I was in a garden centre the other day and saw a bag of Skips crisps for sale. I had to check the sell-by date, as I initially thought they must’ve been beamed in from 1993. Even in the great crisp wars of the 80s and 90s, I don’t recall anyone evincing a dribbling desire for a Skips-based hit.
Bridges with landline phone numbers attached to them: ‘If you witness a vehicle striking this bridge, please call 0161..’ What, at 3 AM? Will anyone be there to answer? Do you get a free go on the speaking clock whilst you’re there?
What else has bizarrely/charmingly survived?
Me.
Huzzah! Well played!
Whilst the continuing rise of the long player record, makes me very happy, the re-emergence of the cassette is definitely a head scratcher.
Do you mean stuff you thought was no longer made and suddenly you see them and wonder if they’re still bought? I suppose they must be otherwise they wouldn’t be stocked.
Fray Bentos pies.
Vesta meals.
I was just talking to my wife about Vesta curries the other day.
They used to be advertised at prime time, so were very popular. However at that time Indian takeaways were few and far between in most parts of the country. Once they extended far and wide the writing must have been on the wall.
I was wondering when they had eventually gone out of business.
It is possible they did go bust, but the brand name was bought for next to nothing. That’s pure speculation on my part.
I don’t feel the least bit inclined to buy one though.
Originally made by Batchelors now owned by Premier Foods so I don’t think they’ve ever gone away. Height of sophistication to eat them in the seventies. Has anyone tried one recently.?
Back in the sixties we’d have curry at home as my father and aunt had both been born in India though it always had to contain raisins and typing this reminded me that you could get tins of curried baked beans
I don’t recall ever having a tin of curried baked beans, but I do recall during my student days was sautéing an onion in either curry powder or paprika and then adding a tin of baked beans. Not had for many many years, but I recall it being delicious – I shall have to try.
I have taken to sauteing shallots till they’re pretty much caramelised and then adding them to baked beans. Delish.
Her foxiness still puts her rice out in a ring on the plate before I ladle on my latest Indian masterpiece from the pot, Vesta serving-suggestion style.
Thankfully I never serve anything containing cardboard shrimps, desiccated coconut or dehydrated raisins.
Vesta curries have come up in conversation with friends a couple of times recently. An abomination – they insisted on putting sultanas in the curry. Get out of here. They introduced me to curry but every time I had one it gave me hiccups.
Fortunately coming from Birmingham we are blessed with some of the best Asian restaurants in the country and getting a really good curry is the easiest thing in the World to do.
Certain TV programmes, in particular soaps. In a streaming, multi-channel world they’re not part of the national conversation any more. This isn’t to denigrate soaps – I used to watch Coronation Street when it was only two episodes a week – but when was the last time EastEnders was widely discussed? I don’t think Emmerdale ever has been, but I had to look it up to be sure it is still being broadcast (at which point I also discovered that it hasn’t been called Emmerdale Farm for decades). The Apprentice? Still going, apparently. Likewise Dragons’ Den. I know. I was surprised too.
Gave up on Corrie about a decade ago. Recently watched EastEnders for a couple of years after a long break and it was actually very good at times. However a new producer came in and things went downhill. The Apprentice is surely a spoof programme at this point
I still like The Apprentice and Dragon’s Den.
The former is now a self parody but good entertainment and Dragon’s Den still has some very worthwhile moments.
Here’s one:
With that in mind, I was genuinely surprised to see that Hollyoaks is still on, albeit not as part of Channel 4’s evening schedule. I thought it had disappeared around 2010.
It would be difficult to convince anyone currently in their teens/twenties just how famous soap stars were in the 80s, and it also begs the question: do celebrities still declare supermarkets open?
Dragons Den is still very popular – explains why there are so many seasons of it.
Sadly, Doctor Who hasn’t survived.
There is of course a garish, attention-defecit-generation-pandering simulacrum that occasionally gets aired, and which has the same name, but the imaginative, fun, multiple episode stories with weekly cliff-hangers has vanished from our screens these days.
I think the garish, ‘delicious’ (Russell T), short attention span version is pretty much dead at this point in time. It seems to have run off the rails and nobody wants to deal with the baggage. It’s a shame; it just needs someone to make it more like old sci-fi. Less universe-scale-peril, more 2-3 lone Cybermen mooching around in a mine somewhere.
