Folklore: Izal toilet paper

Subject: Folklore: Izal toilet paper
From: Shanghaiceltic
Date: 24 May 10 - 11:37 PM

The Izal story

Nice short radio doumentary with music too..

I used to use Izal as tracing paper when I was a wean...

Subject: RE: Folklore: Izal toilet paper
From: Hamish
Date: 25 May 10 - 02:54 AM

And with a comb for a musical instrument.

Subject: RE: Folklore: Izal toilet paper
From: GUEST,keith A o Hertford
Date: 25 May 10 - 03:48 AM

No, there is a song about two girlfriends working the machines.

Subject: RE: Folklore: Izal toilet paper
From: nickp
Date: 25 May 10 - 04:01 AM

Painful memories!

Now wash your hands please...

Subject: RE: Folklore: Izal toilet paper
From: Arnie
Date: 25 May 10 - 04:37 AM

I have a childhood memory of this particular toilet paper. Was it also called San Izal - or is that something else?

Subject: RE: Folklore: Izal toilet paper
From: Anne Neilson
Date: 25 May 10 - 05:05 AM

The shiny side or the less shiny side?

Subject: RE: Folklore: Izal toilet paper
From: Betsy
Date: 25 May 10 - 05:16 AM

Super slip - absolutely useless and certainly not "fit for purpose ".
Horrible stuff

Subject: RE: Folklore: Izal toilet paper
From: bubblyrat
Date: 25 May 10 - 05:24 AM

Ghastly !! And quite painful,too ! There was a similarly uncomfortable brand called "Bronco" ; it certainly tore across MY Texas Plain( or at least The Chutney Canyon) on more than one occasion. But the seagulls over the Hamoaze in Plymouth seemed to like it.

Subject: RE: Folklore: Izal toilet paper
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 25 May 10 - 05:36 AM

As Ruby Wax commented - I want to mop it up, not spread it round.

:D

Subject: RE: Folklore: Izal toilet paper
From: Raggytash
Date: 25 May 10 - 05:44 AM

I remember a mate who had a particularly awkward neighbour, all the houses had outside toilets, so one night he nipped over the wall with a tube of Firey Jack .............a thin line of this up several sheets of Izal, roll the roll back up ............you can guess the rest!

Subject: RE: Folklore: Izal toilet paper
From: GUEST,Graham Bradshaw
Date: 25 May 10 - 06:03 AM

This reminds me of a funny story.

In the 60s, I was friends with a lad who was the son of a multi-millionaire industrialist. They lived in a huge house, with swimming pool, and numerous cars in the drive which included a Roller and Aston Martin. We had all grown up with Izal and Bronco, but soft toilet tissue had recently become available - I came from an ordinary family but even we had soft paper!

A visit to the toilet at my friends place discovered they were still using the hard stuff. I thought this odd and questioned him about it. He replied, "Oh yes, the old man bought a job lot from the NAAFI cheap after the war, and we are banned from having the soft stuff until this is all used up!" Trouble was, they had about 50 years supply still left in their loft.

Interestingly, Cliff Richard bought the house some years later. Wonder if he inherited the toilet paper as well?!

Subject: RE: Folklore: Izal toilet paper
From: Mr Red
Date: 25 May 10 - 06:14 AM

depends - did they use both sides of the paper for economy?

Subject: RE: Folklore: Izal toilet paper
From: bubblyrat
Date: 25 May 10 - 06:29 AM

I always wondered why Cliff walked that way .....

Subject: RE: Folklore: Izal toilet paper
From: Valmai Goodyear
Date: 25 May 10 - 06:52 AM

It's probably available from the Past Times website these days.

Valmai (Lewes)

Subject: RE: Folklore: Izal toilet paper
From: Micca
Date: 25 May 10 - 07:00 AM

Izal also made a liquid disinfectant which gave rise to the following
" Ding dong dell
pussys in the well
but mother put some Izal down
and got rid of the smell"

Subject: RE: Folklore: Izal toilet paper
From: GUEST,MC Fat (at work)
Date: 25 May 10 - 07:06 AM

The Izal factory was in Chapeltown, Sheffield opposite a very good pub called The Commercial run by a friend of mine. It's now a housing estate.
Also years ago when the Kipper Family first started Chris Sugden showed me an absolutely garish kipper tie someone had given him. It was probably worn by a travelling salesman or rep for Izal. It was a garish yelowy green and litthe toilet rolls and the Izal brand name in triangle one of the worst things i've ever seen.

