Symptoms

James Gandolfini, the actor who played Tony Soprano the Mob boss in that fabulous Yankee TV series The Sopranos, has croked in Rome ... he was only 51 when his ticker gave-out. Probably the best telly series ever. R.I.P.

Excellent news John ... it's good to keep this topic going.

I was about to suggest that The North East War Memorials Project - www.newmp.org.uk/ - might have been interested in this story but they have a slightly dated page about it already ... Does anybody know if the Memorial at the Grammar School is still there, now that the place is called the High School?

Eggs - the 'grass' in that photo in your first post looks suspiciously like that plakka roll-on stuff and not real tufts; or you don't have a mutt that causes brown patches where it pees; or ankle-biters to wreck the place and kick the gravel about. Ah, peace and quiet!

There was millions of tons of all sorts of Government surplus available for the public to buy after WW2. I mentioned in an earlier thread about all this stuff being available in Lisle Street in London in the 60s & 70s and 1000s of other outlets Nationwide. Most civilian freight transport vehicles for maybe 15 years after WW2 were ex-military. It's amazing what you can still get these days from Government surplus outlets: just go to www.mod-sales.com for a taste. they had helicopters a year ago. Before the recent handgun ban (post Dunblane) and the slightly earlier full-bore semi-automatic rifle ban (post Hungerford) they were even flogging firearms to the public.

Sym is watching, and waiting to pounce. KeithL take care ... Mr/MrsPuss has sharp claws.

Tens of thousands, maybe hundreds of thousands, of these things started going up during the first big bun fight with Fritz back in 1916 and continued in various forms right up until the end of the second bun fight. As they were essentially 'knock-down' constructions they lended themselves to being flogged-off for other uses, so for this reason it's difficult to trace the original use of a specific building or place. Brilliant concept!

Maggs wrote: "Others lined the route of the the train standing at stations to pay there respects." Thank goodness our two Keiths weren't around at the time, they may have chucked themselves infront of the train by way of protest.

I think it would be a toss-up between Jimmy Nail or Kenneth Williams.

It's a myth that Apple products are safer, just about all platforms are at risk. The perception that Apple/Macs didn't get infected was due to the tiny market share these things had years ago so it wasn't worth the time spent attacking them; richer pickings were available on the 96% of all other machines running Microsoft/Windows. The growth in Apple sales has made them a more legitimate target. Good virus scanning software and a suspicious mind are about as far as you can go in protecting your PC/Mac/device.

Keith wrote: "The wife was born in the Taylor homes in 1912." Blimey, is Mrs Keith 101? I remember the road signs in the 60s warning motorists of wrinklies crossing the road but when you looked up the long drive I doubt many could have made it to the road from the home.

But who would play our Wonk? Suggestions please:

The Forum is a much tamer place than it used to be. I like nothing better than a good old scrap here ... it's a bit like fishing really. The wise fishermen standing on the left-bank often cast their lures into the murky waters swirling over on the right-bank ever hopeful of landing one of those big, bloated bottom-feeders. Battle is joined but the tussle always ends predictably with the scaly beast's thrashings being ended by the knockout blow from the fisherman's priest.

Always a choux à la crème (profiterole) especially the ones with a big dribble of chocko all over them ... yum! In the 60s my Mum always brought back Fenwick's meringues from the Toon ... they were big, off white in colour and filled with real cream (not that horrible chemical cream).

John - those images of the 'application form' are great .... what sort of date would they have been?

During inclement weather the girls always had first access to the school gym for their lessons and the boys had to make do with the changing-room. What physical activity could we do in there I hear you all ask? Wrestling! Best of all it was wrestling against the teacher. Gym mats would be placed on the floor and the class would form a big circle around this ring ... lads would be sitting on the floor,standing on the changing benches, lying across the coat rack shelves to form a sort of amphitheatre. Mr Cook would call each lad out in turn for a round of grappling - he would fight the whole class and always win. I remember one lad (I know his name but will not mention it) who got pinned-down in a hold by Mr Cook, the lad's arse was next to the teacher's face so he let off an enormous fart 'right between his eyes' ... what a hoot, and it entered the school's folklore. The lad got whacked with the teacher's sandshoe. Just imagine this happening today ... the beak would get lifted by the Peelers and be done for kiddy-fiddling.

