Monday 4 January 2016

I was in love with Paul

Hello. I'm amusing myself tonight, reading old diaries. Can you remember what you were doing in 1964? I can't but it is all here written down. I was a skinny bean pole of a teenager with goofy teeth, specs, and a flat chest. I was in my last year of school and left in the July of that year, age 15. 
It's a small diary and in the back cover is a pocket for a photograph. Paul was my idol, I dreamt I was in love with him every night. I screamed and nearly fainted when the Beatles came on the tele, and collected hundreds of pictures of them which were stuck all over my bedroom wall. 
I have to laugh at what I wrote. I hadn't yet had a proper boyfriend, but had many crushes on all kinds of men, mostly those I saw on the tele. The notes page is at the front of the diary. Full of useful useless information, ha ha. 1964 was a leap year. The Olympics were held in Tokyo. Bamber Gascoigne is fab. Clay beat Liston. The Queen had a baby, so did Alex. I wrote to Bamber Gascoigne. Cambridge won the boat race. I got John Phillips autograph. He was an older boy who I fancied at school, and Bamber did reply to my letter, I was mad about him.  


Here are some of my entries, an insight into what a 15 year old teenager got up to 51 years ago.

I made jelly and cakes at school. This was in cookery lesson. Another entry says I took the washing to school. They also taught us how to do household chores. Imagine if they did that now, ha ha.

I went ice skating at Nottingham with the youth club. I can skate, I fell over seven times. A few years later when I lived in Blackpool I went to the Ice Drome every week to skate. I got a job in the cafeteria so I went on the ice at every opportunity.

I cleaned my bike and mended a puncture. Then I painted the bike, and painted the handlebars silver. I had toothache. Next day I had two teeth out at Thompsons dentist. I remember that dentist, he had his surgery in the front room of his big house. He was horrible. I stopped going there.

Went to Derby with the girls. These were friends Rosy and carol, we went on the bus, I remember. I bought make up. Carol picked up a lad, and Rosy didn't like hers. Carol was snogging . I was not lucky with the lads.

What did I get up to while I was still at school? I went to trampoline club. Dancing classes after school. I went to Youth Club, usually wearing mums's calf length leather boots. I played snooker. I bought 'Jackie' magazine. I watched all the pop shows on the tele. Went to the bowling alley and was in the junior league. Went bike rides. Made my own clothes. Cut and coloured my own hair. Visited Grandma a lot, usually on my bike. Went to the pictures.

Friday the 17th of July was my last day at school. I remember running out of the school gates with a smile on my face. All the other girls were crying because they didn't know when they would see their friends again, except me and Celia. We couldn't get out quick enough. I got John's autograph, I had a big crush on him.

I had the summer holidays off before I needed to find work. We were all over the place, making the best of our freedom. Shopping, pictures, bowling, hanging around the town. On Monday 14th of September I started work at the Leather Shop. On Friday the 18th, I got the sack, ha ha. Didn't last long. I remember it was a pokey hole, a small shop with four floors and a narrow steep staircase. It was floor to ceiling with suitcases and bags of every size and colour. My job was to dust all the stock, over and over again. The manager and his assistant kept disappearing upstairs and leaving me. I had a good idea what they were up to. I was glad to leave, it was an awful job.

On Saturday the 19th I got a job at Woolys, and on the Monday I started on the sweet counter. The entry says, 'Woolys is fab, served all the time, it's great.' I got paid on the Friday and bought a pair of mod shoes, and some long white socks.

On Monday the 28th I went to the Jubilee Hall and saw the Kinks, with Carol. They were fab, got home at 11.20pm was great, really fab. Ha ha, everything was fab then. Hey look at this, I cut my hair short on the 1st of October. I'm still doing that now, amazing.

Oh look, they put me in charge of loose sweets. I went in the stockroom. I remember we had to stock check once a month, it was called 'doing the binders'. Everything was listed, I had to count it, and re order new stock.

