Unconventional Brits: Episode 47

National World - Broadcast Video

Coming up this week, we’ll visit a medical tattooist, a cat café, and go back in time inside a jukebox museum.

Transcript

00:00In the bustling tapestry of Britain, where centuries-old traditions blend seamlessly with modern life,

00:05there exists individuals who march to the beat of their own drum.

00:10Meet the inventors, the dreamers and the eccentrics, whose daily lives are anything but conventional,

00:15as we showcase the vibrant eccentricity that colours the landscape of British culture.

00:21Unconventional Brits invites you to step into the worlds of local legends,

00:25celebrating the delightful diversity that makes Britain truly extraordinary.

00:30Coming up this week, we'll visit a medical tattooist, a cat cafe, and go back in time inside a jukebox museum.

00:43I've had people that try to offer and pay for it because I know it's important to them and they want to give something back.

00:48But because I do this full-time, I don't need the money to do it.

00:52So we don't think patients should have to pay for that because it should be a right to have a nipple.

00:58I'm Kirsty, I own White Wolf Tattoos in Bedlitt in Northumberland.

01:03I went to a tattoo convention last May and there was a stall there from a woman called Lucy and Instagram's Lucy Nipple.

01:11But she runs Nip Charity and she was trying to get more artists to get in contact and train up to do the nipples,

01:18ariola tattooing.

01:19It's a 3-day process for people that have survived breast cancer and are 12 months post-treatment.

01:26The NHS offer you an areola tattoo, but it's not a permanent because they don't use the permanent inks.

01:36So it fades within a matter of months, it'll start fading.

01:40They'll only offer you pink or brown.

01:42And these areolas just fade over time, which really are not good for people who have already gone through a cancer situation

01:53to then find themselves with a tattoo and that just keeps fading.

01:57If there is an existing nipple there, we will colour match to the existing one.

02:01If not, we'll try and colour match a tone that they're happy with and that they feel comfortable with with their skin tone.

02:06And we've got a large range so that we can actually do skin tones with different skin types.

02:11This is an example of one that we did on the practice skin.

02:15So we do them for many different skin types, for men, for women, because it's not just women that get breast cancer, men do too.

02:23And you just build it up and the whole idea is so that there is a nipple protrusion, but there isn't actually one.

02:28It's just a 3-day effect so that you don't actually have to go through nipple protrusion surgery.

02:33I mean, I showed a very good friend of it and even she couldn't work out how they had done the nipple

02:42because trying to look to the side and look at it because she thought they had actually made the nipple.

02:48In actual fact, it just looks like it's got a nipple and it looks amazing.

02:54You have to do them in two sittings so that the skin, like the first sitting is just getting the basic areola down

02:59and then you let it heal, have them come back and then you put all the details and let the final touches in.

03:05So this might be a two-sitting process.

03:07Every time I took my clothes off, all I saw was this blank picture of a breast without an areola.

03:15And so it gives us so much confidence.

03:19It's just really nice seeing how much more confidence they gain, like, so when they come in for their second session,

03:26they're basically bouncing through the door and they're just really, really happy about it.

03:29It took us ages for me husband, or even to show me husband it, because I didn't like him and I thought he wouldn't like me anymore.

03:38But it wasn't like that, you know. He was very supportive.

03:42But it's the best thing, the best thing that I've ever done.

03:47You can just see the complete difference of the confidence that it makes just when they come back in over those two sessions.

03:53And I've had it a couple of times now and it's really nice to see.

03:56I'd tell anybody, don't go without.

03:59Don't go in silence with this. Go and have it done.

04:05It'll be the change of your life in terms to expect.

04:09The NHS foundations pay through the NHS, so any patients will not have to pay a thing.

04:16So I don't want to take any payment for it because it's just a nice thing.

04:20Especially if I've got this skill, like, why not utilise it?

04:23Still to come, we'll uncover a huge part of forgotten rock and roll history at a jukebox museum.

04:30All the jukeboxes are on free play.

04:32So they come in, they don't need to put the money in, but they can choose the records they want to play.

04:37And they listen to them.

04:39And sometimes it's magical.

04:40Everyone has got a story about a certain song and what they were doing and when that song was in the charts and when they bought that record.

04:50We're the only cat and gaming house in the UK.

04:53And it's going all right.

04:56People like it.

04:57We started around three years ago now.

05:00Just short of three years.

05:02We originally had, like, housemates before we turned it into a guest house.

05:07But we wanted something new to do.

05:10But we had 12 cats beforehand.

05:13So we needed to find out a way of telling the guests we have cats.

05:18So we thought, let's just make it into a niche.

05:20Let's see if people like it.

05:23And they did.

05:24Yeah.

05:24And how many cats have you got?

05:2616 at the moment.

05:28Yes.

05:28And can you tell me about the character of some of the cats?

05:32Loads of different characters.

05:34We've got chilled ones.

05:35We've got crazy ones.

05:37We've got playful.

05:41There's a real mix.

05:42But they're all loving.

05:43They're all really friendly.

05:45All the guests stay the same.

05:47So it's good.

05:48If you want the cats in your room, they will come in your room.

05:50If you don't want them in your room, you can just shut the door and they'll ponder around doing their own thing.

05:56But apart from the occasional 3am zoomy, it's nice and relaxed, yeah.

