The Regal Cinema Social Club in Lichfield were always looking for ways to get more people interested in joining and, in the autumn of 1970, as a bit of a laugh, they decided to set up a prune eating world record bid. The cinema and club manager, John Terry, announced the idea at the weekly… Continue reading World champion
Category: Miscellaneous
Armitage Ware colour samples
In 1927 Edward Johns & Co., (later Armitage Ware and then Ideal Standard) produced the very first coloured sanitary ware in the world. Biscuit-fired ware was shipped to their sister company, Richards Tiles Ltd in Tunstall, who applied a mottled colour glaze and fired it again. Only four colours were created – Mottled Armitage Green,… Continue reading Armitage Ware colour samples
A coronation carnival
If you are looking for events with which to celebrate King Charles’ coronation this year then why not take a look at the 1937 version and stage pillow fighting, cutting down a leg of mutton or even ‘climbing the greasy pole’? Like most towns and villages at that time a lot of effort was put… Continue reading A coronation carnival
A shipwreck find
An email from John Bennett last week, giving me a link to a BBC news article on a new display at the Gladstone Pottery Museum, gave me an excuse to look again at one of my favourite characters from the history of Armitage potteries – Robert Hedderwick Penman. The picture above, courtesy of the Gladstone… Continue reading A shipwreck find
What’s in a name?
This advert appeared in the Staffordshire Sentinel and Commercial & General Advertiser on 2nd October 1869 and seemed very strange when I first came across it. The pottery advertised in the Stoke papers whenever they wanted to recruit a pottery specialist but I couldn’t figure out why they would want a table manufacturer. After quite… Continue reading What’s in a name?
Guilty or not guilty?
Three court cases from the 19th C – but are they guilty?
The pottery pay dispute in 1914
In 1914 the pottery industry followed the same procedure for pay discussions that had been developed in the 1890s and it had a very set annual pay round – every company in the industry followed exactly the same routine. Prices that were to be paid to the potters for the following 12 months were set… Continue reading The pottery pay dispute in 1914
The 1921 census is here
The 1921 census will be the last census publication for some years to come – the 1931 Census of England and Wales was destroyed in a fire at the Office of Works in 1942, the 1941 Census was never taken due to the outbreak of the Second World War, and the 1951 Census is not… Continue reading The 1921 census is here
So, what’s a Challerpoy then?
Deciphering 250-year-old parish documents can be a challenge even though they were no longer written in Latin. Some are torn, crumpled scraps of paper with very faded writing. All of them have letters written differently to the modern day plus abbreviations which take some figuring out. Handwriting style varies a lot as you might expect… Continue reading So, what’s a Challerpoy then?
Your dog ate my tripe!
Tripe is simply a type of edible lining from the stomachs of various farm animals and most of it is from cattle, pigs and sheep but it can be from any ruminant so you might find venison tripe. It is an offal product – offal is a general term for the edible entrails and internal… Continue reading Your dog ate my tripe!