• Welcome to this forum . We are a worldwide group with a common interest in Birmingham and its history. While here, please follow a few simple rules. We ask that you respect other members, thank those who have helped you and please keep your contributions on-topic with the thread.

    We do hope you enjoy your visit. BHF Admin Team

Search results

  1. Johnfromstaffs

    Good music to listen to on U Tube

    Never could stand Frank, though. Don’t know why, he just didn’t float my boat at all. Now this -
  2. Johnfromstaffs

    Good music to listen to on U Tube

    BTW, rip Geoffrey Palmer, who played the sort of blokes who could either create or cure a cock-up on the catering front.
  3. Johnfromstaffs

    Good music to listen to on U Tube

    Thank you for that, Maurice. I’m basically a 5/16 Whitworth sort of a bloke, so the ways of the artist are a bit beyond my understanding, which doesn’t stop me from liking the music they play. We haven’t got to my favourite Waller track, but I’ll leave it a bit, trying not to miss the milkman in...
  4. Johnfromstaffs

    Good music to listen to on U Tube

    An edition from the thirties of a song from this genre of American music. This is not my favourite recording, if you like the tune there are better versions, but you do get to see the man! Thomas “Fats” Waller - Your feet’s too big. I don’t know much about him except to have listened to his...
  5. Johnfromstaffs

    Vehicle Registration Numbers

    I don't know, the real “Opelisation” of the Vauxhall range was somewhat later, starting with the HA Viva of 1963 and the FD Victor of 1967. Both firms were part of GM, at least the FB Victor didn’t look like a shrunken Chevrolet.
  6. Johnfromstaffs

    Vehicle Registration Numbers

    I decided that since I now pay more in annual road tax than I earned in my first year at work, I was jolly well going to keep my plate with my initials on it, so there!
  7. Johnfromstaffs

    Vehicle Registration Numbers

    The F went through two iterations following the original 1957 introduction, I had one of those original ones, 3908E, supplied new, but not to me, by Attwoods of Stafford. There was a mini redesign, tidying it up a bit, and getting rid of the swage in the back doors and the exhaust through the...
  8. Johnfromstaffs

    Vehicle Registration Numbers

    It is not an FB, it is a Model F Series 2. This is an FB: - https://www.carsaddiction.com/en/specs/vauxhall/61-vauxhall-victor-fb
  9. Johnfromstaffs

    Cigarette smoking

    https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/cigarette-packet-sullivan-powell-275509143
  10. Johnfromstaffs

    Cigarette smoking

    https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot/smoke-craven-a-107-c-ead4835aa1 !!! My maternal gran used to smoke these. About three a week. Some of their advertising refers to cork tips, but you would need lungs like a carthorse to take a good drag, I think. I used to smoke Sullivan Powell Special...
  11. Johnfromstaffs

    Smethwick

    My great uncle, and my uncle were both at the carriage works. I remember my great uncle as reasonably well off, in Victoria Road, but his wife, who was my gran’s sister, was stricken with arthritis, their daughter died shortly after the birth of her daughter and unc had to look after them all...
  12. Johnfromstaffs

    Jazz players

    The Jack Wilson CD: -
  13. Johnfromstaffs

    Jazz players

    Thanks again. I have a CD, he seems to have been a very accomplished pianist, if a bit flowery for my taste, there’s a track where he plays “Mighty lak a Rose” very old fashioned. It’s a bit late for me. More tomorrow. Cheers
  14. Johnfromstaffs

    Jazz players

    Maurice, have you come across this man? https://www.theguardian.com/news/2006/feb/27/guardianobituaries.artsobituaries He seems to have been forgotten, whereas some of his contemporaries are well recalled.
  15. Johnfromstaffs

    Jazz players

    The admission costs were on the ad, 1/6d (7.5 new pence) for adults and 10d (4 new pence) for kids. I have clear memories of Dad moaning when petrol got to cost 5/- (25 new pence) per gallon, and a small crusty loaf was the equivalent of about 2p. My first wage was £416 per annum but that was...
  16. Johnfromstaffs

    Jazz players

    Great stuff, thanks! Sorry to say this, but my bro and I were six years old. Also, I see that admission for the four of us cost Dad all of 4/8d! No doubt my Mum would have made some butties, and with a couple of gallons of petrol for the Citroën Traction Avant a day out for four cost about £1/0/0d.
  17. Johnfromstaffs

    Jazz players

    Thanks, Maurice. Don’t waste your time ploughing through archives, the thought that it could have happened is good enough.
  18. Johnfromstaffs

    Jazz players

    Perhaps you can help me with what may, or may not be an accurate memory. Early in the 1950s at an exhibition (Ideal Home?) at the old Bingley Hall, I think I recall my parents taking me and my twin bro to see the Joe Loss band, which was playing as an add-on to the show. Does that seem possible...
  19. Johnfromstaffs

    Jazz players

    Back in the days of the annual Police ball, Humph visited the Top of the World in Stafford and provided us punters with a memorable evening, his band making the resident outfit sound a bit ordinary. (Not difficult though.) The band did a concert at Keele, not long before Humph’s passing. He...
  20. Johnfromstaffs

    Jazz players

    Don’t think much of Vaughn Monroe as a vocalist! The CD is dated 1997, I can’t remember where I bought it, but it was probably in the HMV shop in a place called Oxford Street, in a small town down south somewhere.
Back
Top