Robinsons Department Store

Does anyone remember Robinsons which I think was near Raffles Place? We all used to shop there and I think that it was very popular with British families. I remember at Christmas, it would be decorated with a giant hoarding showing Father Christmas in his sleigh being pulled by several reindeer. Underneath, in large letters, it said, 'Merry Christmas!' The colour photos shown here were taken by my parents' friends, George and Kit Holden. The first photo shows Robinsons store and the next photo shows the nearby John Little. I

notice that George has his mozzie repellent socks on! Those things loved nipping your legs. I don't think that there are any mozzies left in Singapore nowadays!

Unfortunately, Robinsons store met with an unhappy ending and the story was carried in the local paper :

Robinson's Inferno kills nine.

21st November 1972.

A pregnant woman was among nine people when a fire razed Robinsons department store in Raffles Place. It was one of the worst fires in Singapore's history.

The fire which started at 9.55am, was believed to have been caused by a short circuit on the first floor of the four-storey building. By the time it was brought under control at 12,20pm, the store, which had occupied the building for decades, had been razed to the ground. Also destroyed were millions of dollars' worth of consumer goods waiting for Christmas shoppers.

The nine who died were mainly store employees, including pregnant salesgirl, Ainon Mohamed Tahir, 21.

Robinsons peon Ibrahim Shahul, who managed to escape, said he smelt burning rubber just before thick smoke and flames came roaring in. 'Then the lights went out. I heard someone shouting in the dark that the lift had stoped and that an expectant mother, a tourist and three others were trapped in it,' he said.

As the fire raged, businesses in Raffles Place were widely affected. The Stock Exchange in Clifford House, Collyer Quay, had to stop trading shortly after 11am. Police Reserve Unit troops and Criminal Investigation Department officers were called into control the crown and keep looters out of the area.Losses were estimated at around $14 million.

After the fire, Robinsons relocated to Orchard Road and today can be found at The Centrepoint Shopping Centre where they moved to in 1983.The Robinson Group nowadays manage John Little, Marks and Spencer, Principles, Trucco, Coast, River Island and Fat Face. It seems a long way from the Department Store in Raffles Place that we all used to love visiting.

Firecrackers

This photo shows a party at the home of my parents friends, Bette and Les Sharpe. The bar is called, 'The Almost Inn' and that's my dad in the background. Look at that crazy dancing!

Whenever I think of Les, I'm always reminded of the time when Les nailed a Catherine Wheel to a post in his garden at Jalan Dato Sulaiman, in about 1966, and once it was lit, it flew off and went up one of the legs of his shorts! Don't worry, he didn't have any lasting injuries!

As it's Chinese New Year, I thought I would mention a bit about firecrackers. I mentioned recently that when we first arrived at Johore Bahru in 1965, we were woken up by loud noises in the middle of the night. I think my parents were worried and thought that the noises might be gunfire connected with Indonesian insurgents. However, it turned out to be Mr Lee, across the way, letting off rows of firecrackers. I suppose it must have been Chinese New Year at the time and was probably about February as we had just moved in, in the January before.

I loved all the fireworks and there were many displays at the Naval Base especially at Chinese New Year and Christmas.

The film below shows a firework display in Singapore in the 1960s. It would have been quite spectacular then and much better than any display that you would have seen back in England at the time.

 

Firecrackers were finally banned in 1972 and an article in a Singapore paper covered the story: No more firecrackers at Chinese New Year 1st March 1972 Indescriminate firing of crackers during the Chinese New Year season each year had turned the age-old custom into such a public nuisance that the Government has decided to put a total stop to it. Minister of home affairs Wong Lin Ken said that the Government was forced to impose the ban because the public had not been cooperative in efforts to curb the firecracker menace. On 2nd June, Parliament passed the Dangerous Firework Bill. It became an offence for someone to possess or fire dangerous fireworks, such as firecrackers and rocket fireworks. Anyone found guilty could be fined up to $5,000 or jailed for up to two years, or both. To me, fireworks will always remind me of two events. One is Mr Lee letting off firecrackers on his balcony and the other is that Catherine Wheel flying up Les's shorts!

Jalan Wijaya home movie, 1966

 

Here's a little short 8mm film of me at Jalan Wijaya when I was about 5 years old. It starts with me peering in our side window which was our parents bedroom. Then there's a clip of me pretending to be a soldier while sat in a Rattan chair before the ice cream man arrives in his funny little van. While we're getting ice cream, a man, complete with turban, drives by on his motor scooter.

