How I escaped Tees Street/Birkenhead : I got 7 CSE's from St Hugh's High School [Grades 2-5 = COMPLETELY USELESS] so I studied O'levels at Birkenhead Tech and scraped [5 C's] whilst living in abject poverty with Dad who was very angry & depressed and regularly told me I was the "thickest of the bunch" and "would amount to nothing" etc etc (I HAD TO ESCAPE OR DIE !!). I was taking no chances and applied to EVERY School of Nursing [except London] . The DOLE called me in to cut off my benefit but I showed them hundreds of Job Applications and by then I had 50 Interviews. They were impressed and gave me Travel Vouchers to attend the first 7, all seven offered me a place [Dad refused to speak to me because I was leaving]. I chose Redhill in Surrey, one of the most affluent parts of the country. I never saw the majority of my friends again, amazingly the Dole gave me a weekly grant to help me relocate for the first year. Of course I STUCK OUT LIKE A SORE THUMB, I had a chance and passed everything and became a Registered Nurse. I certainly proved I was not anencephalic but could never be like "the Lady with the Lamp". Peter Carey - Cert Couns, RGN, RMN, RNT, B Nurs [Hons], PGCE, Pg DIP, RN [ALWAYS PROUD TO BE NORTHERN SCUM].
Well done Peter. I lived in Wallasey but leaving school, there was nothing but schemes with nothing at the end. Eventually I joined the RAF and did well afterwards. But leaving school during those years was a depressing time. Being young, it didn't seem so bad as we still had optimism but if you were older with a family to provide for, it must have been horrendous.
You should be proud mate, I am still in the North End of Birkenhead and things have not changed that much around here, though I have a full time job as a Manager and not one of the unfortunate ones, but well done to you for striving so hard to achieve what you have.
peter carey Well done peter hope you’re proud of yourself mate sounds like you really worked to get where you are and to work as a nurse as well is commendable fair play to you
👍 well done! I was in apprentice training and there's still a lot of no hope and why bother attitude today. If you want it bad enough you'll get it but no one will knock on your door and offer it.
I somehow escaped such a street. It took a long time. But here I am , just turned 60, in Australia and doing far better than I would have if I had stayed home.
I also grew up in such circumstances as portrayed here. Thought about emigrating mid 20's. Didn't as despites it all I am a homebird and never regretted that decision and I have visited a fair few places including OZ. The UK has 3 advantages over most other place on the map. It's landscapes it's history and no1 it's people and yes I know it has sewer scum too
I am originally from Scotland I have been living in Birkenhead for the last 15 years and I can honestly say that Birkenhead people are some of the most hard working friendliest I have ever met in my life is life.
I'm from Scotland and have been living in birkenhead for the past 2 years now a days there just like everywhere else there's more work for people down here tho
Made in the days when programme makers had a certain amount of social conscience. Unlike today, where the occupants would be used, abused, blamed, scapegoated, then cast aside as empty shells, while the TV company responsible picks up the fat cheques and moves onto the next project.
This is because TV today is commercial rather than Independent. In those days, ITV had the monopoly on commercial TV and subject to public service broadcasting obligations. Today, they just chase advertisers who in turn now influence programming. Advertisers like the vilification of the marginalised and dole claimants. It's not an image they want to tie their product to. British TV programming has become superficial as a result. It used to have a plethora of working class hero characters in comparison to its American counterpart
The young lawyer featured here was an absolute star for doing what he did. I was brought up in Birkenhead - I sat my A levels at Borough Road Tech, while signing on, and I was expected to drop the course if a suitable job came up. Both mum and dad worked to support me and my younger siblings. I was also lucky that a full grant was available for university - I would not have been willing to accept the debt students have today. After paying tuition fees, my grant came to £2100 a year for food, books and rent (13 quid a week!) My Birkenhead friends were not all so lucky - several of them succumbing to the scag (which saturated the place from 84-87 ish) or doledrums. It’s sad to watch the disenfranchised young man playing darts who had given up trying to improve himself - I recognise the effects of schooling and surroundings in shattering dreams of success and breaking people’s spirit.
Giuseppe - Be kind to people. Mick has had a lot of things on his plate. He has 3 kids. He lost his wife. How would you feel after that? How would you feel if somebody made unpleasant comments to you after all the above? Think before you post, and show respect.
