Via Sunday Miscellany: A mother's knowledge and love of music passed on through the Pye record player - listen to The Black Box by Olivia O'Leary above...
It was the smartest thing in our sitting room. It didn't look like a record-player - more like some magic casket. Ours was lacquered black so you could see your face in it. It had two gold lines along the bottom and ivory coloured knobs. Other people had even fancier ones with willow pattern designs giving a Chinoiserie effect. It was called The Black Box, made by Pye in Cambridge in the fifties, and it was part of my mother’s plan to civilise us...
Sunday Miscellany, RTÉ Radio 1, Sunday mornings at 9.10 am - listen back here.
