Popular Nostalgia

Popular Nostalgia from the 1940s. Memories of events and items from popular culture recorded in words and pictures on the internet. Share, remember and get wonderfully sentimental…

Look at these old fashioned sweets online. Nipits were around after the war. Now their is an old classic. The choice of sweets is great and some great memories to be had. From kola cubes to buttered brazils.

This post was submitted by Glen Neilson.

Vaughn Wilton Monroe was born October 7, 1911 and showed an early talent for the trumpet. He wanted to be an opera singer, but the Depression made that ambition impractical. Instead, he sang with several bands, among them Austin Wylie (who later worked for Artie Shaw), Larry Funk (for which he made his recording debut), [...]

“Santa Claus is Coming to Town” was written and first performed in 1934. The original was more instrumental than vocal. There is a version by Bing Crosby and the Andrews Sisters, which was one of the first covers. The best part about this song is the latitude for jazz and big band antics, which is [...]

The story of Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer was written in 1939 by Robert L. May, a copywriter for the Chicago-based Montgomery Ward department stores, as a promotional gift for the store’s customers. May considered Rollo or Reginald before settling on Rudolph. Rudolph’s story was made into a song when May’s brother-in-law, songwriter Johnny Marks, developed [...]

“Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” was sung by Judy Garland in the 1944 MGM musical “Meet Me In St. Louis” – in which a family is distraught by the father’s plans to move to New York City for a job promotion, leaving behind their home in St. Louis, Missouri just before the long-anticipated Louisiana [...]

Nat King Cole recorded The Christmas Song for the first time in 1946 with his group The Nat King Cole Trio. The record company re-recorded it with a string section, and Cole recorded it again in 1953 with Nelson Riddle. Capitol Records released it in December of 1960. It stayed on the chart for a [...]

In the 1930’s, David Low drew Colonel Blimp cartoons for the Evening Standard. The Topical Budget, a weekly comic commentary ran for almost six years, from April 21st, 1934 to March 16th, 1940. One morning, Low read a Colonel’s letter to the newspapers, protesting the mechanisation of the cavalry and insisting they must wear spurs [...]

896 ATHENS, Greece
Dates: from 6 to 15 April 1896.
Participants: 14 National Olympic Committees (NOCs), 43 events, 241 athletes (men only).
Officially opened by: King George I.
The Games of the Olympiad in Athens were financed by a donation of approximately one million drachmas from a rich businessman, Georges Averof, and by the sale of souvenir stamps and [...]

Some people chew it, some people smoke it, but no-one seems to sniff tobacco anymore.
In our local pub (very oldy worldy CAMRA type), there’s a rack by the door filled with little metal pots. They have funny flavours written in old school lettering on the lids. This is snuff and you won’t find many pubs [...]

It was Queen Anne who first saw the potential for a racecourse at Ascot, which in those days was called East Cote. Whilst out riding in 1711, she came upon an area of open heath, not far from Windsor Castle, that looked an ideal place for “horses to gallop at full stretch.”
The first race meeting [...]

1780
Diomed, owned by Sir Charles Bunbury, wins the inaugural running of the Derby
on Thursday, May 4.
1784
The distance increases from a mile to a mile and a half which still prevails today,
though from 1991 the offi cial distance has been one mile, four furlongs and 10
yards.
1794 The smallest fi eld of four goes to post and [...]

The Derby has been run on the Downs near Epsom since 1780 and is named after Edward Smith Stanley, the 12th Earl of Derby. The original race was The Oaks, named after Derby’s estate, and was exclusively for three-year-old fillies. The race became so successful that The Derby was created to find the best colts [...]

George Formby was born George Hoy Booth on 26 May 1904 in Wigan, Lancashire. He started out as a professional jockey because his father didn’t want his son to follow him into showbusiness. Once his Father died, George went into stand-up. He bought a ukelele from an actor for £2.50 with a bet that he [...]

A comprehensive history of the Grand National from its official beginning in the 1800’s. From paintings to photo finishes and radio commentary to internet broadcasting.
1839
The Grand National was run at Aintree for the first time on Tuesday, February 26 and a horse named Lottery took the honours. Captain Martin Becher was unseated from his mount, [...]

My favourite song from the Andrews Sisters is probably “Hold Tight” but “Don’t Sit Under the Apple Tree” is much better known. The Andrews Sisters courted controversy with their release of “Rum and Coca-Cola” which referred to prostitution. The Andrews Sisters went on to feature in lots of films but are best remembered for their [...]