On Sunday 20th of December I had my first real date. This lad came into the shop and asked me out. I said yes because he looked alright. He was very polite I remember. He was called Brian and we went to the pictures. We met at the bus station having both got a different bus from our villages. We walked from the bus station to the cinema. I had decided I wasn't too keen and when he put his arm around me I pulled it off. We walked back to the bus station and I was 50 yards in front of him, I wouldn't let him hold my hand. My bus came in first and I quickly hopped on leaving him standing there. When I got back home everyone was keen to know how I had got on. I said if that was dating I wouldn't be doing that again.

Aaah, those were the days. Such innocence. I was happy with my pop songs, watching the tele, fashions, makeup, friends, going out. Little bits of what I did then, I still do now. I even kept track of my money, being careful about what I spent it on. The boyfriends came later, I didn't get really interested until I left home at 18. Then it was all a whirlwind of fun and broken hearts, mine and theirs, ha ha. That's all in the later diaries, which I couldn't possibly talk about here. Oh alright then, I might pick bits out later on, a much edited version.

Thanks for popping in. Catch up soon. Toodle pip  

32 comments:

  1. Oh Ilona, you have bought back so many memories. I am two years younger than you and Paul was my idol as well. I also lived in Derby and went to see the Kinks and the Dave Clark Five. I stayed at school until I was 18 yrs old and then joined the Civil Service. I remember that I gave my mum half my wages as board - Dad had died a year earlier. Money seemed to go so much further back then or am I just looking back with rose tinted glasses.

    Pat

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    1. Hi Pat. My first weeks wages was £3.50, after that at Woolys it was about £4.50. I always gave mum half my wages. I was still able to buy clothes, shoes, and makeup. I didn't see the Dave Clark Five, but the Honeycombs came to the Jubilee Hall, I saw them.

      The bus between Burton and Derby was The Blue Bus Service. I even remember the registration number, BTV 247. We caught it at Stretton.

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  2. Ah brilliant Ilona, how wonderful you kept those diaries, great to look back on and to remember those times.

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  3. I had to take ironing into school for a few lessons in 'home management' or something like that.... those were the days. I was a total rebel/pain in the backside. I demanded to be allowed to do woodwork and metalwork. I was allowed if I could get a boy to swap with me and I did....... I loved those lessons......But I bet most of the teachers were glad to see the back of me. If only they bothered to find out back then that I loved foreign languages and working with my hands. I coulda been the English Martha Stewart

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  4. I love your diarie, I'm glad you kept them. It was iconic times. (I threw all mine when I realised I wasn't to become prime minister. I had saved everything just in case I would have to write my memoirs.: D )

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  5. Thank you for bringing back memories. I saw the kinks and the dave Clarke five in Newcastle upon tyne. My spare time was spent as a volunteer lifeguard on the beaches of South Shields. I had diaries of sorts but I chucked them out when we cleared my mams house after she died. I had left them there and they were full of crushes etc. And quite embarrassing back then. That was about 30 years ago.

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  6. Brilliant Iona. I wish the kids to the washing into school now it would save me a lot of work ha ha. You clearly loved to write even back then and its stayed with you. Xx

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  7. The sixties were the best time to be young. Our lessons were called Domestic Science and the first lesson was how to make a cup of tea. We were also shown how to iron and how to clean the oven and cupboards as well as cooking and baking. I never kept a diary then, but I keep a diary now and have done since 1976. Still got them all.
    I went from Paul to John to George, I never fancied Ringo. I went to one of their concerts at Bradford, but I can't say I saw them very well or heard them because everyone was standing on their seats and screaming. It was an exciting time with all the young bands starting up. Happy memories.

    Joan (Wales)

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  8. I worked in Woolies on Sundays on the sweet counter too, it was my first job and I earned £1 for the day. When I left school at 16 I worked for Barclays Bank and I earned £7.50 a week, bank clerks were well paid then. My Mum had £1.50 for bed and board which seems mean compared to what you and others contributed but I still managed to spend all my monthly salary before the end of the month. It took a while before I learnt how to manage my money.

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  9. You had some freedom, ha ha. I had to be in by 10.30 or my Dad would be standing at the gate.That stood until I got married aged 19yrs.Started going to the pictures on Sunday afternoons instead of evenings as I always had to leave to catch the blasted bus and never saw the end of the films! I left school in 1964 too. I already had a job at Brindley's shop in Babington Lane. Derby. I'd been working there on Saturdays since I turned 15yrs. in November (63) but didn't leave till the Easter (64)and started full time. We had to address each other as Miss (so and so) Never Christian names.We had to sit separately from the senior staff at our break times too. Think of "Are You Being Served". I can identify with every member of that cast. The senior sales lady in the corsetry department was just like Mrs Slocombe.

