I always think Christmas is a really nostalgic time of the year. A time to remember people and happy memories. This was my first Christmas in Liverpool in 1960. I can't remember it but it still looks happy!
I can however, remember this Christmas even though I was only 3 years old.
I keep telling myself that these are the Christmases that we and particularly our children will be feeling nostalgic for in the future, They won't remember the over cooked sprouts (I hope) or the parts of the day that aren't perfect, They will just remember the love, the happiness and the laughter as I do.
I really hope everyone has a very happy Christmas and makes the most of the good bits and doesn't get too worried about the stressful bits.
This week I bought a retro 1960s enamel pan from our local charity saleroom for £5. It's in lovely condition and very pretty. I am so pleased with it I haven't put it away in a cupboard but it has pride of place on top of the hob.
It has made me think how different cooking and kitchens are now to the 1960s and 70s. I have several cookery books from this time and all the recipes are quite basic. Pot roast, shepherd's pie and meat pie all feature. Non of the recipes have more than 5 or 6 ingredients and pasta isn't mentioned once! I find these recipes very easy to follow and also not so overwhelming as there is not a great long list of obscure ingredients to buy.
I'm sure everyone who grew up in the 60s and 70s will remember Fanny Craddock and her cookery programmes on the TV. She was very proper and although her cooking was easy to follow I didn't think they were much fun.
However the TV chef I remember most clearly and fondly is Graham Kerr in The Galloping Gourmet.
He was, to put it mildly, energetic leaping around the studio, cracking jokes and swigging wine. I thought he was hilarious. More time was taken up with his jokes than cooking but to a 10 year old he made a boring subject entertaining. Looking back now as an adult I still love it!
I have added this clip of The Galloping Gourmet from youtube and it's worth watching just for the retro 1970s kitchen.
Dougal was always our favourite character. He was a little dog who appeared to float along and always seemed to have a put down for every occasion. We called our little Yorkshire Terrier puppy after him in 1971, although the original Dougal in the TV programme was based on a Skye Terrier. The other characters were Zebedee the jack in a box, Brian the snail, Ermintrude the cow and Dylan the rabbit named after Bob Dylan, The two human characters were Florence the little girl and Mr Rusty the operator of the roundabout. I remember one of the first black and white episodes of The Magic Roundabout when Florence met Zebedee and went through to the magic garden which seemed like such a magical concept to me. I remember the children on the roundabout in those first few episodes took a bit more of an active part! They certainly didn't as the episodes progressed. Apparently though their names were Basil, Paul and Rosalie. I found this Magic Roundabout mug at a car boot sale dated 1967 showing how popular it was at the time.
1960s Magic Roundabout Mug
For everyone who feels as nostalgic as I do about The Magic Roundabout I have added three episodes from the programme below that I found on YouTube. The first is an early black and white charming French version when Florence went into the magic garden for the first time. I remember the English version of this so well. The second is an early episode called The Rocking Chair and the third is a later colour episode from 1970.
In many of my baby photos in 1960 and 1961 a little black doll appears. It must have been quite a precious toy as it is in lots of photos. I have no recollection of it at all so it can't have survived very long but looking back I often wondered what it was. Recently whilst searching through ebay I came across one. It was called a Blinky Winky doll.
Me As A Baby With The Blinky Winky Doll
After a bit of searching I found out it had been the most popular toy to be made in Japan in 1960. Manufactured first as a baby's plaything, this little doll soon became a craze with teenagers and housewives. In thirty years of searching around every type of sale, I have never seen one which makes me think they were not that good quality and haven't survived. However they are not that uncommon or expensive on ebay so they are out there. I'm sure if I ever found one I would not be able to resist buying it.
In the 1960s I remember that dogs were all called names like Whisky, Brandy, Rex and even Rover. Non of the gender specific dog names of today. Dogs often wandered about all day and then returned home to their owners in the evening. I don't think dog wardens existed and the lack of traffic on the roads mean't that they were relatively safe to wander. Our little poodle Whisky however was far to precious to us to allow her to wander about. She was the original pampered pooch.
In the 1960s poodles were everywhere! There were poodle ornaments, poodle china, poodle toys, plastic poodles and even poodle headscarves. All clipped in different cuts, there was a poodle parlours in every town. Whisky was as pretty as a poodle could possibly be with her little "lion cut". I was so proud as a child walking her about. She would go on all our holidays with us at a time when dogs were allowed to go in so many more places than now. Every holiday snap has her little face looking up at the camera. I took this photo with a little Box Brownie camera that used to belong to my Mum. We were on holiday in Devon at the time, obviously with not a single car on the road.
