Things that used to be common place in people’s homes

[Journeyman]

Them bar heaters with a pull cord switch on the wall near the ceiling in the bathroom.

My mum moved into a flat in the late nineties that was built in the early sixties, and she bought it off the woman who had lived in it from new. Practically everything in it was original, and absolutely immaculate, including the cooker and all the kitchen fittings. There were still some round pin sockets. Said heater was present in the bathroom. There was no central heating and the place was like a freezer in the winter! Thankfully I only had to live there in uni holidays...

 

[dgl]

I think my problem is that I live in a valley, near the bottom of it, so although I'm close to my local transmitter, the signal I get is lousy.

Probably, it all depends on the location of the transmitter, in the Weymouth area it's near impossible in most places to get TV from one of the main transmitters (either Stockland Hill near Honiton or Rowridge on the Isle of Wight), so they have 3 relays the main one in Wyke Regis and two smaller ones in Preston and Bincome Hill. This means that in some places they get a really good signal, so good that I once witnessed a TV on Granby Industrial Estate (an Amstrad TV/VCR) that had a perfect analogue picture despite there not only being no aerial but the aerial socket had broken off.

I will say the loft aerials here are high quality aerials of a decent length and only supply one TV each, no idea why it was done like this but they must have just had a spare antenna. One seems to be relatively modern the other looking like it's from the start of UHF TV!

 

[blue87]

Another one I thought of them kettles you put on the stove that whistled when boiling, a distinctive sound in an old school house.

 

[swt_passenger]

Still got a round pin 5A socket here, was only installed last year!

AIUI they‘re still legitimate, usually used for stuff such as table lights which are powered from lighting circuits, rather than 13A sockets, switched from common plate switches as per the fixed lighting. Stops high powered devices being plugged into the lighting circuits.

 

[dgl]

AIUI they‘re still legitimate, usually used for stuff such as table lights which are powered from lighting circuits, rather than 13A sockets, switched from common plate switches as per the fixed lighting. Stops high powered devices being plugged into the lighting circuits.

Quite and the 15A ones used for stage lighting where having a fuse blow in a high up plug is undesirable, plus stage lights are on radials with a lower amp fuse than what would be on a ring main.
The socket/plug in the picture power my Grans stair lift which I installed, using said plug/socket combo stops it being used for something else and the stairlift going flat, it's fed from a switched/fused spur fused at 5A. The metal box, also visible, is a hack containing an enclosed PSU as trying to acquire a brick that kicks out 33V is near impossible and the original had failed.

 

[johntea]

DAB Radios seemed to come along but then get overtaken rather quickly by Internet Radio devices (I have one of those Pure 'Bug' ones in the kitchen still!)

Also remember back in the day standalone A4 scanners were all the rage connected up to the PC rather than the million and one all in one printers these days, my parents sent me to my room with no supper once because I scanned in a photo then set it to the Windows 95 desktop background, which due to the MASSIVE 1mb size then meant it took about an hour for the computer to fully load up

 

[Spamcan81]

In the sixties we lived in a fairly new house. Built in about 1961 it was heated by a coal fire which consisted of an enameled metal box on the hearth which had two doors which could be shut when you went up for the night. This was necessary as it was the only way to heat up the water in the back boiler. We also had a telephone table/chair combination and a card index machine where you selected letters of the alphabet and pressed a button to bring up the page you want. We had a three digit telephone number for a while. Eventually the Corporation came round and installed an immersion heater. At last my bedroom, which contained the airing cupboard had some sort of heat in the winter. Of course there was no double glazing and ice would form on the inside of the window overnight. And I only got two and six a week pocket money. Blah...blah...blah. These youngsters have no idea.

We had one of those stoves but no back boiler.

Other things which were common back then were Ascot gas fired water heaters/geysers. Had one to provide hot water at the kitchen sink and another for the bath. Sadia did the electric versions.

 

[LSWR Cavalier]

Flatley, a device to dry clothes by heat enclosed in a metal box
Seems a bit queer, no ventilation and the clothes were hung close together

Used an old mangle to dry clothes, that was practical

Storage heaters, they made the place cosy for breakfast but cool by evening. Could they be practical with better insulation?
..
Whatabout books, are there many households without them now?

 

[xotGD]

Nylon sheets.

How on earth could anyone sleep in nylon bedding?

 

[Bob figgis]

Nylon pyjamas as well. I got a very nasty friction burn doing a knee slide across the living room carpet as a child whilst wearing nylon pyjamas.

 

[PeterC]

Most houses in my street still have them. They're far superior to electronic bells which seem to be the preferred way of accomplishing the same thing - a few pieces of metal and a hinge doesn't run out of batteries, play an irritatingly beepy tune, or have the circuitry die...

I know that the batteries need changing in the bell when delivery men start using the knocker instead.

 

[wireforever]

Always had a loft aerial been updated since 1963 when house was built to show freeview hd on upstairs tv cable in living room.Still got the coal bunker been dismantled and is down the side of the garage.Mum had a spin dryer which you had to hold onto otherwise it started moving across the kitchen floor!Sandwich toaster used once still in original packaging

 

[MotCO]

Surprised no-one's mentioned cameras - does anyone use Polaroids now? What about Instamatics, 110s etc? Do most people use their phones for photos rather than cameras?

