The Diary of a Country Bumpkin

My post today was inspired by a conversation I had when replying to a post by RACHELMANKOWITZ called The Ukelele Life where she was discussing taking ukulele lessons.

My response was to ask if she had a George Formby Society where she was and unfortunately her reply was, George Formby, who?

George Formby was one of Britain’s biggest film stars of the 30’s and 40’s so I was somewhat surprised he wasn’t more well known which leaves me no option but to endeavour to educate my readers about this very talented man.

George was famous for his risque songs which he used to sing and accompany himself on a banjolele which is a cross between a banjo and a ukulele but louder.

He was so famous that the George Formby Society was formed in 1961 in tribute to this great man.

Here are two of his most famous tunes, the first being “Leaning on a lamp post.”

The second being, “When I’m cleaning windows.”

This is the George Formby Society which meets every year and is as popular today as it was years ago, only in Great Britain you may think and you may be right but eccentricity is considered a virtue in this country.

George Formby has obviously influenced other performers, one of which is The Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain.

Finally I give you a documentary on George Formby with the recommendation that you seek him out on youtube where you can find his films and tunes. It is people like George Formby and Gracie Fields who kept moral up and may have gone some way in assisting the winning of World War Two.

I can say no more ladies and gentlemen, I give you the rather wonderful George Formby, do enjoy. “Turned out nice again!”

My post today was going to be very short and take no time at all but has instead taken the best part of the day and sound quite dull, however I think if you bear with it you will find the topic fascinating.

I had no idea there was such a thing as Multicultural London English or MLE as it is more commonly known, I was aware of the modern London accent that seems to be sweeping the country but was unaware it had a name.

My post today came about as I happened to catch a young fellow on a chat programme on television this morning speaking in this incredibly annoying accent which was going to lead to me ranting on about how I hate the sound of this accent but in the end led to a completely end result.

I will post various links, the first being the young fellow in question Hussain Manawer reciting a very moving poem about the death of his mother, this will give those who have never heard this accent an idea of how grating this sound can be, the only thing missing is the use of the word “possibility” or any other word ending with “ility” in that strange clipped nasal fashion used by MLE.

Apparently this accent has swept London over the remarkably short time (for the spread of an accent) of 30 years and almost completely done away with the native Cockney which seems rather a shame.

Here is another link to some more history about the spread of Multicultural London English although to call it English may be stretching a point.

During the course of my research I came across the following programme by Joan Washington who is a voice coach to actors for film and theatre which contained some fascinating documentary footage about the dilution of rural accents and although quite long is well worth a look if you’re interested in language and accents.

I have slightly cheated today as I have been a little busy and haven’t had time to write anything new so have brought back an older post which amused me and I thought worth a second airing.

It was originally written for a post on my first teenage kiss but has the inclusion of the word “tops” which makes it eligible for the word of the day.

My first thought on trying to remember my first teenage kiss was, I can’t remember but gradually a recollection from the dim and distant past came back to me.

Back in the 60’s it was not common practice to have any form of sexual contact with the opposite sex in your parents house, it was however quite common for young people to go to the pictures, (the movies for any American readers) for such experiences.

One would head for the back row and when the lights went down, one could commence canoodling whilst most of the people were watching the film, obviously the back row would contain a number of other couples who were there for the same reason.

I seem to remember there was a sort of check list which had been passed down from the more experienced boys starting with kissing, then perhaps kissing with tongues and so on.

One would move on down the list with an arm over the shoulder which would then fall onto the girls breast and if it were not removed one progressed to the next step, that of fondling the breast from the outside of her blouse.

Slowly, slowly catchy monkey, the next step that of fondling the breast inside her blouse which of course after much fumbling and hopefully some assistance from the girl eventually meant the brassiere was released and access to the naked breasts was achieved. At this point I think there were many teenagers who must have started to believe that there actually was a God!

