Btitish Embassy in Iraq Pillaged (1958)

Daily Mail dated Tuesday July 15th 1958 and 

Daily Express dated July 26th 1958

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The July 14th 1958 Revolution in Iraq resulted in the overthrow of the Hashemite monarchy established by King Faisal I in 1921 under the auspices of the British. King Faisal II, Crown Prince Abd al-Ilah and Prime Minister Nuri as-Said were all assassinated during the coup.Mobs of rioters and looters targeted foreign installations including the British Embassy which was burned. The Defence Attache was killed.

The revolutionaries established the Republic of Iraq as an Arab nationalist and socialist one-party state.

Romania's Ceausescu and Wife Executed (1989)

Today dated Tuesday December 26th 1989

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What a cheerful headline for Boxing Day 1989.

Romania became a Communist country in 1947 and Nicolae Ceausescu soon found himself a series of important posts in the Government finally becoming second in command to President Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej. When Gheorghiu-Dej died in 1965 Ceausescu took over. He ran an extremely strict Communist state allowing no criticism or debate.

In 1982 he ordered the export of much of the country’s agricultural and industrial production. The resulting extreme shortages of food, fuel, energy, medicines, and other basic necessities drastically lowered living standards and intensified unrest. He appointed his wife, Elena, and many members of his extended family to government and Communist party posts.

The Ceausescu regime collapsed after he ordered the police to fire on anti-government demonstrators on Dec. 17, 1989. The demonstrations spread to Bucharest, and on December 22 the Romanian army defected to the demonstrators. That same day he and his wife fled from the capital in a helicopter but were captured and taken into custody by the Army. On December 25 the couple were hurriedly tried and convicted by a special military tribunal on charges of mass murder and other crimes. Ceausescu and his wife were then shot by a firing squad.

Random Cutting - Dartmoor mutiny foiled (1952)

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This is a cutting from 1952, 20 years after the 1932 'mutiny' when about a quarter of the inmates of Dartmoor Prison rioted.

SOS after murder attempt at sea

Evening Standard dated Tuesday September 9th 1958

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A very busy front page. An SOS is sent from the cargo ship Brockleymoor reporting an attempted murder aboard; film star Mamie Van Doren sues for divorce; rock’n’roller Terry Dean is done for travelling without a ticket; Prince Rainier of Monaco refuses Lady Docker a visa; football pools winners ‘work on’; 2 men saved from a factory fire; and the US pledge support for Quemoy.

Mamie Van Doren finally divorced her 2^nd husband Ray Anthony in 1961 then went on to have three more.

After early success as a pop singer Terry Dene turned his back on the scene in 1964 and became a Christian Evangelist preacher.

Lady Docker and her husband Sir Bernard Docker  were invited to the christening of Prince Albert of Monaco in April 1958. After an incident in which she tore up a Monaco flag Prince Rainier had her expelled. Due to a treaty with France the ban was enforced throughout the French Riviera. 

Before the Lottery the weekly Football Pools was the only way to an instant fortune for normal law abiding citizens.

After the Communists took control of mainland China in 1949, the non-communist Nationalist government of General Chiang Kai-shek set up shop on the island of Taiwan. Quemoy Island, although closer to the mainland than Taiwan was owned by Taiwan and became the focus of a long running dispute between the governments.

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Juvenile delinquency was a big issue in the 1950’s and everyone had cure, from more youth clubs to capital punishment.

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This letter was provoked by 8 days of violence between black and white youths in the Notting Hill area of North-West London the previous week. The answer here is a damn good thrashing.

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As a result of the Notting Hill riots the police arrested over 140 people, 72 were white and 36 were black. 

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The BBC monopoly of TV had been broken by the introduction of the commercial channel in September 1955, but looking at this evening’s offerings I think I would have been off to the local flea-pit for a good film.

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Then as now, British soldiers patrolling some distant countryside attacked by terrorists. In 1958 it was Cyprus, a British colony since 1925 with a divided population of Greek and Turkish Cypriots. It gained Independence from the UK in 1960.

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Those were the good old days when young whippersnappers could go out and play all day long with only the risk of being blown to bits by discarded high explosives to worry about.

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The top 6 best selling books of the week included Boris Pasternak, Nevile Shute and H E Bates. Either we were better read in those days or there was very little choice. Certainly no Jamie Oliver cook-books or ghost written ‘celebrity’ memoirs.

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The driving alcohol limit wasn’t introduced into the UK for another 9 years, although it had been an offence to be ‘found drunk in charge of a mechanically propelled vehicle on any highway or other public place’ since 1925.

The Driving Test had been around since 1934.

Communists' May Day Riots

Daily Mirror dated Thursday May 2nd 1929

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In the decade following World War I almost all of Europe was in financial difficulties and for those people hardest hit, the working class and even more so the unemployed, communism looked like a way out. The Russian people had thrown off the yoke of Tsarist oppression so why shouldn’t the French, the Germans or the Italians? The threat of a Communist Revolution was very real to the European governments and so any display of Communist sympathies was severely dealt with. 