Then, there's film of me pulling a funny face while wearing a hat. I remember that my mum filmed this because my dad was fast asleep indoors. I also remember that this was the day after a party at our house (probably why he was asleep). I've posted a photo of the party before but, look, there's that same hat which was left behind by one of my parents' friends and you can see whose face I'm trying to copy in the home movie! The sound is a bit funny on this film and that's not my stomach rumbling at the end but sound from the next clip which featured the Butterworth Ferry at Penang! I hope to feature a home movie from when I went back to Jalan Wijaya in 1990 on here soon. You'll be able to see how much it all had changed over the years.

Street Hawkers

Back in the 1960s, the streets of Singapore were full with markets and street hawkers. They sold everything that you could want. As well as fish, meat, fruit and vegetables, they also sold furniture, rattan work, household utensils, toys, clothes, jewellery and many other goods. I loved going to them all but was probably more fascinated by the cheap toys and piles of rambutans more than anything. The stalls had their own smell especially at the end of the day when the fruit and vegetables weren't at their best after cooking in the heat of the sun all day. The stalls produced a lot of rubbish including cardboard boxes, rotting fruit and vegetables as well as other waste, much of which must have ended up in the Singapore River. As the government slowly cleaned up the streets, many of the hawkers were cleared away. A report in a local newspaper in 1970 covered the story:

4th August 1970.

'Street hawkers to be moved under cover.'

A massive five-year plan was announced to clear all hawkers - 25,000 of them - off the streets. This was consistent with the Government's effort of providing a better and healthier environment for the people to live in. Under the plan, popular roadside stalls, such as those in Orchard Road, Satay Club in Beach Road and the noodle stalls at Hokkien Street, would be gradually moved indoors.

Today, Singapore is a totally different place to the one that I remember in my childhood in the 1960s. There are no more street hawkers, market stalls or snake charmers. All the rubbish is now gone and the streets are spotless. The Singapore River is clean and all the hundreds of sampans and bumboats that once inhabited the area have been cleared away. A lot has changed over the years and I miss the old Singapore. The new Singapore is very modern, clean and tidy but there's something that's been lost under all the tall skyscrapers, super fast railway systems and modern housing. I wonder how many people living in Singapore today miss it all?

More Jalan Wijaya

A few weeks ago, I heard from Tracey Jamieson who said that she was enjoying my blog and that my tales of our days in Singapore and Malaya were strangely similar to her memories. By sheer coincidence it turned out that she lived at 97 Jalan Wijaya at the same time that we lived at 103 Jalan Wijaya. That meant that she was only three houses away from us (the house numbers went up in twos). We didn't remember each other but I sent her a photo of my 4th birthday party and Tracey was on the left of the picture! Tracey was visiting her mother so sorted through her photo album and sent me some pictures. One of her dad, Jack Latimer, and friends was taken right outside our front door. Others showed the street and nearby houses. It was lovely to see the photos which reminded me of my childhood spent there and also jogged my memory of parts of the area that I'd long forgotten 

 

about. It seemed a huge coincidence that we both lived in the same street at exactly the same time. I asked my parents if they remembered Tracey's parents but they could only remember our immediate neighbours and Tracey's next door neighbour, Harry Smith. I do, however, have a vague memory of going to school and a blonde haired girl living further down the street and I think that this must have been Tracey. I was only about 5 at the time!

The colour photo on the right shows Tracey's house at 97 Jalan Wijaya. Isn't it amazing how the internet manages to put so many people, with similar memories and interests, in touch with each other? I've just started up a Facebook page called, you've guessed it, 'Sampans, Banyans and Rambutans' where I hope people will add their own photos and reminisces. If you want to check it out it's at Sampans, Banyans and Rambutans (Facebook)

Fresh chickens

James Seah kindly sent me a video that showed market stall holders in Singapore selling fresh chickens. 'Fresh' nowadays means buying it pre-packaged from a supermarket. Then, it meant buying the chicken alive and taking it home with you and letting it run around the garden until you needed it! I remember coming back from Singapore on the bus with my mum on many occasions and there would be live chickens running around our feet, together with lots of other produce including huge fish wrapped in newspaper. It was certainly different from getting on a bus today! Our chicken always came already cooked and we certainly never brought home any live ones. Even then, I felt sorry for the chickens and all the other animals like the lobsters that would be swimming around in tanks in restaurants before being chosen by a hungry customer and then cooked. I wonder if they still do that?

The bus journeys always were eventful and apart from the wildlife on board, there were the continuous breakdowns which meant that the many passengers outside the bus, some just seemed to cling to the side, would jump off and give it a push until it went again. Then they would all jump on again. No wonder the bus broke down with all that extra weight! As I said in an earlier blog, nobody ever queued for the bus and everyone just piled on. I can't remember how everyone paid, I don't remember there being a conductor on the bus.

