Advert - Granada Video Recorder rental (1980's)

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1982 and the must have gadget was a VHS video recorder and you could rent one from Granada for only £14.45 a month, build up a huge library of tapes and then wonder what to do with them when DVD's arrived.

Advert - Ferguson Television (1940's)

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1940's Television 1 channel, black and white picture and only  broadcasting 18 hours a week. 

Note the screen sizes - 10" x 8" is a bit smaller than an A4 sheet of paper. And that's the bigger of the two priced at the equivalent (allowing for inflation) of about £3000.

Cutting - Daily Express Comic Strips (1958)

26th July 1958

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Despite Ian Fleming's misgivings about letting the Daily Express to strip cartoon his books, this 'James Bond' strip started on 7th July and ended on 13th December 1958 and was based on Fleming's book Casino Royale. It was scripted by Henry Gammidge and drawn by John McLusky who went on to illustrate 12 more Bond stories up to 1966. 

'Jeff Hawke' was created by Sydney Jordan and he had 69 adventures between 1955 and 1975. This strip is from the story 'The Dream Peddlers' which was scripted and drawn by Jordan. William Patterson wrote some of the stories. 

The surreal 'Four D Jones' by Peter Maddocks was about a time travelling cowboy and ran from 1955 to 1965. 

'Gun Law' drawn by Harry Bishop was based on the US TV series Gunsmoke that aired from 1955 until 1975. The star of the TV series, James Arness, is readily recognisable as Wyatt Earp in the strip.

Cutting - Doctor in the House (1969)

3rd July 1969

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The 'Doctor in the House' TV series ran to 26 episodes and was originally aired in 1969/70 starting on the 12 July. As well as Barry Evans, it starred Robin Nedwell and George Layton with Martin Shaw popping up in 10 episodes and the beautiful Yutte Stengaard in 5. The writers included Graeme Garden, Bill Oddie, Graham Chapman and John Cleese. Evans also starred in 'Doctor at Large' with Nedwell and Layton, who went on to 'Doctor in Charge', 'Doctor at Sea', 'Doctor on the Go', 'Doctor Down Under' and 'Doctor At The Top'. Barry Evans is probably best remembered by my generation as the star of the film 'Here We Go Round the Mulberry Bush'.

Cutting - Mines kill BBC man (1974)

9th August 1974

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After a long history of Greek and Turkish clashes over the running of Cyprus, England became involved in 1878. With the demise of the Ottoman Empire in 1918 Cyprus became a British Colony and the wrangling continued between the Greeks and Turks but now they also had a common enemy. They both wanted Britain off their island. Tri-partite talks resulted in an Independent Cyprus in 1960 but Britain still controlled two military zones. The extremists on both sides were unhappy and the violence continued.

In early 1974 the comparatively moderate Greek Archbishop Makarios was deposed by a Greek hard-line coup-d'etat and as a result Turkey invaded the island on 20th July. This eventually led to the partition of Cyprus into Greek, Turkish, British Military and U. N. Buffer zones.

Ted Stoddart was killed on 8th August while covering the troubles with a BBC News team.

Random Cutting - Today's TV and Radio (1956)

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Actually this just lists the evening TV and Radio programmes for Friday 23rd March 1956 in the Midlands region. 2 TV channels - BBC and ATV - and 3 Radio channels - Home, Light and Third, with everything shutdown by midnight.

Michael Miles presented 'Take Your Pick', a game show in which you could win prizes ranging from a holiday to a mousetrap, from 1955 to 1968.

'Dragnet', one of the all time great American cop shows ran from 1951 to 1959 and starred Jack Webb on whom James Ellroy based the character Jack Vincennes in his book 'L.A. Confidential'.

Random Cutting - Huw Wheldon dies (1986)

15th March 1986

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Huw Wheldon was a familiar face on TV first in Children's programming and then Arts especially 'Monitor' which started in 1958. He then switched to Management and became Head of Documentaries followed by Controller of BBC1. He returned to presenting after retiring. 