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    1. I remember coming home a few minutes late when I was a teenager. I'd been to the local disco (no booze allowed) with some pals. My mum locked me out of the house to teach me a lesson. She had the bedroom window open so she could hear me but pretended to be asleep! I got a fright and was never late back again. She did come down and unlock the door after a while. My stepdad made me 'wash the muck off my face' ie a little bit of makeup before going out. Blimey, it all seems so strict now.

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    2. I was lucky, mum wasn't very strict, I could wear what I liked. I remember the 'muck off the face' saying.

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  10. That Blue Bus Service went through Etwall too. I used to catch it to go to my Aunt's house. The only group I saw was The Moody Blues at the Queen's Hall. I did see John Lee Hooker in '64' at the Corporation Pub.He was just a guy playing piano with a pint on the top of it. They had a Blues night on a Friday.Got in wearing a lot of makeup and a mini skirt. No one asked who you were .It was too dark in there ! ha ha. The skirt had to be rolled back down to normal length before I got home ! Do you remember The Windmill,(they had strippers )Embassey Club,New Penny,Clouds,Locarno, Trocadero ? Didn't do any of the clubs till after I married and left home. I had friends who regularly went to the '75' in Burton.

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    1. Hi. I remember rolling the skirt up at the waist and making it extra mini. I went to Clouds, and the 76 Club. Couldn't stay late at Derby, had to get the bus back.

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  11. From Margie in Toronto - so many memories! I remember the first time that I saw the Beatles on TV - it was Sunday night on The Ed Sullivan Show and I was allowed to stay up later to watch them (I was barely 10) - it was the talk of the school the next day but my parents were totally flabbergasted at all the fuss!
    When I was a bit older I used to go skating every Saturday night with friends (male & female) - didn't really date until I was about 17 - most of the time we palled around in a group. Good memories.

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  12. Been internet free for a couple of weeks so just enjoyed catching up with you. I love the way your home revolves around your babies, mine does too.
    This brings back so many happy memories of my teens. Sunderland Empire every week to see the up and coming singers of the day. From Tommy Steel, Billy Fury etc., through to The Beetles, Rolling Stones and many more. Just imagine paying less than 5 shillings to see The Rolling Stones (no one had actually gone to see them, they were supporting the lovely John Leyton). Happy days, happy memories.
    Let`s have more of The Ilona Diaries.
    Hope you have a wonderful 2016 xx

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  13. This reminds me of a time my sisters and I found an older sisters diary. I think I myst have been quite young and couldn't read many words but my sister three years older could. We got caught and she got whacked by the sisters whose diary it was. They still don't see eye to eye.

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  14. I graduated from high school on June 14, 1964. I was 18 years old. The most important date of my senior year actually occurred in 1963, on Nov. 22--John F. Kennedy was assassinated. A very sad time, and such a loss of innocence. I also remember going to my first live concert--the Four Seasons. This was not long after "late December, nineteen sixty-three" and they were on their first big tour. It was on a Tuesday night (school night!), in a small venue, and the ticket cost $3.50...which was quite a lot of $$$. My girl friend's sister loaned us her car, a blue VW Bug. In March, I visited relatives in southern California and, through my cousin, heard the Beatles for the first time. "I Wanna Hold Your Hand!" I wasn't too impressed at first, but that changed. And Paul was my guy, too. Then, in September, I started college. Had my first real boyfriend. 1964 was a big year for me!

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    1. Should have added, at 18 I was a little old to have crushes on singers. However, I really "had it" for Frankie Avalon when I was about 13, in the late 1950s. My favorite singers/songs now are from groups that came along in the late 1960s. Sorry to be a downer in this thread about the Kennedy assassination, but those of us that lived through it in the US will never forget it.

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  15. I was in love with Paul, too, and he is still one of my very favorite singers. I remember when the Beatles first came to America and appeared on the Ed Sullivan show. Nice memories.

