Yorkshire - God's Own County » Books & Literary Work

In the Shoes of J B Priestley

brian — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 12:37:37 +0000

Bradford has a tradition when it comes to the shoe trade based around Stylo which was founded in 1935.
The Stylo business grew in the 1960′s by buying Barratts and in the 1990′s when they bought Priceless. Unfortunately that record is badly tarnished by receiverships, administrations, redundancies and liquidations. Barratts shoes, Priceless, Stylo, Shutopia and Dolcis have been ‘rationalised out of existence’.
Three times the same executive management of Michael Ziff and family have tried the shoe trade on for size. Let us hope that they are more successful this time around having just bought the latest, much reduced, business from the liquidators.

With this as a background I found it interesting to see Bradfordian J B Priestley was being used in the Bata-ville shoe context by the folk at No Way To Make A Living. In ‘Bata in Essex and the Decline of the Third England’ they record

‘When J. B. Priestley wrote English Journey he was exercised by some troublesome 1930s women: lipsticked, dressed up to the nines to ape Hollywood glamour on light industry wages. These were the women of the third England.

“the England of arterial and by-pass roads, of filling stations and factories that look like exhibition buildings, of giant cinemas and dance-halls and cafes, bungalows with tiny garages, cocktail bars, Woolworths, motor-coaches, wireless, hiking, factory girls looking like actresses, greyhound racing and dirt tracks, swimming pools, and everything given away for cigarette coupons.”

Priestley, J. B. (1984[1934]) English Journey, Penguin Books.’

These factory girls were an object of concern and scrutiny, troubling the established categories of class with their outspoken, performed femininity. A new, light, industrial labour force destabilised the established understandings of gender and class. The Bata factory in East Tilbury was staffed, in part, by this kind of woman: making shoes in order to pay for new shoes and handbags and lipsticks. And to keep their families: women’s work is not all about pin money and frivolity, J. B.’
Read the full ‘Bata in Essex and the Decline of the Third England’ on No Way To Make A Living

J B Priestley and English Journey from Amazon

What Would J B Priestley Make of This

Stylo Shoes is now a sound business based in Pakistan becoming the largest selling ladies’ shoes brand in Pakistan and the largest ladies shoes retail network in the country with 57 outlets in 30 cities.

Bradford’s Shoe business could be three time losers with the Ziff family.

The ‘English Journey’ is being used in academic texts about the decline of the third England.

Barnsley Born and Bred

brian — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 05:29:26 +0000

Markets were first established in Barnsley by Royal Charter in 1249. ( That is the year not nearly ten too one in the afternoon) The current markets in the local areas provide ‘quality products at bargain prices’. Small and casual traders can take space for a reasonable cost.

Goldthorpe Market every Monday (second hand), Tuesday and Saturday
Hoyland Market every Tuesday and Saturday, Thursday (second hand),
Wombwell Market every Tuesday, Friday and Saturday
Penistone Market every Thursday
Barnsley Market Hall and Meat and Fish Markets every day except Thursday and Sunday,
Open Market Held every Tuesday (second hand and collectors), Wednesday, Friday and Saturday,
Car Boot Every Sunday 7:00am to 1:00pm

Tourism in Barnsley is still an unknown quantity with the Tourist Office closing on Saturday and Sunday but go figure. Still the greatest asset is the local people so go into Pub for a good listen if not chat. Alternatively see the links below for information on local attractions.

Cannon_Hall_Museum_Park_and_Gardens

Elsecar_Heritage_Centre

Cooper_Gallery

Worsbrough_Mill_and_Country_Park

Brilliant Book on Barnsley Born and Bred Boys and Blokes by Brian buyable by Barclaycard

Well I’ll go to t’foot of our stairs – we had a little dog we called Grieg after t’composer.
‘Did it like classical music or summat?’
‘No it used to pee agin t’suite’.

