Views looking back - the Eclectic Ephemera Top 10

Here I am again, then, saying "What ho!" after another long dry spell at Eclectic Ephemera.  I seem to spend half my (few) posts lately apologising for my absence, and can only do so again.  I dislike constantly using work as an excuse, since I know so many bloggers who successfully juggle a good working/writing balance - it just seems I'm not one of them!  Having said that, it seems that a few of my favourite bloggers have gone quiet as the new year got underway, or have just emerged from the woodwork after months of silence, so perhaps I am not alone after all.

Anyway, enough navel-gazing, for a quite remarkable milestone was reached by this blog at the start of 2015 and it is this that I intend to celebrate in this post (for lack of anything really newsworthy!).  Quite appropriately, the start of my sixth year as a vintage blogger saw Eclectic Ephemera pass 400,000 pageviews.  Now of course that doesn't mean that 400,000 individual people have viewed this blog - some of those will have been me looking at the thing to see how it's doing (and forgetting to select "Don't track my own pageviews"!) and many, many more were probably spammers, bots, bits and other assorted members of the æthereal interweb - but the majority would have been fellow bloggers, followers and interested parties.  You, in other words.  And that deserves celebrating.  What I thought I'd do to mark the occasion, therefore, is to "run down" (to use the modern parlance) the Top 10 posts from Eclectic Ephemera's 6-year history - a sort of "best of", as it were, chosen by you the readers.

So, in ascending order they are:

10. Home linked to P G Wodehouse's Blandings Castle up for sale

 

From November 2010, the news that Apley House in Shropshire had been completely restored and was up for sale for the princely sum of £1¾ million.  I found it to be of particular interest because it is generally agreed among scholars to be the inspiration behind P.G. Wodehouse's Blandings Castle, which was the setting for one of his other book series.  With Plum being one of my favourite authors and creator of that arch-chap Bertie Wooster, even though it was not directly related to the Jeeves stories I fancied including it here.  Eclectic Ephemera was barely a year old at this point and still evolving into the blog we know today, so at this point the stories I featured were sometimes more wide-ranging than they are today.  Still this one had a vintage bent about it and has obviously proved popular, for whatever reason (perhaps the Wodehouse connexion, or just its magnificence as an English stately home).

9. Liebster Blog Award #2

 

Jumping forward two years to November 2012, this blog received its second Liebster Blog Award.  Having largely given way to other blog awards (probably due to the demise of Google Friends) the Liebster nevertheless contained most of the things we recognise in today's examples.  Given to me by Lil of the now defunct Little Lil of London blog, it contained the usual x number of questions about myself to answer and I obviously made a decent fist of it since it is the most popular award-based post on the blog!

8. Historic wooden car floated at auction

 

November 2010 again and one of my many vintage motoring posts - this time featuring a one-off wood-bodied 1932 Talbot.  This car had an interesting history, which is why the story appealed to me (and everybody else too, it seems!), having started out in 1932 as just an ordinary 14/65 saloon before some time in the 1960s acquiring a fantastic roadster body fashioned entirely from boat-grade mahogany!  Despite this it was only valued at £20,000 to £30,000, eventually being sold for almost smack dab in the middle at £25,300.  As I said at the time, I hope the new owner enjoys varnishing!

7. Cary Grant - Style Icon

 

source

February 2012 and number 2 in my personal Style Icon series is obviously number 1 in your books - Mr Cary Grant.  Proof of the man's popularity even today, my thoughts on his impeccable dress sense - and more importantly the pictures that illustrate this - have gone towards making this everyone's favourite Style Icon post from a list that included David Niven and Fred Astaire!

6. Model of new Routemaster bus unveiled

 

source

The classic [red] AEC Routemaster bus has come to symbolise the city of London, not just for those of us in Britain but more especially for people living around the world for whom this simple, long-lived vehicle is part of their own external view of our capital.  Therefore it should perhaps come as little surprise, given the international nature of the internet (and thus, this blog), that the unveiling of its spiritual successor should prove to be so popular.  The idea of modern technology meeting classic, tried-and-tested design was much in evidence throughout the story of the NB4L (or New Routemaster, as it has become known) and this has always been the most appealing aspect of things to me, as I hope it has been to all who have followed the journey of the NB4L from drawing board to now, five years later, actually carrying passengers around the streets of London.  Having since seen one or two up close I can confirm it more than lives up to the hype and it's been fascinating to see its progress all the way from inception to now.

