That tape recorder was the size of an airline flight bag,mains powered ,it required a 3 pin socket to operate,but it was as modern as you could get then.
When I took it home,Mum thought I was wasting my money on such an expensive bit of kit,Dad looked bemused,and my sisters could'nt wait to see how it worked.We spent hours recording them, singing ditties and pieces of nursery rhymes,no could believe that they "sounded like that".Later,the lads in the square had me around to some of their houses to let their folks see the wonder of the modern age.At one of the houses,the mother had her friend in for a cup of tea and a gossip, and Norman,her son,got me to stick the microphone under the table to record the gossip.We let it record for about 5 minutes and then,when there was a break in their chatter,I played it back at full volume. They were astounded,thinking that someone else was in the room having a jangle.Me and Norman were in fits of laughter under the table,they were baffled as to what was going on, and embarassed that such juicy gossip was now on tape. I erased it and showed them how it worked.
Bernie told me that his mate ,Ricky,had a tape recorder that he had bought when he was in the States,he was what we called a "Cunard Yank".He was a steward with Cunard Line and was home that week,Bernie asked if I would like to bring my machine to Rickys',he had all the latest records from New York and would, most probably let me record some of them.This was a time when American music ruled the world,Elvis,Gene Vincent,The Everleys',Chuck Berry,Buddy Holly and all those other "rebels" were making the kind of music we kids raved about,the only trouble was we never got to hearing the records until months after they had been released in the States.Over here we had the Embassy label, which was sold in Woolworths, and they were all
covers done by unknowns .But Ricky had boxfuls of the real things. So ,yes,I wanted to meet Ricky.
Come Friday night,Bernie took me around to meet Ricky,he was a real nice bloke,dressed in american clothes,he looked the business.He let us look through the record collection,they were all long players and e.p.'s.The first I had seen in real life,we had 78's,big brittle discs that would scratch easily,and crack with the slightest pressure.This was heaven,and the music was great.
While we were there,Ricky made us a bit of supper,it was out of a can and the can had been bought in a deli in New York.That was the first time I had tasted ravioli,I was knocked out by it ,it was like eating food from another planet.This was another reason for me to go to sea,there was food out there that was waiting to be eaten....................by me!
We played around with our tape recorders,and I taped a load of his records,we also managed to create a great sound of our own;Bernie had a halfway decent voice ,so we got him to sing "Wake Up Little Susie" an Everley Brothers hit.We then played it back and got him to sing along with it,we double tracked it ,treble tracked it and ,by the time we had finished,it sounded like something by Les Paul and Mary Ford,fantastic!
There used to be a dance in the school hall in Central Avenue,when Ricky was home he would take his american discs along and the place would be packed.I went along once or twice,I was still a lousy dancer,unlike our Jess,she was a real "dancing queen".She tried to show me the basics but she never had much success.
She was a good singer too!This was a time that skiffle was at its peak,Lonnie Donegan,Nancy Whiskey and Chas McDevitt were amongst the top singers and players then and our Jess could sing just like Nancy Whiskey.
Freight Train was her favourite song and she had me tape that a time or two so that she could get it just right. She had a friend who lived in Speke,Josie Murphy,Josies' Dad,Terry ,had an electric guitar which he was expert at playing.He had been on the Carol Levis Show some years ago and now did a bit of backing for singers in pubs and clubs.Jess got me to go down to Josies' with her and record she and Terry doing "Freight Train" and one or two other numbers.They were brilliant,I'm sorry that I never kept them,but you don't realise that the future isn't endless when you are that age.
Josie had a pretty young sister,I think her name was Anne,and Josie and Jess thought it would be nice if I asked Anne out on a date,(Sisters can be a pain sometimes),so I asked Anne if she would like to go out."Where?" she asked.
My mind went blank,Where? I did'nt know."Paul Anka is coming to the Empire" our Jess said,"You'd like that ,would'nt you?" said Josie to Anne. Anne nodded silently,my first date,arranged entirely by the elder sisters of both parties.
On the bus home from the Murphys',Jess went through a list of do's and dont's".You have to buy her a box of chocolates,you don't get kissing her face off,you have to buy the cigarettes,you don't let her pay the busfares,you have to buy the drinks or ice cream ,you don't get fresh on the way home."
I don't know what Josie told her kid sister,but that night was endured ,not enjoyed,I was not really able to relax and enjoy the show lest my hands should accidently touch something they should'nt.
I think Anne was just as relieved as I was when it was all over.
My Dad asked me to go out with him one Saturday night,he had never done such a thing before,what was going on?........The tape recorder!
One of his cousins sons was getting married and Dad,and some of his brothers were invited to the reception,Dad thought it would liven things up if I took my machine along;this was in the days before Disco's.
