Can anyone tell me honestly that back in the 70s they didn't know.....

[Jux]

... that hitting your head badly could result in brain damage? And that hitting your head repeatedly, badly or not, could also result in brain damage?

I was 12 in 1970; it seemed self-evident that head bang could lead to brain damage. Like a punch the lower back could injure something inside (wasn't sure what, mind, v ignorant of biology at the time!).

Look. I've already admitted I misjudged it. Not sure what else anyone wants me to do. I don't come on Mumsnet to be rude or upset people, to cause issues, or be scolded by random strangers who have passed judgement on me.
I don't have the inclination to spoil things for others and if you knew me in real life, and what I deal with you'd know I don't have the bandwidth for internet unpleasantness or sniping.
At this point I will be leaving and hiding the thread and moving on.

Thanks

Yep, they had no idea. I played football in school in the 80s and the only concern with heading the ball was to ensure you had good form and hit it with the right part of your upper forehead…but this was all because of neck injury risk. There was no awareness of brain damage. It was all “protect your neck!”

There was much more tolerance of harm when it came to head injury but it wasn't because of any lack of knowledge (of headers, hockey ball, falling off climbing frame etc), it was a different attitude
I wondered if the OP was thinking about abuse...come back please OP!
Money derail, brown envelopes and chequebooks, boring

We had cheque books and cheque guarantee cards.

They came in quite handy at the end of the month. If you were skint, you could get your shopping, pay by cheque, and it wouldn't clear for 3 working days, by which time your salary would be in your account.

This thread has freaked me out slightly! I’m currently awaiting a referral to neurology for some odd symptoms, and now I’m remembering back when I was on the school hockey team and the many (hockey) balls to the head, not to mention coming off my bike more than once and knocking myself out..
I still sometimes say things like “that’s ten bob, expensive that!” When something is 50p. Despite being too young (just) to remember decimalisation. I blame my dad 😁 I do remember the weekly deliveries from the butcher etc., a replacement for the old Home and Colonial vans, and mum paying cash at the end of the week when dad got paid. I felt so fancy and grown up when I started work as a student and got my first bank account and cheque book - like it meant I was a proper grown up!

I hadn't been thinking of the dementia link, I'm pretty sure no one knew that back then; perhaps some high flying forward thinking med students might have had it in the back of their heads as a possible final year thesis or something!

A friend -notfriend- was complaining about poss brain damage incurred from bare knuckle fighting back then.

Pixiedust thanks for the reminder, re kidneys

Wintermoonandstars NO! No one offered me violence other than my dear brothers and that only normal sibling fights where believe me I gave as good as I got. I did have an unpleasant cousin whose family lived in our house for a year, but everyone rallied round me and protected me from him. He was about the same age as me and my bros, so what with protective parents and brothers I was safe from him. No untoward violence in my youth, no. Mind you, my teens saw plenty of bloody unpleasant men sigh ... but that wasn't what I started the thread for.

As for the REST of you! Down memory lane I am tripping with you all, thank you it's lovely here 🤩

Yes! My first couple of jobs I got paid in cash in a little brown envelope every week, with a pay slip written by hand on it.

I had Saturday jobs and a couple of my first FT jobs where I had to clock in and out. Then one in the late 80s where I clocked in but even the General Manager did that! And anyone could inspect anyone's clock card but we were all far too busy to bother unless it was our job to do so.

LSD or pounds shillings and pence, 12 pennies in a shilling, 20 shillings in a pound. 21 shillings in a guinea. Once you've learnt your 12xtable (by 6yo most of us back then - repetition repetition repetition) it was easy.

Yes, my mum would go into the bank once a week and write a cheque to 'cash' for her week's spending. Occasionally she'd write a cheque in a shop; she had to write her name and address on the back of the cheque - such was the means of guarantee. I remember when she got a bank card, I couldn't quite grasp the concept. It was a Cheque Guarantee Card, no credit or cash or anything, you handed it over with the cheque you'd just written, the assistant wrote the card number on the back of the cheque instead of you writing your address.

I shall enjoy reading all the other posts now.

on Newsnight now, BBC2.
re rugby. steve thompson

Where I lived they stayed open till 11pm on Fridays and Saturdays, but 10.30 all other nights. A 20p bus ride took us into the next borough, where it was 11pm all week.

On Sundays, they were only open 12-2 at lunchtime, then closed till 7pm. It made Sundays seem very long indeed when I' was in my early 20s and we were out drinking a lot.

Cash points weren’t everywhere though. In the 80’s my wages were paid into my bank account but I still had to go into the bank to write a cheque to “cash”. This was in London, lucky we had tips to live on and had a day off in the week to get to the bank

No it wasn't cash in hand. They had payroll clerks who did the wages, they knew how much tax and NI to deduct. Interestingly, you don't really hear about payroll robberies nowadays because everyone gets paid into the bank.
It used to be rife back in the days when everyone got paid in cash!!

