What do you remember from your youth that would never happen today?

Badgering motorists to give you their tokens to obtain a ‘tiger tail’ from the Shell/Esso garage (can’t remember which) and tying to it to your bikes handlebars. The cool kids had 3 or 4 flailing about in the wind at the end of their bars.

In Todmorden they used to have a ‘Soap Box Derby’ down the back of the Centre Vale park woods.
Very steep, and the soap box carts were usually old stripped out car chassis.
Loads of ale involved and only a few straw bales scattered about to protect people.
Mental, but good stuff

In my dads old bedford van with sliding front doors, driving around the west end while me and my brother tried hanging out of the door to look up ladies skirts. (never worked but kept us amused).
Later living in Devon and being stopped by the police for walking around with an air rifle; “just off to shoot rabbits”, “ok, just keep it covered in public”.
Shoplifting (usually off the top shelf as i was the tallest) and legging it, no cameras, and they always gave up after 20yards.
Drinking home made farmers scrumpy on scouts summer camp, never touched the stuff since!

– Smoking dope with my English teacher.
– Getting battered by teachers with slippers, hairbrushes (that was the old man), canes, Dunlop Green Flash (Mr Dalrymple, he would famously leave the Dunlop logo imprinted in the bruise on your arse) and anything else handy.
– Dunlop Green Flash
– One teacher, the legendary “Drac” Mensforth smoking in class and rubbing his hands constantly through his whiite hair, giving him a yellow nicotine streak.
– Nintendo Game and Watches
– Tetris for money in pubs (my mate Diggsy used to clean them out every time)
– Wham Bars
– Slaps and knuckles
– That creepy test card
– Why Don’t You? on TV. Even then struck me as slightly ironic..
– Wet dreams, usually involving Alison Pudge (better than she sounded).
– Endless summers with real, 100% British, sun

Another memory to add to my sailing one earlier..

We had a very large and very empty 1880’s Old Colonial 12 bedroom farmhouse very near to my home back then and me and my mate Randy (yes his name was Randy, it was the 70’s & in Florida) would sail down to it and then run around the place. I can still remember the creaky floorboards and massive spiders webs and odd bits of furniture that were left behind. The fridge and larder had old cans of corned beef and sweetcorn and some random tins that the labels had fallen off, yes we opened them but bottled out eating anything that was inside, IIRC it looked ok. We made a den out of old sheets and curtains and would hideout there, some great times had there over the summers, then one day a few years later we got chased off by a farmer and got shot at by salt pellets that landed in my butt. God that stung, it was quite embarrassing have my Mum pull the still unbroken ones out with tweezers then scrubbing the others with lots of cold water..

Being out all day and getting so thirsty that you took a swig of vinegar in the chip shop.
Cycling from London to Southend without a patch or pump and watching the wall of death at the Kursaal.
Hitch hiking 1000 miles a month to climb in e.g. Stoney Middleton (now deserted by climbers).

I do recall being in the fifth year at school and going on a week long trip to menai (no doubt some on here will know it) and one of our tasks was to be blindfolded in a van and dropped a couple of miles away in the dark and told to make our way back. unlit roads, no torches and about half a dozed 15 year olds…. no risk assessments back then… We also had a cross country run from our school which involved running for about 2 miles along a very narrow path along the very busy A49 in cheshire ( Weaverham to what was the old SKI yoghurt factory for those that know it)…. they don’t do that anymore…

10m high diving platforms at the local swimming baths

This ^

Sharston baths in Wythenshawe had a 10m diving board that we used to do front flips off. I slapped my back a few times on that one.

a mega selling pop group releasing “Don’t stand so close to me”

Eating toast toppers

Holy crap I remember those now ! Thanks for the memories

Making Ninja stars in metal work, and the metalwork teacher just rolling his eyes having asked what we were making, then going home and lobbing them into the side of the wooden shed.

And properly messing around with fireworks

Digression: I heard of someone getting hit in the mouth by one of those stars. He asked his mate, “what kung fu dat den?” TOOATBT

On a lads’ only outdoor pursuits holiday in The Lakes, our games teacher told us it was traditional to stand in a line on a bridge and pee into the river. So we did. How very, very odd. Eight 14 y.o. pissing into a river with teach’ in the middle surveying things.

