'Retro Home Movies On Youtube'

There are some lovely old Christmas home movies to watch on Youtube and I never get tired of watching excited kids open their presents or cause havoc by getting bored at the dinner table or by falling over strewn wrapping paper...

Christmas is after all a time for children and I think that applies more so now than ever. The world these seems to expect kids to 'make the effort to grow up as soon as possible' and it seems as soon as they can we stuff a mobile in their hands, push them out the door and tell them to be independent.

Christmases back when I was a kid though were so much more family orientated and I have come across a couple of lovely heart-warming videos to share with you here that prove my point. This first one is of an American Christmas and dates from 1970...

The second home movie I want you to take a look at is of a family enjoying Christmas 1975. I love the way tiny tots are like cats and get into everything. Watching them is a bit like playing the video game 'Lemmings' because you have to prevent them from doing all kinds of daft stunts! 

I would love to have had a family but things just haven't worked out for me in that way. Have had every emotional hang up you can shake a stick at over the years and taking responsibility for looking after a wife and kids has never been something I have thought I could do. Its a real pity because I'm good with kids and love them to pieces. Still, watching loads of retro home movies, recalling owning the toys that they unwrap and thinking of so many of my own 'childhood  happy Christmases I have to be glad for what I HAVE had rather than sad for what I have not...

'Good Game! Good Game! Didn't She Do Well!'

Of all of the programmes from my childhood 'The Generation Game' is the one I associate most with Christmas. Watching the Generation Game with old Brucie (or middle-aged Brucie as he was then!) was a real family thing. The show appealed to everyone whatever age you were because its mixture of slapstick humour, interesting games and Bruce's fantastically funny way of making fun of the whole thing - and taking the mickey out of the contestants - was simply television magic.

I am not one for hankering over the every word of  celebrities but Bruce Forsyth will always be someone very special to me. The ULTIMATE professional he has made so many shows over the years I associate with happy times and 'Strictly'  has a touch of The Generation Game about it somehow...

Take a look at the video above. If you haven't watched a whole episode of 'The Generation Game' for years (as I hadn't when I watched this yesterday) it is sure to bring back many happy memories. In my case, it inspired me to come up with a new Christmas song based on my love for my childhood Christmases would you believe! 'Christmas 73' is the working title for the song as yet but that's hardly full of excitement so I will let the lyrics percolate for a few days and then see if I can come up with something much more snazzy! 

For those of you new to my world, I have a habit of writing and recording a new Christmas song every year (as long as I can afford it!) and then 'release' them in early to mid Dec on my Youtube channel (Maybrick44). If my producer (and friend) Harvey Summers likes 'Christmas 73' it could be my 'release' this year! 

Anyway, back to Bruce and the Christmas edition of 'The Generation Game'...

'Nice to see you, to see you....NICE!' Has to be one of the best catchphrases any entertainer could have to start a show, don't you think? I mean, straight away he or she is interacting with the audience and making them feel a real part of the show, welcomed and at home. I know Brucies jokes are all a bit out dated in 2013 but I much prefer 'gentle leg pulling' that the more graphic stuff of today. The prizes that get dished out here to losing contestants are also hilarious! Walking off screen with a drill (no box - with the wires dangling and all!) after losing out must really have made men feel better about their lives. Its a bit like saying "Well, loser, back to your D.I.Y. chores for the missus!" HA HA

Oh and where would we have been in those days without one of Anthea Redfern's twirls?

To be honest, she is as wooden a presenter as Pinocchio but it doesn't really matter as Brucie is such a large personality there simply wouldn't have been room on screen for another! That's why the scenes here with the equally awesome, Frankie Howerd are nothing short of T.V. heaven. Frank comes across as a nice guy during his chat to the losing contestants in the semi final and he is sorely missed today.

Oh well, enough chat, get watching and don't forget to let me know your thoughts on the subject.

'Tony May's 'All Things Christmas' Festive Favourites 2013'

I have really got the Mixpixie bug! What a great website! The selection of music available is pretty impressive and putting together custom made CD's takes me back to the days when I was forever compiling my own cassette compilations. In light of the amount of fun it is putting a great compilation together and in line with the fact that I am currently researching the U.K chart to try and make a definitive list of all of the U.K.'s Christmas hits, I have put together a special Christmas collection named after this blog!

D.J. John Peel was renowned for his end of year 'festive 50' and so I thought I'd have a go at starting a trend myself! After much head scratching I came up with the following 10 Christmas songs in the following running order for this years collection. 

Christmas Countdown - Frank Kelly
Walking In The Air - Peter Auty
A Spaceman Came Travelling - Chris De Burgh
December - All About Eve
Merry Christmas Darling - The Carpenters
Christmas Song - Gilbert O' Sullivan
I Was Born On Christmas Day - Saint Etienne
Christmas Rappin' - Kurtis Blow
Christmas In Hollis - Run DMC
X-M@S - Corey Taylor

I reckon John would approve of my 'eclectic' selection. There's certainly something there for everyone and ALL of the songs were U.K. Christmas hits though many would come under the banner of 'forgotten festivities' these days. I would have extended the CD to about 14 songs if it was up to me but you can only buy 10 at a time on a Mixpixie CD. Still, I will look forward to putting Vol 2 together next year about this time!

'Christmas With Cliff'

Oi! I can hear you lot groaning at the thought of 'Christmas With Cliff' from here!

I mean the history of U.K Christmas hit making without Sir Cliff and his genuinely heart-felt festive songs would be like Formula 1 without Murray Walker, Horse Racing without John McCrirrick or snooker without 'Whispering' Ted Lowe!

I actually think that is great that here in the U.K. we have a true Christian like Cliff to remind us year on year of the true meaning of Christmas. I'm not a religious person myself but am not adverse to at least wishing Jesus a 'happy birthday' on December the 25th. Mind you, I don't think his real birthday was Dec 25th if I recall correctly. I think I remember being told in R.E. at school that his actual birth date was believed to have been in September sometime. Whatever the case its nice to think that there are a lot of people like Sir Cliff who still celebrate the festive season for its religious significance. I may not be into religion myself but I am a traditionalist through and through!

