Old Photos For No Reason Whatsoever

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I followed him in the sense, good singer and a Sheffield lad but was out of Sheffield most of the sixties. First I heard of him was '67 when a work colleague said to get to the Arbourthorne Hotel, singer called Joe Cocker sang there every Wed***day or Thursday night. Never went but remember seeing a TV programme on his career many years ago, still living, and seeing his home in Oregon, thinking lads done well for himself, beautiful area though cold in winter, then again so is Crooks.
The photo with his mother, believe it was originally in the Star. I don't quite understand your sentiment on it, but then again I know little of him really.
You will have to tell me if my date of '67 fits in with his career, the year is right from myside, it's just at that time I don't believe he was known nationally.
Yes , '67 was just before he became well known nationally , which was when "With a little help from my friends" went to No. 1 in '68 .

He dropped the name Vance Arnold around '64 and his backing bands after that were known as the Grease Band or the Blues Band . These included the brilliant organist Tommy Eyre who I believe came from the Manor Top area and who was responsible for the spectacular and highly original arrangement for 'Little Help '.

As for his time as VA , I was there at one of their very first gigs which was at the Fleur de Lys Totley in '61 having been told by the drummer that he had joined a group that had an 18 year old kid from Crookes who sounded like Ray Charles , who was my idol at the time .

I politely told him to fuck off as that was utterly impossible but that I would check them out anyway . Boy , did I have to eat my words when Joe stood up and gave a rendition of 'Georgia on my mind ' which almost brought tears to my eyes . Simply incredible .

As to my sentiments about the last photo , that would have been taken after he had returned from a gruelling tour of America where he was seriously exploited and which left him a pale shadow of his former self both physically and vocally and totally dependant on drugs and booze .

Happily , he got his life and career back together later in life but sadly left us around 6 years ago .
 

Ah, Miss Jepson the drama teacher, she was quite a lot of fun, it’s a shame I wasn’t a luvvy, I never enjoyed doing school plays. I couldn’t remember the name of Brownhead Farm, I was never in with the in crowd so never got the chance to go. ☹
Ah, Drama and dance teachers, we had one with the biggest set of ,what shall we call them? Bazookas. At aged 11 they were always a talking point, they were that huge she could get 3 kids under them and still keep their feet dry. Name escapes me but the bazookas don’t. WOW just WOW. And real.
 
Remember the indicator switches, part of the 'winker' kit to up date or bring your vehicle in line with the law. One of those things I would never have remembered had you not put the photo up. Life is full of surprises,:rolleyes:

Indeed! And do you remember these?

1591940513651.png

1591940555363.png

They were fitted to a car like in the picture on the box below...

1591940612636.png

The "parking light". Hooked over the top of the drivers window, then the window was wound to the top. Red side facing the back of the car, white side facing the front of the car. They ran off the car battery and were a legal requirement at some point in the 1960's, if you had parked your car on the road at night.

They met their demise when manufacturer's made it possible to leave a parking light on by leaving the indicator stalk in an on position when parked. This illuminated one rear and one front lamp. But for many years, during the 1960's the "clip-on" parking light was a common feature on cars. They also made the car more prone to getting broken into though, as it meant the window wasn't fully up and could be forced down more easily. Another feature of cars in the 1960's was this...


1591941029556.png

The triangular shaped piece of glass that opened and was called the "quarter light". They were very good for providing ventilation throughout the car, far better than the plastic air vents we have today, however, they were very easily forced open by someone looking to break in the car and eventually met their demise for security reasons.

Back to the parking light for a moment though...and when we were kids at school, in winter time, there was a game that was played where we'd sneak up behind someone and give their tab a good flick - making it glow red. Then we'd laugh and say, "look! he's got t' parking leet on". 😃 I think that phrase died out with the parking light many years ago now.
 
Yes, Duck Egg Blue, original colour as I believe was the yellow, I had passed it through my mind earlier but was not too sure. Was the black original, possibly but surly not that pink colour, horrible, or would they call it shrimp, if so an insult to shrimps.
Like the maroon on the Zephyr and Consul but what I find more interesting is the Morris Minor, Victor, Lima, Xray, in maroon, looks stunning to me. Only spoilt by the sun visor, fuck me we're not in the Arabian desert Gauds sake. Lots of people don't seem to realise less is better, well that's what I told the girls years ago.
Interesting to hear an appraisal of the Zephyrs handling a few posts back bit like the story I heard of the 50's, first American styled bodied, Vauxhall Victor that went over a hump back bridge and the doors flew open, seem absurd but are true.
I have a thing for Maroon, my first time football team colours, junior school, with white collar, superb.

