Random Cutting - Myra Hindley O-Level (1969)

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Hindley went on to get a Humanities Degree from the Open University. She died in 2002 while still in prison.

Mystery of Amundsen in the Artic (1925)

Sunday Express dated Sunday May 24th 1925

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On the January 25th 1912 Roald Amundsen had been the first man to reach the South Pole and by the mid-1920’s, when Frederick Cook’s 1908 and Robert Peary’s 1909 claims to have reached the North Pole were being discredited, he had set his sights on the Arctic.

In 1925 a 6 man team led by Amundsen took two Dornier flying boats to 87° 44′ north. It was the most northerly latitude reached by plane up to that time. The aircraft landed a few miles apart without radio contact, but the crews managed to reunite. One of the planes was damaged, so Amundsen and his crew worked for over three weeks to create an airstrip from the ice. During this time the outside World feared the worst. Finally all six crew members were packed into the undamaged plane and they flew back to their base and civilisation.

Amundsen survived that time but the Arctic would eventually claim his life. While flying on a rescue mission in 1928, he was killed when his plane crashed into the Arctic Ocean.

Random Ad - B.O.A.C. travel (1950's)

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Get into debt the 1950's way! 'Only 21 monthly payements of £8 5s 7d' - that was more than a week's wage for most workers in Britain at the time. In 1955, as a child, I flew on my own with B.O.A.C to Burma where my father was working. It took 3 days and nights with a breakdown in Beruit for several hours and another in Karachi that meant an overnight stay in a hotel. 

Random Cuttings - Teenagers, Rock'n'Roll and Violence (1956/1958)

13th Spetember 1958

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September 1956

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18th September 1956

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27th May 1958

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The song 'Rock Around the Clock' by Bill Haley and the Comets was featured in the 1955 film 'The Blackboard Jungle' and was the trigger for some incidents of teenage violence in cinemas, so when the success of the song spawned a whole film, local councils, which had the right to ban film showing, got their collective knickers in a twist. Two years later 1958 teenage violence and lack of morals had become tabloid bread and butter. 

See this post for more on the Jerry Lee Lewis scandal.

Major the Meteoric (1990)

Daily Mail dated Wednesday November 28th 1990

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John Major was born in 1943, the son of an ex-Music Hall performer who had gone into the garden ornaments business. He was brought up in Brixton and didn’t attend university after leaving school at 16.

He entered politics as a Young Conservative and stood as a candidate for Lambeth Council when he was 21, winning the seat and becoming chairman of the Housing Committee. He stood for Parliament winning Huntingdonshire in 1979 on the third attempt.

In 1981 he became a ministerial aide, a minister in 1985 and a member of the Cabinet in 1987 as Chief Secretary to the Treasury. He was promoted to Foreign Secretary in 1989 and Chancellor of the Exchequer in October of that year.

When Margaret Thatcher resigned in November 1990, John Major became Prime Minister. He was 47 years old.

He went on to win the 1992 General Election and was PM until 1997 when the Conservatives lost to Tony Blair’s Labour Party.

Random Ad - Autograph Cigarettes (1925)

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We're not saying good old Abe actually smoked Autograph cigarettes but here's a picture of President Lincoln and his Autograph. Make up your own minds. Published in 1925 when Abe was 60 years dead and unable to sue.

Random Cutting - This was their Finest Hour (1940)

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On the 18th June 1940, just over a month after the evacuation of British tropps at Dunkirk, Prime Minister Winston Churchill gave one of his great speeches to the House of Commons. He spoke at length about the fall of France and Britain's determination to continue to fight the Nazis. In the part of the speech shown in this cutting from The Times, he used the memorable phrase 'This was their finest hour'.