70 thoughts on “ALL OUR YESTERDAYS”

  1. Among the old Hollywood leading men, I tend to get Burt Lancaster confused with Kirk Douglas. This is Burt Lancaster (above.) Burt was Elmer Gantry and Birdman of Alcatraz. Kirk was Spartacus and Vincent van Gogh.
    Kirk is the one with a hole in his chin.

    I also get Walter Pidgeon confused with Gregory Peck. For obvious reasons.

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  2. “Beat the Clock” was one of the popular game shows on early American television. It had its first network run from 1950 to 1961 and was emceed by Bud Collyer during that period. It’ s had several revivals over the years.

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      1. It was an early Goodson-Todman production. They produced countless American game shows over the decades, and many international shows that sometimes had different names than the American versions.

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  3. I think we’ve been here before with pic #1 – please remove it Tris as Brambell was a child rapist and his image should never be seen again.

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      1. Haut de la Garenne ring any bells?

        Multiple boys (now men) made complaints quite independently of each other regarding Brambell & abuse whenever he played in Jersey.

        This was in the wake of Saville & I don’t think the BBC even thought about defending Brambell – in the words of someone at the time “Everyone knew Brambell was at it”.

        The wikipedia page is/was edited (repeatedly) to remove any child rape allegations so I wouldn’t take too much notice of that 😉

        Thanks for changing the pic though 🙂

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        1. Well, I don’t know and as I have no way of knowing about, well any of them, I don’t want to involve myself or the blog.

          I don’t pay a lot of attention to these reports as very frequently they have been found to be dubious. That said, it’s possible that they have been found dubious for reasons we know nothing of. Connections with people of import.

          So, I may, from time to time, put up pics of people who may, at some point have been accused of such crimes.

          I’m sure we’ve had pics of Cliff Richard, for example.

          It was hard at one point to keep yourself informed of the numbers of the accusations some true, as in Rolf Harris.

          But I’m desperately sorry for those who have been accused and then found totally innocent… like these two Coronation Street guys.

          For sure, people who make these false claims need to be punished.

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    1. Hi Robert.

      The opposition was Cowdenbeath, 1970. Dunfermline lost by 2:1.

      I couldn’t have told you that it was George McLean though 🙂

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          1. One of the other theories is that just after the dockyard opened at Rosyth a group of workers brought up from Plymouth went to matches with a banner that read
            Plymouth Argyle Rosyth Supporters

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            1. I remember as a primary school kid booing George McLean playing for Dundee against the Pars then a week or so later cheering for him after he moved to Dunfermline. The actual time between is hazy, being 11 years old at the time.

              Cowdenbeath was known locally as the Blue Brazil a while back with Brazil conversely referred to as the Yellow Cowdenbeath.

              In later years, East Fife fans came up with a song about Cowdenbeath that earned a bit of media attention. It was I think a classic kettle, pot, black situation.

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      2. The old shed in Central Park seldom had anyone in it and looked to me ready to collapse. The 70/ 71 season was Cowden’s single season in top division. Surprised to learn that they beat the Pars though since the latter were approaching their peak years and European competition and the sight of « big Dandy » on the charge was a stirring image of some great nights. His finishing was however rather unpredictable, to say the least. He also had some stirring European nights at Dens a season or two previously, when the Dee went to the Fairs/UEFA semi.

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        1. By 1971 the Pars were on a downward slide. Their best days were 1961 – 1969. By 1974 they were in the old 2nd division and once the leagues changed never got back into the top league until 1978. They nearly went out of business in the mid to late 70s because they overspent in the 60s

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  5. Ah, The Rubber Shop! In George Street, Aberdeen. The odd name was because they started off selling waterproofs, but I remember it for the toys and games. Much loved by generations of kids. Closed in 1986.

    The aircraft shot is business class in a 747. I flew in the back row of the section in an Air France flight from Brazil to Paris. The following week, the Air France flight to Paris disappeared en route.

    Is the classic cars shot in Cheddar Gorge?

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    1. Yes, it seems to be Cheddar Gorge, Dave.

      What an absolutely horrific tale about the flight from Brazil. It’s a scary thought that if you had delayed your flight for one week you might never have enjoyed Munguin’s hospitality. 🙂

      I wondered about the Rubber Shop. I thought at first it looked as if it might be a bit…erm…dodgy. But I checked up and it was as innocent as the rest of Aberdeen!

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      1. My closest approach to perishing in anything like that was being in Euston station buffet exactly 24 hours before the IRA bomb went off. It gave me a very strange and unpleasant feeling when I heard the news, I have to say.

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    2. You’re stirring memories right enough.
      I remember the Rubber Shop in George St. although I had a preference for a sports equipment and games shop in Correction Wynd…can’t remember the name though ( can you help?).
      For some reason I also thought Cheddar Gorge. Went there once in the late sixties ( I’m guessing). The caves and geology were quite magical…the stuff above ground…commercial, exploitative and tacky.

