I used to use 9V grid bias batteries which were still widely available, though I only ever saw one radio set that used one ...
Marvellous, they were, six cells in a line with a brass tubular socket on top of each one and a seventh socket at the negative end of the string so that you could get any voltage between 1.5V and 9V in 1.5V steps ...
Very useful for lots of experiments using torch bulbs, solenoids and motors.
One powered the electric door bell I built for years ...
A wonderful source of components! I recall the amplifier I built - on a plywood chassis covered with cooking foil - using a 6SN7 and a 6V6. I fed it with a stripped down receiver unit from an old TV to listen to the experimental stereo transmissions on Saturday mornings.
These used the Third Programme for one channel and BBC TV sound for the other (but we didn't own a TV).
Most definitely!
Oh how I envy you!
Mum was bringing me and my younger brother up on a Widowed Mother's Pension, so anything that cost more than nothingpence was a luxury. My soldering iron also came from Woollies - but mine was heated up on the gas stove!
I remember negotiating with my mother to swap the weekly Lion comic for Practical Wireless - at about the same monthly cost - so that I didn't have to pay for it out of my pocket money of sixpence a week!