The Elsie Tanner Guide To Coronation Street English

When an American friend of mine visited England in 2010, he was bemused at the variety of accents and variations of the spoken language he encountered. He took in Newcastle, the Lake District, Manchester, Leeds, Liverpool, Birmingham, the Cotswolds, Cambridge, Dorset and Norfolk and was well fuddled by the end of it. "There are so many variations of spoken English in England!" he finally told me. "For a tiny country like yours, it's amazing! And I've never known why your toffs and royalty insert inappropriate r's into words. 'Orff'. That's stupid"

Speaking as somebody without any inappropriate r's whatsoever, but a man who calls a pudding a "pudden" and, furthermore, a man well acquainted with "Dickie's medder", I couldn't help him.

When Coronation Street was launched in 1960, it must have been puzzling for people in other parts of the country to hear that wonderful Northern version of the language which I personally hold very dear (my dad hailed from "up North"). So, in 1961, the TV Times appointed Mrs Elsie Tanner of No 11 Coronation Street (who, as a native, spoke the lingo fluently) to enlighten the rest of us poor saps. Here's what she had to say, with specially posed photographs of Pat Phoenix as Elsie and, in one of them, Philip Lowrie, her unfortunate son Dennis....

Been feeling a bit mithered meself lately...

So there are you are. Cheers, Elsie! And if anybody can fill us in on the origins of 'flamin' Nora' and 'flamin' Emma', our cup of happiness would runneth over...

Coronation Street - A Typical Saturday In 1961...

From the TV Times, 1961, part of the series of articles published in that magazine to celebrate The Street's first year on air. This is a typical Saturday on the Street way back then - with Ken showing Frank Barlow a letter from David, Harry Hewitt cleaning the windows at No 7 and chatting with Concepta and Len Fairclough, Jack and Annie Walker out for a morning stroll, Elsie Tanner giving son Dennis a right lambasting for being a layabed, Christine Hardman being greeted by Mr Swindley and Miss Nugent, corner shop owner Florrie Lindley taking a break from sweeping the flagstones to chat with Esther Hayes and Albert Tatlock, and Minnie Caldwell and Martha Longhurst clocking everything on't corner. And where was Ena Sharples? you cry. Apparently off visiting her daughter and grandson. We hope it was a happy visit - but knowing Mrs Sharples in the early 1960s (fierce wasn't the word!) we wouldn't bet on it!

The Coronation Street District - Weatherfield, 1961

TV Times celebrated a year of Coronation Street in 1961, with a series of articles and illustrations. The above pic is an aerial view of the Coronation Street neighbourhood in 1961. Of course, it differs from what we might expect. Arkwright Street, family home of that upwardly mobile little madam Sally Seddon in the 1980s, hadn't been invented, there was a cinema just round the corner, and St Mary's Church was just opposite the corner of Coronation Street! Rather like St Clement's Church was opposite the corner of Archie Street, the street which provided inspiration for Corrie's architecture. A further attempt to depict the neighbourhood in a 1976 TV Times also had its problems as it moved Len Fairclough's yard out of Mawdsley Street! But then mistakes happen and in recent years soap history is often rewritten anyway.

I love the map above - take a stroll round Weatherfield as it was then envisaged - call in at Gamma Garments - where Miss Nugent is no doubt admiring Mr Swindley's antimacassars, note the posh bay window at the side of the Rovers Return (Annie Walker must have been chuffed to little mint balls!), and do a shift at Elliston's Raincoat Factory, having a Corner Shop barm cake for your dinner break. But be warned - I'd avoid the vestry at the Mission Of Glad Tidings if I were you!

Ena Sharples After A Few Milk Stouts Too Many?!

Titbits, June 1968. What a wonderful cover - Mrs Sharples looking super jolly with a thick coating of lippy! The article inside centres on the serious consequences of real-life gossip, but the cover is so flamin' funny we've filed it under "wot a laugh, lovey!"

Coronation Street Novels By HV Kershaw - Old Friends... New Faces - Mystery Solved

 Ena Sharples: " 'Old friends'? Well, I can't say any of us are old friends of YOURS - we knew your mother! And as for 'new faces'... We don't take very kindly to new faces round 'ere!"