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    1. I love Steptoe and I love the theme tune. I even love the rubbish spin-off films that weirdly became a thing for sitcoms in the 70s.

      The two actors came to hate each other. Harry Corbett came from the Stanislavsky school. He was a fixture of happening 60s theatre who then had his reputation irretrievably tarnished by appearing on the lowly goggle box. Wilfred Bramble was of the old school who thought acting was voice projection and stage directions and learning your lines. He was also totally unreliable due to his alcoholism. They couldn’t stand each other but came to depend on each other for work, just like the characters they played.

      BBC4 dramatised the genuinely bizarre lives of 60s and 70s comedians. The best one was about Kenneth Williams but the one about Steptoe and Son was also a great watch:

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      1. I often think the backstory of these shows is more interesting than the shows themselves, so I’m looking forward to watching the Youtube.

        Actors are, I suppose, by nature, likely to live different lives from us and if you get a bunch of them together, I guess that behind all the “darling, you were simply marvellous”, there must be all sorts of real life drama.

        Arthur Lowe and his wife (who played a small role in most of his shows) were both alcoholics, as was the guy who played the SPIV. Godfrey’s wife made the most fearful fuss over him.

        Wilfrid Bramble and Harry H Corbett hated each other. As Vestas pointed out it’s possible that Bramble had other secrets. He was certainly gay, which was a crime in England in the 50s and 60s

        The guys who played in the Likely Lads didn’t speak to each other, and one refused to allow repeats to be shown on tv, thus depriving the other one of much needed income.

        I’ve read about Kenneth Williams. He lived the strangest of strange life. I think the weirdest thing about him was that, although he had few visitors, even close friends who did call, were not allowed to use his toilet. They had to go out, along the street, and use the public conveniences on the corner.

        I’m sure there are many other stories. I look forward to watching that series, which I had no idea existed.

        I hope they are all Youtubed!

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        1. I did not know that Arthur Lowe was an alcoholic. He did suffer from narcolepsy. I have no idea how an actor could work in rep with narcolepsy, or alcoholism, for that matter. Juggling both took a real pro. Rep actors had to learn a new play each week. I can barely remember my own telephone number.

          Something happened to that generation of comedians. They all just seem so damaged. Hancock, Kennneth Williams, Charles Hawtrey. Ken Dodd and his obsessive hoarding of cash under the floorboards. Diana Dors and her mystery money. Bob Monkhouse developed a compulsion for recording all available UK TV on his multiple video recorders. He also stockpiled tins of food. It’s completely at odds with his smooth, composed stage character yet being on stage trying to engineer laughs must be incredibly stressful.

          I read somewhere that Rodney Bewes once mentioned to a journalist that he was on his way to the christening of James Bolem’s new son or something like that. James Bolem was intensely private and considered this a breach of trust and they never spoke again.

          btw the pic you posted is Harry H Corbett rather than Wilfred Bramble. I wasn’t aware of any allegations against Wilfred Bramble.

          Obviously, I never let guests use my toilet.

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          1. Well, as usual, much of it is hearsay. But Wikipedia does mention Lowe’s drinking and it affecting his work in his later years.

            https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_Lowe

            You’re right. They did some some awful problems of all sorts. financial, marital, sexual, drink, perversion… you name it.

            I think in British showbusiness, well, from what I’ve read anyway, money was always quite tight. People weren’t paid anything like the money they got in the USA.

            They had unstable relationships and of course, may of them were gay, which was totally unacceptable in the 50s and 60s, so they had to hide it away.

            Bob Monkhouse seemed quite ordinary on stage, compared with many others. I wonder if he collected food lest the day should come when he was poor?

            Hawtrey was gay too and an alcoholic. I read that his drinking got to the stage where he became unemployable. Didn’t he burn his house down?

            Yootha Joyce who was in some pretty dire sitcom was also incapable of doing much without a good deal of booze inside her. Or so they said.

            I changed the picture to remove Bramble. (see above comments).

            So, when Munguin comes to Switzerland as your honoured guest, he’ll have to have the helicopter on constant standby for a swift return to Munguin Towers, lest he should wish to pee?

            That’s gonna make it an expensive holiday. He might as well take up the invitation to the White House. They’re bound to have a gold toilet and Trump will be too busy on Twitter to notice if he uses the bathroom.

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            1. I read that nobody knew that Yootha Joyce was an alcoholic. Apparrently, she turned up for work , very much the worse for wear, but somehow held it together to turn in her performance.

              Hawtrey’s house did indeed burn down. He died after he refused to have his legs amputated, saying he would “die with his boots on”.

              It seems that nobody has a bad word to say about Bob Monkhouse. There was a recent documentary about his life. I think it was on C4. He was really, really into comedy and took it very seriously but was also very generous to the next generation of comedians. I remember seeing Emo Phillips on his comedy chat show. Bob took a back seat and let Emo Phillips get all the laughs. Not many would do that.