I remember all the smells and noise of the livestock too. As a small boy, I loved seeing all the chicken running around. It seems strange now but, in a way, I sort of miss it! I know that if we'd brought a chicken home when we lived at Jalan Wijaya, it would have probably ended up being given a name and left to run around the garden until it died of old age!

The removal of Change Alley

Like me, many of you will have fond memories of our parents bartering in Change Alley in the 1960s. I remember a stall holder would approach you and shake your hand and say, 'Where are you from?'. You could say anywhere in the world and he would say, 'Ah! I have an uncle there!' Once they got hold of your hand, they wouldn't let go of it until they'd successfully manoeuvred you into their shop! Anything that you wanted to buy would be there including clothes and electrical goods. You could also get local cash from the Indian money changers trading at Change Alley. There was also food, carvings, rattan work, toys, gifts and jewellery. I think a suit cost about 30 shillings and could be made up in several hours. Many servicemen went there for their uniforms. The Change Alley that we all remember disappeared in 1989. There's a news story in The Chronicle of Singapore which reads: 17th April 1989 Change Alley will be no more on 30th April. Shopkeepers and hawkers have been told to clear their stocks. They were supposed to have moved out earlier in April but have been given an extension following an appeal. According to the Urban Redevelopment Authority, demolition works will start in early May. Some hawkers have taken up the Environment Ministry's offer of vacant sundry and cooked-food stalls in existing markets and food centres. An entry for 2nd February 1994 reads: A Change-d Alley The new Change Alley was officially opened as an up-market shopping podium as part of a $600-million Hitachi Tower/Caltex House Development. Once a bustling lane of little shops crammed with money changers and Asian exotica that attracted sailors, tourists and bargain hungry Singaporeans, it now houses up-scaled brands like Anne Klien II and was designed for the professionals who worked in the area. When I went back to Singapore in December 1990, I went to Change Alley and yet the reports say that it closed in 1989 and didn't open again until 1994. That's strange, maybe I travelled back in time. And, when I told the man in one of the shops where I was from, he said, ''Ah! I have an uncle there!'. Uncanny!

Happy Chinese New Year

I think today is Chinese New Year so, 'Gong Xi Fa Cai', which translates to 'Wishing you prosperity in the New Year'. There seems to be various diffent spellings including, 'Kong Hei Fatt Choy' and I think I've seen others but they all seem to be pronounced the same. I think that this is the year of the tiger. The photo shows my dad and mum attending the Chinese New Year celebrations in February 1966 at KD Malaya. I seem to remember us all going up to the base in Singapore and there being fantastic firework displays but I think that this must have been on a different night to the Chinese Dinner and Dance that my parents went to. Perhaps it was on the same day as it always got dark at 7pm so maybe we left earlier before our parents' party began. As you can see, I still have the original invite which says that the party was on the 19th February, 1966 at 8pm. The evening included, 'Dancing to the Vigilantes', a Raffle, Spot Prizes, a Lion Dance and a Late Bar. There was also a Chinese meal which included Shark's Fin Soup, Satay Duck, Fried Rice and Ice Lai Chee.

I don't know what the last one is! I remember that when we first arrived at Jalan Wijaya, we were woken up by loud noises that we thought were gunfire. With the recent trouble with the Indonesians, my parents thought that we were under attack and that the noises were gunfire. It turned out that it was Mr Lee, across the way, letting off fire crackers for Chinese New Year. The fire crackers were very loud in those days and in subsequent years, they were banned. I probably slept through it all as, although I've been told the story many times, I don't remember any of it. I slept through the nearby rubber factory burning down too!

 

Bartering

I'm not sure if the market stall holder in this photo is telling the buyer what he can do with his offer or if he is asking for $2! Back in the 1960s, bartering was a way of life. You would start at about half what the seller was asking and between you, you would haggle to a price somewhere in between. This way both parties were happy. If you were unhappy with the price, you would walk off but you could always guarantee that the seller would call you back. Whatever the price was, you always felt that you got a good deal. The market stalls were great places for bartering as was Change Alley but it seemed that everywhere we went, they were happy to reduce their prices. When I went back to Singapore in 1990, I tried to barter again. I found that I was just laughed at, things had changed! People enjoyed trying to get a bargain and the locals expected it anyway so put their prices up to start off with. I remember when we first got there, my parents were looking for a table and chairs. They saw some they liked and asked how much they were. Sometimes, you would get ridiculously high prices because the locals knew that you had just arrived by how white you were! The reply was ‘Two Dollar Fifty, Missy!’ My mum was surprised and turned to my dad and said ‘Two Dollars Fifty!’, thinking it was very cheap. The man in the shop thought that she thought they were expensive and instantly reduced the price to two dollars! They couldn’t have made much profit in the shops because they always gave all of us a drink and if you didn’t have a car, they would take you and the furniture back home for free! I'm sure that many people got a bargain and there must be souvenirs from Singapore all over Britain because of this. Unfortunately, after 40 or so years, much of it seems to have ended up in charity shops!

