Far East Crisis - Premier to Speak

Evening Standard dated Friday September 12^th 1958

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The main story here is whether or not Harold Macmillan’s Conservative Government was going to commit British troops to augment the US Navy’s attempts to help the non-Communist Chinese who were defending Quemoy Island from a sustained artillery bombardment by the Communist Chinese. As it turned out we didn’t get involved. For once. The shelling of Quemoy lasted from August 23^rd until early October.

Sir Winston Churchill, ex Prime Minister, ex Home Secretary, ex First Lord of the Admiralty, ex Secretary of State for War, ex Secretary of State for Air, ex Chancellor of the Exchequer, Nobel Prize winner, author and amateur bricklayer married Clementine Hozier in 1908 and were still married when he died in 1965.

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President Eisenhower’s address to the nation assuring the American people that he would not tolerate Communist aggression in the Far East is strongly reminiscent of Kennedy and the Cuban Crisis 4 years later. Even more so when you know that it was later revealed that the use of Nuclear retaliation against China was considered at the highest level.

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Continued from the front page.

The poet Robert Service died at the age of 84. See also the Random Cutting here. 

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Continued from the front page.

Two things to remember – there’s no such thing as a free lunch and if it looks too good to be true then it ain’t. Oh and don’t buy cheap orange juice by the barrel off a shyster.

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I don’t know how Sgt Florence Little got on in the Lorry Driver of the Year. The only information I can find online is that a ‘Sgt F Tucker’ got 89 points out 100 and came 25^th. Maybe the Evening Standard got the name wrong. It wouldn’t be the first time or the last.

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These articles that ‘look to the future’ never quite get it right. Most of the gadgets featured are spot on but it’s what is not mentioned that shows the lack of foresight. Where are the ‘ready meals’ and the microwave cookers?

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This must be one of the worst pictures of Marilyn Monroe I have seen. It is obviously of such poor quality it has had to be ‘touched in’ by an artist, albeit not very well. Joe E Brown was a circus performer, professional baseball player, vaudeville comedian, and film and TV actor, particularly remembered for his role in the Monroe, Tony Curtis and Jack Lemon comedy ‘Some Like It Hot’. In fact this photo is one of several that were taken on the porch of the Hotel del Coronado in San Diego during the making of that film.

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Welcome to Fight Club. The first rule of Fight Club is: you do not sign a contract for a Prize Fight and then tell everyone, because it has been illegal since 1882.

Random Ad - Macleans Solid Dentifrice (1950's)

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An alternative to the tooth paste tube, Macleans Solid Dentifrice was, if I remember right, pink and tasted suitably medicinal. My trousers were short like his but my toothbrush was smaller. 

Random Cutting - US Troops ready for battle (1965)

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This 1965 cutting marks the turning point of the U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War that dominated American politics, media and culture for the rest of the 1960’s and early 1970’s. From 1955 until 1965 the US troops in Vietnam were officially non-combatant military advisors, then two U.S. destroyers were reportedly attacked by the North Vietnamese in the Gulf of Tonkin in 1964 and consequently the U.S. Congress passed the  “Gulf of Tonkin” resolution authorizing President Johnson to wage all-out war against North Vietnam. It is now believed that the incident was faked.

Malcolm Campbell in South Africa

Daily Mirror dated Tuesday February 26^th 1929

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Sir Malcolm Campbell took up motor racing in 1910 and first broke the land speed record in 1924 by driving at 146mph. In 1927 and 1928 he broke the record twice more but it wasn’t until February 1931, in South Africa, he exceeded 250mph, the first driver to do so. His last record was set in 1937 when he managed 301mph at Bonneville Salt Flats. The current record, using a jet propelled car is 763mph.

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Biological warfare dates beck to at least the 6^th century BC and its use by the Assyrians. In World War I the Germans tried to use anthrax and glanders but were none too effective because of their poor delivery methods. To spread glanders they had to infect horses and then it only spread to humans if they touched the infected animals. I read a fascinating novel recently that was about this very thing - 'The Poison Tide' by Andrew Williams.

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In late 1928 a civil war broke out in Afghanistan as a result of the King trying to Westernise the country. By December Kabul was overrun by rebels and the British Minister Sir Francis Humphrys became worried for the safety of the British Consul and its staff. He contacted the RAF in India and arranged an airlift for over 300 women and children which was accomplished between December 23^rd and 31^st. Between January 14^th 1929 and February 25^th the rest of the staff, other expatriate nationals and the Afghan Royal family were brought out. Sir Francis was on the last plane. This action by the RAF has gone down in history as the first mass airlift.

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Jack Dempsey had been World Heavyweight Boxing Champion of the World but retired in 1927 after losing a bout to Gene Tunney. He continued to give exhibition fights and went into management/promotion. He opened a restaurant in Times Square, New York, which I visited for a superb steak the year before it finally closed in 1974.

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Chaplin had begun filming ‘City Lights’ at the end of December 1928 and by February was still working on the first scene where his character, the Tramp, meets the blind flowergirl. There was a lot of tension on the set caused by a mutual dislike between Chaplin and his co-star Virginia Cherrill.

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And the moral of this tale is not to test for strychnine by tasting it.

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Edinburgh born Sir Harry Lauder had been a coal-miner before becoming a very popular and famous music-hall comedian and singer. He wrote his own songs including the standard ‘Keep Right on to the End of the Road’ and toured the USA and Australia. I’m not sure that posing next to a dead shark would be quite so acceptable today.