Yes "maroon" was a popular colour for cars back then. It looked very good on the Vauxhall Cresta/Velux too...

1591941870493.png

I always liked these cars because they looked happy - like they were smiling at me.

Many years later I married Petunia, because she has a big smiley gob - just the same! (Well...did have!) :rolleyes: Now it's more like this...

1591942065970.png

I remember a visitor to one of the neighbours, having one of these below, in the same colour....

1591942243700.png

An absolutely beautiful car! British classic. Anyone know what it is? (I do - but let's see who else does - without cheating!). If you need a clue, Steve Forrest drove one in the TV series "The Baron".
 
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Yes "maroon" was a popular colour for cars back then. It looked very good on the Vauxhall Cresta/Velux too...

View attachment 82578

I always liked these cars because they looked happy - like they were smiling at me.

Many years later I married Petunia, because she has a big smiley gob - just the same! (Well...did have!) :rolleyes: Now it's more like this...

View attachment 82580

I remember a visitor to one of the neighbours, having one of these below, in the same colour....

View attachment 82581

An absolutely beautiful car! British classic. Anyone know what it is? (I do - but let's see who else does - without cheating!). If you need a clue, Steve Forrest drove one in the TV series "The Baron".

Some sort of Austin Healey?
 
Some sort of Austin Healey?

Nope! I can see why you might think that though. But this car wasn't from a "mainstream" manufacturer like Austin or the "BMC" stable as we came to know it. Although there is some connection there with part of the name you've mentioned.
 
Nope! I can see why you might think that though. But this car wasn't from a "mainstream" manufacturer like Austin or the "BMC" stable as we came to know it. Although there is some connection there with part of the name you've mentioned.

Yes I've googled it now. I can't even remember the program, never mind the car!
 
Yes "maroon" was a popular colour for cars back then. It looked very good on the Vauxhall Cresta/Velux too...

View attachment 82578

I always liked these cars because they looked happy - like they were smiling at me.

Many years later I married Petunia, because she has a big smiley gob - just the same! (Well...did have!) :rolleyes: Now it's more like this...

View attachment 82580

I remember a visitor to one of the neighbours, having one of these below, in the same colour....

View attachment 82581

An absolutely beautiful car! British classic. Anyone know what it is? (I do - but let's see who else does - without cheating!). If you need a clue, Steve Forrest drove one in the TV series "The Baron".

I think it is a Jenson. Not sure what the model was called but CVS is ringing a bell?
 
I think it is a Jenson. Not sure what the model was called but CVS is ringing a bell?

You are correct! It is a Jensen. It is the CV8.

It wasn't a common sight on our roads. Most of us kids drooled at the thought of E-type Jags and Aston Martins as the British performance cars of that era, but the Jensen CV8 could beat the pants off either of them in terms of acceleration. It was one of the fastest production cars of its time.

The connection with "Healey" came much later. When production of the fabulous "Austin Healey" ended... (picture of Austin Healey below)...

1591945908900.png

Mr Healey turned to the small specialist sports car producer, "Jensen", of West Bromwich and they collaborated on a new sports car, called the "Jensen Healey".


1591945867878.png

This came along in the early 1970's. I can lay claim to having driven a Jensen Healey - my brother had one. He only let me drive it once though! He'd bought it for posing and pottering around in. When he let me get behind the wheel I showed him what it could do!

I don't think he liked it! ;)
 
Yes "maroon" was a popular colour for cars back then. It looked very good on the Vauxhall Cresta/Velux too...

View attachment 82578

I always liked these cars because they looked happy - like they were smiling at me.

Many years later I married Petunia, because she has a big smiley gob - just the same! (Well...did have!) :rolleyes: Now it's more like this...

View attachment 82580

I remember a visitor to one of the neighbours, having one of these below, in the same colour....

View attachment 82581

An absolutely beautiful car! British classic. Anyone know what it is? (I do - but let's see who else does - without cheating!). If you need a clue, Steve Forrest drove one in the TV series "The Baron".
Fraser Nash ?
 
Indeed! And do you remember these?

View attachment 82569

View attachment 82570

They were fitted to a car like in the picture on the box below...