06:02And are you a cat person yourself?

06:04Yes.

06:05You've got to be.

06:05You can't not be.

06:06But yeah, they're our little fur babies.

06:08I actually love how they'll come to you when they want to come to you.

06:13I like that.

06:14But they're just all loving.

06:15They're just all cuddly.

06:16They're like little furry hot water bottles.

06:19It's nice.

06:19They're just, they're calming.

06:21We get a lot of older couples.

06:22We get younger couples.

06:23We get a lot of families.

06:25We get a lot of individuals with additional needs, which is really special.

06:30And they really enjoy it.

06:31It's like a safe, a safe environment for them.

06:35Obviously, the gaming aspect and the cats.

06:37It's like a perfect mix.

06:38I'm not a gamer myself personally.

06:44I do try, but I just, it's all fingers and thumbs for me.

06:49I just can't do it.

06:50But my partner, he is a gaming expert.

06:53He loves all that kind of stuff.

06:54So that's where that side of it came in.

06:57So it just merged.

07:01We are north shore of Blackpool.

07:03So near Norbrecht Castle, and there's loads of conventions that are held there.

07:08And we get a lot of people who come.

07:10We get a lot of people who travel from Germany, places like that, Amsterdam,

07:14who will also come over for those conventions.

07:17And they do like to stay here.

07:18So it's nice.

07:22Just on a practical note, how hard is it to keep the place clean with so many cats?

07:28Hours and hours a day.

07:30Hours of cleaning a day.

07:31But it's worth it.

07:34And I do it all myself.

07:36But I've got it down to a T now.

07:38It's just, it's second nature.

07:41But it's a lot.

07:42It's a lot.

07:43It's constant cleaning, constant fur removal.

07:47But we keep on top of it, and it's good.

07:51The project started in 2017 when I acquired the first jukebox, the red one.

07:56And I was only here for like a few weeks every year.

08:00So I'd come home and do a lot of work on it and go away again and come home.

08:04And this went on for many years.

08:06And now I've restored, yeah, all these jukeboxes now.

08:09And they're, you know, playing, which is great.

08:11You know, so it's good fun.

08:14In about 2008, I was talking to a friend of mine who lives in America.

08:25He originally was living in the UK.

08:27And he told me that he used to come to Lytham St. Anne's to the jukebox factory to buy jukeboxes.

08:33And I said to him, I said, well, I didn't know there was a jukebox factory in Lytham St. Anne's.

08:37Nine years later, I saw a jukebox for sale on eBay.

08:42And I thought to myself, that looks familiar, the name.

08:45And then it came to me that this is the jukebox that was built in Lytham St. Anne's at the jukebox factory.

08:52So I purchased it.

08:54It wasn't working.

08:55So I ended up restoring it.

08:57And, yeah, it started there.

09:00And then it became a little bit of an obsession.

09:04And I bought another jukebox, then another jukebox.

09:07But the interesting bit for me was the fact that there was no information out there about this jukebox factory in Lytham.

09:18What I'm trying to recreate is that coffee shop culture.

09:24You know, which we used to have in the 50s and 60s and 70s.

09:28You can come in and sit down, buy a coffee and listen to the jukebox.

09:35And that's what a lot of people love to do now.

09:38They come in here.

09:39They've got their favourite songs.

09:41They'll sit down, chill out and just play their favourite music, which is great.

09:46You know, I love it.

09:47All the jukeboxes are on free play.

09:49So they come in.

09:50They don't need to put the money in.

09:51They can choose the records they want to play.

09:53And they listen to them.

09:55And sometimes it's magical.

09:57Everyone has got a story about a certain song and what they were doing and when that song was in the charts and when they bought that record.

10:05Now, it's for me, I love watching the magic that happens when you push that button and play the record.

10:11We get a lot of record collectors because they come in just because it's vinyl and it's playing and, you know, the sound.

10:22And we get a lot of people talking to each other about, yeah, I love this song and what I was doing at that time.

10:29You know, it's, yeah, it's quite, quite magical.

10:32We've had a few young people in and they look at the record.

10:36And I show them on a record and they say, well, how is the sound in that plastic?

10:41How does that, how does the sound come out of there?

10:44And it's, I sort of tend to run explainer, but the grooves and the sound is engraved in the, in the record itself.

10:52But I think when they listen to it as well, it's not digital.

10:57It's pure analog.

10:59The machines themselves have got old valve amplifiers inside, old speakers.

11:04And the sound is so warm, it's not like a Bluetooth speaker today.

11:09So what they listen to, they go, wow, that sounds so good.

11:15And it sounds just the same as it was 60, 70 years ago, but it was different.

11:22It's not the sound that the younger generation are hearing today through computers and mobile phones and Bluetooth and all that sort of stuff.

11:29Next week, an extreme metal festival on the seafront.

11:34Black flag characters striding around eating ice cream.

11:37And it's just really celebratory.

11:38The whole thing feels incredibly positive.

11:40And I know that's an odd thing to say about a music style that's rooted in aggression and anger and despair,

11:44but it's the appropriate place to channel that.

11:47Even though it's super serious, black metal, and everybody's like super evil and whatnot,

11:53everybody's really nice.

11:55That's just going to see you.

11:57That's what we can do.

11:57Thank you so much.

12:04All right.

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