Friday Thread- Historical facts that are hard to fathom now

Not wanting to be that guy

We were stationed in Hong Kong in the 70’s and the Gurkhas were out there patrolling in the new territories looking for people trying to cross the border from mainland China. They were handed back to the Chinese authorities, and even as a kid I knew that there were horrific stories of what happened to them subsequently once in Chinese hands again. It was pretty common knowledge that some soldiers looked the other way if they came across folks trying to get across the border.

So I can well imagine if servicemen came across dead folks and it affected them

My dad worked for people who couldn’t read or write.

How old’s your dad? I used to work with at least one bloke who couldn’t read (mid 90s.)

There is Spanish blood in parts of Ireland thanks to the failed armada.

There are areas in west Wales that claim it as well. There used to be stories of doubloons being washed up in Rhossili bay on Gower because of Armada shipwrecks.

Sophisticated grooming

we had a photography club at our school which was quite popular with the teen boys. The teacher used to allow us to read his “photography magazines” (mid 90’s) which was basically porn..

There is a city in Mexico (Pachuca) which welcomed Cornish miners at the beginning of the 19th century to mine the local silver. As a result there are fish and chip shops (with ‘unusual’ fish), and also a local delicacy called pastis, which they will snick a hole into after it’s cooked and thread a large chilli inside.

When I first started shop work in my teens, it was fairly common to ask customers if they were ‘on the phone’ as a fair number of folk in Hull didn’t have landlines at home. I’m 44.

I’ve heard of people giving the number of the white phone box in their street as someone would hear it ringing and come and fetch them if they had a call.

We didn’t have a phone til I was 8.
Our number was 3833.

Not historical, just depressing, but for those who only know 1 illiterate person, and in the past at that, around 1/3 of current UK prisoners are illiterate.

My grandmother had to phone from a telegraph pole and be connected through the shop to Dublin, sometimes the call rang for ages as the lady in the shop was serving someone. I remember my grandfather going for water at the village pump as they had no running water.
They got a phone box when Ronald Reagan visited. I think his bodyguards outnumbered the village population.

Anybody remember party lines for your phone? Half the time you’d lift the reveiver to make a call but you couldn’t because your ‘party’ was on a call. You could always listen in to random folks calls though………..

I have seen smoking mentioned a couple of times. When i was nursing in the mid 80s smoking was allowed on hospital wards even in bed. Thats hard to fathom now. Some consultants would smoke on their rounds. Nurses used to smoke in the linin cupboard

Another one. My grandmother was sold into service at 14

A hirings fair and as the youngest daughter on a small subsistance farm that was her lot. At the hirings fairs the parents get money for signing their children up. This would be around 100 years ago

We were stationed in Hong Kong in the 70’s and the Gurkhas were out there patrolling in the new territories looking for people trying to cross the border from mainland China. They were handed back to the Chinese authorities, and even as a kid I knew that there were horrific stories of what happened to them subsequently once in Chinese hands again.

Lived up near the China border in the 90s. We’d find discarded Chinese clothing up in the hills whilst walking the dogs. People were petrified of meeting an illegal immigrant because of how desperate they’d be not to get caught and returned….