Yoyo, a Ted is/was short for a Teddy Boy. It was a fashion among usually tough, working class/blue-collar young men from the early '50's onwards.
Based very loosely on Edwardian dress, with a long jacket, 'drainpipe trousers', fancy waistcoats and a boot-lace tie. They also wore thick crepe-soled shoes. Their hair was coated in Brylcreem with a large quiff at the front.
I was a girl at the time these young men were about and they always went about in gangs, were rumoured to be violent and to carry flick knives. Their girl-friends went in for 'big' hair and can-can petticoats. All were to be avoided by nicely brought up children. ;-)
Some of them have never changed . . .except the hair has got thinner and their waists have got fatter.

Here is a link that might be useful: Teddy Boys

Thanks Veer...

Similar to what we called Greasers, with the slicked back creamed hair do usually with a duck tail (DA) in the back.
Usually bad boys, with teeshirts having the sleeve hem rolled up and a pack of Lucky Strikes stuck in there.
They were also a "no no" for any nice kids....the greasers were generally on the outer edges and teetering on trouble.
I'm not sure we'd called their groups gangs, but they certainly ran in packs !!

Vee-I enjoyed that bit of nostalgia-thanks-I remember it well!!

Pat

yoyo, your 'greasers' always seemed to have the edge on Teddy Boys as they appeared physically big (thinking of the young Marlon Brando) and the Teds were rather small and puny. Probably why they wore the ridiculous outfits and carried knives to try and exaggerate their menace. By the '60's they were replaced by Mods and Rockers who happily spent Public Holidays beating the **** out of each other at various sea-side venues.

The book I am reading also presages the advent of Elvis Presley who would take the place of all the idols before him.

I recall when Elvis first appeared on the Ed Sullivan show my father was incensed !! ( and he was no prude !)
All the parents thought Elvis was obscene with his gyrations and blatant sexuality. He was called Elvis The Pelvis !
And the oddest thing was that all this steaming sex was completely lost on most kids my age.
We knew we liked him because his music was so exciting and new and he was "the rage".
I don't recall any of the kids saying that they loved his sexuality !!
Teens in the 50's and 60's were mostly so naive.
*sigh*
Ah, for the good old days :0)

In February, I'm going with a couple of "older lady" friends to see the upcoming Million Dollar Quartet, a play about a day when Elvis, Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis, and Carl Perkins, all just beginning their careers, happened to be in the same recording studio and did an impromptu session together. Maybe we will scream and act like teenagers again.

yoyo, did you know that the author of The Lost Art of Keeping Secrets Eva Rice, is the daughter of 'lyricist' Sir Tim Rice; collaborator in many musicals with Andrew Lloyd Webber and lots of others?
Coincidently I have just read an article about her in yesterday's Telegraph . . . I'm usually a day behind. ;-)

Here is a link that might be useful: Eva Rice

Carolyn - I hope you all wear purple and scream and act like teenagers again. Please don't throw bras or panties however. At our age, they would look like kites. ;)

Well, there goes all the fun.

This is slightly OT but I cannot log in for some reason....
it is, however, the same book with which I began this thread so perhaps it's not so OT !

PEEVE:

It is annoying to me when, while enjoying a good book, I find errors in the historical accuracy .

These are usually minor points, but I wonder why an author wouldn't take the time to make sure that all the minutiae of their story is accurate.

For instance, in THE LOST OF ART OF KEEPING SECRETS which takes place in 1955, the author refers to a character eating
After Eight mints. That seemed odd to me and after a very quick search I found that they were first made in 1965.
She should have just said mints and I wouldn't have been the wiser !!

In another passage she refers to the deliciousness of a dish as something "to die for".
I know for CERTAIN that this expression was never used in 1955 !

Sloppy writing or sloppy editing?
If their editors are not " of a certain age" they would probably not notice these mistakes.

Where do we draw the line in terms of accuracy...or is that just a sign of an inexperienced writer?

Or.......and I'm just putting this out there :0)......am I being picky.

I do honestly believe I was born with the "editor's gene".

What do you say?

For whatever its worth, I don't think you are being too picky. I also get irritated by any inappropriate usages when reading. And often, I catch glaring errors in spelling and grammar. Where have all the proof-readers gone???

Interesting that you guys are mentioning this topic. The last five books I have read have all contained careless grammar errors and/or typos and/or format errors that someone earlier in the editorial pipeline should have caught.

One title that I have just finished was so bad that I had to drop a line to the publisher group to let them know. I would have been mortified if my work had gone out with all those mistakes and my name was on it.

