Surely The Times ceased
publishing classified ads on page one on May 3, 1966. In fact, this issue (here
scrutinised by Mrs LdP) dates back a little earlier – August 26, 1935, day zero/one
in the life of her hubbie. When the first line of the Personal column read: “J.T.
Perfectly well; hope we shall soon dine out. – K.” Further down, a Sunbeam
Landaulette (“careful chauffeur”) could be hired for 8d a mile.
Not a happy time.
The Dean of Chichester’s sermon included: “It was the moment for the Churches
to declare that a war undertaken without recourse to arbitration was a sin
against the law of Christ”. This solemnity was placed adjacent to an advert
recommending: “If you don’t feel like eating a heavy lunch or dinner, have some
Sandwiches. They’re light yet they make a perfect meal because they’re made
with BREAD.”
How about: “...
the throat trouble from which Herr Hitler had been suffering for some time is
now completely cured. It will be remembered that an increase in hoarseness
following a cold was the reason given for the postponement of Sir John Simon’s
visit to Berlin.”
Headline of no
great surprise: 2½ inches of rain. Month’s average in a day. Low temperature in
the south.
No musical
concerts were reviewed, but never mind: “The London County Council… would not
allow a performance… in which a dancer dressed as a moth flutters round a giant
lighted candle until her wings catch fire… (she) is actually clothed in an
asbestos tunic and helmet… but the Fire Brigade Committee decided that the
dance is dangerous.”
I had no idea your lifetime and that of the Earl of Sandwich overlapped.
ReplyDeleteThe perilous fate of the Moth-girl, caught between combustion and asbestosis, as yet unknown about, I suppose.
You can still hire a Sunbeam Laundaulette:
http://sunbeamregister.com/wedding_car.html
though probably not for 8d a mile.
Lucy: It's the excruciatingly middle-class message at the top of the Personal column that has me wondering about the cataclysms that were to come. Where did that couple go? Were they illicit? Did you know that some illicit lovers used coded messages to communicate in this way. So-called gentleman in St James' clubs with too much education and too much time on their hands took delight in breaking these codes and inserting harmful false message. The devil was everywhere at that time, eh?
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