5. Vintage Rolls-Royces honour Spirit of Ecstasy

 

source

As if to reinforce its position as "Best Car in the World" this 2011 post about the centenary of Rolls-Royce's mascot, the famous Spirit of Ecstasy, makes it into the top 5.  As well the story about the anniversary celebrations featuring myriad Royce models from down the years, I took the opportunity to throw in a bit about some of my favourite examples and it has obviously struck a chord with many people for whom the Rolls-Royce is still the very epitome of luxury motoring.

4. Film Friday - Scarface (1932)

 

The third of the Film Friday: Gangsters series that I began back in 2010 with Little Caesar (and which sadly I've rather let slide since) this post focussed on the plot - and, more importantly the fashions - of Howard Hughes' and Howard Hawk's classic 1932 gangster drama Scarface, starring Paul Muni, Ann Dvorak and George Raft.  This post has proven to be popular with both vintage film and fashion fans alike, which are who I hoped would be the target audience and which has made me think that maybe it's about time I brought this series back!

3. All aboard the song train

 

This is the most recently-written post to make the top 10, containing a selection of railway-related tunes to celebrate (if that's the word I want!) my first foray back into the world of full-time work and commuting by train.  While that job didn't last and I now commute to the latest office by bus, this post really seemed to build up a good head of steam(!) and powered its way into the "most popular" list.  I suspect this is just through people searching for the phrase "song train", but then I live in hopes that there are several thousand visitors with a liking for the music of Glenn Miller, Paul Whiteman and Bob Crosby among others!

2. Rare photographs of comedian Stan Laurel are auctioned

 

Proof of the enduring popularity of two of the funniest comic actors to have ever lived, this story regarding the auction of rare photographs of (mainly) Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy proved inordinately popular (again probably just through people Googling "photos of Stan Laurel", I reckon).  Including some very rare images dating back to 1897 and showing a young Arthur Stanley Jefferson playing with his siblings these photographs came from a family collection owned by a great-niece of Stan's living in Sunderland, near to North Shields where he grew up.  The 54 lots eventually sold for a total of £8,000.

1. Classic car firm Morgan building new three-wheeler after gap of 60 years

 

This would certainly be in my top 10 favourite vintage news items that this blog has covered since 2009, so I'm delighted to see it make the number one slot with my readers too.  And why should it not?  Here is an almost perfect example of traditional, vintage design being married to modern technology and - even better - one that has been an unqualified success for the Morgan Motor Company.  For it is now the company's best-selling model, having sold more than 600 in the first few months after it went on sale and over 1,000 in the four years it has been on sale.  While that may not sound like much, for a niche manufacturer like Morgan - who still use the same construction methods and work out of the same factory in Malvern, Worcestershire that they have done since the company's inception in 1909 - it is a very big deal.  In 2014 a whole raft of updates were applied to the car in response to customer feedback and I see no reason why the 3-wheeler, having taken its rightful place back in the very heart of the Morgan range, should not endure for decades just as the other models have done.

There we have it, then - the 10 most popular Eclectic Ephemera posts from the past 6 years and 400,000 pageviews.  I hope you've all enjoyed this little reminiscence as much as I have writing it and I look forward to seeing what the future brings for this blog amid the hope of many more readers and followers to come.

Der dritte Liebster!

I must start by apologising for there being a whole week between posts but the truth is I've still been enjoying a restful period following my recent hospitalisation (all's quite well, I'm just taking my time [read: being lazy!] in getting back into the swing of things).   Now though I've taken a moment to think about doing another blog post and, although I've still got a couple of drafts that I'm looking forward to finishing, I received a pleasant surprise this weekend in the form of another Liebster Blog Award so I thought I'd take the opportunity to use that as the basis for a new post - and here it is!

It is Roxie from The Ramblings of Roxie Roulette who I must thank for this particular Liebster and I urge you to check out her excellent vintage/rockabilly blog if you haven't already done so.

Most of you will know by now the rules that come with this award but for those of you who have come in late, briefly - I must thank the blogger who passed it on, answer 11 questions put to me by them, provide eleven random facts about yours truly and then give the award on to 11 of my favourite blogs with another eleven questions of my own.  Without wasting any more time, then, here we go:

11 Questions from Roxie

source

What is your favourite piece of clothing that you have ever owned?
I've mentioned before the pair of navy cords that are so comfortable I've almost worn them out and my 1940s Kuppenheimer overcoat, which must both vie for the top spot, but there is a special place in my heart for a jumper I had for a few years in my early teens.  To call it "novelty" would be to do it a disservice - it was better than that.  I bought it from a lovely little wool mill during a walking holiday in Yorkshire.  It was made from the softest, warmest pure wool and had as a pattern a beautiful local scene not unlike the one shown in the above picture - although mine featured a windmill, cows and corn sheaves in a field.  I wore it throughout the trip and frequently when I got home - until my stepdad stuck it in the wash and shrunk it so that it would only have fitted a small 4-year old(!).  Despite his claims that "it will stretch out again" it never did.  I've long since forgiven him, of course, although I often tease him about it still - and he has promised over the years to buy me a replacement but no-one's been able to remember the name of the place where we got it nor been back to that part of Yorkshire since, so a new one remains tantalisingly out of reach.