Wooden clothes horses.

Coal skuttles and coal sheds.

Cheques.

Fluffy dice and air freshners in cars.

Stick on rear window heaters in cars.

Road tax discs.

 

[Peter C]

Surprised no-one's mentioned cameras - does anyone use Polaroids now? What about Instamatics, 110s etc? Do most people use their phones for photos rather than cameras?

Polaroids have been making a return to popularity over the last few years, but the market isn't for those wanting to take good photos really; more so people who remember them from first time round or those who are interested in 'retro' stuff.

Wooden clothes horses.

A couple of my relatives still have these: I expect lots of people still have them hanging around?

Fluffy dice and air freshners in cars.

I know of a few family friends who have these: my only issue with the air fresheners is the smell is often very strong!

-Peter

 

[swt_passenger]

Fridges. (Fairly uncommon in many households before the 1950s)

I think you may just have this the wrong way round, I’m sure fridges are still common now.

 

[dgl]

Surprised no-one's mentioned cameras - does anyone use Polaroids now? What about Instamatics, 110s etc? Do most people use their phones for photos rather than cameras?

I brought my sister a polaroid 600? and some of the new film for when we went to Disneyland a few years ago, had previously tested the camera with some old film so thought all was well, my sister went to take the first photo at Disneyland and were met with nothing more than the smell of dead capacitors, very annoying and it got binned after that.

 

[gg1]

A few more:

Power outlets specifically and solely for electric wall clocks - popular in the 50s and 60s.

Flasher units for Christmas tree lights - with multiple sets of lights you would wire half to one circuit, half to the other and every 10 seconds or so the unit would switch from one to the other.

Artex ceilings

 

[Clip]

We had one of those on the wall. I remember being confused as to why the dial went up to 6 when there were only 3 TV channels.

The cable used to loop from house to house down the street.

Didn't the supply radio too?

 

[xotGD]

Didn't the supply radio too?

I don't think ours did. We used an old valve radio!

 

[Clip]

I don't think ours did. We used an old valve radio!

Wow proper old school that

 

[MattA7]

And further to my last post here are a few old appliance here, a Morphy Richards iron and the mentioned ceiling light/heater combo.View attachment 88418View attachment 88419

When I lived in Dundee,Scotland the flat I lived in had one of those bathroom heaters which was surprisingly useful as the flat had no central heating. There was also a old electric cooker that still had the oven temperature in normal measurements and the fuse box was made of wood and had ceramic fuses inside.

another house I lived in had a old high level toilet cistern with the chain to flush

 

[Spamcan81]

Paraffin stoves to heat the bathroom.

 

[nlogax]

Deep fat fryers. They still exist of course but from my vague childhood memory it felt like every kitchen used to have one.

 

[Altrincham]

Hallways with long strips of that transparent plastic floor/carpet protector. The underside had raised bobbly bits on it, possibly to keep it in place. Most houses I visited in the 1970’s and very early 80’s seemed to have this stuff.

 

[Journeyman]

Hallways with long strips of that transparent plastic floor/carpet protector. The underside had raised bobbly bits on it, possibly to keep it in place. Most houses I visited in the 1970’s and very early 80’s seemed to have this stuff.

Likewise plastic covers on sofas. I knew a few people who had those.

 

[MattA7]

Deep fat fryers. They still exist of course but from my vague childhood memory it felt like every kitchen used to have one.

I have a chip pan in my house something a lot of people view as antiquated.

 

[dgl]

Cookers with knobs high up on what would be the splash back, plus high up grills, although high up grills are still available on some gas cookers.

50cm Conventional Gas Cooker with High Level Grill, FHLG51 | Flavel

Perfect for big families, this conventional gas cooker has a 62L main oven and a four burner gas hob, helping you get food to the table in record time.

www.flavelappliances.com

and electric cookers with ring hot plates and analogue clocks for the timer, either flip style or standard clock face

https://i.ebayimg.com/00/s/MTAyNFg3Njg=/z/KrsAAOSwD-dbqNKo/$_86.JPG

My auntie had an Electra one until at least 2010, impressively it did have a fan oven.


And TV stands, a lot of the time with space at the bottom for a video machine.
And going outside a bit, again on the TV front larger round satellite dishes as used with analogue satellite, bin lid sized (really, Alan Sugar though they looked a bit like bin lids and as such brought a machine that makes bin lids) and H shaped band 1 antenna's.
Pkus the old style TV wall brackets/stands which the TV sat on rather than being screwed to.

 

[GusB]

I don't think anyone has mentioned "Wally Dugs" (China dogs) yet. When I was younger, almost every relative of a certain age had a pair, either on the mantlepiece or on a sideboard.

Another thing that we were acutely aware of as kids were the half-hexagonal cabinets which usually contained priceless ornaments and/or the best china. They usually had elaborately shaped feet and the glass panels were lined out in gold.

 

[Journeyman]

TV cabinets designed to look like antique furniture.

 

[MikeMundy]

Unfortunately still quite common my bathroom isn’t that old but has separate taps.

I have a Sony reel to reel tape recorder and a 1959 Seeburg stereo Juke Box in my lounge. My dining room cupboard is stocked with large quantity of Homemaker 1960s China.