              There’s a funny thing you sometimes see in Swiss flats – two toilets, one for the family, one for guests. I wonder if Kenneth Williams had Swiss ancestry.

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              1. Maybe that’s how it started with Yootha Joyce… who knows, you hear or read so much tat about these people. It starts in the Sun or Express or the Mail (and these days the Daily Telegraph) and then someone’s talking about it in the pub opr at work and then it becomes fact.

                Imagine… something that starts life in the Daily Mail being accepted as fact?

                I’d not heard that about Hawtrey. It’s not a choice I’d care to make. I don;t think any of these people were very rich. They were diddled by the Carry On film makers. They got paid a couple of thousand for each film, but there was no money for any television fees (or later video or DVD sales.

                I didn’t much care for Bob Monkhouse. He was a bit greasy for me… a bit too smooth. But you’re dead right. Most artistes want the spotlight and despite saying nice things about each other, would push one another under apush in the rush to get to the mic.

                He apparently had a massive book of jokes…well more than one book I suppose… Library.

                So… you’re having a guest toilet installed for Munguin?

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      2. We saw a fantastic solo play at Edinburgh a couple of years ago. It was a biography of fellow Carry On star Charles Hawtrey . It was called “Oh Hello” ( googled aide memoire ).

        Several of the 60’s actors were tortured souls. The criminalisation of homosexuality was a real scar on the UK. People like Kenneth Williams, Brambell ( whom I recall was charged for cottaging ) and Hawtrey had to live with constant pressure from their private natures. It is easy to forget how cruel the country was to people it simultaneously wanted to be entertained by. I am so glad we do not subject people to that humiliation any more. Our society is much better as it grows more tolerant of diversity.

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        1. Yes. I guess it was all supposed to be based on the teachings of the church that told us to love one another.

          There was a lot of talent in these 50s and 60s actors. Frankie Howerd, Benny Hill, Joan Sims, Hattie Jacques. Not every one of them was everyone’s taste, but by and large they were a talented lot.

          I can still get a giggle at the Carry On films.

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        1. Not, not she. You are probably mixing her up with Miss Clark there David. 🙂

          Pétula still looks great, given that she’s 87 next week.

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  7. 4 is a brass pica pole, or line gauge, once used in printing. All those years spent in Jingling Geordies not totally wasted then.

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    2. Well spotted Conan. It is indeed an em rule. Been on my desk for years even if it’s many decades since hot metal print production came to and end – and I last needed it for anything other than drawing a straight line. I presume Jingling Geordies is (or was) a newspaper pub? Subs taking their em rules with them for a pint? Probably to prevent them being nicked. In my days on Scottish newspapers, the typewriters were chained to the reporters’ desk for that very reason.

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      1. It’s in Fleshmarket Close, the Scotsman building was literally a few feet away. My late brother in law worked there for many years. I remember someone doing his pools coupon with one.

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      2. LOL. Not of course in D C Thomson.

        I noticed passing Thomson’s HQ the other day, that the Scottish Lion Rampant flag, which had been replaced by the House Flag has now been replaced with the Butcher’s Apron.

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        1. It’s like they’re still rear guarding life in the fifties, when Scotland voted sectarian Tory and Oor Wullie looked and dressed like a normal wee laddie.

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  8. Morning, all! (just). Pic2 is a Vauxhall Victor – late 50s? – the most American looking British cars of the time. Iain’s right about Pic3 – it is one of the “backless” Parisian buses and I’m fairly sure it’s on the Boulevard du Montparnasse, in the 1960s because there’s a Mini parked by the kerb. The big yellow van is a post van: it has the Postes emblem on the cab door. Pic5 – more Paris. SNCF poster, Seine with bateau mouche, Eiffel Tower and way in the distance the white domes of Sacré Coeur. Pic15 – Roger Moore and Barbara Bach in the Bond movie – The Spy Who Loved Me. I think she became Mrs Ringo Starr at one time? Pic19 – Ken Dodd – saw him a few years ago doing his shopping one night at a city centre Tesco in Liverpool. Pic20 – a BR electric loco, not sure of class – 86? Never as glamorous as steam to me. Not much of a background to go on but it looks as though it’s pulling out of Glasgow Central. When? – nae idea.

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    1. Afternoon, Andi!

      Yes Paris twice. One of my favourite cities.

      Yes too about Barbara Bach becoming Mrs Ringo. Is he a “sir” now?

      Ken Dodd apparently left £24 million in his will. Still, they have to go shopping somewhere. I seem to recall he fiddled his taxes or something… like most of them I wouldn’t wonder.

      Glasgow Central, 1970… but I don;t know the class. Ugly things, but now, I guess, ugly in a quaint way.

      Like you, I much prefer steam…no matter how environmentally unsound!

      I

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  9. Trispw,

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