Sunday 29 December 2013

9/11Terrorist Attacks

The Mirror dated Wednesday September 12th 2001
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I don't see any point in adding to the millions of words that have been written about the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon since September 11th 2001. There are words and pictures in this issue of The Mirror that I couldn't bring myself to scan and post, so I will leave it at that.

Friday 27 December 2013

Random Ad - Harlem Globetrotters Brighton (1958)

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A 1958 advert for the World famous Harlem Globetrotters Show at the Sports Arena, Brighton. These shows weren't so much Basketball matches as an excuse for the Globetrotters to show of their skills and clown around.

Wednesday 25 December 2013

Random Cutting - Oxford wins the Boat Race (1923)

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In 1923 the annual Oxford vs Cambridge Boat Race was won by Oxford, whose crew included Andrew Irvine who along with George Mallory disappeared on Everest in 1924. Mallory’s body was found fully preserved in 1999.

P.s.  A Merry Christmas to you all!

Sunday 22 December 2013

Death of Queen Mary

Daily Sketch dated Wednesday March 25th 1953
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Queen Mary was the wife of George V, mother to Edward VIII and George VI and grandmother to Elizabeth II. She was born in 1867 as Victoria Mary Augusta Louise Olga Pauline Claudine Agnes and known as Mary of Teck.

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I wonder how long this story had been waiting to be published. I imagine that Queen Elizabeth’s, the Duke of Edinburgh’s and even Prince Charles’ obituaries are sitting there even now ready for the presses to start rolling.

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There was very little space left for any other stories in this edition, but one would have made the Front page on any other day -
Three bodies found at 10 Rillington Place, Notting Hill in North London while a prospective buyer is shown round – like an episode of ‘Location, Location, Location’ written by Steve Pemberton. This was the start of the case that would lead John Reginald Halliday Christie to the gallows. See this post

Friday 20 December 2013

Random Ad - House auction Bournemouth (1970's)

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I have posted this advert for the auction sale of a house in Grove Road, Bournemouth because I live near Bournemouth and used to work just round the corner. Grove Road is parallel to and behind the East Cliff so the 'sea glimpses' are probably from that attic window between the flats and the hotel that stand between it and the cliff top. 
£30 - £40,000? A flat in Grove Road sold this year for £335,000. 

Wednesday 18 December 2013

Random Cutting - Would be Dictator Jailed (1934)

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Augustinas Valdemaras (or Voldermaras) was a Lithuanian nationalist political who served as the country's first Prime Minister in 1918, and again from 1926 to 1929 when he was ousted in a coup.
This cutting is about an attempted a counter coup when Valdermaras tried oust President Smetona and take over as head of the government. However, the coup was unsuccessful, and he was sentenced to 12 years imprisonment but pardoned in 1938.

Sunday 15 December 2013

John F Kenedy's Funeral

Daily Mirror dated Tuesday November 26th 1963
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The 35th President of the United States, John F Kennedy, had been assassinated the previous Friday in Dallas, Texas. His alleged killer, Lee Harvey Oswald, had in turn been shot while in police custody on the Sunday. JFK’s funeral was held in Washington D.C. on the Monday.
Unfortunately, little John F Kennedy Jr., seen on the front page above, was to die at an even younger age than his father. He was killed in a plane crash in 1999 at the age of 38.

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I don’t think it counts as Congressional inquiry, but the President's Commission on the Assassination of President Kennedy, known unofficially as the Warren Commission, was set up immediately and worked from November 1963 until September 1964 to conclude that Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone.
In 1976 The United States House of Representatives Select Committee on Assassinations began to investigate the assassinations of John F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King, Jr. The Committee concluded that Kennedy was very likely assassinated as a result of a conspiracy.

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Harold Wilson was the Leader of the Labour Party from 1963 until 1976 and was Prime Minister twice – 1964-1970 and 1974-1976. And Pipe Smoker of the Year in 1965.

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I don’t think it was a coincidence that this article on the state of primary and junior schools in the UK happened to be in the same issue of this Labour Party supporting Daily Mirror as the advert above.

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I’m sure I’ve seen a film with this plot; whether or not before or after 1963 I can’t remember.

