Weekly Sparkle

The Weekly Sparkle

The Reminiscence and Activities Newspaper

TODAY IN HISTORY

14th November is the birthday of HRH Prince Charles. He was born in 1948, in Buckingham Palace. He was the first child of Princess Elizabeth and Prince Philip. He was also the first grandchild for King George VIth and Queen Elizabeth. Prince Charles attended Hill House School in West London. The Headmaster advised his parents to let Charles play football, because the boys at Hill House were never deferential to other players on the field! Later he went to his father’s old school, Gordounstoun, in Scotland.

TM

14th - 20th November 2011

TODAY IN HISTORY

On 15th November 1956, Elvis Presley’s first film, Love Me Tender, was premiered in New York. The film starred Richard Egan and Debra Paget. Because it was Elvis’s first film, it was the only time in his acting career that he did not get top billing. The film, in black and white, was originally going to be called The Reno Brothers. But when advance sales of Elvis Presley’s single, Love Me Tender passed the million mark, the title was changed. As well as the title song, Elvis sang three others in the film.

TODAY IN HISTORY

On 16th November 1960, Clark Gable died, aged 59. He was a handsome and successful American actor. He was probably best known for his role as Rhett Butler in Gone With The Wind, but he made many other films too. He had a string of leading ladies. His favourite actress to work with was Joan Crawford. He also made 7 films opposite Myrna Loy, 6 with Jean Harlow and several with Lana Turner and Norma Shearer. He had quite a few wives too! The first was his manager, Josephine Dillon, 17 years older than he was.

TODAY IN HISTORY

On 17th November 1913, Kaiser Wilhelm of Germany banned officers in the armed forces from dancing the Tango while in uniform! It was fashionable in Germany at that time, to hold elegant ‘Tango Tea Parties’ and no doubt handsome young officers in uniform were much in demand. But the tango was considered rather disreputable. The Pope declared that it was “an outrageous heathen dance which is an assassination of family and social life”. Maybe a year later, the start of The Great War gave Kaiser Wilhelm something different to worry about!

TODAY IN HISTORY

On 18th November 1910, 119 people were arrested when Suffragettes, campaigning for votes for women, attacked the House of Commons. The 18th was a Friday that year and it was referred to afterwards as Black Friday.

On 19th November 1925, the British Parliament voted that there should be a four-month prison sentence for people found guilty of drunken driving. In the early days of motoring, there were so few vehicles on the road, and cars travelled so slowly, that few accidents caused major damage. This changed as more people took to the road.

It was a public relations disaster for the government because the Press took the side of the Suffragettes. Pictures appeared in the newspapers of police assaulting unarmed female protesters. The police and Government were heavily criticised. Two women died as a result of police violence.

In 1925, it became an offence to be found drunk in charge of any mechanically propelled vehicle on the public highway. As well as four months in prison, people could be fined up to £50.

TODAY IN HISTORY

THE WAY WE WERE

On 20th November, 1947, Princess Elizabeth married Prince Philip of Greece and Denmark. On the morning of her wedding, as Princess Elizabeth was getting dressed, her tiara snapped. Fortunately, the court jeweller was standing by. He was given a police escort to his work room to carry out an emergency repair. He managed to fix it in time for the ceremony in Westminster Abbey.

They say that you can tell how old someone is by their first name. I wonder if that’s true? Certainly there weren’t any Waynes or Kylies in my class at school, but there were a lot of Janes and Margarets. My mother’s generation - her friends, and my aunts - were Joyce, Phyllis, Doris and Beryl.

Princess Elizabeth needed ration coupons for her wedding dress, designed by Norman Hartnell.

My sister and I had our grandmothers’ names as our middle names. Sometimes when people had exotic first names it was from a character in a novel or a film star.

THE WAY WE WERE

If I wrote about ‘Bangers and Mash’ or ‘Pigs in Blankets’ or ‘Hot Dogs’ or ‘Toad in the Hole’, what would you all think of? Sausages! My Stan and the girls all liked them a lot, so they featured on the menu quite often. We had a very good local butcher who used to make his own and they were delicious. It was a matter of pride with him that they were meaty and juicy with a really good flavour. On Saturdays we had sausages and bacon for breakfast. I swear it was the sizzling and smell of the sausages cooking that got the girls out of bed when they were sleepy teenagers.

THE WAY WE WERE

There’s something very appealing, don’t you think, about highland cows? I had never seen any until the first time we went on holiday to Scotland. I had only ever seen the black and white Friesians that were in the fields near where we lived. Even the caramel coloured Jersey cows were something of a rarity. Highland cattle must need their long warm coats in the harsh winters. But they are gentle inquisitive creatures, not nearly as wild as they look. My Stan took lots of photos of them on that holiday. It brought back happy memories looking at them again.

DO YOU REMEMBER?