Got to love Danny who is blind What a man he is and may god bless him,, I’m still in shock at Danny working with no complaints from him,, He is just unbelievable man with bad eye sight he gets up early than go’s to work,, God bless ya Danny
THIS is why my family emigrated back in the early 80's. An era of pervasive hopelessness and diminished horizons. People finished school and signed on. Around us was an ocean of poverty and hardship, while the tv shows the affluence that apparently existed elsewhere that only served to reinforce the hopelessness of your circumstance. That was tough to square, but I was 8 years old at this time. I still am not sure how my family gathered the funds together to pay for all the costs involved in emigration, but we did, and our collective horizons and prospects emerged. Still dearly miss 'home', but my life took off elsewhere and so far I've never had a need that could not be met. 40 years and counting... Have mercy, the fellow in the suit that was 42 years old looks 66. Such I suspect was the hard scrabble of life, and hardships.
@@MrAlwaysBlue Business was already failing, grant would have paid for 3 months of service back when their was one provider that would have tied him into a minimum of 12 months service.
The ironic thing is the houses in this street actually look relatively nice. I've seen a lot of streets in quite prosperous areas which look a lot worse than this on the surface.
They knocked them down in the mid 80s and built some new ones, then knocked them down about 10 years ago because they were derelict. They've now built new ones again. These replaced the dock cottages that were there and knocked down in the 60s.
They don't even walk up the path for the bin, we have to put it on the kerbside for them, my neighbour is 91 and she is expected to drag a bin down her path for some young fellas to put it on a automated lift, madness.
I only ever went to Tees Street once in my life... in the early 90s to identify the burned out shell of my Vaxhaul Cavalier, that was nicked from my flat near Birkenhead Park. The fire was so hot, the number plate had melted and fallen off onto the road, so that's how I knew it was mine. Ah... memories.
Recent declassified documents have revielled that the Tory Government at the time, waged economic warefare on Liverpool, basically untying Liverpool and pushing it off to it's own catastrophic demise as is seen here during the mid 1980's. For a Government to do that to it's own People, to actively plan and prosecute such an act sends a cold shiver down the spine.
@@jillianhorsley5985 Thatcher had three "generals" who basically came up with a mind map of how to "curb" the Unions. But over the course of time, this became how can we completely destroy the Unions. Utter psychopaths.
I would encourage people to believe one can come back from even the worst circumstances. I was out of work, in near despair; but kept searching, even engaging hobbies and things got hugely better.
@@BintAlAbla1999 not that good .. most of them couldn’t afford cars! It’s okay we’ll get back to this with pcp contracts on electric cars and fuel at £2+ per litre
@@jaysmartin I,m into old Volvo's, my current car is 27yrs old ...and it will probably last me another 20 !...I would never buy an electric car !...ever !
My family lived on Tees Street [Catholics] , there WAS a way out. I am a Nurse, taught at several Universities and live in Adelaide, Australia, Dr Marg has a Doctorate Psychology and was a successful, Tax Lawyer [London], Owen University Lecturer [China/Cyprus], Kath Librarian [Wirral], Bob [Businessman], John Butcher + Law Graduate [Essex] and DrJoe DPhil [Oxford] MBA [Cambridge] CEO of Pharmaceutical Company [Cornwall]- Joe actually failed most of his O'levels at the first attempt then stayed in the house for a year and got mostly AAAAAAAs. It is fair to say WE DID HAVE A BRAIN and WE ALL GOT JOBS !!!
Actually I failed them all but got a GCSE (Grade I) in RE. It was a wake up call. In 1980 it was grim but does not seem to have improved much today for people there. The only way is to get away ASAP, there is a world out there. There are people worse off than shown here, and much better off of course. The point is for most people there is choice.
I was there in 1989, for drydock. Still remember all these warehouses, all derelict, as we went through the docks to the drydock basin. It was situated right next to an disused power station and a huge old tobacco warehouse. I used to try imagining all the workers being there..it was so derelict and sad.
John K 9 months was fast in 1980's. my mum got ours in 1979, even then it was a party line. she'd been on a waiting list since 1968! you literally had to wait till someone died and they re allocated the number.
I am not British, but I do have an interest in Economics and History. I think Maggie Thatcher and Norman Tebbit have got something to do with this? Her cabinet's economic policies completely ruined the working classes in the early 80s. Yes, London aka the CITY, benefited with all those computers and fund managers and fancy MBA degrees, but the rest of the nation was a BIG TEE STREET! SAD.
Wonder what their all doing now almost 40 years later these documentaries from the past are fascinating and a grand for an electricity bill wow omg that’s even a lot today
my great uncle is the ariel fitter at approx 11 mins - he recently passed away, but did some work as a freelance photographer alongside being an ariel fitter :))
June with ten kids! No wonder the electric was so high. Think of all the electricity being used on play station games, use of the power shower and laptops.