View attachment 82571

The "parking light". Hooked over the top of the drivers window, then the window was wound to the top. Red side facing the back of the car, white side facing the front of the car. They ran off the car battery and were a legal requirement at some point in the 1960's, if you had parked your car on the road at night.

They met their demise when manufacturer's made it possible to leave a parking light on by leaving the indicator stalk in an on position when parked. This illuminated one rear and one front lamp. But for many years, during the 1960's the "clip-on" parking light was a common feature on cars. They also made the car more prone to getting broken into though, as it meant the window wasn't fully up and could be forced down more easily. Another feature of cars in the 1960's was this...


View attachment 82573

The triangular shaped piece of glass that opened and was called the "quarter light". They were very good for providing ventilation throughout the car, far better than the plastic air vents we have today, however, they were very easily forced open by someone looking to break in the car and eventually met their demise for security reasons.

Back to the parking light for a moment though...and when we were kids at school, in winter time, there was a game that was played where we'd sneak up behind someone and give their tab a good flick - making it glow red. Then we'd laugh and say, "look! he's got t' parking leet on". 😃 I think that phrase died out with the parking light many years ago now.
Ford Corsair on the box?
 
Amazing bit of kit that! So the "retractable" hood must have been around for longer than I thought. I associate that feature more with modern day top-end marques. These days it's possible to retract the hood whilst still on the move, although I think the recommendation is not above 20 mph.
I’ve got an 08 plate Vauxhall Astra Twintop, with a folding metal roof. It can be folded down or put back up at speeds up to 18mph, although it’s not worth the faffing about. Might as well stop to do it.
As often happens several manufacturers followed on from the Mercedes lead, and after the SLK and SL with the metal roofs there were the Astra, Tigra, Renault Megane, various Peugeots and a fair few others.
 

Sound knowledge there mate! I always knew them as "Metropolitan". I didn't realise that they had anything to do with Austin until I started searching for the photo's on the internet. They weren't a typical "Austin" car were they?

My elder bruv had one of these for his first car...

View attachment 82538

Same colour but without the false eyelashes! An Austin A35 van.

It had semaphores, not indicators like the one in the picture, Although he had the indicators fitted later. It had one of these in the middle of the dashboard...

View attachment 82539

That's the indicator switch and you turned it right or left depending on which direction you were turning, the red light in the middle would blink whilst the indicators were on, and it didn't self-cancel. Indicators were called "winkers" back then - this may be why? It looked like an eye!

It was a utilitarian bit of kit was the A35 van. Bruv worked on a farm so it was dead handy for lugging sacks of spuds, or transporting rabbits, chickens, hares and turkeys from farm to kitchen table. It was also handy for transporting the Jack Russell terrier when we went rabbiting or fox-holing.

If I recall (and without consulting wiki) it was a 998 side-valve engine. Capable of 0-60 in less than a week. Sturdy and reliable.

My late father was an audio engineer for Wigfalls and used to drive this type of van when visiting customers.

As a young boy, I was given the task of turning the indicators on and off for him. Happy days. :)
 
You are correct! It is a Jensen. It is the CV8.

It wasn't a common sight on our roads. Most of us kids drooled at the thought of E-type Jags and Aston Martins as the British performance cars of that era, but the Jensen CV8 could beat the pants off either of them in terms of acceleration. It was one of the fastest production cars of its time.

The connection with "Healey" came much later. When production of the fabulous "Austin Healey" ended... (picture of Austin Healey below)...

View attachment 82594

Mr Healey turned to the small specialist sports car producer, "Jensen", of West Bromwich and they collaborated on a new sports car, called the "Jensen Healey".


View attachment 82592

This came along in the early 1970's. I can lay claim to having driven a Jensen Healey - my brother had one. He only let me drive it once though! He'd bought it for posing and pottering around in. When he let me get behind the wheel I showed him what it could do!

I don't think he liked it! ;)
Had the Lotus engine (907 ?) in it. Also did a shooting brake version, the Jensen GT.
 
Not particularly old, certainly from my perspective, and already a well discussed and photographed bit of history.
Taken in Oct 1991.
Everyone who was around at that time will surely have their own memories, anecdotes, accidents and incidents concerning that place. But since I decided to submit this, I've been trying to remember exactly how many different exits - by that I mean up to street level - there were from this place. Some were ramps some steps, some escalators. So far, I've counted 11. ..???