St. Austell hasn’t been the same for decades now.
It always seemed vaguely appropriate that the Dr Who episode was filmed in Old Baal china clay pit.
…and it’s just been cancelled, and Russell T has departed. Can it just get back to being a sci-fi show now?
Polos, Rollos, Rowntrees Fruit Gums & Pastilles, Humbugs, Flying Saucers, Sherbet Fountains and Shrimps. Still keeping dentists busy.
Huzzah!
Spangles and Sweet tobacco. Gone forever.
Sucks, booo!
Opal Fruits have ‘limited edition’ revivals once or twice year. I’ve been know to buy a bag when I would shun the parvenu Starburst.
Daughter is at Warwick University which, famously, is actually in Coventry. Not far from Coventry University.
Got that? Anyway, to the point. The massive Sainsbury’s in Cov is a hot bed of limited edition sweeties. I bought a cache of bags of Opal Fruits in there earlier this year. They do taste very different to Starburst’s. The hallowed Strawberry ones in particular.
I read this and started salivating.
Rowntrees Fruit Gums still exist, but the recipe has been changed.
They are now some sort of neither gum nor jelly concoction and should be taken to court under Trade Descriptions for impersonation of what were my favourite sweets when I was a child.
I have even bought them in the British section in my local Canadian supermarket. A different shape from what I remember, but still guaranteed to remove any crowns or loose fillings in your mouth. Thought they tasted pretty similar though
I liked Toffos (the different flavours ones) and Tooty Frooties/Minties. Skittles are an approximation of the former but if anyone sees any Tooty Minties please let me know!
Surprisingly enough you can still get Spanish Gold sweet tobacco but sweet cigarettes appear to have gone the journey, unsurprisingly enough.
https://www.aquarterof.co.uk/products/sweet-tobacco?_pos=1&_sid=3d3088776&_ss=r
You can get chocolate cigarettes though.
Like a cigarillo?
I did notice on the same site that you can get these things, probably the worst looking sweet I have ever seen:
https://www.aquarterof.co.uk/products/chocolate-coated-marshmallow-bananas
Ah yes, a quarter of is a marvellous website.
Downstairs I have a foot-high jar of Winter Mixture from them. Begone, diabetic considerations, I demand the right to occasionally breathe clove and oil of wintergreen fumes across the room. I also have a hefty box of Sports Mixtures with the proper black ones, not those namby-pamby too-soft blackcurrant pastiches they shipped with the later types, and a couple of dozen little bags of Floral Gems. I’ll go down chewing.
Monster Munch.
Is there anything garden centres don’t sell..? Ah, we need Skips, just off to Greenfingers to pick up a multipack….!
I’d be there like a shot if they have bacon flavoured Football Crazy.
In 2024 Readers Digest ceased operations in the UK, but you can still buy a print edition 6 times a year in the US. When I were a lad, every waiting room was dotted with them.
I Am John’s Pancreas kept me fascinated while I waited for my turn in the barber’s chair.
Laughter The Best Medicine
Wasn’t there also a regular item called Improve Your Word Power, in which you had to choose the correct definition of a particular word from three choices?
It Pays to Increase Your Word Power, alas monetary remuneration was sadly unforthcoming.
The phrase “It pays to increase your word power” emphasizes the importance of expanding your vocabulary, as it correlates with better communication skills, academic success, and career opportunities. This concept is often highlighted in educational contexts to encourage language learning and proficiency.
I used to enjoy seeing how many I could get right. I used to go round to a school friend’s house (we must have been 11 or 12 at the time) in the afternoon and spend time sitting reading stories (and doing quizzes) in Reader’s Digests taken from a large pile of back issues in his dad’s garage or shed (I forget now what it was). I seem to recall that there were also true stories … How I Survived a Plane Crash in the Andes, and the like.
Most aspirant middle class households, like my parents, had a shelf or two of Readers Digest Condensed Books, volumes of, usually, four novels, shortened and bowdlerised, sufficient to impress the neighbours and suggest bookishness. Hopeless for pubescent boys fast forwarding for anything remotely sexual.
There was an episode of “Toast” on Radio 4 about why they failed.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0024fjk
In the 90s Reader’s Digest used to have very up-market quiz nights as part of their doomed effort to prove to the publishing world that they were still relevant. Prizes included Harrod’s hampers, magnums of champagne and weekends in French chateaux.
