TV Times guide to Coronation Street
A full year of Granada’s television serial has passed… it’s now time to get into Coronation Street
‣ Introduction by TONY WARREN who brought the street to television
WHERE is Coronation Street? My unfavourite question and one I am asked every day. Why my unfavourite question? Because I simply don’t know the answer.
I’ve been told for a fact that it’s in Salford, Manchester, Leeds — even Birmingham. I am always meeting someone who knows someone who lived there.
Seven terraced houses, a pub, a comer shop and a whole lot of people.
Everyone knows their own Elsie Tanner, half-admires their Ena Sharpies, makes excuses for the Minnie Caidwell in their lives: “When all’s said an’ done she’s very good to ’er mother.”
A canal, a viaduct, the memory of a tram, the reality of the bus-stop at the corner.
You can borrow a cup of sugar, get someone to lay a bet and if you’re ill you can be sure your windows will never go dirty and someone will stone your step. You’ll belong. Belonging, however, can have its drawbacks. Everyone will know all your business though they’d never admit it, and should such a thing as a plain van draw up at your front door there’ll be a stirring of seven pairs of lace curtains.
On bonfire nights there’s parkin and treacle toffee, at Christmas port and sherry and the same at funerals with ham and tongue, tinned cling peaches and cream horns.
This then is the Coronation Street that is being featured on this page.
But where IS Coronation Street?
The answer: Just where ever you want it to be.
All their yesterdays
‣ A glimpse into the past… what was Coronation Street like 25 years ago… what were your favourite inhabitants like… in 1936
CATCH a 181 bus outside the Town Hall and fourpence will take you to Coronation Street. Look out for the stop outside Bessie Street School, walk 100 yds., turn left and you’re in the street that millions visit twice a week.
But it’s only during the past year that it’s become well, overcrowded!
What was it like 25 years ago? What sort of picture would you have seen back in 1936?
You’d have come by tram, of course. You’d have turned left at the Rover’s Return — and you wouldn’t have known the difference.
The bricks and mortar were the same … the houses, the factory, the Mission.
The forest of TV aerials hadn’t even been planted, of course, and there wasn’t a frozen food locker in the corner shop or plastic piping in the pub — but they were on the way.
It was only a question of time.
On the way too were Christine Hardman, the Barlow boys, Doreen Lostock and Dennis Tanner.
Mind, if you’d told this to Elsie Tanner, the child-bride at No. 11, she’d have said you were flamin’ mad! As far as she was concerned young Linda, sucking her dummy in the pram outside, was the first — and the last!
Bored stiff, not caring much for the neighbours, Elsie sat and smoked and waited for the sea to wash her sailor husband home again — or at least for something to happen.
And, 1,000 miles away, a boy named Ivan Cheveski ran around the streets of Warsaw where they hadn’t any TV aerials either. He’d heard of England — vaguely.
Down the street at the Rover’s Return, Jack and Annie Walker were in their first year as landlords. It wasn’t what Annie was used to, but she tried to think it had possibilities.
Some of the customers weren’t up to her standard, particularly some of the women who came in the snug, but she had ideas about that, too.
She didn’t say anything to Jack, of course, because there were other things to be got out of the way first — like starting a family. It could all be dealt with in good time.
Down the other end of the street, at No. 1, Albert Tatlock struggled hard to keep a wife and two daughters on a municipal clerk’s wage of under £4 a week.
His wife didn’t like the street very much, and he wondered sometimes if she wasn’t giving the girls ideas, but he supposed it would all work out in the end.
A bit of a philosopher, Albert, they all said, and a big reader. They respected him for it but he didn’t have many close friends.
A family called Leeming lived next door at the time — the Barlows didn’t move in until 1940. Sam Leeming died at Dunkirk and his wife went back to her parents.
It was Mary Hewitt, Harry’s mother, who persuaded Ida Barlow to get husband Frank interested in the empty house. Twenty-five years later, Harry Hewitt stood in the rain and watched them carry Ida out.
The Hayes were at No. 5.
Mr. Hayes, a quiet scholarly man who had obviously come down in the world, lived in the street but never really became a part of it.
Neither did his wife, who was an invalid and seldom seen outside the house. It was Esther the daughter, then a quiet 12-year-old who represented the family to the street, along with her brother Tom.
“A good little lass that,” they would say, watching Esther hanging out the washing in the backyard, or scouring the front step.
But when Tom’s name was mentioned they merely shook their heads, sadly, and predicted a sorry future for this wild, undisciplined boy.
