Lancashire nostalgia in 1995: Naff Northerners, Spliffy banned; and Lancashire in deep freeze

Here's a look at some of the stories that were making the headlines back in 1995:
Blackpool's Golden Mile is vilified in Charles Jennings' bookBlackpool's Golden Mile is vilified in Charles Jennings' book
Blackpool's Golden Mile is vilified in Charles Jennings' book

You naff Northerners says big girl’s blouse Jennings

Lancashire life is slammed in a controversial new book which is set to stir up a fury among proud northerners.

Lancastrians in general, and Blackpool in particular, are among the targets of self-confessed big girl’s blouse Charles Jennings in his book Up North.

The Spliffy logo seen on this pair of Eclipse jeansThe Spliffy logo seen on this pair of Eclipse jeans
The Spliffy logo seen on this pair of Eclipse jeans
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The book chronicles his travels across the whole of the North of England.

And, although he praises the Lancashire sense of humour, he is less than impressed with bastions of northerness such as Blackpool and Wigan, and says he prefers Yorkshire.

In the 230-page diatribe he describes Blackpool as: “The first place I’ve been to where the whole town has halitosis... the whole settlement reeks of chip fat, beer and ice-cream, uniformly and without let-up.

“I felt as if I was wading through the contents of someone’s stomach.”

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And he lambasts the famous Golden Mile for its endless entertainment arcades, junk food shops and bingo parlours.

Blackpool tourism boss Barry Morris hit back at the book saying it had obviously been written to be controversial.

He said: “It does not do much for Blackpool. He criticises the smell, but what on earth does he think a tourist town like Blackpool should smell like?”

Author Charles Jennings now lives in West London, but was brought up in North London.

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Look back at a selection of pictures from 1995 here

Lancs school bans Spliffy drug clothing

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A school has banned designer clothing which includes motifs showing a cartoon character called Spliffy smoking drugs.

Parents of pupils at Broughton High School, Preston, have been sent letters from head Terry Harris who fears the clothing could encourage youngsters to take drugs.

Children, some younger than 10, are wearing jackets and jeans which are decorated with Spliffy - a drug-crazed hippy shown smoking a cannabis cigarette or ‘spliff’.

Logos on the clothing includes the words Eclipse and E-legal, both regarded as other names for the designer drug Ecstasy.

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Chairman of Lancashire’s education committee Coun Stan Wright said: “This is serious. Drugs are being promoted as being fun but really all they bring is misery, death and destruction.

People often do not realise what these logos mean. It happened a few years ago with the Mr Smiley badges and parents should be made aware.”

Some headteachers in Preston say they have been loathe to draw attention to the character for fear of making him a hero.

The frozen North causes road chaos

Commuters in Lancashire were facing chaos as snowstorms brought havoc to the roads.

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Unexpected falls blanketed the roads around Preston and high roads on the Greater Manchester-Yorkshire borders, where at one point 5,000 cars were abandoned by frustrated motorists.

The snow caused problems for other drivers struggling to get home in Lancashire and then back to work.

Motorway police based at Charnock Richard said that surprisingly there were no accidents on the M6 as drivers sensibly decided to take it carefully when faced with the snow.

AA Roadwatch described the M62 in the Greater Manchester area as “impassable”.

Weather forecasters predicted that more snow might fall.

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