Tizer – I thought long gone, but it was there on Tescos shelf.
I bought a bottle, won’t be buying another …
Disgusting stuff
Tizer the Appetizer. Even when I was 8 I thought that was bullshit.
I thought it was ok, but Tizer’s problem was that it never actually tasted of very much at all. It didn’t market itself as anything in particular and was essentially flavourless. It was just fizzy and had an interesting red colour but then Corona made a veritable rainbow of very vivid fizzy pop each with a specific flavour (bring back delicious neon green Corona limeade please). I defy anyone to try to describe what Tizer tasted of. Red soda water maybe?
Still streets better than Irn Bru, mind.
Far be it from me to go down the “can anyone remember? “route but there was a drink we could get at the local chippy called Space Special. What was special about it? It was bright blue, god knows what artificial colourings were used.
I’ve looked it up it was part of the Suncharm range from Ben Shaws. Unfortunately I can’t find a single photo of it.
I saw Jack Docherty in Soho on Saturday, in his stage show as his Chief character from Scot Squad. He referenced Cremona Foam and told the English people in the audience that they would have to look it up later.
For the curious…
https://threadinburgh.scot/2022/08/29/the-thread-about-creamola-foam-and-the-unpleasant-skeleton-in-its-closet/
Creamola Rice was a childhood favourite, a smooth, yellow rice pudding IIRC.
Home and Away. My daughter used to watch it when she got home from school in the early 90s (along with Neighbours). It’s still going, after 39 seasons and 8,728 episodes.
An actor called Ray Meagher is the only surviving cast member who has been in the series since the first episode.
Panto! Even now, Panto season is a much-needed boost to countless local theatres throughout the nation. I have found myself trying to explain Panto to non-Brits and it’s not easy to do.
It’s usually an adaption of an ancient out-of-copyright fairy tale, peppered with innuendo. The audience expects it to be awful and, ideally, the cast members should have a well-known name (e.g. Julian Clary) and then smattering of lesser-known figures, the more obscure the better.
Having said that, I did see one a panto in a suburb of Vancouver, Canada. The local am dram theatre group hired an established actor, a man in his late 50s, who the audience seemed to warmly recognise. He was great. Head and shoulders above the rest of the cast. Probably an easy few grand for him and also a nice stroke of the ego, being the biggest star for a few weeks.
If you have the time or inclination, The Gentle Author, of the very wonderful Spitalfields Life blog, has a tres amusing account of working in a Northern Scotland theatre company’s production of “Dick Whittington”…
https://spitalfieldslife.com/2025/01/08/panto-time/
Love it – thanks!
In what now seems like a somewhat odd shift in the time/space continuum, I can recall that in my childhood I saw Arthur Askey in panto at Richmond Theatre. Yes, he did the whole “Hello playmates” and Busy Bee song etc. He must have been seriously old but still went down well with the grandparents in the crowd. It must be partly why when the Fast Show had Paul Whitehouse’s Arthur Atkinson character I immediately got it.
There’s a statue of Max Miller very near Brighton Dome and I doubt any of the stage crew know who he was.
My dad, now at end of life at 97, saw a lot of the old music hall performers at the Metropolitan Theatre, Edgware Road including The Crazy Gang and Wilson Kepple and Betty, doing their pre Walk Like an Egyptian routine. I don’t think The Bangles have anything to worry about.
Arthur Askey made his stage debut in Colchester in 1924. I know this because there is a plaque to commemorate the event on the building which housed the theatre, now a hair salon. It’s opposite the ‘Spoons should you wish to go looking.
I (now) have a very vague recollection of the same thing. A trip to the panto as part of my Mum’s works Christmas celebrations. Would have been the early part of the 70’s.
In the 70s I used to watch things like Looks Familiar on the TV – a nostalgia show featuring Dennis Norden, Frank Muir and various panellists from the old days. These type of shows were on quite a bit.
My parents loved the grainy footage of music hall acts from the 1930s & 40s, mainly.
The catchphrases were things like “can you hear me, Muther?” and such things always got them chuckling with recognition. The thing is, my parents would only have been in their mid-40s at the time I thought that they were watching largely unfunny, outdated stuff from the Stone Age.
