Odd - weird and wonderful - almost unbelievable - or is it just me?
Good Morning Saturday 1st August 2026
Evolution - BBC2, Chris Packham
DH and I were discussing the weird and wonderful treatments we were given as children. We remember cod liver oil (foul even when mixed with orange juice), Linctus, Beecham's Powders, my grandma gave me a drag of her cigarette if I had a cough to 'clear my chest', bicarbonate of soda, kaolin and morphine, warm lemonade when we'd vomited, and tar in a jar.
We've wracked our brains as to what tar in a jar really was. It was foul tasting and was, maybe, some type of tonic. We think it was some sort of malt mixture but aren't sure.
Does anyone remember it and/or know what it was?
twiglet77
GoldenEye ointment is still available (chloramphenicol). I get it online but pharmacies probably stock it. I’ve used it on cats, chickens and rabbits, as well as children!
It’s like the Spanish Inquisition trying to get chloramphenicol from a pharmacist these days!
Supergranuation
Sparklefizz I found them! Just did a Google search and there they were! ☺️ They were iron tablets amongst other things, probably made me constipated so I was given something weird for that as well!! 😂
I learn something every day! Thanks Superganuation
I see the advert even claims they cure paralysis!!
GoldenEye ointment is still available (chloramphenicol). I get it online but pharmacies probably stock it. I’ve used it on cats, chickens and rabbits, as well as children!
Oh, Delrosa was a treat, and Parrish’s Food was bearable.
My mother made me have Minadex and a Haliborange tablet each morning, and a square of Ex-Lax every night.
I'd forgotten about the national orange juice. I was given it when my first DS was a baby and probably cod liver oil as well.
It was delicious, the orange with a taste all of its own.
I had a Wright's inhaler burner. Maybe I still have it somewhere. DD was blocked up for her first 3 months so it was either the burner or a steaming kettle to help her breathing.
Wright's coal tar soap too.
My Mum had a Wrights coal tar burner when I was young. I used used one for my children too. It seemed to help. I only disposed of it when I recently moved. It was a bit rusty. My MiL apparently used to take DH to the roadworks when he had a cold to breathe in the fumes from the burning tar!
. Parrish’s Food was mentioned. It was disgusting🤮. On the other hand thecontentrated orange juice was delish. It came in a small bottle with a turquoise cap. I wonder why I remember that so clearly
I was fed on Sister Laura's Infant Food.
Zinc and castor oil cream for nappy rash!
I was thinking of zinc and ichthimmol Riverwalk. I was advised by my local Doctor's wife, who herself had 7 children, to treat nappy rash with it. It stained the nappies but cured the rash.
Poppyred
It was called VIROL, loved it!
... me, too!
Supergranuation
I remember Dr Williams Pink Pills for Pale People!!! Was anyone else given those? I haven't got a clue what was in them but I think it may have been iron?
Wow! Never heard of those but love the name! 
I loved cod liver oil and also malt. My dear younger sister hated cod liver oil and when given it as a toddler, would roll it round her mouth and then blow it out as a spray. My mother perservered for a while, but soon reached the stage where all her clothes smelt of it. At which point I stepped in and offered to have my DS's cod liver oil as well as my own.
I also loved the orange extract that you got given in the baby clinic.
Apart from that I remember little, my mother, was not given to buying what we now call 'over the counter' medicaments in the chemist, although I do remember calamine lotion for soothing the skin if i had a rash and Milk of Magnesia.
I remember Dr Williams Pink Pills for Pale People!!! Was anyone else given those? I haven't got a clue what was in them but I think it may have been iron?
Fiery Jack for bad backs (watch where you put it!)
I remember the Wrights Coal Tar burner and my DM would often get the chemist to make up a bottle of tonic. No idea what was in it.
And the iodine violet stuff for cuts.
I was also given Liquafruita - I didn't object, but my poor Father found the smell absolutely nauseating, and even though I had cleaned my teeth he had difficulty kissing me goodnight as a child because the aroma was so repugnant to him.
Liquafruita - I think that’s the correct spelling! Having been brought up on solid British cuisine I did don’t realise that the disgusting taste appeared to rely on one ingredient. When I was a student in London and travelling on the tube, I was amazed that so many people seemed have coughs and be devotees of this medicine. What I could smell was garlic! Now I actually love garlic, but then it was a shock to my system.
As a nursery school child I remember sitting on small wooden chairs in a row holding a white mug of warm milk and not being able to drink it until the nursery nurse had come along giving each child a spoonful of cod liver oil🤢. I am sure she used the same spoon for each child too !
At home my mum used to give us Virol or haliboringe tablets and we used to help ourselves to an extra one from time to time. Mum also used to make rose hip syrup which contained an enormous amount of sugar. We had orange juice from the baby clinic too until that was withdrawn for containing too much sugar.
I remember Golden Eye ointment. The tube was tiny.
Also Lion ointment used for drawing out boils. It was thick yellow gunky stuff - the ointment I mean
You can still get gripe water in the supermarket.
What happened to Camay soap?
My mother used to send me down the street to the chemist with two empty brown glass bottles for 6d worth of Syrup of Figs and 6th worth of Hippo Wine & Squills.
I loved the taste of both so would drink about 1/4 of each bottle then fill them up with water. Don't think Mam ever noticed the difference.
When I had my first job at 15 I used to buy little glass tubes of aspirin with a cork stopper for 3d and eat them as sweets. I'd buy two or three every week.
It's a wonder I didn't kill myself!
I remember the pharmacist making up his own treatments in bottles and tiny cardboard pots - his nappy rash cream worked better than anything else on the market.
My lovely Mother in law recommended egg white for nappy rash and it worked a treat. Had to let it dry on baby's skin which didn't take long.
I can remember cod liver oil and malt. Our mother made my sis and I take a spoonful each day. I loved the taste but my sister hated it.
I used to get gruel as a child. I loved it, but now I can't remember how my mum made it
Any ideas?
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