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I wonder how many of these 1980's Multi-Exercisers are lurking in attics up and down the Country.
Front pages (and usually back, middle or other pages) chosen at random (more or less) from my collection of mostly 20th Century mostly British newspapers. Weekly new posts on Sundays, a Random Cutting on Wednesdays and a Random Advert on Fridays.
Friday, 6 December 2013
Wednesday, 4 December 2013
Random Cutting - Convoy captured by 4000 Afghans (1919)
Click to Read
This cutting from July 1919 is about an incident in the Third Anglo-Afghan War that lasted from May 1919 until August 1919.
Sunday, 1 December 2013
England scores 280 first innings
Sunday Pictorial dated Sunday August 15th
1926
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I must admit that on reading this headline ‘England scores
280 first innings’ I had no idea whether it was a ‘Hooray for England’ or a ‘England
team let us down again’ headline. I don’t understand cricket scoring.
A look on this web page
told me England won the 5th Test in 1926 by 289 runs.
Ask me in 5 minutes who won and by how many runs and I will
have forgotten, but I am sure there are people out there that will find these
pages interesting.
Click to Read
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The death of John Thomas Derham resulted from a fight with
his friend Alphonso (or Alphonse) Smith over Smith’s wife Catherine.
Smith was found not guilty of murder or manslaughter in
November 1926 but sentenced to 12 months for possession of a firearm with
intent to injure. The comparatively lenient sentence was passed because the
judge believed that Smith only intended to kill himself.
Click to Read
In fact the Reverend John Alexander Smith died of his head
wound the next day.
Click to Read
Click to Read
At least this fire in a paint factory in Southwark ended
without loss of life and even three cats were saved.
Click to Read
In June 1916 Lord Kitchener sailed on the battle cruiser HMS
Hampshire for a diplomatic mission to Russia, but the ship struck a mine laid
by U-boat U-75 and sank. Kitchener, his staff, and 643 of the crew of 655 were
drowned or died of exposure. His body was never found.
In
1926, a hoaxer, Frank Power, claimed that a Norwegian fisherman had found
Kitchener’s body. Power brought a coffin back from Norway and prepared it for
burial in St. Paul's. At this point, however, the authorities intervened and
the coffin was opened in the presence of police and a distinguished
pathologist. The box was found to contain only tar for weight. Power was never
prosecuted.
Click to Read
I have a funny feeling that whoever tried to fill this in
didn’t stand an chance of winning that rather nice Bullnose Morris Cowley, and
should have sent off for the 64 page booklet on how to complete crosswords.
Rather an odd feature of this grid is the use of clues marked ‘actual’ so
R.T.B. (actual) is literally RTB. The other oddity I’ve noticed is 20 across
and 20 down is the same isolated square with a ‘D’ pre-printed.
The first crossword to appear in a UK newspaper was only 2
years previously in 1924.
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Arthur Ferrier was born and started working as a cartoonist
in Glasgow, then he moved to London and drew joke cartoons for newspapers
and magazines.
In 1930 he created Britain’s first ‘glamour’ cartoon strip
called ‘Film Fanny’. The most famous ‘glamour’ strip was the Daily Mirror’s
‘Jane’. The Sunday Pictorial also published his ‘Our Dumb Blonde’ strip, which
ran from 1939 to 1946, followed by ‘Spotlight on Sally’ and ‘Eve’.
Click to Read
“By Gad, Sir! Whatever next? They’ll be teaching the little
blighters to use the Interweb, what ever that it. A damn good thrashing would
do them a sight more good. Pass the cane!”
Click to Read
Only 13 years before World War II and, apart from talk of
getting rid of horses, this could be from World War I.
Click to Read
Probably the Bristol Bulldog single seater biplane fighter
introduced into service in 1927.
The racing seaplane mentioned here is the Gloster VI, which
was entered for the 1929 Schneider Trophy race, but was beaten by the
Supermarine S6.
Click to Read
Ah, the old ‘daring-short-skirt-flat-chested-coal-scuttle
for a hat’ look. Although the one on the right has gone for the mis-tossed
pancake hat. Nice drawings though by Renee Maude.
Friday, 29 November 2013
Random Ad - Picture Show's Valentino memorial (1926)
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An advert for the popular weekly film magazine Picture Show following the premature death of matinee idol Rudolph Valentino on August 23rd 1926.
Wednesday, 27 November 2013
Random Cutting - Cliff Thorburn wins Championship (1980)
Click to Read
Canadian Cliff Thorburn beat Alex 'Hurricane' Higgins to win the Snooker World Championship in 1980, but lost to Steve Davis 3 years later despite getting the first maximum break of 147 in the World Championships.
Sunday, 24 November 2013
Space Shuttle Challenger disaster
The Mirror dated
Wednesday January 29th 1986
Click to Read
The front and back covers of this edition of The Mirror (as the Daily Mirror called itself for a while) were unusual in that they were printed sideways.
Click to Read
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This was the 25 launch of the Space Shuttle since the first
orbital flight in 1981 and the 10th using Challenger. The special
commission appointed Ronald Reagan to investigate the accident found that NASA
management were to blame for not heeding scientists’ warnings that the
component that failed would be at risk if the launch was made in the weather
conditions that prevailed on January 28th and that they had known of
a potential fault with the component since 1977. A U.S. House Committee on
Science and Technology investigation came to the same conclusions.
The Shuttle program was halted until September 1988
when the program was resumed. All went well until January 2003 when Columbia
broke up on re-entry. The Space Shuttle program finally came to an end in July
2011.
Click to Read
L Ron Hubbard died on January 24th 1986 following
a stroke. He had made a living as an author of pulp fiction in the 1930’s and
40’s but then developed Dianetics - a way of improving an individual’s physical
and mental health. Later he went on to expand these ideas into Scientology. He
has been called both a messiah and a pathological liar, but what can’t be
denied is that he led a fascinating life and is well worth Google’ing.
Click to Read
I like the comment ‘if he hadn’t been there he wouldn’t have
got hurt’. I am surprised though that he got away with keeping an axe under his
bed for just such an event.
Click to Read
Anne Robinson (yes,
the Weakest Link Anne Robinson) waxing lyrical about Prince Charles.
Click to Read
I could imagine this happening in the 1950’s but in 1986
it’s unbelievable. Could there be more to the story than is printed here, or
was the Landlord really that out of touch with the world of the 1980’s?
Click to Read
Paul McCartney, Roger
Daltrey, Bob Geldof and some other bloke. It says four stars but I say three
stars and Phil Collins.
Click to Read
The Top 40 in all its variety. Number 3 should be ‘Walk of
Life’. Number 39 is a version of one of my all time favourite Animals tracks
‘Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood’ by a group even Google hasn’t heard of -
Coltello Show Confederates.
Click to Read
Palace intrigue just
like in the olden days. Did Princess Anne really call Princess Dianna ‘the
Dope’, or not? We commoners will never know. Or care.
Click to Read
The usual pre-World
Cup optimism. In fact England were pushed out of the Mexico World Cup in the
quarter-finals by Argentina and more specifically by Diego Maradona and his
‘Hand of God’ goal. Argentina went on to win the tournament. Gary Lineker won
the Golden Boot as the leading scorer.
Friday, 22 November 2013
Random Ad - Christmas Rations (1946)
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The good news? We won the War. The bad news? Rationing goes on for another 9 years.
This a Ministry of Food information advert for Xmas 1946. Corned beef with a sprig of holly on top, anyone?
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