It was like that in the street in 1936. They lived the present vigorously, or placidly, according to their natures, and predicted the future as they saw, or hoped, or feared it would be.
‣ An impression of the neighbourhood specially drawn by Peter Caldwell
- Canal
- Bessie Street school
- Mario’s cafe
- Swindley’s shop
- Mawdsley Street
- St. Mary’s Church
- Rosamund Street
- Coronation Street
- Rover’s Return
- Raincoat factory
- Cinema
- Victoria Street
- Jackson’s chip shop
- Vestry and Mission
- Viaduct Street
- Corner shop
- Minnie Caldwell’s
- Len Fairclough’s
- Martha Longhurst’s
- G.P.O. Exchange and Sorting Office
- ① Albert Tatlock
- ③ Frank and Kenneth Barlow
- ⑤ Esther Hayes
- ⑦ Harry and Concepta Hewitt
- ⑨ Empty
- ⑪ Elsie and Dennis Tanner
- ⑬ Christine Hardman
Flashback
‣ Births, deaths, weddings, trips, crises … they all made up the first exciting year of television’s most famous street. Here in next week’s supplement, we recall some of the dramatic highlights as viewers saw them at the time.
DECEMBER
Trouble at the comer shop where Florrie Lindley, who has just taken over the business from Elsie Lappin and is determined to make a success of it, has her first brush with the law. She finds she’s been committing an offence by selling a packet of fire-lighters after hours — to a policewoman, too?
JANUARY
Tragedy has come to the street with the death of Christine Hardman’s widowed mother. But it is not long before a new face comes into her life when she meets a handsome plumber called Joe Makinson. In Snape’s Cafe a romance begins to develop that has everyone in the neighbourhood taking notice.
FEBRUARY
Memories of the blitz come flooding back to the people of Coronation Street when a gas main explodes and the order goes out that all the houses have to be evacuated. The Mission Hall is turned into a temporary shelter where the homeless families spend a sleepless night until the danger is over.
MARCH
There’s an even greater crisis when Ena Sharpies overhears a chance remark and spreads the scare that the street is scheduled for demolition. Only when old Albert Tatlock calls in a council official (centre) is it found that the rumour is unfounded — and all the residents can breathe easily again.
APRIL
Ena is out of favour with everyone and gets her marching orders from Mission Hall secretary Leonard Swindley. It’s a highly emotional moment for the doting Miss Nugent when he asks her if she would like to take over the caretaker’s job. But they soon discover Ena is not to be dislodged so easily.
MAY
The sun comes out again and the people of Coronation Street patch up their differences and take an away-from-it-all coach trip — to Blackpool. Even Ena has to smile when her old cronies from the Rover’s Return, Martha and Minnie, invite her to join them for an afternoon paddle.
No. 13 – with the lid off
ONCE you’ve taken away the pub and the corner shop, the Mission Hall and the back wall of the raincoat factory, all that’s left of Coronation Street are seven very ordinary-looking terraced houses.
From the outside they are distinguished from each other only by the pattern of the curtains and the ways some of the doorsteps and windowsills have been subjected to more donkey-stoning than others.
But what are they like inside? Christine Hardman, who lives alone at No. 13, invites you in to see for yourself.
“I’m one of the lucky ones,” she says. “Most of the houses haven’t been touched since they were built, and that means when you want a bath you have to have it in a tin tub in the living room, and the only toilet is in that little outhouse at the back of the yard.
“But a few years ago my landlord had one of the three bedrooms converted into a bathroom, and it’s quite a posh affair.”
Besides the living room and the bedrooms, there are two other rooms — the front parlour, which is only used on very special occasions and, at the back of the house, the tiny scullery with a window looking out on to the yard.
For all this Christine pays a rent of 19s. a week.
‣ You don’t need o passport to visit Coronation Street. But to understand better what the natives are saying — especially in their more heated moments — non-Northerners would be well advised to study this TV Times digest of the local dialect. It has been specially compiled by Mrs. Elsie Tanner, who also posed for the pictures
Where they good old days?
‣ Continuing a glimpse into the past… what was Coronation Street like 25 years ago… and what were people doing… back in 1936.
THE cobbled streets of Lancashire, have worn well — and Coronation Street as well as any.
The bricks of the houses were soot-blackened in 1936. Today they are even blacker. But in the warm, steamy kitchens there was a sense of security which was a protection against grimmer happenings in the world outside.
