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A Child of the Twenties
A suburban childhood of the Twenties
seen from the Ninteen Nineties
by John Robert Laws 1921-2008
Part 9.
INNOVATIONS
Besides cars, the other result of the internal combustion
engine was the increasing number of aircraft in the sky. With development
forced ahead of WWI they had now become a practicable though expensive form of
transport. Small air shows with two or three small aeroplanes would tour the
summer holiday resorts seeking out a suitable field to set up their circus.
They would offer a quick circuit of the town at five bob a go and give a little
show of aerobatics. With a small charge for admission to the field they
struggles on for a few years before going broke or in a very few cases managed
to get an airline or charter business going.
As well as these little efforts, the RAF put up an annual
show at Hendon which was very impressive at the time though very small beer by
today’s standards. In my late schooldays I went there on my bike and found a
hillside field overlooking the aerodrome where one could see it all for free.
The highlight of the show was a low wing monoplane, probably a prototype
Hurricane which came through a shallow dive at over three hundred miles an
hour. There were still ten years to wait for the first jet engines.
Another lusty industry of my early years was the cinema. The
silent screen with its overworked pianist trying to provide theme music was
just beginning to give way to the ‘talkies’. Charlie Chaplin carried on without
a word eating his boots in ‘The Gold rush’ but the soundtrack was with us and
although it all continued to be black and white the musical was on its way and
the cinema was moving into its few decades of boom years. One of the more
treasured toys of my under ten years was a movie projector and its few cans of
film. It had no motor and had to be cranked by hand, like the early movie
cameras, but it was well made and worked well. The was no eight millimetre then
and it used the full size 35mm so the films were short and ran perhaps five or
ten minutes. I knew them all off by heart before long but this did not detract
from the fascination of something that actually worked.
Although the early thirties were just crawling out of
depression there were more large houses being built than cheap semis. The extension
to the Piccadilly Line of the Underground railway to Enfield West now called
Oakwood, and then to Cockfosters which influenced our move to Southgate was an
important event. Free tickets to try it out were given out to all households in
the catchment area. A building project which interested me more was however was
the new ice rink at Harringay. It was after we had moved to Southgate when I
was able to get there, but Harry and I became regulars. Being already able to
roller skate made it much easier to get going on ice though not without a few
tumbles. At one of our first visits we were offered free admission to the
evening ice hockey if we would take part in a farcical match with brooms and a
football in the interval of the ice hockey. We accepted of course and I seem to
remember it brought the house down. Next Monday a school I found that I had
been observed was asked why I had been acting the clown.
Innovations in materials was less noticeable than other major
changes but nonetheless on the way with enormous potential. Plywood soon
replaced solid panels in all but the most expensive furniture. A brief reign of
a few decades before chipboard came,
bring back the use of veneering which had existed a couple of hundred years
earlier. In our old fashioned furniture the wood was solid and in our kitchen
the knives were sharp, made before the new stainless steel became de rigour for
cutlery. They had to be cleaned of course and the knife cleaner, a wooden
machine with rotary brushes turned with a cast iron handle stood in the kitchen
with its tin of abrasive powder nearby. There was no plastic except celluloid
which was highly inflammable and used for little except toys, and ebonite which
was used for a while in electrical goods. Even the plug tops for our new
electric points were ceramic. Cooking pots and saucepans were iron, vitreous
enamel or copper, aluminium on the way for a few years later and stainless
steel way in the future. Plastic bags were a blessing yet to come. This means
that few groceries were pre-packed, the grocer weighed out your biscuits from a
large tin into a paper bag and the broken ones were sold off cheap.
