OneGuyFromBarlick

Can anyone remember the X-Ray machines that they used to have in shoe shops to check how much room your toes had? I have an idea they'd be illegal now.

Stanley wrote:Can anyone remember the X-Ray machines that they used to have in shoe shops to check how much room your toes had? I have an idea they'd be illegal now.

I do. Start-rite was the shoe manufacturer I believe.

Didn't have Start-rite Mam put me in Clarks. I would imaging they are illegal now with Health & Safety for all concerned. Eileen

Came across this image in the archive. I can remember the plethora of posters during the war. Funnily enough the one that is most firmly in my mind is the large 'VD KILLS!' poster in every gent's toilet! Hadn't the faintest idea what it meant...

Or as it was changed by most kids at the time - " catch them in your handkercheases". Scans a lot better.

Anyone remember the Squanderbug?

There's a shoe shop X ray machine in the wonderful Whitaker Park Museum in Rawtenstall.

Rossy, your school dinner post reminded me that we used to take a bottle to the chip shop to get it filled with vinegar during the war.

I don't think I ever came across the shoe-shop X-ray machines (what were called fluoroscopes), but as with all X-rays it's not so much you who's getting your feet zapped that needs to worry (generally), it's the poor shop assistant who was exposed day in, day out. These machines were notoriously varied, with some giving massive exposures. No doubt some have died before their time due to these which are quite rightly now banned. It's also worth noting that fluoroscopes were used on pregnant mothers to look at things (causing leukaemias), and to zap the tonsils/adenoids causing thyroid cancers, as it was seen at the time as a technological marvel. Sometimes, we should be grateful for 'health and safety'.

Richard Broughton

Funny how things come back to you. In cold frosty weather like this my mother used to make us put old socks on over our boots to give us a better grip on the ice. Anyone remember this?

Yes I do, and when we lived in Thames Ditton the lovely old chap who lived next door used to do exactly that when he was out and about in the snow and ice.

Richard Broughton

Yes I remember putting old socks over boots to give more grip. I also remember wearing a smog mask when going to school and on bonfire night we wore goggles as well as the smog mask. Mam should have been a Health & Safety expert although with all us kids reckoned she was on first name terms with most of the hospital staff at the end of the school holidays. Eileen

Without prejudice
A slight digress, i watched a rugby match today, one of the players, a coloured guy playing for Munster is called Zebo, do i remember a a black lead called Zebo used for cleaning fire grates ?

Did Zebo have a sunburst logo on the tin?

The first time I came across someone using socks as an anti slip device in snow was in the early 1980's. My partner & I used to drink in the Duke of Wellington, a pub in Blackley, Manchester. It had more than its fair share of characters, one being Nellie who was probably in her late 60's. She had a gravelly voice, probably due her chain smoking and nothing kept her away from the Duke. There had been a terrific snowfall & as we slipped & slid our way to the pub we made bets on whether Nellie would turn up. Well, there she was sitting in her usual place, wearing her high heels....and you've guessed it.

Brasso metal polish has the sunburst Rossi

Pubs in Blackley (always pronounced wrongly on BBC traffic reports) - brings back memories. There was one on Victoria Avenue which at the time was called "The Wreckers". It was decked out as an old wooden sailing ship as I recall. Its unique selling point was the live crocodiles in a pool in the main bar!

Brasso had a red sunburst, Zebo, Later re-branded to Zebrite had a black one so Rossy's memory is good. Every house should have black lead and donkey stones!

Sore throat in cold weather? Wrap a smelly sock round your throat. It was the ammonia that alleviated the problem so they tell me.... Not often you find a recommendation for smelly feet!

I would guess Redmans, Shambles or Majestic Discounts have cans of Brasso and maybe Silvo. I have some tins but they are out in the garage and a bit tricky to get round to photograph.


I have been scanning ( hence some poor reflections and bits out of focus ) some of the Models of Yesteryear range I had , I sold a job-lot to a chap in Clitheroe which I think included one of these.

Bacup Natural History Society have a musem - open on Thursday evenings I think - which has a collection of old household item like Zebo & Brassos. It's a real trip down memory Lane. They also have Blodwyn, an ancient skeleton which was found near Llandudno. I was told that at one time someone from the museum thought she was getting a bit mucky so they took her home and gave her a whirl in the washing machine and she came back a bit smaller. Erk!

Tripps, I do remember the Wreckers although I only ever went in once as it was the wrong sort of beer. It had been refurbished in the days of theme pubs... Watneys were big offenders and ruined many a good hostelry.It had a really bad reputation, its name being a self fulfilling prophecy. It was eventually renamed The Lion & Lamb & was demolished a few years ago.

Yes - I only went in once too. Thanks for telling me about the demolition, since couldn't find it on Street View where I remembered it.
This site is great for reminding you of things you had forgotten that you had forgotten. Took me ages to remember the name Wreckers.

I knew a woman who decided an easy way to make money was invest in one arm bandits in pubs. She was late in the game and the shysters who sold her the machines found her some pubs where she could put them. They were mainly in Blackley... The venture was not a success.
Goose grease rubbed on your chest to protect it. Thermogene wadding taped to your back if you had a cold. Sloane's Liniment dabbed on a sprain or backache but never rubbed because it was so strong. Anybody remember Lintox tonic for dogs?

A modern Chinese equivalent of the Flatley Dryer. I haven't tried it with wet clothes in yet so I don't know if it works well, but it certainly looks as though it should.

It is a fan heater and fabric walls versus the old tin box with a ribbon element in the bottom. Forced heating versus convection.

But will it be any good for drying oatcakes? Nolic

Nolic wrote:But will it be any good for drying oatcakes? Nolic

I guess you could hang a wire rack between the coat hangers and then it would be perfect. Can you buy oatcakes in China? I haven't seen any yet!

There are lots of dried foods here, yams, shrimp, fish, pork and many other things. So please keep your idea quiet, if my wife catches on to the notion of using it for drying foods, there will be no stopping her and the apartment will stink!