This must be 1983-84, as the guy at 2:46 says the dustbin collection was privatised in June 1983 ? Good posting though - I kind of remember seeing this at the time.
Quick google and found out all the houses in this street were demolished some time ago. Now just grassland. Wonder what happened to the people? It's easy to joke about this film and the area, but fact is it must have been so depressing and soul destroying living there with such a grim existence.
Yep. Here's a pic. commons.m.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Tees_Street,_Birkenhead_-_IMG_0339.JPG Wow. Yeah. Senseless. Who obliterared so many perfectly good homes? No wonder there's a housing crisis to this very day.
It’s strange how these people with nothing. No prospects, no future still have pride in where they live. No rubbish on the street. But nowadays there’s rubbish all over the streets.
Part of the problem of that time stemmed from education with many youngsters at 16 leaving school with a few or no CSEs and then had problems finding work. Most jobs were for skilled in that Job Centre. It was rather strange that the guy had to sell his fishing rod to buy a packet of cigarettes. This proves that the mindset of that time was completely screwed.
THE NORTH END WAS A GREAT PLACE TO LIVE WHEN I WAS A KID . I LIVED IN THE AVS (HARDING) . 2 THINGS DESTROYED BIRKENHEAD , RUNNING DOWN CAMMEL LAIRDS AND SMACK . BIRKENHEAD WAS CAMMEL LAIRDS , 12000 WORKERS AT ITS PEAK , AND ALL THE ANCILLARY JOBS . AND COINCIDING WITH SMACK , I WAS A DISASTER WAITING TO HAPPEN . SAME WITH ALL INDUSTRIAL TOWNS , TAKE AWAY THE WORK , PEOPLE GET PISSED OFF AND DEPRESSED . SAY NO MORE . PROUD TO BE A JEDI . LOL
GunnersDream Gunz I know this is 6 years ago since youve written your comment. Ive just been on Google earth and its still there. Newer house's are there 1990s era
I came from Moreton, All Birkenhead people were weirdos who wanted to kill us. That said; my wife is from Birkenhead (gulps and looks at bedroom door).
The year at the end states 1985 - not 1980 - as in the title of this video. Some parts of the programme do pass for 1980, but others are more '84-'85 era, going by people's clothes, hair styles and cars in the street.
I understand...it was bad in Ireland also back then..in fact it was diabolical...50, 000 left that year for USA, Australia and UK...we worked morning, noon, and night if necessary to pay rent at London prices. The accomodation was rough, the pay wasnt stunning..hence always 2 jobs. The men did better, nothing less than 100 sterling a day, half day Saturday.
How I escaped Tees Street/Birkenhead : I got 7 CSE's from St Hugh's High School [Grades 2-5 = COMPLETELY USELESS] so I studied O'levels at Birkenhead Tech and scraped [5 C's] whilst living in abject poverty with Dad who was very angry & depressed and regularly told me I was the "thickest of the bunch" and "would amount to nothing" etc etc (I HAD TO ESCAPE OR DIE !!). I was taking no chances and applied to EVERY School of Nursing [except London] . The DOLE called me in to cut off my benefit but I showed them hundreds of Job Applications and by then I had 50 Interviews. They were impressed and gave me Travel Vouchers to attend the first 7, all seven offered me a place [Dad refused to speak to me because I was leaving]. I chose Redhill in Surrey, one of the most affluent parts of the country. I never saw the majority of my friends again, amazingly the Dole gave me a weekly grant to help me relocate for the first year. Of course I STUCK OUT LIKE A SORE THUMB, I had a chance and passed everything and became a Registered Nurse. I certainly proved I was not anencephalic but could never be like "the Lady with the Lamp". Peter Carey - Cert Couns, RGN, RMN, RNT, B Nurs [Hons], PGCE, Pg DIP, RN [ALWAYS PROUD TO BE NORTHERN SCUM].
Peter Carey - good on you, male as well couldnt be easy to kick against the grain x
Well done Peter. I lived in Wallasey but leaving school, there was nothing but schemes with nothing at the end. Eventually I joined the RAF and did well afterwards. But leaving school during those years was a depressing time. Being young, it didn't seem so bad as we still had optimism but if you were older with a family to provide for, it must have been horrendous.