Oct 1991.jpg

Castle Sq. Fish tank Oct 1991.jpg
 
Not particularly old, certainly from my perspective, and already a well discussed and photographed bit of history.
Taken in Oct 1991.
Everyone who was around at that time will surely have their own memories, anecdotes, accidents and incidents concerning that place. But since I decided to submit this, I've been trying to remember exactly how many different exits - by that I mean up to street level - there were from this place. Some were ramps some steps, some escalators. So far, I've counted 11. ..???

View attachment 82605

View attachment 82606

Si thi at fish tank hayf eight.
 
Three lower league players that made the step up to the top league and gave good account of themselves and service to the club. Thought John Flynn solid, dependable and perfect foil for big Eddie.
Billy, if Lofthouse was the Lion of Vienna he was our lion. I've said it on here before, "he would put his head in where others wouldn't put their boot" when there was half a chance of scoring.
Gil Reece, lad had it all, good shot, good header of the ball, tricky, quick in mind and movement and I think they wrote the song "when I get knocked down I get up again" with him in mind. Personnel choice, my player of the season 70-71 despite only making 27 appearances he scored 8 goals.
 
Yes , '67 was just before he became well known nationally , which was when "With a little help from my friends" went to No. 1 in '68 .

He dropped the name Vance Arnold around '64 and his backing bands after that were known as the Grease Band or the Blues Band . These included the brilliant organist Tommy Eyre who I believe came from the Manor Top area and who was responsible for the spectacular and highly original arrangement for 'Little Help '.

As for his time as VA , I was there at one of their very first gigs which was at the Fleur de Lys Totley in '61 having been told by the drummer that he had joined a group that had an 18 year old kid from Crookes who sounded like Ray Charles , who was my idol at the time .

I politely told him to fuck off as that was utterly impossible but that I would check them out anyway . Boy , did I have to eat my words when Joe stood up and gave a rendition of 'Georgia on my mind ' which almost brought tears to my eyes . Simply incredible .

As to my sentiments about the last photo , that would have been taken after he had returned from a gruelling tour of America where he was seriously exploited and which left him a pale shadow of his former self both physically and vocally and totally dependant on drugs and booze .

Happily , he got his life and career back together later in life but sadly left us around 6 years ago .
Thanks for the info regards the 'mum' photo, he does look pretty wreaked, I was wondering the circumstances.
 
You are correct! It is a Jensen. It is the CV8.

It wasn't a common sight on our roads. Most of us kids drooled at the thought of E-type Jags and Aston Martins as the British performance cars of that era, but the Jensen CV8 could beat the pants off either of them in terms of acceleration. It was one of the fastest production cars of its time.

The connection with "Healey" came much later. When production of the fabulous "Austin Healey" ended... (picture of Austin Healey below)...

View attachment 82594

Mr Healey turned to the small specialist sports car producer, "Jensen", of West Bromwich and they collaborated on a new sports car, called the "Jensen Healey".


View attachment 82592

This came along in the early 1970's. I can lay claim to having driven a Jensen Healey - my brother had one. He only let me drive it once though! He'd bought it for posing and pottering around in. When he let me get behind the wheel I showed him what it could do!

I don't think he liked it! ;)
As stated before, just a passing interest in motor cars have I.
The Jenson Healey may have all the right mechanical attributes but aesthetically it's a pile of garbage at the side of the Austin Healey.
Would that be Mr. Healey or Jenson and his good lady in the J H?
Busy at the mo. but will get back to you ref. the parking light. You and your school mates, what were you like, little tinkers that's what.
 

As stated before, just a passing interest in motor cars have I.
The Jenson Healey may have all the right mechanical attributes but aesthetically it's a pile of garbage at the side of the Austin Healey.
Would that be Mr. Healey or Jenson and his good lady in the J H?
Busy at the mo. but will get back to you ref. the parking light. You and your school mates, what were you like, little tinkers that's what.

Oh I agree with your observations on the Jensen Healey. I don't think many were ever sold in the U.K. It was a bit of an odd looking car, rather plain and boxy. This was the era of the Triumph TR7 of course - another abomination on the beautiful TR series sports cars that preceded it - the TR5 and earlier models especially.

Let's compare:

The Triumph TR 5:
1591963533153.png
Very nice!

The Triumph TR6:


1591963621738.png

Still nice - although notably a bit more "boxy" than the TR5.

The Triumph TR7:

1591963684969.png

WTF! :eek:

And that was the end of Triumph sports cars - I wonder why?

As to your question...

I think that is Mr Healey with Mr Jensen's wife in that JH. No wonder the business partnership didn't last long! 😉
 

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