As mentioned in the book there really was a washing powder called Omo back in the early 1960s. Us boys had a lot of fun calling each other boxes of detergent even if we didn’t know what it was we were actually laughing about.
I guess you had to be there.
Here are a couple of group family photos from round about 1960 – 61. The recently discovered black and white image shows us as a family of seven standing outside a building housed in the grounds of the hostel in West Malling. On the back someone had written the word ‘Homeless’. As you might also note from both photos all of my younger siblings suffered from an untreatable ailment that rendered the image of their heads impossible to capture on standard camera film stock. I on the other hand managed to maintain the ability when the occasion arose to project both a handsome toothy grin as well as a suitably miserable look at the thought of having nowhere to live.
The most memorable film of the year and one that will be seared into my consciousness forever was “The Alamo”, a big roadshow epic showing at the Odeon in Gillingham starring John Wayne as Davy Crockett. It took me a long time to get over the fact that John Wayne could actually die, even if it was only for a film. Great poster as well. In fact I think it was the very first one I ever bought. It has pride of place alongside my other JW posters including “The Searchers”, “Rio Bravo”, “Stagecoach”, “The Quiet Man” and “The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance”. Not that I’m obsessed or anything.
My dad took me to the Regent ABC in Chatham to see “A Thunder of Drums” and “The Colossus of Rhodes”, one of a number of instances in which the second film was better than the main feature. I think it was also the first time I’d seen an Italian peplum movie, a short-lived genre that would be superseded in the mid-1960s by spaghetti Westerns. Interesting to note that “Colossus” was directed by Sergio Leone who of course made his name with the Dollar trilogy. And by the way I don’t care what anyone thinks – as a kid I loved those gladiator movies. There. I’ve said it. I’m out and I’m proud.
I also managed to catch “Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea” at the Ritz in Chatham, the movie that went on to spawn the later TV series. The scientific basis of the film that the Van Allen belt surrounding the Earth can catch fire is of course total bollocks. On the other hand when did Hollywood ever let authenticity get in the way of good old-fashioned entertainment?
1961 was also the year I discovered how much I hated “Coronation Street”. The foster parents I was lodged with at the time kindly let me stay up to watch “Rawhide” each week (now that was a good television show) but unfortunately it was preceded by half an hour of the hugely popular but to me deeply miserable saga of folk up North. Give me “Crossroads” any day of the week.
Steve Mayhew 