About Me

I'm the Bishop of Southwark, this is what I do.
I’m the Bishop of Southwark, this is what I do.

If idling in second hand bookshops flicking through ancient books is one of your great pleasures in life, then I hope this site is for you.

I am Estelle Hargraves, I live in Liverpool and I love all books apart from “The World According to Clarkson”.

My aim is to fill this site with excerpts from out-of-print goodies, things that are amusing, bizarre, thought-provoking, wonderful and strange. Things that should be on the Internet, but mostly aren’t (yet). Most of what I post is from my own old book and ephemera collection and it feels so good to finally have a place to share all these interesting scraps. I also do a bit of history detective work in whatever online archives I can find.

My interests can pretty much be summed up as history, comedy and space and anything that involves at least two of these things is probably one of my favourite things (Blackadder, Doctor Who and The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy are some of them). I will take any excuse to post a related comedy clip in amongst the bookish stuff, too.

I’d also love for other people to add to the Skittish Library archives. If you have anything you’d like to share, please send me a scan or photo and the details of where it’s from. I’d love to hear from you. Email skittishlibrary@outlook.com

Follow me on Twitter at www.twitter.com/skittishlibrary
And my Facebook page is here –https://www.facebook.com/Skittishlibrary where I’ll post links to new entries.

All posts are in good faith that the books are out of print, but please let me know if I am treading on any current copyrights. I work for LJMU and any views I express here are my own and do not represent those of LJMU.

25 replies on “About Me”

Thanks Estelle for your wonderful write ups. Never knew there was a Zoo in Liverpool! I’m on the hunt for 1937 Liverpool stories, ads etc to group together for a gift to my Grandad who was born in 1937 and came across your blog. I live in Singapore now and miss Liverpool and the people. Great reading all your posts 🙂

I live in California. I’m an anglophile and a fan of all things Victorian. I love your site. Thank you for all this great reading material!

Love your site. Was wondering if you know the meaning and/or origin of the term “happy as a sandboy”? I heard it on the tv show One Foot in the Grave, but cannot find any information.

Thank you Carlotta (by the way, yours is one of my favourite names). I’m a big, big One Foot in the Grave fan as it happens. It seems to be one of those phrases that isn’t entirely agreed upon, but most likely refers to the men who delivered sand to be scattered on the floor of Victorian pubs (that and sawdust to soak all kinds of things up) and who were paid in beer, hence being happy!

Hi Estelle- fab site! You posted in January about trying to track down a copy of How to Entertain at Parties. Did you ever track one down?

Thanks Jet, sorry just seen this comment now. I’d forgotten about that – thanks for reminding me!

Hello, I was directed to your interesting website when I searched for information on the national ‘Veget’ loaf. An eccentric (and presumably elderly) chap had written to his local newspaper to suggest that its reintroduction would revive Darwen (East Lancs.) market. Not so sure about his suggestion that his mate Ken might like to restart his 1950s delivery round in his van, though.

Anyway, thanks for the information on the Veget loaf. I stayed to browse many other whimsies!

hello Estelle, I was very interested in your articles about zoos in Liverpool as the Cross family were relatives of mine. I’m still working on the family tree but most of what I know was told to me by my mum who sadly passed away earlier this year. She told me about Cross’s menagerie and that her relative had married into the family. One of her female relatives was a lion tamer and on one occasion during a performance, a tamer was badly mauled and without further ado she stepped into the cage and continued with the act. This was borne out by an article in the Echo many years ago when they used to have a column ‘100 years ago today’ and my mum’s story was confirmed. I’m still struggling with the family tree though.

So sorry for the late reply but thanks so much for your comment. How wonderful, I would love to hear more about your memories of the zoo!

Nice collection of nuggets. Like the Dinnie information in particular. I included the man’s story in my recent tome: ‘The A-Z of Curious Aberdeenshire. ‘

I have enjoyed your site but I wonder how many letters from King George vi to schoolchildren at the end of WWII were actually sent out? None of my contemporaries have heard of or seen it and my own school have no record of it in their archives.

I have enjoyed your site but I wonder how many letters from King George vi to schoolchildren at the end of WWII were actually sent out? None of my contemporaries have heard of or seen it and my own school have no record of it in their archives. I may have written before but I would like a reply,
, if possible.

So sorry for my tardiness Ivy, my year has been rather taken up with being pregnant and my now 5 week old boy! I’ve tried to find out more about the detail of the letter’s distribution but I can’t find out much, I’m afraid. Was it your theory that it might have gone to up-to-14 year olds only as that was the legal age you could leave school? That sounds very feasible to me. Certainly it doesn’t seem very widely known about now, if it went out to so many schoolchildren at the time.

I really enjoyed your article on Micky The Chimp. I’m a 37 year old lad who lived on Rosemont Road (which backs onto where the zoo was) most of his life. We’d always hear stories of Mickey and other animals. We were blessed enough to have a huge garden, and when digging up for a pond, my parents found LOADS of HUGE bones. At first they were a little worried, but after investigation, it turns out they were animal bones from the meat used to feed the carnivorous animals at the zoo.

I used to deliver papers in the road where Micky ended up on the roof. There was an older lady there who used to tell me all about him, and how she remembers Micky on the rooftops, throwing slates off the roof at people. It’s a sad story with how it ended. Thanks for taking the time to research and publish it.

Hi Matt, ah that’s brilliant, thanks so much! I love hearing details from people who knew more about Mickey. I think it would make such a good film….

Hello, Estelle. I’m a researcher in the United States interested in the Liverpool Virus, and especially in the advert you found. I’d like to include it in an article I’m publishing. Can you tell me anything about its original place of publication? Many thanks!

Hi my name is Stephanie Lawton, I work as an unpaid volunteer Exhibition Officer at the Solway Aviation Museum, Carlisle, Cumbria (Registered Charity)
I would like to ask if you would grant me permission to use the Printed letter from King George VI, sent to all schoolchildren at the end of the Second World War, as part of a display for next year

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