Whatever happened to the monkeys in the Botanic Gardens?

This photo shows my mum, dad and me feeding the monkeys in the Botanic Gardens in Singapore in about 1965. I was scared stiff of them! I've probably written about this before but when I went back to Singapore in 1990, I wondered what had happened to all the monkeys that we loved feeding back then. In 1990, there wasn't a single one left. This morning, I received a lovely book from a good friend, James Seah in Singapore, called, 'Chronicle of Singapore 1959 - 2009'. James has his own excellent Singapore Blog which many of you will know called Blog to Express. The book is wonderful to read and it's very interesting to read not just the news stories of when we were there but also to read what has happened since. I think, within it's pages, lies the answer to the disappearance of all those wonderful monkeys. An entry for 1971 reads: MONKEY SHOOTINGS DRAW CELEBRITY PROTEST 23rd January,1971 Hollywood actress Barbara Werle and three friends staged a picket-line protest outside the Botanic Gardens against the culling of wild monkeys in the park. Police broke up the protest after half an hour. Werle and her friends carried placards which read: 'Please don't shoot the monkeys - feed them!'and 'Save the Apes - take one to dinner. Stop the killing'. She said she was moved to protest after reading a report about the two-day cull in The New Nation, an afternoon paper. In response, the Primary Production Department said the monkeys were a 'vicious and wily' nuisance that threatened public welfare and had to be destroyed. It added that the Botanic Gardens would offer a prize to anyone who could suggest a more practical and humane way to get rid of the pests. So, there you have it. It looks like all those monkeys that we enjoyed feeding nuts and bananas to, all that time ago, were eventually shot. I find this quite sad but I suppose it's what I'd thought had probably happened to them. There seems to have been no place for monkeys in the new, very clean, Singapore. I was reading about someone who had lived in Singapore in the 1960s and had returned in the late 1980s and found much of it unrecognisable. He said that he didn't want to return again because he felt that it would have changed too much since his last visit and he would rather remember it how it was. Perhaps many people feel like that. Singapore today is certainly a very different city to the one that I remember in the 1960s. The book is an excellent read and it solves many other mysteries about disappeared parts of Singapore that I've often wondered about. I shall be including a lot more from its fascinating pages later on in this blog, so keep reading. Thanks again, James, for an excellent book, it's very much appreciated.

Singapore Airlines advert 1960s

Here's a film sent to me by Hari Ramachandran which shows an advert for Singapore Airlines in the 1960s.
It features the music, 'Singapore Girl' and I believe that air hostesses with Singapore Airlines were called 'Singapore Girls.'
It's interesting because there's lots of shots of Singapore as it once was showing clips of Collyer Quay, Orchard Road, the boat Quay and Paya Lebar Airport.

There's also shots of trishaws and the black and yellow Mercedes taxis that we all remember. It's great to see Singapore as it once was including all the old buildings, the many sampans on the river, the many market stalls and also all the old cars.
I hope to include many more films like this later on in this blog which I hope will jog many people's memories of Singapore how it used to be.

Jalan Wijaya today

I've searched google many times before, hoping to find a modern photo of Jalan Wijaya, but with no luck. Recently, I put 'Jalan Wijaya' in the search box and discovered that there was someone on Facebook who now lives at 104 Jalan Wijaya! I was amazed to have found somebody who lived so close to us at 103 so I wrote to him and we soon became friends. It seemed incredible that I could contact someone living in our old street and it seemed a great opportunity to get some recent photos. Tan Chee Klong (CK) was happy to oblige and here's what Jalan Wijaya looks like today. The first photo shows our old house. This picture certainly brings back a lot of happy memories. Back in the 1960s, there were huge monsoon drains in front of the house with huge toads who would croak during the night. Many kids and even the odd car would end up down there. The photo also reminds me of cycling past, coming off my bike, and banging my head on the front gate. There are so many things that come into my mind looking at this picture - the many barbecues, our birthday parties, building dens, firework displays, watching the monsoon water rising closer and closer to the front door, our Amah Azizah (I wonder if she still lives close by?) and many, many more things. I remember when we first moved in and my parents hired a tv set. All the local Chinese children came and sat on the gate to watch it! The windows on the side were by our bedrooms and back in the 1960s they were covered in ornate railings. We used to leave the windows open at night because of the heat, I loved listening to the crickets, but there were reports of people with bamboo canes and fishing hooks trying to get stuff out through the open windows while people slept!