Cliff has charted with numerous Christmas songs over the years but you might be surprised to find out that his first festive hit was 'Little Town' in 1982 which only made No 11. To be fair, the 80's were fiercely competitive as far as record sales went and similar sales of a No 11 then would almost certainly produce a No 1 today. 'Little Town' is also a great Christmas record and is thus worth a listen now!

Cliff's next Christmas hit was (deservedly in my opinion) a No 1 hit. 'Mistletoe & Wine' may be full of Christmas cliches but the simplicity of its lyrics and its sing-a-long element really make it a song to warm the heart on a cold frosty night. The song was No 1 in 1988 but has charted numerous times in recent years since downloading took over the charts.

Cliff was back at No 1 in 1990 with 'Saviour's Day' - another cracking Christmas song with a memorable chorus - and who could ever forget the video for the song with Cliff singing on top of a Cliff! 'We Should Be Together' from 1991 has proven to be far less memorable? The song reached No 10 but it won't go down as one of Cliff's defining Christmas hits I don't think. His last Christmas No 1 to date though most definitely will! 'The Millenium Prayer' from Christmas 1999 was about as madcap an idea as it was brilliant. Mixing 'Auld Lang Syne' with 'The Lords Prayer' would normally be the kind of idea you'd only come up with after a few too many pints but somehow the sincerity in Cliff's voice and performance sells the song and its ideals to you and its almost impossible not to get swept away in the moment and join in! Other Christmas Cliff hits include 'Santa's List' (No 5 in 2003) and '21st Century Christmas' (No 2 in 2006) but for me, daft sentimental and traditional old twit that I am, Sir Cliff's greatest Christmas song will always be this one...

If you are looking in Sir Cliff - MERRY CHRISTMAS!

'Christmas With A Dirty Old Man'

No, I'm not talking about me! The only stockings I get to play with over Christmas are the ones hanging from the end of my bed (should I have admitted that?) or on the end of the mantlepiece! (lol)

No, I'm talking about those annual 1970's Christmas episodes of 'Steptoe & Son' so brilliantly played by Harry H Corbett and Wilfred Bramble. As with a lot of 70's comedy a good deal of the jokes were either political side-swipes, about girls or making fun of 'foreigners'. Hardly PC at the best of times the humour may no longer be acceptable to a good few but I still think good, honest, 'say what you mean' comedy is far preferable to todays 'nicer on the surface of things' spiteful stuff thats full of swear words and obscenities...

What made Steptoe & Son so funny though was more to do with the visual comedy as much as the script. With its touch of slapstick, Bramble's characters DISGUSTING habits and lecherous tendencies and his BRILLIANT facial expressions you couldn't help but feel for the hapless Harold! I mean, who remembers the episode where the old man is having a bath in the kitchen sink! How many times does he drop food on the floor and then just put it back on Harold's plate - after giving it a good clean by wiping it on the sleeve of his ancient jumper!

As gross and UN PC as 70's comedies were swearing was never a part of the scene. There were no 'cheap laughs' every one had to be worked for and that meant having to put the hours into writing funny scripts. This festive episode from 1974 is a great example of the best and worst elements of the show depending on your point of view. Why not sit back and take another look?

'Could Mixpixie Save Your Life This Christmas?'

I am almost ashamed to admit it but something new about the modern world has met with my approval! Now, those of you who know me well will realise that this kind of revelation does not happen everyday so by God 'Mixpixie' must be good!

So who or what in the hell is or are Mixpixie anyway?

Well, Mixpixie is a new website that enables you to put together custom made CD compilations. A bit like 'Moonpig.com' only not with cards. To be honest, I wasn't convinced that the idea was going to be any good when I first looked into it. I thought that it would either be really hard to design the CD cover you wanted, be WAYY too expensive or that the songs you could put on your chosen CD would be re-records or inferior versions. I am glad to report, however, that in fact the contrary is true! Mixpixie have access to 14 million songs and all the ones I clicked on were original recordings by the original artist. Putting your chosen CD together is actually very easy as well. All you do is choose one of the CD designs available, customise it by adding the title and a written message for the inside and then select the songs you want to go on the CD. Tracks cost 99p each and you can put up to 10 on your CD. A full ten track customised CD ends up costing you about £15 something and postage and packing is another £2.99 so its not the cheapest way of buying songs but I can assure you the CD's when you get them (and I got mine the day after I ordered it!) are top quality and sound great. The packaging is every bit as good as any digipack you can buy in HMV or from Amazon and whoever you are buying the CD for will be well chuffed, I promise. 

The CD designs are NOT tacky, they don't look cheap and they are proper digipacks NOT fold over cardboard ones like the free CD's you get in the paper. All of the tracks are officially licensed so your favourite artist isn't losing out either which is nice. What is especially great though about Mixpixie is that its possible to select the exact tracks from albums you want and you can even move them about on the disc if you want to create the best 'album listen' if so inclined. When artists I love re-issue 'expanded' versions of an album I have already purchased I usually have to buy the same album again just to get the extra songs I want but this will become a thing of the past now. 

The other exciting thing about Mixpixie is that you can compile your own 'wicked' CD compilations and give them great covers etc just for fun with 100% what you want on the disc and 0% of tracks you already have or don't want. Much better than burning off a blank and boring CD from itunes!

There is also a fun feature that allows you to record a 20 second personal message on the disc if you want to but I decided not to do that as heard once or twice that message may be welcome but every time you play the CD - NO!

Check out Mixpixie.com - http://www.mixpixie.com/ - you won't find a better, more original way of giving someone a truly personal AND personalised gift this Christmas!

