Monthly Archives: November 2025

Films.

Until I was 13 we lived in a tiny village. Trips to the cinema were occasional, very exciting treats. These happened when we were away on holiday and also in our nearby small town, five miles away, in a very small independent cinema in a converted chapel. The man who ran it used to get the big films of the time – a year or two after they’d been shown in the big towns. We didn’t mind waiting! Occasionally, when a really good family film came to our town we’d get in the car as a family and go and see it. I remember us going to see Swiss Family Robinson and the cinema was absolutely packed with people standing and sitting on windowsills. It was the same when Tom Jones arrived.

When I was a teenager, and we’d moved to the town, I would go weekly to the cinema with my friends. We didn’t mind what we saw! The most popular, of course, were the ones we’d read all about in magazines like the Bond films, Georgy Girl, Alfie and Ben Hur.

Cinemas in those days had just one screen, although many town (not ours!) had more than one cinema. There was always an A film, the one you went to see, plus a B film which was shown first. In the intermission the ice cream vendors walked down the aisles with their trays of drinks, tubs and choc ices. There were adverts played in the intermission. In my small home town the ads were stills promoting local businesses, particularly the coach company the cinema proprietor and projectionist drove for in the daytime. People were allowed to smoke in cinemas, and a huge proportion of the population smoked. 

Apparently, I was taken to see this when I was about two years old. I don’t remember the occasion!
My grandmother took me to see this in Cardiff when I was staying with her one summer. It’s set and filmed in Cardiff which is probably why she was keen to see it. I see now that it was a crime film so I was probably far too young to understand it.
Our little cinema was crammed for the showing of this in around 1964, a year or so after release.

For both Zulu and The Sound of Music, we took a day trip to Cardiff to see them when they were still new.

TV

Once we had television, in the early 60s, we could watch old films at home. In black and white and on a very small screen!

Who could have imagined that by the 1980’s most of us would have VHS recorders and would be renting videos? Or that we would race on from there through DVDs to streaming? Even more so, it would have been impossible back then to imagine being able to watch films and TV on pocket-sized gadgets. These gadgets are known to us as phones but they bear no resemblance whatsoever to the early phone of the 1950s, either in appearance or capabilities.

Images courtesy of Google Images. Facts double-checked through Wikipedia. I make every effort to avoid infringing copyright. However, if anyone objects to any of the content in my posts get in touch directly with me and it will be removed.

Words and phrases

Imagine that a time traveller popped up from the 50’s and 60’s who had somehow missed the decades between then and now. Rip Van Winkle – remember that story? Apart from the very obvious changes in buildings, shops, technology, instant communication etc etc, I think there are many words and phrases which would baffle them in conversation. Here is a very small selection.

Family

When I was starting my family in the early eighties, nobody had events called baby showers. I’m not sure when the idea first appeared here in Britain but it’s certainly massive now. When my children had a friend come to play or, when a bit older, had a friend come to stay the night, these were not called play-dates and sleepovers.

Music

Back in the 50’s and 60’s we had classical, jazz, blues, music from films and shows and rock and roll. In the early 60’s we saw the emergence of pop. Now there is a plethora of musical genres. Garage, hip hop, grime, dub, Indie … to name just a few!

Miscellaneous

The world of famous people has changed enormously, largely due to the new ease of communication. Some words which would bewilder a time traveller from the 50’s and 60’s are fashionista, paparazzi, celeb.

In the 1950s we had newspapers and some people had televisions. Now we have podcasts, sound bites, boxed sets, binge watching,

Back when I was a child ‘environment’ was a word we rarely heard and we never used expressions like ‘saving the planet’ or ‘good for the environment’, plant-based, eco friendly, flexitarian etc.

And finally . . .

Mindfulness, exfoliate, click and collect, chip and pin, glamping, fatbergs. And many, many more.

Note. This is my own work, written from my own memories and opinions. Credit to Wikipedia, Google, Google Images used for fact-checking. I make every effort to avoid infringing copyright. However, if anyone objects to my use of any particular image, please contact me and it will be removed.