Subject: RE: Folklore: Izal toilet paper
From: Keith A of Hertford
Date: 25 May 10 - 07:16 AM

John Wayne paper.
It takes no shit from no arsehole.

Subject: RE: Folklore: Izal toilet paper
From: Roger the Skiffler
Date: 25 May 10 - 07:25 AM

...I remember as a child (must have had constipation!) of inventing a cowboy caled Armitage Shanks who rode his horse Bronco into the town of San Izal...well you get the picture!


RtS
(and, yes, it is the best for comb & paper- as long as it is unused!)

Subject: RE: Folklore: Izal toilet paper
From: GUEST,Dáithí
Date: 25 May 10 - 08:00 AM

Yes, Arnie - the disinfectant was called San Izal, as I recall, and came in a ribbed bottle, to denote poison!

D

Subject: RE: Folklore: Izal toilet paper
From: Bob the Postman
Date: 25 May 10 - 08:23 AM

More folklore--

It is common knowlege that paper of this sort is the only kind the Royals ever use--something to do with its being a more effective barrier to micro-organisms. Whenever a member of the family makes a public appearance, an equerry ensures that the facilities designated for the royal wee is properly equipped.

Subject: RE: Folklore: Izal toilet paper
From: John MacKenzie
Date: 25 May 10 - 08:40 AM

You must have lived in Weybridge like me Graham. [In a different era]

Subject: RE: Folklore: Izal toilet paper
From: Marje
Date: 25 May 10 - 08:55 AM

No, I have it on good authority that in the 1960s Princes Margaret used to specify in her "rider" (is that what Royals have?) that she liked triple-layer yellow toilet tissue. It's one of these things I've never forgotten, and at last I'm able to air it in a discussion.

Marje

Subject: RE: Folklore: Izal toilet paper
From: Bob the Postman
Date: 25 May 10 - 10:01 AM

There's a potential master's thesis here for a young folklorist diligent enough to produce a map showing the distribution of the shiny versus puffy versions of the royal wipe legend.

Subject: RE: Folklore: Izal toilet paper
From: Old Grizzly
Date: 25 May 10 - 11:13 AM

I used to have a supply......

every sheet marked "Property of HM Govetnment"

That made it easier to use :o)

D

Subject: RE: Folklore: Izal toilet paper
From: Sailor Ron
Date: 25 May 10 - 11:22 AM

Subject: RE: Folklore: Izal toilet paper
From: Sailor Ron
Date: 25 May 10 - 11:22 AM

Subject: RE: Folklore: Izal toilet paper
From: Sailor Ron
Date: 25 May 10 - 11:26 AM

The previous 2 were me [I hit the wrong key!]. When I joined the Civil Service, years ago, the toilet paper was Izel but with Government Propery printed on it, at the same time the scrap paper pads were so soft and absorbant that you couldn't use an ink pen on them, so some folk 'swaped' them round, the Izel was grand as scrap, & vice versa!

Subject: RE: Folklore: Izal toilet paper
From: paula t
Date: 25 May 10 - 01:23 PM

We had this ridiculous paper at my primary school. It was wonderful in really hot weather though........ I can still see all 400 of us   running about outside with folded, water soaked, toilet paper stuck to their foreheads in an attempt to keep us cool. Heaven! The head teacher wasn't quite so impressed that we ran out of paper so quickly though!

Subject: RE: Folklore: Izal toilet paper
From: The Sandman
Date: 25 May 10 - 03:07 PM

Sailor Ron,have you written a song about it

Subject: RE: Folklore: Izal toilet paper
From: GUEST,Murray on Saltspring
Date: 25 May 10 - 05:38 PM

I remember reading a short story many years ago where a fellow yelled out a commercial of the time [I suppose] -

Little drops of Izal

Sprinkled every day

Make your home smell nicer
Clean and bright and gay!


- anyone recognise it?

Subject: RE: Folklore: Izal toilet paper
From: Dave Hunt
Date: 25 May 10 - 05:58 PM

My mother - who died ten years ago, would never have anything but Izal toilet paper, which I used to get from a local chemists who still carried a stock. My father liked the soft stuff- so there were two toilet roll holders in the loo - the soft and the hard!!
I always found Izal totally useless - I like the soft stuff too!

Subject: RE: Folklore: Izal toilet paper
From: Herga Kitty
Date: 25 May 10 - 06:03 PM

Just to keep this above the line and musically oriented... I could only ever play paper and comb if the paper was Izal or Bronco, but the vibration tickled.....