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  16. Well, I wasn't around in 1964 but Paul was my favourite Beatle anyway. What a great thing to have your old diaries. My mum always threw things like that away(after reading through them) so I don't have any keepsakes, only the memories.

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  17. Thank you for sharing your diary entries! It was fun to read about your life as a teenager!

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  18. I didn't keep a diary, or if I did it didn't last long as always I forgot to make the daily entries. I had Jackie magazine as well, wasn't it great? I remember it plopping through the door each week (had it delivered) and jumping straight to the Kathie and Claire problem page, I learnt a lot from that! I'd then stick pictures of the Osmond brothers on my bedroom walls.

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    1. Hi Sue. I loved Jackie magazine, full of fashions, make up, hairstyles, and pop groups and singers. Ah, the problem page, it taught me all about boyfriends, pity I didn't have any.

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  19. oh my gosh what a great post,, thank you for sharing this,,
    you were very much the same person you are today,, i like that, you are a real genuine person,, true to your self,, good for you!

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  20. Hi.Beatlemania was going strong over here in Canada too and my older sister and I were totally slayed by them and the whole British invasion from haircuts to fashion to drinking tea,hahaha.Those were special days and great memories to have Ilona.Today's read was fun and enjoyable,thank you for sharing,D.

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  21. I've got 3 diaries, from 68 - 70. They have lots of strange symbols in which obviously meant something to me at the time and probably nothing at all to anyone who read them. The rest of the writing is everyday boring stuff done at school and much more interesting stuff at the youth and badminton clubs. Happy days!
    xx

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  22. What wonderful memories! I was married in 1964, having left school just two years previously. Very young to marry by today's standards, but quite normal in 1964! My favourite magazine was Honey, a real magazine, not a comic. Loved it. And then there was the radical new magazine which came out about that time, Nova, which was so different from anything that had gone before or has been published since.
    Margaret P

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  23. PS I went to a girls' grammar school and the headmistress told us in no uncertain terms that unless we worked hard - after all we were the top 20% of the country's intelligent girls! (this her speaking, not me!) - we'd "end up serving in Woolworths!" This, to her, was a fate worse than death, obviously. You have demonstrated otherwise. I left school with only a few months to go before my A -levels as I'd met my husband-to-be and didn't want to be thought a schoolgirl, and instead I took a shorthand and typing course which led to a job in the Civil Service as a secretary. Can't say I enjoyed it but the pay was above average (I think about £7.50 a week in 1964, perhaps a bit more and with my husband's wage, we had about £20 a week to live on, which again was about average, and from that paid our mortgage on our brand new bungalow and ran a car. Indeed, we recently bought two beds, a double for ourselves and a single for the guest room, and together they cost about the same as our bungalow in 1964!
    Margaret P

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  24. How lovely! You have brought back quite a few memories... in particular, Jackie magazine! I loved that magazine... pop idols... mmm mine were from the 70's ... David Cassidy probably! I used to keep a diary too but later on I ditched them all. I am not sure I would want to read them again now, might make me sad.

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  25. I loved George but never screamed for anyone ; )

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  26. My first job was a drugstore, working behind the soda fountain, making malts, shakes, sodas, and serving favored fountain drinks like cherry Coke. We also had to dust the items on the shelves out in the regular part of the store--toiletries, perfumes, stationery, etc. We usually hung around at the back talking with the young pharmacists when we weren't busy. This was 1966 to 1968 when I graduated from high school. I got paid 75 cents an hour when I started out and was up to $1.25 when i finally quit to be able to participate in the last of my senior year activities.

    Sounds like I led a boring life compared to some of you. I do remember running home from a Sunday evening youth meeting to be able to see the Beatles on Ed Sullivan. My dad thought i was nuts for being so gaga over them. My first rock concert was Three Dog Night when I was in college. I did go to see Judy Garland when I was in high school, but she was on a theatre stage, and there was an orchestra.

    It is nice to reminisce about those good times, but I also remember the spring of 1968 was the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. and Robert F. Kennedy. Bobby Kennedy made a campaign stop at my high school gym one evening, and I got to go see him, and then two months later he was dead.

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