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A picture of a badly damaged London bus that is horribly reminiscent of the July 7th 2005 bus bomb, only this is just the result of a collision between the bus and a tram and no one was killed.
Front pages (and usually back, middle or other pages) chosen at random (more or less) from my collection of mostly 20th Century mostly British newspapers. Weekly new posts on Sundays, a Random Cutting on Wednesdays and a Random Advert on Fridays.
Wednesday, 1 August 2012
Sunday, 29 July 2012
Death of William IV
The Manchester Guardian dated Wednesday 21st June 1837 and Saturday 24th June 1837
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The Manchester Guardian (which became The Guardian in 1959
and still is) was published twice a week on Wednesdays and Saturdays and
measured about 18 inches (45.7 cm) by 27 inches (68.5 cm). The front pages
showed just classified adverts - even when there was an important story like
the death of the Monarch to report.
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This from page 2 of 4. Although William IV. King of Great
Britain and Ireland and Elector of Hanover, had died in the early hours of
Tuesday, in the 1st edition on Wednesday the latest news was as at 4pm on
Monday.
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The 2nd edition augmented the out-of-date page 2 information with this announcement
plonked in amongst other stories on page 3.
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By the next edition on Saturday there is a bit
more detail. ‘Queen’ in this article refers to William’s widow Adelaide who out
lived him by 12 years.
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And this Proclamation of the new Queen Victoria.
William and Adelaide had 2 daughters but the first died
within 1 day and the second within 3 months. There were (allegedly) 10
illegitimate children but the only legitimate heir was his niece, Victoria. who
went on to reign until her death in 1901.
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William had disliked Victoria’s mother so much that he swore
he would live until Victoria was 18 to prevent the mother becoming Regent.
Victoria was 18 years and 27 days old when William died.
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A nice cheap way to have a stag-do in Hamburg – leaving on
the Paddle Steamer ‘Rob Roy’ on Saturday and only £2 to pay.
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The slave trade had been abolished in Britain and its
dependencies in 1807 although the owning of slaves wasn’t made illegal under
British law until 1833. This Portuguese trader was taken off the coast of Dominica.
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I can’t find any specific statistics to show that murder was
a lot more common in 1837 than it is now, but looking through the 100 odd
editions of The Manchester Guardian that make up the bound set that this issue
is from, it certainly appears so. And, in this horribly casual murder at least, it looks like
alcohol played its part as now.
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If the fire damp doesn't get you then a roof collapse will. Coal mining was notoriously dangerous as these 2 items show.
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Classified ads for white-collar jobs. I love the language in these adverts – ‘none need apply but
persons acquainted with the business’ – has more of a ring to it than
‘experience required’. Why does the grocer specifically want a ‘stout,
active Youth’?
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And for servants. Again the language. ‘character must be unexceptional’ ‘wages
not so much an object as a comfortable situation’ ‘a good plain cook’ Does this
last example refer to the food or the cook?
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An interesting curriculum at Mrs Nutter’s Establishment for
Young Ladies that includes ‘Washing’. What no Geography, History, Science, IT or
Media Studies?
Friday, 27 July 2012
Random Ad - Shirley Temple and Puffed Wheat
Child film-star and future U.S. Ambassador to Ghana and Czechoslovakia advertises Puffed Wheat in 1936. Makes Doris Day look like Aileen Wuornos.
Wednesday, 25 July 2012
Random Cutting - Space Shuttle Explosion
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The Space Shuttle Challenger exploded at 11:28
local time just off the Florida coast on January 28th 1986 killing
all 7 people on board, including a non-astronaut woman teacher. The Shuttle
space program was paused for nearly 3 years.
Sunday, 22 July 2012
Nab Roosevelt Death Plotter
The (San Francisco) Call Bulletin dated Wednesday May 17th 1939
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A very busy front page typical of the Call Bulletin.
6 years after the attempt to assassinate Franklin D
Roosevelt featured in this post, a man is arrested outside the White House armed with a rock, a knife and a
grievance.
