Random Ad - Kalms (1980's)

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What better was to survive living in the 1980's and having to listen to The Smiths, U2, Pet Shops Boys, Prefab Sprout and Phil Collins, than to take Kalms containing a sedative made from the root of the Valerian plant?

Random Cutting - Richard Loeb Murdered in Prison (1936)

29th January 1936

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Back in 1924 the two rich friends Nathan Leopold and Richard Loeb kidnapped and murdered 14 year old Booby Franks, caught and put on trial. They both received life plus 99 years. It was probably the efforts of their famous defence lawyer, Clarence Darrow, that saved them from being executed. James Day was never convicted of killing Loeb and served the rest of his original sentence, being released in 1942.

Random Cutting - Dick Tracy Strip (1949)

January 10th 1949

Daily Express

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Chester Gould created the cartoon strip 'Dick Tracy' in 1931 for the Detroit Mirror, writing and drawing it up until his death in 1985, although other artists contributed when Gould's ill-health prevented him working. This episode features the blind inventor of such gadgets as the 2-Way Wrist Radio and the TV burglar alarm, Brilliant. Gould and his strip have been criticised for being too Right-wing.

Random Ad - The Singing Fool (1929)

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'The Singing Fool' was Al Jolson's follow up to the film generally regarded as the first feature length Talkie, 'The Jazz Singer' (1927). Not everyone was in favour of the Talkies and having seen several Silents from the late 1920's as well as several early Talkies, I think I would probably have been amongst the nay-sayers.

Random Cutting - Slave to Drugs (1919)

12th March 1919

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Doctor prescribes heroin injections, patient gets hooked on 'repeat' heroin prescriptions, patient gets ill, patient dies. Verdict - death by natural causes. The Billie Carleton case referred to in the cutting, happened the previous November when the young actress died of a heroin overdose after a Victory party at the Royal Albert Hall.

Random Cutting - Margaret Rutherford dies (1972)

May 22nd 1972

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Margaret Rutherford had a stage acting career starting in 1925 at the Old Vic Theatre and ending in 1966 when she played Mrs Malaprop in The Rivals at the Haymarket Theatre, alongside Sir Ralph Richardson, and a film career spanning 1936 to 1967. She is probably best remembered on film as Agatha Christie's amateur sleuth Miss Marple. 

Random Ad - Palmolive (1940's)

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Palmolive Soap for that Schoolgirl Complexion. She should use some on those hands - they look like they belong in a Hammer horror film. 

Random Cutting - Death of Ernie Kovaks (1962)

14th January 1962

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I'm not sure today's newspapers would print such a graphic picture of a dead celebrity. Ernie Kovaks an American radio and TV star, comic, scriptwriter, film actor, novelist and during the early 1950's the first TV innovator who, by stretching the existing video technology to its limits, won a posthumous  Emmy in 1962. As shown above he died in car accident in Los Angeles on the 13rh January 1962. 

Random Cutting - The Princesses see Shakespeare (1938)

February 4th 1938

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The Queen, Princess Elizabeth and Princess Margaret having just seen the Old Vic production of Shakespeare's 'A Midsummer Night's Dream' on February 3rd 1938. It starred Robert Helpmann as Oberon, Vivien Leigh as Titania and the cast included Ralph Richardson and Anthony Quayle.

Random Ad - Wimpey Homes (1960's)

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George Wimpey built their first residential estate in 1928 and by the 1960's and 70s were a household name. They merged with another well known brand, Taylor Woodrow, to become Taylor Wimpey in 2007.

Random Cutting - Consumer Goods (1958)

26th July 1958

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I was not quite a teenager in 1958 and my parents had a car and a washing machine with a ringer on top, but we didn't have a television, telephone or a fridge. There might have been a lawnmower somewhere in the old Anderson shelter we used as a shed. We rented a 2 channel black and white TV from 1960 onwards.

Random Cutting - Future of aviation (1919)

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Published in March 1919 this article in support of aviation as the future in both war and peace is suprisingly perseptive. Boer War and world War I veteran and politician General John Seely had recently been made Under-Secretary of State for Air but he resigned at the end of 1919 after the Government refused to create a Secretary of State for Air.

Random Ads - Royal Wedding stuff (1981)

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Prince Charles and Diana Spenser's wedding in July 1981 spawned a good many pieces of memorobilia. Here we have three examples - stamps, a medallion and coins. All guaranteed to last longer than the marriage?

Random Cutting - New York Skyscraper Fire (1927)

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This dramatic photo is from the Times Weekly Edition dated 28th April 1927. The original Netherlands Hotel on New York's 5th Avenue had been torn down to make way for this new 38 story replacement. During the buildings construction, on the 12th April 1927, the wooden scaffolding around the top 16 stories caught fire and the ensuing flames took 12 hours to put out.

A description of the incident appears in the introduction to Bill Bryson's 2013 book 'One Summer - 1927'