Blog alert - today's blog is likely to go all over the place so if you are one of those logical people who like everything in an orderly fashion, you might want to bale out now.
Who remembers Romper Room?
For those of you who haven't got an idea what I am going on about - Romper Room was a Television programme for very young children. A kind of nursery school on television. I seem to remember that it came on around 4.30 pm or so and consisted of the "teacher" Miss Rosalyn (in the Anglia region) introducing fun and games for the very young with her youngsters sometimes misbehaving as youngsters are prone to do. Youngsters also tend to ask to go to the toilet a lot.
It was only when I Googled it that I found out that Romper Room started in America and was imported into the UK amongst many other countries. Each country and region was allowed to use its own studios and presenters rather than the programme being syndicated.
The thing I remember about Romper Room in the Anglia region is the ending where Miss Rosalyn used the immortal rhyme which went something like.
Romper Bomper Stomper Boo
Tell me, tell me, tell me do
Magic Mirror tell me today
Have all my friends had fun at play.
Now the magic mirror turned from a mirror to a contraption with no mirror. Wow magic we all thought after all it was a magic mirror. We believed this until the day when Miss Rosalyn was chastised by a youngster for replacing one mirror and taking another without any glass in it out of a drawer while some kind of psychedelic pattern played on the screen. How could this be? It was a magic mirror with not too much magic about it.
Anyway whilst holding up the magic mirror with no glass, Miss Rosalyn magically saw her friends through the TV screen. "I can see Stephanie and I see Patrick and I can see Maurice and I can see Peter". Wowheee she saw me. It made my day. Problem is once you had been seen it was an awful long time before you could be seen again and the names became more and more outrageous. I can see Zebedee and I can see Ashrack. You get the idea. Mind you there probably was only one Zebedee watching - so perhaps it truly was a magic mirror.
Now I have an admission to make. I never thought it was a real magic mirror because in Norfolk it ran from 1964 until 1976. In 1964 I was 12 years old and in 1976 I was 24 - far too old to believe in magic mirrors. Miss Rosalyn is now well into her 70s. She was actually Rosalyn Thompson from Attlebridge in Norfolk and she had been a nursery nurse at the Norfolk and Norwich Hospital when she got the job. One of the other applicants was Esther Rantzen. I also remember Mr Music as in "Please Mr Music Will You Play." He was Peter Fenn who played the organ whilst sporting a goofy smile. He also played for the game show "Sale of the Century" which was hosted by Nicholas Parsons and always started with the words "From Norwich It's the Quiz of the Week." Simon Cowell appeared on this as a contestant which should have been enough to have it banned.
Romper Room also had the Do Bees and the Don't Bees. The Do Bees told us how to behave and the Don't Bees told us how not to behave - as in do bee a philanthropist, don't bee a mass murderer (although it was much simpler than that of course). Difficult to think that those kids sitting cross legged on the floor while Miss Rosalyn read a story are now probably in their sixties.
It got me thinking about the times as a youngster when I was unashamedly lied to. The magic mirror was a lie as was chicken gravy. Let me explain. I have never been a fan of chicken. Wasn't then and am not now. I disliked chicken gravy as well. My parents and my grandmother knew this, so they tried to con me by telling me that the gravy was beef gravy and not chicken. I never said anything but I soon rumbled them as it looked like chicken gravy, it tasted like chicken gravy and by golly it was chicken gravy. I knew this because my grandmother regularly gave me a cup of what she referred to as beef tea. This tasted a bit like Bovril and was real beef gravy and not chicken gravy masquerading as beef gravy.
On another occasion when I was having a little trouble with the old waterworks (probably a urinary infection) I was told I was going for a walk and was taken to the doctors. I have no idea why they didn't tell me I was going to the doctors. That has always puzzled me to this day.
The thought of beef tea reminds me of Saturdays as a young journalist going to report on Chesterfield Football Club. The facilities for reporters were pretty poor. At half-time they put out Bovril for us on a shelf. We took it in turns to pick this up. If a passing fan fancied a free cup of Bovril they would just take it from the shelf. It was very different many years later when I was reporting on Norwich City for the News of the World. We had a dedicated Press Room where beer and whisky was served at the end of games. I am certain this issuing of alcohol has stopped but it was certainly better than the Bovril run.
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A few blogs ago I mentioned the Billy Cotton Band Show. Today on a visit to Norwich I bought a postcard of a bill from Norwich Hippodrome. I have written about this palatial and wonderful building before. It's now a car park (they paved paradise and put up a parking lot). Well on Monday September 14th, Billy Cotton and his band played the Hippodrome. Unfortunately it doesn't give the year. I know that the Hippodrome began its life as the Norwich Grand Opera House in 1903, although it never hosted operas. It closed in 1960. Billy Cotton's Band Show ran from the 1930s until the 1960s so this could have been anytime between those dates.
It was a full line-up of acts, none of which mean anything to me, so I took to the Internet to see what I could find.
Low and Webster were apparently a comedy duo.
The Parisiennes were dancers
Red Fred (interesting name) - no idea who these were
Jane Shore and Her Models - again no idea
Peter Raynor - a ventriloquist.
Incidentally Billy Cotton and His band featured Alan Breeze, Doreen Stephens and Clem Bernard.
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Just a few photos of Wymondham to go with today's blog. A slightly different view of the Abbey taken in the sunshine yesterday.