Take the Hewitts at Number Seven. Matt Hewitt had a wife, daughter, and a stocky dark haired son Harr y— and none or them was very much aware of the changes going on in the world around them. If hard times came they probably couldn’t be any harder than those they’d already been through, especially in the depression years.
Matt had a steady job as a warehouse foreman. He earned enough to keep his family respectable and allow him the odd pint at the Rover’s Return.
Any night in the week, barring Sundays, Harry would be seen delivering papers in the streets round about. He shared the round with a pal of his from Mawdsley Street, a fair haired lad by the name of Len Fairclough.
On Saturdays, if they couldn’t get in without paying, they used part of the proceeds for football. The rest went on comics or pictures at the local Hippodrome. But they couldn’t wait to leave school and get working.
A few doors from the Faircloughs in Mawdsley Street lived Martha Longhurst. She lives there still, but in those days she had a railwayman husband and a daughter, Lily. The happiest day in Martha’s life was the day Lily got married. This was partly because they didn’t get on very well — Martha had never been one to suffer fools gladly — and partly because she’d made up her mind that Lily would get married the day her son-in-law-to-be put his feet under the front room table.
Martha’s husband didn’t long survive the wedding. But as Martha never tired of pointing out, he lived to see his life’s mission completed.
A friend of Martha’s, already a widow for some years, was Minnie Caldwell. She kept house for her mother in Jubilee Terrace. Because she had never had any children she took to loving cats — black cats, grey cats, smooth cats, in fact any cats in the neighbourhood that drifted her way.
Minnie might have married again, despite her mother (and the cats) but by the time her friends had convinced her of the reason for her Mr. Williams’ regular visits, he had long departed from the world.
Minnie’s great friend in 1936, and at indeterminate intervals ever since, was a rather fearsome woman by the name of Ena Sharpies.
“Whatever do them two see in each other?” people used to ask. They said exactly the same thing about Ena and her husband, Alfred, a frail man employed as timekeeper at a tailoring factory.
Alfred Sharpies died in 1937, and some said it was a merciful release. At the funeral Ena’s face was rigid as the stones which surrounded her, and remained so thereafter — at least in public.
A fortnight after his funeral she went to the Glad Tidings Mission for the first time. Two days later she moved in as caretaker.
If you ask people in Coronation Street which is the most important sound in their lives, some will say the distant hooters of the ships on the canal, others the church bells on Rosamund Street on a Sunday.
But in fact it is the bell on the door of the corner shop, which has jangled there so long and so often that everyone forgets it now. In 1936 a girl named Florrie who was staying with an aunt nearby called in the shop — she didn’t particularly notice it either.
The years went by and the faces in the street changed.
Some were born, and some died, and some just went away. Albert Tatlock will remember most of them and all their comings and goings. The arrival of Florrie and Concepta, Jed Stone and Jean, Doreen and Sheila. The departures of Billy Walker, Nancy Leathers, David Barlow … and his mother.
“Aye well,” says Tatlock, “that’s life…”
‣ The 25-year-old photographs appearing in on this page are from the albums of Violet Carson (Ena), Lynne Carol (Martha), Margot Bryant (Minnie), Ivan Beavis (Harry), Peter Adamson (Len), Pat Phoenix (Elsie), Doris Speed (Annie), Arthur Leslie (Jock), Daphne Oxenford (Esther), Jack Howarth (Albert).
NEVER before photographed – Coronation Street as it is on a typical Saturday morning. Everyone is here. Well, almost everyone. Kenneth Barlow shows his dad, Frank, a letter he’s just received from brother David. Len Fairclough, riding to work, stops outside the Hewitts’ to say hullo to Concepta and sympathise with Harry on his weekly window cleaning chore. Jack and Annie Walker are on their way back to the Rover’s Return after their early morning stroll while Elsie Tanner, collecting the milk, has a few choice words to say to Dennis on the perils of oversleeping. Christine Hardman, who is another late starter most Saturdays, gets a polite greeting from Leonard Swindley and his ever-faithful Miss Nugent. Florrie Lindley rests from brushing the pavement outside her shop to pass the time of day with Esther Hayes and Albert Tatlock, and on the corner Minnie Caldwell and Martha Longhurst are gossiping as usual. No prizes for guessing the missing face. Our photographer was told that Ena Sharples was away on a day trip, making one of her rare visits to her daughter and grandson.
Flashback
‣ Continuing a month-by-month review of some of the dramatic highlights in the lives of the people you meet in television’s most famous street. The pictures reproduced here show scenes as viewers saw them at the time.
