Its time for a confession

All is not as it seems in the 1940 postal district; indeed under the surface of our retro paradise, hidden away is a dark secret.

In our kitchen, under the sink, hidden by a yellow gingham curtain is a dishwasher. There I have said it, a dishwasher.

What’s more it does not even look like one of those lovely look-a-like 1950s styled dish washers.  It is a big white metal box with modern world written in a big flashing neon light.

To keep our allusion it is hidden behind a curtain, but it died a few weeks ago. I did think great now I can go and buy one of those 1950s styles dish washers, but that is not really living by the ethics of our ‘make do and mend’ retro lifestyle.

So a quick search of the net says the problem could be a stuck lever thingy, solution to disconnect, pull the unit into the middle of the floor, turn the dishwasher upside down, let ½ a gallon of really yuck water pour onto the kitchen floor, turn the right way up and finally re connect.

Sounds simple, but has taken about 1 ½ hours, partly because I had a little helper, who kept wanting to lick the rancid water, (weird child). But guess what? It the dishwasher now works.

I feel really chuffed, that is the second white appliance I have managed to fix in one year, saving pennies and mother earth says thanks for not chucking that into her.

Come Christmas entertaining we will have a robot doing our dishes. I guess to keep the 40s allusion and keep people off the track of our hidden secret we could call give the dishwasher a name. How about calling the dishwasher the same name as the cleaning lady in “This happy breed”?  Mind you cannot remember her name, have to get the DVD out, No, we don’t have a DVD player honest.  I mean I have go to the picture palace and watch the film.

Till next time

Harry

The DVD is called 'Public Information Films of the British Home Front' and is available from 23rd November 2009.

The DVD is what it says, it is a series of short films made by the 1940s British Government. These films where shown in the cinemas before the main feature and are a true asset for the vintage lifestyler.

I do like these old films. Even if they tell me what scary things are going to happen to me if I ever catch diphtheria. For the vintage buff, they are a spot on research aid. While there are countless pictures of Betty Gable wearing the stunning Hollywood fashions, hardly any exist of fashions for the working lady. Let’s face it; doing daily chores is far more common than attending retro dances, displaying our prized vintage frocks.

This makes these films ‘first rate’ to help us work out what to wear on a daily basis. They only feature the wartime British public doing everyday tasks.

We are often asked do we wear vintage every day. I won't lie and say I never wear jogging bottoms, because, quite frankly, we do wear them. There is a reason, who is going to cut the grass and tend to the garden in a vintage CC41 Women’s Land Army overall? But thanks to this DVD I now know what our vintage forebears wore while scrubbing the loo.  

It really is not the DVD to curl up on the sofa to watch from start to finish unless you really are that bored. But as long as you don’t get diphtheria between now and your next trip to the 21^st century high street, do consider making a purchase. It will help the 1940s lifestyler in their research.

After all I learnt how to treat our colds, who said the British public are not to be sneezed at?

Till next time

Harry & Edna

What ho gang

The rather nice people at classic digital asked Edna and I to have a ganger at this new DVD release ‘You Must Remember This’.

So with a fresh pot of tea and a slice of Betty’s lemon cake we sat down to what is describe as “a musical journey through wartime Britain”.

We were a little worried when we heard the Yamaha home organ music in the starting titles, but once you are over the intro things settle down to a visual version of the BBC home programme.

The line up in good ranging from the dance bands to music halls turns, clips from the popular films of the period and ENSA tours, however it was a shame the DVD does not contain clips that feature the whole length of the songs, but I suspect that is due to the facts these clips are lifted from feature films.

Anyway, as the season is over and you fancy a change from the X factor, click on the link below

www.digitalclassics.co.uk

Featuring songs by:
Vera Lynn
Gracie Fields
The Cavendish Three
Noel Coward
Max Miller
Anne Shelton
Arthur Askey
George Formby
Sam Browne
The Andrews Sisters
& Many more...

 

What ho chums

As it had been a while since my last blog I thought I would tell you about a BBC TV series we are featured in called  “The week we went to war” BBC1 day time from 9:15 ~ 10:00 Monday 7^th September.