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Family Events from our database for today April 1
1750 - Marriage: Samuel HINT-8560 and Margaret LAWS-8032, Pauls Wharf MDX
(St.Benets) UK
1813 - Birth: Althea MATTHEWS-48225, Wheeling VA USA
1820 - Baptism: William WATSON OR WALTON (Tea Dealer & Grocer) -38921, Warmfield WRY UK
1828 - Birth: Robert WING-31870, St Marylebone MDX UK
1837 - Will Proved: Michael LAWS (Gentleman) -29817, Strand MDX
1837 - Birth: Jane LAWS-9022, Chertsey SRY UK
Chertsey Surrey UK
1849 - Death: Sophia CORY-3747, Stratton Strawless NFK UK
Stratton Strawless Norfolk UK
1850 - Birth: Marion Jane LAWS (Milliner) -5006, St Pancras MDX UK
St Pancras Church MDX UK
1852 - Birth: Mary Ann LAWS-4047, Tivetshall St Mary NFK
Tivetshall St Mary Norfolk UK
1862 - Birth: Margaret Jane Mckenzie LAWS-43738, Morpheth DUR UK
1863 - Occupation: Thomas Francis Cresswell LAWS (Ships Steward) -57936, MELBOURNE to SYDNEY
1864 - Burial: Phillip LAWS (Bathchair Lender) -7457,
1877 - Death: Bertha LAWS-124318, Jersey City Heights NJ USA
1882 - Birth: Lou MESSENGER-40914, KS USA
1891 - Census: Edwin James LAWES (Canadian Army Private) -38776, Bishops Waltham HAM UK
1894 - Birth: Ethel Irene MCDANIEL (Supervisor) -42270, Schaal, Howard Co. AK USA
1895 - Birth: Edgar Eli LAWES-125250,
1896 - Birth: Henry William LAWS (Stoker 1st Class K/25137) HMS "Erebus" -45085, Camberwell, QLD AUSTRALIA
1896 - Birth: Andrew Thomas LAWS (Baker) -37129, Dunston, Gateshead DUR UK
1897 - Death: Sidney James LAWES-43244, Coombe Bissett WIL UK
Coombe Bissett Wiltshire (St Michael All Angels)
1901 - Occupation: Charles Joseph LAWS (Timekeeper /Clerk CC) (Private Canadian 180 Btn 86245) -36777,
1901 - Birth: John M LAWS (Metal polisher & Buffer) -123476, Wolf Creek, Whitley Co, KY USA
1907 - Marriage: Marshall James PIKE (Fireman) -121530 and Jane Elizabeth LAWS -121529, Lewisham KEN UK
1907 - Birth: Tamar Hargreaves Hayes GIBSON-52401, Cholton LAN UK
1907 - Death: Henry ASHDOWN-6001, Burt Street, Balmain South, Sydney NSW Australia
1909 - Birth: Lola LAWS-120469,
1910 - Birth: Arthur Edward LAWS-42212, Kingston Upon Hull ERY UK
Kingston upon Hull East Riding of Yorkshire (with the Humber Estury beyond)
1911 - Census: Fred Mclean LAWS (Railway Signalman) -119209, Peterborough CAM UK
1918 - Death: James Albert LAWS (ARMY Private 871424) -6866, Vimy, Pas de Calais FRANCE
1920 - Birth: Thomas Joseph LAWS-43607, Kingston Upon Hull ERY UK
1920 - Birth: Opal J Parker LAWS-42398, Grand Chain, Pulaski Co IL USA
1927 - Birth: Agnes Edna Muras LAWS-55184, Newcastle upon Tyne NBL UK
Newcastle upon Tyne Northumberland (looking South East)
1929 - Marriage: Samuel Stanley Alfred LAWES-121895 and Edith Hilda POWLEY-124397, Catton NFK UK
1931 - Birth: Doris LAWES-118936,
1931 - Death: Dorethy L LAWS-41475, Boyle Co KY USA
1937 - Miscellaneous: Maud Rosetta WILLOUGHBY (Shirt Ironer) -38511,
1937 - Will Proved: William Alfred LAWS (Fish Porter) -9691,
1940 - Residence: Ralph Lonzo (Farmer) LAWS-125471, Bryson City NC USA &
1940 - Census: Nantahala, Swain NC USA
1940 - Miscellaneous: William LAWES (General Labourer) -116486,
1941 - Death: Doris LAWES-118936,
1941 - Military: Robert Alexander LAWS (Technical Illustrator) -39405, Military Medal
1943 - Death: Alice Louisa LAWS (Barmaid) -3670, Swainsthorpe NFK UK
1943 - Birth: Peter John LAWES (Chartered Engineer)-1297, Whitby, NRY UK
Whitby NRY UK (Harbour at night)
1944 - Death: Sarah Matilda LAWS-40952, Los Angeles CA USA
1944 - Miscellaneous: Charles LAWS (AUSTRALIAN ARMY) -32313,
1946 - Birth: Peyton LAWS-40213, Harris Co TX USA
1948 - Birth: Fay Rena LAWS-40253, Harris Co TX USA
1948 - Death: Agnes JOHNSON (Shopkeeper) -30974, Bournemouth HAM UK
Bournemouth on the border beteen Hampshire and Dorset
1950 - Birth: Linda Louise LAWS-40302, TX USA
1957 - Miscellaneous: Sidney Lionel LAWS (Storehouse Assistant) -123212,
1957 - Admon: Bertie LAWS-123211,
1959 - Death: Olivia LAWS-36737, Watford HRT UK
1960 - Birth: Ann LAWS (Company Director) -46487,
1961 - Marriage: Frank WILLIS-115550 and Sheila Marie LAWS-53922, Dawdon DUR UK
1961 - Marriage: Cecil James BAXTER-32686, Auburn NSW AUSTRALIA
1965 - Miscellaneous: Mary Ann Frances STEEL-43389,
1965 - Admon: Charles LAWS-41918,
1966 - Burial: Fred LAWS (PFC US Army) -37954, South Madison TN USA
1968 - Birth: Steven LAWS-54631, Hebburn Colliery DUR UK
1972 - Death: Leslie Michael IRWIN-3517,
1973 - Death: Elizabeth Ida LAWS (Spinster) -5858, Great Yarmouth NFK UK
Great Yarmouth Norfolk
1976 - Death: Edward John LAWS-39431, Hamilton County, Cincinnati, OH USA
1978 - Death: Thomas Henry LAWS-121585,
2004 - Death: Clifford Oliver DODSON-3548, Shepparton VIC AUSTRALIA
2006 - Death: Esther LAWS-167480,
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