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. 

BSA Sunbeam

A beautiful advert for the BSA Sunbeam scooter (also sold as the Triumph Tigress), as it appeared on the rear cover of the 17 November 1960 issue of The Motor Cycle magazine. Unfortunately, reliability was not as good as it's looks.

Senior Service Satisfy

As a non-smoker, I can't say whether it does satisfy or not, but it was a very popular brand of cigarette. My mother smoked Guards until she gave up, whilst my father's tobacco of choice was Old Holborn. I was regularly sent to the local shop, three doors down, for "Half an ounce of Old Holborn and a packet of green", the green being Rizla cigarette papers. Rolling your own appeared to be very economical smoke, with very little wastage, There would always be 'dog ends' lying around our house, waiting for their last puffs. A girl I knew back in the 1970s rolled her own too, as did her mother, I recall. Heaven forbid that I should condone smoking, but I did raise a smile when I saw a girl student on a bus recently, painstakingly constructing a cigarette from the contents of a battered old pouch so as to be ready on the completion of her journey.

Many adverts for Senior Service had a nautical theme, understandable as that was also the nickname for the Royal Navy.

The two colourful adverts depicting naval scenes heading this post were painted by Harold Wylie and appeared in Punch magazines in1960/61, and that with the red background from a 1960s theatre programme. The three black & white illustrations were found in various editions of Picture Post of the early 1950s. Lastly, the photograph above was taken in 2010 of an old shop front in Margate, now a cafe, but retaining the old sign-age above the lovely curved windows. The owner did give me a funny look though! The brand was first manufactured in 1925 and is still sold today.

Rome 1960

Another cover from Punch magazine, that for 24 August 1960. Rome are hosting the Olympic Games and George Worsley Adamson (1913-2005) provided the illustration. The USSR headed the medal table with 43 golds; the GB tally was 2, leaving us at 12th in the ranking. I hear that we did a bit better this year.