Random Cuttings - US TV listings (1973)

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The week's TV programmes in New York published on 6th October 1973. Just thought that someone might enjoy clicking on the listings and admiring the lack of 'reality shows'. There's a few British imports like 'The Saint', 'The Avengers' and 'Department S'

Random Ad - Live Wrestling (1960's)

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This was the hayday of British wrestling with bouts being televised every Saturday afternoon on ITV's World of Sport. As well as Johnny Kwango, I remember enjoying watching Jackie Pallo, Mick McManus and Bert Royal among others going through their routines with commentary by Kent Walton. I only went to one live match and that was in a field behind the Merry Fiddlers in Beacontree Heath and the only name I remember is that of The Blimp.

Old Bailey and Whitehall IRA bombings

Daily Mirror dated Friday March 9^th 1973

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In the first IRA mainland bombings since 1940, four car bombs were planted in London on March 8th. Two were defused, one in a car outside a Post Office in Broadway and the other outside the BBC's armed forces radio studio in Dean Stanley Street. However, the other two exploded, one near the Old Bailey and the other at the Ministry of Agriculture off Whitehall. As a result of the explosions one person was killed and almost 200 people were injured.

At the time I worked near the Old Bailey at the top of Ludgate Hill, directly opposite St Paul’s Cathedral. I had a habit of popping out mid-afternoon to buy a Mars bar and was crossing the old Paternoster piazza when there was a very loud boom that I felt as much as heard. As the crow flies I was only about 300m from the blast. Luckily there were a lot of buildings in the way.

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The people arrested at Heathrow included Marian and Dolours Price, Gerry Kelly, Hugh Feeney and Roisin McNearney. In November 1973 all except McNearney, who had turned Queen’s evidence, were convicted of the Old Bailey and Whitehall bombings. 

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Rail chaos, miners' strikes, dock strikes, go-slows, walk outs - this was the hay-day of the militant unions, but they had no way of knowing that Margaret Thatcher’s reign was only 6 years away (give or take 4 or 5 days).

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The London School of Economics had been a hot-bed of student unrest since 1966 and this was yet another in a series of protests. 

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On March 5^th sixty-eight people had been killed when a Douglas DC-9, flying from Palma to London, collided in midair with a Convair 990 Coronado aircraft over Nantes in western France. The accident occurred during a French air traffic controller’s strike and stand-in military controllers were being used.

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The problem is whether to watch ‘The Virginian’ and then ‘Morcambe and Wise’ or ‘Hawaii Five-O’ and ‘On the Buses’? There’d be no hesitation in watching one of my favourite films though – Jean Luc Goddard’s ‘Alphaville’.

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Straight forward story – fan sends Paul McCartney seeds, he plants them, they come up as cannabis, police see them, he appears in court and is fined. I think there is a printing error though. McCartney is quoted as saying ‘there should be legislation on the use of cannabis’. Surely there was or he wouldn’t be in court.

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Fans got more than they bargained for when, in 2002, the iconic Wembley Stadium was demolished and a new stadium built on the site.

Random Ad - Telebank Coin TV (1965)

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A 1965 advert for the Telebank TV rentals. According to my maths 8/6 a week at 6d an hour requires 2.4 hours viewing a day to cover the rental. To then go on and save £80 a year would require a further 8.7 hours a day viewing -  a total of 11.1 hours a day across 3 channels (BBC1, BBC2 and ITV) that only had 26 hours of programmes all together (BBC1 -11 hours, BBC2 - 4.5 hours and ITV - 10.5 hours).

Birth of Baby on TV

Daily Mirror dated Monday February 4^th 1957

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The BBC’s ‘Panorama’ programme started in 1953 and is still running. It hasn’t been backward in dealing with controversial subjects and in 1957 this included the then very private act of giving birth to a baby being shown on TV for the first time (albeit in black and white and very discreetly). Not a programme I would have wanted to watch then at 11 years old. Luckily we didn’t have a TV set.

