The big screen

Sometimes you feel you were between ways of living not least as that boy as today it is rare for children to be taken a lot to the Cinema - in our day they were in town and city centres rather than vast retail and leisure parks out of town - as many opt to stream films on large screen televisions instead

The cinema is different for being a very much a social experience as collectively you all respond to the film, talk with others before and after it has ended with Ooms and Ah's, holding on to the plush fold down seat.

One thing there was were cinema clubs for younsgsters with discounts for Saturday matinee showings so it was the place to go with your mates armed with some money for the film and popcorn.

A thing that was starting to change when I was first introduced to the cinema watching classic Disney productions like The Aristocats was while we'd be put in our best, thankfully at that point in proper short trousers, later on children like adults stopped dressing up for that and the theatre wearing jeans or jogging bottoms.

Girls wore pretty skirts and dresses aided by their mums.

For a period that great christmas stocking filler, the Annual, might of contained one dedicated to the stars of the the big screen with features on the latest films and leading actors and actresses of the sort of films we watched.

And they were films back then, not Movies that was so so American and looked down upon.

There were rules about behaviour while there and if you joined a cinema club, specific ones that breaking could lead to you being banned from the club.

Sometimes I feel it is sad so many youngster don't get the buzz of a Saturday off whatching a film with their mates, being in a nother world for a few hours.

Tales from the cold

Phew Aren't you glad last week is all over with from the snow to the minus four temperatures overnight that saw me in bed socks ?

We're slowly updating the electric oil filled radiators on temperature and time controls as the gas boiler is not working and it's scarcely worth doing much with all the talk of shunting you on Heat Pumps and old systems being written off.

I did have a few cds to entertain myself with and actually I found a bundle stashed by the cd player upstairs as I tend to be downstairs more since Mum's death and that's where the main hifi set up is so I give them a quick clean with IPA as markes and airborn stuff soon settle on them and stored them down here.

The Beatles discs came, two are with Mr. S. Claus late of the North Pole as they're for Crimbo and the other three are in the main collection that has The Beatles in Mono set of 10 mono lp's from 2014, I put the cats on cheaper food to pay for and a mixture of 1970's, 80's UK stereo editions and a couple of the 2012 stereo remasters where I thought they had something to offer.

There is a small portion of American discs of that handfull of titles I do like for their different selections often adding singles which the UK albums as a rule did not but having sorted the collection out in the 2000's, I can't see it changing much.

These new mono version do sound great and there is something for hearing the early recordings with the sound coming in just one direction rather than being at the extreme left and right.

Back when officially I was a boy, rather than someone who has not left being one, I did have things aranged that with the tube (Brit Eng: Valved) monoblock pair of power amplifiers and pre-amp I coud actually switch off one side and direct anything in mono to just one loudspeaker at the far end of the room for a more authentic single point sound.

These day's you're lucky if a preamp or intergrated amplifer even has a mono button to reduce the impact of any slight wear or crackles on older mono records.

Recovering boy

Well this week isn't a great one with contracting flu like symptoms so I've a rather sore throat, blocked up tubes and sneezing a fair bit, feeling generally rather groggy which is rather annoying to say the least,

That means more sedentary indoor activities like reading this months Monster Fun which came through the letter box yesterday with its new ghoulish Punk Rock band cartoon strip series which is quite a hoot apart from the Phoenix and Beano, sole survivor of the comics we read as boys.

It kind of remainded me a bit of my junior school days where I tended to pick any and all infections going aided in the last year by a new building with aior conditioning which acted like a great bug speader picking up, warming and transmitting it across every classroom.

That tended to result in me having a few days off every school term beyond the usual chicken pox and that where I'd be parked in bed with the radio on, usally BBC Radio 1 or 3 for the Lunchtime Concert unless I was allowed to come downstairs for Newsround and Childrens tv for a bit before tea time.

There are times when you'd sooner have those routines not least being cared for when unwell 

Picture taking

Things that started in boyhood included photography mainly driven from seeing how pictures reminded me of times in the past and the need, the desire even to freeze that moment although it took a while to get a camera of my own.

I do have on another blog a bit more around photography mainly around the gear I bought around the early 1990's so tends to take more of technical take rather than practical or uses of approach as gear is a means very much to an end.

While I didn't have a camera like these boys are getting to grips with using - and don't get me started about burying "stuff" in menus you really need - I did borrow Dad's then Olympus Om2sp and a few lenses which usually result a few crash courses on getting the "right" settings - and the importance of focusing as many of the cameras I had as a youngster were either prefixed designed to be sharp enough with a fairly wide set of distances or automatic focus in which instance it set itself (in theory at least).