You should be proud mate, I am still in the North End of Birkenhead and things have not changed that much around here, though I have a full time job as a Manager and not one of the unfortunate ones, but well done to you for striving so hard to achieve what you have.
peter carey Well done peter hope you’re proud of yourself mate sounds like you really worked to get where you are and to work as a nurse as well is commendable fair play to you
👍 well done! I was in apprentice training and there's still a lot of no hope and why bother attitude today. If you want it bad enough you'll get it but no one will knock on your door and offer it.
I'm the same age now as Mick Searson was in 1980. I look 42 years younger than he did. Physical labour and poverty are no joke.
Povety ages people.
beatonthedonis47
I don't know about Physical labour but food poverty does have an affect.
Physical labour is good for health, so long as you don't overdo it, humans are not meant to be sedentary...
@@Roo986 Yes, that's why rich people in Kensington and Chelsea live 10 years longer than poor people in Glasgow. It's all the physical labour they do.
@@beatonthedonis It's a little bit more complicated than that chum...
I somehow escaped such a street. It took a long time. But here I am , just turned 60, in Australia and doing far better than I would have if I had stayed home.
I also grew up in such circumstances as portrayed here. Thought about emigrating mid 20's. Didn't as despites it all I am a homebird and never regretted that decision and I have
visited a fair few places including OZ. The UK has 3 advantages over most other place on the map. It's landscapes it's history and no1 it's people and yes I know it has sewer scum too
0:20 Give a man a fish and he can eat for a day, give him a fishing rod and he can sell it to buy cigarettes.
KInda my thoughts exactly.
The guy in the shop has probably seen that fishing rod hundreds of times
And I bet the rod was robbed.
Probably the only pleasure left in life for him a smoke, would you deny a man that?
😂😂😂😂
I adore these vintage UK documentaries, powerful. 👍
You should watch the family it’s about a U.K. family in 1974 it’s really good I watched it 2 days ago on here
Anne Shields how do I find that show?
@@prepperjonpnw6482 Just search 'The Family Episode 1' on here, there's about 10 of them I think.
I am originally from Scotland I have been living in Birkenhead for the last 15 years and I can honestly say that Birkenhead people are some of the most hard working friendliest I have ever met in my life is life.
Yeah they work hard a robbing houses.
I'm from Scotland and have been living in birkenhead for the past 2 years now a days there just like everywhere else there's more work for people down here tho
@@stephanblack4558 fuck off
Shame about the accents though.
@@ultimatemagic2125khun mai mi samong.
That 42 year old looks like an old, retried World One veteran @ home in his armchair.
It's from growing up in smoke filled pubs and living off nothing but walkers crisps and onions😂
He was just protecting his plenty of fish profile
No chance is he 42. Probably get more on the Dole than a pension
I know. Looks like he’s in his 70’s.
@@kjp1232🚬🤠
My grandparents lived at No 5 during the 40s, William and Elisabeth Dempsey R.I.P.
I was only born in 1985, but remember well, back when TV was good and such NEWS PROGRAMS as this actually served the public interests.
Same but all i can recall is a guy standing on a floating island telling me the weather.
@@hslmedia2663 lol
Well, that cheered me up no end.
Lol
I was depressed. I'm great now..
A brilliant piece of social history, thanks for the upload. I really hope that they all found some happiness eventually.
Made in the days when programme makers had a certain amount of social conscience. Unlike today, where the occupants would be used, abused, blamed, scapegoated, then cast aside as empty shells, while the TV company responsible picks up the fat cheques and moves onto the next project.
Bitcoin and cryptocurrency will change that...
Bitcoin is stuffed !.
This is because TV today is commercial rather than Independent. In those days, ITV had the monopoly on commercial TV and subject to public service broadcasting obligations. Today, they just chase advertisers who in turn now influence programming. Advertisers like the vilification of the marginalised and dole claimants. It's not an image they want to tie their product to. British TV programming has become superficial as a result. It used to have a plethora of working class hero characters in comparison to its American counterpart
This, World in Action and Panorama we’re proper reality tv not the exploitive freak show garbage we have now.
Talking of fat, that coffin was huge!
The young lawyer featured here was an absolute star for doing what he did.
I was brought up in Birkenhead - I sat my A levels at Borough Road Tech, while signing on, and I was expected to drop the course if a suitable job came up. Both mum and dad worked to support me and my younger siblings. I was also lucky that a full grant was available for university - I would not have been willing to accept the debt students have today. After paying tuition fees, my grant came to £2100 a year for food, books and rent (13 quid a week!)
