29 July 2019

Me

Over at "Going Gently", John Gray has been asking visitors to send in pictures that say "This is me".  The picture I sent him was the one shown above. It's me at the age of four and I expect the photograph was taken by my late father Philip some time in 1957 or 1958. I imagine he called me in from the garden where I had probably been playing or gathering caterpillars or scrumping apples and then he asked me to strike up a suitable pose.

Alternatively, it could have been taken by Alfred Assert who was the grumpy caretaker of the village school. Like my father, Mr Assert was also into photography. He smelt of pipe tobacco and had white hair..

There are several details I love about this image. My hands stuffed in my pockets, socks scrunched down,  dirty legs, shirt coming out, neck tie skew whiff, collar crumpled but above all I love the innocent expression on my chubby little face.

It's a piece of history - my history and the history of postwar northern England. Nowadays nobody dresses their little boys like that and thankfully you don't see that kind of haircut any more. It was a time of innocence... of cowboys and indians and conkers and jam sandwiches and certainty - when the whole world was still in shades of black and white.

40 comments:

  1. And you've not changed one bit, Yorkie!

    I can see nothing wrong with your haircut. I hope you've washed the dirt off your legs, though. And pull up your socks, young man - and tuck your shirt in!! :)

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    1. Your wish is my command Auntie Lee. What shall I do with this tin of earthworms?

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  2. The facial expression is one that stops you and makes you wonder what's going on.

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    1. In my little head I think I am saying, "Let me get back in the garden! I don't want to be photographed!"

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  3. What a bonny lad. Oh how I'd love to squeeze those chubby legs!

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    1. Next time I'm in Lancashire you are welcome to squeeze them Christina.

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  4. Like Lee, I can't see anything wrong with your haircut in this picture. Some little boys I see these days have rather daft, overly fashionable haircuts, and I wonder whether it is them who want to imitate a football star or their parents who go for the "celebrity" look.
    I have a favourite picture of myself when I was about 3 years old. We used it for a "then and now" comparison on the invitation to my 50th birthday, it is also somewhere on my blog.

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    1. I must have seen that picture already. I will try to rediscover it in your illustrious blog.

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    2. It is here:
      https://librarianwithsecrets.blogspot.com/2018/03/in-two-weeks.html

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    3. Thanks for the link. I know I have seen other pictures of you as a child in your blog. There were even a couple of you with The Mystery Sister!

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  5. Such a delightful photo. Just how kids should be, scruffy with a bit of dirt.
    You look cheeky there and obviously haven't changed, lol
    Briony
    x

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    1. Cheeky? It takes one to know one Briony!

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  6. You had shoes by then in your part of the East Riding.

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    1. My three brothers and I had one pair between the four of us.

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  7. The tie is interesting, is it part of school uniform or every day wear?
    You look like a kid with a million questions

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    1. It was everyday wear. I was too young to go to school.

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  8. I have one of me taken a few years earlier than yours...boys had their own look (love the photo of small scruffy you), while we girls were always in dresses (or in my case wearing a jumper (US sweater) and a small kilt), with large bows tying our hair back. Innocent, indeed.

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    1. That sounds like a great look Mary. Perhaps you should replicate it today. I wonder which tartan you would pick? Maybe the McDonalds tartan?

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  9. You look like William Brown (cf Richmal Crompton).

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    1. "William relapsed into silence, nonplussed, but by no means cowed."

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  10. That’s actually a great photo. When I saw it I guessed it might be you. John published a not dissimilar one of me last Thursday- perhaps less confident though.

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    1. If we had had a fight in the playground I would have given you a damned good thrashing Bunter!

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  11. You look quite mischevious there. Haven't changed much have you?

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    1. You are right there JayCee but I rarely wear short trousers any more.

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  12. That IS a great image. (A lot of people these days seem to want to return to that era of black-and-white, but the fact is, most of life really does happen in shades of gray.) It's funny that no one thought to clean you up a bit before taking the photo, but I guess they were trying to capture the real you. :)

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    1. Thank you Steve. I am very happy that they didn't clean me up and left me au naturel... like one of Fagin's scruffy kids in "Oliver Twist".

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  13. What a darling little boy. And I can still see "you" in that photo. Your mother must have been run ragged with four boys to raise.

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    1. We played out in and around our village with little parental control. Paedophilia had not been invented and there were no bogeymen.

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  14. Just remembered who you look like. Lucy Attwells children.

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  15. It is such a natural photo - excellent "this is me" contribution! I can't get over the fact you mentioned above, though, that a tie was everyday wear for a little boy. Times sure have changed.

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    1. I think that that tie was elasticated - easier for a four year old to put on.

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  16. This picture, to me, is the quintessential photograph of a British child. It is a beautiful, telling, lovely picture of a British boy betwixt babyhood and childhood. I know it is you, Mr. Pudding, but it really should be put in a museum somewhere in Yorkshire and be titled, "British Boy." Just love it!

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    1. Rather than "British Boy", I would prefer the exhibit to be titled "Yorkshire Boy" Donna. Thanks for dropping by again. I hope you are well.

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    2. Yes, indeed. Yorkshire Boy, you are, through and through. I am very well, Neil, thanks for asking.

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  17. I used to know someone who was probably at Bev GS around your time. Sporty/rugby type. Name rhymes with Trumpton.

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  18. You were a darling lad.
    You know what? I think you might really enjoy reading Keith Richard's biography. He talks a lot about growing up in postwar England. He's older than we are but still- I am certain you share some of the same memories.

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Mr Pudding welcomes all genuine comments - even those with which he disagrees. However, puerile or abusive comments from anonymous contributors will continue to be given the short shrift they deserve. Any spam comments that get through Google/Blogger defences will also be quickly deleted.

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