Life before Wikipedia

Before the internet, most homes would have at least one copy of an encyclopaedia, possibly a Pears, while many would proudly display a full set, such as Encyclopaedia Britannica (the last print edition - running to 32 volumes - was printed in 2010). The set of choice in our house when growing up was that produced by Arthur Mee, although I note that he died in 1943, so that I hope it had been updated for our 1960s consumption! I have a feeling that my father bought it from a man selling encyclopaedias from door to door, a common enough event back then.

This little flyer fell out of the Daily Mail Yearbook for 1961, offering a free trial of the Newnes Popular Encyclopaedia, not one that I had previously heard. The cash price was £15.00 or an extra 15/- should you opt to pay over fifteen months. The only full 8-volume I have found at the moment costs £35 plus p&p, but many odd single volumes appear to be around. I can't imagine that there is much of a market these days!

Ariel

A splendid, if battered, advert from the front cover of The Motor Cycle magazine, issue dated 11 August 1949. The company sold out to BSA in 1951, the last motorbikes being built in 1967.

Bygone Luton

A selection of advertisements that appeared in copies of "The Luton News" Directory of Luton, published by Home Counties Newspapers dating from 1950 and 1954 - all businesses long gone!

MG Magnette

Flat cap supplied as standard; Lilliput magazine, March 1957

Hillman Super Minx

This car was available in saloon, estate and convertible form from 1961 until 1967. The fold-out brochure dates from around 1962, when the mark II was introduced, the artwork making it look rather low and flat. It was succeeded by the Hillman Hunter from 1966.

This down at heel-looking 1965 Hillman Super Minx was a feature of a local street for some years, but has now gone. The DVLA list EBP 5C as SORN, so is hopefully tucked up in a garage somewhere.......

Making car wax sexy

More dubious advertising from the 1970s; this from Popular Motoring magazine for September 1972. The model is believed to be Vivien Neves, who unfortunately died following a long battle with multiple sclerosis in 2002 aged only 54. She famously upset 'Disgusted of Tunbridge Wells' by appearing nude, in a full page advert for Fisons in The Times newspaper in 1971.

Bargain Buy

I occasionally collect old film cameras, mainly from car boot or jumble sales. Charity shops can also throw up the odd bargain, such as this irresistible 1970s Pentax SP1000 with 50mm f2 lens. It is in excellent condition and well worth the ten pond note I exchanged for it at the local British Heart Foundation shop. I used several of these cameras throughout the 1970s and beyond and although I still own them all, they were decidedly knocked about over the years and none work properly any more. I had intended to put a film through over the Christmas holidays, but the weather has been too bad.

The Pentax Spotmatic family of cameras was introduced in 1964, being superseded by the K-series in the mid-1970s, these fitted with bayonet mount lenses. This advert is from Amateur Photographer, issue dated 18 January 1967.

Smelly stuff for Christmas

Some adverts from 1970s issues of Penthouse and Mayfair magazine.

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Hood's of Hammersmith

Another record acquisition, some sixty years older than that in the previous posting. This is made of shellac, rather than vinyl, and the cover is advertising Hood's shop in Hammersmith, selling Bicycles, Radios, Gramophones and records, an interesting combination! The shop in Fulham Palace Road still stands, but the block is largely empty.

The record within is The St Louis Blues, in this case by Hawaiian guitarist Frank Ferera (1885-1951), released in 1925.

Mrs Dickens and her droopy Dundees.....

Advert for Echo margarine from Family Circle magazine, issue dated February 1969. The 'Mrs Dickens' would refer to the wife (or perhaps mother) of the artist, one Frank Dickens, creator of 'Bristow', the longest running strip cartoon by a single author, which ran for 41 years from 1961. Somewhere I have a pile of old Bristow books; I must search them out and do a few scans for a future post.......

Is that you, Joanna?

Actress, comedienne and supporter of the Gurkhas, Joanna Lumley, was a model in her earlier days. Her are two anonymous appearances; on the front of a dreadful old record of piano covers, no doubt cashing in on the popularity of Mrs Mills, a much loved and accomplished player of the 1960s/70s and in an advert for Patons Wools, this from the Christmas 1969 issue of Woman & Home magazine.

Sixties Style

Model Bobo White, about whom I can find nothing, adds even more elegance to an E-Type Jaguar on the cover of Motor, issue dated 9 May 1964. The photographer was Marc Dimac.

Parky in Penthouse

A rather worried-looking Michael Parkinson in an advert for Black & White whisky from the Christmas 1970 issue of Penthouse magazine. This was a little before he embarked on his career as a chat-show host, which began on the BBC in the following June. Today, he can be found flogging life insurance to the over-50s.

Dunlop Formula 70

So that's how you get the girl........outrageous claim from Penthouse magazine, issue 7/8 (1972).

Agilux

Agilux Ltd was formed just after the war by Aeronautical & General Instruments Co. (AGI) of Croydon in order to manufacturer cameras for the home market, imports being restricted at that time. AGI had been making instruments for the military since 1915 and although cameras ceased to be made in the early 1960s, the company is still in business, operating from Poole, in Dorset.

This advert appeared in Popular Photography magazine, issue dated September 1957. The cameras were unusual in that all components were made by Agilux themselves.

Charles Atlas

The legendary body builder challenges puny British blokes to become "new men". From Blighty magazine, 15th October, 1955.

Let's look at lathes

A few pages of lathes from a machine tools catalogue published by Richard Melhuish & Sons, Holborn Circus, London EC., dated 1898.

Fiesta Fun Shop

Hey, there's a great idea! Dress up your wife/girlfriend to advertise your favourite porn magazine............ Advert from Fiesta, issue 22/10 (1988).

On the beach - Fifties style

Two little adverts for beachwear; a Sabrina one-piece for the ladies and for the chaps, a pair of Pegasus beach shorts featuring ROC-JOC (patented) support....... From She magazine (1956) and a guide to Brixham (1958), respectively. The Sabrina was presumably named after the actress and model of the same name, at that time featuring in films and on the TV in the UK.

Endorsed by Humph

The Jazz musician Humphrey Lyttelton puts his name behind the Technics SL1700 Direct Drive Turntable as seen in Penthouse magazine, issue 12/7 (1977). At this time, he was best-known as the chairman of BBC Radio 4's  'antidote to panel games', I'm Sorry I havn't a Clue, in which capacity he broadcast from 1972, until his death in 2008.