Linda Crew

A very warm 1951 Club welcome to new member Linda Crew.
Linda is the award-winning author of nine novels. Her readers range in age from children who enjoy the Nekomah Creek books to adults who have appreciated her recent cross-over titles such as Brides of Eden: A True Story Imagined, and A Heart for Any Fate: Westward to Oregon 1845. She and her husband live in her hometown of Corvallis, Oregon, at Wake Robin Farm, where they were married under the oak trees thirty-nine years ago.

Ben & Jerry

A double delicious Chocolate Fudge Brownie 1951 Club welcome to Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield the founders of Ben & Jerry’s ice cream company.

Born just four days apart in March 1951, Ben and Jerry first met in junior high school, where they struck up a lasting friendship.

After college and various odd jobs they decided to fulfill a dream they shared which was to run a food business. They knew plenty about eating and thought that opening an ice cream shop would be a great idea. They took a correspondence course on ice cream making, leased an old gas station building in Burlington, Vermont, and opened for business on May 5, 1978.

They were the Willy Wonkas of the ice cream world as they went about creating the fantastic selection of ice cream flavours they’d always dreamed about.

Their unique brands of ice cream soon became a tremendous hit and now of course they sell around the world.

Melted … but not forgotten

18th January 2013

The current spate of snowy weather in much of Britain has attracted many a snowman. The one above arrived yesterday with his dog and is pictured enjoying a drink on a bench in Tetbury, Gloucestershire. And that got me to thinking …

Even when a snowman melts away he leaves behind a whole world of magical memories and is never ever forgotten.

Snowman and his soldier pals pictured in South Korea circa 1951

St. Augustine, Florida February 1951. Strange looking penguins.

Frosty the Snowman comic (1951)

So … do you recognise the one that tried to steal your handbag ?

This is me together with my son in the winter of 1978. Our snowman pal does look just a bit of a mess. I put it down to it being the wrong sort of snow. But we loved him nevertheless and we have never ever forgotten him.

STOP PRESS: Snowmen spotted in Big Brother house 2013

Trying to smooth over a crack …

Two snowmen on the Big Brother lawn.

And finally … follow this link to see the beautiful 2012 John Lewis Christmas Advert posted on YouTube.

Crystal Palace Football Club score a victory on this day in 1951

Crystal Palace Football Team  (the Glaziers) were in the Third Division in 1951. They played Bristol Rovers at home on the 13th January 1951.

The final score was 1 – 0.

The official programme is pictured left.

Happy Birthday to … Kirstie Alley

TV Comic … 1951

T.V. Comic
9th November 1951

TV Comic was a British comic published weekly between November 9, 1951 and June 29, 1984 running for 1,697 issues. The first issue had 8 pages and had Muffin the Mule on the cover. It also contained other TV favourites of the day including Mr. Pastry, Larry the Lamb, Tom Puss, Prince Valiant, Jack & Jill, Prudence Kitten, Tusker & Tikki and Hank. The letters page article was called ‘Let’s be gay’ and hosted by Jennifer Gay who also introduced Children’s TV at the time. Follow this link to see her introducing a Guide to Children’s Hour for the BBC. Very nostalgic.

Rodeo Romances … 1951

Rodeo Romances
(January 1951 – British Edition)

Rodeo Romances magazine ran for a total of 44 issues between February 1942 - Spring 1951. Originally published in America a British edition ran for at least four issues beetween September 1950 and March 1951. Very aptly referred to as Lust in the Dust titles.

I particularly like the cover illustration for this issue. I’m not exactly  sure what’s going on but even the horse looks pretty pleased about it.

January 9th 1951 was a day of mixed fortunes for peanuts …

‘Peanuts‘ comic strip for January 9, 1951

Peanuts is a syndicated daily and Sunday American comic strip written and illustrated by Charles M.Schulz, which ran from October 2, 1950, to February 13, 2000, continuing in reruns afterward. At its peak, Peanuts ran in over 2,600 newspapers, with a readership of 355 million in 75 countries, and was translated into 21 languages. The comic strip above is dated  January 9, 1951 and features Charlie Brown.

Something else happened in the world of peanuts on January 9, 1951 when  Britain abandoned the Tanganyika Groundnut Scheme. It began in 1947, to grow peanuts in Tanganyika to help both the African and British economies.

A computer-generated model of the near-Earth asteroid 4179 Toutatis

And finally, in December 2012, we were visited by the mother-of-all peanuts in the guise of near-Earth aseroid 4179 Toutatis when it passed within about 18 lunar distances of the Earth.

Fly-by image of 4179 Toutatis

It’s a MONSTER hoax … 1951 style.

The Loch Ness Monster or Nessie is a creature that is reputed to inhabit Loch Ness in the Scottish Highlands. Interest and belief in the animal has varied since it was brought to the world’s attention in 1933. Evidence of its existence is anecdotal, with minimal and much-disputed photographic material and sonar readings. It has certainly been the subject of numerous hoax sightings.

Nessie in 1951

On July 14, 1951, Forestry Commission employee Lachlan Stuart took a picture of mysterious humps rising from the loch. The photograph caused quite a stir at the time. Over twenty years later researchers visited the spot where he had taken the picture and realized the humps would have been in extremely shallow water close to the shore, meaning that Stuart’s monster must have been awfully flat. Confirming their suspicions, author Richard Frere later revealed that Stuart had confessed to him the humps were nothing more than bales of hay covered with tarpaulins.

Things go better with …

Coca Cola magazine advert from 1951