In the main I was more centred on getting good pictures of places I was at rather than things around composing a picture and achieving certain effects so the ability to quickly set it and take the picture counted for more.

Essentially I wanted higher quality pictures of the sort I'd normally take although later on I did follow a training course in taking more control and learning how to use the camera to take pictures as I wished them to be, learning about getting softer backgrounds, taking better pictures of waterfalls, making better use of flash to deal with wide contrasts and so on.

Photography is a school subject with examinations - I remember seeing 'O' level photography as a subject you could take in your options - although as with mosts arts subjects getting a name, exhibiting and being seen counts for almost as much as your qualifications.

There are badges in Scouts and Guides too you can earn for it.

What I learned over the years

To be honest I've been still mulling over really  the emotional impact of being among people I knew specifically those I knew as either children or adults at school at Mr Cowe's funeral last Tuesday and really what I've learned over all those years.

There are some reflections I do feel the need to talk about about on here one is learning to be grateful for what people freely do for you such as the time seeing I was struggling at one railway station, a couple kindly offered to help carry my luggage and even checked when I got to the end of the stairwell I was all right who I no idea of. I thanked them profusely for caring so much and acting on it.

Then's there is the ability, however difficult I find it with being autistic to go to people I don't know, ask  if I may sit next to them and strike up a conversation about a common person in our lives, which I have got better at.

There's the people who kept an eye on me as I was feeling a little homesick where I stayed away several times, spending time with and the friend who knowing the sort of fiction I like, gave me a cherished book from their collection which they sure didn't have to and to which I didn't expect at all after giving them a action figure I thought they'd love.

You also recall how it was your friends dreamed of being things like racing drivers, football players and train drivers but settled later in life for something more mundane but worthwhile while, you just wanting to be around doing a "Good turn" got the role to do just that, caring for your community.

Then there is a friend of mine who kindly put me up, offering a cooked meal and a lift to the train coming back completely out of the blue, seeing I was on the right platform for my train to come in. Even when I found I simply could not eat the whole of their home made and cooked meal rather than just saying it was very nice-and it was was absolutely lovely- from nowhere I found myself apologizing to them for not finishing my meal clearly feeling contrite.

These acts of kindness really moved me but whereas in the past I'd of blocked out my emotions I thanked them properly for all those things they did not have to do,that I have no right to expect nor demand expressing my gratitude, revealing my sense of being humbled openly.

It also reminded me of the distance I had travelled from that young boy in reception class being cared for both in class and with being played with by older children at breaktimes, trying to make sense of it all to being able to play a big part in the wider community because they cared to help you that over time understand more of what and how this community thing worked and what caring really means.

There was time several years back when I was away with friends that while a few people needed a reminder to tidy up and put their plates in the dishwasher, I did not and indeed that I had was held up as an example for others to follow.

I think the one thing I can take away from this period is while I may still have some distance to go and the potential to relapse, the event did show I had moved on over the years, being responsible and how I'm being helped to change is really helping me.  

Rainy recollections

You know what it did yesterday after a dry couple of days don't you? Bloomin well started raining again which put pay to the idea of going to the playground yesterday yo go on the swings which is what I love doing.

The Beano did arrive through the letterbox as last week we marked the arrival fully formed of Rodger The Dodger some sixty nine years ago not that I was around at the start when I first started having it together with strips like Little Plum, Tom, Dick and Sally plus Lord Snooty and Pals which aren't around anymore.

The well read will view this scene where Dennis and Gnasher get to be maids for Walter as payback for the menacing the pair of them did to Walter and his "Softies" mates over the years and their refined manners.

Bullying is never right.

The Pink Panther Show on tv and its spin offs was always a big thing with me as our pink feline friend outwitted everyone to fill the world wirh Pantherly Pride and ensuring everything was in the pink.

These 1981 stickers were just a part of what some of us bought and applied liberally to anything within reach not least any folders that just looked so plain boring at the time or to my parents dismay, walls near the light switches.

Just what did you do back then?

The end of the line?

The last few days has seen a double whammy of news around something that was a part of my childhood that I expected to continue on largely unaltered.

Model Railways was a boyhood thing from the first plastic set that run wide gauge track from batteries that dad bought me to the first layouts and a thing I saw across the generations as cousins of both sexes visited and played with them.

Their offspring have a interest in railways.

