They asked the Chantelles singer what she thought of Janis Joplin's cover of Maybe. " Cover? I didn't even realise it was the same song" she replied.
Summer of '64 I was working on the dodgems at Brown's Amusements on Brid seafront. Brilliant time... These two tunes were the big hits that summer... they were played on the jukebox in the cafe attached to Brown's building all day long.
And these - Used to spend half my life in there in 1964 hanging around the juke box. Until I got banned for fiddling the machines. And you didn't argue with Brown's chief enforcer, the one with the msssive bunch of keys who wasn't averse to ripping someone's head off with them if they crossed him. Could write a book about some of the goings on there. Used to bump into Brown's youngest son regularly until recently. Strange lad. Far too soft to follow in his dad's footsteps. Now you can't go in there unaccompanied during the day and not at all in the evening. Young kids can't work there like in those days either. We would have been ****ed the number of things we did and places we hung about in that you can't do now.
They used to have a kiddies ride (roundabout) on the outside of the main area. Occasionally we were asked to collect the money from the parents who's kids were having a turn. The management had set up one of those old massive cash tills as a control. 10 kids on the ride, punch in 10 pence on the till. 14 kids on the ride, punch in 1s 2d . The bouncers ("supervisors") used to spot check the amount showing on the display on the till, count the number of kids on the ride and if the amount didn't match the number of kids they knew if the attendant was cheating the system and they'd be sacked immediately. What they didn't figure out was that there were many occasions when consecutive rides had the same number of kids using the ride. Keep the till showing 10 pence as long as the number of kids remained the same and pocket as many "repeats" as was safe. Supplemented the minimum wages nicely. The dodgems had a scam too, unfortunately the customer lost out, not the company. The money collectors used to stand on the rear bumper of the car, holding the pole. If the parent gave the operator a 10 bob note, or a quid note, the change was handed back to them after the ride had started, counting it out into the hands of the parent while in motion. Palming of 1 bob or half a crown was so simple as the punters didn't want to waste any precious ride time. Straight into the parents pocket without checking their change. If anyone came back after the ride to complain...a quick lifting of the seat to inspect, with the usual statement "Sorry sir, you must have dropped some of your change." Naughty stuff. The kids always had a good time, the parents never kicked up a major fuss.
We had numerous ways of making money hy fiddling the machines. God help you if you got caught though. Some legit ways which required patience or a decent memory. Most of us could go in the anusements with half a crown and have enough within an hour or so to get some ***s, go to Brid Spa and have fish and chips. Amazing how upset a business that used to weigh the money in dustbins a few times a dayas there wasn't time to count it used to get upset if you were getting money legiyimately by remembering sequences on machines. Somebody had to get it you just made sure you were the one there at the,right momrnt in the sequence.
Why is it that up until about age 60 people tend to underplay or understate their age while after that they seem to be proud of their age and almost wish more years on themselves. My mother always says proudly she's 93 this year, she never says she's 92. (obvs only works for this year...) Not trying to start a row, just an observation.
Wasn't under playing or overplaying it. Someone asked me my age so I didn't underplay it or overplay it, I just answered his question. I am nearer 68 than 67. I am 67 but in my 68th year if you prefer.