Rough It Around Yorkshire

brian — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 11:00:35 +0000

Sometimes you have to take the rough with the smooth!
a you get from the Rough guides.

Roughly What to Expect

The introduction gives you a light touch feel for our Yorkshire.
Each section or chapter has a mini contents starting with the Basics of travel essentials.
The Guide chapters cover the many attractions including great stately homes, cathedrals, churches and monastic ruins. Not forgotten are the steam railways, world-class seaside resorts and industrial museums.
Sections include accommodation details are based on regions of South Yorkshire, West Yorkshire, The Vale of York. Yorkshire Dales, North York Moors and The East Riding
Context is the last but most informative section covering History, Geology and Wildlife of Yorkshire.

Examples of Yorkshire Trivia

In what the guide roughs out as Calendar Girl country they highlight where the film of that name was made. Film location included Burnsall, Kettlewell, Settle and Kilnsey and all feature in the rough guide. Those in the know realise you can find some good walks and great Yorkshire food in Cracoe and Rylstone where the Calendar girls originally came from.
The York Archaeological Trust owns and runs Jorvik Viking Centre, Barley Hall, Dig and the Micklegate museum.
Wainhouse Tower south of Halifax is possibly the worlds tallest folly. Intended to be a dye works chimney it was never finished as such. It is 275 feet high and has 403 steps that visitors can climb on bank holidays (If you have nothing better to do).
After a trip to Doncaster market (or while the wife is shopping) treat yourself to a pint or two at the White Swan, Black Bull or Hare and Tortoise (all creatures great and small serve beer in Donnie).
Hull museums are many and various. From the Artic Corsair, Wilberfore House and the Maritime museum you are bound to find something to your liking

Calendar Girls by Tim Frith

The Rough Guide to Yorkshire is available at about half price from Amazon
Calendar Girls by Tim Frith is also available from Amazon

Pat Kirkwood is Angry

brian — Sun, 08 Jan 2012 11:35:23 +0000

Being remembered more for an alleged affair with the Duke of Edinburgh than a glittering career as a musical actress could make anyone angry!
Her fourth husband, Peter Knight, a former president of the Bradford and Bingley Building Society, said: “She never once complained to me, or to anyone else, about the lack of official recognition, though I know it hurt her very deeply” angry again I guess.
One newspaper headline called it ‘The Duke and the Chorus Girl Affair’. Pat displayed her anger by retorting ‘I had never been in the Chorus in my life’, she was always a showgirl and musical success story.

This anger is being channeled into a new show funded by Opera North. It is written by and stars Yorkshire actress Jessica Walker. There is a lot of material to develop about Pat Kirkwood, who died in Ilkley on Christmas Day 2007 aged 86.

Career Highlights and Low Lights

There had been affairs with President John F. Kennedy’s brother-in-law, actor Peter Lawford, and also with Danny Kaye.
In 1944, she is reputed to have sung with Glenn Miller and his orchestra, only days before Miller vanished.
Flirting with Hollywood, MGM put her under contract but thought she needed to lose weight, and prescribed pills that had a disastrous effect.
Pat Kirkwood suffered a severe nervous breakdown and was committed to a sanatorium in New York for the best part of a year.
In a career spanning more than 60 years she starred in leading roles in musicals written by Noel Coward, Cole Porter and Leonard Bernstein and was more successful in the UK than America.
In pantomime she was a dashing principal boy with legs to drool over.
Pat co-stared with George Formby in Let George Do It but found the experience totally unedifying as George was lacking in conversation and under the thumb of his controlling wife. There are conflicting ideas about Pat’s view of George but Beryl Formby was a tartar.

When Pat Kirkwood died on Christmas Day 2007, the world-wide media coverage focussed on two things: her fabulous legs, once described by Kenneth Tynan as the eighth wonder of the world, and her rumoured relationship with Prince Philip. Be sure the new show called fittingly ‘Pat Kirkwood is Angry’ will display more talent than invective.