I love playing Monopoly now. The idea of getting huge amounts of money from property appeals to me. It was not always the case though. As a lad I used to play with Dad. Occasionally Ma and Susie would join in. There was one consistent feature about these games – I always LOST. When I moaned I was told that I was a ‘bad loser’. That didn’t help – in fact it made me feel even worse. One day I thought I was going to win. Then I landed on Dad’s properties in Oxford Street and Mayfair and lost again. I threw a tantrum, sent the board flying and stalked out. Dad gave me a sore backside for my troubles.

DO YOU REMEMBER?

Denis Compton was an outstanding cricketer and a pretty good footballer as well. However, for many people his most famous role was promoting Brylcreem – a hair dressing for men. Denis was one of the first sportsmen in Britain to link his name to a commercial product. His image was everywhere and the sales graph for Brylcreem went up as more young men – and older ones too – greased their hair and slicked it back. It made them distinctive and so different from the ‘short back and sides’ and ‘mop head’ styles that had become common place.

DO YOU REMEMBER?

OVER TO YOU

Dear Mary and Jimmy ‘Is Frank Tyson the fastest bowler on this earth?’ was a question posed by the sportswriters both here and in Australia as he tore through the Aussie batting in the MCC tour of 1954-5. In the second test at Sydney he took 10 wickets in the match. In the second innings of the next test at Melbourne he took 7 for 27 in a spell that frightened the life out of the Aussies. Many said there could not have been many faster spells in cricket history. The press said his bowling was as fast as a typhoon. Forever after he was ‘Typhoon’ Tyson – and definitely a hero to me.

I wonder how many of the Sparkles’ readers belonged to societies or clubs when they were younger? I belonged to a lovely group we called the Friday Friends, who had met when our children were little. I was a member of an Amateur Dramatics society too. I also enjoyed belonging to the Women’s Institute. It was a good mixture of entertainment, challenges, learning something new, and friendships. Living here at Hollybush House is a bit like a good social club too!. Best wishes from Avril

OVER TO YOU

FILM ICONS QUIZ Identify the film stars shown below. 1. She enjoyed a Roman Holiday in 1953

nndb.com

cdni.condenast.co.uk

We used to play with the heavy polished granite stones, called ‘rocks’ that slid across the ice towards the circular target called the ‘house’. We weren’t experts but we enjoyed it nonetheless. It is sometimes called ‘the roaring game’ because of the noise the rocks make as they slide on the ice. best wishes, Edna

3. She was married eight times.

4. He was twice married to the one above.

ANSWERS 1. Audrey Hepburn 2. James Dean 3. Liz Taylor 4. Richard Burton

I am interested to see whether there will be any TV coverage of the sport of ‘Curling’ this winter. It is thought to have originated in Mediaeval times in Scotland.

doctormacro.com

Dear Mary and Jimmy

2. He was a Rebel Without a Cause in 1955.

THE WEATHERMAN QUIZ What do you know about the weather? 1. What kind of clouds are these? (a) Cumulus (b) Columbus (c) Cucumber 2. This picture was taken from Space, but what is it? (a) A Flying Saucer (b) A volcano (c) A hurricane 3. How are hurricanes identified? (a) Numbers (b) Letters (c) People’s names 4. What is the popular name for tornadoes? (a) Twister (b) Corkscrew (c) Winder

GENERAL KNOWLEDGE QUIZ 1. What kind of plant is maidenhair? (a) a mushroom (b) a flower (c) a fern 2. What is meant by the phrase Bona fide? (a) Genuine (b) Buyer (c) Legally binding 3. What kind of creature is a gecko? (a) Bird (b) Rodent (c) Lizard 4. Which British city has a railway station called Temple Meads? (a) Bath (b) Bristol (c) Leicester 5. What do we call the molten rock that pours out of volcanoes? (a) Granite (b) Pumice (c) Lava 6. In a play, what is the cast? (a) The actors (b) The stage (c) The words

ANSWERS 1. A fern 3. Lizard 5. Lava

2. Genuine 4. Bristol 6. The actors

ANSWERS 1. Cumulus 3. Names

2. Hurricane 4. Twister

SINGALONG

FOGGY SINGALONG I was a stranger in the city Out of town were the ---- I knew I had that feeling of self-pity What to do? What to do? What to do? The ---- was decidedly blue But as I walked through the foggy streets ---It turned out to be the luckiest day I've known A foggy day in London Town Had me ---- and had me down I viewed the morning with alarm The British Museum had lost its ---How long, I wondered, could this thing last? But the ---- of miracles hadn't passed, For, suddenly, I saw you ---And through foggy London Town The ---- was shining everywhere.

There are many many crazy things That will keep me loving ---And with your permission May I list a ---The way you wear your ---The way you sip your ---The memory of all that No they can't take that away from ---We may never ---- again, On that bumpy road to ---Still I'll always, always ---- the memory of The way you hold your knife The ---- we danced till three The way you changed my life No they can't take that away from me.

ANSWERS

ANSWERS 1. you 4. tea 7. love

2. few 5. me 8. keep

3. hat 6. meet 9. way

1. people 4.low 7. there

2. outlook 3. alone 5. charm 6. age 8. sun

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