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On 10 January 1950 my diary recorded: "New Head Master. He is very tall and looks quite nice." No mention of his name though.
On 21 January 1950 there was a curious entry: "Fell out with Holt." Holt was Geoffrey Holt in Wakefield and I had just spent the day with him. All the many earlier diary entries about our friendship had always referred to him simply as Geoffrey. I have no idea what the falling out was about but he never featured in my diaries again and I have not seen him or heard of him since that day 58 years ago.
I spent the dark winter evenings playing with my ever-growing Meccano set. I had saved up my pocket money and, with the help of Christmas money, had acquired a fine selection of gears and, best of all, an electric motor to supplement my No 6 Outfit. While I was creating wonderful mechanical models, we had the wireless on every evening. We had a proper wireless by this time, the sort with glowing valves and a 30-second warming up period before anything came out of the loudspeaker. This was a great advance on the relay system we had throughout the war in Wakefield. Now I could tune around the dial and get stations from all over Europe. Nevertheless, our family listening was confined mainly to the BBC Home Service and Light Programme. My personal listening, when I could get sole access to the wireless, was to the BBC Third Programme.
I kept detailed notes of what we listened to on the wireless. For example on 16 January 'The Piddingtons' started a short series. They were mind readers and at the end of each programme one of them said, "Telepathy or not Telepathy - you are the judge". Having mind readers on the wireless seems now almost as unlikely as having a ventriloquist - but of course there was one - Peter Brough with young, wooden, Archie Andrews.
9 February I noted that BBC Children's Hour started a new serial called 'Puffing Peter' which was transmitted in five weekly 'puffs'!! I can't remember listening to any of those. On 15 February popular crooner Donald Peers started a weekly series; his signature tune was 'By a Babbling Brook'. The first verse went something like this:
In a shady nook, by a babbling brook,
Mid the flowers, I spend hours, every day;
That old shady nook, and that babbling brook,
They're my memory's book, since you're away.
On 20 February 1950 we listened to 'Ignorance is Bliss' which was a comic spoof on the long-running and extremely erudite 'Brains Trust'. Michael Moore, Gladys Hay and Harold Behrens were the 'experts'. It was a really enjoyable programme. The Question Master was Stewart MacPherson, the Canadian who was better known on the BBC for his excellent boxing commentaries.
The week beginning 10 February was quite eventful on the home front. In the evening I started my paper round. Also on that Monday we got the news we had been waiting for: a telegram from Dad in Manchester saying that he had found a house for us. The following day Mum went off to Manchester on the train to view the new house leaving my sister and me to look after ourselves.
The day after that my diary recorded that I had decided not to do any more physics. Whether that decision had the approval of the school or not, I have no idea - but I never did do any more physics. The day after that there was the sort of trivial incident that vividly remains in one’s memory for life. A boy called Burrows asked me to pass the inkwell across the desk to him. I did. It was very full. It caught a ridge in the surface of the desk and flew into the air, discharging its contents, before coming to rest on Burrows' lap. The contents covered poor old Burrow’s face and shirt and trickled all the way down onto his trousers. I can still see Burrows’ astonished face as he viewed the damage and I and several other boys started giggling when Burrows got his hands covered in ink as he pulled at his shirt and retrieved the inkwell from his lap. Burrows then dashed off to the washroom. It is not recorded in my diary what the Master said.
It was Election Day on 23 February, ‘The Great Day has arrived at last’ according to my diary which went on to record that the Light Programme and Home Service combined at 2230 until 0300 to give live coverage of the state of the parties. The following day I noted that by early morning Labour had a 61 seat lead but it diminished during the day. By 8.20 pm on the 24th it was announced that Labour was in. Why did it take so long in 1950 to count the votes?
There had been virtually no mention of music or violin practice in my diaries since I had left Wakefield. I know that I did occasionally get my violin out and play for a while but it was not proper practice. I knew my parents could not afford any violin lessons for me so I didn't ask for them.
In early March 1950 I sang alto rather than squeaky soprano during the lesson allocated to the singing of folk songs. I didn't record details of any other changes to my body that may have taken place.
My final day at my second grammar school was Tuesday 4 April 1950. I knew it would be my last day at Roundhay but no-one else at school did. The school then broke up for the Easter holiday. I left without any ceremony – and, as far as I can recall, without any great regret.
We were still waiting to complete the sale of our house in Harehills before we could arrange a date to move to Lancashire. In the meantime, I continued with my paper round 7 days a week in the streets around Harehills. I see from my diary that I was paid 5 shillings (25p) for the Sunday shift and it took me an hour to deliver them all. Fortunately, the Sunday papers in 1950 were but a fraction of the size and weight of the Sundays now.
On the 15 April 1950 I bought the very first issue of Eagle comic and was mightily impressed. I had never seen anything like it before. What a pity I didn't keep a few pristine copies of the initial edition because today they are worth a lot of money. As it is, I didn't keep a single Eagle although I bought one every week for several years.
We actually moved to Salford on Wednesday 19 April 1950 and a week later, once the Easter hols were over, I started at Salford Grammar School.
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9 February I noted that BBC Children's Hour started a new serial called 'Puffing Peter' which was transmitted in five weekly 'puffs'!!
Youngsters of today may laugh at the fact that I, and most of my contemporaries, spent a lot of time listening to the wireless (radio) in the 1940s and early 1950s. There was no TV and, where I lived, few opportunities for sport of any kind outside school hours. In the dark winter months, when we were always short of fuel to heat and light our homes, the wireless was our sole source of entertainment - you could do it in the dark or near dark and wrap extra clothes or blankets around you to keep warm. Mums listened to Mrs Dale' Diary every afternoon, we kids always rushed home in the evenings to listen to the latest episode of 'Dick Barton, Special Agent'. Grandparents these days tend to tell bored grandchildren, 'we made our own entertainment' - we really did!
I really had become very bored with Roundhay School. When I left Wakefield after just 2 terms at QEGS I was truly dismayed; when I left Roundhay after two whole years I was pleased and looked forward expectantly to what lay ahead in Salford.