(71) 'New Beginning's and 1962'

[Ken]

This reflection on my love of music takes place in 1962 and it begins with a purchase from a jumble sale.  It was an old 78rpm wax record by Marty Wilde called, Endless Sleep, and I played it constantly.  Which of my siblings accidentally dropped it causing it to smash I know not, but Gordon seemed extremely happy to enjoy the quiet mornings that followed.  Shortly after that I was to purchase my first vinyl disc for the age of the 45rpm single had arrived.  No amount of accidental dropping would cause these records to smash and so Gordon's time of tranquillity was short.  It ended when I went to work in the town of Godalming.

After deductions, I earned in 1962 just three pounds, twelve shillings, and sixpence a week, and out of that I gave my mother thirty five shillings.  That left me half a crown short of two pounds to spend, leaving nothing spare to buy the records I craved. That changed when my boss, the manager of Timothy Whites Guildford branch, asked me to work for a month in their Godalming shop.  I agreed, particularly when he said I'd be entitled to the cost of my bus fares from Guildford to Godalming, plus a daily lunch allowance. As I cycled to work anyway, all I had to do it was point my bike in the direction of Godalming and I'd be quids in. This made me the best off I had ever been and I was now well enough off to indulge my desire for music.

I loved working in Godalming for it was an attractive little town.  Near to the high street was a park with picnic benches and running past it was the majestic river Wey.  I would sometimes enjoy my lunch there with a pretty young lady who also worked for Timothy Whites.  Her name was Linda Reeves and I still have her address after more than fifty years.  I used some of my new found wealth to take Linda to the Sunday picture show but most of it went in the record shop. That June was truly wonderful for the young me and I recall the actual month for two simple reasons.  Shamley Green Funfair had arrived as it did every year close to the twelfth of June which was my birthday.  That year I had reached the tender age of sixteen and as I strolled through the fair, enjoying the atmosphere and failing to win a coconut, a new song was being played repeatedly.  On the next working day I purchased it, and it was the first new record I'd ever bought. In the years to come record shops and stalls became my second home and music my new best friend!

That record was by Joe Brown and it was called, A Picture Of You, whenever I hear it I still feel a shiver of delight.  As soon as I awoke in the mornings I would put on my ancient record player and Joe and I would sing along together.  It was a wonderful time for music and soon I was playing other songs I'd purchased. A song called, Shutters and Boards, by someone called Houston Wells, which wasn't a hit but should have been.  I bought, Things, by Bobby Darin, which reached No.2 in the charts and is still one of my favourite feel good songs.  My mother loved Ronnie Carroll's, Roses Are Red, and to hear brother Bobs version of, I Remember You, was a scream.  He sang it well enough, but every time the lyrics changed and were nothing like those sang by Frank Ifield.  During the weeks that followed I think the entire Tuffs household enjoyed hearing my growing record collection. Even non musical brother Gordon could sometime be heard singing along as he shaved, but in the late September of 1962 that would change with Adam Faith's new release.

That single was a big hit for Adam and it was called, Don't That Beat All.  It was the cause of near violence between me and my brother for he hated it.  I suppose it was a tad unreasonable for me to play it morning, noon and night, but I only did so for a few weeks.  I can remember a morning I'd put the record player on automatic replay when Gordon was in the bathroom.  He was red faced with anger when he came out to turn it off but found me guarding the record player, I recall we had quite a scuffle before I eventually succumbed to my older and stronger brother.  I got my revenge that evening for he'd said he was going out and would need a bath.  As soon as I heard him get in the water, on went old Adam and you should have heard Gordon's shouts of anger.  The next morning someone cocked things up for my record player wouldn't play.  Somebody, probably Bob and not Gordon, had removed the fuse from the plug!

Music has always played a big part in my life and old songs remind me not only of good times but of when they happened.  I was once in a car with my nephew Neil and some friends of his, I was in Wales and it was a Sunday for we were listening to the pick of the pops chart countdown.  I remember hearing that the new number one was an Elvis song and was called, Good Luck Charm.  By using that memory I know that it was in the May of 1962 that I'd holidayed in Wales, and stayed with my sister Glad.  I also remember at that time Neil was quite excited about a new film we were going to see.  It was called, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, and it was a western.  When I asked who the star was, he'd said, Big John Wayne, and I've found that's how many Welsh people still describe that charismatic film giant.  I also remember that during that holiday my brother in law, Jack Williams, spoke of a TV event that had once angered him. He recalled turning on to watch, what he called a cowboy film, and found that the dialogue throughout Wales had been dubbed over in the Welsh language.  "You can't have Big John Wayne speaking in Welsh," Jack had thundered. I think he and many others were happy when the Welsh speakers of Wales were given their own TV station.  But that Channel, S4C, did not broadcast until 1982, twenty years later.

The music I have enjoyed can also remind me of sad times.  I well remember sitting on the grass of Wisborough Green's cricket pitch in West Sussex.  Shamley Green were batting so some of the team were watching the action while listening to the radio.  The chart countdown for the first week in August was playing and I was hoping that Joe Brown's song, A Picture Of You, would at last reach No.1.  So far it had peaked at No.2 and this was it's last chance.  It didn't get there but Frank Ifield did, and as I also had his record at home I wasn't too concerned.  Then the news came on and it headlined with the death of the actress Marilyn Monroe.  She was just thirty six and to my surprise I felt devastated. One of our players, the normally nice Mick Glue, said, "What a waste of good meat," and I remember being so angry with his callous words.  I let him know it would be wise for him to keep quiet or, to be more precise, I told him to shut his ugly mouth.....!  The No.2 hit of that week was Ray Charles singing, I Can't Stop Loving You, and, forty plus years later, if I hear of that song or a mention of Wisborough Green, I know I'll start to feel sad.

If I could go back to the last day of 1962 I'd look back on a year of good fortune.  President Kennedy had made Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev back down from launching his Cuban missiles.  The Golden Wonder Crisp brand were launched that year which was a much safer launch for the World.  Elvis had also given us four No.1 hit records and I had bought them all.  James Bond was seen for the first time in the film, Dr.No, and Britain had heard of a new group from Liverpool called, The Beatles.  Roger Moore's hit TV show, The Saint, had brightened my families TV viewing and a new comedy show called, Steptoe and Son, made us all laugh.  I'd enjoyed that year, and the four weeks I'd worked at the Godalming branch of Timothy Whites, for it was that year I'd discovered that a strikingly pretty girl would go out with me.  It was there that I'd earned the extra money to widen my horizons and it had made my confidence grow.  It's nice to recall it all began on that long ago June day when I purchased my very first vinyl 45rpm single by good old Joe Brown!    
 

     

 

[Ken]

This memory was fun to write for it tells of my love of music and how it almost brought my brother Gordon and I to fisticuffs.  It also takes me to the Godalming of 1962 and saw me dating a truly beautiful girl who actually turned up for our dates.  I wonder if she's aged as well as me!