'How To Enjoy Christmas'

So how do you really learn to enjoy Christmas? If you don't see yourself as a religious sort and you hate the way the festive season has become so commercialised these days how can you get into all that 'Ho Ho Ho, mince pies and mirth' that you see constantly thrust down your throat everywhere?

Well, the answer to that my friends is to personalise Christmas. The ending of a year is a milestone for all of us. Life is short and each Christmas that passes is one less you have left! Now you might think that reflecting on your own mortality would be likely to make you feel even more miserable at Christmas not happier but if you use your period of reflection to look back on the events in your life over the past year and then take a moment to think carefully of all those in your life who have shared in that year with you the true spirit of Christmas will shine brightly in front of your eyes...

Christmas is not just a time for giving presents it is a time to celebrate friendship, rejoice in having the company of those that you love and who love you and a time to think for a moment of those sadly no longer a part of this world. When it annoys you trying to think what to buy someone contemplate for a second what it would be like NOT having them in your life anymore? How many of us would dearly love to buy someone we have lost a special Christmas present! No, the secret to enjoying Christmas is to think of what you HAVE not what you have not and to think of those who share your life - not of yourself. 

Christmas is best when you prepare for it in advance. Start thinking about buying presents for people in October (like me!) so that you are able to ENJOY the festive lights about town centres and have time to stop and listen to carol singers in December rather than having to 'rush about totally stressed out' trying to find the last present for he or she. Once you organise yourself and get into the habit of starting early you will feel much less of the worry of the festive season and be able to soak up more of the atmosphere and joy. Smile at people! They don't bite - especially when you smile at them!

The common perception today is that 'Christmas isn't what it was' but the truth of the matter is PEOPLE are not what they once were. We have all become far too self absorbed and the real pleasure in Christmas is in giving something to someone you love that you know will make them happy. Its not about 'how much it costs' its about letting them know that they are in your thoughts and that you have tried your hardest to give them something you know THEY will like. Never think of whether YOU like something or not when deciding what to buy someone think of THEM,

When you allow the true spirit of Christmas to enter your heart you will find that others pick up on the happiness that you are giving off and happiness is infectious! So, this year take some time out and make Dec 25th this year a special day for you and your family and friends. If you do you will encourage others to do so as well and the sooner we change peoples minds about the festive season the sooner the idillic vision of friends & family huddled around a log fire eating a fabulous festive feast will return to us whenever we think of the word 'Christmas'...

Picture courtesy of Amanda Heydari

'Tom, Jerry, Benny & Ernie'

Thinking back to my earliest memories of Christmas in the 70's is impossible to do without remembering the hi-jinks of the cartoon characters that were constantly on television then. 'Wacky Races', 'Stop The Pigeon', 'Pepe Le Phew', Daffy Duck', Top Cat', 'Dangermouse', 'Buggs Bunny', 'Ivor The Engine', Michael Bentine's Potty Time', 'Foghorn Cleghorn', 'Trumpton', 'Camberwick Green', 'The Magic Roundabout' and so many others all bring an instant smile to my face!

The one cartoon that always used to make you laugh though was 'Tom & Jerry'. They were almost like the cartoon version of the bit at the end of every Benny Hill show where he perpetually got chased by all and sundry. However many times you'd seen the same joke and same slapstick stunts it was impossible not to laugh your head off! 

While there was an element of violence in the Tom & Jerry cartoons a lot of it was balanced out with a healthy amount of humour and the way little Jerry pulls faces and blow raspberries at Tom whenever he gets away is still incredibly funny today. So many of todays kids television is full of combat, weapons, fighting and big explosions the humourous side of things seems to have fallen by the wayside. I think thats a real shame and in spite of what the 'so called experts' say, I still don't think it is healthy viewing for young people to grow up watching violent cartoons that appear to make violence acceptable.

Take a look at this Christmas Tom & Jerry cartoon  and you will see what I mean...

Oh, and while we are on the subject of dear old Benny Hill (GOD knows how he would have coped in todays PC world!) he had the Christmas No 1 in 1971 with this hilarious little ditty...

Poor old Ernie! They won't forget him!

'The Birth Of The Christmas 'Cash-in' Single'

In 1963, amidst the grip of 'Beetlemania', the Actress, Dora Bryan released a novelty Christmas record entitled 'All I Want For Christmas Is A Beatle'. With its witty lyrics and 'old town music hall' vocals it was certainly something very different from traditional festive hits like 'Mary's Boy Child' or 'Little Drummer Boy'!

The secret to the success of the song (it reached No 20 that year) was its way of cleverly incorporating the cheeky lyrical elements of festive classics like 'I Saw Mummy Kissing Santa Claus' into a song about the most popular group on the planet! Now, with the Beetles dominating the singles chart pretty much all year round at this time (including at Christmas) this was always going to be a canny move and its actually surprising in a way that the record did not do better than no 20...

Looking back through the mists of time to compile a list of U.K. Christmas hit singles as I am at the moment, I reckon in so doing our Dora invented the 'Christmas Cash In ' single! As far as I can see, 'All I Want For Christmas Is A Beatle' was the first ever such single to chart in the U.K. Could it be that bands like 'The Barron Knights', who made a habit of making Christmas cash-in singles ('Merry Gentle Pops' 1965, 'Never Mind The Presents' 1980) have our Dora to thank for giving them the idea?

I met Dora in 2007 at a book launch at Waterstones in Hastings. The book -  'Lillian's Story' by Sally Patricia Gardner - has gone on to become a HUGE success but its a pity I didn't know about this Christmas hit at the time. It would have been fascinating to find out how the recording came about. I doubt very much that it was Dora's idea because it has the ring of an 'enterprising record producer on the make' about it and Dora is much more an Actress than a singer. Dora is still with us (late 80's now) but is in a nursing home I believe and not quite as good as she was memory wise. Still, she will now go down in the annuls of pop history -via this blog (lol) - as the woman who brought the cash-in Christmas single to our ears!

