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!

The Highlanders' Institute

This organisation was formed after the First War as a meeting place for young men and women from the Highlands and Islands to meet and socialize in Glasgow. The original premises in Elmbank Street was too small by the 1950s which resulted in the building that opened at 34 Berkeley Street on 19 October, 1961.

The site was earlier a United Presbyterian church, demolished in the 1930s and a dance hall built on the site, the Institute being a rebuilding of this.

Looking very much a product of it's time, the architect was William Hamilton Sanders (c.1914-2014) and was completed for £75,000. 

By 1979 it had become a casino, being demolished in 2004, making way for flats.

This rather creased leaflet was issued for the opening ceremony; I must admit to finding the building quite striking, although perhaps poor construction hastened it's demise.

Genius + Soul = Jazz

This being the title of the record of the week by Ray Charles, on this Seeburg jukebox, photographed in a Dunstable club, presumably the Dolphin, judging by the poster on the wall, around October 1961.

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.