Yet it was announced this weekend that the legendary Hatton's originally of Liverpool are to shut up shop and the Warley Railway Show that has been held for many years at the N.E.C., Brum is postponed indefinately.

What's that all about?

One thing is costs business rates, rents and freeholds have all contributed to reducing high street shopping as has online sales from the likes of Amazon.

Exhibition centre fees are quite high and caused issues in another hobby of mine Ham radio where overnight costs shut up and many moved or stopped operating.

The NEC charges around £20-25 per person admission, parking can be expensive as are the captive catering unless you take the train to Birmingham International which makes attending for a day a dear do.

Then there's hobby expenses.

The modern loco has digital control systems with sound effects and often is well over £130 so the days of simple dc control with controllers are long gone.

It may be more realistic but the entry point to the hobby is very step today which makes a hard sell to boys (and for that matter girls) who still love playing but have less opportunities to build up a great layout even if card models and scenery is still affordable.

Then that leaves fewer people to get involved in clubs working on the club layout to show off at shows with stores both shops and bring and buys which draw more in as was the case post war and even into the 70's and 80's as a young lad.

Challenges move you on

After last weeks entry we pick up this week with some of the spirit that started it all off.

To me at least a part of the problem around accepting that boys are always looking for a challenge, keen on adventures really revolves around attitudes towards exploring things you've never done before and to risk.

Some people look at the world with all the things they're so unfamiliar with and see everything that could go wrong with a thousand item long "what if..." list that they become and feel intimidated to try.

Certainly I can recall the horror whenever I tried something no one expected me to be able to do and always fearing the worst seemed to be on a mission to wrap me up in cotton wool as a disabled child and yet I had the same urges as any other boy.

Moreover I felt more alive doing those things .

Others while taking some account of safety and looking at risk would regard managing and overcoming risks pushing yourself as a part your development,  learning self reliance and resilence in all manner of situations as not just something you naturally gravitate towards but desirable

That was more me with my folks always been told what I'd been up to and them saying "well I never thought he could do that".

The school radio years

One boyhood hobby was shortwave listening of both broadcast and ham radio transissions and this did go go to school with me in various of necessity portable forms

This was a very specialized piece of kit designed for us during WW2 for SOE Agents behind German lines that came in two bits, this, the reciever and a transmitter that operated of a large battery as it used miniaturized tubes (Brit Eng: Valves).

The Radio portion had a simple Tuned Radio Frequency (aka TRF) design rather then the better Superhet design for space reasons, a socket for the long wire antenna and earphones.

After all you didn't want "Jerry" hearing you!

Dad made a DC convertor that you clipped over the battery connectors so you could run it off the mains.

That hole on the upper right is the coil pack that sets the wavebands it recieves - you had two reversable pairs and because the tuning knob only had a one to a hundred scale you had a graph that converted that to actual frequencies on the inside of the battery unit

That long wire caused ahem "issues" with school grounds staff as it run from the dorm window to the nearest object to clip it on such as a pole or a tree as they seemed to think it was a saftey hazard even though I had a bright marker flag at the far end so it was visable.

One that sometimes came into school was the Soviet made Selena B 212 portable radio that did have extensive shortwave coverage but having its own telescopic antenna had less issues although you'd have the don't leave the pointy bit sticking out lecture.

That had a earphone socket and the ablity to connect to a tape recorder.

The home side of things could never of been in school although it make an appearence in May 1980 was the R 1155 radio reciever that also had a matching transmitter the T1154 and was fitted to the Lancaster aeroplanes and certain ships in a different version.

The wavebands are selected from a knob on the left but the selection depended on model you had - mine covered from 75 Khz to 18 mhz, shipping to shortwave via Medium wave broadcast band radio.

It was modified to run off the mains and have a loudspeaker output rather then the leather headset with earphones and microphone built in.

By modern standards the electrical connectors would be condemned ease of reversal and carrying high voltages but, hey, I'm still living!

cc

Corduroy trousers, Mum and me

 Things that were originated at one point but arrived at another come into this very much changed situation as we have now got the nuts and bolts of Mum's funeral arranged with date, time, person to officiate and formal notices for the press all underway.

The history of corduroy trousers and me goes back a long time, generally the era of the creeping in long trousers when Mum was looking for something hardwearing as with my disabilities I was more likely than most boys to fall over and damage them.

You might say, I certainly did, that frankly the best thing given all of that was short trousers full stop as at least all that was needed was cleaning up any cuts, antiseptic such as TCP and plasters (bandaids) to keep it clean but this was the 1970's and everybody was pushing longs typically jeans as they were held to be "cool".

