I'm 64, came from a working class background and lived in the East End of
London..
' television
- originally started in the 1930s
--Might have started then, but no-one I knew had one until 1953 for the
Coronation.
' penicillin
- discovered before I was born, I think
-- "Antibiotics are chemicals, effective at very low concentrations, created
as part of the life process of one organism, which can kill or stop the
growth of a disease-causing microbe--a germ. In 1929, Alexander Fleming, a
doctor and researcher at St. Mary's Hospital in London, England, published a
paper on a chemical he called "penicillin", which he had isolated from from
a mold, Penicillium notatum. Penicillin, Fleming wrote, had prevented the
growth of a neighboring colony of germs in the same petri dish. Dr. Fleming
was never able to purify his samples of penicillin, but he became the first
person to publish the news of its germ-killing power. Howard Florey, Ernst
Chain and Norman Heatley expanded on Fleming's work in 1938, at Oxford
University. They and their staff developed methods for growing, extracting
and purifying enough penicillin to prove its value as a drug.
World War II (1939-1945) had begun by the time their research was showing
results. The main research and production was moved to the United States in
1941, to protect it from the bombs pounding England. Work began on how to
grow the mold efficiently to make penicillin in the large quantities that
would be needed for thousands of soldiers. As the destruction of the war
grew, so did interest in penicillin in laboratories, universities and drug
companies on both sides of the Atlantic. The scientists knew they were in a
race against death, because an infection was as likely to kill a wounded
soldier as his wound."
So it might have been discovered, but wasn't in common use until after WWII.
Your Grandmother and I got married first, . . . And > then lived together.
- I lived with a man I wasn't married to and we had a baby in 1969 - all of
38 years ago
-- not in my neighbourhood you wouldn't!
And we were the last generation to actually believe that a lady needed a
husband to have a baby.
- I can recall at least 2 women of my Mother's generation who had
illegitemate children and although I come from a working-class background it
was a
"respectable" area.
--again, not in my neighbourhood. You either took your chances with an
illegitimate back street abortion, or married the father as quickly as
possible. The swinging sixties didn't start until 1963 or 1964. I'm 64 and
was married (not pregnant I hasten to add) in 1962 at the age of 19. A
common age for marriage then. Even in 1965 my father wouldn't attend the
marriage of my younger brother because his girlfriend was pregnant - he
could only get time off work by telling the truth (and he wasn't going to do
that because of the shame) or by telling a lie, which he wasn't prepared to
do either. The only reason he didn't make him leave home before the marriage
was because "You don't turn a dog out if it has nowhere to go." My
grandmother, aged 81 at the time, (my mother said "Don't tell her. The shock
will kill her!) just said "You silly pair of buggers! Why couldn't you have
been more careful!" My father wouldn't allow them to get married in church.
If you didn't marry, you were sent away to live with relatives outside the
area and gave up the baby for adoption.
We listened to the Big Bands, Jack Benny,
- come on - Rock 'n' Roll started in the mid-fifties when you and this
grandad were only 6 or 7 years old.
Agreed, which is one problem with care homes - they still play those
records, "Sing-a-long-Max" and play bingo. Many haven't realised that while
many of us over 60 are much younger than out parents at ythat age, there are
some who do need to go into care homes, for example suffering from
Alzheimer's, who grew up with Bill Haley, Lonnie Donnegan, Elvis, Tommy
Steels, etc, and rather than watch TV all day, would prefer to be on our
computers.
Jean in Poole, Dorset, UK
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