100 years ago

AT THE annual meeting of the Scarborough Postcard Censorship Association it was reported that several thousands of designs had been inspected and though many had been rejected as unfit for publication, others, while not violating the canons of decency, were highly objectionable from an aesthetic standpoint.

The chief constable of Scarborough said the censorship had done good, as he noticed a marked improvement in this year’s cards over those of the previous year.

These censorship committees were doing useful work all over the country, but there remained a lot of necessary work in eradicating those stupidly vulgar, and even repulsive postcards.


50 years ago

THERE would be some sonic bangs on television tonight, and you would just have to get used to them for they were likely to be an inescapable noise of the future when faster-than-sound passenger airliners went into regular service.

They were part of the price we would have to pay for being able to fly to New York in three hours and Moscow in 90 minutes – unless the scientists could find a way of breaking the sound barrier more quietly.

The noise problem was one aspect of air travel of the future that would be touched on by Richard Cawston in his documentary, Supersonic (BBC, 9.25), which surveyed the progress in building supersonic airliners and argued the pros and cons of this type of flying.

The Americans had tested public reaction by simulating a series of sonic bangs over Oklahoma.

Laboratory tests were being made over here and the results of these would be heard on the programme’s sound track.

Cawston had taken his cameras to London, Bristol, Paris, Toulouse Washington and New York, to present what appeared to be a very thorough picture of current progress.

Some of the top men in the industry gave their views, among them Sir George Edwards, director of the British Aircraft Corporation and the leading air authority in this country and General Andre Puget, president of Sud-Aviation, who was Sir George’s opposite number on the French side of the Concorde project.


25 years ago

WALT Disney Company had filed suit against the Oscar organisers alleging unauthorised use of its Snow White character in an unflattering opening number at the awards ceremony.

The show had begun with an actress dressed as Snow White being interviewed in the lobby.

The character then followed a chorus line of dancing stars down an aisle to the stage.

In a Betty Boop voice, Snow White sang spoofs of popular songs written with Oscar-oriented lyrics, embarrassing stars she called attention to in the front rows.

Many critics panned the production number as arcane, glitzy and overdone.