Dora Bryan with Author, Sally Patricia Gardner in 2007

As a side issue, The Beatles themselves never did release a Christmas song. Instead they used to regularly release a 'fan club issue only' disc on which they would basically have fun, chat and play a few 'off the cuff' Christmas tunes. Here is a link to their Christmas fan club disc from the same year as Dora's hit, 1963...

'Hey, Mr Christmas!'

One of the more enduring (for me at least) Christmas hits from my childhood years was 'Hey Mr Christmas' by Showaddywaddy. Its all festive sleigh bells and happy go lucky rock n' roll feel still sounds perfect to me at a Christmas party or blaring out of the radio on a cold and frosty day. Strangely, however, it has become rather a 'forgotten song' as far as Christmas hit compilations are concerned these days. Every year the 'Now, That's What I Call Christmas' compilation is re-released (often with only a few different tracks from before) and the 'old favourites' like 'Merry Christmas Everybody' by Slade, A Fairytale From New York' by The Pogues and Kirsty Mc Coll,  'Last Christmas' by Wham and such like almost always make the party but 'Hey Mister Christmas' does not...

I know the song was not as HUGE a hit as those hits (it reached no 13 in Dec 1974) but Showaddywaddy were one of the most popular bands of the 1970's so you'd think their hits would crop up on compilations more. Checking Youtube for a suitable video of the song to post a link to here, I came across the one below. Not only does it remind us that Showaddywaddy member, Buddy Gask, is no longer with us it contains a good few pics of the other band members (and I assume their families and kids) how they look now. Boy, how different do these guys look now than when I remember them on TOTP virtually every week...

As well as being a pleasant reminder to me of a wonderfully fun era in pop music history, I really do think 'Hey Mister Christmas' is a cracking Christmas record. The video above also serves to advertise just how time flies and life is incredibly short so the message is I guess if you love something or someone make the most of every precious moment - festive or not...

THANKS GUYS (Showaddywaddy) for such a timeless Christmas classic - you still get me 'Rockin' around my Christmas tree!

'So, Is Frankie Goes To Hollywood - 'The Power Of Love' A Christmas Hit Or Not?'

It has always surprised me that a lot of people seem to consider 'The Power Of Love' by FGTH a Christmas song? 'I'll protect you from the Hooded Claw, keep the vampires from your door' hardly seem like festive lyrics to me and musically the song is not festive in any way - I mean there isn't a sleigh bell in ear shot!

BUT when you take a look at the video for the song below you will see that it depicts the religious story of Jesus's birth in Bethlehem and tells very well the age old tale of the Three kings and wise men. I like the video very much (and it alone is worth a mention here) but is the song TRULY a Christmas song or a ballad about love that was made to fit simply because it was coming up December! Don't forget, the record was on the ZTT label and those 'canny operators' were the lot who virtually invented the remix 12" single when they kept 'Two Tribes' at No 1 for ages by releasing a new mix of the song each week for a number of weeks. Can we really be sure that the songs religious/festive message was the original intention all along? I would honestly love to know the answer to that question. I have a lot of time for Trevor Horn as I LOVED his output as The Buggles and think he is a great producer...

At the moment,  HEAVILY swayed by the weight of popular opinion, I HAVE included it in the list of U.K. Christmas hits I am researching but only really on sufferance. To me, 'The Power Of Love' will always be a great record but not a Christmas record because without the video you would never tell it was a Christmas record...

What do you think?

Come on Trevor if your out there, spill the beans! (lol)

'A Hastings Christmas Timeline'

If you have lived in Hastings all of your life, have an interest in the history of our town or just relish the thought of a few moments of quiet reading and reflection away from the hubbub of a busy family Christmas, then this informative (and occasionally light hearted) article from 'Hastings Town' is for you…

Christmas In Hastings – A Timeline

24^th Dec 1836 – A great snowstorm cuts off communications with London for ten days (no such thing as telephones, e mails or texts in those days!)

1852 – There are floods in The Old Town and the Priory.

1858 – The Prince of Wales visits Hastings en-route to Portsmouth.

1862 – The Queens Hotel is finished.

1863 – The Albert Memorial clock tower is finished but it lacks a clock! This was eventually installed in mid 1864. (Good to see that ‘forward planning’ was just as good in those days as it is today!)

1869 – The first pile of Hastings Pier is driven into the seabed at 3.am. (I have checked this and it does say 3 am – what a funny time to be building piers! With the current fanaticism with ‘Health & Safety’ they’d never get away with it now would they? I suppose they had to start then because of the tides?)

1870 – There is snow at Christmas and a great many people go skating at St Andrew’s Gardens (in Alexandra Park).

25^th Dec 1870 – A rare buzzard is seen and shot in Warrior Square. (Hilariously, our local newspaper also reports that it was ‘later mounted by John Bissenden of the Archway’. Thank God there are such things as dating agencies these days!)

On a more serious subject, 254 people spent Christmas Day this year at Hastings Workhouse (and we moan about today’s welfare system).

18^th Dec 1881 – Hurricane-force winds drive a sailing vessel onto the rocks at Fairlight Cove at 5.30 am. The ‘Sacitta’ struck a reef near The Hassocks and immediately broke into two. One member of the crew is washed ashore but the other six lose their lives. The German vessel had been on route to Mexico and was carrying a general cargo, including pianos, utensils, rifles, toys, twine and a large amount of alcohol in the form of casks, bottles of spirits and bottles of beer. This tragedy was compounded when some of the local fishermen decided to visit the scene and help themselves to some of the wrecked goods. Two youngsters by the name of Adams and Benton drank far too much of the contraband liquor and paid with their lives. Harry Benton, who was 16 years of age, was found dead the next morning on a hillside near the Lovers Seat and Adams was never seen again – presumed washed out to sea. Other youngsters mistakenly drank quantities of perfume, which drove them mad, and a quantity of rifles was also smuggled back to the town.

1882 – The Fishermen’s Institute opened at no 97 All Saints Street.