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Guardsman George Sivwright turned up 2 weeks later at his mother’s house in Scotland. He had deserted from guard duty at Buckingham palace because he had been bullied by fellow guardsmen and had walked the 500 odd miles to Aberdeen. He got 112 days in the Glasshouse and a dishonourable discharge for desertion. (try saying that after a few drinks)

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In April 1928 Edward Duff died after a few day’s illness. 10 months later in February 1929 his sister-in-law Vera Sidney died, also after a few days’ illness. In March 1929 Vera’s mother died under the same circumstances.  The police became suspicious and all three bodies were exhumed and found to contain high levels of arsenic. The theory was that a family member had murdered them, but to cut a short story even shorter no one was ever arrested let alone brought to trial.

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Looks like the Mirror’s answer to the Sketch’s more famous ‘Pop’ cartoon (see post)

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In 1927 the London Power Company decided to build a large coal-fuelled power station on the south bank of the Thames at Battersea.

The proposal caused protests from people who felt that the building would be too large and an eyesore, as well as worries about the pollution damaging local buildings, parks and even, as it says in the article, paintings in the nearby Tate Gallery. The company hired architect and industrial designer Sir Giles Gilbert Scott, famous for designing the red telephone box and Liverpool Anglican Cathedral. He would go on to design Bankside, which now houses the Tate Modern art gallery. Battersea Power Station has become an iconic part of the London skyline and was featured along with a giant inflatable pig on the cover of Pink Floyd's ‘Animals’ album.

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If only someone would invent headphones or the Walkman or the iPod!

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Back in 1929 the ‘Talkies’ were the coming thing in cinema, but, just like the VHS vs Betamax problems of early videos, there were 2 major rival systems for putting sound onto films – the American Western-Electric system and the European Tobis-Klangfilm system. In 1930, the Tobis-Klangfilm Company made an agreement with Western Electric Company to retain exclusive rights of distribution of cinema equipment in most European countries. They were taken over by Siemens in 1941.

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Talking of Talkies, this was Mary Pickford's first after 244 'silents', but at 37 she was too old for the role she played in 'Coquette' and in fact made only 4 more films before retiring.

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The 2,000 Guineas Stakes, run at Newmarket since 1809, won in 1929 by Mr Jinks. The 2012 winner got £350,000 so isn’t it about time it got a name change? 

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“By Gad, Sir! So that’s what the memsahib gets up to while I’m polishing me swagger stick. Pass the Kiwi!”

Lindbergh Baby Murder Hunt

Daily Mirror dated Saturday May 14th 1932

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Since his historic solo flight of the Atlantic in May 1927, Charles A Lindbergh had become a national hero in the USA and a celebrity around the World. In 1929 he married Anne Morrow and their first child, Charles Jr. was born a year later. On March 1^st 1932 Charles Jr. was kidnapped from the Lindbergh home in New Jersey. Ransom notes followed and money paid, but the child was not returned. Then on May 12^th the child’s body was found just a few miles from the house. The Police, the FBI and even Lindbergh-hired Private Detectives were now hunting for one or more murderers, but it wasn’t until September 1934 that a German illegal immigrant and petty criminal, Bruno Hauptmann, was arrested and charged with the killing. His trial was a media circus that ended with a guilty verdict. Hauptmann was executed in 1936.

The case resulted in the Lindbergh Law which made kidnapping a Federal offence which gave the FBI automatic jurisdiction.

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The Dartmoor Prison Mutiny had occurred on January 24 1932, but had been quickly suppressed by police reinforcements from Plymouth. 32, of the 150 convicts involved, were tried for their part in the disturbances.

Amazon.com have a jigsaw depicting an aerial photo of the prison admin block on fire during the Mutiny!

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Russian born Paul Gouguloff assassinated M. Doumer, the President of the French Republic and admitted at his trail that he had wanted to kill the President of Germany, Paul Von Hindenberg and Russian Soviet leader Lenin as well.

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The fledgling BBC (then the British Broadcasting Company rather than Corporation) opened studios at Savoy Hill in the Strand, London, in the headquarters of the Institute of Electrical Engineers in May 1923. It broadcast from there until it moved to the purpose-built Broadcasting House in Portland Place in May 1932.

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Lou Reichers' trans-Atlantic flight failed when he ditched about 50 miles off the west coast of Ireland. When the crew of the American liner ‘President Roosevelt’ picked him up from the rough sea he had a broken nose, cuts and bruises. Despite his Germanic sounding name, he was an American and flew for the USAAF during WWII and died in 1962.

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That’s the spirit that made Britain what it was. Aviation pioneers but lousy at making undercarriages.