My Birkenhead friends were not all so lucky - several of them succumbing to the scag (which saturated the place from 84-87 ish) or doledrums. It’s sad to watch the disenfranchised young man playing darts who had given up trying to improve himself - I recognise the effects of schooling and surroundings in shattering dreams of success and breaking people’s spirit.
At 0.34 secs. the old guy named Mick is declared to be only 42 yrs of age? 82 is more like it
Depression ages people.
Poor families just thrown on the scrap heap. That guys nuts climbing onto that roof
Yeah, I've never seen anyone look that old at 42...
Giuseppe - Be kind to people.
Mick has had a lot of things on his plate.
He has 3 kids.
He lost his wife.
How would you feel after that?
How would you feel if somebody made unpleasant comments to you after all the above?
Think before you post, and show respect.
Alistair Boom Calm down, Mick is long dead, and his kids are in there 40,s now!
Got to love Danny who is blind What a man he is and may god bless him,,
I’m still in shock at Danny working with no complaints from him,,
He is just unbelievable man with bad eye sight he gets up early than go’s to work,,
God bless ya Danny
9:45 worlds oldest ever 42 year old. 🤥
Christ he's the saddest case Ive ever seen. he's probably been like that since he was 5.
Exactly WTF....42.......more like 72
Fuck im that age and dont look like that lol
42!!! old in the mind .. he dressed old too! bless him .
should have joined the circus
I think the rest of the street is tapping into June's supply.
10 fucking kids , no fella and wonders why she’s skint!!!🤔🤔🤔silly bitch!! Keep em closed darling 😩😩😔😔
I know I shouldn't but lmao at your comment. cheers
@@Elbowspurs Apply your own advice to your mouth....
😂😂😂😂😂
That 42 year old finally looks his age around now!
Fuck he’s death warmed up!!! Yoda looks younger than him!!!😳😳
I think he has been drinking the water from the Mersey
Only 42... He looks 72
Surely must ov been a 7 that looked like a 4
9.25 how times have changed the train doors open the very second it stopped
Look how clean the streets are.
No one understood June's extraordinary high electric bill until they came to realise that she was growing tonnes of cannabis plants in the attic
Haha!
🤧🤧🤧🤤🤤🤤😂😂😂😂
That was just to run her vibrator.
Some say he is still trying to solve the mystery of June’s electricity bill.
@@MrAlwaysBlue indeed a never ending conundrum for him....
THIS is why my family emigrated back in the early 80's.
An era of pervasive hopelessness and diminished horizons. People finished school and signed on. Around us was an ocean of poverty and hardship, while the tv shows the affluence that apparently existed elsewhere that only served to reinforce the hopelessness of your circumstance. That was tough to square, but I was 8 years old at this time. I still am not sure how my family gathered the funds together to pay for all the costs involved in emigration, but we did, and our collective horizons and prospects emerged. Still dearly miss 'home', but my life took off elsewhere and so far I've never had a need that could not be met. 40 years and counting...
Have mercy, the fellow in the suit that was 42 years old looks 66. Such I suspect was the hard scrabble of life, and hardships.
WE NEVER FORGET ..WE ARE NOT ASHAMED!
well ya should be bone idle ponces
11:37 The days when ariel fitters just looked like they came out of a pub and just climb onto a roof without any consideration for safety.
He couldn't get a phone, then he didn't want a phone, am I missing something?
Lmao no health and safety back then😃👏👏🇬🇧🏴👍
@@MrAlwaysBlue Business was already failing, grant would have paid for 3 months of service back when their was one provider that would have tied him into a minimum of 12 months service.
"Vince Baker is short of money for cigarettes"
Lol that sets the tone for this documentary
😂😂😂
A lot of smokers will choose cigs over food any day. That's the power of addiction. What do you mean by tone?
My god Mick looked like he was in his 70's
The ironic thing is the houses in this street actually look relatively nice. I've seen a lot of streets in quite prosperous areas which look a lot worse than this on the surface.
They knocked them down in the mid 80s and built some new ones, then knocked them down about 10 years ago because they were derelict. They've now built new ones again. These replaced the dock cottages that were there and knocked down in the 60s.
I remember those depressing boards in the jobcentres/dole offices...
Look how clean the street is though
The pawn shop called macs spell it backwards and it spells SCAM.
Nowadays it spells SMACK.
@lunar moon bastard that's blasphemy
A solicitor on a push bike .....Quality
His car was on bricks that morning?
@@stuartclarke3171nah, they weren’t the rip off merchants they are today
Car will be stolen.
@@DMWBN3 But it's easier to steal a bike?