17^th Dec 1883 – A local branch of the ‘Women’s Suffrage Group’ was formed after a meeting was held in Cambridge Road. The women of Hastings were no doubt inspired by a suffrage talk by Elizabeth Blackwell (the first woman to graduate in medicine and be placed on the British Medical Register) on August 29^th.

1894 – The 189 feet high spire and tower of Christ Church, London Road was completed.

1906 – There is chronic unemployment in Hastings and with no chance of an economic turnaround in the New Year; pressure is applied to Hastings Council to ‘put in hand all work that may be required for the town’.

1907 – The unemployment situation in Hastings is still dire and in early December there are a number of marches. (Maybe I should give that idea a whirl at the moment!)

1908 – The body of a recently dead child is found in the roof of 37, Paynton Road, Silverhill. The incident becomes known as ‘The Silverhill Roof Mystery’ and all of Hastings is gripped by the tale.

1918 – Hastings welcomes home troops from the First World War.

Dec 13^th 1924 – Work begins on the White Rock Pavilion.

Dec 18^th 1926 – The town council sanction the building of a new bowls Pavilion at White Rock at an estimated cost of over £8,000.

1927 – Alexandra Park is flooded and closed to the public. This is due to surplus water from Buckshole Reservoir.

1932 – It is announced that work will start in Jan 1933 on a new boating lake at the Fish Market. There are still over 2,000 people unemployed in Hastings and a dance at The Palace Pier raises over £20 for the unemployed. (£20! How times have changed eh? You wouldn’t get anywhere near that these days!)

Dec 7^th 1935 – Excavators on the south side of Hastings Castle unearth the remains of five human bodies and two animals. (For once, it was nothing to do with Jordan or Peter Andre either!)

1938 – Hastings suffers arctic weather conditions over Christmas with seven and a half inches of snow and eleven degrees of frost. Casualty wards overflow with injuries caused by the weather.

1939 – 680 men aged 20-23 are called up in Hastings. 2.5% are conscientious objectors.

1940 – The true spirit of Christmas is alive and well in Hastings as one local benefactor supplies 350 struggling homes with free food and coal for Xmas.

Dec 24th 1942 – 4 FW 190’s machine gun Sedlescombe Road, Marliene Avenue, Madeira Drive, St Helen’s Road, Bexhill Road and Bulverhythe Rd. One woman is killed. 

1944 – Many evacuees return home to find their houses looted, lack of accommodation and much higher rents.

Dec 23^rd 1950 – The Jenny Lind, High Street, reopens after being blitzed in the war. It is the first building to be rebuilt in The Old Town.

Dec 30^th 1950 – The Town Council decide to purchase the derelict St Leonards Pier with a view to demolishing it in 1951. (Not so quick with the cheque book these days are they!)

1957 – The Mayor switches on the Xmas lights in Kings Road, St Leonards to open the annual Christmas Fayre. (Those were the days eh?)

1962 - The town is in the grip of the worst weather recorded in living memory. There are frequent snowfalls and blizzards and people are unable to travel causing many cancellations for hoteliers.

1963 – Hastings man Peter Forsyth Baxter is convicted of murdering Mrs. Linda Grace Bennett. (There’s always something rotten that happens at Christmas, isn’t there?)

1966 – The people of Hastings are upset and outraged when 320 headstones at the Borough Cemetery are defaced with offensive slogans in French.

1968 – Another Christmas in Hastings with bad weather. There are mountainous seas and there is damage to the new 100,000 groyne and the paneling protecting it.

1970 – There are electricity cuts and blackouts in Hastings due to an electric power workers strike. Many people have to make do with candles. (I bet it wasn’t half Christmassy though!)

Dec 29th 1973 – The 3 day week is introduced.

1976 – Unemployment in the town reaches its worst level since 1939 and 10% of the male work force is out of work. Interestingly, at the same time it was reported that Hastings had a rate 5% above the national average of unmarried mothers. (Well, it was a REALLY hot summer that year wasn’t it!)

1980 – The Ice Rink housed in what used to be The White Rock Baths opens.

1983 – Police are still searching for missing Hastings man Gary Collins who was last seen on December 12^th (I remember Gary coming into Stylus Records with his dog a few times)

1988 – A bomb alert closes the town centre.

1991 – The pedestrianisation of Wellington Place and Castle Street is completed.

1994 – The Royal Navy Bomb Disposal Team blow up wartime mine in the sea two miles of Hastings.

1999 – Sion Jenkins loses his appeal against his murder conviction and Desmond Llewelyn (‘Q’ in the James Bond films) dies in a car accident on his way home from a book signing.

2007 – There is snow in Hastings over Christmas and some magical pictures of All Saints Street are taken that take us all back to the days of Charles Dickens. (Ironically, I went to Austria that year determined to enjoy a white Christmas. I had a pretty dire holiday and missed out on a great one at home!

HO, HO, HO (and all that!)

Have a great Christmas – Tony May.

'Bon Hiver' and 'Stop The Cavalry'

Now, I told you I would tell you more about Harvey Summers earlier, didn't I? Well, 'old Harv' is just about as close to a genius as you will ever meet in your lifetime. Not only is he a whizz kid with computers, a great producer and a fine musician he's a thoroughly nice chap as well! Harvey can write music to suit any situation or to reflect any mood and he's also a 'Christmas person' I am glad to report!

As Harvey will tell you though, not every Christmas song has to have sleigh bells running through it nor does it have to be full of Christmas lights, tinsel and carol singers. 'Bon Hiver' means 'good winter' I believe in French and this song of Harv's from his FABULOUS album 'Jupiter' (its not a Christmas album though!) is the perfect example of what I've been telling you. Just listen to how the music itself sounds in spots like snowflakes falling and the brass at the end really makes me squeal with delight because its so traditionally british and actually reminds me of that other festive chestnut 'Stop The Cavalry' by Jona Lewie and so, as a bit of music is what I feel the doctor has ordered right now, here is a link to that video (from 1980) as well.

