Autograph Books

Someone wrote in mine:-

"Two in a hammock attempted to kiss
When all of a sudden they landed like this"

[with "this" written upside down]

I have just found the autograph books which belonged to my mother and her mother (my Nana).
Nana's book dates from 1912 just after she was married. Most of the entries are about giving advice or rememberance ...........

Look always on the sunny side
'Twill make us happier far;
Why should we try to find the cloud
When brightly shines the star?
Some people only see the world
As through a smokey glass;
They go halfway to meet the woe
And let the sunshine pass.

The only entry which is a little bit risque is ..........

Good girls love their brothers
But I so good have grown
That I love others brothers
Far better than my own.

There are also lots of little drawings especially of flowers.

My mother's book was started when she was about 15 and continued while she did her nursing. There are similar ones giving advice but humour is creeping in .................

Moses was a very good man
Children he had seven
Thought he'd hire a donkey cart and
Take them all to heaven.
Strange to say he lost his way
Though he knew it well
Overturned the donkey cart and
Sent them all to H..........

They are something I must have brought when we cleared my mum's flat before she moved to the care home but had forgotten about. I am amazed that I recognise some names in both books.

On my last page after 'By hook or by crook', my mum wrote "Don't be too sure, there's room for one more!"

Every Sunday wet or fine
My Church I always visit
So that when at last I'm carried in
The Lord won't say "who is it?"

Maggie for now, Maggie for ever,
Young for now, but not for ever

featured a lot in my autograph book, because Young was my maiden name.

In mine, after By hook or by crook... Some has squeezed in,
"By pen or by quill, I'll be d******d if you will!"

Sparkygran, I knew I`d forgotten something!! That was in my book too, I just couldn`t remember how it went!

Numberplease squeezed along the bottom of my autograph book under "by hook or by crook" is written by eggs and by bacon I think you`re mistaken. I treasure mine all those school friends and a large collection of famous autographs eg Arthur Askey, Peter Brough and Archie Andrews to name but two.

I love you so much,
I love you so mighty,
I wish your pyjamas were next to my nightie,
Don't be mistaken, don't be misled,
I mean on the washing line, not on the bed!

My autograph book only had signatures from a few famous people, most notably The Shadows, whom my friend and I met at the stage door of the New Theatre in Oxford. They chatted and invited us to join them for an afternoon at the cinema, where we were joined by Frank Ifield. All perfectly innocent and thrilling for us!

My favourite rhyme was:
The thunder roared, the lightning flashed, and all the world was shaken.
The little pig curled up his tail and ran to save his bacon.

Oh, that's lovely, PRINTMISS! Yes, he always came across as a positive and friendly person. I was a keen Crackerjack fan at the time!

Valbeasixties We have a photograph of Leslie Crowther, with our son, such a lovely man and during his early years gave a great deal of time to opening Fetes and Fairs. Good to remember him in those ways.

Flower - I had the Beatles autographs too plus over 1000 pictures of them, concert ticket stubs, loads of copies of Beatles monthly, lots of Beatles memorabelia, programmes from their concerts, loads of stuff. I can remember at some point in my life thinking 'I'm a bit old for this now' and dumping the lot in the bin !!!!! Aaaargh . I wonder if anyone found them. I was so 'in love' with George, I couldn't eat my tea on the day he married.

There was a farm in Huddersfield
That had a cow that wouldn't yield
The reason why she wouldn't yield?
She didn't like her udders feeled.

I have just found mine and as well as an autograph from Jack Warner (Dixon of Dock Green) there are the usual poems.
For example ...........

They walked down the lane together
The night was filled with stars
He put his arms around her
For her he lifted the bars
She neither smiled nor thanked him
Because she knew not how
For he was a simple farmers lad
And she was a Jersey cow

and..............

Mary had a little cow
She milked it with a spanner
Out came little tins of milk
And big ones for a tanner

and...................

Little birdie flying high
Dropped a message from the sky
Angry farmer wiped his eye
Thanking God that cows can't fly

Easy to tell we were country kids !

hmm.

My first entry is the autograph of Jimmy Saville
My parents took me and my sister to see him on one of those charity walks that he did.
He was fine to us. Patted us on the head [we were about 10]

Obviously, my autograph book is now tainted.
[dont have that many autographs in there]

I treasure my little battered autograph book which is full of so many memories.

My dad's drawing of him taking my dog, Pip, 'walkies'.

My mum's beautiful writing and Robert Louis Stephenson quotation.

I was incredibly proud to have Leslie's Crowther's autograph - he opened a local fete - but horrified when I discovered that he had left his thumb print on another page by accident.

My friend Lynsey wrote: 'If all the boys lived over the sea, what a good swimmer Valerie would be,' which I was thought was very risque and very exciting!

Love that

KatyK

Another popular one for a girl about to get married was:

Take this advice from one who knows
And tie your nightie to your toes.....

My grandmother (nan) wrote in my autograph book 'don't marry for love/don't marry for riches/but marry a man/who can mend his own britches'.

I have my nan's autograph book with entries going from about 1915 when she would have been 20.

I like

'Forget me not
But if it proves a task forget me'

When I was getting married (I was 19, 1969) for some reason I took an autograph book into the office where I worked and people wrote messages in it, most of which were regarding marriage. The only one I can remember is

It starts when you sink in his arms
And ends with your arms in the sink.

How true

I had an autograph book, and remember two entries very clearly, one my our Girl Guide leader - "Do the job that's nearest, though it's dull at whiles, helping when you see them, lame dogs over stiles" The other written by my dad, who very much lived by this "Don't look for the faults as you go through life, and even if you find them, it's wise and kind to be sometimes blind, and look for the virtues behind them". Funny how some things stick in the mind.

Numberplease, yes, that was standard wasn't it!

It's the little poems that intrigue me. Here's another:

Be good, sweet maid, and let who will, be naughty.
And if day by day, you better grow,
How good you'll be at forty.

This one written by my friend, aged eleven. How times change!

My autograph book, and all of my friends` as well, had the last page taken by someone who wrote,

By hook or by crook,
I`ll be last in this book.

It seemed to be a standard thing to pick out the last page and write this little rhyme.

I had the Beatles autographs on a set of four photos which I sent to them to be signed when they were first famous. They disappeared when my ex and I divorced. Never saw them again. I (generously) allowed my best friend to have the 'tail' of George Harrison's signature.