So there I am in the Co op hall in Walton,at the front with my machine plugged in and a great big queue lined up to sing into the mike.They would sing their song and I had to rewind the tape and play it back again,with them saying"Is that Me?" every time!!People loved it,and I got quietly p====d.Nearly everyone I recorded gave me a drink.
Dad and his brothers got palatic and we had to stay at his cousins in Arnot Street,four of us in one bed,nightmare,between the snoring and the big,beery farts there was not much time for sleep.
I used that old tape machine so much that the motor burnt out within a couple of months.The shop replaced it with a little Italian machine,an Elpico Geloso,it was a cracker,I used that everywhere,making up my own radio shows,Kenny Everett ,he had nothing on BeeDee, I was years ahead of him.But mine was a fantasy existence.
At work,Mr Lewis started to let me do a bit of butchering,I was not let loose with a boning knife,I was taught to use a cleaver and small chopper.We had a lot of frozen meat and this had to be butchered in its' frozen state,this meant using the big cleaver,rather like an executioners axe.You needed a good eye and a steady hand to use that .One of you had to hold the frozen carcass whilst the other,usually a senior hand ,swung the cleaver.This was held over their head and swung in a mighty arc so that it cut clear through the carcass in with one good blow.
Joey had been on the beer one Friday night and was cutting some mutton carcasses, with Bernie holding them,he was a little bleary eyed and Bernie was just a little wary of the proceedings.Down came the cleaver,the carcass was neatly sliced,as was Bernies apron,white coat and shirt,miraculously, Bernies skin was unmarked........I think his underpants were though!
Mum and Dad were going on holiday with Betty and Chris;Jess and I were going to be trusted to have the house to ourselves!!
Unfortunately,I did'nt get to enjoy half as much as I could have done..all because of a sheeps head.
I was now allowed to skin sheeps heads and to do this I had to use a pretty lethal , long thin bladed knife,it was so sharp that it sliced easily,parting the skin from the skull,flicking the eyes from the sockets,it took just a few minutes.I was working my way through as sackful of them the Saturday that the family went on holiday,my knife was a blur,Mr Lewis was on holiday and was being relieved by one of the Kearns brothers,the black sheep of the family ,Jack.Mr Lewis would never have let me near a boning knife,but Jack was'nt so fussy,"Get stuck In on them 'eads' lad" he said passing me the knife.
I jumped at the chance,so there I was out in the shop, where all and sundry could see me,applying my skills to those old sheeps heads.I was nearly finished skinning the second one when it skidded off the butchers block.I managed to catch it before it hit the floor,I finished it and was reaching for another one when I felt something squidgy in my shoe.It was my sock,and it was soaked in blood,....mine!
When I caught hold of the head I did it with both hands,but I still had hold of the knife.The blade was so sharp that it had stabbed right through my knee without my realising it.I called John Kearney over and he looked at the cut and went for the medicine box,"You're gonna need a plaster on that Brian"he said as he took out a bottle of iodine.He had rolled up my trouser leg and I could see the hole ,gaping like an open mouth,Mr Kearns came over to have a look just as John was about to pour the iodine into the cut.He slapped Johns hand away from the cut,shouting "You'll bloody kill him with that,e's cut a vein" They put a tourniquet on and despatched me to hospital.It was a Saturday and there was only a sister on duty,she stitched me up and sent me back to work,when Jack Kearns saw me limp in the shop, he told me to get off home and put my feet up.
Come Monday morning,my knee was swollen to twice its' size,Jess had to go to work and so I limped to the hospital.The nurse took the dressing off and called a doctor,the cut was badly infected and I had to take time off work.I had to go and get fresh dressings everyday,which meant walking a hell of a way,people used to call me Chester,after a character in a T.V.western. I was off work for the whole of Mums holiday and never was able to do what teenagers would do in those circumstances.But there was a side benefit,when I got my first weeks sick pay,it was for twice the amount that I was earning.I did'nt tell Mum ,I gave her the usual amount of housekeeping and bought myself a Brownie camera with the extra money.
We had a neighbour who had a sailor for a husband,she was tall ,blonde,good looking and a terrible tease,to me that is.I was fifteen and a bit and exploding with testosterone,and she knew it.She was great friends with my Mum and often came along the landing for a chat.They would spend hours leaning on the balcony talking about this and that,whenever I had to get past them A. would say "I'm gonna 'ave 'im first Jessie",smiling wickedly as she said it,I would limp away,blushing madly.Mum chuckling at A.s joke.
One morning the gas went and Mum asked me to go along to A.s to see if she could give us a shilling for two sixpences.It was only 2 doors away and so I sped off. Our front doors had little glass panels in them so that they let light in and they were rippled so that they blurred the vision, but you could recognise someone through them.I knocked the door,it was 8.00 in the morning,her face peered through the glass and she opened the door..........she was wearing black lace underwear!!!!!!!!! I must have exploded my trousers,she gave a little shriek"Ooooh,I thought you were my feller,Brian " she giggled. I croaked "Ave you got a shilling for 2..............."
