Chemistry in the early 1960s: a reminiscence.

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• sorry, ignore my earlier comment, I missed the mention of Carl [1889-1965] and Kingsley above, Kingsley being, I guess, Hugh Kingsley Beck. [1901-1970].

• Just stumbled across this blog, which brings back fond memories of travelling to Beck's in the mid 60's with my dad, taking the 29 bus from Wood Green. We would walk across Clissold Park to the shop and I would present them with a list of chemicals and equipment. Amazing to think now what I could purchase back then with my dad's agreement. Like others I started with a chemistry set and expanded from there. My favourite pastime was making home made fireworks and explosives, which I would use to blow up my Airfix kit ships, set off by dripping warm glycerine down the funnel onto potassium permanganate crystals as I recall. I still have some test tubes, and bits and pieces in the garage and my old chemistry text books. I continued my interest through to 6th form And did well in chemistry, but it never led to anything in that line as I now work in IT.

  I had a few hairy moments, and some unscheduled explosions, but never came to any harm. I think we were allowed to take more risks as youngsters back then, and discover the dangers for ourselves.

  Your comment about Craven Cottage made me smile, because at that time I was making the journey in the reverse direction from North London to Stamford Bridge - I'm still making that journey, but from Enfield.

• I recall making frequent trips to Beck's in the mid-1960s. I lived in Peterborough and used to call in there on each trip to London, to stock up my home lab, taking the 73 bus from King's Cross. Also remember buying large tins of sodium chlorate for 2/6 from a garden shop - more than enough for a big bang! Halcyon days of my youth. Fortunately, I went on to become an academic rather than a terrorist.

• This brings back so many memories, except...
  With schoolfriends i used to take the old North London line from Wanstead Park station to South Tottenham station, now both part of the London Overground network. Wanstead Park station still had gaslights on the platform back then. More worrying for me though, is I'm SURE that after alighting at S Tottenham we walked just a block south and turned first left into a residential street, Crowland Rd?
  Almost the first building on the left in that street was AN Beck. I don't recall it selling much (any?) apparatus, but was where we bought all our exciting chemicals in those lovely brown glass bottles and jars. We definitely did not walk a mile and a half south down the High Street to number 60. The building I remember is not visible in Google Streetview today, but Google Earth's historical imagery facility appears to show the present building being constructed in 1999.
  Can anyone corroborate my recollection?

• Alan,

  I last visited probably about 1966 or so and cannot really remember exactly where the shop was. But I am pretty certain I took the 73 bus and that it was a short walk from the bus stop. Crowland Road is a pretty long walk from the 73 bus stop! Looking North, the shop certainly was on the rhs rather than the lhs of the high street (it was a high street, I also remember).

  • Henry. thanks for the reply. I think there must have been two AN Beck outlets then. The one we visited was certainly not on a main road and seemed primarily to sell chemicals and reagents. I'll try to contact some of my reprobate pals and see if they have better memories than mine..

  • Just came across this and also brought back memories of a n becks basement and later a small shop just past the seven sisters tube station. I managed to get conc. nitric acid and white phosphorus etc. If I had a letter from my mum.
    This lead me to a career in chemistry (Bush Boake Allen) before I discovered computers and electronics which I continued with until I retired three years ago. I now live in the country and built a shed where I could continue my hobbies that includes chemistry. This has been soured recently by an early morning “visit” from six policemen and sniffer dogs who proceeded to search my shed, house and car and cross questioned about my political views and why I had certain chemicals and electronics etc. After a couple of hours of a very frightening experience they decided I didn’t possess or was engaged in any illegal activities and left.

    • Yes Rudy, Unfortunately this is the society we live in today. So many freedoms have gone and individuals like yourself get targeted by the police and other agencies. Through carrying out perfectly innocent pastimes. Which a few years ago would have been encouraged. It appears we are all viewed as potential terrorists. Very sad indeed

• I lived in Hackney back in those days and was studying Chemistry & Biology at A Level. I would often get the bus to Stoke Newington to buy chemicals from A N Beck & Sons. Such memories come back just thinking of those days.
  Thanks for the reminders

• So interested to find Becks Chemist in Stoke Newington mentioned. I spent most of my pocket money there between 1956 and 1962. I lived only a couple of miles away so it was a short bike ride away. Career changed direction but chemistry proved very useful when working in the food industry

• I am a retired pharmacist. I loved doing chemistry experiments at home and still have a prized battered copy of Heys (1957) “Chemistry Experiments at Home for Boys and Girls”. I greatly enjoyed reading this fascinating blog. It has been linked into a blog published by the C & D (Chemist & Druggist) magazine (first published in 1859) and may interest readers. The blog entry discusses why community pharmacists today (sadly) seldom supply chemicals.
  Please see: http://www.chemistanddruggist.co.uk/opinion/pharmacies-chemistry-chemicals-youth-experiments.

• I remember getting chemistry sets from Beck's by post when my family lived near Godalming in Surrey in 1946-7. The previous occupier of the house had been an old lady who had a strong belief in the benefits of sulphur of which there were many cakes of solid in a kitchen cupboard. I was 8 year old and decided that I would try making an explosive device ( a bomb!) out of a mixture of sulphur, magnesium powder and other substances I forget. In the kitchen was a large "range" i.e. a fireplace which could be closed with a shutter. The "bomb" worked very well when I put in the range; the explosion blew two bricks off the chimney which landed in the back yard where my 3 year old sister was lying in her pram. She was covered in soot but otherwise unhurt. Unfortunately, a quantity of sulphur powder blew back into the kitchen and landed on the butter ration which was on the table: I was not very popular with my Mother! but I was very satisfied with my experiment. Luckily, unlike some of your correspondents I did not pursue a career in bomb making but became a sound recording engineer.

• Dear Henry, thank you for your terrific Blog and the interesting stories in it which have triggered some wonderful memories.
  Like Ian Juniper, I was also a student at hackney downs Grammar School, where my favourite subject was Chemistry, but somewhat later, from 1967 - 1974. I lived in Hackney and with a like-minded friend, from school, discovered AN Beck & Sons when it was located in Stoke Newington and followed it's subsequent move to Stamford Hill. We would walk and then take a bus (I forget which one) on Saturday mornings and armed with letters from our parents (often forged!) which gave the required permission, we would spend our pocket money on chemicals and the high-quality Lab Apparatus available. Our local high street chemist was also able to supply interesting chemicals to order, and I was blessed with progressive parents who encouraged me in my experimentation, especially my father, who had worked at Bush Boake Allen many years before. Although I did not pursue a career in Chemistry, I never lost my love for Chemistry and with help from the internet, have re-discovered some of my childhood experiments in later life as my children have grown up in the much "safer" and hazard-free environment of today. Keep up the good work!