De-glazing a distant greenhouse with a .22 BSA Mercury S. I’m so ashamed…

Physics lessons with an old ex-army WW2 veteran. Introduction to metals involved having a tray of mercury which we were encouraged to dip our fingers into to see what it was like. Chasing said mercury all over the lab desk when it (inevitably) got spilled.
Connecting bunsen burner hose from cold water tap to gas tap on same desk, turning former on and seeing bunsens go out.
Making miniature cannon in metalwork ( before D&T invented). Only supposed to drill 1/2″ into barrel, deep drilled , drilled smaller pilot hole at back end, used thread to pull banger by fuse up barrel, small alu rivet in the end. Took out to playground, lit it and stood back….. I now realise how lucky that no one was on other side of hedge…

I can remember buying a pint at the Cricket Club for 22p and 20 Carlton premium were 20p inc a box of matches.

Physics lessons with an old ex-army WW2 veteran. Introduction to metals involved having a tray of mercury which we were encouraged to dip our fingers into to see what it was like.

Knicking the potassium and then chucking it into puddles in the school playground during break afterwards…. Setting fire to the Bunsen burners….

Driving somewhere to ride a bike.

White dogs mess

Porn mags in hedges?

Being put on the boat train to Dover in central London, taking the Dover Calais ferry then by train to Wuppertal in the Ruhr area of Germany to live with a lady my parents had met once on holiday. Including going to school with her daughter, getting top marks in an English test, the teacher not knowing who the hell I was. I was 13.

Playing kiss catch and I’ll show you mine if you show me yours with Eva & Enid in the school store cupboard.

Pitch battles every break time 1st 2nd & 3rd years agains 4th & 5th years the big bastards always won apart from a couple we managed to break away from the rest.

Vesta Curries

War cards that you got free with some kind of sweets . Each card had a picture depicting somebody being blown to bits or some other graphic war related death scene . We used to swap them with other kids or even buy them if they had a card you really needed to try and get the full set , I think a full set could be sold for what seemed like decent money to other kids.

My mates and I at about age 13 found that JB’s cub in Dudley would have their deliveries on a Sunday. Not unusual you may think but, there was never anyone there on Sunday. The supplier used to load up the outside loo with their coming weeks supplies of beer, larger, cider and pop. Again, perfectly normal I suppose apart from the fact there was no lock on the door!
The temptation was too much. We got completely frazzled one afternoon and in our half pint stupor, went back for more, only to be confronted by a geezer who’d been watching us from the Pathfinder building overlooking JB’s.
We were given a proper telling off and instructed to return our spoils and make haste.
Without doubt there would nowadays be a police involvement.
However, in spite of the fact the practice to deliver unsecured amounts of booze on Sunday continued, we never again attempted to nick any.
We pilfered my mates dads cellar in Abberley House instead.

At 13 cycling from Stockport to Chester, riding round some of the wall, then riding home. No lunch, no food on the way back, and when I got in, had to go out and do my paper-round, which was 6 miles in the afternoon.

And, no joke, my paper-round was 10 miles in the morning, before school and everyday. Explains my successful juvenile and junior cycling career 🙂

Texan bars,

Quattro (the drink)

Playing cards on your bikes to make it sound like a motorbike

Neighbours that would give you a clip around the ear if need be

Kids from one street having a battle with kids from another street

Being terrified of Purple Akkie

CB radio in your bedroom, wired up to a car battery

Bolt bombs (the sort with two bolts and one nut, with match heads in between – not IRA style).

Playing splits with knives on the school playing field.

Finding a large pool of mercury under a bench in the chemistry lab.

Scraaaaap!! at school when a fight broke out. Actually this probably still happens. As, I suspect do quite a lot of the things on this thread.

The whole cub scout football team in one estate car

Reminds me of 7 kids in a Honda Civic after tennis club because one mums car broke down so we all piled in one for the 6 mile journey home

We also had a cross country run from our school which involved running for about 2 miles along a very narrow path along the very busy A49 in cheshire ( Weaverham to what was the old SKI yoghurt factory for those that know it)…. they don’t do that anymore…

Blimey Marcus7 you must’ve been close to my year at Weaverham High School!?

