My dad got a Pye 17" TV in 1953 supposedly for the coronation, but ostensibly for the FA cup final. We only had one chanel in London in 1953 so I remember as a kid , sitting on the rug , in front of the TV on a day when live TV went to an outside location to send programmes to our home,( BBC 1 ). They sent Blackpool tower circus , with Charlie Caroli, I remember this as a kid , and am now 81....Charlie had a "gormeless" assistant who had knobly legs and it had me laughing so bad I could not breathe, rolling about on the floor, it is something that punches a memory into one's being.

Great to see this it brought back great memories of Charlie Cairoli. Also I have the original photo of myself and the children in the ring with Charlie! Such a privilege to be included in this lovely memory xx

Charlie followed in the footsteps of another equally long running clown at Blackpool Tower called 'Doodles' who seldom even gets a mention these days. The guy in Charlie's shadow today is only there because of a rich daddy.

Thankyou for the video.

It’s great to hear more about the history of the Blackpool lifeboat. My dad, Ken Parr, used to tell us many stories about our family members who were in the Blackpool lifeboat crew from when the 1st lifeboat was launched. I think that one of my brothers has the silver medal awarded to one of our relatives in the Bessie Jones rescue in 1880.

Side splitter? No

Thank you for keeping this memory alive . Most of my male Rimmer family were Fishermen and Lifeboat men . Samuel , James x 2 , Thomas etc were all my family.

Very interesting and well researched. This must have taken some time to put together!