Some Quirky Designs I Like

February 17, 2024February 17, 2024 ~ beetleypete ~ 59 Comments

Some things just appeal to me, even many designed since the year 2000. Other retro designs from the past have stayed with me since I was young.

Here are some I really like.

A late 1950s motor scooter designed for touring.

The Rocket Clock.

A 1950s film camera in bright colours with a huge flash attachment.

A dinosaur chair for children. You would need a big room!

Late 1950s ‘Space Age’ radio.

Aeroplane controls repurposed as a clock.

A modern computer keyboard designed in the Art Deco style.
(I am trying to find where to buy this. *I found it, and it costs $2,000. So I won’t be getting one!)

A Vespa Scooter table lamp.

1930s Art Deco vacuum cleaner.

VW Campervan cooker.

1930s Art Deco portable record player.

1950s England: Manchester

May 20, 2023 ~ beetleypete ~ 42 Comments

The Guardian Newspaper began its life in 1821 as The Manchester Guardian, and was based in that northern city until moving to London in 1976. Over the decades, it has acquired a vast library of photos, taken by staff photographers and also freelancers selling to the newspaper. These are some of the photos of Manchester from that archive, taken between 1954 and 1959.

(All photos copyright of The Guardian Newspaper)

The busy shopping district of Market Street.

Excited children rush into the newly-opened playground of Philips Park.

Young couples enjoying a Summer day out in Parsonage Gardens.

Children playing in an abandoned car, Moss Side.

Rush hour traffic jam, Chester Road.

A child offering an ice lolly to a goose. Pets Corner, Platt Fields.

Manchester Grammar School boys attempting to view a total eclipse of the Sun.

Preparing for Summer season at the boating lake, Platts Fields.

Children playing in an area being demolished.

This workman is enjoying a beer after the completion of The Samuel Grating Building, Quay Street.

The Perfect Housewife

April 7, 2023 ~ beetleypete ~ 78 Comments

These posed photos of housewives are from the 1940s and 1950s. They mainly featured in magazines of the time, illustrating the life of the supposedly ‘Perfect Housewife’.

Times have changed.

Bed made, dusting to do.

Delighted to be at the mixing bowl.

Washing the ‘smalls’ on the bathroom sink.

In training, how to sweep the front step.

Ironing outside when it is too hot inside.

I think her shiny new toaster has overdone the toast!

Juicing fresh oranges for the little one.

Helping mum make the pancakes.

Keeping in touch by letter during her lunch break.

Bathing baby.

Delighted to be hanging out the laundry!

Learning how mummy ices the cake.

So proud of her new tea-trolley.

Britain In The 1950s: Children

April 2, 2023 ~ beetleypete ~ 54 Comments

A selection of photos found online, all taken around Britain during the 1950s.

Being helped onto a double-decker bus.

Copying the Guardsmen outside Buckingham Palace.

Feeding the pigeons in Trafalgar Square.

Getting a good view of something at the seaside.

Anticipating firework night.

Fishing in a public park in London.

Feeding a Porcupine at the zoo.

Checking how much you weigh for a penny.

Playing in the street, unsupervised.

Boy Scouts cleaning shoes to raise money.

Reading your comic while mum was inside the baker’s.

Home-made soapbox cars racing.

Dressed in your cowboy outfit outside the local cafe.

Everyday Life in England During the 1950s-60s: The Photos Of John Gay

March 10, 2023 ~ beetleypete ~ 53 Comments

John Gay, born Hans Göhler (1909-1999), came to England in 1935. He was one of the generation of German emigres who made a contribution to British culture and academia. After a period of war service, he established himself as a leading photographer in the late 1940s and 1950s, illustrating magazines such as The Strand and Country Fair, publishing several photographic books and working with authors such as John Betjeman. His preferred themes included light and shade, animals and children, informal shots of ordinary people at work and leisure, landscapes and rural subjects, modern architecture, and London.

Morris Dancers performing in a rural town. (Probably for St. George’s Day)

Traditional fencing methods in the countryside.

A family skating on a frozen pond.

The Snowman resting on a bench.

This man is homeless, and living rough in the countryside during Winter.

A Buckinghamshire town in Winter.

A cake shop in Padstow, Cornwall. The girl is trying to decide which cake she wants.

