Blackpool Local Customs

You can perhaps tell alot about the cult of celebrity and indeed society by looking at who 'switches on' the Blackpool illuminations.

Here is a full list of the celebs...how many do you recognise ? My favourite has to be the racehorse Red Rum closely followed by kermit the frog...

1934 Lord Derby
1935 Audrey Mossom (Railway Queen)
1936 Sir Josiah Stamp
1937 Alderman Ashton (later Duke of Kent)
1938 Councillor Mrs Quayle
1939 Cancelled when war broke out, no display during War years or indeed until
1949 Anna Neagle
1950 Wilfred Pickles
1951 Stanley Mathews
1952 Valerie Hobson
1953 George Formby
1954 Gilbert Harding
1955 Jacob Malik (Russian Ambassador)
1956 Reginald Dixon
1957 John H Whitney (American Ambassador)
1958 A E 'Matt' Matthews
1959 Jane Mansfield
1960 Janet Munro
1961 Violet Carson
1962 Shirley Ann Field
1963 Cliff Michelmore
1964 Gracie Fields
1965 David Tomlinson
1966 Ken Dodd
1967 Dr. Horace King (Speaker)
1968 Sir Matt Busby
1969 Canberra Bomber
1970 Tony Blackburn
1971 Cast of "Dad's Army"
1972 Danny La Rue
1973 Gordon Banks
1974 Wendy Craig
1975 Tom Baker (Dr Who)
1976 Carol Ann Grant (Miss United Kingdom)
1977 Red Rum
1978 Terry Wogan
1979 Kermit the Frog and the Muppets
1980 Cannon and Ball
1981 Earl & Countess Spencer
1982 Rear Admiral "Sandy" Woodward
1983 Cast of "Coronation Street" (Doris Speed)
1984 Johannes Rau (Minister-President, North Rhine Westphalia & David Waddington, QC,MP (Minister of State, Home Office)
1985 Joanna Lumley, BBC "Children in need"
1986 Les Dawson
1987 Frank Bough, Ann Gregg & Kathy Tayler, BBC "Holiday" programme
1988 Andrew Lloyd Webber and Sarah Brightman
1989 Frank Bruno
1990 Bet & Alec Gilroy "Coronation Street" (Julie Goodyear & Roy Barraclough)
1991 Derek Jameson and Judith Chalmers
1992 Lisa Stansfield
1993 Status Quo
1994 Shirley Bassey
1995 Bee Gees
1996 Eternal
1997 Michael Ball
1998 Chris De Burgh
1999 Gary Barlow
2000 Westlife
2001 Steps
2002 Ronan Keating
2003 Blue
2004 Geri Halliwell

Anybody want to bet on who it will be in 2005 ?

Blackpool is also famous for it's rock. It comes in many different flavours, sizes and colours and shapes, like dummies and false teeth. Try some if your teeth can stand up to it. In some shops you can even see it being made in front of you.

My particular favourite is the traditional mint flavoured rock.

After you've had your adrenaline fix, wind down and try your hand at the stalls. Its just for fun and its not too expensive. You can win some super smashing great prizes. Me and my friends turned down the cuddly toy in favour of the cricket set, and nearly hit a donkey on the head with the bat!
Also beware of the unscrupulous stalls (usually in front of the beach) with their rigged number games, if it looks like a complicated scoring system, it is rigged and almost impossible to win.

I suppose you could say that it is a British Institution to buy rock whilst in Blackpool. You simply cant miss it. Almost every shop sells it, in all manner of colours, shapes and flavours.
The Coronation Rock Company which started in 1927, although rock had been produced for over 200 years, is at 11 Cherry Tree Road, and there is also a shop behind the Tower on Bank Hey Street. You can even order personalised rock from here and it can be sent anywhere in the world.

Everyone in blackpool are christians so there shouldn't really be anyone you won't get along with. If you talk to someone in the street all you have to do is shake their hands. If you know them a bit better then you can give thema quick hug.

In Blackpool the people are mainly are Christian and so there aren't really anything you need to worry about. People don't usually tip people and when greeting a stranger you usually just hand shake but if it is someone you know then you might hug them.People in my opion aren't always welcoming although some are. There is no rules really.

English seaside towns always seem to be home to various donkeys which trudge up and down the beach giving rides to little children who are thrilled to sit atop them and pretend they are on some huge stallion riding across the fields. Okay, maybe they don't imagine that but I wonder if the poor donkeys sometimes imagine an existence like that.

Illumination