone queued in an orderly line at the bus stop and there was no pushing or shoving to get to the front. If there was a bend in the road, or a hill that was obscuring your view of oncoming traffic, then you could tell when a trolleybus was approaching by looking at the movement of the overhead wires, to which the springloaded trolley-poles on top of the buses were connected. Or, you could put your ear against the post at the bus stop and listen to the increasing vibrations. Experience taught you just how far away the bus was depending upon how much the wires were moving. You would always go upstairs on the bus for a better view, and it was even better if you could get a seat at the front, but it was always very smoky because people were only allowed to smoke upstairs on the buses.
‘Hold very tight please’, ding-ding. There was a uniformed conductor on every bus whose job it was to collect fares and to make sure everyone got on and off the bus safely. There was no passenger door on buses, just an opening at the back with an upright centre pole for you to cling to as you got on and off. The conductor carried a long narrow wad of different-priced tickets, from which he or she would pull a ticket and clip it before handing it to you. They would always take your money, count it and then put it in their leather moneybag before handing you the ticket. Sometimes the conductor would take your money just as the bus was arriving at a bus stop, which meant that they had to go to the back of the bus to supervise passengers getting on and off the bus – it seemed they would always forget to come back with your ticket!
In the 1950s, even the infant school had strict discipline. The classroom was geared to learning, not playing. There was no sign of a cuddly toy or hint of an afternoon nap. The teachers did adopt a more gentle touch for the infants, but talking in class, fidgeting or not paying attention would lead to a slap across the legs and being made to stand in the corner of the classroom facing the wall. Punishment would undoubtedly upset you, but there was also a new feeling that you had never felt before – you had been shown up in front of the other kids. That ‘new feeling’ was humiliation. Once you got used to the discipline of being at infant school, you found that there were lots of fun things to do, and the teachers actually made learning enjoyable!
The school day was normally seven hours long, including lunch and break times. The starting and finishing times varied from school to school, with starting times from 8.40–9.10 am and finishing times from 3.40–4.10 pm. Most schools had morning assembly, which more often than not included prayers, and then you went off to your classroom for the register to be checked.
A classroom full of young schoolgirls sitting at typical 1950s metal-framed desks with sloped desktops that are fitted with inkwells.
You usually transferred into the junior or primary school proper between the ages of five and six, by which time you knew your alphabet and could do basic arithmetic with the aid of an abacus. You gradually progressed from writing with chalk on a small blackboard to using pencils, and when you had mastered the use of a pencil you were taught to write with pen and ink. This involved using a crude wooden stick with a metal nib fixed to one end, which you dipped into an inkwell at the top of your desk to load the nib with enough ink to write a couple of words at a time. It was really messy! There would be ink everywhere, with splodges all over the pages in your exercise book and on your hands. Loading just the right amount of ink onto the nib was the key, and it helped if you had an undamaged nib to start with.
Class sizes varied considerably depending on where you lived. People often had large families and in the built-up areas it was quite normal to have more than forty children to a class. Sometimes a classroom could not accommodate enough desks, which meant that some had to share. If seated at the back of a large class, a quiet or shy child with poor eyesight or hearing could go unnoticed by the teacher and struggle to keep up with lessons – sometimes harshly branded as being lazy! Teachers back then probably weren’t trained to identify such problems, and some were less than sympathetic with children that didn’t conform to what was seen as the norm, as with their criticism of left-handed kids who were often encouraged or even forced to write with their right hand, sometimes earning a slap on the back of the hand if they were seen writing left-handed.
Some schools had a daily ri
tual of dishing out cod liver oil to all youngsters, but in other schools cod liver oil was only given to certain unlucky individuals; this was never really explained but it did seem to be linked to sickly looking kids and those on free school meals. Similarly, some kids had their hair more regularly checked for nits than others. Yes, alas, we all had regular inspections by the ‘nit nurse’! There were also regular school medical inspections, when a doctor would visit the school and you would all line up to be examined. It was usually a male doctor and he would pull you about, checking you all over, then weigh you, measure your height, and make you do things like pick up a pencil using your toes. Everyone hated the ‘nit nurse’ and doctor inspections.
Apart from having fun, your main ambition at primary school was to be made a ‘monitor’. Any kind of monitor would do. You will remember everyone putting their hands up in class to volunteer when there were pencils or paintbrushes to be given out, and the collective call of ‘Me Miss! – Me Miss!’ As well as giving out the pencils, the pencil monitor got to use the huge pencil sharpener that was mounted on the edge of teacher’s desk at the front of the class – how exciting! It was recognition of your trustworthiness and you felt quite important to be given the responsibility of teacher’s little helper. Milk monitor was a rotten job; you didn’t put your hand up twice to be the milk monitor. Remember those small bottles (one-third of a pint) of free school milk you had each morning throughout your school life? Nice and refreshing in summer, but very cold in winter. The milk monitor had to handle all those freezing cold milk bottles and the metal crates they came in. The job of class monitor was best suited to girls because it involved having to ‘tell’ on your classmates if they misbehaved when teacher was out of the classroom. Not that girls were better at telling tales, it’s just that boys didn’t usually last long in the job; they would at best be ostracised by their mates in the playground if they got someone in trouble with the teacher.