If you could be a fly on the wall for any event in history, what would that be?
This question was tougher than I thought it would be!  "Fly on the wall" indicates to me something that occurred inside a building or other enclosed space, so I would say - in the New York Stock Exchange on the 29th October 1929; in other words "Black Tuesday", the Wall Street Crash of 1929.

Guilty pleasure, food wise?
I've said it before and will say it again - strawberry cheesecake.  I could easily eat a whole one at one sitting!

Who has been the biggest influence in your life?
The simplest and most obvious answer would be my parents, or perhaps my grandmother, all of whom of course played no small part in raising me into the man I am today.  Outside of family I would have to pick... James C. Bigglesworth - better known as "Biggles", the [fictional, children's] pilot adventurer.  I read my first Biggles book when I was about 11 - an impressionable age I'm sure you'll agree - and to this day I thank heaven that I did, for I can think of few better role models for a young boy even today.  His attitude, actions and principles have inspired me, thrilled me and helped shape my own behaviour far more than any other character in popular culture.  

Source: i4.mirror.co.uk via Bruce on Pinterest

"while men are decent to me I try to be decent to them, 

regardless of race, colour, politics, creed or anything else"

Why did you start your blog?
I originally started this blog, as I wrote in my very first post back in November 2009 (seems like half a lifetime ago now!), to post stories that were funny, light-hearted and linked to my wider interests as an antidote to all the doom and gloom that seemed (and still seems) to pervade the media (whoever said "bad news sells" was right, sadly!).  Over time I must have begun to realise that I was perhaps casting my net a little too wide so I started to focus just on the purely vintage-related news.  I'm glad that I did too, otherwise I may never have come to know all the lovely people in the vintage blogosphere!

If you could only listen to one song for the rest of your life, what would that be?
I'd been holding off posting my number one "Desert Island Disc" for some time (no real reason) but now that the question has been fairly asked I can think of no better time to reveal it.  Oddly enough it isn't even "vintage" - unless you count the 1980s as such; which, having been born and grown up in that decade I don't!  I've mentioned this chap once or twice before as my favourite "current" artist but I wouldn't be surprised if you'd never heard of him for he has been criminally under-appreciated for almost his entire 30-year career, despite him winning many Grammy Awards.  His name is Bruce Hornsby and it is this song, his 1986 debut recorded with his then-band The Range (he still tours and records with his latest group, the Noisemakers), which ironically became his biggest hit (reaching No. 1 in the U.S., Canada and the Netherlands and number 15 in the U.K.).  Even if you've never heard of him or the song title chances are you've heard it in one form or another as credits on daytime TV, bad muzak (is there any other sort?) or maybe even on rare occasions on the radio in its pure, beautiful form.  I could (and often do) happily sit and listen to this song on repeat - if need be for the rest of my life. 



What was your favourite television show as a child?
It would have to be a toss-up between Inspector Gadget or The Transformers.  Or possibly, ahem, Wacaday.

I say red, you say...?
Traffic light.

Recommend me a blog to follow.
Gosh, there are so many (just see how long my blogroll is on the right)!  One I think Roxie in particular might really like (although I'd recommend it to anyone) is Veronica Vintage.

What is your favourite scent in the whole entire world?
I appreciate how Roxie's kept the questions fairly unisex until now, but I'm afraid my answer for this is going to be rather blokey.  It's high octane petrol.  (N.B. I'm not suggesting girls need to rush out to their nearest petrol station and fill their perfume jars with Super Unleaded - for one thing the really powerful stuff burns like hell, in every sense! - but as I don't really know the names or smells of any ladies' perfumes, nor have much of a nose for flowers, high octane fuel really is my favourite scent in the whole entire world).

Would you rather have lollipops for fingers, or bread sticks for arms?
Lollipops for fingers, definitely.

11 Random Facts

This being at least the third set of facts, the bottom of the barrel may be scraped(!)