Fumbling slowly onward at this point I personally attempted the impossible and slowly slid my hand up the girls skirt where to my utter surprise was met by a pair of stockings which was unusual as by now virtually all girls had gone over to wearing the more modern tights.

I feel my story is coming across as a little impersonal as I keep referring to “the girl,” but the girl had a name which I cannot remember but I’m fairly certain was Jane, so will continue and refer to her as Jane.

As was the way in those days girls and boys were more tightly controlled than is the case today and I found out later that Jane wore the more old fashioned stockings as her mother thought it was more hygienic for her to get some air around her front bottom.

There was an old saying concerning girls and stocking tops which were referred to as giggle tops, the reason being if you got past the stocking tops you were laughing, suffice to say my courage ran out at the stocking tops.

I saw Jane on two or three other dates but our relationship was destined never to last, as I said her mother was very protective and to arrange a date required virtually filling in a number of forms in triplicate for her mother to give permission for the liaison.

It’s a shame as she was a very nice girl and we never progressed as far as having sex, for in those days that sort of thing had to wait until one had a motorcar and one could wait until it was dark and park up in the woods!

I have just managed to update my website which has details of the books I have written, I seem to have become a computer whizzkid, this small step for man may not seem much to you dear reader but to me it’s close to rocket science.

I would be delighted if you would visit, if nothing else but to make all the hard work worth it!

JOE’S BOOK PAGE.

I have been nominated for the Versatile Blogger Award which is very nice, however I have been nominated once before for a versatile blogger award which leaves me with a problem of trying to prove I am indeed a versatile blogger by coming up with some different topics this time round.

This will not be easy as I am a bit of a curmudgeonly old so and so who has a tendency to moan about the same topics but none the less I am willing to take up the challenge and to prove I’m not cheating I have placed the link to my previous attempt for your perusal.

https://lordjoewells.wordpress.com/2019/02/28/versatile-blogger-award/

The Rules

1. Thank the person who gave you the award.
2. Include a link to their blog.
3. Select 7 blogs/bloggers that you’ve recently discovered or follow regularly.
4. Nominate those bloggers for the Versatile Blogger Award.
5. Finally, tell the person who nominated you 7 things about yourself.

Thank you Ilona for giving me this award, I shall refrain from a long winded Oscar style acceptance speech and get on with displaying the link to your blog which is;  https://easydiet.blog/

And the nominations are;

https://pensitivity101.wordpress.com/

Welcome

https://acrackinthepavement.com/

https://angloswiss-chronicles.com/

https://figmentsofadutchess.com/

https://theenglishprofessoratlarge.com/

https://nansfarm.net/blog/

I assume through the wonders of the interweb thingy these people will be notified as if by magic!

Now for the tricky part, seven things about myself which I haven’t used before.

I was adopted when I was one year old, my birth parents were Irish and Scottish.

I am 67 years old and to quote Roxie Hart from the musical Chicago, “I’m older than I ever intended to be.” It frequently comes as a surprise to me when I’m shaving in the morning when I look in the mirror and am not faced by the thirty five year old that I think I am.

I live in Hatfield Heath in Great Britain.

I am useless at getting up early in the morning, I think I’m naturally geared to get up about mid-day.

I love watching the Trooping the colour which takes place on the Queens birthday and find it impossible not to march in time with the music if I have to leave the room.

I went on holiday with my parents to Spain in 1969 and drove my father’s Jaguar 420 all the way at great speed which for a young 18 year old was fabulous and whilst there I watched the first men land on the moon on 20th July.

I am 5ft 7ins tall which makes me about the same height as some of the greatest dictators of the world, Hitler, Mussolini, Napoleon, so I get by although I have no plans to invade Poland.

My post today will be very short, although I would like to write the entire story it would unfortunately spoil your enjoyment should you follow my suggestion.

I last night watched the film “Goodbye Christopher Robin,” I found it on Sky Cinema but I suspect you can buy the DVD and I can’t recommend it highly enough.

