Video transcript for Looking back

[Music]

[A cartoon tree grows from the bottom corner.]

['Looking back … At home.']

[A photo shows an old iron kettle.]

Looking Back – at home

[A young girl sits in a living room facing an old man. She asks questions and listens to his answers.]

Girl: What can you remember about where you lived when you were 6 or 7?

Man: When I was 6 or 7 we lived in a very very old house and it was very overgrown and it was on a very busy road although there weren't that many cars in those days. But on the other side of the road was a railway line, and this was in the days of steam trains. So every time a steam train went up or down the line our whole house used to shake and I can remember at night time going to bed as a little boy and often lying in my bed and the whole of my bedroom and my bed would be shaking as the steam train went past at night time. That I think's probably the strongest memory I have of that time.

Girl: What did you do to help at home? What did you use when you were helping?

Man: We had lots of jobs to do. I have a younger sister and my little sister and I, we always did the washing up and we used to argue about who would be washing and who would do the drying. We used to make our beds every day. That was something we always had to do, keep our rooms tidy, we weren't so good at that. What else? There were always jobs around the house to be done and we would help wherever we were asked. We used to work in the garden as well outside. So, probably very much the same sorts of things that children of that age do today.

Girl: How else did you spend your time at home?

Man: Well, we didn't have television in those days so we … I don't seem to remember playing very much with my sister and because we moved houses quite a lot when I was young, I don't really have a memory of having lots of friends who lived nearby that I would play with. So I used to spend a lot of time alone and that's when I learned – I was a very early reader and I just lost myself in a world of books, so I used to read a lot.

Girl: What is a favourite memory you have of your home?

Man:I think it would be, in that particular house, was when we first moved in it had been a farm house originally and there was still a little bit of the old farm there, there was an orchard on the block next door. Well, orchard, it was a banana plantation so there were a lot of banana trees there and we had a well in the back garden and I can remember exploring in the back garden when we first moved in and looking down this well which my father spent most of the time we were there trying to fill up with rubbish and things that he didn't want anymore, and he'd tip them into the well until it was full. So it was just a magical old house that my little sister and I used to explore together.

Girl: How have things changed since you were young?

Man: I would say, around the home it would be, I would think, the introduction of television was a very big thing. When TV came in I think that changed things a lot. I didn't mention before when you asked me but we used to listen to the radio a lot at night as a family. So we would all sit together and listen to it. There were radio serials that were on for children and we used to tune in to those together. And my father might be reading, my mother would be maybe doing some sewing or some knitting, something like that, and my sister and I would be listening to the radio shows which were like television programs that young people would have their favourite shows that they would listen to today.

I think that's probably a major change, when television came.

Girl: Thank you.

[A long view shows the girl and the man sitting in the living room.]