I have a real problem with flash photography (one of the reasons there are few pictures of me on this blog, although I am getting better and have found a spot where I can turn the flash off and then use a bit of computer trickery to give photos enough light).  This all stems from when I was diagnosed, at about 10 years old, with a mild form of epilepsy known as "Petit Mal" (now more commonly referred to as Child Absence Epilepsy).  Fortunately it is a type that the child usually outgrows - sometimes with the aid of medication - as it was in my case.  But obviously for a time flashing lights were a great risk and I developed an aversion to them which still hasn't completely left me.  As a result more often than not any photos of me taken with a flash often end up showing me with my eyes shut (many a school class photo was ruined thanks to me!).

My favourite colour is yellow, because it's so bright and happy.  My favourite/lucky number, happily considering this particular award, is the number 11!

source

The country I'd most like to visit is Canada.  I went there for a day back in 1997 during a road trip to Niagara Falls but being partial to cold climates and beautiful scenery I would love to go back there and do the place justice, perhaps on a transcontinental rail journey or such.

During a visit to the Laurel & Hardy Museum in Ulverston, Cumbria (Stan Laurel's birthplace) many years ago I so hit it off with the curator that I was accorded the rare privilege of being allowed to actually wear one of Stan's bowler hats that he wore in their films.

I'm short-sighted and have been since I was about 12.  One day I'd like to get some proper vintage (or vintage-style) frames; I recently took advantage of optician Roope Vintage's Frame Style Guide to get an idea of what might suit me and I rather like the look of their suggestion - what do you think?

source

I used to go in for fossil collecting when I was younger and still have my collection of rocks and fossils, some shop-bought and some picked up during holidays to the Jurassic Coast around Lyme Regis and Charmouth.

The first album I ever bought was in 1993 and it was an 11-track CD of dance club remixes of the Laurel & Hardy theme tune, The Dance of The Cuckoos!  Oh the shame (I've still got it too)!

I once found a 1967 half crown, which now graces my coin collection, in the pocket of a pair of costume trousers I was wearing during a performance of HMS Pinafore.

My favourite sports are cricket and snooker (also to play) plus motor racing (non-participant!).  My least favourites are rugby [shudder] and football.

source

In yet another visit to my personal library a further valued book in my collection is a 1930s copy of Everybody's Pocket Companion, a little reference book of facts and figures given to me by my late grandfather.

I once saw, a few years ago, what could only be described as UFOs.  I don't think they were extra-terrestrial in origin but to this day I couldn't tell you what they were (and I like to think I know a fair bit about aviation); my best theory is some sort of high-altitude military test.  I have always believed in life on other planets but remain ambivalent about the possibility of aliens visiting this planet.

Now to the eleven questions I have to set - which I'll be honest I'm useless at so I've again cribbed a good few from previous award-winners, although I managed to think of one or two of my own too:

Why did you start blogging?
Is your family understanding about your love of vintage and your desire to blog about it?
What country would you most like to visit?
When did you discover vintage?
What's your favourite vintage shop?
Is there a lot of vintage in the city where you live?
Did you discover new hobbies or interests after you discovered vintage?
What famous person from the past or present do you think you look like?
Who is your favourite author?
When you sit down to compose a blog post do you plan/think ahead or just write off the cuff?
If you could be a fly on the wall for any event in history, what would that be?

Then finally to the eleven bloggers to whom I gladly pass on this Liebster Blog Award.  I know these things aren't everyone's cup of tea so you are of course under no obligation to accept, answer any questions or tell us anything about you if you'd rather not!

Lovebirds Vintage
Victory Rolls and Roses
like johnny and june
Betty Bow
Sailing over a Cardboard Sea
The Forties Floozy
Veronica Vintage
Demi Lauren
Cheeky vintage chick
Vintage Lovin' Gal
Vintage Vapours

My thanks to Roxie for passing this award on to me; it's always reassuring to know this little blog is still so appreciated.  I hope you've enjoyed reading this near essay-length post (sorry about that!) and checking out the worthy blogs mentioned above.  I hope to be back later in the week with more classic Eclectic Ephemera fare; until then - pip-pip!

Liebster Blog Award

Last Friday I received a welcome surprise in the form of a Liebster Blog Award from Little Lil of London.  Thank you, Lil, it was very kind of you to pass the award on to me.

I had actually been following this particular award around the blogosphere as it had been bestowed on a couple of blogs I already follow - and, I'm happy to say, helped introduce me to a few more splendid ones too!  It seems to have undergone a slight change since I first received it, courtesy of The Vintage Knitter, back in March 2011.  Now for bloggers with fewer than 300 (or sometimes still 200) followers it also seems to come with 11 questions - devised by the giver - rather than the "7 interesting facts" caveat of before.  Nonetheless I'm still delighted to accept it again and take this opportunity to recognise some of the more recent blogs that I have started following.