Kitty

Subject: RE: Folklore: Izal toilet paper
From: Shanghaiceltic
Date: 25 May 10 - 08:39 PM

Izal was used on all shore establishments in the Navy, even had the pussers mark on it.

On submarines we were blessed with the soft stuff, Izal would have just bunged up the beautifully named 'slop, drain & sewage' tanks, shortened to ***t tanks.

We would all be prepared to hold our noses when we heard the pipe 'periscope depth, standby to blow ***t'

The tanks were blown using high pressure air to sea. What did you do with the HP air in the tanks afterwards......you vented it back into the boat. Nasty niffs all round.

Subject: RE: Folklore: Izal toilet paper
From: Joe Offer
Date: 26 May 10 - 02:40 AM

So, can somebody post the lyrics to "I'm in An Outside Toilet in the Middle of the Night," or any of the other clever songs from this piece?

-Joe-

Subject: RE: Folklore: Izal toilet paper
From: bubblyrat
Date: 26 May 10 - 05:35 AM

Don't know about submarines (nasty,sneaky,claustrophobic things),although I did hear something about the origins of the expression "Shit Shoot " coming from that area of operations. But I do remember Pusser's Izal being virtually indestructible ; we of the carrier" Eagle" ( the only carrier to have been asked,in error of course, " Why have you surfaced ? " ), all 2,750 of us,used to leave great long trails of the stuff strung out across the world's oceans.It was often still there,little altered ,on the way back !!

Subject: RE: Folklore: Izal toilet paper
From: Jack Campin
Date: 26 May 10 - 05:44 AM

Izal also made musical instruments - those things with a free reed in a plastic mouthpiece and a roll of paper tube with a coil spring spine. Blow into it and it honks and unrolls like a chameleon's tongue.

Subject: RE: Folklore: Izal toilet paper
From: GUEST,Jon Dudley
Date: 26 May 10 - 06:51 AM

Well do I remember Chris Sugden's 'Izal' tie - a thing of true beauty. Jeff Davis was horrified to discover that we Brits used what was in effect a recyclable lavatory paper when he first toured here a thousand years ago. Izal was sold in flat packets I recall whilst its competitor, 'Bronco' was packaged in rolls and not quite so shiny.

Subject: RE: Folklore: Izal toilet paper
From: GUEST,Dáithí
Date: 26 May 10 - 10:21 AM

Ah, Bronco brand...for wiping your horse on?

Subject: RE: Folklore: Izal toilet paper
From: Herga Kitty
Date: 26 May 10 - 04:42 PM

Jon - you mean it was Chris Sugden rather than Sid Kipper who wore an Izal tie? (OK, I'm expecting the answer that Sid wore a kipper tie....)

Kitty

Subject: RE: Folklore: Izal toilet paper
From: GUEST,Jon Dudley
Date: 26 May 10 - 10:27 PM

Kitty, I think Chris must have lent it to Sid...or maybe they had identical ones? ;-)
Which reminds me of the old joke about Noddy Holder going to the tailor for a new 'ensemble' - having been measured for the suit and chosen a couple of shirts, the tailor, in the hope of supplying the finishing touch helpfully suggested "kipper tie, sir?" to which the redoubtable Slade singer said "ta very much - two sugars please"...

Subject: RE: Folklore: Izal toilet paper
From: Valmai Goodyear
Date: 27 May 10 - 05:21 AM

A superb contribution from Jon.

Given the flush-resistant properties of this paper, the S. Kipper Izal tie may have been the one Shakespeare had in mind when he wrote,

'... with an indissoluble tie
Forever knit ...'

Valmai (Lewes)

Subject: RE: Folklore: Izal toilet paper
From: GUEST,Jon Dudley
Date: 27 May 10 - 05:56 AM

Now there's a thought Valmai...knitted lavatory paper - just the sort of thing the residents of the Hanover (Muesli belt) area of Brighton might espouse.

Subject: RE: Folklore: Izal toilet paper
From: Marje
Date: 27 May 10 - 05:58 AM

Which reminds me of our (then teenaged) daughter's shcoked reaction when she first saw I'd bought "Recycled toilet tissue? - ugh!"

marje

Subject: RE: Folklore: Izal toilet paper
From: Scorpio
Date: 27 May 10 - 11:47 AM

What nostalgia! I remember being puzzled by the word 'Medicated' printed on the stuff. My arse doesn't have dandruff!

