Prints Charming

In the days before loft insulation and carpet underlay what did our ancestors do?

The basic answer is absolutely nothing.

Cheap and by modern standards plentiful energy could leak out of a house with no thought for environmental issues. Put another bucket of coal on the fire Auntie Maud. The luxury of a soft surface underfoot was reserved for the very wealthy and most of the population were happy with painted floorboards surrounding a small carpet square or the ubiquitous canvas or linoleum which came in many colours and shades based on grey or brown.

The enterprising or just thrifty few latched on to the idea of using old newspapers to lag the space between the ceiling joists in the roof space or to line the tongued and grooved boards beneath a surface finish of choice, usually, again linoleum.

In the days of the broadsheet daily papers there was a great volume of material for such use. In using the old printed pages this way a unique archive has been preserved in many of our homes ripe for discovery by subsequent generations. That is of course dependent on the actual conditions with silverfish, mice, damp, rot and decay the main threats to the preservation of what now constitute historic and social records.

It was down to a conscientious or again just tight, homeowner, moving into the house in York in the 1960's that led to my discovery this week of, amongst a great thick and matted layer of newsprint in a loft, an almost perfect copy of The Daily Express, dated Wednesday 23rd September 1964.

It is numbered 20,004, cost at three old pennies and incidentally the weather, recorded under the banner name, was cloudy and with some rain.

The front page is set out in a multitude of small column features covering stories on the tragic drowning of a toddler in a well in County Antrim, three men trapped in a shaft at an atomic testing site in Nevada, USA, a missing wife of an MP on a holiday behind the Iron Curtain (ask your parents about this), Screaming Lord Sutch intending to stand against Harold Wilson, the Labour Party Leader at his Huyton Constituency, Sean Connery straining a leg tendon whilst filming a James Bond movie in Spain, hospital bed queues at an all time high with 53,864 people on waiting lists in the North West alone and a girl from Wrexham was having her arm stitched on again.

The headline, almost lost in the filler stories, was about the Tory Party refusing to get into argumentative debates on TV with the Opposition. Nothing much changed there then in 49 years.

The paper is surprisingly gossipy and superficial through the large and difficult to manage sheets, a characteristic commonly found in the lesser tabloids today than to be expected from a quality publication. Perhaps a wednesday in 1964 was a quiet news day.

A good proportion of the pages is taken up by advertisements. Smirnoff Vodka has obviously maintained its market share over nearly half a century which cannot be said for Nelson and Cadets Filter Tip Cigarettes.

Popular brands also featured include Ovaltine, probably uniterrupted in coverage since the second world war, Harpic disinfectant, Goodyear Tyres, The Co-Operative Stores and wonderful Bovril.

As a sign of the times in 1964 there are what may have been regarded as the cutting edge of technology in Aldis slide projectors (again, ask your parents), products from Radio Rentals and the revolution that was a paint in an aerosol spray can. This last product warranted a full page spread of how and where to use it on whitewood furniture, toys and prams.

Many households will have been without the modern day expectation of central heating or even background heating other than with a coal fire (Two shillings for Pyruma fireback filler to stop heatloss) and Belling were hard selling their Radiant Convector Heaters, Fan Heaters and cookers under the motto "For all round warmth".

Lifestyle features were also prominent, not much different from today, with the promotion of a seven day milk diet targeted at housewives but also suitable for husbands, Tonic Wine, a Woman's Own ready reference wall chart with handy domestic tips and that problem of fatigue afflicting the over 40's but with Phyllosan available for fortification against being run down, dreary, niggly and nervous. What are the chances of finding a bottle of that nowadays?

Financial matters were also prominent from Midland Bank to Mutual Insurance Policies and Premium Bonds.

The 1960's were still an economic boom time in the UK and the 'Situations Vacant' page listed jobs in the industrial realms of Machine Tools, Aircraft Engineering, Yorkshire Imperial Metals, Wimpey Mechanical and Electrical, Welsh Steel, Diesel Engines, Ford Motor Company, Construction and Draughting. In contrast to today not a mention of call centres, domicillary care or careers in IT. (parents, ask your children about this).

There was evidently considerable activity in industry, manufacturing and civil works at the time. It was also a period when many UK Nationals emigrated to other parts of the Commonwealth and in the autumn of 1964 there was demand from Australia for telecommunications operatives, communications experts in Rhodesia, Waterworks specialists in Gambia, Cooks in the Falklands, Executive Electricians in Sarawak and those with drawing board experience for Tanganyika.

Social tittle tattle was rife on the inner pages.

Prince Charles, then aged 15 was quizzed by his headmaster at Gordonstoun School after a book of his essays went missing and his intelligence could not be readily assessed. James Lascelles, the 10 year old second son of the Earl of Harewood apparently had a nice day out at a Traction Engine Rally whilst leading fashion model Elanna Ellis was reported as saying that the business was , quote, "a great big bag of old rats". Not sure what became of her.

In entertainment the TV listings, shockingly restricted to only two channels included Z Cars at 8pm directly competing with The Fugitive on ITV, Coronation Street earlier on and quite a lot of educational content for schools.

In football Chelsea were at the top of the old First Division but only 9 games into the season with Sheffield United in second place. Liverpool, true to form, had not had a good start to the season and were languishing second from the bottom.

Football Pools, Greyhound Racing and Horse Racing still maintain their social standing today as they apparently did 49 years ago.

Hull City, my team could only manage a tuesday night 0-0 draw with Southend in the League Cup showing that they still needed a striker as today.

I conclude with a foray into the Horoscope of cloudy and possibly wet wednesday in September 1964.

This is particularly poignant for me as I seem to recall that the prediction was exactly right, unnervingly so in its relevance to my own circumstances.

Cancer: The day favours routine work but take no financial chances, Romance may cool off.

I took no risks that day as I recall and just sat around minding my own business in my terry nappy, filling it with my usual regularity and not attempting to digest any loose change lying around the house. I recall I may have been a bit moody with my Mother but then again I was only 14 months old at the time. I like to think that I have changed for the better in the interim.