10 Early memories

 

Here's this week's top 10 - my early memories.

1. When I was little and on the fairgrounds, a man named Alf Silver used to come on the fairground selling the lights that the showmen used on their equipment. He has a light blue Volkswagen camper van. He was always nice to me and I can remember him taking me to the shops and buying me records.

2. When I was little, my Dad had a reel to reel tape recorder and his tapes had all the hits of the late 50s and early 60s. In Mum and Dad’s trailer, I can remember they had a fold-down be (funnily enough, called a Murphy Bed). And during the winter the tape recorder would be on the floor under the bed. I can distinctly remember crawling under the bed and turning it on and playing it while they were still asleep. I bet they loved me waking them up to that! My sister Pearl told me last year that at 2 years old, I loved Charlie Drake’s, ‘Splish Splash’ and knew exactly where it was located on one of Dad’s tapes and knew how to switch the tape recorder on, and how to fast forward or rewind the tape to that particular point on the tape where the song was.

3. When my sister Pearl was a teenager, her mates would come around our place and get me to do my party trick. Apparently, before I could read or write, I knew all of the records of the time, just by looking at their labels – they would ask me to find a certain record in the box and I could pick it out of all the records in the box. Pearl told me that once, one of her friends asked me for a record, I went for a rummage, pulled it out and gave it to her. She said, I’d given her the wrong song, and I apparently told her to look at the other side – I was right!

4. Being at Butlins, Clacton on Sea aged 3 or 4 and seeing a film being made with Freddie & The Dreamers in it. We had side stalls in the park and I have a vivid memory of them coming in the front gate and crowds of people watching the filming. The film was called, ‘Every Day’s A Holiday.’ It also starred Mike Sarne who sang ‘Come Outside’ with Wendy Richard, John Leyton, who sang ‘Johnny Remember Me,’ The Mojos, who sang, ‘Everything’s Alright’ and other actors including Ron Moody. I bought the DVD a few years back – I wasn’t in the film. And it wasn’t very good either!

5 Two fairgrounds always stay in my mind from when I was a kid, and both are associated with sweet things. Victoria Park in East London was a favourite place of mine as it had a big playground and as there were a lot of us kids, we always used to go and play there. Close by was a little snack bar and in it, they used to sell Jubblies – Pyramid-shaped blocks of flavoured ice. At the time I only remember the orange ones. The other place was Tooting Bec – and the reason I remember it so well was because just outside the ground, against a fence was a ‘Micky’ machine. A ‘Micky’ was a chocolate mild drink, much like you can buy today, but back then, they were sold by United Dairies via the Milkman. Therefore, the Micky machine was a rare thing and for 6d (2 1/2p) you could buy a little bottle of it.

6 When we were in the park at Butlins, Clacton, not far from our side stalls was a photo machine and I loved going in there and getting my photo taken. I’d take 2 shillings from the takings, and go and get photos done – you used to get 4 photos taken – usually, you wouldn’t see my face until the last photo – the other three were often the back of my head as I was climbing on the stall!

7 We were at Burnham with the arcade on the seafront. I was around five years old and playing on the beach. A bigger boy came up to me, punched me a few times and took my bucket and spade. I ran back crying to my Dad and got the first of many lessons from him. He looked at me, told me to point the boy out on the beach which I did. He then said words to this effect, “Go down there, fight him and get your bucket and spade back. I’m not always going to be here to fight your battles so you may as well start now.” Although I didn’t want to do it, I did. I went up to him and told him I wanted my things back. He laughed. And so I did as Dad said, ran at him and started hitting him. He was too strong for me though and he soon started getting the better of me. However, my Dad had followed me and stopped the fight and got my bucket and spade back. I’ve never liked fighting from that day, but that was the occasion where I learned to stand up for myself and I’ve done so ever since.

8 Also, while we were on the seafront, my Dad became friends with John Tandy who ran the donkey rides on the beach. I spent a lot of my time on the beach with John, helping with the donkeys (at least, I thought I was helping). I took a shine to one donkey in particular and John told me I could name him. I called him ‘Pinto’ and my Dad painted his name onto his bridle for me. John Tandy was like my second Dad when I was little. And I was his little ‘Donkey Boy.’

9 I was at St. Andrew’s Junior School at Burnham when man first walked on the Moon and I have a vivid memory of the whole school watching the landing on a black and white TV the following day. There was a dividing section of wall that could be folded back, opening up two classes and making one big room and that’s what happened that day. It was so exciting for us to see it and I can remember it was just before the end of the summer term.

10 When I was around 9 or 10, I decided I wanted to learn to dance and enrolled in the Julie Bowden school of dance. I was one of only two boys in the group and we learned ballet and tap. Each year the dance school would put on summer shows in the Princess Theatre and I was given the job of compere. In the Mary Poppins film, Dick Van Dyke sings a song that goes “It’s a Jolly Holiday with Mary,” well we had our own version. At the start of the show, I’d welcome everyone to the show and I had to start the show with a song and this was the song, except there were some word changes. I can’t remember it all, but part of it went, “Have a Jolly Holiday at Burnham, Burnham makes your heart feel light.” And then the rest of the kids would join in with me. It was very much like the variety shows of the day, and we’d all have little things to do and then we’d do group dances. I’m thinking I picked the wrong career and should have gone on the stage!

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