Mess

Serious answer is price/wood/ number of frets. But I guess there's a joke coming up which I haven't heard so please put me out my misery and hit me with the punchline.

I didn’t know that story HSR. I know McGuinn started out as a banjo player and used finger picks on a lot of his guitar tracks with The Byrds. I also know he was wowed by the sound of George Harrison's 360/12 Rickenbacker on A Hard Days Night so he went out a bought one for himself. He also got Crosby to use a Gretsch and Michael Clarke to use Ludwig drums to try and emulate the sound of The Beatles. He didn't completely succeed but finished up with very impressive sound of his own.

I'm a Notts County supporter so I can't be 100% objective about Forest but I don't think Monsieur Lamouchi is going to keep his job much longer. The end to last season was simply horrendous and despite their new signings Forest still can't get their act together. I guess Marinakis is already investigating a new manager and unless results start to improve quickly the fat lady will be getting ready to sing. He seems a nice guy but I think he's out of his depth.

The 2009 Kew Gardens 50p is very collectable as only 210,000 were minted but beware because in 2019 the Royal Mint reissued it. They haven't said how many they minted so it's not clear if it will also be valuable. Just be aware.

Jill, The silver 4d was known as a groat and as MargieH said they were also issued as Maundy money along with a silver 1d, 2d and 3d. All “silver” coins issued after 1947 were actually cupronickel. Those minted between 1920 and 1947 contain 50% silver whilst those minted before 1920 are 92.5% silver ie Sterling silver. Silver threepenny bits can therefore be either 50% or 92.5% silver depending on their date. If you're interested in British coins then Tony Clayton's website is well worth a visit. http://www.coins-of-the-uk.co.uk/coins.html

Yes, the Clarke family lived above the Post Office in a very nice apartment which I visited on one or two occasions when meeting with Nicholas aka Nick on a Saturday lunchtime before going off to see Notts play at Meadow Lane. IIRC correctly they had a grand piano in their living room.

Jill, Smells are remarkably evocative. I vividly remember the smell in the newsagents/sweet shop on Ambergate Rd Beechdale where I bought my sweets as a youngster. Talking of newsagents do you remember the large book full of little detachable receipts that the newsagent used to use when you paid for your papers you'd had delivered? What about the triangular bags they would use when you bought 2 oz of sweets? I remember somebody buying a half pound (8oz) of loose sweets once. The shopkeeper used a great big bag. Talk about envious lol.

IIRC Nicholas Clark's dad wore wire rimmed specs and was bald as an egg which may explain why you were so alarmed as a child. He was actually a very nice bloke and one morning in 1967 gave me a lift to People’s College when the 43 bus was late and I was due to sit an important exam. Strangely his wife always reminded me of Petula Clark. Nicholas and his older brother Chris both attended Forest Fields Grammar and went on to uni.

Hi Letsavagoo, Thanks for your reply. I quite enjoyed my time at FFGS although like you I was thoroughly distracted by girls and guitars when I was 15 and left with just 3 “O” levels. I did much better at college and later Uni and carved out a respectable career as a chemist in the food and pharmaceutical industries. Over the years I've come across many blokes who struggled at school for many reasons but who then went on to do well with their lives and careers. As the song says “It's not where you start it's where you finish” I think David Jepson may have had a younger brot

I was at Forest Fields Grammar 1961-6 and several lads from my year had been at Berridge. I recall seeing a grainy picture on FriendsReunited a few years back that featured them. The names I recall are Alan Allcock, Nicholas Clark, David Jepson and Keith Brown aka Hovis. Alan Allcock deserves a special mention because he was such a high performer. He went on to Cambridge, became a doctor and set up a practice in Portsmouth. His daughters are both dentists and work there too. Sorry if I've posted this before but my short term memory is quite dodgy these days.

It was just the same at Forest Fields Cliff Ton when I attended 1961-66. Wakefield’s at the bottom of Exchange Walk was where my army haversack came from. Several lads had pale blue RAF ones but the dark blue Royal Navy ones were quite rare. I had my school nickname “MESS” written on mine in large capitals. I used a blue biro and it took me ages. I also had many of Bob Dylan, song titles written on it which used to stimulate debate. It was in the bottom of my wardrobe for years before I left home.