The second photo shows the view from our house looking towards Jalan Dato Sulaiman which is where all the shops were where we got our groceries etc. The first shop on the right housed an insurers who always had a monkey attached to their chain-linked door. The road was half the size back then and on the right was all grass. Women would cut your grass for $2 and used huge scythes that they swung over their heads. This was the area where I found a branch which I stuck in the back garden and it grew into a lovely tree. On the left, is Mr Lee's house, he must be long gone now. Of course, the skyscrapers and tall buildings are all new but I can still instantly recognise the area and it brings back so many happy memories. The third photo shows Jalan Dato Sulaiman where all the shops were that we regularly visited. The ones that I can remember back then were an insurers, a toy shop, the cold store (where we bought a packet of Sugar Smacks full of ants), a photographers and a hairdressers. CK tells me that the hairdressers and insurers is still there. I bet the hairdressers don't still do those crazy bouffants that they used to give women in the 1960s! The right hand side of the road used to just be covered in grass. There were often discarded old films lying there, thrown out by the photography shop. There were no high rise buildings back then and a lot more trees and greenery. Following this road back up, you eventually came to endless jungle. Of course, it's all be cleared now. Further down the road, was a rubber factory that turned out endless flip-flops. We must have got through a lot of them as kids! Thanks, CK, so many happy memories!

The Lion City, 1957

Here's a lovely film that was shot several years before we arrived in Singapore. It's all just how I remember it. There are clips of the airport and views of an old-style bus taking people from the plane to their hotel which, at the beginning of the film, is Raffles. Raffles looks very posh, we certainly never stayed there!
There are also shots of the local fishermen with their huge nets and footage of the beaches around the coast. The quay looks very busy with many boats and the many sampans on the Singapore River can also be seen.
Then, there are many views of Singapore including the shops, temples and markets. It's good also to see all the people and the many old cars and buses passing Sir Stamford Raffles' statue. The area has certainly changed a bit over the years.
It's interesting seeing the old film posters and 'Kismet' is showing at the Cathay Cinema. I think that I spotted a Chinese Cary Grant on one of the posters!
Next, there's a trip down to busy Chinatown which shows much washing hanging from windows on bamboo poles. The markets all look very busy and colourful with plenty of stalls selling fruit and other goods with many trishaws cycling up and down.
A Chinese funeral is also featured which shows many mourners carrying umbrellas while a man strikes a gong to frighten away evil spirits. It seems a lot more solemn than I remember.
Next is a place that everyone will recall - Tiger Balm Gardens! Suddenly, there seems to be a lot more Westerners around and the narrator tells us that these are the visitors from the airport who were seen earlier in the film. This is just how I remember the place before it was knocked around and torn down. It looks a lot better than the Tiger Balm Gardens I visited again in 1990.
The next scene takes us to the Botanic Gardens where people are seen feeding the many cheeky monkeys. The Aquarium is also featured but I can't remember if we ever visited it during our stay in the 1960s.
Lion dancers, Change Alley, night time entertainment, Chinese food, crazy Western dancing are also all featured. Did people really dance like that?
The film ends with the tourists leaving on a lovely old BOAC plane. This is just how I remember Singapore and I hope this film will bring back very many happy memories for many of you.

The Penang Hill Railway

I remember going on the Penang Hill Railway when we were staying at Sandycroft in about 1966. Being a kid, I was fascinated by the journey up and although I've been on funiculars since, in such exciting places as Aberwysthwith and Lynmouth, I've never been on one that was as much fun as the one in Penang. The train started at the small station at the bottom and carried on, slowly, up the steep hill

. My dad filmed the journey and you can see it elsewhere on this blog. Travelling up, I remember seeing Georgetown below and the surrounding area was covered in jungle. I imagined all the monkeys that must have been in those trees. We'd just been feeding them in the Botanic Gardens earlier so I was expecting one to jump on me at any moment. It didn't happen though! There must have been allsorts of wild animals within those trees though I don't remember seeing many of them. I don't think that there were any Tigers in Penang at the time although I see there are plans to open a Tiger Park there now with Tigers brought in from Malaysia. I always think it's a shame when animals are kept in captivity like this.

Once up the railway, there was a viewing point at the top of the hill and I think I remember a small park. From the top, you could see much of Penang. It was certainly a lot cooler up there and many people went on the trip just to get away from the humidity of Georgetown.

We went to Sandycroft three times and I think I remember going on the railway several times although, perhaps, my memory is playing tricks with me and I just remember the journey up and then down again. I haven't been back to Penang since we came home in 1968. I would love to go there again one day and once again travel on the railway. Looking at YouTube, it looks much the same today as it did then.

Money

When we arrived in Singapore in 1965, the money was similar to the coins in England although they were a lot smaller. I remember that there was a strange square coin which seemed odd at the time because they were usually round back home! I've included a few pictures here of the coins and notes we used. The one dollar note will 

probably bring back memories for many people.