The
Royal Tour of Canada lasted until June 15th and took in all the
Provinces as well as a quick foray into the USA to visit Washington, New York
and, for some unknown reason, Poughkeepsie, home of IBM.
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The 2nd Sino-Japanese War had been going on since
1937 and was, by 1939, pretty well a stalemate. The Chinese were being
supported by the USA and the USSR. Foreign nationals were under the protection
of the British, US and French navies. The conflict became a part of WWII and
ended with the defeat of Japan by the Allies. ‘Bluejackets’ in the front-page
headline just means ‘sailors’.
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In the 1930’s in America there was a strongly held belief
that they should stay out of any foreign squabbles. And there’s some that think
that it’s a pity they don’t revive that attitude.
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Spin doctoring Nazi style.
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Britain took over control of Palestine in 1923
with the intention of making it a homeland for the Jewish People whilst not
displacing the Arab population, but they just couldn’t win. The Jews resented
the Arabs, the Arabs resented the Jews and they both resented the British, who
finally got out in 1948 with the independence of Palestine and the
establishment of Israel.
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Oxygen tents were used in hospitals to help
patients with respiratory problems breath by creating an enclosed oxygen rich
atmosphere. Oxygen gas is inflammable. Smoking was not banned in hospitals. Nor
were idiots.
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When the doors opened you would think that he might notice
he was facing a dark brick-lined hole rather than a well-lit lift car.
When
I was working in London in the 1960’s I once visited an office building that
had a man-with-a-rope-operated lift. To move the lift the man pulled on a rope
that came down through the ceiling and went out through the floor.
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The phrase ‘turret top’ refers to the all steel
roof of the car. This was a change from the previously more common fabric insert
tops on saloons. The ‘Sunshine Turret Top’ is what became known as a sunroof.
The first sunroofs appeared in about 1937.
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“By Gad, Sir! I like my cars like my women – big, fast and
with a rust-proofed body. Pass the Ethanol!”
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Wyatt Earp had Doc Holiday, Matt Dillon had
Chester and the Sheriff of San Francisco had George Daniels complete with
spectacles.
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The World’s first parking meter was installed in Oklahoma
City in 1935, but it wasn’t just the motorists who were unhappy with their
proliferation.
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Non-story of the year award goes to the 16
year-old who had amnesia one day and recovered the next. How did this story
even get into the paper? On realising her daughter couldn’t remember whether or
not she’d turned the gas off, Mrs Parker immediately contacted the
Call-Bulletin?
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The FBI arrested Mrs Rose Carina the following day (May 18th). Intrigued? Have a look at this very detailed 7-page account
of the whole sordid business. There’s a picture of Rose on page 6.
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The Golden Gate International Exposition (or San Francisco
World’s Fair) had been running for almost 3 months, and this piece looks
forward to the Rome World’s Fair of 1942, which, due to a little interruption
called World War 2, didn’t happen. The next Fair was actually in Brussels in
1958.
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To get some idea of the dangers of driving on the ‘steep grades and sharp
curves’ of the Sierra Nevada mountain roads try watching the climatic (and
speeded–up) car chase sequence from the 1941 Humphrey Bogart film ‘High
Sierra’.
Friday, 20 July 2012
Random Ad - Black Cat Cigarettes (WWI)
By the look on that cat's face I wouldn't like to be the one to try to take it's fag away. Call the RSPCA!
Wednesday, 18 July 2012
Random Cutting - Gandhi Murdered (1948)
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Mahatma Gandhi spent much of his life peacefully campaigning
for the independence of India from Great Britain. Ironically,
when independence finally arrived with the forced separation of India into India
and Pakistan, it precipitated his violent end. After partition in 1947 there
was widespread violence between Hindus, Muslims and Sikhs, which Ghandi tried
to calm, but during a public rally on January 30th 1948, a Hindu
nationalist took exception to Ghandi’s attempts to unite the various faiths,
and shot him dead.
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