Had a very nice e-mail from Joan, who has many kind things to say about Back On The Street, and posed a question:

I bought the three HV Kershaw novels based on the early years of Corrie in the mid-to-late '70s. I thought I had them all Early Days, Trouble At The Rovers, and Elsie Tanner Fights Back. Each one centred on a particular year,1961, 1962 and 1963, and they were very enjoyable as Mr Kershaw was heavily involved with Corrie since its pre-screen days. Recently, I came across an on-line reference to another HV Kershaw Corrie novel called Old Friends... New Faces. I've never heard of it before, and can't find a copy on eBay or anywhere. Have you got a copy?

Hello, Joan!

No, I'm sorry, I haven't, but as far as I'm aware, NOBODY has - because it was never published. And I got that information from Mr Kershaw himself back in the early 1980s. I had been to my local library and was looking at the massive volume called Books In Print - the "bible" of what was around in the books world in that day and age. No library computers then, of course. I checked HV Kershaw's listings, and came across Coronation Street: Old Friends... New Faces. I wrote to Mr Kershaw, who responded very promptly and pleasantly, stating that only three Coronation Street novels had been published, and that he couldn't explain the error in Books In Print, perhaps the library could? The library couldn't.

I can only assume that this publication was well and truly in the pipeline, but never arrived. 

I was disappointed because, like you, I had greatly enjoyed the first three volumes, and the title - Old Friends... New Faces - had whetted my appetite as it seemed likely to refer to the events of 1964, with the arrival of the Ogdens at No 13. I would have loved to have read Mr Kershaw's written version of the events of that year.

I've checked on-line, and I can only surmise that the Books In Print error has been carried forward into our on-line modern world.

But you can rest assured that no such title was ever published.

Say Happy Birthday With Annie Walker!

I was pleasantly surprised recently to find a whole range of Coronation Street greeting cards on sale on eBay and elsewhere on-line.

What a great idea. And to feature legendary Street characters of the early years is a stroke of genius. Characters like this may be long gone, but they live on in our affections.

My own personal favourite Street character EVER is the original Rovers landlady Annie Walker - played by the brilliant Doris Speed. Annie could infuriate me with her snobbish ways, make me laugh as grandiose scheme after grandiose scheme came unstuck, and move me to tears at times of unhappiness for the character.

Because of my love for Annie, I'll be sending Annie Walker "Happy Birthday Dear" cards next year.

So, if you're a friend of mine, you know what you're getting.

Dear.

Geoffrey Hughes

The other week I was feeling thoroughly cheesed off at work (one of THOSE days!) when my mind did what I call a "retro lurch" and I heard a cheery scouse voice inside my head saying: "It's a lovely day for the race! What race? The human race!" My mind often experiences these retro lurches - they throw up all sorts of things from the past when I least expect them - visions of old fashions and ancient family occasions, prehistoric snatches of music and TV dialogue - you name it! The older I get, the more it happens. In this case, the lurch made me smile. The cheery scouse voice was that of Geoffrey Hughes in his role of Eddie Yeats in Coronation Street. It brightened my day a lot.

I was very sorry to read of the death of Geoffrey Hughes. Eddie arrived in the Street in 1974, was elevated to permanent character status in 1976, became a binman and moved in with the Ogdens in 1980, and met his wife-to-be on CB radio in 1982. He bowed out in late 1983, and popped back briefly in 1987. Today, we remember him as one of the Street's legendary characters. I loved Geoffrey as Onslow in Keeping Up Appearances, too.

God bless, Geoff. Thanks for all the viewing pleasure. You made me laugh and I'll always love Eddie and Onslow. Read our 1980s newspaper interview with Geoffrey here.

Coronation Street 1989: "Mind Out, You're Treading On Mr Watts!"

This is cross-posted from '80s Actual, our sister blog, and inspired by a Back On The Street reader who absolutely LOVES the comic pairing of Kimberley Taylor and Mr Watts!

A classic Coronation Street comment from Bettabuy supermarket employee Kimberley Taylor, played by Suzanne Hall, forms the title of this post. She and poor old Curly (Kevin Kennedy) had walked straight into aggro in The Rovers Return in 1989 as building site workers picked a fight with Kevin Webster (Michael Le Vell). The workers were transforming the factory and community centre side of the street into a new development of houses, shops and industrial units, an enterprise of one Maurice Jones (Alan Moore). 