Listen and ENJOY!

'The Story Of The Snow People'

Remember I told you earlier about my love for the Church-in-the-Wood nature reserve near Hollington, East Sussex? Well, I made this rather silly but I think quite inventive festive promotional film for my album 'Timeless' there in 2010. After a particularly heavy snowfall that year the whole of my area was covered and Church-in-the-Wood was as near to the fictional beauty of Narnia as it is possible to get in the real world...

Walking through the woods I came across something that really made me laugh ( I won't tell you here what it was else it will spoil the fun when you watch the clip below)! As soon as I finished laughing I knew I had to come up with something fun and so I decided to do a 'Brian Cant', make up a story to tell and make a little film to enable me to share my festive discovery. 'The Story Of The Snow People' was the result and I think I did a pretty good job building up the tension! I think kids will enjoy this as well and seeing as I don't have any of my own its kind of nice for me to think I might be making a few tiny tots smile.

Anyway, take a look! If you don't think much of the story or of my acting I'm sure you will gasp in amazement at how beautiful a 'winter wonderland' Church-in-the-Wood looks...   

'Writing Christmas Cards'

Come on, admit it, how many of you out there HATE writing Christmas cards? Well, I LOVE writing Christmas cards! What can possibly be more in keeping with the festive season than sitting down quietly with just your thoughts, a pen and a stack of Christmas cards and spending an evening or two writing to all of the people you value in your life? 

Like a lot of things in life, Christmas is essentially what you make of it and when the will is there to make it a special time it becomes a special time. I make mine enjoyable by buying a lot of (preferably blank inside) hand-made Christmas cards from Christmas fairs and setting myself the fun task of thinking up funny and or unique ways to decorate the inside of the cards and envelopes. For a few pounds you can buy packets of fun Christmas stickers and these are ideal for helping you make your cards fun and festive. O.k. so they are meant for kids but theres a child inside all of us and if you still retain the ability to keep in contact with the 'little guy or little girl' inside you it really helps you to get into the right mood to enjoy Christmas and all that goes with it!  As a LOT of people tell me, I am a pretty self-absorbed sort of guy (hence this blog!) so I think it does me good to have one time of the year when I have to focus on 'taking stock' and really sit down and think about the other people in my life and why I am so glad to know them. Saying nice things to people isn't all that cool in todays world of 'super professionalistic behavoir'.  We are constantly told that there are a million and one reasons why its not a good thing to be 'personal' when conversing with other people and so the human race has become more reticent about talking honestly about they feel with others. Say something nice to someone you love however and see if it makes them smile or not though is what I say! We all need a bit of love and appreciation in this world and I for one would rather someone risked upsetting me by saying something personal to me than thought better of it and chose to say nothing at all.

The art of writing Christmas cards also goes a LONG way back and I like the idea of 'touching base' with something so many of my ancestors would have done.  Sensing a real connection to your roots is another thing that makes Christmas Christmassy and once you get the ball rolling you will be surprised how your smiley, persona attracts attention. Even miserable old me got asked out on a date once by a lovely lady after a 'particularly smiley Christmas dressing up like Santa session' made me seem like an attractive proposition!
So, this Christmas give getting into the spirit of the thing a go. You may not quite rival me with my 'silly grin and bouncing off the walls attitide' at first but the glowing embers of tradition and togetherness will start to get hotter and in spite of what anyone tells you about a text or an e mail, there is nothing more Christmassy than hearing the sound of a bundle Christmas cards being pushed through your letterbox...

P.S.) If you like the cards displayed here the first of them comes from http://mjcraftsdesignstudio.blogspot.co.uk/2005/10/here-nowchristmas-handmade-greeting.html and the second I found here http://ellieshandmadecards.blogspot.co.uk/2012/11/a-few-more-christmas-cards.html Many thanks to both parties!

'On The Buses'

I was born in 1965 so grew up with 70's comedy shows like 'On The Buses'. The show was a massive success and I still own the spin off boxed game I was given one year for Christmas as a kid. Stephen Lewis was brilliant as Inspector Blake and the duo of Reg Varney as Stan and Bob Grant  as Jack were also perfect as his tormentors. The comedy was all pretty obvious and slapstick but it was gentle and the type of thing you could laugh at just because it was so silly. This 'Christmas special' dates from the days of Black & White television so its really going back to my earliest days! According to Wikkipedia, seventy four twenty five minute episodes were filmed. I know how many spin off films there were because I have all three on DVD. 'On The Buses' was the first (1971) followed by 'Mutiny On The Buses' (1972) and the last film was 'Holiday On The Buses' (1973).

I don't recall hearing very much of most of the other stars of the series after the show ended. Anna Karen (Olive) and her husband (Arthur) found work hard to come by I think as they were both so well-known for their roles. Tragically, Bob Grant, who played Stans lecherous clippie mate eventually committed suicide in 2003 aged 71 but Reg Varney did all right I think and lived to the ripe old age of 92!

Like other 70's comedies of the time, however, the show was not exactly P.C. but in my opinion what can be MORE P.C. than thoroughly taking the mickey out of all and sundry no matter who they were, where they came from, what colour they are, what affliction in life they have or what shortcomings they have? Hey! Its comedy, its meant to be a joke not to be taken as a mortally wounding comment! Some people LIKE being offended its what brits used to call 'banter' and as long as you give as good as you get and everybody knows its all in fun where's the harm?

Oh well, I don't expect many of you will agree with me on this one but this blog is all about my life and my memories of Christmas's past so as Stan might say 'If you don't like it you'll have to lump it mate!'
     

'All Saints Christmas Fair - Hastings'

Christmas Fairs are one of the festive seasons little innocent joys for me. Walking around festively decorated village halls, churches and youth centres looking at enticing looking raffles, bric-a- brac stalls and ogling the cake stall is the stuff simple dreams are made of as far as I'm concerned...

