Advert - 'The Golden Disc' film (1958)

Click to Enlarge

'The Golden Disc' was known in the USA as 'The Inbetween Age' and starred Terry Dene who had a trio of hit records before being conscripted into the Army in 1958. He was discharged after only a couple of months due to ill-health. He left rock-n-roll behind to become an evangelist and I saw him at a local hall in Dagenham in the early 60's.

Cutting - Police Moves in Gang Murder (1936)

29th January 1936

Click to Read

The bullet-riddled body of Emile Allard, an elderly itinerant jewellery dealer, was discovered

under a hedge near St. Albans on 23^rd January 1936. The police believed he had been taken to the spot by car either already dead or shot at the scene.

Police soon discovered that Allard, a French-Canadian also known as Max Kassel, had French criminal connections and had been imprisoned for 8 months in France for sex trafficking. They suspected the murderer or murderers had fled to France possibly by plane.

Later in the year French police arrested and charged a man, George Lecroix (aka Roger Vernon) and a woman, Susan Betrand (aka Susan Naylor) with the murder and rather than extradite them to England, tried them in Paris. He was found guilty and got 10 years.

Neither the murder of the prostitute Josephine (French Fifi) Martin the previous November nor that of the French acrobat Martial Lechavelier were ever solved.

Advert - Alvis from Henleys (1920's)

Click to Enlarge

An Alvis car advert from the 1920's. 'Judged from any angle is supreme' - the drawing looks as if it's from the angle of someone being run over. Good graphics, though.

Cutting - The Infuenza (1919)

Click to Read

This was the Influenza pandemic that spread across the World between 1918 and 1920 and killed an estimated 20 to 50 million people globally. It reached Britain in May 1918 and killed 228,000 people many of whom were, unlike the usual victims of ‘flu, young fit adults.

Advert - 'Limelight' film (1936)

Click to Enlarge

An unusual spot coloured advert from the Sunday Mercury dated 9th August 1936 for the film 'Limelight' starring Anna Neagle which was renamed 'Backstage' when it was released in the USA in 1937. She married the Director Herbert Wilcox in 1943.

Cutting - Hitler's Deputy escapes to Britain (1941)

13th May 1941

Click to Read

Hess joined the Nazi on 1st July 1920, and was at Hitler's side in November 1923 for the Beer Hall Putsch, a failed attempt to seize control of the government of Bavaria. Whilst serving time in jail for this attempted coup, Hess helped Hitler write Mein Kampf. After the Nazis came to power in 1933, Hess was appointed Deputy Führer and received a post in Hitler's cabinet.

Having learnt to fly at the end of WWI he retained his interest and obtained his private pilot's licence in 1929. During the 1930’s he owned 3 aircraft and logged many hours flying time.

On 10 May 1941, Hess flew himself across the Channel to Scotland, claiming that he wanted to meet with the Duke of Hamilton and plot a peace treaty that would lead to the supremacy of Germany within Europe and leave the British Empire intact. He crash landed near Eaglesham and gave his name as Alfred Horn, a friend of the Duke. Hess was taken to hospital for injuries sustained during his landing, the Duke was informed of the prisoner and visited him. Hess revealed who he was and why he’d come to Scotland. The Duke, also a keen airman, flew himself to London and informed Winston Churchill.

Hess was imprisoned by the British authorities until the end of the war and sentenced to life imprisonment at the Nuremberg trials. He spent the rest of his time in Spandau Prison and apparently committed suicide at the age of 93 in 1987.

Advert - Komposill (1929)

Click to Enlarge

Komposill may have been the miracle clean-all in 1929 but by 1936 the company had gone into voluntary liquidation.

Cutting - Birching (1961)

April 1961

Click to Read

Courts had not been able to sentence anyone to be birched since 1948 although the birch could still be used in prisons. On 11th April 1961 67 Conservative MPs voted in the Commons to bring back the birch but it wasn't. I wonder what UKIP's stand is?

Advert - Do-Do Cough tablets (1980's)

Click to Enlarge

This is still marketed as Do-Do ChestEze. I'm sure Do-Do used to be baby talk for something rather unpleasant and you would definitely not want on the tip of your tongue.

Cutting - Earthquake in Horsham (1937)

8th September 1937

Click to Read

The earthquake around Horsham in the early hours of the 8th Spetember 1937 was reported, at the time, to be of intensity 5 on the Rossi-Forel scale (moderate tremor). It was one of a clutch of earthquakes - 9th July around Walsall, 20th July and 4th December Perthshire, 21st March 1938 Edinburgh and more severe shake in Ghent, Belgium on 11th June that was felt in Kent.

Advert - Height Increased (1910's)

Click to Enlarge

Increase your height without drugs, dieting or appliances for only 5/- (25p or taking inflation into account £26). By return post a letter saying 'Stand up straight, you bow-tie wearing wimp!'

Cutting - Terrorists Kill Four in Malaya (1952)

13th February 1952

Click to Read

The Malayan Emergency, as it was called, lasted from June 1948 to 1960 and was a deliberately low-key conflict pitting the British Army, The Malay Army and Malay Police against, mostly Chinese, Communist insurgents. The Communists never really had a chance of taking over the country because the indigenous Malay population and many of the resident Chinese did not support them.

Advert - Save Electricity (1950's)

Click to Enlarge

A 1950's plea to 'Don't switch on until the peak has gone' and 'keep the factories going' sound as if it could have come just as easily from the 3 Day Week of 1974.

Cutting - Paris Fashion (1923)

March 1923

Click to Read

I must admit I don't understand fashion, so I give you, without comment, three examples of Paris fashion from March 1923. 

The mentioning of 'Egyptian' was sign of the time. Following Howard Carter's discovery of the tomb of Tutankhamun and his opening of the burial chamber in February 1923 everything had to have an Egyptian connection.

Advert- Hudson automobile(1938)

The 1938 Hudson Six almost drives out of the page at you. The Detroit based car company had been making Hudsons in Brentford, England since 1925.

Cutting - Mines kill BBC man (1974)

9th August 1974

Click to Read

After a long history of Greek and Turkish clashes over the running of Cyprus, England became involved in 1878. With the demise of the Ottoman Empire in 1918 Cyprus became a British Colony and the wrangling continued between the Greeks and Turks but now they also had a common enemy. They both wanted Britain off their island. Tri-partite talks resulted in an Independent Cyprus in 1960 but Britain still controlled two military zones. The extremists on both sides were unhappy and the violence continued.

In early 1974 the comparatively moderate Greek Archbishop Makarios was deposed by a Greek hard-line coup-d'etat and as a result Turkey invaded the island on 20th July. This eventually led to the partition of Cyprus into Greek, Turkish, British Military and U. N. Buffer zones.

Ted Stoddart was killed on 8th August while covering the troubles with a BBC News team.