Interview with John Homer
- Reference Number: DW-252/2/7
- Date: 29 Aug 2019
- Level: Item
- Extent: 1 file (661886 KB0
- Format: WAV Audio file
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Description: INTERVIEWEE: John Homer
Born: 1945
Interviewer: Karen Adcock
Date of Interview: 29/8/2019
Born in Quarry Bank, youngest of 3 children. Dad was a brick maker, Mum a housewife and then when children were grown up, had some part time work in a factory, then as a cleaner.
John worked for ACAS for many years but now works at The Black Country Museum and also does talks about the Black Country for a variety of groups including ?reminiscence groups? and carers groups. He has been a WBA supporter for more than 50 years and does a lot of work at the Hawthornes for supporters groups etc.
(Apologies for my phonetic renderings of his accent!)
Following the summary there is a transcript of some of his sayings and the many jokes he told. There is also his version of the Black Country Alphabet.
The song he performed for us can be found on YouTube.
00:20 Gives brief description of family home in Brierley Hill before he was born; no bathroom, toilet down the bottom of the yard, basic 2 up, 2 down house. Goes on to describe childhood council house in 'Quarry Bonk!' which was very different to his sibling's experience. Lived near QB park which was created on the site of Thorne's Colliery, and close to Lye Wood which was the site of numerous drift mines.
01:53 reports that people from Black Country do not pronounce 'w', therefore Lye Wood becomes Lye 'ud, lump of wood = lump of 'ud.
03:19 defines the Black Country as "industry, endeavour, hard work, stoicism, ability to laugh at self, community, togetherness, humour." Great principle "gotta loff or y'ud cry." believes those qualities have become diluted over time, or disappeared altogether. Everybody had a job - there was an expectation about work. Called an 'Idle Rodney' if you didn't work. It was shameful not to. Speaks about the toughness of life but 'everybody had each others backs and helped each other out; gives example of door to door collections when someone died.
05:27 considers qualities of Black Country humour - taking the piss out of each other but not in a disparaging way; Tells a few jokes and some anecdote about the differences in local dialect and different use of language bringing humour when he went to work in Dudley and then at the Black Country Museum. 'Bedley Iron (QB term meaning 'a riot', presumably related to 'Bedlam'), Nisgull (QB term for runt of the litter). Humour related to silliness, stupidity and camaraderie. Little swearing in QB jokes, mainly "bleeding", but down the road in God Pensnett there was "effin and blindin all over the place", it was a culture shock. Shameful.
11:17 Light hearted approach helps to cope with some of the tough things of everyday life - illustrates with Aynuk and Ayli joke.
12:07 Banter in the workplace going on all the time, was remorseless - different to how it is these days. Then, it was almost accepted that if you hadn't been the butt of a joke within the first ten minutes of being at work you wondered what was wrong. Gives example of being told to ask the foreman for 'a tin of spotted paint' (which didn't exist back then) or 'a long wait!' and tells anecdotes of some practical jokes in the office - like swapping 'push' and 'pull' signs on the doors.
14:25 goes on to talk about children's songs and rhymes; how they spread up and down the country in an age before social media.
16:36 The innocence of childhood humour in rhymes like
"build a bonfire, build a bonfire, put the teacher on the top..." and "Adam and Eve and Pinch-Me went for a walk ...
18:13more than 50years as West Brom Albion supporter - used to stand by Tommy Mundon on the terraces. John's Dad worked with Tommy Mundon's father-in-law as fire brick makers.
22:47 Considers there was humour in the midst of all the hard times - different to other regions, compares to scouse or cockney humour which was hurtful or abrasive, whereas local humour is much gentler.
25:42 Briefly recalls meeting Dolly Allen, Harry Harrison - just ordinary people out on the streets "didn't have a bob on 'em." Recalls that Lenny Henry was a big Albion fan and used to travel on the coaches to away games - used to sit at the back of the coach doing impressions and singing. This was before he became famous - but he was just the same as loads of other people in that respect, larking about with your mates.