My favourite Christmas fair of all though is the one that takes place (usually) at All Saints Hall along Hastings Old Town. It usually costs 50p to go in but for that you get a ticket that entitles you to a free cup of coffee and a mince pie. They have a HUGE raffle - oh how I wish I could win the hamper (I have always loved the idea of winning a huge Christmas hamper - so Christmassy!) - and loads of fun stalls selling all the usual things. 

The best stall of all for me though is the £1 a go 'win a mystery present every time' stall. I save up each year to be able to have a real bash at that stall and usually end up spending £15 - 20 on it. The 'presents' are always worth a pound and as I save all my winning parcels until Christmas Day they give me plenty to wonder about sat there under the Christmas Tree until Dec 25th at home. Sometimes I win a big cuddly toy. Those are not usually wrapped up and so I often approach someone at the fair who has a little one and offer it to them. I have had some nice smiles and friendly chats with people because of doing something like that over the years and that for me is what makes Christmas special.

This year the fair is to take place on the 16th of November (a bit earlier than usual) at St Clements Church in High Street. The reason for the move apparently is because the interior of St Clements has been recently refurbished and so the Christmas fair is seen as a way to celebrate that and show the new interior off. The fun starts at 10am and goes on until 2pm. I will miss the intimate nature of All Saints Hall I have to say but St Clements is bigger inside so as long as it is festively decorated it will be a bit more comfortable at least. See you there!

St Clements Church

'Christmas Chuckles'

When I was a kid no Christmas could ever be allowed to pass by without watching a good bit of festive telly.  Much has been said about the appeal of the festive Morecambe & Wise show and Eric & Ernie were indeed fabulous but one comedian I used to LOVE who now seems to have faded into the mists of time was Dick Emery. In my opinion Emery was a fantastic actor as well as a comedian and as the clip here shows was seen at his best when 'taking off' caricatures of the many stereotypes there are in society. I have never really liked drag queens like Lily Savage, or Dame Edna but all of Emery's female characters make me laugh and his 'Ooh, you are awful, but I like you' lady was the funniest of them all...

I SO miss being able to really laugh my head off at the comedy of today. So much of it is sarcastic, spiteful and nasty whereas much of 70's comedy was just silly, revolved around 'pulling legs' and was designed to allow people to join in on the joke and see the funny side of themselves. Oh for the heady days of HONEST comedy is what I say! God bless you Dick - wherever you are... 

'Wilde Winter Songbook'

I used to fancy Kim Wilde like mad when I was at school! I liked most of her records as well until the late 80's and then I kind of just stopped listening to her... Well, I am glad to say that Kim IS still making records and has a new festive collection of songs out on Nov 4th entitled 'Wilde Winter Songbook'. I love the cover and listening to the snippets on Amazon.com it sounds like there are some nice Christmas gems amongst the tracks. I'm not convinced so far by the more 'obvious' material like the duet with Rick Astley ('Winter Wonderland') but new songs like 'Hope' and 'New Life' sound great and I also like the jaunty kind of 1950's american Christmas sounding 'Hey Mr Snowman'. All in all its good to catch up again with Kim and I still wouldn't mind if she turned up in my Christmas stocking!

'The Christmas Special'

I have always loved the idea of 'Christmas special editions' of things. Even as a kid my eyes would light up at the sight in the newsagents of a festive edition of my favourite magazine or comic. There is something wonderfully universal ( or was) about the holiday season and glamming up everything once a year to make it seem special seems like a great idea anyway! Communication has also always been a big thing for me. In the 70's I used to invite friends round and we would record 'The Tony May Show' on  a cassette in my bedroom. I used to do the presenting, interviewing, make up a pop quiz  and produce the whole thing and my friends would help me pick the records to play and sometimes contribute by making up a mix of current records or by doing a stint on record reviews etc. It was all great fun...

Ironically, three of the friends I interviewed on 'The Tony May Show' went on to be people well worth interviewing! Martin Curcher became a well-known musician and Martin Smith & Darren Ash ended up as two of the 'Mastermixers' associated with 'Jive Bunny & The Mastermixers' of numerous number 1 hits fame! Martin & Darren also had a hit record ('Time To Make The Floor Burn') and a couple of hit albums under the name 'Megabass' and saw their song appear on TOTP and themselves in Smash Hits! 

Another late 70's/ 80's hobby of mine was writing my own magazine - 'Amayzing'. As well as a love of presenting, singing, songwriting and film making I have always been a journalist at heart. I peddled my home-made magazines around a few of the local newspapers etc back in the day but was never able to get an offer of a job in that field. The world now is OBSESSED with qualifications and bits of paper but it was a little better back then. I have always been a 'flair' person rather than an academically brilliant one and thus thrive on inspiration, gut feeling and passion to help me produce work. The finer art of 'dotting t's and correct placement of punctuation marks' has never really interested me and so I have perpetually found learning stuff like that difficult. If I am not interested in something it tends to go 'in one ear and out the other' which often seems like arrogance to others. I don't see it as arrogance though. I am always a buzzing hive of ideas and just need to get them down on paper with all of the passion still fizzing off the page. Trying to think about how to

put things down in a grammatically correct way and struggling to do that just hampers my flow and blunts my artistic bent. Once you have the full body of an idea you can always get someone else to help you with all that if needs be but if your writing is soulless, dry and boring who is going to want to read it?

Anyway, I guess because of my inability to cope with the finer points of learning I have ended up where I am in life. People (employers) don't want to take on individuals with 'flair' - they want to take on those who have shown that they have the ability to do the job by taking the relevant exams. The snag for me is that I really don't want to try to 'rein in' my natural way of doing things because I am quite happy with the results  and don't want to turn into a 'regimented, trained robotic writer'. I guess this is why, however, in 2013 I am sitting here writing this blog and others in jobland are getting paid a fortune!

