Toilets, Periwinkles and UFOs
by The Potteries in Staffordshire is best known for its pottery and porcelain. But there’s more, a lot more.
“They make bogs in Hanley,” states Albert Steptoe flatly. (Steptoe and Son)
“I’m going to serve tea to the vicar in my Royal Doulton with hand-painted periwinkles,” announces Hyacinth Bucket in her Sunday-best voice.(Keeping Up Appearances)
It is an interesting and little-known fact that every home in the UK has a small piece of Stoke-on-Trent inside it. Whether it’s a teapot or a toilet, the chances are it was manufactured in Stoke-on-Trent. It is also interesting to note that the area surrounding the city of Stoke is known as “The Potteries”, thus making it the only city in the UK to be known by its industry. Northampton isn’t known as “The Shoes” and Sheffield isn’t known as “The Knives”, although it very well could be.
The Potteries area in Stoke-On-Trent is best known for its manufacture of world-class pottery and porcelain. This fact has been referred to in other media apart from the two examples cited at the beginning of this article. Sadly, a good many pot banks ( local term for pottery factories) have been forced to close down in the face of competition from cheaper imported goods. If not shut down they have allowed themselves to be taken over by the omniscient Wedgwood Group. However, there’s a lot more to The Potteries than toilets and hand-painted periwinkles.
A bit of trivia for Coronation Street fans – George Formby’s first film “Boots! Boots!” (1934), premiered in Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent. Betty Turpin of Rover’s Return fame auditioned for and was given a part in the film. However, Formby’s wife, Beryl, stepped in and insisted Driver didn’t take part. The only female part in the film was played by Beryl Formby, but the film-makers forgot to remove Driver’s name from the film credits.
Football fans of more mature years will remember a save from a Pele header by Gordon Banks in England’s game against Brazil in the Mexico World Cup Finals of 1970. Banks’ career as a goalkeeper for Stoke City and England ended tragically when he lost the sight in one eye in a car crash in 1972. He did however, play for Fort Lauderdale Strikers from 1977-78. Stoke City was one of the founder clubs of the Football League along with eleven other clubs back in 1888, when the shorts were long and the pay was short. Stoke’s most remarkable player was Sir Stanley Matthews. He played his last professional game for Stoke at the age of fifty in 1965, he was knighted in the same year. In his thirty-three years long career, Matthews was never booked and is the first footballer to be knighted.
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