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The third largest of the cat family, Jaguars, have been around since the Pleistocene epoch (a heck of a long time ago) and will be around for a while yet, despite this later-day Robin Hood trying to wipe them out.

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Untypically for the Mirror in the 1930's this is a confusing and badly written item. I have found a much clearer account online in the Singapore Strait Times, which explains that Mr Baldock and Mr Philpott conspired with jeweller’s shop manager Mr Tom to stage a robbery outside the shop. Baldcock and Philpott would snatch an empty bag supposedly holding gems worth £12300 and Tom would then claim the ‘loss’ on insurance. The 2 ‘robbers’ got 3 years a piece and Mr Tom was tried in 1933 for attempted insurance fraud.

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Modern greyhound racing with an artificial hare was introduced to the UK in 1926 and became very popular with the public, reaching its peak attendances just after World War II.

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I blame the passing of the Locomotives on the Highway Act of 1896, which raised the speed limit from 4 mph to 14 mph and abolished the requirement for these vehicles to be preceded by a man on foot.

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Wet weather on a Bank Holiday weekend? Whatever next?

Random Cutting - Washington DC Riot 1968

5 days of race riots followed the April 4^th 1968 assassination of Dr Martin Luther King. The riots occurred across the USA but Washington DC was especially hard hit.  22,000 soldiers and 34,000 National Guardsmen helped the Washington police and by the end of the action 12 people were dead and 6,100 people arrested. 

Alcock and Brown Win Atlantic Prize

Daily Mail dated Monday June 16th 1919

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A back page rather than a front this time because the front is all adverts. This is the real news of the day. Flyers Alcock and Brown complete the first non-stop Atlantic crossing.

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The Viscount Northcliffe owned Daily Mail put up the prize of £10,000, which would be the equivalent of around £1,400,000 today

Captain Alcock didn’t live very long to spend the money; he was killed in a plane crash in December 1919.  A W Brown, on the other hand, lived until 1948.

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If you have ever moaned about the leg-room, food or anything else on a transatlantic flight try reading this account of Alcock and Brown’s experiences.

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This reads like something from a John Buchan novel but the real story was that IRA member Seán Hogan, was arrested on 12th May 1919 and was being moved by train to Cork when 8 IRA gunmen attacked the train at Knocklong and rescued Hogan.

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So 3000 people gathered and attacked a coffee shop, did extensive damage to the property and tried to lynch a ’negro’. So of course the Arab shop owner was charged with ‘allowing his premises to be conducted in a disorderly manner’.

See the post ‘A Week in April 1919’ for the Liverpool riot.

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Miss Chrissie White’s career of 186 films lasted from 1908 to 1933. She married her co-star Mr Henry Edwards and died in 1989 at the age of 94. 

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On the other hand the IMDB list only 3 films for Garrick Aitken, all made in 1919. Alas his leading part at 3 is lost in the mists of time.

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The R34 airship made her first flight on the 14th March 1919. The trip written about here lasted from the 17th to 20th June, and was followed, in July, by a transatlantic crossing taking 108 hours. I wonder if the in flight movies were ‘The Birth of a Nation’ followed by ‘Intolerance’? (they were both very long)

In 1921 she was written off after a forced landing in bad weather.

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Well I’ll be…  As a life long non-smoker I suppose this is why my subconscious interests are always well and truly suppressed.

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“By Gad, Sir… I betcha didn’t know I was a male model in me salad days, what!  That’s me on the right looking a proper prannie. Still it paid for the odd snort of cocaine, doncha know!”

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That’s a journey of 25 miles from just east of Guilford to Putney Bridge and it’s not the number of cars and motorbikes that amaze me, it’s the 217 bicycles he saw.  I wonder if they were all riding on the pavements.

Interesting arguments from J S Redmayne -

‘Nature never intended it’ – nor for men to fly (try telling that to Messrs Alcock and Brown)

‘great men and women spring from large families’ – ever heard of Isaac Newton, Leonardo Da Vinci, Franklin D Roosevelt, Hans Christian Andersen; all sibling-less children

‘nations that practice birth control decline’ – all nations decline over time. Ask the Greeks.

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A very good friend’s mother once told me that her father drove a Foden Steam Lorry in the 1920’s on a regular run from London to Nottingham and back.  It took 3 days each way.

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This is an advert for the British Heavyweight Boxing Championship bout between the current holder (since 26^th May 1919) Percy Goddard and Joe Beckett.  Beckett won the bout and held the title until 1923, when Goddard regained it and held it until 1926.

Beckett had originally taken the title off Bombadier Billy Wells who, for those old enough to remember, was the man who banged the giant gong at the beginning of all the J Arthur Rank films.   

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I am aware of cooking temperatures in the form of ‘Gas Mark 5’ and ‘200 degrees Centigrade’, but ‘a good clear fire’ is a new one on me.  Who was this recipe written for – cavemen?