Wonderfully drippy Kimberley was one of several new characters introduced to the Street in 1989, including the McDonald family and Reg Holdsworth (Ken Morley). The Street went three episodes a week, and Alan Bradley (Mark Eden) met his death when he was hit by a Blackpool tram.

The original Bettabuy's scenario was a great favourite of mine and I adored Curly, Kimberley and Reg. Add Vera Duckworth (Liz Dawn) to the supermarket staff and you had a heavenly brew.  Fabulous Corrie days!

The Mystery Of Sam Littlewood And Rita's Amnesia...

Rita: "I don't know why it says '1989' on this photo, 'cos it's 1983 really. Well, at least I think so..."

 Sue writes: 

Why didn't Rita Fairclough expect to see her Uncle Sam in Blackpool when she had amnesia in 1989? After all, he lived there years earlier!

Eee, chuck! As we know, Rita's mind had retreated back to her marriage to Len. Alec Gilroy stated that Rita had blotted everything out since before Len died. We also know that Sam Littlewood (Harry Littlewood) was living in Blackpool in 1980, and that he'd retired there shortly after Len and Rita married. According to one on-line source the character died in September 1982, so it seems Rita's delusional state had taken her back to a time slightly after that.

In fact, it now seems we can confidently declare that Rita's 1989 amnesia time warp had taken her back to late 1982 or 1983.

We know she continued her singing engagements on an occasional basis under her maiden and stage name, Rita Littlewood, after her wedding to Len, and she was listed as Rita Fairclough on the hotel register (this is clearly seen when Alan Bradley arrives at the hotel searching for her), so it all fits!

She was in Blackpool, Len was at home, and Uncle Sam had died shortly before.

By gum, that was a difficult question to answer!

UPDATED 19/6/12

CHOP! CHOP! The Granada Plus Coronation Street Episodes...

Sid writes:  

I am very interested in your blog. I recently read a post of yours about the Street in 1989 and Jim and Liz McDonald discussing their new neighbours in the Rovers. I now have every episode from 1989 from Granada Plus's screenings and can find this scene nowhere! Was it an invention on your part? 

 No, Sid, it wasn't. I have a lot of full episodes of Coronation Street as originally broadcast in the 1980s and Granada Plus chopped out many scenes. Some were quite fun, the omission of a few even made some of the Plus screenings faintly puzzling as plot detail was chopped with them, but chop them they did. Also cut from the December 1989 episode you mention was a scene between Alf and Audrey Roberts, a scene between Audrey and Gail Tilsley, and a scene in which Bet Gilroy, Emily Bishop and Mavis Wilton discussed Rita Fairclough's return to the Kabin after Alan Bradley's death. 

The screen caps and dialogue of the missing 1989 Liz and Jim scene are below.

 

Newcomers Liz and Jim McDonald (Beverley Callard and Charles Lawson) popped into The Rovers Return to suss out their new neighbours in 1989...

Liz took a good, long squint at Mavis Wilton (Thelma Barlow) and Emily Bishop (Eileen Derbyshire):

Jim: "What are you looking at?"

Liz: "Those two plain Janes at the bar, quietly knocking it back."

Jim: "Free country, isn't it?"

Liz: "Yeah, I know, but I didn't think they were the type."

Jim: "You're enjoying yourself, aren't yer? Standing here putting labels on everybody."

Liz: "I love it!"

Liz on Ken Barlow (William Roache): "Now, here's a mystery man!"

Jim: "Why?"

Liz: "He's too smooth for round 'ere, a bit too 'shiny-shoed'. I bet even his wife don't see him in his vest and underpants."

Jim: "Eh, now listen, I quite fancy his wife."

Liz: "Well... she's not plain."

Jim: I know, I could... er... breathe on her glasses."

Of course, at that point in time, Deirdre (Anne Kirkbride) was unaware that Ken was indulging in a spot of heavy breathing with Wendy Crozier (Roberta Kerr).

And there was so much else going on.