Nostalgia is Bigger Than It Used To Be

brian — Sun, 04 Sep 2011 10:35:01 +0000

Nostalgia is big business and isn’t going to disappear anytime soon. Alan Titchmarsh has latched on to the trend with his BBC book ‘When I was a Nipper’ available from amazon as paperback or hardback.

Why Nostalgia is Getting Bigger

The baby boomers are enjoying life and there are a lot of them around.
Old music acts from the 60′s and 70′s are touring and performing in ever growing numbers. I saw one of the Dubliners on a zimmer frame at St Georges Hall Bradford last year!
Discretionary spending on nostalgia increases year on year. Collecting memorabilia, old pottery, and modern antiques has been promoted by lifestyle programmes on TV.
Family tree compilation and ancestor research has joined the list of popular hobbies.
Themed holidays and a greater number of museums and local attractions based on nostalgia proliferate.
There is a demand for nostalgia because times were good. The supply of nostalgia based products, services and media is aimed at satisfying the demand.

Yorkshire Nostalgia

The Railway Children is running again in a live performance at Waterloo Station

Heartbeat of Aidensfield fame may have ceased production but it is still running on digital TV channels and dvds. How long before we are nostalgic for analogue TV?
Another show that runs and runs is the Last of the Summer Wine. I can even get nostalgic for the reruns!
If you want to keep up with nostalgia you can do a lot worse than read The Dalesman

Last of the Summer Wine

brian — Tue, 10 May 2011 00:06:52 +0000

Sometimes you can’t improve on what is already on the intenet. Rather than compete I have just given my favourite links.
Sorry I do not believe the theme tune in the Yorkshire’s National Anthem.

Links

Last of the Summer Wine is the world’s longest-running sitcom and it seems immortal, which is ironic for a show about people in the autumn of their years. BBC

The cast included Ivy, Marina and Entwistle who never divulged their surnames. More info by Phill Other Yorkshire Facts

Last words of Last of the Summer Wine: The Mirror reveals axed show’s final words.

Amazon sell DVD’s and books of the series.

Smut and Talking Heads

brian — Thu, 28 Apr 2011 15:22:08 +0000

What do smut and talking heads have in common? They are both titles by Alan Bennett, Smut being his latest book to be released.

Alan Bennett mini Biography

Bennett was born in Armley the son of a co-op butcher.
He went to Leeds Modern School and is reputed to have been in the same class as Bradford Taylor Bradford
Alan Bennett is an award-winning dramatist and screenwriter.
He was one of the original members of Beyond the Fringe, a satirical review that was a hit in both the London and on Broadway.
Other members were Peter Cook, Jonathan Miller and Dudley Moore.
Alan wrote the plays The Madness of King George and The History Boys.
He features on many peoples top Yorkshiremen lists including that published by biography on line listed only 36th.
He has survived 6 years since admitting he had long suffered with colon cancer.
Alan was given the sobriquet “curmudgeon laureate” by Mark Jones.
Bennett had a close relationship with ‘Cafe Anne’ Davies of Clapham. There were portraits of him posing with the painter David Hockney on the walls of Davies’s tearoom until her demise in 2009.

‘Alan Bennett at the BBC’ featured above is a DVD that includes his first television play, A Day Out, autobiographical pieces such as Dinner at Noon and Portrait or Bust and celebrated plays such as A Woman of No Importance, An Englishman Abroad and A Question of Attribution.

A wide range of other titles is available from Amazon

Definitions

OED defines smut as lascivious talk or pictures…. There are some less refined definitions of smut on the Urban dictionary.

Talking heads were an American band and is a Sheffield based Language Service in addition to being the Alan Bennett series of dramatic monologues written for BBC television.

Miscellany in Yorkshire

brian — Tue, 26 Apr 2011 18:36:45 +0000

We at Gods Own County have 400 pages of miscellaneous rubbish, pithy comment plus ideas on where to go and what to do when you get there.
On a good day we get that many readers but can cope with many more so link in your friends (or enemies we’re not proud).
For those wishing to extend their knowledge of Yorkshire from an armchair we can point you to :-

Answers to the following type of question?