With all the technical tools that are available nowadays (such as spell check etc.), it is unbelievable to me that such careless mistakes happen. I suppose these tools only work if you turn them on. :-)

I have definitely become more picky as I age, so perhaps things have always been this sloppy but I didn't notice.

(And -- this post is, of course, not subject to the same standards... :-) )

yoyo, I think After Eights came onto the market in 1962 . . . but certainly long after 1955. If only the heroine had dipped into a box of Black Magic (1933) a selection of chocs much loved by my US relatives and since Rowntree's of York's take-over by Nestle not nearly so enjoyable, having become far too sickly.
I too often ruin books for myself, by noticing inaccuracies, and wanted to get in touch with an author who wrote that Queen Mary (Bloody Mary) got her name because she had hundreds of Protestants burnt at the stake and that her sister Queen Elizabeth was just as bad as she also burnt her enemies. Not true! I wanted to yell; Eliz. didn't burn anyone.

Vee, another OT, but has Cadbury candy changed for the worse since its purchase? Cadbury is made by Hershey's here, and it is not nearly as good as the English variety. My daughter, who loves the Fruit & Nut bars as I do, brought me one from Aruba that said it was made in Birmingham, but it didn't seem as creamy as formerly to me.

Carolyn, I don't eat milk choc (Do I hear a gasp of disbelief ?) so cannot comment on Cadbury's taste. My DH claims not to have eaten a bar for years and says you seldom see it for sale now.
Looking through the internet I have come across the article below. It does seem the choc is now made in Poland. There was much bad feeling in the UK at the hostile take over by Kraft, who we see as plastic cheese makers.

Here is a link that might be useful: Yukky choc?

Still OT, I enjoyed Belgian Chocolate when I came over to the UK and was pleased to get it here in Australia although it is mostly sold cheaply in the larger Supermarkets at Xmas and on other special occasions.

Here is a site that will definitely be of interest, OT -wise !

Unfortunately I have never seen any of these chocolates in the US....or did I miss them?

Here is a link that might be useful: Chocolate Bars You Should Be Eating Now

I recall walking around London in the 1960's eating bar after bar of Cadbury's. I think the best chocolate in the world is Belgian. I have quite a weakness for Chocolate Truffles. (no, it's not the mushroom).

Ah, chocolate, a topic dear to my heart. It is the only candy I actually like. If chocolate had not been discovered, I would have left candy behind me with the rest of childhood pleasures.

I have memories of eating Cadbury Dairy Milk bars in New Zealand. I thought it was the best grocery store chocolate I had ever tasted. On behalf of America, I apologize to all of you for Kraft. Many of us were dismayed as well.

I am firmly in the milk chocolate camp. I don't like dark chocolate at all, though it seems that dark chocolate is the darling of food fashion these days. Now I like very good milk chocolate, not Nestle's or Hershey's. My favorite is made by a west coast artisan chocolatier called Scharffen Berger. Their milk chocolate is rich, chocolatey, creamy, and sweet enough without being too sweet. Scharffen Berger was bought out by Hershey's a few years ago, but Hershey's seems to have had the good sense not to mess with the formula.

I read the article Yoyobon posted with interest. I think I've seen one or two of the chocolates listed in the article in Whole Foods or in local gourmet grocery stores. I haven't bought them. But what really threw me was the author's statement was that such-and-such a chocolate was so satisfying that eating one square was sufficient. What planet is she from? If something tastes really, really good, I want more of it, not less! What do you suppose goes through that author's mind? "Wow, that was fabulous. Should I eat more, or should I go have some brussels sprouts? Oh, definitely the sprouts. I've had enough pleasure." It is for exactly this reason that I try to buy small chocolate bars, or buy them when I have someone to share them with. If it is really good chocolate, I. Will. Eat. The. Whole. Bar. No. Matter. How. Big. It. Is.

Unless of course it is dark chocolate, where I may take a bite to be polite, then throw the rest of it away.

Rosefolly

Interestingly....it is the first bite or taste of anything delicious that floods our senses with full appreciation and enjoyment of the food.

The rest is.....well, it's the rest.

So by that way of thinking, one bite is all we need to enjoy it fully.
However, it's not all we WANT !!!

Interesting article, but I am also not familiar with the brands mentioned. However, I am not a foodie in any sense of the word so perhaps that's it?

I am waiting (impatiently) for Creme Eggs to re-emerge (should be soon), and in the meantime, our local groc store has a small corner which has lots of UK-made Cadbury chocolate so I'm set for now. (DH loves it as well, but seems to have more control than I.)

When I first moved to the US, I was *soooooo* excited about eating my first Hershey chocolate bar. Bleugh. To me, it tasted like cooking chocolate (not sweet at all). However, I have managed to develop a taste for it, and now it's rare for me to turn a chocolate down.

