...Bazooka Joe Bubble Gum

Bazooka Joe was an American brand of bubble gum, which was promoted by a cartoon character with an eye patch and, in the UK, by a Magic Circle club.

With each purchase, one got a small pink oblong of sugary bubble gum and a humourous cartoon on waxy paper roughly three inches by two inches, of which some examples below.

Laugh? I thought I'd never start!

...two censored postcards of the Great War

These two postcards were sent from the Front, presumably by a serving soldier, in the early part of the First World War, probably in November 1914.

Censorship of communications home was introduced for obvious reasons, to avoid information falling, however innocently, into enemy hands. The images here of St. Martin's cloisters and the Butter Market at Ypres in Belgium however would not tax the intelligence of any competent spy, despite the name of the town being struck through with blue pencil on the one card, and being clipped from the corner on the other. Especially as the name of the publisher, a Bartier of Ypres, appears on the back of one card.

The cards are nevertheless interesting examples of their type.

...General Science 'O' Level Exam Paper 1969

This was my General Science practical exam in 1969, and I challenge you to take this exam, though I admit it would be rather difficult without the apparatus in front of you. I recall that specimen F in question 4 was a kidney. 

I did pass the exam, though I forget what grade I obtained.

You have two hours starting...now.

...Turf cigarette cards

The brand known as Turf cigarettes was first sold in the 1920’s by Carreras Ltd, a Jamaican company now part of the giant British American Tobacco. 

The cigarette cards for this brand were incorporated into the packet, and had to be carefully cut out by those who wished to collect them, which has clearly not been done with my examples above. There was one card on a packet of ten cigarettes, and two cards on a packet of twenty, and many different series were issued over the years, each of about fifty cards, including Film Stars – Ronald Reagan, for example, was number 27 of that set – Footballers, British Aeroplanes, and the Locomotives above in 1952.

 

I have not been able to establish when the somewhat oddly named brand was discontinued, but it was probably in the late 1950’s or early 1960’s. Their Craven “A” brand, established in the same period, is still sold today. 

…a book of ballads and poems by George R Sims c. 1900

George Robert Sims (1847-1922) was an English journalist, satirist, playwright, novelist and poet, with a special concern for the London poor. His most famous poem, later much parodied, is “In the Workhouse: Christmas Day”, which tells of a pauper being served Christmas dinner in the Workhouse who unexpectedly jumps up and tells of how his dear sick wife died in misery and poverty that very day the previous year for lack of true christian charity from the good folk now present. 

Sims was a prolific writer and his poems cover a whole spectrum, from dramatic tales of rescue as in The Lifeboat to tales of brutal husbands such as Sal Grogan’s Face, and many whimsical rhymes. His poems are still very readable and a lighter example is Sweet July which gently parodies the traditional poet’s-eye view of that month when compared with the frequent reality.

A link to The Lifeboat and In the Workhouse: Christmas Day:

 http://www.theotherpages.org/poems/sims01.html