What is a Yorkshire Fat Rascal?
Why has a song about hats and moors become the Yorkshire Anthem?
Where can you find Booze, Crackpot and the Land of Nod?
How did the white rose become Yorkshire’s emblem?
Which three Prime Ministers were born in Yorkshire?
Who are Yorkshire’s real Calendar Girls?
When is Yorkshire Day? (shame on you if you do not know go to the bottom of the class or Lancashire)

The answers are all in A Yorkshire Miscellany by Tom Holman

In the amazon blurb they claim it is an ‘entertaining guide to this much-loved part of England and a celebration of its people, places, history and quirks.
Learn the lingo of Yorkshire dialect and how to cook specialities like Yorkshire Pudding, Parkin and Curd Tart.
Discover the secrets of building a dry stone wall and uncover the Yorkshire locations of famous films and TV shows.
Understand the history of famous Yorkshire icons like the flat cap and the Yorkshire terrier, and read about the lives of the greatest ever Yorkshiremen and women.
A Yorkshire Miscellany is crammed with intriguing facts and figures- a fascinating treasure trove to delight Yorkshire natives and visitors alike.

All available from amazon for less than £6.00

As a viable alternative wait until Gods Own County turns it’s attention on these miscellaneous subjects in future posts.

Yorkshire on Wisden

brian — Wed, 20 Apr 2011 20:08:20 +0000

Yorkshire lad Duncan Hamilton has produced a tour-de-force for Wisden and a compilation about all that is great about Yorkshire Cricket.
2011 is shaping up to be great year too so expect another edition soon but buy a first edition from Amazon £13.01 (don’t ask me why the penny it hasn’t dropped yet).

The blurb on the book undersells the county a bit……’Yorkshire County Cricket Club is by far the most successful county cricket club in history.’

The facts are made to speak for themselves……’Since the County Championship was constituted in 1890, Yorkshire has in addition to one shared Championship, won it outright on 30 occasions and Yorkshire cricket supporters take great pride in the county’s cricketing history’.

The characters get a reasonable billing……….’As well as the club’s successes, there have been 42 Yorkshire players chosen as Wisden Cricketers of the Year. Many have been world-class cricketers such as Wilfred Rhodes, Len Hutton, Fred Trueman and Geoffrey Boycott, with distinguished England careers.’

Yorkshire cricket seems to have helped to keep Wisden in business…………..’Many thousands of Wisden pages have been filled with Yorkshire cricket, Yorkshire cricketers and Tests in Yorkshire.’

What is the book about? ‘Wisden on Yorkshire is a fascinating journey mixing great matches, personalities, feats, controversies and unusual occurrences. Presenting the best Yorkshire information from the Almanack archives,

Focus on the iconic Yorkshire players, such as Truman and Boycott
Cricketers of the Year and Obituaries.
The County’s history, highlighting significant years and extracts from reviews of those years.
Fascinating stories of both the highs and lows in the club’s history.
Colour plate section containing superb classic images.
Detailed records, match reports and scorecards.

Hockney Rebel

brian — Wed, 06 Apr 2011 09:16:54 +0000

‘Hockney’s Pictures’ is a retrospective of one of the most popular pop artist in the world today. Covering all media and presented thematically it shows David Hockney’s prolific paintings, drawings, watercolours, prints and photography.

From Hockney’s early years as an Art world rebel to acknowledged innovator, communicator and preeminent artist of world class.

Conversations with Paul Joyce entitled ‘Hockney on Art’ contains musings and insights, interspersed with works by the artists who have inspired David Hockney.

These books and many more with insights into David Hockney as the ‘enfant terrible’ are available from Amazon

Read about David Hockney his large tree painting and brief history on Gods Own County