The Fifties - a commercial break    

Remember, remember the fifties, the festival?
Science, art, industry all put on show.
Beacons of change arrayed on the south bank,
Pavilioned in splendour, and British you know.

The modernist skylon, and dome of discovery
Welcomed the masses to Festival Hall.                    
Iconic images plastered on posters,
Brands from an age we just love to recall

Our new baby Belling, in shining enamel,
The iron’s a sunbeam, that kettle’s a swan.
A goblin teas-made should wake us up early,
That slumberland mattress might let us snooze on.

The sofa and chairs are from Gimson and Slater
The sideboard is G-plan, now that isn’t cheap
The Axminster’s grufty but who needs a hoover
I’m trusting our Ewbank will make a clean sweep

Picquot-ware teasets with sycamore handles
Toby’s from Doulton and tureens from Spode
Models of spitfires, in kit-form by Airfix.
A new Raleigh cycle to whiz down the road

Guinness is good for you, Craven ‘A’ wasn’t,
Mappin and Webb produced best Sheffield plate.      
Vases from Whitefriars, Ercol-made furniture,
Midwinter pott’ry designed by Miss Tait

Lean-leaded windows, inspired by Mackintosh?
Tana-lawn fabrics and Liberty prints
Willow by Morris on Sanderson wallpaper,
Bring in the Conran and throw out that chintz.

Only two years ‘til the Queen’s coronation
Our new Bush tele, the first in the street.
“Remove all those nets Stan, the neighbours are gathering.
Tell Nan to hurry or she’ll lose her seat.”

Somerset ciders and gorge-ripened cheeses
Ales from Burton and Kippers from Peel.              
Melton pork pies with Long Clawson Stilton
Pudding or Tart? What’s the real Bakewell deal?

Lyons Maid mivvis and McVitie penguins
Caramac, Spangles and Quality Street.                                          
Fry’s Chocolate Cream, they’ve all came off ration
And few can resist such a sugary treat



Some drinks for the kiddies? We’ve Vimto or Tizer.
A small ‘gin and it’ should satisfy Nan
The Bristol cream’s empty. Mum’s found the Babycham
Get out the Mackeson for the old man.

Now feeling off colour? Well, try Pepto Bismol.
There’s no Andrew’s Liver Salts left in the tin.                      
For Nan’s jippy tummy we’ve milk of magnesia.
She should stick to tonic and leave off the gin.

Home Service fav’rites each day on the wireless,
John Snagge, Nan Winton and Cliff Michelmore
Dimbleby, Alvar Liddell and Fyfe Robertson,
William Hardcastle and Corbet Woodall.

On the light program Dick Barton, Paul Temple,
Hancock’s Half Hour, Appointment with Fear.
Mum likes the series that’s all about country folk,
It’s called The Archers, but won’t last, my dear.

The kiddies watch Crackerjack! Ivor the Engine,
Sooty, Blue Peter, Noggin the nog,
Muffin the mule, Rag, Tag and Bobtail,
The star of the Woodentops; old Spotty dog.

We listen to skiffle on records from Decca.
Dear Ivor Novello and Jolson are dead.
So stick Nan’s old gramophone up in the attic
We’ve got a new Dansette with speakers instead.

Mother knows best with all products domestic.
Tide, Daz or Omo when clothes need a wash
Bricks of carbolic like Lifebuoy and Sunlight
Imperial Leather, to make us smell posh.

Your favourite comic, the Dandy or Beano?
Beezer or Topper? The Eagle was mine
Fans of the Bunty, remember Four Mary’s?
And that headmistress who kept them in line.

Ladybird books, we’ve plenty to choose from
Tootles the Taxi and Lost at the Fair
The Gingerbread Boy, What to look for in winter,
Piggly Plays Truant, The Tortoise and Hare.

‘O’ gauge by Bassett-Lowke, Triang and Hornby
Clockwork’s outdated now ‘lectrics the thing
Boys with Meccano, tin-plated creations
Off’ring a glimpse what the future may bring

Every girl dreams of a new pram by Silver Cross
Fine Witney blankets in salmon or peach
A doll’s house in plywood, some boxes of Bayko
A seersucker costume to wear on the beach

Palettes of paints straight from Windsor and Newton
Crayons by Lakeland and gummed paper squares
Boxes of plasticine, Painting by Numbers,                            
 ‘Don’t stretch that Slinky or fall down them stairs.’

Paintings by Piper, some sketches of Shropshire
Shell-guided journeys their latest book shows
JB has captured each village and hamlet
Pen portraits of people and places he knows.

Only last week I caught up with Betjeman
Took out the Morgan to meet him in Wells.      
Cheese and herb scones at the Tudor-house cafe
List’ning to extracts from ‘Summoned by Bells’

“We’ll try the Earl Grey dear, with some of that Parkin,
The third programme hopes for an excerpt next week.
But the section on Marlborough is barely half-finished
The chapter on Highgate? That still needs a tweak.

The poet once said that, “childhood is measured...
By sounds, smells and sights” from times long ago
Gathered, preserved in the vast vaults of memory
Before the “dark hour of reason can grow.”

So gone are the fifties, that childhood of innocence
The Hand-knitted swimsuit, the Cotton-string vest
We’ll see them no more but can treasure the memories,
Knowing those times were prob’ly the best.

Mark Temple.