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Western Swing bandleader turned Rock’n’Roller Bill Haley was heading for Britain and the Mirror was hip to the beat, daddio. Bill Haley at 30 years old, chubby and balding was an unlikely teen hero but he was all they had until Elvis Presley and the younger generation of rockers arrived.

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Hungary was in the grip of a Soviet crack down following the ‘Uprising’ of the previous October/November and was no place to be looking like a beatnik in a duffle coat, a beard and a bow tie. Roger Cooper, Christopher and Basil Lloyd and Judith Cripps had been arrested on January 17^th when they crossed into Hungary from Yugoslavia without proper authorisation. They were threatened with a trial for spying but released, along with two Americans arrested earlier in the month, 

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Flying under the Clifton Suspension Bridge near Bristol was quite common in the days of bi-planes, but John Crossley successfully flew under in a de Havilland Vampire jet. After going through he tried a victory roll along the gorge but crashed into the bank, killing himself instantly. His was the last flight by anyone under the bridge.

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What the **** is going on at the top of this advert? Ah! I see now. It’s a reference to the popular rhyme of the time - ‘Eany Meany Miny Mo - catch a ni**er by his toe - if he hollers let him go - Eany Meany Miny Mo’. And there he is being caught by the toe!

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Both Liz Taylor and Mike Todd had been married twice before. Just 13 months later Todd was killed in a plane crash.

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In England at this time a youngster could only get married at 16 if they had parental consent, but in Scotland you could marry at 16 without it, but you had to be resident for 21 consecutive days. Gretna Green being traditionally the first village you come to in Scotland when crossing the border north of Carlisle, had long been the venue for runaway marriages.

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The Windmill Theatre, just off Piccadilly Circus, featured a mixture of variety acts, comedians and nude or semi-nude tableaux in shows, usually called Revudeville, from 1932 until it closed down in 1964. Managed by Vivian Van Dam it was the launching pad for the likes of Harry Secombe, Peter Sellers, Jimmy Edwards, Arthur English, Bill Pertwee, Alfred Marks, Michael Bentine, Bill Kerr and Bill Maynard.

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3 of the comic strips in this issue – Private eye ‘Buck Ryan’ drawn by Jack Monk from 1937 until it ended in 1962, ‘Ruggles’ (not to be confused with the US strip ‘Casey Ruggles’) drawn by Stephen P Dowling from 1935 to 1957 and ‘Belinda’ (originally called ‘Belinda Blue Eyes’) which Tony Royle took over drawing from S P Dowling in 1943 until it ended in 1959. 

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Regular readers will know of my complete and life-long disinterest in football, but I must admit as a child I did know the name of one footballer – Stanley Matthews, and this is the man himself in action. 

The Bradford City Stadium fire

Sunday Mirror dated Sunday May 12^th 1985

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The Bradford City stadium fire on May 11^th 1985 was truly horrific. Two and a half weeks later 39 people were killed at the Heysel Stadium in Brussels and 4 years later 96 at Hillsborough. All three tragedies can be watched on YouTube although why anyone would want to is beyond me. Reading about it is painful enough.

The Popplewell Inquiry that followed the Bradford fire led to the introduction of new legislation, which improved safety at many of the UK's football grounds. 

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By the time the Labour Party got back into power in 1997, Denis Healey had retired and moved to the House of Lords. This is a pro-Labour Mirror newspaper in full anti-Tory flight.

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I know the photos in this paper aren’t the clearest but on first glance I took this to be a picture of a late 18^th century portrait painting. That aside I think Alf Avison is being treated a bit harshly. Surely the first requirement of a budding novelist is a vivid imagination.

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What would Mrs Waterbury think of how her little daughter Phyllis had grown up? Not to mention Chrissy who would certainly have been shocked at her ex-flatmate Jo’s attire. Sally Thomsett a few years on from 'The Railway Children' and 'Man About the House'.

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Oh, look, the Royal Family is human after all. They swear and get annoyed when they cock something up and Princesses even carry their own children. So they aren’t lizards after all.

