Rootes

 Two tantalising adverts for the group's offerings taken from Autocar magazine, issue dated 18 October 1963.

 Tasteful nudes

It doesn't feature much these days, but during the 1950s, and through I think, to the 1990s, photographic magazines were keen to get their readers into nude or glamour work. Practical Photography for example would include several pages of adverts for either models for hire, or studios for rent (or both). I remember a vicar who complained that he would not let his son read the magazines because of their smutty content. 

These pictures were published as part of an article in the February 1958 issue of Popular Photography magazine, the models not named.

Jilly Johnson 

The actress and model graced the cover of Amateur Photographer, issue dated 18 May 1977, posing amid a mouth-watering collection of contemporary (now classic) film cameras.

 Mala Powers

In the 1950s, you were never far from a pin-up, even in the more mundane publications. This is Mary Ellen Powers (1931-2007) in the May 1952 issue of the Rootes Group Review magazine, apparently modelling a bloomer playsuit. She acted in many US films from the age of ten, until 2002.

John Benn

1930 paddle steamer John Benn working the Woolwich Ferry in 1960. It was named after the local politician and grandfather of Tony Benn, MP. Woolwich power station dominates the background.

Scanned from a negative in my collection. 

 Pre-war

I have not been able to post for ages, due, in part, from not being able to access my account, so here is  some definitely vintage stuff.

A Ford and an Austin on the south coast in the Portsmouth/Southsea area around 1951, scanned from a negative in my collection.

Queue for the loo

 Old Trolleybuses finding a subsequent life as public toilets were not that unusual. The Borough Council of Epsom & Ewell had several ex-Huddersfield Karriers and here is one at the Derby on 2 June 1965. Were the facilities for the gentlemen this exotic, I wonder?

Hastings

 A view around 1950, with the East Hill Lift to the left and miniature railway in the foreground. There also appears to be a couple of WW11 pill boxes on the cliffs. A scan from a negative in my collection.

Noddy's

 Proclaims to be "Elm Park's Largest Toy Showrooms", but not many toys in the window! The shop was at 40 The Broadway, Elm Park, Hornchurch, early 1960s at a guess. Scanned from a negative in my collection.

Corgi Motorcycle Co. Ltd.

 This jolly couple are riding little 98cc motor cycles built by Brockhouse Engineering of Southport between 1947 and 1954. Some 27,050 were sold, initially to the USA and were a strengthened version of the Welbike, designed to be dropped by parachute during the war.

This little advert appeated in The Motor Cycle magazine, issue dated 11 August 1949.

Two Bob Roller

 A little photograph, bought for just 10p in a Hastings second-hand shop a few years ago. It depicts a 1932 Rolls Royce 20/25hp Hooper limousine outside Rowheath Playing Fields at Bournville, Birmingham, perhaps later in the decade.

Accoding to the DVLA, it was last taxed in 2001 and subsequently exported, so presumably still around.

Table Cricket

 Things we used to do before the internet number 379... from the Eagle Annual 7 (1958).

G-AOHH

 This British European Airways Vickers Viscount was snapped at Manchester Airport sometime in 1969, scanned from an acquired negative, bough as much for the splendid Foden fuel tanker as for the plane. It first flew early in 1957, being withdrawn by British Airways at Leeds/Bradford Airport in November 1975, being broken up the following year.

All dressed up

 Well, as it's been over four years since my last posting, I guess that it's time to get going again! With England getting through to the final of the European Championships in a couple of days, this pair of pictures would seem appropriate. At least two of Dunstable's pubs were decorated for the games in 2004, these photographed on Sunday 20 June, early morning because of the light. Both pubs were in High Street North and both have since closed, The Bull being converted into flats by 2009, whilst the Mulberry Bush called time couple of years ago, and is currently derelict and will no doubt be demolished for redevelopment before too long. England played on the 24th, losing out to the host, Portugal, on penalties.

I know that I have broken my own rule by posting pictures less than 25 years old and I no doubt will do so again, but it's all history, isn't it?

Phillips 66

Rooting around in the loft the other day, I came across a broadsheet-size supplement to the Evening Gazette (dated 3 April 1968) marking the formation of the new borough of Teesside, which incorporated Stockton, Middlesbrough, Thornaby, Redcar, Billingham, Eston, Stokesley, Guisborough, Saltburn and Maske. As my wife comes from Stockton, it must have come to us from her family at some time.

Although there is lots to scan, quality is not brilliant, being on newsprint. However, this advert for Phillips 66 petroleum, with it's AEC and Leyland tankers, certainly attracted my attention.

1950s Eastbourne

A passenger on a open-top bus snaps Eastbourne sea-front around 1951. A touring coach has parked up and edges into the shot, a Leyland TD2/Harrington all the way from Manchester. A scan from a negative in my collection.

Wish you were here?

My general rule of thumb as to whether something is old enough to qualify for inclusion into Vintage Stuff is that it must be at least 25 years old. As I have estimated that the postcard above originated around 1990, it just slips in under the wire to be the most modern item on here so far.

Published by Coastal Colour Ltd., about whom I can find little, it illustrates the delights to be savoured at the Essex seaside town of Clacton-on-Sea. Presumably she will be there to greet you personally as you step from the train. I seem to remember similar cards being sold at the likes of Brighton and Southend, perhaps even using the same model, alongside the more traditional 'saucy postcards'.

Bought recently at Oxfam for the princely sum of 49p.

Art Deco in Cumberland

My only visit to the Cumberland town of Whitehaven was on a railway trip in 1979, taking scant interest in the local bus scene. I was therefore unaware of the splendid art deco 1932-built bus station situated on New Road. Closed under Stagecoach, it's future use is uncertain with the site being used for housing being a possibility, although there is a local desire to retain the frontage.

This picture, from a negative in my collection, dates from around 1955, the crew of one of the 1951 all-Leyland PD2s apparently in heated discussion before departure.

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!

Ding Dong!

Actor Leslie Phillips is 92 today; happy birthday!

Here are three screen shots from the 1959 Pinewood film Please Turn Over, seen here with Julia Lockwood (top) and grappling with frustrated house-wife Mrs Moore, played by Myrtle Reed.