Thanks Micky for the names of the teachers ... I knew it had something to do with food.

I have clear memories of lots of older working blokes 'squatting on their honkers' whilst waiting at bus stops ... I was told by my Uncle that it was a fairly comfortable position for them due to a lifetime working in narrow/low pit seams, often squatting with bended knees.

44 years ago today:

School Visit to Consett Steel Works Taffy Williams, the metalwork teacher, arranged a coach visit to Consett to look around the steel works, it must have been in 1965. I have a vivid memory of approaching the town and site at the top of some hills and being shocked at the colour of the place ... everything was stained red, including the washing hanging from lines, from the air pollution being emitted from the plant. The site was huge. We saw the iron ore being conveyer belted into the blast furnaces non-stop, dust everywhere. The steel making section was alight with showering sparks, again non-stop. We had to walk over a high-level gantry and could look down into huge crucibles, maybe 10 feet in dia, of molten steel being moved via rail through the plant; we had a hockling competition at this point - dozens of gobs of phlegm being spat towards the open tops of these crucibles and being vapourised by the amazing heat. The rolling mill was a demonic place where blokes would catch wild, snaking, white-hot lengths of steel in giant tongs to redirect the steel into the rolling machines ... unbelievable stuff. We had lunch in the staff canteen and were teased by the blokes. Oh, and no elf & safety, no high viz or hard hats. Happy days.

Fantastic Eggs!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!. That class photo is 'the missing one' from my collection - I posted on the Forum ages and ages ago that my copy of this photo had been lost in one of my parents house moves but for some strange reason the other half-dozen I've posted here survived. You've made my day/week/month/year/decade. I'll now examine it to add names. Thanks again and send my thanks to Martin & Susan. I will send that personal message (PM) sometime this week ... it'll appear, via this site, into your registered email account (and be duplicated here in your user account somewhere).

Rory Gallagher - Irish bluesman ... fantastic!

Just read in the paper this morning about proposed building developments in and around World Heritage Sites in Blighty. Eric 'Where Have All The Pies Gone' Pickles hasn't seemed willing to 'call-in' the proposals for review, so it's likely that unsympathetic development will take place. Anybody who's familiar with the London skyline knows that all of the iconic buildings have been swamped/blighted/hidden/spoilt/etc. by modern development. I love the look of skyscrapers and most modern architecture but it should be placed in context, eg: Canary Whalf, or be sympathetic to what's already there, like Portcullis House. When I lived in Paris the area known as La Défense was being developed and it's the only part of Paris where skyscrapers are built, and it looks terrific; the net result of this policy was to retain that wonderful, unspoilt Paris skyline. Compare that with just about any town or city in Blighty where, for the last fifty years, most of the lovely old town centres have been flattened. We do have a few notable exceptions and they're always a pleasure to visit. Progress is vital, new buildings essential, but place matters. It's only going to get worse! http://www.guardian.co.uk/culture/2013/jun/09/westminster-world-heritage-status-risk

Both Martin and Susan were in the same class as me throughout our time at Westridge. I last spoke to Martin was on Percy Street, Newcastle, in 1970 ... I'd just arrived off the King's Cross train and was walking up to the Haymarket to catch a bus for the onward journey to my parent's place (alas, no longer Bedders). The last time I saw Susan was at a party in Bedlington Station (she was with Martin) in 1967 ... I think it might have been a school leaving party... it could even have been in her home (did she live at B/Station?). Martin, if memory serves me correctly, lived at West Lee. Eggs - I'll send you a personal message through the Forum with my name and contact details which you might like to pass on to Martin & Susan; it would be great to hear directly from them.

From the Beeb's website ... tree planted in her memory at hospital where she croked: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-surrey-22825692