Whisky The 1960s Poodle
Now all these years later I can't help but stop and talk to poodle owners when I'm out and about. These days pedigree poodles are not nearly as common as they were, they all seem to be poodle crosses ending in oodle or poo. I'd love another poodle one day but in the meantime I make do with poodle collectables from the 1960s. I bought this poodle print in the local charity saleroom. It reminded me so much of Whisky.
I couldn't resist this kitsch poodle ornament I found at a car boot sale. Any poodle lover out there would just love to own this!
I look back very fondly to parties I went to of my school friends in the 1960s. Today it seems to have become big business organising a children's party, with themes, events and a fortune spent. I wonder if today's children would enjoy the parties I used to go to? I think they probably would it's just they have come to expect more. We would play games, Pin The Tail On The Donkey, Musical Chairs, Pass The Parcel and Blind Man's Buff. It was just fun being with your friends out of school and seeing their houses really. It all seemed so different and exciting. I bought these old slides at a car boot and they really make me remember the feel of those party days.
1960s Children's Party Guests
Then there was the fun of the party tea.
1960s Children's Tea Party
And blowing out the candles.
Blowing Out The Candles At A 1960s Children's Party
I remember one party I went to where my friend's Mum had a 1960s Dansette record player which she played singles popular at the time on and we all danced, including her Mum. One we wanted over and over again as we danced and sang along was the theme from The Monkees TV programme which was very popular at the time. It was one of my favourite parties as instead of a party bag we were given a little Polish wooden doll as we left. I can't hear The Monkees theme tune without remembering that day and smiling.
I had forgotten all about an item from my childhood until I spotted one in a 50p box at a car boot sale this summer. How could I have forgotten that as a young child if I fell and cut myself, which I was doing all the time as I was such a tomboy, my Mum would put a plaster on me from a little tin. What a brilliant idea, I moan all the time about the cardboard box of plasters in the kitchen drawer that seems to fall to bits after one day of use! Who thought changing from this cute little tin would be a good idea?
1960s Elastoplast Tin
Since I bought the tin I have been keeping our sticking plasters in it and I wish I could just buy a little paper packet of plasters to keep restocking it.Think of all the cardboard it would save! It has started me thinking of how tins are used for storage over the years.
I love Quality Street tins and always buy them for storage when I see one. Often when I buy one, the items that have been stored in it are still there. I have one from the 1950s still with dried lavender in it and one from the 1970s that was full of buttons. This one is from the 1960s and I remember the design so well.
1960s Quality Street Tin
Inside it was a set of old dominoes. Well used and loved. A lovely little piece of the tin's history.
Old Dominoes Stored In Quality Street Tin
Who hasn't stored items in these old sweet tins. I do all the time. We have our Christmas Tree lights in a Quality Street Tin which we had one Christmas in the 1990s. All of them seem to have their own little piece of history attached to them. Plain plastic boxes could never be half so nice.
When I am out searching for my 1960s and 1970s items I always look out for some retro storage ideas to keep my collections in. I love the look of them around the house and it just seems to make sense to add items to my collection this way. Two items I have found recently have given me lots of storage with a 60s and 70s look and at a price that can't be beaten really.
One is this 1960s or 70s LP record storage case I bought at a car boot sale for £1. It still has the original key and I keep lots of my 1970s LPs in it next to my lovely record player my family bought me a few years ago. You can't beat the sound of a 70s vinyl record! I'm always on the look out for more but at about £25 each on ebay I think I'll keep scouring the car boot sales.
A 1960s 1970s LP Record Storage Case
The other great storage find was an Air India 1960s vanity case I noticed under a table at a jumble sale and also cost me £1.
It is in lovely condition and has the original Air India logo of The Maharajah which was the mascot from 1946 until 2015.
The Air India Maharajah The Logo From 1946 To 2015
The inside is still lined with some beautiful 1950s or 60s Christmas wrapping paper. So neatly done I wonder if many people today would take so much trouble and look after an item for so long.
The Inside Of The 1960s Air India Vanity Case
I keep it on top of my wardrobe with my little retro toys inside and I love the look of it. New storage would be ten times the price and not nearly so much fun! If you need extra storage and who doesn't really, it is worth searching through car boot sales and jumble sales as with a bit of patience and perseverance lots of interesting storage can be found.
