It was my Facebook chum Pawel Lech Michalczyk who suggested “It might be worth finding out how often the name Chorlton-cum-Hardy was heard in comedy shows - I can remember at least a few.
And it occasionally appeared in Hansard - not in relation to constituency business, but as a comic aside. Harold Wilson was quite fond of using it, I seem to recall”.
And that quest with its answer could have made it into the new book, The Quirks of Chorlton-cum-Hardy which as everyone now knows is about the quirky bits of where we live.
It didn’t, but it might make it into volume two, along with an extract from that wonderful song, Slow Train by Flanders and Swann, which poked fun at the Beeching cuts which savaged the branch lines of the railway network.
And there we are, recorded in the lines “No churns, no porter, no cat on a seat, At Chorlton-cum-Hardy or Chester-le-Street”.
That said our railway station survived a bit longer but eventually closed, only to live again as a metro route.
So as part of the celebrations for the launch of the new book we have set Chorlton the challenge of uncovering the many references to Chorlton-cum Hardy in song, comedy or political banter.
I can’t reveal the prize for the winning entry ....... but it will be big, ......
The Quirks of Chorlton-cum-Hardy, by Andrew Simpson and Peter Topping will be available November 17th.
It can be pre-ordered from http://www.pubbooks.co.uk/
Location; Chorlton-cum-Hardy
Picture; Chorlton Tram Stop Artwork © 2017 Peter Topping
And that quest with its answer could have made it into the new book, The Quirks of Chorlton-cum-Hardy which as everyone now knows is about the quirky bits of where we live.
It didn’t, but it might make it into volume two, along with an extract from that wonderful song, Slow Train by Flanders and Swann, which poked fun at the Beeching cuts which savaged the branch lines of the railway network.
That said our railway station survived a bit longer but eventually closed, only to live again as a metro route.
So as part of the celebrations for the launch of the new book we have set Chorlton the challenge of uncovering the many references to Chorlton-cum Hardy in song, comedy or political banter.
I can’t reveal the prize for the winning entry ....... but it will be big, ......
The Quirks of Chorlton-cum-Hardy, by Andrew Simpson and Peter Topping will be available November 17th.
It can be pre-ordered from http://www.pubbooks.co.uk/
Location; Chorlton-cum-Hardy
Picture; Chorlton Tram Stop Artwork © 2017 Peter Topping
Chorlton-cum-Hardy made it into a Blue Peter Christmas pantomime circa 1973. Although I can't remember the full dialogue (well it was about 44 years ago!) it centered around someone being told that they weren't where they were ... something like this ...
ReplyDelete"Are you in (I can't recall the place)?"
"No"
"Are you in Chorlton-cum-Hardy?"
"No"
"So if you're not in X and you're not in Chorlton-cum-Hardy you must be somewhere else?"
"Yes"
"And if you're somewhere else you can't be here ..."
Nothing earth shattering but there you go. It impressed me as a Chorlton dwelling youngster.
Love it Mark ... thank you
ReplyDelete