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The ‘Swinging Sixties’ mixed with ‘apprentice antics’! ….Welcome to my first podcast! It’s about the beginning of my working career in the early 1960s, – recounting some, mostly amusing, experiences from my apprenticeship with the Post Office Telephones.
It’s about the beginning of my working career in the early 1960s, – recounting some, mostly amusing, experiences from my apprenticeship with the Post Office Telephones (forerunner to BT). My thanks to my good friend Jonathan Gilburt for joining me at the microphone. It has made the session most enjoyable.
When I became an apprentice we were entering the ‘Swinging Sixties’. It was a youth-driven culture but I didn’t know what a massive revolution was taking place around me.
Morris Mini car sales exceeded one million in 1961…… It became the iconic young person’s car throughout the ’60s and ‘70……The Rolling Stones were formed in 1962…….. The Beatles got to number one in 1964…….. Mary Quant launched her miniskirt in 1966…… Carnaby Street became the place to be seen……. The Ban the Bomb campaign grew in strength with numbers being swelled by young people…… Sexual liberation was on its way.
But I joined the boring old Post Office Telephones! However, it turned out to be the beginning of a fascinating, enjoyable and challenging career. It set me fair for a great 45 year career during which I travelled the world! At the start, the mix of outdoor life and technology suited me. My first job was with a labouring gang erecting tall telegraph poles in the countryside. Working in the beautiful countryside in places like Frensham, Bentley and Crondall was just up my street………… My initiation started ‘pranks up a telegraph pole’!
After leaving the gang I worked with a guy who had spent much of his time as an area telecoms engineer in various remote parts of Africa. He took things very steady, – at one point in a lazy sunny summer I found him asleep under a tree! He often left me working whilst he popped up to the country pub – it was ‘happy valley’!
My second initiation was climbing giant radio masts – once was enough for me!
I met some great guys, – one was a former paratrooper who fought at Arnhem in WWII. If you have seen the film ‘A Bridge Too Far’ you will know what I mean. Then there was the Post Office technician who everyone thought was an ex Guards officer. He spoke with a very posh accent. He had actually been a corporal in the Army! He sold fresh fruit and veg from his van in the works yard! I breakfasted in style with him at his girlfriend’s apartment on more than occasion! Cool!
I was embarrassed on one visit to a customer by an old lady who fixing her own phone! But I got a lovely cup of tea! It was ‘the case of the kettle of water’!
Later on in this podcast I relate the story of ‘apprentice antics’ at Bletchley Park Training centre! We all know this as the WWII spy centre now, but we didn’t know that at the time in the 1960s. A game of card brought me into conflict with the infamous Post Office Special Investigation Branch who, in recent years, have been linked with the Post Office Horizon scandal.
On a more serious note you might be interested in an online a
Visit my website for more podcasts and articles - a space where the past meets the present, and where I try to use my experience and travels to bring history, places to life. Enjoy my travels by train and bicycle on trips through England, France and beyond. Check out my thoughts on current affairs and climate change, - some serious and some I hope you will find informative. Join me in these conversations across time and place; past and present.
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By TorgoldSend us a text
The ‘Swinging Sixties’ mixed with ‘apprentice antics’! ….Welcome to my first podcast! It’s about the beginning of my working career in the early 1960s, – recounting some, mostly amusing, experiences from my apprenticeship with the Post Office Telephones.
It’s about the beginning of my working career in the early 1960s, – recounting some, mostly amusing, experiences from my apprenticeship with the Post Office Telephones (forerunner to BT). My thanks to my good friend Jonathan Gilburt for joining me at the microphone. It has made the session most enjoyable.
When I became an apprentice we were entering the ‘Swinging Sixties’. It was a youth-driven culture but I didn’t know what a massive revolution was taking place around me.
Morris Mini car sales exceeded one million in 1961…… It became the iconic young person’s car throughout the ’60s and ‘70……The Rolling Stones were formed in 1962…….. The Beatles got to number one in 1964…….. Mary Quant launched her miniskirt in 1966…… Carnaby Street became the place to be seen……. The Ban the Bomb campaign grew in strength with numbers being swelled by young people…… Sexual liberation was on its way.
But I joined the boring old Post Office Telephones! However, it turned out to be the beginning of a fascinating, enjoyable and challenging career. It set me fair for a great 45 year career during which I travelled the world! At the start, the mix of outdoor life and technology suited me. My first job was with a labouring gang erecting tall telegraph poles in the countryside. Working in the beautiful countryside in places like Frensham, Bentley and Crondall was just up my street………… My initiation started ‘pranks up a telegraph pole’!
After leaving the gang I worked with a guy who had spent much of his time as an area telecoms engineer in various remote parts of Africa. He took things very steady, – at one point in a lazy sunny summer I found him asleep under a tree! He often left me working whilst he popped up to the country pub – it was ‘happy valley’!
My second initiation was climbing giant radio masts – once was enough for me!
I met some great guys, – one was a former paratrooper who fought at Arnhem in WWII. If you have seen the film ‘A Bridge Too Far’ you will know what I mean. Then there was the Post Office technician who everyone thought was an ex Guards officer. He spoke with a very posh accent. He had actually been a corporal in the Army! He sold fresh fruit and veg from his van in the works yard! I breakfasted in style with him at his girlfriend’s apartment on more than occasion! Cool!
I was embarrassed on one visit to a customer by an old lady who fixing her own phone! But I got a lovely cup of tea! It was ‘the case of the kettle of water’!
Later on in this podcast I relate the story of ‘apprentice antics’ at Bletchley Park Training centre! We all know this as the WWII spy centre now, but we didn’t know that at the time in the 1960s. A game of card brought me into conflict with the infamous Post Office Special Investigation Branch who, in recent years, have been linked with the Post Office Horizon scandal.
On a more serious note you might be interested in an online a
Visit my website for more podcasts and articles - a space where the past meets the present, and where I try to use my experience and travels to bring history, places to life. Enjoy my travels by train and bicycle on trips through England, France and beyond. Check out my thoughts on current affairs and climate change, - some serious and some I hope you will find informative. Join me in these conversations across time and place; past and present.