The feature was filmed as part of BBC One Daytime special programmes made to mark the 70th anniversary of the outbreak of the Second World War.

The programme is presented by Forces sweetheart Katherine Jenkins. Katherine wanted to know more about retro glamour so she sent former Sunday Sport editor Tony Livesey to meet ‘Harry & Edna’.

It is not every day the Ex Sunday Sport editor pops round for tea but he was a jolly polite chap and hopefully after his visit he is now dressing with a bit more style.

Other news, although the majority of our work is WW2 home front we are pleased how popular our WW1/Edwardian impression has become.

Plus we received an excellent response to Victory in the Garden impression at this year’s English Heritage’s Festival of History.

So if you have not popped into our website please do drop by as we are always updating it and features many of our 20^th Century social history impressions

http://www.homefrontfriends.org.uk

Finally for those of you into social networking we are also on Facebook and Twitter.

Toodle Pip

Harry

I saw this TV programme the other day and was amazed by this guy. That is commitment. Sell your house and give it away. Wow

What CC41 fans

Here is something you see rarely.

We have a CC41 dressing table with a lovely mirror and a large CC41 wardrobe which we know longer need.

We are terrified that they will be broken up for firewood as they are a wonderful piece of our history. Thus we are offering them for free yes FREE to a fellow appreciator of CC41 furniture.  To keep them in the family so to speak.

Contact me if interested.

For those of you not sure what CC41 is, pull up a chair and I’ll tell you,

During the war the production of house hold items including furniture was controlled by the government. All furniture produced during the war had the CC41 mark stamped on it.

Remember going free a wartime wardrobe and dressing table. Don't you think that would be perfect in your bedroom?

Last weekend the family and I were at the Wensleydale heritage railway in North Yorkshire. A wonderful event in Gods own county although it was a rather moist weekend.

This weekend we will be performing at English Heritages Festival of History in Northamptonshire.

However it appears Mr Rain has also planned to join us.

It has been raining so much at our events this year I am beginning to think I am impersonating Noel Coward from the film “In which we serve”. You know, during that scene when he is on the bridge of his sinking warship, standing up right with fag in hand while the waves wash over him. (For our American chums fag in Britain means cigarette).

Festival of History is a multi period event with everything from Romans to WW2. Edna and I will be at this event, recreating a WW2 Victory Garden, so if you are fed up of being dry, do join us in a field in darkest Northants for all the root vegetables you can eat.

Till next time

Harry

Wensleydale Railway link http://www.wensleydalerailway.com/

Harry & Edna’s Victory Garden link http://www.homefrontfriends.org.uk/page11.html

Festival of History link http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/server/show/nav.9427

Today I was in London and in-between appointments with a couple of hours to kill so I popped into the London Transport Museum.

I have never been before but I do enjoy the classic London Underground trains from the 1930s. Indeed I sat in the vintage carriages for several hours.

Parties of school children would every now and then pop into the carriage I was sitting in, make a lot of noise and then depart. Then while I was sitting there quietly one little lad came up to me and touch my arm, I then realised that being dressed in my 1930s vintage suit, they were not sure if I was a mannequin or not. Still bring a smile to the child  face as they see the mannequin move was today’s successful task.

I now know what it feels like to be one of those statue artists you find in Convent Garden.

Till next time  ~ Harry

For 2 days my son has woken me up at 5:30am. However one of the advantages of being awake at a time before time indeed starts is the obscure & out of date programmes broadcast on the television.

Indeed occasionally a chap can pick up a nugget of knowledge by watching vintage programmes from the 1990s. This happened today when one of the minor channels was showing reruns of TOTP2, which included a band performing a track called “Who do you think you are”.

Back in the early Nineties in the time when local radio used to be truly local, a local radio station I would listen to while driving back from darkest Wiltshire would play this tiptop tune.

I never knew who performed it, other than one of the singers used to sing backing vocals on Captain Sensible “Happy Talk”.

So I now know who plays this tune, one of life’s mysteries solved and I am now gaining revenue on the little one who woke me at this unearthly hour by playing the track over and over again on You Tube.