EineReiseDurch I'm not sure that doctors etc were wandering about with their whole salary in their pockets on payday. IIRC, if you earnt over a certain amount then you got the option for weekly or monthly pay, over a certain amount then you were paid monthly. I think the Finance Dept would send the payroll files to their bank which would then ensure everyone was paid their salary, but don't quote me on that.

I started work in the Civil Service in 1983. We got paid monthly, direct into bank accounts.

but there was a hangover from the days of receiving your wages directly - it was called “bank time”. Every member of staff got credited with 20 minutes a month. The purpose was so that you could go to the bank and check the money had been paid in. Nobody actually did this, but we all claimed the time.

at the same time, Ken Buchanan (a famous boxer - world lightweight champion) was working at a local pub. Poor guy was definitely suffering the effects - he could barely remember orders of a couple of drinks, far less large rounds. Everyone said he was “punch drunk”.

The hockey stories have really brought back some memories. We had two hockey pitches, one grass and one red gra. For some reason I can no longer recall, we weren't allowed to play on the grass pitch if it was wet.

I got knocked out playing rounders. I was shit at games and still can't catch or throw very well. I was fielding in the deepest possible position, where I was least likely to be bothered by the ball, and was lost in a daydream when I heard someone shout my name.

I looked round and the ball hit me, smack between the eyes. I hit the deck like a fallen tree, apparently, and when I came round the games teacher was leaning over me, looking very freaked out. When I woke up the next morning, I had 2 excellent black eyes.

I gave up games the following term and took up smoking behind the pavilion during games lessons instead. There were a few of us in the smoking club, and the games teachers turned a blind eye, as we were all shite at games and more of a hindrance than an asset.

We still had to change into our kit though, I've no idea why.

What? I was born in 75...remember as a kid being terrified of even shaking my head too hard as I thought it could cause damage.

I'm pretty sure people would have known this.

In the late 1960's I opened an account at the National Westminster Bank because the company I worked for would only deposit pay directly into the staff's bank accounts. I also had an account at a Building Society in the late 1960's.

Oh this is bringing back memories now. Everything was paid with cheques or cash.
handing over a cheque at the restaurant. Bless!
head injuries when I was little was a major thing though. Always the”what did you have for breakfast. What day is it.look,how many fingers am I holding up”tests.
mad kids we bumped our heads a lot!

JeniferAllisonPhillipaSue
You beat me too it, also remember little brown envelopes on a Friday lunch time.

All you had to do was watch rocky

No I don't think that 50 years ago people knew that head injuries from rugby/football/boxing could lead to dementia in later life.

After 2 world wars earlier in the century and the lack of healthcare and health knowledge we take for granted today, I don't think there were enough men around who developed dementia to make the connection. Cancer and heart attacks were death sentences back then. So many other problems that may have killed people off long before they developed dementia. Crash helmets on motorbikes only became compulsory in 1973, safety belts optional in cars until the early 1980's. There simply wasn't the same level of safety awareness that there is now.

I really think there's a difference between what people knew in the 70s and 80s v now.
Yes people knew that a good blow to the head caused damage, often serious, and towards the end of the 80s they recognised that shaking a baby hard could cause brain damage. The difference now is the understanding that repeated minor trauma, not causing knock outs, can have long lasting damage and they have the evidence from people like Doddie Weir and Rob Burrowes for MND and Steve Thompson and Ryan Jones for dementia. People knew that repeated knocks weren't good for you. Now they can prove it.

I grew up on a farm. Every week, Dad went to the bank for the wages. He worked out everyone's wages (hours, holiday pay, over time, sick pay,) and then across his desk, laid out a little brown envelope with each name. On that, he'd lay the wages slip - which is just like a modern one, but manually filled out with a carbon copy kept for the farm. He was always the one i asked about tax stuff once I started earning myself.

Then it was time to count out the money - twenties, tens, fives, pound notes, then coincidentally. Once we were old enough to count, we were allowed to help with this bit, which I loved. He always checked before putting each pile into the envelope and sealing it.

Each week, Mum went into the bank and wrote a cheque to "Cash" - this included our pocket money, Dad's pocket money (though he might get out extra for special occasions,) her own spends, cash to pay the newsagent and so on. She also wrote cheques to pay the catalogue and probably some other balls. Things like electricity were always paid by post with a cheque. She also went to the Post Office to get the Child Benefit, and once we got a TV, to pay the TV licence. Car tax was also paid at the PO with a cheque.

Definitely knew about head injuries. A cousin died after falling out of an apple tree in the '50s, apparently. My mother used to go into the local MAFF office to get the annual farm fatality stats, too. I was aware that almost everything outside the front door could kill me...

I assume that medical technologies, especially MRI scans and the like has really changed our understanding of injuries to the brain. We still only really had X-Rays back then.

And actual credit cards have been around forever. Since at least 1950.

But most people went to the bank and withdrew money for the week, or wrote cheques.

And actual credit cards have been around forever. Since at least 1950.

I think the first real credit card was 1958, before that there were various 'charge cards'. Barclarcard, in 1966, was the first credit card in the U.K. (and first outside the US)

If our Headmaster caught boys fighting he would bang their heads together really hard.