Re: The Pages of Punch

1938: The Prime Minister’s Dilemma

With the benefit of hind sight we can see that the cartoonist accurately displayed Chamberlain’s dilemma at the time. If there really was going to be a war then security must come first. If in fact there was not going to be a war then it would be far better to go for prosperity. Matching just the German overt rearmament programme would be hugely expensive and inevitably lead to massive Government borrowing. We can sense that Chamberlain wanted to avoid a war not only because of the remembered horrors of 1914-1918 but also of its impact on the nation’s finances.

In the event there was a war and also a return to full employment and because of it the cost was still being repaid into the 1960s.

Re: The Pages of Punch

1938: Musical Appreciation

No verbal punch-line is required since the pictures tell the story. Getting to broadcast on the BBC was a really big deal in 1938. It looks as though our unfortunate flautist was ‘ahead of his time’.

Re: The Pages of Punch

1936: Department Store Etiquette

I well remember during the late 1950s visiting Gamages at Christmas time at lunch time. Little boys of all ages would congregate in the toy department watching numerous miniature electric trains whizzing around. I am thinking that it is that atmosphere that the cartoonist is capturing.

Re: The Pages of Punch

1936: Shop Front Display

The young would-be customer has identified an item that is difficult to reach and the shopkeeper is reluctant to disturb the jumble in her window. I have a vague memory that such profusion was once common but I haven’t seen anything like that for a long time.

Re: The Pages of Punch

1938: Combined Boasting

Totally unaware of modern ideas about whaling the entire crew combine to indicate the size of the whale that they didn’t harpoon.

Re: The Pages of Punch

1938: The White Heat of Technology

By the standards of 1938 this engine is absolutely state of the art. Nothing exists that is faster or more streamlined. By contrast the driver speaks as though Albert is going to make the sitting-room a bit warmer.

Re: The Pages of Punch

1938: The Power of the Media

Rupert Murdoch would approve but he wouldn’t see the joke. David Cameron would recognise the joke but he wouldn’t like it.

Can you read the text that appears underneath the name of the newspaper in the window?

Re: The Pages of Punch

Re: The Pages of Punch

1936: A Different Point of View

Clearly the cartoonist sympathises with the cyclist rather than the motorist.

Re: The Pages of Punch

1938: Absent Minded Professor

This kind of situation is no mere fantasy.

In 1962 I was working in the computer division of a leading electrical components company. There was a senior man who had started the division a long time previously. He was basically a theory chap, not a practical man. He no longer held any executive function and was often sent as the representative of the company at conferences and things. One day he had arrived in Edinburgh by train and had no idea why he was there. He had to contact his office to find out.

By co-incidence his son is Tim Berners-Lee, the founder of the Internet.