I think it was worth about 2/6 then which would work out to about 12 pence nowadays. I liked all the little coins and wish that I had kept a few. I remember all the smaller coins from when we would be given money to go across to the shops near Jalan Wijaya for sweets. We'd sometimes buy Chinese sweets with the money although I think it was because they came with a free toy. Neither Alan or me liked the sweets which were very hard and chewy!

In 1967, the money all changed and new coins came into circulation. These were smaller and much lighter. I remember one featured a seahorse, others featured a swordfish, a snake bird, a lion fish and the $1 coin featured the merlion. The most boring of the new coins was the one cent which featured a picture of multi-storey flats! I don't think that I'd seen a $1 coin until we were returning back to England in December 1968 and my mum and dad bought us both coins as souvenirs (I've still got mine!). I think

that they were used side by side with one dollar notes and the $1 coins weren't used much so weren't seen. I remember being on the plane returning home in 1968 and dad showing us all the money we'd be using when we arrived back in the UK - huge pennies, half crowns, two shilling coins and half pennies. The threepenny bits were an odd shape, which I loved! I think you're fascinated with coins when you're a kid especially back then. Again, I wish that I'd kept some of that old money. There was also another kind of money used in Singapore and Malaya - Hell notes. These were specially printed bank notes that were burnt so that the recently deceased person would have money in the next life! Other items such as paper cars and houses were also burnt to bring them good fortune in the afterlife. I've a few of those old coins and just holding one of them reminds

 me of those sunny days spent at the shops near Jalan Wijaya or in Singapore shopping or at the late night Amah's markets.

Adverts

I certainly watched a lot of telly when we lived in Malaya in the 1960s but I don't remember ever seeing any adverts. I'm sure there was some but I certainly don't recall them. I recently came across a book called, 'Papineau's Guide to Singapore' which dates from 1965. It certainly makes interesting reading. All the buildings, shops, hotels, restaurants, and everything else that you can remember from that time, seems to be mentioned. I particularly like it though for all the adverts which are now wonderfully dated but certainly remind me of the 1960s. The first one (the only one not from the book) is from the Esso campaign, 'Put a Tiger in Your Tank.' Like most kids then, I loved that tiger and all his free gifts! 

The second advert is for Pan Electric. Look at that very 1960s fridge. I can't quite remember if we had one like this or not. I like how the artist has made sure that the bottom shelf is taken up by Tiger Beer! The family look very much like the cartoons at the beginning of 'Bewitched' and that too reminds me of our time there. Talking of Tiger Beer, the next advert features that very popular drink that seemed to to be drank by service dads all over the Far East! There never seemed to be an establishment that was short of it! 

The next advert is for a Mobil garage and also has a very 1960s feeling to it. Now I don't remember any garages other than Esso and Shell but I wonder if that's because we pestered our dad only to only visit those so that we could get all the free gifts! The final advert is for Kodak and has a very Far Eastern feel to it. Millions of feet of photographic film and cine film must have been shot by servicemen and their families during the 60s. I wonder how much of it still exists? I hope to feature more of these adverts in future blog posts, they certainly jog the memory!

Smoking

This photo shows a party at my parents' friends house at Johore Bahru in 1967. At the time, many of my parents friends smoked and enjoyed a drink. Nowadays, there seems to be a lot of stories in the papers about people giving up smoking. Back in the 1960s, all our dads seemed to smoke and some of our mums did also. I think that it might have even been seen as cool and sophisticated by some Navy wives. It was just a done thing and I don't think that anyone then thought much about future health problems. I think a lot of forces personnel smoked at the time and I believe cigarettes were free in the Navy (or very cheap). No wonder all our dad's got hooked on them! I remember the long drive we took up to Penang. It was very hot and very smoky! At the time, I really didn't mind the smell of the smoke and it just seemed natural that all our dads and their friends smoked. Certainly all the bars, like the one at Sandycroft, were full of smoke and the smell of beer (another smell I still like and which instantly reminds me of Sandycroft!). Unfortunately, the habit probably killed off a lot of servicemen and their wives! My mum never smoked and luckily, my dad gave up about 25 years ago probably because we all nagged him so much about it! In Singapore at the time, most people seemed to smoke. I remember many of the Chinese market stall holders and fishermen smoking as well as the general population of Singapore and Malaya. There were many adverts on the television and in the newspapers and magazines for various brands of cigarettes. I think that there was even a huge billboard poster for Rothman's beside the Esso garage that we always went in to Put A Tiger in Our Tank! It seemed like a different world 40 years ago and it was probably thought unusual if you were in the forces and didn't smoke! No-one then would have imagined all the smoke free zones that are in place nowadays.

