MG Magnette

Flat cap supplied as standard; Lilliput magazine, March 1957

The end of LZ37

A dramatic illustration of the German Zeppelin LZ37, destroyed above Belgium by Reginald Warneford on 7 June 1915. He crashed his Morane fighter behind enemy lines but managed to effect repairs to the fuel line and took off to return home. Warneford was subsequently awarded the Victoria Cross, but was killed later in June 1915 flying an american journalist over the battlefield.

This water-colour was by Raymond Sheppard, part of an article that appeared in Lilliput magazine, March 1957.

Guinness Time!

Three 1950s covers from the Guinness in-house magazine; artists are John Gilroy, Raymond Tooby, and A Games.

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.

And now in colour.......

The postman brought another bundle of 1950s Blighty magazines yesterday. These are from 1955 onwards and now sport a colour pin up on the cover (and still cost sixpence!).

All of the models featured, Molly Stevens, Jeanette Pearce, Margaret Simons and Toni Dais, hoped, as they say inside the magazine, to break into show business. Sadly, it seems that none got very far, at least under these names.

Jayne Mansfield

Jayne Mansfield appearing on the cover of Picturegoer, issue dated 16 March 1957. This was all to promote the release of the musical comedy film The Girl Can't Help It, advertised within the paper, which also carried a feature comparing the actress with Marilyn Munroe.

DS meets XK140

A nice pair of automotive imports into the USA in the 1950s; two pictures from men's magazine After Hours, an issue from 1957. The Citroen DS would have been at the beginning of it's popularity, being sold in the States between 1956 and 1972. The Jaguar XK140 (which I am assuming is the correct model, or so my friends on Flickr tell me), was on the way out, being superseded by the XK150 from later in 1957. The model is Grace Curry, of whom I sadly know nothing.