@@stuartclarke3171 less cost £ hassle to his employer.
Replace a bike. ???
Replace a car ??
Mac's in the fourth minute was where I got my first guitar. Nice to see it still going in 1980.
Back when bin men(refuse technicians) actually used to pick the dustbin up on their backs. I can't imagine people doing that in this day and age.
They don't even walk up the path for the bin, we have to put it on the kerbside for them, my neighbour is 91 and she is expected to drag a bin down her path for some young fellas to put it on a automated lift, madness.
I only ever went to Tees Street once in my life... in the early 90s to identify the burned out shell of my Vaxhaul Cavalier, that was nicked from my flat near Birkenhead Park. The fire was so hot, the number plate had melted and fallen off onto the road, so that's how I knew it was mine. Ah... memories.
Hay your a man after my own hart lol
9:19 They'll be no job left for him if you don't shut your cake hole and let him get on the train!
Ha ha thanks I did get the job
Love these documentaries!
Recent declassified documents have revielled that the Tory Government at the time, waged economic warefare on Liverpool, basically untying Liverpool and pushing it off to it's own catastrophic demise as is seen here during the mid 1980's. For a Government to do that to it's own People, to actively plan and prosecute such an act sends a cold shiver down the spine.
Run Into A Brick Wall
Prove it please.
Strong Union values, Thatcher wanted to crush the spirits then the souls of good people.
@@jillianhorsley5985 Thatcher had three "generals" who basically came up with a mind map of how to "curb" the Unions. But over the course of time, this became how can we completely destroy the Unions. Utter psychopaths.
Mike seerson 42???!!! That poor boy had one hard hard life!!!
I would encourage people to believe one can come back from even the worst circumstances. I was out of work, in near despair; but kept searching, even engaging hobbies and things got hugely better.
I agree Richard life is full of ups and downs and the downs never last for ever. If we never had downs the good times wouldnt seem half as good.
Great people in Tees Street in the early 60s. So sad it has gone.
as the narrator walks down tees st at 5.05 i noticed that there was no cars parked up on the street , a rare sight indeed !
Perceptive comment Peter. I can only feel that's a good thing, though some may differ.
@@BintAlAbla1999 not that good .. most of them couldn’t afford cars!
It’s okay we’ll get back to this with pcp contracts on electric cars and fuel at £2+ per litre
I left in 1984 and never looked back. my mum even moved to Prenton after I left. North End was the backside of the world and that's polite
@@BintAlAbla1999 I made up for that street by owning 8 cars at one time !...lol
@@jaysmartin I,m into old Volvo's, my current car is 27yrs old ...and it will probably last me another 20 !...I would never buy an electric car !...ever !
It seems to be the North’s cruelest joke,,,,,,giving the blind terrible hair cuts.
My family lived on Tees Street [Catholics] , there WAS a way out. I am a Nurse, taught at several Universities and live in Adelaide, Australia, Dr Marg has a Doctorate Psychology and was a successful, Tax Lawyer [London], Owen University Lecturer [China/Cyprus], Kath Librarian [Wirral], Bob [Businessman], John Butcher + Law Graduate [Essex] and DrJoe DPhil [Oxford] MBA [Cambridge] CEO of Pharmaceutical Company [Cornwall]- Joe actually failed most of his O'levels at the first attempt then stayed in the house for a year and got mostly AAAAAAAs. It is fair to say WE DID HAVE A BRAIN and WE ALL GOT JOBS !!!
Actually I failed them all but got a GCSE (Grade I) in RE. It was a wake up call. In 1980 it was grim but does not seem to have improved much today for people there. The only way is to get away ASAP, there is a world out there. There are people worse off than shown here, and much better off of course. The point is for most people there is choice.
Peter, you're getting quite snotty/pompous now. Become aware. Thanks.
Your dad didn’t love you tho I rem you saying 😂so you had to go had no choice m8
NOT SURE WHy THE UPPER CASE BUT GOOD FOR YOU
Danny Doyle, bless him, had a cracking moustache, and probably didn’t know it.
I was there in 1989, for drydock. Still remember all these warehouses, all derelict, as we went through the docks to the drydock basin. It was situated right next to an disused power station and a huge old tobacco warehouse. I used to try imagining all the workers being there..it was so derelict and sad.
The TV Eye episode "Tees Street isn't working" wasn't broadcasted in 1980, it was actually broadcasted on Thursday, 28 November 1985.
John Cooper Yep. I heard the 2 ex-binmen say the refuse collection was bought out in 1983.