A West Indian immigrant in a London Street Market. You can see from the face of the man that she attracted attention at that time.

Feeding the geese in a countryside village.

Urban living in North London.

A Poodle chauffeur.

Old lady walking through a rural town.

Christmas decorations in a Central London shopping street.

A Christmas street market in London.

Traffic at a standstill in North London.

Enjoying the rides at a Summer Fair in North London.

What Kids Did Before The Internet

March 8, 2023 ~ beetleypete ~ 70 Comments

Being outside was a huge part of growing up. These kids, and their parents, knew how important that was. Wherever you lived, I am sure you will identify with this, as long as you are over forty!

Leap Frog.

Reading Comics.

Swinging.

Hoses in hot weather.

Riding bicycles.

Walking to and from school with a friend.

Hide and Seek.

Playing Jacks. (Or marbles)

Climbing unsupervised at the park or playground.

Pogo Sticks in the street.

‘Oranges and Lemons’.

Hopscotch in the road or school playground.

Family Life Before The Internet: The 1950s

February 16, 2023 ~ beetleypete ~ 59 Comments

Most of these photos are from America. They show images of an idealised family life in the 1950s. Mum is a housewife, dad goes to work.

Watching TV before dad gets home.

The whole family sitting down to Sunday dinner.

Girls on a sleepover talking to boys outside through the window.

A young couple listening to music.

Helping mum with the baking.

A family that all live in the same house.

Watching TV before the children’s bed time.

Seeing hubby off to work.

Dad reading his newspaper while mum prepares dinner.

All playing with the youngest child.

Well-behaved children at dinner.

Feeding the baby while dad looks on.

1950s London In Photos: Bob Collins and Roger Mayne

February 7, 2023 ~ beetleypete ~ 35 Comments

I found some more photos by two British photographers who specialised in social history. They both took many photos in London, from the 1950s through to the 1970s. All of these are from the 1950s.

Bob Collins.

This boy is shopping for comics in Romford Market.

A lady haggling over the price of fish in Billingsgate Market.

Tourists photographing a guardsman outside Buckingham Palace.

A lady racegoer at the Epsom Derby.

Roger Mayne.

Boys setting up a lamp-post swing.

Girls using the lamp-post swing.

Playing with a skipping rope in the road.

This little girl has hurt her arm, and is running home crying.

A street scene in West London. The little girl has an ancient toy pram.

Boys playing cards on the front step of a house.

1950s teenagers hanging out on a street corner.

British Social History: Photos By Thurston Hopkins

February 6, 2023 ~ beetleypete ~ 43 Comments

In the 1950s, immigration from the West Indies was becoming a political issue. At the same time, many people all over Britain were still living in slum conditions and poverty. Thurston Hopkins travelled to some cities in Britain to record what was happening.

1955. Three West Indian men photographed on the streets of Birmingham. Racist attitudes often made it very difficult for them to find accommodation and employment.

1955. Mr Siebert Mattison from St Anne in Jamaica now lives, sleeps and cooks in the same room with his Welsh wife and their three children.

1955. Kwessi Blankson from Jamaica offers a light to workmate Jack White at The Phosphor Bronze Company where he is in charge of the oil burners.

Liverpool Slums, November 1956
A child sleeping in a slum dwelling in the backstreets of Liverpool, where 88,000 of the houses are deemed unfit for human habitation.

Liverpool Slums, November 1956
A woman washing her face over a basin in her rundown Liverpool home.

Liverpool Slums, November 1956
A woman sitting by a stove with two children at their home in the Frank Street slum clearance area of Liverpool. She is probably their grandmother.

Liverpool Slums, November 1956
Three teenage boys with fashionable hairstyles on a street corner.

Liverpool Slums, November 1956
An elderly woman standing among the litter in a back alley of the Liverpool slums.

Liverpool Slums, November 1956
A group of children playing weddings.

Some More Random Historical Photos

February 5, 2023 ~ beetleypete ~ 50 Comments

Summer 1941. “Detroit, Michigan. Girls playing cards and drinking Coca-Cola.”
Photo by Arthur Siegel for the Office of War Information. This was part of a set showing these girls playing ‘Strip Poker’. As it was commissioned by the War Office, I can only presume it was intended to increase the morale of the troops. Even though it was before Pearl Harbour.