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Presumably these look-a-like Princess Diana dolls are based on how she looked as a baby, although you can’t tell from this photo. I wonder if Lenci of Turin produced Camilla Parker Bowles dolls when the time came. I hope not.

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The good news? You have inherited £20,000. The bad news? Your father was a murderer

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The recent cooking show winner, Ade Edmondson, and the fabulous Lady Connie from ‘Blandings’ looking like impossibly young ones.

U.S. Denounce Hitler's Invasion of Austria

Daily Sketch dated Friday March 18^th 1938

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Adolf Hitler was born in Austria but like many Austrians of the time regarded himself as German. When he came to power in 1933 he intended to make Austria a part of Germany once and for all, but Italy led by Benito Mussolini had vowed to defend Austria’s right to independence. By 1938 relations between Mussolini and Hitler had become so friendly that the Italian leader let it be known that he would no longer stand in the way of a German invasion. Hitler threatened the Austrian government with all out war if they didn’t capitulate and agree to Austria becoming part of Germany. The Austrian chancellor, Kurt Schuschnigg, and his entire government, except the one Nazi Party member, resigned. The remaining man, Arthur Seyss-Inquart as de-facto head of government, invited the German army to enter Vienna on March 15^th 1938.

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The bombing of Barcelona on the 16^th, 17^th and 18^th March 1938 followed France’s decision to re-open their border with Spain and allow supplies through to the Republicans fighting against General Franco. It was carried out by the Italian air force in planes disguised as Spanish. 

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Poland had taken over the Vilnius border region with Lithuania in 1920 and since then there had been no diplomatic relations between the two countries. With an eye on Germany expansion into Austria, Poland decided that it was a good time to have an ally on it’s northern border so issued this ultimatum to Lithuania. On March 19^th the Lithuanian government agreed to the demands. 

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The Australian aviator Harry Frank (the ‘E’ initial in the article is a mistake) Broadbent was trying to beat the record of Miss Jean Batten in a flight from England to Australia. A Qantas mail plane discovered him on Torren Island, fifty miles from Wangipo (wherever that is).

Broadbent went on to pilot flying-boats for Quantas and then for a small Southampton based airline serving Lisbon, Madeira and Las Palmas. In 1958 he was an instructor to a Portuguese airline and was forced into an emergency landing in the Atlantic, west of Portugal. The aircraft and occupants were never found.

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The use of the cat-o-nine-tails was officially abolished in UK prisons in 1967 although it hadn’t been used since 1962 and only rarely since 1948.

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Despite the Mayor's incredulity, Greta Garbo never married and according to some contemporary sources, such as writer Mercedes de Acosta, was of a sapphic bent.

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‘Her return to the screen’ refers to the break that Norma Shearer took after the death if her first husband Irving Thalberg. She retired from the business in 1942 and died in 1983.

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“Ouch!”

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‘Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, the first full-length animated feature from the Disney Studios, was released in the UK on March 12^th 1938.

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This is the committal hearing of the men arrested in this post.

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Hitler invades Austria? Spanish civil war? Don’t worry! The toffs are having a good time so all must right with the World. The only name I recognize is Cecil Beaton. I must move in the wrong circles.

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Any excuse to include an example of my favourite comic strip. Simple and elegantly drawn.

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One channel and 3 hours of TV a day for those few people who had sets. No fighting over the remote, then.

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This is the very same HMS Belfast that is now moored in the Thames by the Embankment and can be visited as part of the Imperial War Museum. Having been launched as shown above by Prime Minister Chamberlain’s wife on March 17^th 1938, she, the ship not Mrs C, was commissioned for service in August 1939 just in time for the War and was involved in the Artic Convoys and the sinking of the German battleship Scharnhorst.

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The Welshman Tommy Farr had won his first fight in 1926 at the age of 12 and fought his last in 1953. He’d beaten the American Max Baer in 1937 in England, but lost this fight at Madison Square Gardens.

Baer’s son Max Baer Jr. found fame on TV as Jethro Bodine in ‘The Beverly Hillbillies’.