9 months before you got a telephone! If my internet goes out and it isn’t fixed within 24 hours I’m going crazy.
John K 9 months was fast in 1980's. my mum got ours in 1979, even then it was a party line. she'd been on a waiting list since 1968! you literally had to wait till someone died and they re allocated the number.
I remember when you had to be on a waiting list for a telephone line
my great uncle davey is the ariel fitter :)
My grandparents lived at No 5, 40s and 50s
I am not British, but I do have an interest in Economics and History. I think Maggie Thatcher and Norman Tebbit have got something to do with this? Her cabinet's economic policies completely ruined the working classes in the early 80s.
Yes, London aka the CITY, benefited with all those computers and fund managers and fancy MBA degrees, but the rest of the nation was a BIG TEE STREET! SAD.
Wonder what their all doing now almost 40 years later these documentaries from the past are fascinating and a grand for an electricity bill wow omg that’s even a lot today
my great uncle is the ariel fitter at approx 11 mins - he recently passed away, but did some work as a freelance photographer alongside being an ariel fitter :))
Growing cannabis in the attic I heard
Mick Searson aged 42 you're aving a larf.
People aged differently then.
@@dirkbogarde44 True enough, poor diet, home heating etc.
@@elih9700
And depression
The theme tune to this and world in action is iconic. Add the Sweeney tune and it’s a hat trick.
Give a man a fish he will eat for a day
Give a man a fishing rod he will sell it for smokes
Classic.
mcmcolm already said that
@@ItsNotRealLife oh so he did, didn't see that
👍😂
Is this where they got all the contestants for 'Bullseye' from?
Lol
Excellent!
😂😂😂👌👌
Looks like it. Wheres the caravans though?!
@@blacktooth421 In the back gardens with the speedboats.
Can't get over the geezer who was 42, looked 72
So did everyone else, I think they got it wrong, his age. There's more life in 72 old that his 42 years. He's a barrel of laughs and single. 🤣👴🏽
This documentary is from 1985 not 1980 😎
I am from the area i know where they are coming from i hope they all found some kind of hope and help.
Yes that will be the Margret Thatcher years,.
so goes the meme
Oh man . Remember the job center 🙄
Nightmare. Left school 1981. Did a YOP for 12 months. Found a plastering job year later . Lucky
The fishing rod comments at the start cracked me up. 🤣
it will never change unless we change
Hello mrs Wilde I've come to have a look at your box !........phnar phnar.
Well ,Mick is now the age he looked in this documentary ! Hope he's still with us
I'd love to know what happened to these people, I hope they're all ok now!
probably all dead
Aye, I'd like to see an update, see what become of them.
Booms & busted
All dead and their clothes are in charity shops to this day, especially Mick Searson's three piece suit
Poor June is still trying to pay off that huge eleccy bill at ten bob a week.
I noticed the streets kept clean, not like today with beer and coke cans thrown everywhere.
June with ten kids! No wonder the electric was so high. Think of all the electricity being used on play station games, use of the power shower and laptops.
"How do you see your future?
Vince Baker- "I see myself being on the dole for the rest of my life"
A man of great ambition lol
I think it was an honest comment at that time. Seriously. Hopefully, things have improved.
I wonder if his dream came true
This must be 1983-84, as the guy at 2:46 says the dustbin collection was privatised in June 1983 ? Good posting though - I kind of remember seeing this at the time.
Quick google and found out all the houses in this street were demolished some time ago. Now just grassland. Wonder what happened to the people? It's easy to joke about this film and the area, but fact is it must have been so depressing and soul destroying living there with such a grim existence.
Yep. Here's a pic.
commons.m.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Tees_Street,_Birkenhead_-_IMG_0339.JPG
Wow. Yeah. Senseless. Who obliterared so many perfectly good homes? No wonder there's a housing crisis to this very day.
True Brit are u sure u googled the correct search terms? I google earthed the site and it doesn’t seem like grassland
It's not grassland, it's waste ground. There's one house left in which someone lives.
I'm from this area and im proud of it aswell
Good so you should be. A blossom tree can grow and bloom in a 'bog'. We need to remember our roots.
Aww that poor boy at his mother's funeral 😭
It’s strange how these people with nothing. No prospects, no future still have pride in where they live. No rubbish on the street. But nowadays there’s rubbish all over the streets.
Part of the problem of that time stemmed from education with many youngsters at 16 leaving school with a few or no CSEs and then had problems finding work. Most jobs were for skilled in that Job Centre. It was rather strange that the guy had to sell his fishing rod to buy a packet of cigarettes. This proves that the mindset of that time was completely screwed.
i live in birkenhead it looks so weird there but it still kind of looks the same but doesnt at the same time.