I can only think that a young Paul Whitehouse must have had the same experience but clearly developed some affection for those performers, along with Simon Day with his Tommy Cockles character.
The legacy carries on to this day in my household when a cup of tea is required. This can elicit a variety theatre-type piece. A song that goes #ooh, I’d like a nice cup of teaaa!” as if it’s a well-known wartime singlalong number.
They probably heard the catchphrases from their parents as I know I did.
“can you hear me, Mother?” was Sandy Powell.
Isn’t there a law that when x amount of old duffers are congregated in one place sooner or later someone will mention Spangles?
And none of them would have liked Old English Spangles when they were kids. They actually tasted of sheepdogs I recall.
I thought it was Dulux that tasted of sheepdog?
It’s entirely plausible that hard Dulux was carved into small lozenge sweets. Based on the taste.
Wasn’t mustard one of the flavours?
And aubergine, possibly teal but that tastes of duck.
Is teal a long, slippery fish from Yorkshire?
👏👏
“Spangles were always crap,” a poet once wrote.
It’s gone now but I was surprised to find that Ask Jeeves only closed down earlier this year.
Jeeves, Bertie Wooster. So archaic what fool decided on that name.
I’ve never read any of PG Wodehouse’s work or seen any of the films or TV shows. The only thing I know is that that’s where the quintessential name for a butler come from but that’s it. That, of course, doesn’t make it a good name for a search engine… but then you could say the same about Google & AltaVista… where did the name Bing come from?!
P.O.O Jeeves’ is actually a gentleman’s valet, though he did occasionally butle.
My brother in law’s surname is Wooster, so he’s always been known as Bert, but that’s where the similarity ends. He’s like the spiv, Private Walker, in Dad’s Army only without the charm.
Bing Crosby?
While Jeeves was indeed a valet I believe he personally identified as a “gentleman’s personal gentleman”
Ovaltine and Horlicks. At a time where there are more tea, coffee and hot chocolate bastardisations available, the continued sale of malty hot drinks is impressive.
Not to mention Bournvita, which was my malty drink of choice.
You just need the right branding. In the UK, Ovaltine and Horlicks have allowed themselves to become associated with being the sort of drinks your grandparents give you before you go to bed. Over here in SE Asia, Milo, which is pretty much the same thing, is marketed as an energy drink. They have tennis players and footballers on the packaging.
exactly – see how Lucozade rebranded itself along similar lines in the 1990s
Lucozade. I keep a bottle in the fridge for emergencies.
I had a bottle ready for my next colonoscopy (in a couple of weeks) but, last night, either Offspring the Elder or her friend actually consumed it through choice.
Luozade is Boomer Red Bull really isn’t it?
It doesn’t seem the same as when you had to buy it from the chemist and the bottle was wrapped in orange cellophane.
I think it now qualifies as a luxury refreshment rather than medicine and has to be low-glucose to avoid the sugar tax. Which is rather missing the point!
Eek – have they stopped using a tube now? 😉
*Sorry, Steve – I know that said procedure is no laughing matter.
I once had one on Valentine’s Day, was estranged from my then wife so it was the only action I was getting that day.
I was offered one on my birthday last year, but declined, and had it on my mum’s birthday instead. Because of the sedative, I was off my tits, and my birthday wishes didn’t make a lot of sense.
I seem to remember Lucozade was something your mum bought you if you were off school ill. The ailment didn’t matter: a broken leg, pneumonia, or simply faking it.
My mates mum used to use camomile tea in the same way. As the taste was so disgusting, he would crawl to school rather than have to drink it.
A tiny drop of honey makes all the difference, though I appreciate that this tip probably comes too late for your mate.
My mum was a pharmacist and her cure for every single ailment was “take a paracetamol and you’ll be fine, off to school you go….”
My mum wasn’t a pharmacist – but she had a similar view. Her chosen cure-all was Junior Aspirin: this was before the identification of Reye’s Syndrome and the banning of aspirin in the under 16s. I used to like the taste, so I would never refuse it – and luckily, my sister and I seem to have survived…
Put out more flags, I’ve just discovered you can still get Victory V lozenges!
The real deal, they put those ridiculous Fisherman’s Friend things into the shade. In the fourth form one could suck Victory Vs all day in class, and if the beak told you to spit it out you’d claim laryngitis and carry on sucking. Huzzah!