JUNE
A happy event is awaited by Linda Cheveski and her Polish husband Ivan, who are now happily settled in No. 9. Before the month is out the street is celebrating the arrival of baby Paul — and Elsie Tanner, enjoying the idea of being a grandmother is seen in a novel light — as an expert on baby care.
JULY
Dennis Tanner, Elsie’s layabout son, is hypnotised by the overnight successes of young men with the same haircut as himself and decides it’s time he earned a living. Fixing his sights on fame among the bright lights he buys a guitar and keeps the street awake at night as he gets to grips with the mysteries of the pulsating rhythm of rock ’n’ roll.
AUGUST
After a quarter of a century in Coronation Street, Annie and Jack Walker are asked to leave to take over a new hotel. But they turn it down when they find plush furnishings and taped music a poor substitute for the beer-stained tables and homely gossip they are so used to in the Rover’s Return.
SEPTEMBER
The world of post-office sorter Frank Barlow and his university-educated son Kenneth is shattered when news is broken that well-loved Ida Barlow has been killed in a bus accident, and Frank’s sorrow is further deepened by the non-appearance at the funeral of his other son, David. The whole street goes into mourning.
OCTOBER
Smiles again at the wedding of widower Harry Hewitt and the perky Irish barmaid from the Rover, Concepta Riley. Harry’s 11-year-old daughter, Lucille, is bridesmaid and his dart-playing pal Len Fairclough acts as best man. For the honeymoon they fly off to spend a fortnight in the Isle of Man.
NOVEMBER
Tempers rise in a kerbside brawl and Ena Sharpies goes on the offensive after Elsie Tanner publicly accuses her of being the writer of a poison pen letter she has received. Doors and windows fly open and the whole street comes out to watch as the long expected battle finally gets going.
See what their lucky stars foretell
‣ Ever since Ena Sharples had her hand read at Blackpool during the summer, fortune-telling has been the top talking-point among the women of Coronation Street. To find out what the stars have in store for them in 1962, TV Times has called in JOHN NAYLOR the world famous astrologer. Here are his predictions starting with Ena herself
ENA SHARPLES
Birthday: Nov 14. Number: nine. Stone: bloodstone. Colour: violet.
The Spring of 962 brings benefits which result from changes made around your 1961 birthday. Do-it-yourself talents are put to good use and lead to the development of a new hobby or interest because others admire your work.
MARTHA LONGHURST
Birthday: Sept. 2. Number: two and five. Stone: topaz. Colour: grey.
Sudden and unexpected events next March affect future prospects. Despite a stroke of luck in July a discontent prevails which stems from two causes, lack of ready cash and envy of successes others achieve! Late 1962 early 1963 brings an increase in income however.
MINNIE CALDWELL
Birthday: Sept. 30. Number: six. Stone: sapphire. Colour: rose.
Usually gentle and long-suffering, you’ll become impatient with two people, both much loved, whose demands and quarrels make life a burden. Health may give trouble during May. A delightful spending spree becomes possible late in 1962 — due to an unexpected windfall.
ESTHER HAYES
Birthday: May 10. Number: six. Stone: turquoise. Colour: light-blue.
A long-held business ambition will be achieved April-June. This helps you push recent emotional up-sets into the background. April brings a chance to undertake a trip with someone you get on well with; late in 1962 you spend heavily on your home.
ANNIE WALKER
Birthday: Aug. 11. Number: one. Stone: diamond. Colour: gold.
A critical year; a hard-working year. Psychologically, you experience a feeling of loneliness, are easily depressed. Early 1962 brings business problems, much responsibility, troublesome holdups. Prospects brighten mid-1962. A new relationship transforms your life late in the summer months.
ELSIE TANNER
Birthday: March 5. Number: seven. Stone: amethyst. Colour: green.
Everything goes with a swing! More money, better prospects, a relationship now growing in important to you is put on a lasting basis next spring. A fortunate meeting with someone important brings benefits because they take to you.
CONCEPTA RILEY
Birthday: Jan. 15. Number: eight. Stone: garnet. Colour: chocolate brown.
An enjoyable success to start the year off and it stems from something you have done in the past! The achievements of a loved one give much pleasure in the summer. July-September sees much coming and going involving a relative.
FLORRIE LINDLEY
Birthday: June 12. Number: five. Stone: Topaz. Colour: primrose-yellow.
More prosperous conditions, a favourable decision, quickly disperse late 1961 anxieties. The autumn finds you deeply involved in a relationship which starts in May. In November an ambitious venture is started which necessitates a heavy outlay but offers glittering prospects.