The first cords I had were dark dusty pink colour which frankly horrified me - it might of been a pretty colour but no boy wore pink in 1970's britain ever - being almost girls so I had to keep a watch out coming from Sunday School and the likes if in them as other boys would give you grief and some for wearing anything they felt girlish.

Later one were at least more sensible colours such as navy blue and brown although it was never long before I was going around with at least one well worn out knee and this topic came to for during the Long Trousered Rebellion of the mid to late 1970's.

Fast forward to 2022 where as we all know that arguement wasn't just settled over time although it took initially a compromise to be put back in short trousers but moving over the last few years especially during Covid to wearing them around 98% of the time no matter what.

What might of happened if instead of those dreaded dark pink cord long trousers perhaps the hard wearing requirement was taken up but in the form of corduroy short trousers which were not uncommon in prep schools as general wear for that very reason?

Well Mr P who does stock traditional aka "proper" short trousers in adult sizes amongst other things was having made some naby blue cord short trousers with traditional white lining which tends to be hard to get today for some reason or other.

That picqued my interest that placing a pre-order happened.

 

The other thing was by doing so at the point of ordering the length could be altered to something more of that era rather than this "on or just above the knee" trend of today so I had them taken up to a inside leg of five that have more the coverage of the boy on this historic picture on the left, noticably shorter but not head turning and a close match for how mine were then.

They arrived last month due to a few issues with materials rather than as anticipated before Christmas, intentions being to wear when spending christmas with Mum so given she was very ill then she didn't get to see them.

It was a pity because they looked great on me - Mum did come to like me in short trousers all over again - and I'm sure she'd of seen that really would of been a better idea had she'd done that back in the day.

An abiding memory was just before Christmas Day sat with her watching the CBeebies Puss In Boots pantomine intently in grey shorts looking very much as her little boy enraptured in the performance before things took a bad turn.

*Top photo credit: Albert Prendergast Ltd.

The waiting game

I don't know about you but I have found the recent period of cold weather something of a challenge when it comes to getting about with having major issues with balence and a weakness on my left side making walking a bit of a struggle.

Thus the recent snow while quite enjoyable for snowball fights and making snowmen, being so much a reminder of the Winters of my official youth has in this district very much kept me housebound rather than being able to escape to the playground in the mornings for some fun.

This meant being more reliant on things such as reading where I did tackle this spiffing book in all its schoolboy brilliance.

This little collection of Just William Crimbo stories helped keep my spirits up, almost as up as my period shortened short trousers part from playing on the carpet with my toy cars.

Hol thoughts

Warm start day here as I adapt to being a schooboy on holiday.

 At the start of the month it was announced Bernard Cribbins died who was major part of our childhood.

Born in Oldham, Lancashire he got into acting at the age of fourteen, then like many was called up during WW2 in the parachute regiment before resuming.

Purposely I'm ignoring the  the grown up acting he did such as the Carry On films and leap to one of several comedy records he recorded for EMI produced by the legend that was Sir George Martin whose UK Label Parlophone had dance band music and comedy such as The Goons before an infectious Liverpool foursome called Beatles kickstarted the British Invasion.

Over here this was one of the staples of the children's requests show Junior Choice for many years together with Right Said Fred that I loved listening to at weekends as a boy.

Doctor Who is a BBC TV series that is a global sensation with a long history that was popular with children and he took part twice in it.

With the Daleks in 1964

With David Tennant in more recent times.

The Wombles were environmentally friendly superstars in the 1970's and returned in more recent years and he provided the all the voices for the 1973/5 series by Elisabeth Berrisford.

They were filmed by Filmfair in stop motion by Ivor Wood and Barry Leith who gave us many more favourite cartoons such as Ivor The Engine that we saw on the BBC back then.

In Britain, he was a staple of that much missed BBC show Jackanory where across several days leading actors and actresses read stories with vocalization to children.

Here he is as one of the actors tackling J.R.R. Tolkien's The Hobbit in 1976.

Lessons for today

 There is something very magical in watching this gif from the Christopher Robin film a few years back where he talks with Winnie the Pooh his bear in its emotional honesty sharing his innermost thoughts, trusting him totally.

It takes me back to around his age in so many ways where we did let it all out in an age where stoicism was more the approved thing in boys which in insolation I feel did is no real good at all as we never really processed our emotions and considered them as part of how we responded to situations whither or not it was about us and our families or that of our mates.