Jim and Liz little realised just what a fascinating street they'd moved to...

Betty, The Rovers, Annie Walker's Will and The Barlow Twins...

  Annie, 1978: What she could have been saying...


"Of course, dear, the Barlow twins were born in April 1965, and next year they'll be turning fifteen. It really doesn't seem possible..."

Fiona has written:

I'm shocked that Coronation Street has tweaked the past with this terrible story about Annie leaving Betty the Rovers tenancy in her will. She left the pub and retired in 1983! This sort of tweaking would never have happened in the show's golden era - the 1970's.

Oh dear... I don't know how to tell you this, but this sort of tweaking first happened in the 1970s! The age of the Barlow twins was altered in 1978. Peter Barlow wanted to join the Navy and so his age was advanced by a year or two to make him almost old enough. Don't worry, the 1980s rectified the situation with Peter and Susan celebrating their joint twenty-first birthdays in 1986. The trend was picked up again in the 1990s when the age of Mike Baldwin's son was tweaked.

As for Annie and Bet, if Annie's will was an old one, written before she left the Rovers, I think she would have tried to pass the tenancy to her son, Billy. Also, if you watch the episodes concerned, you'll discover that Annie retired in 1984, not 1983.

Alf And Renee - Beware Of The Lorries!

Renee Roberts (Madge Hindle): Eeek - the lorries are coming!

Originally published at '80s Actual, thanks to Wendy for permission to re-publish her e-mail here.

A lovely e-mail from Wendy, who says:

I've been watching episodes of Coronation Street from 1980 and I've reached July, which contains the death of corner shop keeper Renee Bradshaw/Roberts. She's killed by a speeding lorry after stalling her husband's car in a country lane. It seems bizarre to me that Alf, her hubby, was almost killed by a lorry crashing into the Rovers Return pub the year before. It's almost like lorries were out to get Mr and Mrs Roberts!

Lol - I remember it all well, but can't say the strangeness of it registered until you mentioned it! It is most peculiar! Renee (Madge Hindle) had reigned at the Corner Shop for four years, marrying Alf (Bryan Mosley) halfway through. The production team decided that the marriage was boring and as producer Bill Podmore had always seen Alf as a Mr Green, the grocer, it meant Renee had to go. A great shame because I was very fond of the character (although I agree with the then production team that the marriage was monotonous!). The trouble was, Madge Hindle was (and I'm sure is) a brilliant character actress and she invested Renee, the astute businesswoman, with a likeable warmth and faint air of daffiness which made me miss her presence in the show a great deal.

Did you know that Madge's daughter, Charlotte Hindle, was a friend and companion to Gilbert the alien in children's series Get Fresh and Gilbert's Fridge?

Victor Pendlebury - A Romantic Soul

In 1983, when Mavis Riley (Thelma Barlow) and Victor Pendlebury (Christopher Coll) set out for the Lake District, everything seemed set fair, despite one or two misgivings from Mavis.

Upon return, their views of what had passed were so different. Victor, a true romantic, deemed it a great success; Mavis, a true romantic but only when surrounded by her creature comforts, deemed it a failure.

But what about the owl, THEIR owl, looking down on them one night, Victor asked. Hadn't Mavis felt that the owl wanted them to be together?

"It was raining!" was all Mavis could say.

Sad.


Christopher Coll played Victor Pendlebury, dubbed "The Saddleworth Sage" by Rita Fairclough, in the 1980s.

What If... Coronation Street had 21st Century Style Story-lines In The '60s, '70s and '80s?

"That new couple from Mawdsley Street seem nice. She works in't kitchens at Imperial Hotel. He's a dry cleaner by day, serial killer by night."

Imagine if 21st Century-style Corrie story-lines had run rampant in the show's early years, wreaking a trail of explosions, serial killers, dark secrets and ghostly visitations across the first three decades.

Would viewers have switched off in droves, or been desperate for more? Here's how a few TV listing magazine synopsis for our favourite soap may have looked in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s:


1960s:

Myra Booth's marriage is in trouble. She decides to murder Jerry - and the pot dog on the mantelpiece may be the perfect weapon.

Len murders Nellie and says she has run off with the insurance man.

