[2007]
THE1950s
Outside of school, which dominated my life, the 1950s were a mosaic of many different events and impressions – at a time when the UK was emerging from the restrictions resulting from the war and the subsequent struggle to repay the loans needed to fund it. It was a decade which finally fashioned the envelope of my life to come.
0066 Family
(0066T*) – this is a description of family life at the time; and
especially of the family festival of Christmas, which was then still an occasion
for the extended family to come together.
0095 Pat & Margaret
(0095T*) – this describes my teenage, unfulfilled,
loves; which set the frustrating pattern for the rest of my life!
Although school dominated my life, I did have time to indulge in a few other pastimes:
9193 Stamps, Cards, Photography, Marquetry – these were my declared hobbies,
much as they were – in those slower moving times - for many of my middle-class
contemporaries.
9162 – Cars and HiFi/Music – and here, again, my newer passions were much the
same as my peers
9143 – Amateur Dramatics
(9143T*) – although I was exposed to the family’s
involvement in these, I was never allowed to participate in them
And, crucially (in view of my later love of economics and business), I was exposed to some aspects of the wider – commercial – world:
0155 Chinchillas and My Cat
(0155T*) – including a failed money-making scheme for the family.
0113 G&M Chemicals – and yet another failed business venture, which was
however very influential in terms of my later ambitions.
Eventually I even went out to work, albeit only in vac jobs:
0072 Lever's Laboratory – a dead-end job, thankfully just for the school
holidays.
0054 Butlin's 1
(0054T*) – an important- but very different – experience; a
rite of passage.
0067 Butlins 2 – including learning new skills as a barman.
0026 Butlins 3 (0026
T*) – and early sales lessons as a bar waiter.
Then, of course, there were my friends:
0074 - Norman Killey – with his sister!
0087 Billy Wilcox – with his experiments and filming.
And, until the end of the 1950s, I was quite clear about what I was going to do with my life. I was going to be a scientist, a physicist, an astrophysicist.
0079 Scientist – my future career mapped out.
0137 Rockets – along with films, which were contrasting interests in the Sixth
Form.
0170 RAE - the Royal Aircraft Establishment, Farnborough, as my first (gap
year) full time job.
0154 Government Research – working on computer circuits at the RAE.
0102 The Empire Test Pilots School – also at Farnborough
0140 Home Sickness – at the RAE.
0083 Local Schools – and, as a comment on a crucial aspect of society at the time, my view of secondary modern schools – which were the dustbins to which most of my contemporaries were consigned. Fortunately I did not suffer this fate, but those who hanker after selective schooling should remember that up to 90% of children did suffer this fate!
* Text only versions
hits