Sunday, 20 October 2013

Our King is Dead - George V

Daily Sketch dated Tuesday January 21st 1936
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George V came to the throne on the death of his father Edward VII in May 1910. He was a popular King with simple pastimes such as murdering wildlife and stamp collecting. After World War I his health deteriorated, mainly due to his heavy smoking habit, and he suffered from pulmonary disease and pleurisy. He died at 11:55pm on May 20th some say with the help of his physician. I couldn't possibly comment.

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The new King was George V eldest son who reluctantly took on the role of Edward VIII. Of course he was never crowned because he abdicated before his coronation to marry Wallis Simpson (who was not Marge, Patty and Selma’s secret 4th sibling).

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Lord Hewart served as the Lord Chief Justice from 1922 until 1940. He popularised the aphorism "Not only must Justice be done; it must also be seen to be done."

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Bertrand Russell is now best remembered (if at all) as an anti-war campaigner and pro-nuclear disarmament demonstrator, but he much more – a mathematician, philosopher, historian, teacher, TV celebrity (when that meant something), author and plane-crash survivor. He died in 1970 at the age of 97.

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From December 1934 until July 1935 Florence Blenkiron and her friend Teresa Wallack travelled from London to Cape Town on a motorcycle and sidecar combination with no support team, satnav and, for a lot of the time, no roads. When they reached South Africa they quarrelled and Florence made the return journey alone.
If you look this up online you will find Teresa taking all the glory mainly due to her still in print book of the journey ‘The Rugged Road’. I can’t find anything about Florence’s return trip, not even if she made it home safely.

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This Winchester By-Pass was the first all dual-carriageway by-pass in England and opened in 1940. Since the late 1960’s and before the co,pletion  of the M3 I used the By-Pass many many times on journeys between London and Dorset and ‘fondly’ remember the hours spent queuing for the lights at the junction with the A333 (now B3335).

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I didn’t realise that the old ‘canned’ laughter debate was this old. I’ve been in the audience for several TV recordings recently; and radio audiences back in the 1960’s, and it’s true that being there does make even the feeblest jokes funnier. Modern TV audiences are encouraged to laugh out loud at ‘something you would merely smile at when watching at home’.

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