As someone who cries at the drop of a hat this moving film tells the story of A A Milne and his son Christopher and the writing of Winnie the Pooh.

Should you follow my suggestion and watch the film have your handkerchief at the ready, it’s a wonderful story which I’m sure you’ll enjoy.

I have had a very busy day today but seeing the selected word for today I thought, “that’s easy I can bash off a quick post on this subject very easily.”

It seemed obvious to start at the beginning so I started typing, “Adolph Hitler invaded Poland on 1st September 1939.” It was at this point that I noticed I had misread the chosen word, well it had been a very busy day.

I don’t have time to write anything else tonight so you’ll just have to make do with this and a very tasteful photograph of Adolph Hither!

Your Daily Word Prompt – Hither – March 20, 2019

I may be leaving you, I don’t want to but there is no makeshift way of doing this, I wish to change the website address for this site to be more professional as I’m led to believe the .wordpress.com ending is not professional enough.

Those of you who may have read some of my previous posts will know I am a complete Luddite with regard to computer stuff so it rather feels like I am about to whisked off for major surgery uncertain whether I shall see you all on the other side.

There is always a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow so they say and I hope they’re right as I have no wish for the serpent to bite me and cause me to return to the early days of blogging when I had no followers at all, I’ve only recently got used to the idea of having them.

As I’ve said before my knowledge of computer stuff is limited, I have no idea what a cookie does and have only recently got the idea of a ping back.

I don’t have to worry too much as my friend who was going to assist with the changeover is now unavailable but should I suddenly disappear off the radar do try to find me on https://thediaryofacountrybumpkin.com and to all those who realised I was taking part in the 3TC challenge PL32 and the FOWC with Fandango please enjoy this post, assuming of course that the pingbacks work!

This is my entry to the Daily Word Prompt; Treasure.

I make no excuses for this being a shameless excuse to promote my latest children’s book, Norman the pirate which is a story of pirates, treasure and oddly enough flower arranging. The book is available on both Amazon.co.uk and Amazon.com

Your Daily Word Prompt – Treasure – March 12, 2019

The Word of the day challenge is fire, the subject of which immediately shot into my mind however I must warn readers that the subject matter is a little shocking perhaps.

My post today concerns the work of Archie McIndoe and his work at Queen Victoria Hospital in East Grinstead, Surrey and his amazing and at the time ground breaking experimental reconstructive plastic surgery.

In 1941 The Guinea Pig Club was formed as a social club and mutual support network for British and allied aircrew who were injured by fire during World War Two. The fact that it was a drinking club was somewhat controversial as allowing patients to drink, sing and play the piano was definitely not the conventional route for recuperation at the time.

One of the most important developments was the walking skin graft whereby a pedicle of skin which had a blood supply was kept attached to a graft to keep the supply of blood to the injury and therefore keep the graft alive. The use of salt water baths was also used as they noticed it was beneficial to healing from observations from the airmen who had landed  in the sea.

The Guinea Pig Club had its own anthem which was sung to the tune Aurelia by Samuel Sebastian Wesley also known as the hymn The Church’s One Foundation.

We are McIndoe’s army,
We are his Guinea Pigs.
With dermatomes and pedicles,
Glass eyes, false teeth and wigs.
And when we get our discharge
We’ll shout with all our might:
“Per ardua ad astra”
We’d rather drink than fight.

John Hunter runs the gas works,
Ross Tilley wields the knife.
And if they are not careful
They’ll have your flaming life.
So, Guinea Pigs, stand ready
For all your surgeon’s calls:
And if their hands aren’t steady
They’ll whip off both your ears.

We’ve had some mad Australians,
Some French, some Czechs, some Poles.
We’ve even had some Yankees,
God bless their precious souls.
While as for the Canadians –
Ah! That’s a different thing.
They couldn’t stand our accent
And built a separate Wing.

We are McIndoe’s army,
(As first verse)

 

Amazing work by some extremely clever surgeons and some very courageous airmen, well done those men. “Per ardua ad astra.”