31:22 Goes on to talk about the work he does with Albion supporters who have Alzheimer's and Dementia - has been given air-time across the world. Talks about the impact of humour and laughter as a means of venturing into the world of people with such medical conditions - also runs a group for carers and finds that often humour comes from sharing of the most awful circumstances and difficulties of life.
41:40 Poem about memories of his Dad and footballer Jeff Astle.
44:00 Song about the miners coming into the sunshine after a12hour shift down the pit - "for a pittance." Back into The Sun.
Links it back to "you gotta loff or you'd cry."
51:23 Black Country Alphabet (not "A is for opple!" version that is on YouTube) In QB used to beat you up if you didn't drop 'hatches' cos you was posh!
56.37 Finishes with Aynuk and Ayli penguin joke and then a joke that exploits local accent
Transcript of jokes etc
00:45 "well I gu ter Brierley 'ill."
06:20 simple nonsense humour, like the bloke who's looking for his cap "has anybody seen my cap?"
"Yowv goritt on yer yed, yer saft fewl"
"Well I'm glad yer told me or I'd o gon 'ome wi'aert it!"
06:39bloke sez to the little lad "'allo sonny, is yer muther in?"
The boy sez "Ar!"
Knocks on the door. No answer.
Knocks again. No answer.
Bloke sez "yer little liar! Yer told me yer muther was in."
Boy: "er is - but I doh live 'ere!"
07:12 Black Country was a series of villages with their different ways and often their own language. Went to work in Dudley. On the first day asked
"what's newyinaredo?" but because "we speak fast" he was misunderstood - even though Dudley is close to QB. Explains was asking what the local factory, Newey and Eyre do.
09:56 Bloke gets Aynuk and he sez "I want yer to build me a wall 6ft right"
Aynuk sez "fair enuff." so he builds the wall. a Fortnight later the bloke comes back off
his holiday. 'e sez
"wot 'ave yow done? Yerv built me a wall 6ft 'igh and 6ft wide!
Aynuk sez "Ar"
"Wotyer done that fer?"
Aynuk sez "well if it falls over it'll still be stonding up!
11:23 even bad times you can mek light of it;
"wots up with yow, Aynuk?"
"last night me wife died - er wuz in the gardin picking' pays fer ar tay an er collapsed
Ayli said "that's a tragedy. Wot did yer do?
Aynok "we opened a tin o beans.
12:29 Nowadays people view it in a different light - almost accepted that when you started work you had to be the butt - I mean when I started there was no such thing as spotted paint, altho there is now "go and gerrus a tin of spotted pair" or "goo an see the foreman, ask him fer a long weight (wait). Where I worked in an office it was, ah, so funny... heinous things like heating the handle of a cup or tekin the flint outo somebody's lighter so 'e car light 'is fake; or another one where yer get the fake and tek a bit o'the tobaccer out the end and stick a match in, then put the tobaccer back in, so when 'e lights up - whoosh!"
13:38an office open to the public - there's a bloke standing at the winda, an we've changed all the push and pull signs round on the doors - and there's loads of 'em - so the bloke's pulling like billy 'o and car get so 'e thinks the office is closed an off 'e walks!
14:15 change all the signs around so at Christmas instead of, for example, 'men's industrial' they changed it to Santa's Grotto - confused the clients.
16:51 build a bonfire, build a bonfire, put the teachers on the top, put the cleaner on the bottom and then burn the flaming lot
17:02 Adam and Eve and Pinch-Me went down to the river to bathe. Adam and Eve were drowned'd, who do you think wiz saved?
"...pinch me!!!"
18:58 Albion bloke with his dog at the Hawthornes, a match against Wolves. The Albion score and the dog guz "Wowowowoof". Albion score agen and the dog guz "wowowoofwowoofwoof woof woof."
The Wolves bloke sez "'scuse me ole pal, duz that bloody dog do that every time the Albion score?"
'e sez, "ar 'e duz!"
'e sez "wot wud 'e do if the Wolves scored?"
' e sed "'e'd roll over an over an over an over an over an over"
'an 'e sed "well 'ow long ud 'e de that fer?"
'e sed "depends 'ow 'ard ar kick 'im!"
