For those amongst us who remember:- "When I was a boy"!

[daveg]

I had The Lion for quite some time.

Don't know when I swapped that for The Eagle. Probably for Dan Dare that also had a series on Radio Luxembourg that I was allowed to listen to before going to bed.

http://www.vintageradioworld.co.uk/radio_serials.htm

Reception wasn't always that good over in pre-TV Northern Ireland but was a highlight I remember well.

Dave G

[steve836]

I liked the Eagle,
.Also the ads in the comics
for black face soap, stink bombs and wallets which made money disappear.

And don't forget John Bull printing outfits !

I liked the Eagle too. You could also get "snowstorm" pellets and little exploding devises Which I used to hide in my mum's cigarettes. always good for a laugh!
I too remember radio Luxembourg, we used to listen to it in bed at school (under the bedclothes in case a prefect came round) on home made crystal radios. Radio Lux. was the only broadcast pop music (this was before Radio Caroline and the others whose names have slipped my memory, mainly 'cause I've lost my marbles) and we had to constantly move the "cats whisker" to retune.
It's amazing the memories that come back when bounced off others like this.

[Dorsetmike]

The Eagle was after my time, I started with the Beano & Dandy and moved up to the Hotspur and Wizard plus for a time the Rover. Meccano mag also featured.

When I left School in 1949 I cycled from Poole to Acton in London, 104 miles, took me 7 hours 20 going and over 8 hours into a headwind on the homeward run a few days later.

I was still on a bike when in the mid 1950s I was posted to RAF Stoke Heath near Market Drayton, the camp consisted of a number of small sites spread over about 3 miles, three  domestic sites, each a group of huts, a Naafi and Cookhouse, and various working sites of two or three hangars plus a headquarters
an education centre, and married quarters, so we all got RAF issue push bikes; for a few months they closed our site's cookhouse and Naafi for refurb, so we had to cycle 3 miles to another site for breakfast, from there 2 miles to  our work site, more miles for lunch and tea finally 3 miles back to the huts.

The A41 ran through the middle of the area, two transport cafes thereon did a roaring trade at breakfast time, and also provided a good place to start hitch hiking home for the weekend.

Gave credence to the saying "If yer can't take a joke yer shouldn't have joined!"

 

[mr bachmann]

remember the outside netty ? (thank god for inside loo's !) ,
and if it was a wet night you could gaurantee the newspaper would be damp - thats if your dad has'nt used it all - worse still in the winter month's with frost about  !
our mode of transport was man & dad on the tandem with us lot enjoying (?) the ride in the side car, then later in early50's saw a Flying Wheel added - happy times .

[joe cassidy]

of a number of small sites spread over about 3 miles, three  domestic sites, each a group of huts, a Naafi and Cookhouse, and various working sites of two or three hatheyngars plus a headquarters
an education centre, and married quarters, so we all got RAF issue push bikes;

Did they have wings and propellors ?

Yours facetiously,


Joe

[Malc]

I remember visiting my relatives who lived on a farm in South Devon. There was no mains drainage and no cess pit. The outside loo was a box with a hole in it. I always dreaded using it, just in case something came out and grabbed me!

[ColinH]

I remember visiting my relatives who lived on a farm in South Devon. There was no mains drainage and no cess pit. The outside loo was a box with a hole in it. I always dreaded using it, just in case something came out and grabbed me!

I have similar memories of visiting my father's cousin who farmed just outside Harrogate. There was a similar arrangement there with the dunny in a corner of the garden well away from the house so that access could be gained to the rear for 'emptying'.

[Agrippa]

I think this topic is going towards  " Before I went to school in me bare feet each morning, I did
a 12 hour shift in the mine with only a dead rat for me breakfast on Xmas Day "

Happy times! 

[Komata]

Agrippa: You mean to say that you actually GOT a rat for breakfast AND on Christmas day to boot (but not with it) ; some people seem to have had all the luck..  You lucky lad, you...  

(Just saying...)

[Bealman]

Three consecutive years stocking fillers:
[smg id=18717 type=preview align=center width=400]
Dan Dare data sheets! I like that caterpillar track thingy that could be interchanged between vehicles, as at the bottom of the page:
[smg id=18719 type=preview align=center width=400]
And at the the time they were still thinking that NASA was going to use NOVA to get to the moon!
[smg id=18718 type=preview align=center width=400]
EEEK.

[colpatben]

The model railway layout at Hamleys in Regent Street that ran all around the stairway gallery on the 2nd (or 3rd) floors. (or was it Selfridges at Christmas).

My Hornby 'Working' tin-plate Royal Mail coach and searching for those little lead mail bags. (not today 'Elf n Safety').

Fishing for tadpoles in the Round Pond, and Vane Steering yachts on same.

Our Mirror Dinghy sail Number 3457.

[Bob Tidbury]

I think we all owe Petercharlesfagg a huge  for starting this thread it is realy good to go back in time and I've been going over a lot of memories in my head not all railway things but general things ,I keep coming up with things and telling my family about them. I remember that a friend I met on one of my visits home gave me some fags he brought back from Germany and he smuggled them to my house in the headlight of his bike we then went down in the valley to have a smoke on the pretence of sailing a model boat in the floods He done me a big favour because the fags made me sick for a week and I've never smoked a fag again just think of the money he saved me.
Anyway a huge  to Peter .
Bob

[Bealman]

 

[silly moo]

I remember the layout at Hamleys. Hamleys was heaven to a small child. It seemed a much smaller shop when I went there years later. I think they only sell Hornby at very inflated prices now.

When I went there again in the 70s they had Graham Farish and I bought a Black 5, two coaches and a length of flexitrack. That was the start of modelling in N.

I also remember the beautiful model yachts on the Round Pond and going train spotting at Paddington station with my father.

Moving to Africa was a bit of a culture shock at the age of eight because I loved living in London.

[colpatben]

We lived in a prefab 1947 to 1959 close to the rail and coal yard at Westbourne Park (London W11) plenty of coal for our stove, and on the No7 bus route.

Remember riding one of the last London Trams, my mum was a clippie. (you youngsters work that one out!).

Yes and  to Peter. This is good for the brain and the soul!