I visited the Fashion Museum in Bath last week and, whilst the features exhibits were all very interesting, they tended to concentrate on the clothes being worn by Kings, Queens, Dukes and the like. If I have an interest in fashion, it is as a means of dating photographs - and the photographs I am … Continue reading Clinging To A Fashionable Youth
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Drim Makes Your Nose Bigger
It was wartime: perhaps that's an excuse. Even so, what possessed any self-respecting advertising agency to come up with a product name like "Drim"?. Perhaps they thought that it was only two letters away from "Dream"; but likewise it is only one letter away from "Grim". "Become a Drim enthusiast today", proclaims the advertiser's copy. … Continue reading Drim Makes Your Nose Bigger
The Test Of Time
There is something slightly fake about this Victorian photograph: the quality of the print is a little too good, the line between the foreground and the background is just a little too sharp. I have examined the print carefully, and as far as I can make out, it is a genuine studio photograph from the … Continue reading The Test Of Time
Tragic Harry
This is a studio portrait, dating from 1913, of the German theatre and movie actor, Harry Walden. He was born in 1875 in Berlin and - following a period in the army - became an actor: first of all in the theatre and then from 1912 onwards in the German film industry. His end was … Continue reading Tragic Harry
A Dream And A Half
This 1908 Birn Brothers postcard - which arrived in my collection from who knows where - asks a perfectly reasonable question, and I have to say that the answer is an unequivocal "no". I did, however, dream the other night that they had turned my old school into a theme pub and - in attempting … Continue reading A Dream And A Half
Sepia Saturday : Mimi And Frank Went
Ever since Louis Daguerre first dabbled with a daguerreotype and Henry Fox Talbot first tinkered with a calotype, photography has been just as an important part of weddings as confetti and cake. Our Sepia Saturday theme this week features a wedding party posed on some steps; a pose almost exactly matched by a wedding party … Continue reading Sepia Saturday : Mimi And Frank Went
Had You Been There
This postcard - dating back to 1913 - appears never to have been sent through the post. It was written by Andrew - who we can suppose is the man in the middle of this group - to Mary Campbell of Cowdenbeath, who fairly obviously doesn't feature in the trio. The message is as follows: … Continue reading Had You Been There
Politicians On Postcards : Bob’s His Uncle
For want of something better to do, I thought I would start a short series entitled "Politicians On Postcards". The length of the series will, no doubt, be determined by how many examples of this rather specialised genre I can find in my collection. There can only be one place to start a series on … Continue reading Politicians On Postcards : Bob’s His Uncle
The Great Stainland Water Fight
Whenever I walk passed a pub - or better still sit down with a pint in a pub - I can't stop thinking about the tales the building has to tell. What love or what loss, what joy or what sadness took place in such buildings? When I walked by the Bull and Dog in … Continue reading The Great Stainland Water Fight
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