"What are you blushing for" Mum asked when I got back with the shilling.
On another occasion ,Mum told me to take a book to A.,she said she had forgotten to give it to her earlier and told her she would send me with it later on,so off I went,book in hand.The door was slightly ajar when I got there,"Anyone there " I cried,"I'm in the bedroom Brian,come in a minute",I went in ,expecting her to be making the bed or something,she was on the bed..............wearing a little pink baby doll nightie,see through!!!! I dropped the book and fled.
She haunted my fevered nights,I used to wake up like a hollow eyed wreck and Mum must have known the effect it was having on me ,she did the laundry!
So there I was ,the owner of a new Brownie,Jess wanted me to take some pin up shots for her boyfriend Graham,he was in the Army,based up in Westmoreland,she wanted him to see what he was missing.
We went over the Ironbridge to take the pictures,it was a week day and there were no kids about ,Jess wore her one piece bathing costume and I took half a reel of film of her.On the way back home,we bumped into A.,she asked what we had been doing and Jess told her that I had just done some pin up pictures for Graham."OOh " she said,"You can take some of me for my Feller" We all went up to our landing and,as I turned to go to our house,she got hold of my arm and said "You come with me while I get changed". Jess just smiled and shook her head bemusedly.I was like a lamb to the slaughter.
She went off to her bedroom to get her bathing costume,and then brought it into the living room,where she proceeded to strip off.I turned to face away from her,"Don't you want to see what I look like?",of course I bloody well did,but she was a married women and her husband and had a reputation as a hard man.I just gulped "Errm,its o.k" After much teasing ,she was ready for the camera and we decided to go down to the green to take the pictures. I left the flat just ahead of her ,and walked...... slapbang into her husband coming up the stairs ,with his seabag on his shoulders.She was standing behind me with her swimsuit on...........................now what conclusion would you draw if you were in his shoes?All I know was that he did'nt hit me ,he hit her instead.We saw her later ,with a black eye and a look on her face like the cat that had stolen the cream,it must have turned him on.
Jack Kearns was at our shop for longer than 2 weeks,I can't remember why, but we soon found out why he was known as the black sheep.Whereas his brothers were churchgoing and courteous,he was rude and uncouth,lazy and bad mannered.Pretty soon the standards started to slip and the shop developed a foul smell,he did'nt care,he let the lads home early and the cleaning went to pot.The older hands tried their best ,but he had stopped having the waste products van call and our collection of scraps started to hum.His coarseness showed one Saturday afternoon when an Encyclopaedia Britannica salesman made the mistake of calling in to see if he could get an appointment (He must have been desparate),Jack made an entertainment out of him,treating him sarcastically,he thought he was being hilarious,but we were just embarassed for the poor guy.Why did he have to walk into the lions den? Jack had hold of one of the volumes,his hands greasy and bloody,"Look at this" he was saying,"It's ****,And you *******s want to charge how much?" The man was visibly distressed and just wanted to leave,Jack made sure he did by thowing the book into the road,where it was run over by a corporation bus.I felt so sorry for that man,but it taught me a lesson,never let yourself be a victim.
Jack left not long after that and the sergeant major returned ,pretty soon the shop was back to normal.
Harry and I,as juniors ,found that we had a lot in common,we liked the same music,saw the same films and were always on the look out for the main chance with girls.
On our afternoons off we would go back to our house,I'd do a bit of lunch and we would listen to my tapes and practise our dancing, I was going to crack this if it killed me,we would take turns at being the girl.
We neither of us were very good ,but we tried.Apart from the school hops,we had'nt been to a proper dance,we were far from ready.
As part of my job,I had to deliver meat to two places everyday,I loved doing it because it got me out of the shop for a couple of hours ,and I used to get a sandwich and a cup of tea when I got there,My first call was to the fire station at Speke Rd,the cook was a nice old Irish lady,who was called Scarlet by the firemen ,because her surname was O'hara.The men used to treat me very well,I was called Butch,for obvious reasons,I forget most of their names,but I remember them as people.They were kind ,funny,and never said a bad word ,Scarlet loved them and called them"her boys".
That first year they invited me to their Christmas Ball,it was to be held in the Co op Hall in Walton Road,there would be a meal and a proper band because this was the City Fire Services annual do!They were paying for my ticket and I would be sitting at their table.I was chuffed.
I can still remember that star spangled night,the glitter balls sparkling ,the ladies looking so pretty in their posh frocks,and the music calling the dancers to the floor.My feet were tapping away as I sat and watched dance after dance,Scotty,one of the older men,got his daughter to get me up for a turn around the floor,I nearly ruined her feet, the amount of times that I stubbed her toes,but she persisted and stayed the course.The next dance was a Paul Jones,this made me a bit more confident and I relaxed to the music.I could dance!!.................or so I thoght.
The Best Years of Our Life?
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