General Chat

I can remember when the Rainbow was the Finsbury Park Astoria! :-D :-D

No all nighters at the Rainbow theatre Mtg? :-0 :-D

No Island, it wasnt often I went Sarf of the river.

Although I did go to The Cricketers in Stockwell.

We used to go to the Tottenham Royal. Went past there a week or so ago....all gone!

You've :-S me Belle LOL - I editted so my previous post is clearer
When Biba was at Derry and Toms the roof garden could be visited for free. Then I think 'Regines' (?) took over the upper floor as I night club and no access to the roof garden for the general public.

The Roof Gardens with flamingoes in Kensington was still there 8 years ago and at that time Richard Branson's Virgin held the lease as I went their for an awards ceremony at work. It was/is above the old Derry and Toms Building.

I remember Kensington Market - maaan. Does that mean I wasn't there?
All that patchouli oil and other wafts....... ;-)

Biba had moved to the Derry and Toms building by the time I was strutting my stuff on 'High Street Ken'. The Rainbow Room restaurant was the place to be of a weekend night and then there was the roof garden with flamingoes!

Mtg....... did you frequent the Greyhound in Fulham Palace Rd and Hammersmith Palais - rather different from the days when 'Frank came round and we went down the Palais' I think LOL

Maybe Bazaar. But how you have described it is just as I remember and at least you could see!

Names agrees with me that Biba was very dimly lit. I thought that might have just been my interpretation of the shop. Lots of hats hanging from hooks too I seem to recall.

I think the market was called either Kensington Bazaar or Kensington Market, Names, lots of brightly coloured clothes, just along from a big department store, Barkers I believe it was called.

Have not been down there for years. Although I can still remember the excitement of having my wages in my hot little hand ready to spend on clobber to go out dancing.

Mum was in the WAAF but not right through the war because I was born before the war ended. I haven’t a clue what happened to her uniform but I should think it was handed back as she could only have been in a short while - no more than four years or so.

Edit: I forgot and I don’t know how because it caused consternation when Mum died! Dad had two shells - torpedo-shaped, around eight inches high - which Mum kept after he died. When Mum died, one of my brothers took them into the police station to dispose of. I can’t imagine they were live shells though!

I don’t recall a gaberdine at all - only a greatcoat on top of our bed in the mid-1950s. :-S

I have a lovely memory from around 1954-ish of Dad taking me around a submarine which was in a nearby port.

Dad was in the army during the war. I don’t remember that he kept much of his uniform but his long socks were great at Christmas. Mum was also in the army and kept nothing. We did have Dad’s tin hat and possibly his Sam Brown, and a very blunt bayonet.

I remember going into Biba and thinking how dark it was - too dark to see anything. So I left and crossed over to what I think was an indoor market selling clothes etc.

I don’t think newsreaders and weather presenters should wear high fashion as we need to concentrate on what they are saying rather than what they are wearing. I have to admit to being distracted by Tomas sch..…. ‘s long hair on the BBC weather.

I am sure my father (RN) had to hand in his uniform, There was never any sign of it around the house after he left and it would certainly have been made use of if it was there as my parents were badly off for a while until he found work.
And, as I said like wise my OH. so maybe Sharon that is why you didn't see it on the farm. Oh and by the way both those uniforms were not square rig (bell bottoms), normal trousers and jackets and gaberdine raincoats. OH didn't have an overcoat. the number 1 suits were quite expensive material (Doeskin I think).

My brothers went to Holbrook - and wore a naval uniform at school.
I never saw any of it after they'd left.

Sharron, your post 12:53 - I have no idea why you saw none worn to work.

Bell bottoms would have been conspicuous unless someone altered the width and I don't think that the tight-fitting long-sleeved tops were permanently attached to the collars so they could have been worn as undergarments. I'm not sure that naval ratings would have a permanent blazer to wear or whether they were only dished out for march-pasts.

I remember Dad going on his reserve duty in the early-1950s, wearing a blazer but I don't recall what happened to that.

Our son was like that when he was in his teens then started work we stopped buying buying his clothes he realised he couldn't afford to be fussy.

I don't think teenagers want clothes that last now - they want new almost every week so they're probably grateful for the cheap and cheerful clothes stores.

Can't be seen in something twice can they? ;-)

Florence61, I remember in the 70s wearing yellow shiney hotpants with a turquoise jumper, post office red long line sleeveless waistcoat that had shiney gold colour buttons, blue shoes and blue handbag and thought I was the bees knees too. :-D

I still have an old Vidal Sassoon brown leather clutchbag that belonged to my grandmother. it has a serial number and did find one on google somewhere. Its not too bad condition and would have been from the 1930's.

In the 1970's, i had a clutchbag that looked like a magazine folded but cant remember the name. Sadly it went a long time ago and probably worth a few bob.

Dorothy Perkins was where i bought my first grey wool suit and a leather jacket. Thought the latter with my jeans was the bees knees!

But we bought clothes to last because money was tight. Shoes were heeled and soled several times before ditching.The likes of Primark,s £2.00 t shirts etc wouldnt last a month as cheap quality. I had a pair of navy hotpants though and thought they were really cool..lol

Florence in the hebrides

The men were allowed to send their clothes to the laundry, we females had to do our own laundry but my white dresses had to go to the laundry, that's why I had so many. They were collected once a week and returned a week later when the next lot were collected.

The shirts were awful, especially new was glad to get out of them and into my dresses. They were far too long in the body and the sleeves :-S

Worth keeping I'm sure MTG

Pat T's shirts were all thickish linen type with detachable collars that had to be sent to the laundry for cleaning, horrid things. Those were his white ones. His blue work ones were of a much lighter material. as were his tropical shirts.