It's also the feeling of trust and empathy for one another whatever might be happening, that we do look after each other through the good and bad things that happen in that time.

Something for the road

It is hard to believe we are in Spring not least with the recent very windy and cool temperatures most recently.

Getting out always was the thing when I was younger be that to the informal what today they'd call unstructured rustic play areas with grass and a few trees dotted about where in the absence of play equipment we created our "play" in our heads, running around, kicking a ball in the street or going to park which in those pre subsidence works tended to be muddy and sinking in the middle.

The other kind of out tended to involve short car journeys where we'd pull up play for a bit before having a packed lunch and a rest to let your dinner go down.

It wasn't uncommon for us to bring comics, magazines and books with us from the ever popular I Spy series to the "Observer book of..." series that you might read in the car but more often just resting by a tree on your picnic throw and whicker basket with the food and drink in feeling carefree.

That was how this thing was with us.

Idealism vs Reality

To me, this is one of the most important messages of the Winnie the Pooh stories that I feel are so important for boys to read and learn from.

It is sad we cannot always be with the people we love and loved the most but the most important thing is what it is we learn from them and about ourselves that we take forward on this adventure called LIFE we are on.

OUR adventure begets that of others who become apart of it and carry on as we in time leave it, learning lessons that all of us badly need to learn to make the most of ourselves and our lives.

We don't give up, we move forward instead.

The New Neighbour

This week I'm just finishing off a few things like ditching one site that promised much but really didn't do anything me while I'm just back from spending time out in Grey shorts with minus 1 degrees temperatures!

Thinking really about what boyhood was really about, not least when in my junior years we had an influx of new boys as the estate was being built rather those we'd grown up with from the first weeks of infants and even the Play Group our Mums had all enrolled us in I saw this beautiful poem.

All right in this country most of us don't play Baseball although I do like to watch it but for us going down the lane bouncing your football towards the park or a patch of open land has the same feel.

You do have that he's the New Kid in town feel and maybe go over to him and open up a conversation and perhaps offer to be friends.

Sadly you can oh so easily tell the boys who's without any close friends but you know it's our responsibility to make him an offer. 

Until next week, Bye!

Things that come together eventually III

I wrote a couple of entries last year talking a bit about how in a number of ways I am finding myself acting and being more of my emotional age not least with how the current Pandemic is affecting  life in a lot of ways.

This also covered the extent to which in the wider community I was being seen more as child as I go by more how I am and feel rather than roles that aren't really me.

There are certain images concerning how you would see yourself I have spoken about because in time they've become a muse for boy who remains so, an inspiration for where I'd be now. 

I am a product of very much the seventies and early eighties as I was somewhat reminded of watching a rerun of the 1980's episode of Back In Time For School series and the previous episode covering the 1970's when it comes to the cultural influences and attitudes.

My still a child self is highly informed by that spilling over to how as that child I associate how I dress as to being my age.

We've looked a bit at uniform on here not as much as the other blogs admittedly and really he is more like boys of my era dressed like not least wearing much shorter shorts than boys today so for school.

One issue with short trousers today are most cheaper pairs have no lining at all which we were used to and that those that do today do use for some reason or other black which wasn't what were had.

It happened that a limited run was organized by a certain retailer of otherwise regular David Luke proper grey short trousers as worn still in a number of schools such as combined infant/juniors or prep schools but with white lining.

A new pair more like those I wore then was what I wanted.

This cropped picture shows the approximate length having being trimmed from seven inch  to three inch of this classic shorts with a zip fastening that I was more used to and the fastening tabs although they are elasticated at the back

This is the full length lining that for my pair has been restitched after alteration.

Boys of my era stepped into our short trousers seeing the white lining, not quite the classic white but off white polyester/cotton lining before tucking our shirts in, fastening and zipping our flies up.

I was rather taken by a boy in that show who remarked upon not being sure about showing so much leg in his very brief P.E. shorts in a bit about school games but that was the thing, we did show more of our legs, it was very much boyish.

The authentic ten year old Chris was used to and expects to wear short short trousers not mid thigh never mind just above the knee that expose more of his legs and thighs.

The best short trousers for me are a new pair as short as those that prep school boy from 1980 wore that have the same sort of lining and that is what I have now.

They are taken up to a highly authentic length so when worn with the rest of my outfit, I look as that boy I remain and feel.

They just feel fantastic on me!

Post Experience Project edition

A few years ago on the Mark 1 version of That Traditional Schoolboy I posted a few things around trends which I felt strongly about.

