Random Ad - Berni Inn (1980's)

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I think someone is about to get a severe scolding! Berni Inns were around from 1955 until the late 1990's and specialised in steak and chips.

Random Cutting - Pablo Picasso's fortune (1973)

The world famous artist Pablo Picasso died on April 8^th 1973 at the age of 91 leaving a large fortune. He had been married twice and had had 1 child with his first wife. 3 more followed, but none of them with his second wife. She committed suicide in 1986. His financial affairs were, to put it mildly, complicated.

Franco surround Madrid

Daily Sketch dated Saturday November 7th 1936

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The real news is on page 3 as indicated by the top line about the British Embassy in Madrid being threatened.

The Duchess of Gloucester was the wife of Henry who was the 3^rd son of George V.

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The Spanish Civil War started in July 1936 with a military mutiny in a Spanish garrison in Morocco and quickly spread through Spain itself, which became divided into Republicans (Anarchists, Communists, The International Brigade and Soviet Russian advisors and suppliers) and Nationalists (under the Fascist General Franco with help from Germany and Italy).

On November 6^th Franco’s forces surrounded Republican held Madrid and began a siege that would last for 29 months. In November 1936 the German Luftwaffe began a campaign of bombing to help Franco, the most famous incident being the bombing of Guernica in April 1937. 

The War ended in April 1939 with the Nationalist defeating the Repulicans.

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Stan Laurel married 4 women, one of them twice. In 1935 he divorced his 1^st wife Louis and married Vera Rogers but they were divorced by 1937, meanwhile Mae Dahlberg who Stan lived with from 1918 until 1925 was demanding alimony for their ‘common-law marriage’. And yet he still found time to be half of the funniest film comedy teams ever – Laurel and Hardy - hence the hilarious pun in the headline.

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Then as now, only then Britain was in the middle.

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On November 26^th 1922 archaeologist Howard Carter broke into the tomb of Egyptian pharaoh Tutankhamun and, according to some people, brought down on himself, and his kith and kin, the Curse of the Pharaohs. Blaming the breakdown of a romance 14 years later on the Curse is stretching credibility.

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Not unlike something from Sherlock Holmes. In fact very much like the incident in the short story ‘The Adventure of the Bruce-Partington Plans’ in which Holmes deduces that a body found in the Underground system was dropped onto the roof of a train from the back window of a house overlooking one of the uncovered sections of the track, the body then sliding off on a corner.

I can’t find out how the case of Jessie Austin turned out. Maybe some one out there knows?

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On December 10^th 1936 Peake was found guilty of murdering Noyce.

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Those sneaky policemen resorting to modern technology to solve a crime. They’ll be using DNA next.

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If they didn’t get their wish to be in the Army then, they certainly would 3 years later when WWII broke out.

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Gef the supernatural talking mongoose first manifested itself in 1931 at a small farm on the Isle of Man. Only the family ever saw the creature although supposed photos were taken. 

It was back in the news in 1936 because of a high profile libel case in which the editor of The Listener received £7500 damages for libel against Sir Cecil Levita. Sir Cecil had ridiculed the editor for his belief in such things as the talking mongoose. 

Random Ad - House buying (1920's)

I'm not sure if the drawing is of the old Manor House which is about to be obliterated by Mr Atkinson's bulldozers, or a picture of what he intends to build. I suspect the former. In fact looking at the area online the Pope's Lane end of Gunnersbury Lane appears to be an estate of, what are now, classic 1920's semi-detached villas.

Random Cutting - Poem by Arthur Conan Doyle (WWI)

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Sir Arthur Conan Doyle is best known for his 8 Sherlock Holmes books. He also wrote 3 Professor Challenger novels, 33 other fiction books and 13 non-fiction books. Oh yes, and some poems. One of which, ‘The Guns in Sussex’ is in this newspaper cutting from World War 1.

SOS after murder attempt at sea

Evening Standard dated Tuesday September 9th 1958

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A very busy front page. An SOS is sent from the cargo ship Brockleymoor reporting an attempted murder aboard; film star Mamie Van Doren sues for divorce; rock’n’roller Terry Dean is done for travelling without a ticket; Prince Rainier of Monaco refuses Lady Docker a visa; football pools winners ‘work on’; 2 men saved from a factory fire; and the US pledge support for Quemoy.

Mamie Van Doren finally divorced her 2^nd husband Ray Anthony in 1961 then went on to have three more.

After early success as a pop singer Terry Dene turned his back on the scene in 1964 and became a Christian Evangelist preacher.

Lady Docker and her husband Sir Bernard Docker  were invited to the christening of Prince Albert of Monaco in April 1958. After an incident in which she tore up a Monaco flag Prince Rainier had her expelled. Due to a treaty with France the ban was enforced throughout the French Riviera. 

Before the Lottery the weekly Football Pools was the only way to an instant fortune for normal law abiding citizens.

After the Communists took control of mainland China in 1949, the non-communist Nationalist government of General Chiang Kai-shek set up shop on the island of Taiwan. Quemoy Island, although closer to the mainland than Taiwan was owned by Taiwan and became the focus of a long running dispute between the governments.

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Juvenile delinquency was a big issue in the 1950’s and everyone had cure, from more youth clubs to capital punishment.

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This letter was provoked by 8 days of violence between black and white youths in the Notting Hill area of North-West London the previous week. The answer here is a damn good thrashing.

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As a result of the Notting Hill riots the police arrested over 140 people, 72 were white and 36 were black. 

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The BBC monopoly of TV had been broken by the introduction of the commercial channel in September 1955, but looking at this evening’s offerings I think I would have been off to the local flea-pit for a good film.

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Then as now, British soldiers patrolling some distant countryside attacked by terrorists. In 1958 it was Cyprus, a British colony since 1925 with a divided population of Greek and Turkish Cypriots. It gained Independence from the UK in 1960.

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Those were the good old days when young whippersnappers could go out and play all day long with only the risk of being blown to bits by discarded high explosives to worry about.

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The top 6 best selling books of the week included Boris Pasternak, Nevile Shute and H E Bates. Either we were better read in those days or there was very little choice. Certainly no Jamie Oliver cook-books or ghost written ‘celebrity’ memoirs.

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The driving alcohol limit wasn’t introduced into the UK for another 9 years, although it had been an offence to be ‘found drunk in charge of a mechanically propelled vehicle on any highway or other public place’ since 1925.

The Driving Test had been around since 1934.

Random Ad - Colour TV (1970's)

None of your ultra-thin wide plasma screen rubbish here, just good solid heavy British workmanship. Colour TV had started in the UK back in 1967 but plenty of people, including yours truly, still had a black and white set in the early 1970's.