Subject: RE: Folklore: Izal toilet paper
From: Marje
Date: 27 May 10 - 12:34 PM

Yes, it used to say, "Medicated with Izal Germicide". I remember this because my brother, when just learning to read, used to read aloud any printed words that he saw, and we used to hear this being slowly chanted from the loo at one stage.

Marje

Subject: RE: Folklore: Izal toilet paper
From: Weasel
Date: 27 May 10 - 12:45 PM

Izal toilet paper was horrible, horrible stuff. I had forgotten about it and it will be hard to forgive whoever started this thread.

I never understood why it was "medicated"; even less did I understand why anyone bought it once there were other options.

A student acquaintance of mine, for reasons he kept to himself, and, well, we didn't like to ask, preferred it and used to bring rolls of the stuff with him. The sad thing was, he looked like the kind of person who would prefer that kind of thing.

How did we get onto this sorry subject?

Weasel (who feels uncomfortable even at the thought of the stuff.)

Subject: RE: Folklore: Izal toilet paper
From: GUEST,mike cahill
Date: 27 May 10 - 01:01 PM

I can't believe that no-one knows how to use Izal toilet paper, while you are sitting contemplating the infinite, you pull out 5 or 6 sheets an bunch them up into a ball, and roll them around in between the palms of your hands for a minute or so, seperate the sheets, and you have soft paper that would rival andrex the

Subject: RE: Folklore: Izal toilet paper
From: Herga Kitty
Date: 27 May 10 - 03:00 PM

Weasel - if it was rolls it was probably Bronco?

I suspect that Izal was inflicted on us at school, rather than Andrex, so we wouldn't nick it.

Kitty

Subject: RE: Folklore: Izal toilet paper
From: Ann N
Date: 27 May 10 - 03:01 PM

I'd forgotten the ritual of scrunching Izal paper thoroughly before use :) it did soften it very well. The Geography teacher at primary school used to send a raiding party to the toilets ( an outside block in the school yard ) to get sheets of Izal to use as tracing paper when we ran out of the proper stuff.

Subject: RE: Folklore: Izal toilet paper
From: Richard Mellish
Date: 28 May 10 - 04:03 AM

I'm surprised that no-one has yet pointed out that the BBC programme was actually another Radio Ballad, in essentially the same format as both the classic ones and the recent ones -- though it has to be said that the songs are not of the same quality.

I too worked in a Civil Service establishment where we were supplied with the "Government Property" hard toilet paper. I used to bring my own supplies of the soft stuff. Some time around 1980 the management issued a staff newsletter, and some of us responded with a spoof newsletter, in which one item noted that it was becoming difficult to obtain hard toilet paper, but reported that special efforts had been made to find a source of supply.

Richard

Subject: RE: Folklore: Izal toilet paper
From: Weasel
Date: 28 May 10 - 04:04 AM

No, it was rolls and it was Izal (I've never heard of Bronco) I'm in the UK - was Bronco American?

And if it's true that one was supposed to do something with Izal to make it usable, is it not a damning indictment of their marketing department that so few people seem to know that?

We had a shop and sold loads of the stuff.

We also sold huge thick, angled glass bottles of "soda water" (which doesn't mean the same thing in American) which had a huge silver syphon thing on top. They were very heavy and always kept on the top shelf.

We didn't sell many of them and I was never allowed to try it nor was it ever fully explained to me what it was and I always believed it must be something very exotic. The truth, when it came to me, was one of the biggest disappointments of my life.

Weasel

Subject: RE: Folklore: Izal toilet paper
From: GUEST,Jon Dudley
Date: 28 May 10 - 04:30 AM

Nay Weasel it was British -

http://www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/broughttolife/objects/display.aspx?id=1790

Subject: RE: Folklore: Izal toilet paper
From: JohnInKansas
Date: 28 May 10 - 04:53 AM

While in college (in the US) I worked in a lab where one of the senior engineers was formerly employed by one of the major US paper manufacturers (I believe it was Scot, but don't recall for sure).

His claim was that the "research department" had regular meetings at which "captured" bits of "paper" from around the world were passed around for all the "researchers" to feel and fondle, discuss the merits and demerits of each sample, and then adjourn to write up their separate analyses - mostly of "how to not do it like the Brits."

He had several notable stories about the "agents" who went to extremes to obtain appropriate samples from around the world. (The samples captured from the "living quarters" at B Palace reportedly required "diplomatic influence" to free the "agent," although it was claimed that the "penetration" was suppressed from the news.)