Jason's Bay, 1966

Here's some photos from a banyan at Jason's Bay which was quite near to where we lived at Johore Bahru. They were all taken in about 1966. The first one shows Debbie Sharpe, Ian Bagwell, Linda Bagwell and me (complete with water wings) on our lilo. I didn't like swimming then any more than I do now. My dad is pushing us along. I never did take to the water much! From this picture I can see that I'd recently lost my front teeth. In the background can be seen everyone's cars parked on the beach. I can't remember what the tin hut was used for.

The second photo shows my brother, Alan, blowing up an inflatable ring under a covered area that was put up to keep the sun off everyone. There was usually a huge parachute spread out that everybody would sit under when things got too hot. There's two things that I've never noticed about this photo before. One is that I'm on the right hand side playing in the sand and the other is that my dad is on the left hand side, on a sun bed, having a snooze!

The third photo shows Alan and me playing in a boat of sand that was made for us by mum and dad's friend, Les Sharpe. It has 'Jasons' written on the side in shells. I think that the flag was made out of a white hanky. I always preferred to be playing in the sand than to be in the sea which was littered with sea snakes, jellyfish and probably the odd shark. I don't remember anyone getting bitten by anything though. 

The fourth photo shows me and Ian and Linda Bagwell again on our lilo. We all lived close to each other at Johore. The Bagwell's dad, Tom, can be seen in the background. 

The next photo shows Alan walking along the above-ground roots of a banyan tree. This photo reminds me of all the walls, drain pipes and roofs that we used to balance on around our home at Jalan Wijaya. Alan was always climbing on our roof but once he was up there, he couldn't get down again until dad rescued him. I think I've written before about him falling off the drainpipe! 

The next two photos show Alan and a friend on a lilo and then them all playing on the beach. I don't remember who the other kids were but I seem to remember that, after being out in the sun all day, even with us being covered up most of the time, that we both got sunburnt! Looking at the photos, it all looks a lot of fun now!

Tiger in Your Tank badges

I wrote earlier about the Tiger in Your Tank campaign and how we all used to make sure our dad's filled up in an Esso garage when we needed petrol.

The other day, I found my 'Put A Tiger in Your Tank' badges and I thought that I would post them here. These must date from about 1966 and would be from one of our visits to an Esso garage in Singapore at the time. It's amazing that they've lasted so long and I'm glad that I kept them for all of these years. There were similar badges brought out later when they had a campaign to 'Save the Tiger'.

Also posted here, is a photo of a Tiger Tail. At the time, these could be seen hanging from petrol caps and aerials everywhere. All the kids had them, I think I tied mine to my bike.

There were lots of other free gifts such as glasses, beakers, transfers, trays and plates but I think the favourite with all the kids that we knew had to be the Tiger Tails!

Penang 1960s

I loved visiting Sandycroft in Penang for our holidays in the 1960s and we used to have a great time touring around the island.

Many servicemen and their families were stationed there and their lives were very similar to ours in Johore Bahru.

David Yap kindly sent me some photos from Penang in the 1960s recently and I hope to include them in this blog over the next few weeks.

The first photo shows two girls queuing for a cone from the ice cream man. Although, this is a different contraption from the one in my dad's cine films, there was one of these bike-type trolleys that toured the estate where we lived at Johore Bahru.

The second photo shows the Balloon Man. Now I've seen this photo, I'm reminded how there was a similar trolley bike that came around our estate and inflated balloons with helium, ideal for parties and Christmas. This street looks so much like ours did, that it could almost be the same place.

It's funny there seemed to be someone supplying every service that you needed at the time, all from the back of a bike!

The third photo shows the local fruit seller who appears to be selling oranges, bananas, melons, rambutans, durians and all the other fruits you got in the Far East at the time. From this picture, I can imagine that smell of fruit on the market stalls that were so common in Singapore at the time.

There are many more of David's photos and I hope to include them soon.

Kota Tinggi Waterfalls 1966

All of these photos were taken at Kota Tinggi Waterfalls which was near our home at Johore Bahru. The waterfalls were a great tourist attraction and were located a few miles north-west of the village of Kota Tinggi at a place called Lombong. The water drained off a mountain called Gunung Muntahak to a series of shallow pools. There used to be lots of people swimming in them and it was a fond haunt of sericemen and their families as well as many of the locals. I've heard that today, it's a bit spoilt by development of nearby resorts which seems a shame. I suppose though, that most of the places we remember fondly when we were kids in Singapore and Malaya have now long gone and hotels, supermarkets, housing and leisure complexes have taken their place. The first photo shows my dad, complete with cine camera, my mum and me. I remember my dad filming but none of the footage seems to have survived. I think that I remember seeing it when it was originally shot and there were scenes of people bathing in the pools. The film probably got 

 

mangled in the temperamental cine projectors of the day and was probably, unfortunately, thrown away. The second photo shows my brother, Alan, with our Kodak Brownie 127 camera that my grandad had bought my parents a few years before we left. We must have had two cameras at the time though I don't remember the other one. In the background can be seen families paddling in the nearby pools. The third photo shows me with the waterfalls in the background. I don't look too happy in this photo but I can't remember why! Maybe it was because Alan had the camera and was taking all the pictures!

