Memories of Childhood

Sad to report , Heinz Wolff died in 2017 aged 89. Great guy, sparked my interest in science.

Yes he was very enthusiastic about things and I think he was made an honorary Brit by the general public. I also used to like Dr Magnus Pyke. He was seen a very eccentric headmaster-type but a brilliant scientist and presenter of programmes like Don't Ask Me for ITV and he also appeared in a music video "She's Blinding Me with Science" by Thomas Dolby.

(05-03-2019 17:16 )GreenMachine Wrote:  felling giant chimneys in the old fashioned way-namely lighting a fire using tyres and things and bringing it down by the heat building up)

Not quite. He used to knock the bricks out round the bottom and replace them with wooden props.
Then he set fire to the props, and legged it...

Yeah indeed and the only bit of help he had was a car hooter to alert people. At the end he would turn to the person behind the camera and say "Did ya like that?"

I am sure we all remember Marbles. I used to play with mine on the carpet in my room or downstairs but I once whizzed them across the kitchen lino and they scattered in all directions, unfortunately some ended up under cupboards and I needed a metal coat hanger bent into a hook to get them out. Another game we used to play at school was 'penny against the wall' I don't know if you remember that or played it but the idea was you and a friend would throw a coin towards a wall and the nearest to the wall won that coin - we also used to play a similar game with what our American friends would all 'trading cards'; we used Marvel collectors cards or stickers. This game involved taking the card or sticker and putting it between two fingers and then flicking it at speed for distance. The further you could get yours, the harder it was for your friends to reach it and you won their cards/stickers if you managed to get yours past theirs. I also, in an idle hour remember taking a pack of playing cards and using the washing up bowl as a target sitting at the top of the stairs and flicking the cards to try and land as many as I could into the bowl.

Speaking of playing cards I used to like building a 'house' of cards although it took great patience to get the damn things to hold together at first but once you got the 'foundations' sorted, it was just a case of being very careful to keep the cards at the angle needed for them to stand up and then building it that way.

Actually, thinking about Fred Dibnah brings back a memory. Not childhood as such, but many years ago when me and my mate were much younger (and stupider ) we had the job of gutting out this small, derelict, two story building.
The upstairs floor was much too dangerous to stand on, so we hit on a Fred Dibnah type plan. We put props under the ends of the floor joists down the wall nearest the door and then cut through the joists from underneath, with a chainsaw. Then we tied a rope round the bottoms of the props and tied the other end through the door onto the digger bucket.
The plan was, one good tug would pull the props away and the floor would come neatly down inside while we were standing safely outside.

What could possibly go wrong...

Well... as it turned out, quite alot

The other end of the joists were much further into the wall than we realised. And, when the floor came down, it acted like a giant see-saw and the whole top half of the back wall was catapulted out and landed in a heap of rubble at the back
Then the roof fell in

Hmm reminds me a bit 'Right Said Fred' "boy was he in trouble, half a ton of rubble came down on the top of his head..."

Does anyone remember a programme called The Double Deckers? It was about the adventures of a group of kids who seemed to live in an old bus in a junkyard. It had a great theme tune. I remember I fancied the older one of the two girls but found the younger one really annoying.

(08-03-2019 13:40 )The Silent Majority Wrote:  Actually, thinking about Fred Dibnah brings back a memory. Not childhood as such, but many years ago when me and my mate were much younger (and stupider ) we had the job of gutting out this small, derelict, two story building.
The upstairs floor was much too dangerous to stand on, so we hit on a Fred Dibnah type plan. We put props under the ends of the floor joists down the wall nearest the door and then cut through the joists from underneath, with a chainsaw. Then we tied a rope round the bottoms of the props and tied the other end through the door onto the digger bucket.
The plan was, one good tug would pull the props away and the floor would come neatly down inside while we were standing safely outside.

What could possibly go wrong...

Well... as it turned out, quite alot

The other end of the joists were much further into the wall than we realised. And, when the floor came down, it acted like a giant see-saw and the whole top half of the back wall was catapulted out and landed in a heap of rubble at the back
Then the roof fell in

Bet that wasn't the only demolition you did that went wrong...

(05-03-2019 21:48 )The Silent Majority Wrote:  

(05-03-2019 17:16 )GreenMachine Wrote:  felling giant chimneys in the old fashioned way-namely lighting a fire using tyres and things and bringing it down by the heat building up)

Not quite. He used to knock the bricks out round the bottom and replace them with wooden props.
Then he set fire to the props, and legged it...

just rewatched one which narrowly missed him!!