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I went there with my husband this week, and found it far more extensive than I'd imagined, with masses of exhibits. The volunteers are very knowledgeable and friendly, and spent a lot of time with us, helping us to make nibs (mine wasn't very good!). Has it always been where it is now? I have a...

It's snowing in the south east as well, Viv! I don't think I ever went into the shop, but I remember the balcony (I think). A mysterious place, somehow.

Would there be any point in writing to the Evening Mail and asking if anyone has a photo of the house?

There seemed a lot of Tom Jones! Glad they included Donovan. There was an article in the Waitrose weekly paper about the programme, which said that the mother had been quite ill at one point from eating a lot of bread. She doesn't usually eat white flour, apparently, and in the earlier...

Chloroform!! Crikey. I remember Famel cough syrup, which was horribly sweet. And speaking of coughs, can you still buy cough candy?

It really doesn't look very nice, does it?

Sweet tobacco...I think so. Weren't the packets yellow? You can still buy it from the retro sweets places online, I think.

I suppose the roots were what William and his gang used to make licquorice water. I also like the soft kind, Viv. Tincture of licquorice is said to be good if you have low blood pressure, according to herbalists.

I've seen marzipan fruits in Waitrose, Viv. I hated Buttered Brazils myself. Banana split toffees were great, Elmdon Boy. There were also plain ones that had a white whirl...I don't know what they were called.

I had a very "hands on" father, which is odd because he hadn't known his own. He had a couple of uncles who were role models, I think, and a grandfather. One of the uncles taught him to play the piano.

I can sort of remember these as being quite nice. Today I saw licquorice root in Holland and Barrett, several sticks in a bag for 99p. (Didn't buy any).

We had one in the 1960s.

It didn't look very nice! I suppose they were put up in the nearest Travel Lodge or equivalent.

The bit where the mother said that the stuff cooked in a jar was like dog food was quite funny! I'm sure I've seen the bacon roll recipe somewhere. Do you think they actually spend nights in the house (we haven't seen upstairs), and can't have baths and what have you?

I like the idea of a Festival of Fitness!

I'm sure I read somewhere that Tolkien used the word miskin, in real life as a child, I mean.

There's a book called Old Bordesley Green by John Beck, which might have a photo. You've probably thought of that already!

That was our doctor's surgery, and though I can remember the inside clearly, I can't visualise the outside or surroundings. I hope someone can find a photo - I'm not on FB either.

Is this the surgery of Dr Jones? I have a feeling it was set back from the road, and it was a big house, but I have no very clear memory of the outside of it.

I've been reading his autobiography, in which he writes about coming to work at the university in the early 1960s (he's a Londoner). It's odd to think that this happened when I was at junior school, as he's one of my favourite novelists. We used to refer to places like Edgbaston as "the other...