Bono has done well without a phone.
Ha ha was gonna say. The letterbox mouth and the shades.
So like Bono ! lol
@@johnsmith-wx5fb why was you watching this video in the first place? get lost?!?!?! 😂
@@sandrafinbar ⬆️
That's Phil Collins
Danny,, is in his late 60's today in 2019
You can't climb up a ladder like that now those days were wonderful
Leo Scott
Why not?
THE NORTH END WAS A GREAT PLACE TO LIVE WHEN I WAS A KID . I LIVED IN THE AVS (HARDING) . 2 THINGS DESTROYED BIRKENHEAD , RUNNING DOWN CAMMEL LAIRDS AND SMACK . BIRKENHEAD WAS CAMMEL LAIRDS , 12000 WORKERS AT ITS PEAK , AND ALL THE ANCILLARY JOBS . AND COINCIDING WITH SMACK , I WAS A DISASTER WAITING TO HAPPEN . SAME WITH ALL INDUSTRIAL TOWNS , TAKE AWAY THE WORK , PEOPLE GET PISSED OFF AND DEPRESSED . SAY NO MORE . PROUD TO BE A JEDI . LOL
tees street no loger exists, just waste land, thank you for the upload
GunnersDream Gunz I know this is 6 years ago since youve written your comment. Ive just been on Google earth and its still there. Newer house's are there 1990s era
Its a merseyrail park and ride carpark now
@@daveflick12 Wrong side of the Mersey. Birkenhead, not Liverpool.
9:11 Unfortunately Mike missed that train and was late for the interview.
Bird Man 🤣🤣🤣🤣
I had the same fear!!!
@@robinjanz-buhr4427 9:41 Do you reckon Mick is a bit older than 42 😂😂
The fella getting on the roof class ha ha big time
If you need O levels...go back and get the bloody O levels. Honestly.
Skills are everything.
My Late Uncle is in this documentary.
Who?
I came from Moreton, All Birkenhead people were weirdos who wanted to kill us. That said; my wife is from Birkenhead (gulps and looks at bedroom door).
Lol
English Heart So...did your wife kill you?
@@jonathanturbide2232 I guess she did...
@@m4ckm4n59 ... or fucking divorced him.
Back then,we used to call the job centre the ‘joke shop’
God bless one and all.
There but for the grace of God go I ,
The year at the end states 1985 - not 1980 - as in the title of this video. Some parts of the programme do pass for 1980, but others are more '84-'85 era, going by people's clothes, hair styles and cars in the street.
The start of the film is definitely from 1980 I'd say.
Its about 1984/85. Those jags in the funeral cortege were B reg which was from late 84 to summer 85.
If they’re unemployed they can’t really afford the latest fashions tho.
Yup. Mebbe learn to read Roman numerals before postin', eh... ?!
Vince, stop smoking you've got two children to support
That one guy from Birkenhead, Ringo seemed to do ok, on the dole a short time then found permanent work.
Merseyside still has the same trains. Suppose all the money was spent on crossrail !
I understand...it was bad in Ireland also back then..in fact it was diabolical...50, 000 left that year for USA, Australia and UK...we worked morning, noon, and night if necessary to pay rent at London prices. The accomodation was rough, the pay wasnt stunning..hence always 2 jobs. The men did better, nothing less than 100 sterling a day, half day Saturday.
The wee boy at his mums funeral 😭
😢😢😢
Was that Bono fitting ariels ?
First minute and they tell the first lie! There is no way Vince is 42!! He looks about 72!!!
Vince changed his name to Nick!! No way is he 42!!!
Dommi Davros Poverty can age you drastically tho.
Bloody oath mate!! I’m 42 and by geez I hope I look nothing like that!!!!!!!
@@Luke-er6pg I can remember people in their 40s looking that old in the 80s when I was a very young boy.
@@dommidavros2211 He is 42. People used to look that old in those days.
If hes 42 then my left leg is actually a cat
The 42 year old bloke looks 20 years older or more!
Yep.
Poor bloke he looked really old. He couldn't have been 42. He looked 60+
I guess depression does that to you
0:20 "I'm starvin' lad, I need a ciggie!" Lol, WTF!?
Lol tobacco, the great appetite suppressant
this is bleak 42 year old what's his name looks about 65 and he's been out of work 10 years!
David Hornby buying his new chair at the auction for 80p as hes worn his last one out.