What's something that absolutely screams ‘British childhood’ to you?’

[MyCheeryPearlTraybake]

Going to the corner shop for some custard creams

Champion the Wonder Horse was great - I bet today's kids wouldn't sit glued to a black and white programme about a wild west equine. See also those ancient Flash Gordon programmes with Buster Crabb (?). We would laugh at the special effects, but watched them all the same.

Jelly bags, as well as jelly sandals

flat lemonade for tummy ache

olive oil for earache - never for cooking.

lots of minor injuries - and huge scabs on knees and elbows - always always someome at school in a cast we would write on.

Aunts and nans who were my age now - 49 but looked and dressed like 70
year olds

parents referring to each other as ‘our mother’ and ‘our dad’

the ubitquitous big plastic bowl that was used for cake making, feet soaking, or sickness - and meat defrosting

a coal bunker we used to get into
to hide

older brothers sneaking the paper to look at page 3 - Linda Lusardi or Sam fox- everyone had a favourite.

the shock on our dads face and some of his neighbours /mates when the wives and mums came home with tight curly 80s perms having cut off 70s hippy style long tresses. Mine cried.

My nans girdle on the radiator

sunday school a d pink wafer bics afterward and warm squash

not being allowed back upstairs once beds were made and it was tidy

Fascinated, sitting quietly while older female relatives talked about ‘women’s problems’ the ‘change’ and waterworks’ in hushed and furtive , subversive tones.

Fruit cocktail in a tin. And fighting over the cherry with my cousin

pink wafer biscuits. Foil wrapped marshmallows

I would go back for a week in a heart beat.
just for some of the smells alone x

I slept in a car with three friends at 16 all the way up to Holland from the south of Portugal, it took us about a week. It was a shitty little Peugeot and they were mostly drunk (other than the driver) and insisted on listening to the Human League for hours on end

It was quite fun TBF!

I have a weirdly posh RP accent despite Liverpudlian and Cockney parents and my mum maintains it's due to listening to Enid Blyton tapes as a toddler 🤣

Primary schools having an actual maypole in the hall cupboard that you would dance around making patterns with the ribbons in the summer term.

Did you take Turns in the middle
leaning forward , or
on the parcel shelf - that was my fave !

Actually you said with friends , I meant more on family car journeys lol x

Someone upthread just mentioned Flash Gordon and me and DH been singing it in ‘our best voices’

And doing ‘ming the merciless’ impressions.

terrified me at the time along with incredible hulk !!

GORDON'S ALIVE!

Sorry 🤣

On the subject of driving my dad used to let me and my cousins get up on the roof of his van and cling on as he speeded round country lanes. And made a 'chariot' for my dog to pull us around said country lanes (TBF she was a collie with a lot of energy and loved it). And I was allowed out all day on a moped with my air rifle from age 9.

Honestly some things my parents did, I'm surprised I'm still breathing 🤣

Flash, flash I love you but we only have 14 hours to save the universe!!!

The van roof has had us crying lol!!
soooo jealous !
I mean obvs we got up on my dads roof rack to play but never while moving - that’s awesome!!!!!

Flower Fairies
Those characters that were half one animal and half another, like an elephant come kangaroo.
Looking for the rounders bat that had blades of grass pushed inside.
Terry Wogan
School staff rooms were the smoke poured out whenever a kid knocked on the door.

We must have had really good attention spans back then. Even my attention span now is pretty bad thanks to SM 😖

Quiz shows like

Punchlines
Winner Takes All

Domestic suburban sitcoms

Oh yeah , and the dinner ladies openly smoking in the playground!!
Teachers on day trips to France 🇫🇷 filling up on fags, cheap red plonk and chocolate- at the ‘Hypermarche’

Everyone smoked openly in my school incl the headmaster.
Someone mentioned 'Call My Bluff' upthread. It was repeated last autumn and a lot of the guests in the 1970s were smoking. My sons were shocked and stupefied and I had to remind them, 'erm. we have naked dating shows in 2024.'

Chalking a hop scotch court on the pavement & a gang of us playing. No one got moaned at for making a noise or defacing the pavement with a game of hop scotch.
Visiting grandparents, cousins, family friends on a Sunday afternoon for tea

The freezing cold water you had to walk through first at the swimming baths to get to the main pool

Drawing on the pavement with chalk.
Sitting on the beach eating egg mayonnaise sandwiches with bits of sand in them.
Squirting water at walls with an old washing up bottle.
Taking turns with a big skipping rope.
Going up the shop for a mix up 🍬

Crazes in the playground - French elastic, bulldog, skipping with long ropes, jacks, yo-yos, those finger size bomblets with a cap in to bang on impact, clackers, marbles. Massive fun!

Elastics - game where two people have a loop of elastic around ankles and one person in middle of them does some sort of skipping/jumping footwork.

Jacks - metal cross things and a bouncing ball

Mastermind game

Consequences game

Hating having indoor PE in school hall after lunch and treading on random peas and other food debris in your bare feet

Music and movement in your vest and pants

Church

Church social club - after mass on a Sunday

Cycling everywhere - lived on my bike - covered miles. My kids didnt do this as too much traffic and too dangerous

Jumble sales

Eating out was soup and a roll at the cafe on the top floor of Debenhams.

Only 3 flavours and brands of crisps. Salt n Shake

70s hymns at assembly - Jesus wants me for a sunbeam, Onward Christian Soldiers, All Things Bright and Beautiful etc, all being sung loudly while the music teacher banged the melody out on some ancient piano.

“Through the dragons eye” on a big tv on wheels at school.

As a pp said “the queens nose” and “the borrowers” on a Sunday. I’d read the books and it made me feel very superior 😂.

”Eclipse” clothing with the guy smoking a spliff logo.

The “sun moon and stars” craze with yellow sun moon and stars on a navy background- I had the bedding and curtains!

Mr blobby!

Girls world, “quints” dolls, cabbage patch kids, lolo balls, Mr Frosty, marbles, seggggga with sonic.

The simpsons, shell suits, teenage ninja mutant turtles.

Not sure if anyone else will remember this one - the “Vicky” magazine?
It came with a doll (I think the first one was on safari?) and it was the adventure of Vicky each week.
I LOVED that doll but my dad was made redundant after I had the first couple of magazines, we were skint for the next two years so I couldn’t keep getting the magazine. I remember being absolutely devastated but never saying a word.

McDonald “little mermaid” happy meals and “tiny tetris” kinder eggs 🙂.

@Darkmudder I remember the PE in vest and pants, following instructions from a posh BBC voice on a cassette player, saying things like “waddle like the Ugly Duckling”. As for stepping in food: I don’t remember that, the dinner ladies were very thorough with sweeping up, it was fascinating to watch them. We had to wear shoes (without socks) to walk to and from classroom, but did the PE barefoot. When we were learning about time, we used sand timers to time ourselves getting dressed. Only two boys managed to do it in less than a minute.

Putting our chairs up on the table at the end of the day. “We do not slam our chairs up: take them down again. (Bang bang bang) And no, we do not slam them back down again.”

If we were good, classroom games, such as guessing who was speaking in a funny voice. The teacher often said “no cheating” or “can you see?” as she blindfolded the guesser with her scarf.

I made my mum rose petals perfume, she said it was so nice she put it in her bath! I was soo chuffed (i was 6)
Years later she laughed and admitted she had chucked it down the loo, I wasn't pleased

Not getting party bags at children's parties.

We were given a slice of birthday cake to take home.