Individual results

Interviewee: Mary Johnson

Track 1
Born in Coventry, Widdrington Road. Earliest memory - the war. Father in Germany just before the war - he got home safely. Photo of Adolf Hitler that he had to salute! (Short track).

Track 2
Older brother. Grandmother in Hillfields. Father joined "Dad's Army" (born 1900). Food - father never ate butter. Mother cooked chips in butter. Mother made sweets. No fruit.

Track 3
Enjoyed work. Bombings - centre of (1940). No shelter - bombs dropped all night. Father fire-watching. Still got doll. No water, gas or electricity after all-clear. Incendiary bomb had dropped down the chimney. Tape over windows. Walked to Leicester Causeway - grandfather killed saving a drunk.

Track 4
Mass grave - London Road. Second Blitz - grandma's house was burned down. Brother stayed at grandmother's. Her - Pridmore Road School. School - "I enjoyed school". Passed scholarship - Butts. Street party - "beautiful - wonderful" - "flags were hanging out of the windows".

Track 5
Bus with wooden seats. Father home through the war (WW1 - submarine). Wanted to be a nursery nurse - then a telephonist until she retired.

Track 6
Called 'Miss' - very strict at work. Hard work then - everything written. Emergency calls nervewracking.

Track 7
Traced phone calls. "Loved being a telephonist". How she spent money - clothes, etc. Dancing and pictures. Mother wouldn't let her go to the pictures on a Sunday. Trusted to have her own key. Walked home. Took dancing lessons - passed bronze medal.

Track 8
Different dance halls including the Drill Hall. Met husband - known each other since they were 11 years old. Husband went to Germany after the war. Married 1955 - wedding day "wonderful". Wedding dress £6. Still rationing - couldn't have a big reception. Married in Radford. Honeymoon in the Lake District.

Track 9
Had a 'rebuild' house. Mother/father lent them a deposit. Had son - Keresley Hospital. Son out looking for "a pot of gold rainbow".

Track 10
Moved to Stoke (18 years). Always on cord-boards. So modern now. Expressions unique to Coventry - "You're as black as the backing" or "you're garden's just like Casey's court".

Track 11
Never wanted to leave Coventry. Friends in Holland. Penfriend in America - loved her accent (like a Brummie). Building work in Coventry "a good thing - Hitler did it for us" (pulling down slums).

Track 12
Coventry "traffic free". Precinct - met under the elephant. Bunny run around Greyfriars Green - Burges. Bunny run - pictures "up and down" (shop doorways) -("kiss and a cuddle"). Hates people who live here who "run Coventry down".

Track 13
Mother "wrapped her in swaddling bands". Romper suits. Mother didn't agree with bottle milk. Became epileptic. Trams in Broadgate. Father had car - belonged to Wickman's. Slept in caravan - Burton Green.

Track 14
Dancing lessons. Husband apprentice - not a lot of money. GPO to Cash's - Colonel Cash 1950 - family firm. "You jumped" (when told to). At work always called Miss. BO Morris - also telex work.

Track 15
"Stick-in-the-mud" (job). Son works for council now. Retirement - made redundant. Became a cleaner for an elderly man (13 years until 60). Retired 6 years now. Future - new cathedral "wonderful". Hippodrome "a monstrosity". "It's my Coventry".

Track 16
"You've got to live with the times". Plans to stay in Coventry. Good friends here. "Coventry's my home". Church - religious environment (C of E (Church of England) - now Baptist).

Track 17
Church of England / Baptist. "I like the Baptist church". Relatives going back to the 1500's - William Bates had 22 children (buried at Stoneleigh). "I'd like to have a tree in my name" (oak tree).

Time: 49:56

Coventry Lives Oral History Project , date of birth: 1933