Last night on Coronation Street, when Mary opened the Tatlock Towers country house hotel brochure, you just know it's a tie-in to the upcoming spin-off DVD, A Knight's Tale.
Anyway, thinking about Tatlock Towers got me all nostalgic for that grumpy old bloke Uncle Albert Tatlock. Get your fill of him on ebay where this wonderful press photo is up for sale.
There's also a lovely glass. And an homage to Uncle Albert from The Skids on youtube.
He was lovely. Grumpy and always on the cadge, but actually a thoroughly great person. I remember when his electricity got cut off in the '70s because he couldn't afford to pay the bill, and the 1981 War Memorial episode, when he paid tribute to his fallen comrades with a salute... I wept buckets. Then, in 1983, when Ken and Deirdre were splitting up, Albert was so distressed. More tears from me. But I also remember his comic exploits - his narrowly missing marriage in the 1960s, poisoning the locals with produce from his allotment in the '70s, and making a "comforting" visit to Mavis, who was poorly in bed, in the early '80s. "You're looking gaunt!" he told her. Albert made me laugh, made me cry... Jack Howarth was a WONDERFUL actor!
ReplyDeleteAnd if you still haven't got your fill of Uncle Albert, you could pop over to The Snug and have a game of dominoes with him:
ReplyDeletehttp://bbhilda.topcities.com/DominoesWithAlbert.html
Sorry - couldn't resist! ;-)
I love uncle Albert. The Skids - blimey, that takes me back to...1978 actually. I can recommend the dominoes BTW.
ReplyDelete1979, I think. I was living in Weymouth at the time - moved there in Jan '79, left in Feb '80! :) I was heavily into "60s style" retro - I was a proper Mod! The Memory Lane floodgates open...
ReplyDeleteYep, Skids song was '79 according to Corripedia, too -
ReplyDeletehttp://coronationstreet.wikia.com/wiki/Albert_Tatlock
Thank goodness for that. I thought my memory for useless trivial facts was dimming with age...