I thought Wayne Fontana and The Mindbenders were quite underrated. I particularly liked their unusually titled 1964 single “Um, um, um, um, um ,um” and also enjoyed their recording of “Stop, Look and Listen” a catchy early 60s offering. Your quite right Oztalgian he was troubled soul but was right in there with the 60s music revolution that kicked off in Liverpool with the Fabs. RIP Wayne.

Mess was my nickname from late primary school right through to secondary school. It virtually disappeared when I started work as a sixteen year old. It's a corruption of my surname, Cresswell. First it was Cressie and Cress. Then it became Messy and finally Mess.

IIRC Marlon of The Perishers in The Daily Mirror was a connoisseur of said sandwich. My dad used to have the Daily Mirror delivered when I were a lad in the late 1950s and 60s. I used to enjoy reading the cartoon strips. Garth was brill and Andy Capp also amused me as did his long suffering wife Flo. Andy's son turned up in Buster comic in the early 60s.

Well said Carni. I haven't been to Skeggy for a while but have some wonderful memories of the place from the 50s and 60s. I was born in 1950 and all my pals had their summer hols (if they could afford one) in Skegness, Blackpool, Mablethorpe and Cleethorpes. In 1958 when my dad had a bit more money he took the family on the train down to St Ives. It was quiet and beautiful. Certainly not what I was used to. The beaches were lovely as was the ice cream but the lack of amusement arcades made me yearn for Skegness. The train journey through the night from Nottingham into GWR territory

I love the smell of a steam locomotive. The hot sulphurous smell in the cab from the firebox and the smoke from the chimney are wonderful.

I saw a bloke do it once when a patrolling copper caught him peeing in the Market Square late one Saturday night back in the swinging sixties.

The Forest was my playground in the early sixties when I moved to Russell Rd from Beechdale. The hard standing was great for bombing round on your bike. The grass was great for football and cricket using the wall buttresses as a wicket. The “cowshed” for meeting girls and sneaking a fag. The scouts bonfire well before that abomination that the council set up on Nov 5th where the surrounding area is gridlocked. The conker trees where I was always too late for the best ones. Goose Fair and the “untouchable” Manning girls and my favourite The Camels Hump where in winter the best sledging in the

I remember Ian Storey- Moore’s Bookies shop in Bingham. Now he was a winger.

Wignall's ? Methinks you're a Forest or Stags fan Boris. Frank Wignall was an old fashioned centre forward much loved in Nottingham in the 60s. Even I, a staunch Notts County fan couldn't help but admire him.

Yes, I think it was a takeaway and the guy sold the burgers through a hatch. There may have been a few tables inside but I'm not sure.

On reflection the Wimpy might have been in the mock Tudor building a little bit further down Arkwright St. It was definitely mid 60s because I was in my final year at school and three or four of us used to come down to Trent Bridge on the 43 trolley bus on a Friday afternoon for games which consisted of rowing up and down the Trent. In 1968 I joined Boots and used to play snooker in the social club which was upstairs in that mock Tudor building. The Wimpy had gone by then I think but the tobacconists was there into the 70s. TBI do you remember the tobacconists I'm referring to?

IIRC The Wimpy Bar at Trent Bridge used to be in the building now occupied by Topknot. This was about 1965 https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@52.9392569,-1.1381352,3a,35.9y,260.98h,92.66t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1shJD4L7G8c_ZWBLXhwn52OQ!2e0!7i13312!8i6656?hl=en Next door was a tobacconists that used to have a fascinating window display of some very exotic brands like Chesterfield, Passing Clouds and Camel.

The Americans pretty much invented marketing and everyone else has since followed suit. Their in your face style is just too intense for me. I worked for Mars for eight years and it was full on and quite draining. They never say never and won't take no for an answer. Sometimes it works and breakthroughs happen but a lot of the time you're working with ignorant and arrogant people who think they can change the laws of science. Now who does thar remind you of? It's a very frustrating environment to work in. The UK model is so much more reasonable but there are many who think the US does

Back in the mid 60s there was a Wimpy Bar close to the 43/45 Trolley Bus terminus at Trent Bridge. Contrary to popular opinion you can't make a decent hamburger with a high meat content using rubbish meat it will just fall apart. I worked for a company that supplied beef to the McDonalds burger factory in MK and their QC was pretty damn stringent. Wimpy and McDonalds use good quality meat and the burgers are delicious. There are lots of foodies who are always dissing McDonalds but you simply don't get to be as successful as them by selling rubbish.