The Beano has lasted where 90% of Golden Era comics are no more. My three kids still love it and I still read it to them in installments even though they’re all very capable readers. 2000AD is still going too i think…and Viz. Come to think of it, it’s remarkable that Viz endures. I still find it makes me tearful with laughter a few times an issue.
I’ve just had an email which mentions Izal toilet paper, marvellous for paper and comb and tracing less so for its intended purpose.
I’ve looked it up it’s no longer available in its full size version however it is available as a one twelfth size for use in dolls houses.
… or for little wipes?
I think you’d have to use the whole roll once.
Peardrax – if you live in Trinidad. My dad used to bring back cans of the stuff from Metal Box, where he worked. I chugged it back and got off on the high sugar and low alcohol content. Great stuff.
I was an apprentice engineer at Metal Box Alperton, where they made the press tools that cut and formed the cans.
Back in the seventies my dad used to drink Double Diamond.
Not given it a thought for years then, much to my surprise, its back in Tesco’s!
Having only been a small child at the time I bought a pack and quite enjoyed it.
Love the branding on the side.
“Brewed as a pale ale, drinks like a lager, tastes bloody wonderful!”
https://www.tesco.com/shop/en-GB/products/321966719?_gl=1*1en1ifq*_up*MQ..*_ga*NzY3ODc4MTAyLjE3ODEzMzgzNjE.*_ga_H653QXESTP*czE3ODEzMzgzNTkkbzEkZzAkdDE3ODEzMzgzNTkkajYwJGwwJGgxMzkxNjM0NjEz*_ga_33B19D36CY*czE3ODEzMzgzNjAkbzEkZzEkdDE3ODEzMzgzNzEkajQ5JGwwJGgxOTY3MjQyNjIx
I’m amazed, but not tempted to try it again after all these years. Keg beers were bloody awful – DD, Worthington, Bleedin’ Watneys Red Barrel – they were everywhere in the 60s. Popular with pubs as they needed much less care and maintenance than real ales. There seems to be a move back to this fizzy sort of beer in the form of so-called IPAs, mostly with poncy ‘fruit notes’ and the like, with bitter all but disappearing and being rebranded as Amber Ale. Sorry, I want beer to taste of beer not fruit.
@nigelt
I know what you mean about fruity pale ales, some are far too grapeffruity.
When I first started going to pubs in the early 80’s, bitter was pretty much the only ale available until the slow take over by pale ales and they pretty much seemed to disappear about 10-15 years ago!
However, judicious research on my part seems to show that actual bitter is making a slow comeback. They don’t half seem to taste strong though !
I went to a gig in the back room of a pub on Thursday night and asked “do you have any non-alcoholic beers for the driver?” A whole menu was presented which, annoyingly, didn’t include Adnams Ghost Ship 0.5 IPA.
I had something from a multi-coloured can which tasted like Lilt, totally tropical taste and all.
Adnam’s 0.5% Ghostship is by far the best low alcohol beer I’ve had.
It is now that Marston’s Shipyard Low Tide is no longer available although it was close. Ghost Ship was a very good second choice.
If Adnams can do it (and they can!), why are so many (most?) low alcohol beers horrible?
I just posted on this and noticed your thread, so moved here to reply. I am too young for Watney’s Red Barrel—in fact, my student years were during a peak Real Ale period—but last time I was back in the UK, many pub pints were just horribly gassy keg beers pretending to be IPAs.
Fat Willy’s Surf Shack. In the 80s and 90s, loads of youngsters wore t-shirts and hoodies with Willy’s garish colours splashed across them. I saw someone wearing a Fat Willy’s Surf Shack t-shirt the other day; I hadn’t seen anyone wearing one since about 1997. A quick check confirms they’re very much still in business.
Tuc savoury biscuts are still available, I discovered the other day.
Hadn’t had them for years. My late mum used to get them for us when I was a kid.
Tuc cheese sandwich is an aberration.
Ritz is the true king of the salty cheesy biscuit
What the HECK are you talking about?
TUC Cheese Sandwiches accompanied by Dandelion & Burdock is the closest thing to Heaven.
I will slum it with Ritz sometimes if I have to, but there’s no comparison.
Thanks to Jonny Trunk’s offices, you can sit back and bask in the sound of TUC while nibbling…