26:45 Grandad came ter live with them in 1965.I remember one night - I was only 10 an I'd got me ball under me arm an I was off ter the park ter play, an 'e sez
"Ay, Johnny! Come 'ere, arv got summit to say to yer"
"Wot's that grandad?"
An 'e sed "if yowm gonna do anything wrong, mek sure yer do it in bloody Dudley cos I ay comin ter Stafford with ya!" An that was it! The only salient piece of advice me grandad ever giv me, I think.
(Dudley an enclave of Worcestershire, surrounded by Staffordshire. If you did anythin wrong in Dudley you went to Dudley Crown Court, if you did anythin wrong in Staffs, Brierley Hill or Quarry Bonk 'ad to gu to Stafford)
....
27:52yer grandparents wuz funny;
"'ow am yer Grandad"
"oo Om welly jed. I ay gonna liv anotha day" (almost dead).
33:24 black country nativity at Pelsall; each of the residents in the 'ome 'ad a diff'rent part, so there wuz a 92 year 'ol lady oo wuz playin Mary an I 'ad to come on to the point where Jesus is abaert to be born, an 'er sed
"'e ay!"
I sez "wot der yer mean, 'e ay?"
'er sed "'e ay abaert ter be born yet
I sed "well - why's that then?"
an evrybody looked ...
'er sed "cos me waerters ay broke!"
34:02 "wot day is it today?"
"it's Wenzdy - an if it ay Ar shouldn't be 'ere!"
36:00 I suffer from gout, so I went to the doctor's an I limped in, an 'e sed
"Gout"
an I sed
"I've only just got in!"
an 'e sed
"No, it's Gout"
an I sed
"wot can yer give me fer it?"
He sed
"nothin"
I sed
"nuthin? the whole resource of the National health service an yow cor giv me anything fer gout!"
an 'e sed
"no, but I suggest you have sex more often"
so I sed
"well wot will that do?
'e sed
'it'll tek yer mind off it"
so I sed "great. 'ow long's this likely to last?"
He said
"6 months"
I sed "even better."
So every time I got to bed now the wife sez
"you ay got the gout agen!"
52:00
A is for Aynok, or Ayli 'is mate
B is for bostin' which sometimes means great
C is for cockeraycker who crows on dawn's command
D is for donny which you call a hand
E is for 'errun'- that's 'either' to you,
(errun on 'em cud o' dun it, but nerern of 'em day!) (Either of them could have done it but neither of them did).
F is for Fanage, which we sometimes all do
G is for gleed, as under the doer
an' H-we doh use 'em, they drop on the floor
I is for "it aaaay" Is it old chap and
J is for jed, or sometimes jed-nap (a swindler)
K is for kay, as on the kayring
L is for Loff - a wonderful thing
M is for mat, like mate on yer dinner. (there's that bloke cryin' by the side of the canal. Chap comes along 'e sez
"wot's up wi'you?"
He sez
"I've dropped me mate in the canal"
'e sed
"yud better gu 'n saerve 'I'm ay ya?"
'e sed
"Nah, the mate off me sanwich"
N is fer Nisgul, gettin thinner an thinner
O is for opple - a black country trayt
P is fer pays, which we all luv to ayt.
Qs for Quarry Bonker, a black country chap
R is fer Rodney who doh do a tap
S is for sheed or could it be shed
T is fer tay - that's dinner instead
U is for "unce' as upon a time
V is for vital which we ayr when we'm clammed and then feel fine.
W is for welly jed an'
X is fer 'zasperated - which dus in me 'ed
Y is for yutin a bc noyz and
Z is for zoo, we'm got one at Dudley, Now there's a surprise!
Aynuk's walkin a penguin darn the 'igh street an the copper stops im an sez
"ay - yer orta tek that penguin to the zoo"
an 'e sez
"we've bin to the zoo, we'm goin to the pictures now!"
59:18 what time is it when there's a pork pie on the town hall clock at Dudley - summat to 8!' - Access Status: Open
- Contact: Wolverhampton Archives, Wolverhampton Archives & Local Studies