Florrie Lindley has a nervous breakdown and blows up the Corner Shop.

Jack Walker continues to psychologically abuse Annie.

Stan suspects that Alan, Elsie's new boyfriend, is the serial killer.

Evil young builder Ray Langton meets a nasty end when Lucille Hewitt gets on his case.

The Vestry is devastated by a huge explosion. 



1970s:

Shock for Emily...

A power cut is the perfect time for a serial killer to strike...

Pulled from the flaming rubble of her maisonette, a dying Valerie Barlow confesses to Emily Bishop that Ernest is the father of the twins.

Renee Bradshaw admits that Suzie Birchall is her long-lost daughter.

Sick to the back teeth of men, Bet decides to kill Stan Ogden. She goes to prison, but is released quickly on a technicality, and returns to the Street to continue her reign of nastiness.

It's not snowing anywhere else in England, but the Street has a white Christmas.

Steve Fisher reveals his dark side (typical man!).

A flying duck ornament becomes a murder weapon.

Where was Ken when the murders took place?

Rita is taken hostage at the Kabin.


1980s:

Eeek - Mavis turns.

Deranged Fred Gee drives Annie Walker into the canal.

As the factory blows up, Mavis murders Derek and Victor, and decides to use the explosion to cover her actions.

Curly buys a gun.

The Claytons beat a hasty retreat before Connie's terrifying secrets can be revealed...

Nasty Alan Bradley comes unstuck when his business is blown up by a deranged ex-girlfriend.

Hilda is comforted by a visit from Stan's ghost.

As Percy tries to find out who sat on his Christmas pudding, he begins to suspect that it might have been a serial killer.

Driven mad by Corner Shop assistant Sally Webster's nasal twang and smug ways, Alf Roberts picks up a tin of pineapple chunks and...

The New Houses - Completed In 1989

In Coronation Street, it seemed that the building of the new side of the street began in September 1989 and most of the building work was completed before the end of the decade. We've been exploring that story-line recently, but Ian has recently studied all the relevant episodes and has written to tell us that, in reality, all the building work on that side of the street began and ended in 1989.

I now have all the episodes from August 1989 to January 1990 and have been able to study the building of the new houses, the story-line time frame and the real time frame, bearing in mind that the show was recorded at least three to four weeks in advance. I've read your stuff on here, and would like to add my findings - made whilst studying the episodes concerned this week.

It was a great story because here was the Street undergoing immense change. New Exec Producer David Liddiment had decided to update the show in the summer of 1989 and had travelled around real Coronation Street terrace disticts where he saw modern houses and industrial units springing up beside the old houses. This seemed perfect for Coronation Street, with the show about to go three times a week, allowing much more story-line potential. In the story, the factory and community centre frontages were demolished in September 1989 (in reality, August 1989). That side of the Street was then boarded off and the production team teased us with very occasional glimpses of the new side of the Street going up.

In an episode broadcast on 1 December 1989 (recorded November) we were treated to an aerial view of the site with work in progress. In an episode transmitted on 11 December 1989 (recorded November), we glimpsed the nearly completed salon. In an episode broadcast on 1 January 1990 (recorded November or December 1989) we saw Steve McDonald drive a JCB from what is now the yard in front of the factory unit and garage into the Corner Shop window - and glimpsed part of the frontage of what is now Gail's house. In an episode broadcast on 8 January 1990 (recorded December 1989), Ken Barlow drove up the Street to visit Deirdre and we glimpsed the completed Kabin, waiting to have its windows put in (I think one was already there).

The evidence points to the new side of the Street being built in reality from August to December 1989. In January 1990, teaser shots of the completed houses appeared in various magazines (in the story-line the finishing touches were being made) and in February 1990 Des and Steph Barnes moved in - the first new residents.

Thanks for that, Ian - I've received a few queries about the new houses and all now seems clear. It was a very ambitious project for the Street and I remember enjoying every moment as the girls struggled to get compensation for losing their jobs at the factory, the bulding site lads brawled in the Rovers, Alan Bradley used a job on the site to terrorise Rita and Tina Fowler became involved with labourer Eddie Ramsden. And I love the way we were "teased" with glimpses of what was being built.

A great era for the Street.