The nostalgic memories expressed here certainly suggest that had our US paper makers known more of the lore of the loo, the U.K. samples might well have been reviewed in more "gentle" terms, although probably not with lesser attention to suppressing any immitation for US users.

(It was noted that British paper people refered occasionally to their US cousins as the "land of the pampered asses," but surely it was a friendly jibe.)

John

Subject: RE: Folklore: Izal toilet paper
From: Marje
Date: 28 May 10 - 05:35 AM

There were, at one time, certain toilets in the UK that didn't cope well with the softer tissue. In the early 1960s my family moved into a house that had a "syphonic" loo (whatever that is) and if you used soft tissue it would get blocked. Bronco was the favoured option.

I remember, a few years later, meeting a couple of American girls in a Youth Hostel who earnestly showed us the soft tissue toilet paper they'd brought with them, because of having heard about our awful hard paper. What amazed me was that it had little flowers on it, which seemed quite silly to me at the time. Still does, I suppose.

It was generally considered then that if they put soft tissue in public toilets, schools etc, people would steal it to use as general tissue for noses, cosmetic removal, etc.
And now they do.

Marje

Subject: RE: Folklore: Izal toilet paper
From: GUEST,John Didwell
Date: 14 Jul 10 - 11:09 PM

I used to live in Holland and one of my Dutch friends had visited the Science Museum in London. He proudly showed me a sheet of Izal marked "Property of H M Government" stuck (with glue!) between the photos in his album as a memento of the trip. I can't help thinking that there must be other uses for the stuff such as printing worthless academic qualifications on them to be known as "Izal Degrees". Then when young people come out of "uni" and cannot find a job at least they will have something to wipe their arse on.

Subject: RE: Folklore: Izal toilet paper
From: Tug the Cox
Date: 15 Jul 10 - 10:12 AM

We always had jeyes toilet tissue ( same shiny stuff) at home, and 'Government property school. Great tracing paper...what do the kids nowadays use to draw their maps?

Subject: RE: Folklore: Izal toilet paper
From: Jack Campin
Date: 15 Jul 10 - 10:30 AM

It looks from this sample that the US once had a kind of TP that made even Izal look feeble:

Virginia suffragette's prison letter, 1917

Subject: RE: Folklore: Izal toilet paper
From: Tattie Bogle
Date: 15 Jul 10 - 11:02 AM

Interesting to note that the Google ads at the "bottom" of this thread are all for toilet paper and associated items!

I remember Bronco in rolls, Izal in flat packs, sort of inter-leaved, and the Govt property stuff which was shiny one side, and matt the other. You can still use kitchen greaseproof paper for tracing paper.

BUT WHAT ARE WE GOING TO DO FOR THE STONEHAVEN FOLK FESTIVAL WORLD PAPER AND COMB CHAMPIONSHIPS IF THIS TYPE OF PAPER RUNS OUT? They did admit this year that they are looking for further supplies of it!

And Kitty, if your lips don't tickle when you are paper-and -combing, you're not doing it right!

Subject: RE: Folklore: Izal toilet paper
From: GUEST,Patsy Warren
Date: 16 Jul 10 - 07:18 AM

I remember Izal, great for tracing paper and for playing as an instrument with a comb. It also had a nice medicated smell but not so pleasant to use. Not everything in the 60's was great!!

Subject: RE: Folklore: Izal toilet paper
From: Tattie Bogle
Date: 16 Jul 10 - 08:09 AM

And it did come in rolls too! Saw one produced from an old lady's cupboard in "Homes under the Hammer" just this morning on TV!

Subject: RE: Folklore: Izal toilet paper
From: Gervase
Date: 16 Jul 10 - 10:56 AM

I remember getting a roll of Izal stuck in a drinking pot at Sidmouth. I was struggling for about 10 minutes at the bar of the Anchor trying to get the damned thing out so I could have a beer, and in that time Bob Merrit made up and performed a song about it.

Subject: RE: Folklore: Izal toilet paper
From: Herga Kitty
Date: 16 Jul 10 - 01:34 PM

OK Gervase - was that a happy song or a miserable one (given Bob's DGD winner status)?

Kitty

Subject: RE: Folklore: Izal toilet paper
From: Smedley
Date: 16 Jul 10 - 05:59 PM

I hate to mention this but Izal is not just a thing of the past - it is still on sale. My elderly uncle cannot abide the 'soft stuff' (paranoid about his finger pushing right through - sprry!!) and so visits a chemist shop who still keep a small supply of rolls.