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Fred Duprez was an American born film actor and comedian, but the name that jumps out for me is George Carpentier  the French boxer who had been, at various times, Middleweight Champion of Europe, Light-heavyweight Champion of Europe and Heavyweight Champion of Europe. He had fought Jack Dempsey in 1921 for the Heavyweight Championship of the World, but was knocked out. He retired from boxing and went on to appear in vaudeville as a song and dance man, he appeared in a few films and then spent the rest of his life running bars and restaurants in Paris.

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Mrs Kate Meyrick was a nightclub owner in London in the 1920’s. The clubs were patronised by both High Society and gangsters and, although prohibition never came to the UK there were strict licensing laws and opening hours, which Mrs Meyrick was happy to ignore. The police thought otherwise and she went down for several short prison terms. In 1928 Police Sergeant George Goddard who was in charge of the raids on her clubs was arrested for taking bribes. Mrs Meyrick was implicated and she was sentenced to 15 months’ hard labour – she was 53 years-old and it ruined her health. She retired and died in 1933.

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There’s nothing new about suspicious contents in processed food as this ‘Pip, Squeak and Wilfred’ cartoon for younger children shows, although I don’t think any old boots have been found in anyone’s lasagne yet.

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The Ideal Home Exhibition, founded by the Daily Mail newspaper, ran annually at Olympia from 1908 until 1978 as a showcase for domestic design and innovation.

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The music-hall singer and stage actress Lily Langtry (sometime spelt Lillie Langtry) became famous as the mistress of Edward VII when he was Prince of Wales. Albert (i.e. Edward - I wish these royals didn’t change name when enthroned) had built a hideaway for Lily and himself in Derby Road, Bournemouth, which is now known as the Langtry Manor Hotel.

She spent her final years living in Monaco with Mrs Peat the widow of her former butler. She died in Monaco but, as can be seen above, was returned to her birthplace in Jersey for burial.

Random Ad - Keyboard (1910's)

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Apparently compatible with the latest Ipod for those who hate those on-screen virtual keyboards. I assume they were used for training ‘typewriters’ as typists were once known.

Random Cutting - American Action against Villa (1916)

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No, this is not a grudge match between a USA football team and Aston Villa. This is the American Army vs. Pancho Villa.

On the 9^th March 1916 the Mexican revolutionary (or freedom fighter or terrorist depending on your point of view) Francisco ‘Pancho’ Villa crossed into the USA and attacked the town of Columbus, New Mexico. Then as now, the US Government was none too pleased and in effect invaded Mexico on March 14^th with 4800 troops with orders to capture or kill Villa. They were active in Mexico for a year but failed to get him and withdrew in February 1917.

Nixon Returns to Washington

Daily News (New York) dated Tuesday January 17^th 1978

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Following the Watergate Scandal and his resignation, Richard Nixon left Washington in disgrace in August 1974 and faced the possibility of criminal charges, but in September of that year his successor Gerald Ford issued a Presidential pardon. Hubert Humphrey’s funeral was Nixon’s first time back in Washington.

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Despite being 11 degrees of latitude further south than London, New York has a far greater variation in weather – from stifling heat waves in summer to snow bound winters. The Guardian newspaper in the UK used be ridiculed for it’s frequent typographical errors, but I don’t think I have seen so many typos in one article as in the above.

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Hubert Humphrey was the US Vice-President under Lyndon B. Johnson from 1965 to 1969, and ran for President in 1968 but lost to Richard Nixon.

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The Anglo-French supersonic passenger airliner Concorde went into service in 1976 on the London to Bahrain route. Landing in the USA was banned except for Washington Airport until February 1977, but New York refused to allow Concorde into JFK until November 1977.

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Presumably the accusations against Michael Kan of stealing from the Brooklyn Museum came to nought because in 1996 Kan was still at the Detroit Institute of Art, which he had moved to 2 years before this case, and was chairing the Selection Committee for an Exhibition at the Guggenheim Museum.

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Ex-New York Police Officer Thomas Ryan was convicted of criminally negligent homicide for the beating death of Israel Rodriguez in July 1975. Despite attempts by several jurors to change their verdict, Ryan was sentenced to 4 years at this hearing in January 1978.

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The politically right wing, anti-communist, pro Iraqi War, anti-Gay, Christian, anti- Barack Obama singer Pat Boone had 12 top ten hits between 1955 and 1962 in the UK.

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In December 1969 Joseph Yablonski, his wife and their daughter were murdered by gunmen hired by William Anthony ‘Tony’ Doyle whom Joseph had challenged for the leadership of the United Mine Workers of America union. In 1973 Doyle was convicted of arranging the murders and sentenced to 3 life terms but in 1977 his conviction was overturned and a new trial was set.

In February 1978 he was again found guilty and died in prison in 1985 at the age of 80.  

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Of the black Astronauts named all 3 went into Space, Guion Bluford being the first in 1983. Ronald McNair had one mission in the Space Shuttle in 1984 but was killed in the Challenger disaster in 1986.

All the women astronauts mentioned had Space flights. Sally Ride was the first US woman in Space and Kathryn Sullivan was the first woman to partake in a Space Walk. Judith Resnik also died in the Challenger disaster.

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The Pat Buchanan referred to in this letter was the American conservative political commentator, author, syndicated columnist, politician, and broadcaster of whom Richard Nixon said that he was neither a racist nor an anti-Semite nor a bigot or "hater," but a "decent, patriotic American." He was also accused of Holocaust denial and having affiliations with White supremacists.

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Created by Jeff MacNelly in 1977, the cartoon strip ‘Shoe’ is about a group of newspapermen who happen to be birds. The editor P. Martin "Shoe" Shoemaker is a cigar-chomping martin. A recurring character is the aptly named Senator Batson D. Belfry. MacNelly died in 2000 but the strip has been continued by his wife Susie and others.