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Anarchic comedian and writer Spike Milligan appearing as the godfather.

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Before loyalty cards and reward points there were Green Shield Stamps. Introduced in 1958 they were collected in books and then exchanged for ‘gifts’. They ended in 1991.

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Back in 1958, four years before the first Bond film, ‘Dr No’, Ian Fleming, John Bryce, Ernest Cuneo and Kevin McClory wrote a screenplay for a possible Bond film. To cut a long story short, in 1960 Fleming wrote the book ‘Thunderball’ based on the screenplay and McClory tried to stop publiation in the High Court but failed. In 1963 McClory brought the action referred to in the article above, but by this time Fleming’s health was deteriorating and actually had a heart attack during the case, so he settled out of court giving McClory  literary and film rights for the screenplay, while Fleming was given the rights to the novel. Ian Fleming died in August 1964.
In 1965, the film Thunderball was made after producers Albert R. Broccoli and Harry Saltzman made a deal with McClory. 

Friday 13 December 2013

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.


Wednesday 11 December 2013

Random Cutting - Eichmann trial (1961)

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Adolf Eichmann was one of the major organizers of the Holocaust. He oversaw the logistics of mass deportation of Jews to concentration camps in German-occupied Eastern Europe.
After the War, he fled to Argentina, where in 1960, he was captured by Israeli Mossad operatives and taken to Israel to face trial for war crimes. He was found guilty and executed by hanging in 1962.

Sunday 8 December 2013

Chamberlain's Last Plea for Peace

Daily Mirror dated Tuesday September 27th 1938
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On September 12th 1938 Adolf Hitler gave a speech in which he demanded the return of the Sudetenland from Czechoslovakia. On the 15th the British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain flew to Berlin for talks with Hitler, but couldn’t resolve the crisis. They had further meetings on the 18th and 22nd. On September 29th Chamberlain, Hitler, Mussolini and the French President Daladier met in Munich and decided, without consulting the Czech government, that the country should be partitioned and Hitler should have control of Sudetenland. Chamberlain arrived back at Heston aerodrome with his piece of paper and ‘peace in our time’ speech. War had been averted – for the time being.

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Roosevelt did what he could to help avert a European war despite the overwhelming isolationist views of the majority of Americans. They were quite willing to supply arms and food to England but did not want any ‘on the ground’ involvement until Japan attacked Pearl Harbour in December 1941.

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Read with hindsight this is a terrible story of a Polish Jew being deported back to almost certain death, but at the time the general public in Britain were generally xenophobic and to some degree anti-Semitic. It should also be remembered that they didn’t really know at this time what was going on in the concentration camps.

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RMS Queen Elizabeth was the sister ship to the Cunard liner RMS Queen Mary and was launched later this day at the Clydebank shipyard by the Queen herself. She wasn’t ready for her maiden voyage until after the War had broken out so her first trip to New York was done in the utmost secrecy. The ship was painted grey and the crew didn’t know its destination until after it had left port.

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There’s a word you don’t see in tabloid headlines these days – ‘repudiates’.
Two words I wouldn’t expect to find in a 1938 tabloid – ‘      ‘ and ‘        ‘.

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Coin operated vending machines appeared in the UK in the late 1880’s. In my experience the most common products available were sweets, particularly chocolate bars, and cigarettes. I’d have thought that keeping fish and chips hot for any length of time would result in soggy chips and soft batter. They certainly didn’t catch on in any great numbers. 

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Just shows how dangerous it was in the 1930’s to be a woman of loose moral habits. According to The Times for November 5th 1938 David Leonard Knight was found not guilty and discharged

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Despite the War in Europe the 1939/40 New York World’s Fair went ahead. The British Pavilion displayed an original copy of the Magna Carta, but by the end of the Expo it was thought too risky to transport it back to England so it stayed in Fort Knox until 1947. Germany didn’t attend the Fair.

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A happy story for a change. A young couple in love and destined to marry? Maybe not. The only entry in the FreeBDM marriage records for Doris Deciacco has her hitching up with a Robert Jack in 1947. What happened to William?

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T.R. Newton may have been Cheshire’s strongest man and capable of swimming across Morecambe Bay but could he eat three shredded wheat?