Lil didn't provide 11 questions for me to answer, for which I am partly grateful as I had enough trouble before thinking up 7 facts about me that wouldn't send you all into a stupor.  I also could not help but notice a common thread running through the questions on each awarded blog involving enquiries about make-up, high heels, dresses and perfumes - queries I would have found very difficult to answer!  However, to keep in the spirit of the thing, I have decided to crib the eleven best (i.e. answerable) questions from the various bloggers to/from whom the Liebster Blog has been awarded.

1. What are you reading right now?

source

R. J. Mitchell: Schooldays to Spitfire.  A combination of biography and historical narrative it tells the [all too-short] life story Reginald Mitchell, the designer of the Spitfire, and the development of that famous fighter aircraft.  Written by his son, Dr. Gordon Mitchell.
 
2. What countries have you travelled to?
Outside those in the United Kingdom, I have been to: America, France, Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Belgium.

3. Which famous person/historical figure would you have dinner with?
If it were just dinner the historical figure would be W. O. Bentley, because then we would be able to "talk shop" and about the cars that still bear his name.  The famous person would be Stephen Fry, who would be able to talk about anything.  If it were more of a party I might choose Bix Beiderbecke historically and Robert Downey Jr. famously.

4. Does wearing or living vintage also affect the way you speak?
Yes, I would say first of all it encourages precise diction and clear speech because one wants to match one's appearance and the expectations it brings.  I also use a fair smattering of old-fashioned slang and exclamations, much to the amusement and mockery of my family and work colleagues - one of whom once observed that everything is "jolly good" with me on account of my saying it so much!

Source: hoopskirts-and-corsets.tumblr.com via Bruce on Pinterest

5. If you could have any job in the world, what would it be?
I'd like to be an archivist in a museum or similar institution, in a dusty old library or records room, swotting up on my specialist subject while surrounded by books and folders the contents of which I'd know off the top of my head. ;-)

6. What era inspires and intrigues you the most?
It's almost certainly a dead heat between the inter-war period of 1919-39 or the late Victorian/Edwardian era of around 1875-1918.  Both have their own æsthetic delights, mechanical marvels and sartorial splendours that I'd be hard-pushed to put a pin between the two.

7. What season is the best & what is the worst for wearing vintage?
Personally for this chap the worst season is definitely summer as I just can't be doing with all the heat, which is a challenge when it comes to dressing in the vintage style and retaining an air of coolness.  Best is therefore the opposite - late autumn/winter when unsightly perspiration ceases to become a worry and I can break out even more of my wardrobe: coats, hats, gloves, woollens.

8. What is your most favourite item of clothing that you own?
Properly vintage would be the 1940s Kuppenheimer overcoat that my aunt & uncle brought over from America for me on one of their past visits.  Otherwise I have a pair of navy cords that I've practically worn out, so comfortable and adaptable have they been over the last 5-6 years I've had them.

9. What is your favourite vintage name for a female?
I suppose it depends on the definition of "vintage" in this sense, as a lot of old-fashioned girls' names are still popular today.  Sophie, for instance.  If I were to dig around for something more obscure I might say Georgina (or even Georgiana).

10. What is your favourite vintage name for a male?
Same goes for the chaps.  Daniel has long been a favourite (you can't get more vintage than the Old Testament!), while Clive also appeals for its uncommonness.  Incidentally, as a bonus fact/challenge, my [real] first name comes from the Greek for "victory of the people" (I know, misnamed or what?) if you fancy trying to figure it out from that.

11. When did you discover Vintage?
As a subculture, in that finding there were other people in the world who liked the same things as I did (and more importantly, were of the same peer group) I would say it was probably around late 2005 or thereabouts.  That was when I discovered The Chap magazine and its attendant "chap room", The Sheridan Club, which helped throw a light on the whole vintage scene for me.

There you are, then - a few more tit-bits about yours truly, interesting or not as the case may be.  All that remains now is for me pass this award on to five more deserving blogs [with fewer than 300 followers].  If the owners wish to answer the same questions, pose eleven of their own or provide the old 7 facts (or even none of the above if they're not inclined!) then they are welcome to do so.  Congratulations to:

• Norton of Morton
• Fabulous Miss K
• Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Elegance
• Between Me, You and the Gatepost
• Leopard and Lipstick