The right to be addressed as him/he/himself and all other masculine pronouns

The right to have his gender affirmed, being referred to unambiguously as a Boy

The right to single gender spaces

The right to wear shorts, longs or a kilt at school and at work.

The right to adult Male input throughout his life including spending time just with men and other boys in male only activities together to help him grow.

The right not to be discriminated against in any programs and employment opportunities, being assessed purely on his abilities compared to others for the task and nothing else.

Although that Tumblr went and it is unlikely in current conditions anything so forthright could return two years and four months on I still very much feel the same.

Outdoor math lesson by the very kind of man most of us would look up to in flash as boys.

“For boys”  is an electric sign we need to be prepared to stand up for because whatever certain usually pre-feminist people say, Boys ARE are Gender distinct from Girls which while individual variations exist, we graduate toward similar hobbies, interests and like the company of fellow males.

To me it is sad that we seem to be going backwards in this regard. 

When I was growing up in the 70’s, the goal was to achieve a society in which a male or a female might do or become anything they wanted, without their sexual identity being questioned. Boys could play with dolls, girls could climb trees, anyone could wear anything they wanted or do anything they wanted, without it impacting what we now call “gender.” It was a great goal. 

If you want to get a feel for what that movement was about, listen to Marlo Thomas’ , Free to Be You and Me, a famous series of songs recorded to help introduce children to this concept. Boys can cry, girls can compete in races…nothing you say or do changes what you inherently are.

Our conversation about gender appears to have taken a step backwards. Once more we are talking about ‘male’ and ‘female’ behaviours, and suggesting that if one gender does something associated with the other gender, the gender must be wrong. Once more we are creating boxes to define and contain gender identity, and if you step outside the box, it is deemed a denial of that identity.

Some men like to wear women’s clothing. Some girls disdain traditional “feminine” activities. The first group are still men, and the second still girls. We do them a terrible disservice when we read deeper things into that. Not every pair of high heels on a guy is a cry for help.

A trans man feels like he has always been a male, just in a female body. He has always felt like a male, regardless of what he wears. A trans woman has always felt female. Sometimes this manifests in traditional activities, and certainly clothing is used to help present the correct gender, but at its core it is a deeper, more fundamental issue than what toys one plays with or what clothes one is wearing.

I did have a love of flowers and some collectable porcelain dolls of various girls which in that era wasn't very cool to admit to other boys which was a shame but that didn't mean I had a deep seated need to change my sex because I was happy to be a boy and to be a male.

In all other respects as was as rough and tough if not tougher than my peers and having fought attempts to see me as anything other than the boy I am I do feel strongly this message that is getting muddled up by transgender activists needs to be said.

It is personal and no, I won't shut up about it cos it's harming boys who may be as I was a little different from getting on with being the boys they are.

The Tudors

This Thursday sees the return to school in this area, a few days earlier than normal because of the complications of Covid, not wishing to lose any more time than sadly has been study wise and  also with next years extra day's holiday to be slotted in the 'formula' needed to be changed.

It's a time of year where my Dysphoria tends to be at it's worst because psychologically my body clock expects to be returning to school and needless to say visiting the uniform shop and talking of which I expect my new school shorts around mid September.

I had a fairly wide ranging education even though I missed chunks and arguably wasn't properly taught but I did study History to English A level standard and a chunk of that was about the Tudors and Stuarts in England and Wales.

We did go on a number of  visits to important buildings such as former Abbeys and Halls built for the nobility such as Hardwick Hall in nearby Derbyshire and looked at things such as fashion and public health in that era outside of domestic policy, endless religious squabbles and the likes of the Armada. 

We didn't go too much into education back then, although it was very much something the really well to do boys had back then and as can be seen from this marvellous illustration  a boy in a state of disgrace regarding his conduct would be birched in front of his peers.

It also was a period of judicial Corporal as well as Capital punishment if you were caught begging or stealing.

On relationships and life

Relationships not least family ones have  played a negative part in my upbringing from distancing, not willing to get close to me or to encourage me to get closer, being more overly affectionate as well as a sense of suspicions between family members that just corroded any meaningful sense of trust and security I ever had.

Living in a world where you always watched your back, where telephone conversations were bugged, people lurked behind doors listening in  and mail read took its toll on me even to the point I was writing or drawing stuff about it in my teens on correspondence and never kept a formal diary in case it was read which it would.

What I long for as an adult little boy is the simple love and affection of a forever mother and father figure who will help me feel loved, wanted and secure so I can grow.
Is that too much to ask?