The last photo shows my dad, me and Alan. In the background is a local man, probably wondering what all the crazy foreigners will get up to next! He was probably selling drinks to all the visitors. I notice that we all have sandals on as well as socks. The socks were probably to keep the mozzies off our ankles, there would have certainly been plenty of them ready to bite near all that water!

Concrete Nannies

This photo shows a 'concrete nanny' helping with building work in the 1960s. This photo was taken by David Papworth and features in my book, 'More Memories of Singapore and Malaya'.

A concrete nanny was a Chinese female manual worker who helped out on building sites to give their children, many who were adopted from poorer families, a better education. They usually wore red hats.

I mentioned earlier about Mr Lee's house which stood opposite us at Jalan Wijaya. When we first moved in, in 1965, the house was just being built and there were many concrete nannies, complete with red hats, working on the building site. My parents remember them being called 'cement amahs' at the time.

They were once a popular sight and there were even dolls made of them which were bought by tourists. Nowadays, they've long since disappeared from the streets and buildings of Singapore and Malaya.

I wonder how many other people remember them?

Injections and illnesses

This photo shows me with our neighbours, Judith and Carol Webster, sitting on their doorstep at 101 Jalan Wijaya in about 1966. I wonder if anyone else remembers all the injections that we had to have during our time there? I think they seemed worse for kids. I certainly remember having a few and I remember that your arm would ache for days after and you couldn't sleep comfortably on that side. I think we had injections before we went and then some during our stay there. I remember sitting in the waiting room and some of the kids were crying. Alan went in and kicked the doctor so hard that he limped for a week! I think one of the injections was BCG which stopped tuberculosis and there were other injections for, I think, polio, cholera and other diseases that they expected you to pick up in the Far East. I can always tell people who have had this injection because of the sliced-sausage like scar on their arm! For all these injections, I still had all the illnesses that most kids get including German measles, ordinary measles and mumps. All of these illnesses seem to hit you a lot worse when you're a kid than when you're an adult (I had German measles again when I was 29) and the doctor always prescribed pink penicillin which we kept in the fridge. You were given it for everything in those days and I got to quite like it in the end! Doctors don't ever seem to prescribe it nowadays. Apart from illnesses, I only ended up in hospital once when I fell when we first got there and I cracked my head on the front step. I still remember the huge x-ray machine coming down on top of me. I soon recovered and my only other accident was coming off my bike into the front gate! I know that lots of other people my age had similar scrapes and accidents including falling down the many monsoon drains. Luckily, most of us survived the ordeal and carried on looking for more dangerous things to climb such as banana trees, wall and water drains. It's surprising that we all survived the experience but it was a wonderful time and adventure always seemed to just be around the corner.

Fun and Games

Here's a photo of me pretending to be an Indian sitting at the front of our house at Jalan Wijaya. With Christmas just over, it got me thinking about the toys and games that we had at the time. I've mentioned all the tin toys, cars, planes and robots before but there were also many board games. I think that nearly every house we went to had Monopoly and Mouse Trap. I remember Monopoly in particular because it seemed to go on forever. Another reason I remember it is because I recall my brother playing a game with someone else on the estate, I can't remember who, and the game just went on and on! In the end, in frustration, the other kid got the board and threw the whole lot up in the air! It went everywhere including down the storm drain. We never did find all the bits!

Someone recently mentioned to me how all the Naval wives would meet up for a Beetle Drive. Now, this is a game I haven't heard of for a long time but if you were in Singapore and Malaya in the 1960s, you've quite possibly played it because it was very popular at the time. Beetle Drive was a game where you added parts onto a plastic beetle but I can't quite remember the details of how it was played. A quick look around the internet shows that the game is still available though I suspect that most people nowadays wouldn't have a clue what it was.

We also played Scrabble and a lot of card games. Alan and me had our

own Green Hornet playing cards. I can't remember the games that we knew at the time but 'Snap!' was very popular.

When we weren't playing games, we were building dens, climbing trees, riding our bikes or doing a tightrope walk across the local drainpipe.To the computer generation, this probably all sounds mundane but we had great fun at the time and it seems like a lot of this fun of childhood has been lost over the years.