Chocolate is one of my main food groups at times. :-)

Rosefolly, if you weren't such a good seamstress, you would be my identical twin. I can't stop eating choc either if it is in the house, and that dark stuff is for someone else. My go-to California chocs are See's. We only have it here at a kiosk in the mall at Christmastime. (Blushing with shame--I even like Hershey Kisses.)

Carolyn, I like See's too. Very popular in this part of the world.

We have a local chocolatier called Purdy's who insist on high quality and a low shelf life for their chocolates. I too am a milk chocolate lover. My fav is buying their block milk chocolate, melting it in the microwave and then dipping fresh strawberries in them to cool on a tray. Delicious!! I made a tray of them for my book club when I was hosting and they were a huge hit. You dont feel as guilty when the chocolate is coating something healthy.

This really has nothing to do with Britishms but a highjacked thread that deals with chocolate is totally acceptable in my book. ;)

Okay, I need help with this one:

I watched Brief Encounter last night. This short exchange has me wondering -

Customer: I want some chocolate please.

Clerk: Milk or plain?

Now, I know what milk chocolate is. What is plain? This film is from 1945.

Sweet dark chocolate.

That is so odd to me, to me the milk chocolate is plain.

Siobhan, Cadbury's does a choc bar known as 'Bournville' (named after the suburb in Birmingham in which their factory is situated) which was 'plain' dark chocolate. The better quality dark stuff is/was known as 'bitter'. Terry's used to do such a bar also boxes of chocs know as 'Gold'.
We usually have a couple of bars of good quality 'bitter' choc (at least 75% choc solids) in the fridge and treat ourselves to a square each day mid-afternoon. No will-power involved for me, any more and I would feel ill. ;-)
I really think Americans have a 'sweeter tooth/teeth' than we do over here.

Isn't Brief Encounter a wonderful understated English film . . . all those stiff upper lips trying not to quiver when the lovers part. And you don't here diction like that any more.

Here is a link that might be useful: Bournville Chocolate

Well, the dark chocolate is plain before they add milk to make milk chocolate.

SEE'S Chocolates.......ah, yes.

Growing up in the northeast I'd never heard of them until my son married a California girl.
Her family always sends her boxes of a variety of SEE'S Chocolates and they are good !

One of the treats I would enjoy also was when my son would give me a treasured small box of Vosages chocolates.
They were so delicious and special I would cut them in half to make them last longer !!

Funny sidebar....When he was first dating her we loved to shock her by diving into some horrid huge box of chocolates that clients would nicely leave for my son. Our family "tradition" for these less than wonderful chocolates was to take any and all we wanted and nip them, then put them back in the box. It was a riot of tasting and horrific behavior.
I don't think she knew what to make of it then but NOW she understands and joins right in the craziness.

( okay, it's weird...but normal is just a setting on the washer !)

Ah chocolate! One of our favorite topics. I know I am showing my cultural roots. The only chocolate I knew of growing up was milk chocolate, and the choices were plain or with nuts. Obviously 'plain' has very different connotations. Also, I didn't like it as a child. Not until I tasted the better quality dark chocolates did I appreciate this complex bean.

Yes, the diction and indeed the accents in Brief Encounter are fascinating and probably long-vanished. The film is so beautiful it is almost painful to watch.

Here in Maine (and I'm sure wherever you are) high-quality small batch chocolates are very popular and are astoundingly good. They are never cheap and are a special treat. I bought a small box at Christmas time, intending to eat one a day for eight days - I lasted for four days, and then devoured them all.

I had a chocoholic friend whose doctor told her he could cure her. He said to buy a two-pound box of cheap chocs at a drugstore, eat half of it at one sitting, and then as soon as possible eat the other half. He promised her she wouldn't want chocolate again. She said, "But, doctor, I don't want to be cured!"

Yoyobon, I once (and I mean once) dated a boy who bit into a piece of chocolate and put it back in the box. Not a good first impression.

Carolyn,
Yeah, that wouldn't be a good way to insure a second date !

I assure you our family fun was just for us to laugh about.
I don't want to give the impression that I'd do that at someone's home !
Unless ....if it was coconut I MIGHT be tempted :0)
*not really*

There must be an ODE TO CHOCOLATE that we can create.

Who wants to start it?

Where are you , oh little sweet
when my mood's down by my feet
and a frown is how I greet
my hubby?

I need one little creamy square
so I stand to comb my hair
as at my mirror I just stare
so darkly.

If I could have just one taste
then I wouldn't mind my waist
and all my troubles could be faced
with you.

oops

sloppy editing......

"so I can stand to comb my hair"

Loved it!