You’re right, they don’t still do it. My daughter goes there now, and when I asked her I just got that look of disgust that only school sports averse teenage girls can give!

the Sir John Deanes cross country circuit used to go along the canal, over the bridge and back, I’ve heard a story from my dad about a lad who bet loads of people individually that he could swim it to cut it short and did once he got to a sizeable chunk of cash !

me and tthew moved down south when our dad got a new job, the Calthorpe Park cross country course used to take you through a farm with a cowsh1t strewn lane that had bits of barbed wire sunk into the mud and turds, then there was a stream you had to run through that cleaned your trainers, there was usually one kid that slipped and fell on his arse in the stream

Playing British Bulldog at scouts.

I was the last one and as a result of my attempt to get through, I have (27 years later) no radial head and 4 inch scar in my left elbow.

Happy Days

CB radio in your bedroom, wired up to a car battery

One nine for cornflake, bloody hell think my twig was called a fire blade or something we had some fun on CB’s good memories

Having coal delivered, and having to go out at night into the freezing cold wet garden to fill up the coal bucket when it was my turn.
Electric blankets to warm up the bed, this was before we had central heating, I remember ice on the inside of windows in the morning, no double glazing eather.
Rag and bone man, and we used to get the salvation army band playing on the corner of the road on a sunday.
Herbal cigarettes, this was something you could buy over the counter, not wacky baccy, my parents were heavy smokers and I remember them buying them for a while as they were supposed to be good for you.
My dad buying party 7’s and getting a shandy out of it.
Used to travel for miles in the back of my dads chrysler/talbot? alpine, actually in the boot facing backwards, making faces and jestures at other drivers.
Star Wars cards, used to get a rock hard stick of chewing gum, and I have a vague memory of Hammer Horror cards as well??
Climbing trees and carving your initials in the bark with the new penknife I just brought.
The post arriving before anyone left the house in the morning, same with the milk and newspapers.
Vans coming around the streets selling bread.
As soon as I could ride a bike I was never in the house, always down my local woods. It’s funny I went back to those woods about a year ago and I probably walked around the whole place in less than half an hour, they seemed huge when I was a kid.
Being given a bottle of milk everyday at junior school.
The cane, the slipper, regular fights between kids and teachers – all boys comprehensive, KNUCKLE was what everyone used to shout when there was a fight.
3 TV channels and black and white TV.
Smoking in cinemas, I remember seeing Star Wars through a haze of smoke.

Great thread, bringing back lots of memories.

Sitting on my dad’s lap in the Zodiac, my hands on the chrome hooter ring on the steering wheel, his hands off the wheel, ‘Look Jack, 100mph’. I was 5…

I found and old Webley and Scott bolt action .410 in an outbuildig on a friends farm and was complaining in english class to said mate that we needed some ammo, The teacher overheard me and next day gave me a box of cartridges.

proper hay and straw bails how on earth are kids supposed to build a fort out of the giant size offerings these days and some of them aren’t even square ! 👿

Cars with decent names, like Zodiac, Zephyr, Cresta, Super Snipe…

ah you see at sir john dean’s I took rowing… unfortunately there were three too many for the eights so I generously took two lower 6th ladies out I coxed!!! happy days. unfortunately that’s as far as I got… 🙁

Our history teacher telling us about his exploits as captain of a large landing craft during the Second World War. The best history lessons ever.

Nativity Play when I was in Primary 1 (around 1990) and I was to play one of the wise men. Our school had a real lack of ethnic diversity, and since there was no way that all 3 wise men would have been white in the original story, a few of the teachers thought it would be really progressive, and forward thinking, to get one of the kids blacked up!

So, we ended up with two confused looking wise men and a golliwog! (like off old marmalade jars)

What’s truly amazing is that nobody was outraged.

Toffo toffees – ‘A man’s gotta do what a man’s gotta do…’
Peter Powell stunt kites.
Playing at scuba diving – with an empty Fairy Liquid bottle strapped to your back with an elasticated snake belt.
Leather footballs with the laces in.
Building dams in streams – even better if there was a rope swing above so you could attempt to get to the opposite bank.