MY BEAUTIFUL BACKYARD
Brian and two of his sons
Newquay’s very own Tarzan, Brian King, is literally, king of Cornwall’s smallest jungle. Measuring 20ft x 23ft, the sub-tropical paradise is the 82-year-old’s first garden project.
He emails, “I never used to have the time for much gardening as I was always working. But when I moved into my bungalow in Newquay 12 years ago, the garden was just a concrete path with railings and a lawn.
“I’ve since transformed it into a tropical oasis, complete with towering ferns, gunneras, banana plants, some of which have even fruited. I have grape vines, various grasses, bamboos, algarves, cannas and many more.
“My garden has attracted lots of wildlife – it’s full of bees and butterflies. I enjoy feeding the birds and I have a pond filled with beautiful fish. I also like to build my own garden furniture and houses for the birds.
“This is me with two of my boys. My family call me the king of the jungle – I have three sons, grandchildren and great grandchildren, and they all enjoy my garden. It’s like walking out of the back door and straight into a mini jungle.”
■ Please keep your backyard photos and stories coming – send plenty of details about your special outside spaces and a snap of yourself to siobhan. mcnally@mirror.co.uk.
PARADISE Brian’s garden
The everlasting Callard & Bowsers toffees disappeared in 2001, probably because they didn’t have an inbuilt obsolescence as Carole McCulloch, Carlisle, Cumbria discovered.
“In 1952, my grandad used to take me to the theatre in Carlisle. We used to call into a local sweet shop on the way where he would buy me a bar of Callard & Bowsers toffee. In the interval when I asked him if I could have an ice cream, he replied, ‘When you’ve finished your toffee’. But as a four-year-old with baby teeth, that toffee lasted me a week!
“A couple of years later my other nana came to live with us, and she’d give us a Horlick’s tablet before we went to bed – delicious!”
Having been fortifying the nation since 1906, the malted milk powder is still used to make a soothing bedtime drink in the UK, while in India it’s considered a breakfast drink for children. Either way, as a kid I never liked
This is like one of those optical illusions and either Mr P Kitchen of Oakenshaw in Bradford has very hairy ankles or, more likely, his cute doggy Freddie has huge bat ears and can hear the merest crinkle of a crisp packet within a hundred-mile radius. the thick, slimy skin which forms on top of hot milky drinks. It was my worst nightmare, well that and my granny’s gravy which you could slice with a knife.
Instead, in the 1970s we used to drink Nesquik powder milkshakes. They came in strawberry, chocolate and banana flavours, which the maker proudly announced on the label, were completely “artificial”. E-numbers never tasted so good.
■ What are your favourite blasts from the past going back to any era? Email me at siobhan.mcnally@mirror.co.uk