Archive Article: 2000/06/30
A monthly column remembering days
gone by
June 1960
PIPES – of smoking, rather than the drainage variety – were obviously all the rage at the time.
East Anglia farmer Oliver West appeared in a farmers weekly article about coypu problems, smoking a pipe and looking suitably concerned. "Some people think the coypu is a pet, but it is a pest," he declared of the giant, rat-like creatures. A Spillers breeding cubes advert featured a picture of a man smoking a pipe and looking suitably pensive asking: "Can I be sure that my breeding sows are getting all they need?" Even NFU president Harold Woolley appeared with a pipe in his mouth.
Tobacco, meanwhile, was advertised in the magazine with Condor Sliced tobacco – "The Flake With The Flavour – selling at 4s 31/2d.
Also reported was the Womens Institutes 39th annual general meeting. Delegates didnt, it should be pointed out, give the Prime Minister a verbal mauling as was to happen to Tony Blair 40 years later.
Another Blair – Blair MacNaughton – smashed the 150-year-old "Throckmorton Coat" record when the director of the Pitlochry Tweed Mill made a coat from raw wool in six hours and 10 minutes.
Cars were another hot topic of debate. farmers weekly included an advert for the Austin Gipsy – "Britains latest land car". It cost £755 for the diesel model. It also carried a review of vehicles suitable for the farmers wife, among them the Morris Minor 1000, the Austin Seven, and the Triumph Herald. The article began: "Choosing a car is rather like choosing a husband. You go for looks first then you find out about dependability, capacity for hard work and ease of handling." It had this to say about the Herald: "Safe, fast and flattering if you like to cut a dash."
Cut a dash – now theres an expression not heard nowadays.