Anyway, the real point in this particular post here is to (ironically, seeing as this is the Internet) mourn the continuing decline in the need for physical magazines (or indeed printed material of any kind) these days. Kids still have a great selection of comics with free toys, stickers or gifts attached to them but most of the more adult mainstream magazines have now either disappeared or been reduced to 'monthly' editions. With the Internet taking up more and more of peoples time and attention it seems inevitable to me that one day the printed word will become virtually commercially dead. Things have already gone the same way in the music world (mp3's have killed the physical format) and it is getting harder and harder to sell physical newspapers, magazines and books these days (kindle and free online newspaper reading). So I am writing this little blog entry as a kind of tribute to the days of the printed word and as a little reminder to the child in you of 'The Christmas special'...

'A Dickens Christmas'

As mentioned in an earlier post, I love Charles Dickens 'A Christmas Carol' and think its the best story ever written. Regular readers of this blog will see just how inspired by the timeless story I have been (and continue to be). A few years ago I did a bit of research into the life of Charles Dickens and was amazed that discover that he actually visited Hastings in 1861 during one of his 'reading tours'. The following is an article I wrote about 'A Christmas Carol' for 'Hastings Town' magazine in 2009 - have a read and see if you agree with what I have to say? If not, why not leave a comment and start a discussion about it?

‘A Dickens Christmas’ by Tony May

In the midst of the current recession, most of us are struggling a bit financially these days.  Thus, no matter how much of the spirit of ‘old saint nick’ resides in us, to hear the word Christmas being banded about again ‘so soon’ is unlikely to make us feel jolly.

Christmas has become so commercialized these days, the religious aspect of the festive season hardly gets a mention now and as a whole, the secret to enjoying a true ‘family Christmas’ has been lost. As far as giving and receiving presents goes, the traditional motto of “it’s the thought that counts” has, thanks to the birth of television and the rise of the media, been replaced in the public consciousness as “it’s how much that it costs”.

So, what is at the heart of the problem?

My Nan (who is 99) has often told me of the fun her family used to get up to when she was young enjoying Christmas dinner together at the table, singing carols around the piano and playing ‘parlour games’. The funniest game of all was when her father, Maurice, who had a devilish sense of humour, would ‘do something’ or ‘make a motion’ that everyone had to mimic exactly. Should anyone get even the slightest thing wrong they would have to pay a forfeit and Nan, recalls with a smile, how one Christmas she had to stand on the top step in front of their house and sing ‘God save the King’ at the top of her voice. Great fun indeed - not a mobile phone, games consul or television in sight.

The simple truth is that today we all have too much. How many times can you think of for example where you have become exasperated because you cannot think of what to buy someone? Most people have hundreds of books, compact discs and DVD’s gathering dust on shelves in their living room already while bigger items are so expensive you just cannot afford to buy them. Every year it gets more difficult, stressful and likely to give us a headache, a lot of us turn into Ebenezer Scrooge and spend most of November and December announcing to the world how much we hate Christmas.

But it doesn’t have to be that way and frankly, it shouldn’t.

Imagine yourself back in the days of Charles Dickens for a moment. We must all have seen at least one film adaptation of Dickens’ ‘A Christmas Carol’.  Can anyone honestly tell me they were unmoved by the scene near the end where Bob Cratchit takes home a large Turkey to feed poor Tiny Tim and the rest of his family? Remember, also, the joy on the little boy’s face when he finds a big juicy round orange in his Christmas stocking.

Yes folks, an Orange. Not a brand new Playstation game or consul, not an ipod nor a pair of designer trainers, a humble orange.  I am also willing to bet that he spent far more time gazing at his beloved gift and thinking how lucky he was to have it than any of our kids do today. As the saying goes, less is more, sometimes, and it would do all of us good to remember that these days.

Interestingly, Charles Dickens himself made a few visits to Hastings during his lifetime. He had a sister who lived in a house named ‘The Briars’ here and on the 8^th of November 1861, at The Music Hall he read extracts from ‘A Christmas Carol’ and ‘The Trial From Pickwick’ as part of a public reading tour.

The Music Hall was situated where ‘Yates’s’ is today (opposite Debenhams) and also had an entrance in Havelock Road. According to the Hastings & St Leonards News of the day, the reading was a huge success and a great many people without tickets had to be turned away. Dickens was apparently a very talented performer. Earlier in life, he’d had some experience as an amateur on ‘the boards’ and this it seems served him well. Aided by some stage accessories, he performed magnificently changing his voice and facial expressions skillfully to produce many an emotional response from his audience.

A lot of  ‘well to do’ people attended the Hastings reading and afterwards two rows of carriages could be seen extending half a mile up, what was then Bohemia Road, waiting to pick them up.

It was initially hoped that Dickens might make another professional appearance in Hastings but sadly this never came to pass. His son, also Charles Dickens (1837-1890), did however visit the town and like his father before him performed a public reading of his father’s works. This visit took place on the 23^rd of February 1889 at The Public Hall (The same venue as his father had visited) and Dickens junior read extracts from ‘David Copperfield’ and ‘Bob Sawyers Party’.

Before I finish, I should tackle one of Hastings most common rumours connecting ‘Dickens Cottage’ in High Street with the great man. In fact, the connection with the Dickens family is not through Charles Dickens himself but via his youngest son Sir Henry Dickens (1849-1933) and his wife Lady Dickens. They were friends with a Miss M Valette who owned the cottage and visited her there occasionally. She apparently gave her home its name because of the couple’s visits and because Lady Dickens considered it to be the ideal setting for Dickens’ Christmas book ‘The Cricket On The Hearth’ published in 1845.

So, there you go, Hastings has a genuine connection to the spirit of the man who brought the traditional meaning and values of Christmas so powerfully home to all of us.  Let’s do him and each other a favour this year then and CHEER UP A BIT! HA HA

Lots of love to you all this Christmas,

Antony May 16/09/09

Information from this article gathered in part from ‘Hastings In Dickens and Dickens In Hastings’ by Edward G. Preston, Wikkipedia and ‘Hastings And Men Of Letters’ by Gerald Brodribb.