Real Life

Back When Everybody Smoked…

Back When Everybody Smoked…

More and more smokers are becoming social pariahs. They have to stand on the street in the rain outside restaurants, bars, pubs and even their own cars (if their kids are inside). And while I don’t mind this, being a non-smoker, it does strike me as strange that in years gone by smoking was seen(…)

The First Ever Miss Universe Contest, 1952

The First Ever Miss Universe Contest, 1952

It was the lovely Armi Kuusela from Finland who won the first ever Miss Universe contest in 1952*, with Miss Hawaii, Miss Greece, Miss Hong Kong and Miss Germany in the runner up positions.  Interestingly Miss United Kingdom, Aileen P. Chase, who was a runner up in Miss World the previous year didn’t even make(…)

Building Manhattan Bridge (Without a Safety Harness) 1908

Building Manhattan Bridge (Without a Safety Harness) 1908

Wow, you’d certainly need a head for heights to do this job!  Back in 1908-9 when the Manhattan bridge was under construction there was no such thing as health and safety. You could wander the boards of the half-built bridge with your camera snapping photos of the workers without any questions being asked at all…(…)

Moving 1940s Photo Portraits by Costică Acsinte

Moving 1940s Photo Portraits by Costică Acsinte

I came across this amazing collection of photographs on Flickr yesterday and was totally captivated by them. The photographer was Costică Acsinte, a Polish Romanian war photographer during WW1 and afterwards. These photos all seem to have been taken around 1940 and are a real mixture: some are of military personnel, some are posed photo(…)

A Moment in Time: Skirts Blowing in the Wind 1930

A Moment in Time: Skirts Blowing in the Wind 1930

I thought this photo was delightful, there’s something delicious about seeing little glimpses back in time. It looks like neither these women nor the ships officer knew this photo was being taken and I love the way the ladies are both trying to stop their skirts from flying up in the breeze.  It’s so much(…)

Snow Glorious Snow!

Snow Glorious Snow!

So, it’s Boxing Day and I’m sitting here (eating chocolates) waiting for it to snow. Apparently we are due to get snow tonight, but I fully expect to wake up in the morning and see cold grey drizzle rather than a beautiful white blanket covering everything. We didn’t have any snow last winter at all,(…)

1940s Chorus Girls Rehearsing

1940s Chorus Girls Rehearsing

Choreographer Lee Sherman photographed rehearsing dancers at Radio City Music Hall, New York in  June 1947. I love the fabulous costumes, and also the way the photos give a real impression of his energy. He’s working at least as hard as all the dancers! You can read more about the production he was rehearsing for(…)

Dinosaurs with Syphilis: Bizarre Public Heath Notices from the Past

Dinosaurs with Syphilis: Bizarre Public Heath Notices from the Past

Did you realize Dinosaurs had syphilis? Not only that but you mustn’t kiss your baby because it’s unhygienic and whatever you do DON’T mix whiskey with gas (I’m assuming they mean as a cocktail). I’m being facetious of course, but public health notices certainly told very different messages in the past compared to now. We(…)

Astonishing Photos of a Klu Klux Clan Parade in 1920s America

Astonishing Photos of a Klu Klux Clan Parade in 1920s America

Everything I’ve head about the Klu Klux Klan and their history has just served to reinforce what a vile and hateful organization they are which is why I find these photos so shocking. Not only because of the sheer number of people who were proudly parading as part of this group through the center of(…)

Victorian Children Sentenced to Hard Labour

Victorian Children Sentenced to Hard Labour

To try to reduce the number of criminals being sentenced to death the Victorians introduced Hard Labour as an alternative. It involved backbreaking pointless work which was designed to be soul-destroying and painful. This sentence was handed out to children and women as well as men.  It could involve anything from walking for up to(…)

The Faces of the Men Who Fought in WW1

The Faces of the Men Who Fought in WW1

It’s Armistice and Remembrance day today, something which has had a particularly raised profile this year because 2014 marks the centenary of the start of the First World War. We went to London yesterday to see the spectacular and moving exhibition of poppies at the Tower of London “Blood Swept Lands and Seas of Red”,(…)

What Hallowe’en Used To Look Like

What Hallowe’en Used To Look Like

I love the different Hallowe’en costumes in these photos, although being British I always find it strange to see people dressing in ‘regular’ fancy dress during Hallowe’en. Here we just wear spooky costumes (ghosts, skeletons etc) whereas in America any kind of fancy dress seems fine. Anyone know why? I have no idea but I’d(…)

What Women Really Looked Like during WW2

What Women Really Looked Like during WW2

It was rather of a relief when I found these photos to realise that 1940s women didn’t all look as impossibly movie-star-ish as we tend to think. Far from the easy ‘glamour on a shoe-string‘ that we read about so often, these photos show the hard-working ordinary women of wartime Britain during their daily lives.(…)

Obscure Beauty Contests from the Past

Obscure Beauty Contests from the Past

Boy have there been some strange beauty contests over the years! These photos include the contestants for ‘Miss Psywar’ (doesn’t that stand for Phsychological Warfare…?), ‘Miss War Worker’ and ‘Miss Bobbed Hair 1925’…

Smiling Slum Children of the 1940s

Smiling Slum Children of the 1940s

Most of the children pictured here lived in the Surrey Hills slum of Sydney, Australia which was a notorious den of organized crime, drug dealing and prostitution. As an area it fell into decline and poverty during the Depression of the late 1890s and despite undergoing some regeneration in the 1930s, an influx of American(…)

7 Astonishing Vintage Daredevils

7 Astonishing Vintage Daredevils

There’s a lot to be said for the time when we weren’t all glued to our smartphones, but not everything people did to relieve their boredom was a good thing.  After WW2 lots of young men with flying experience and a desire for adrenalin-fueled excitement had limited ways to enjoy themselves. So there came about(…)

10 Vintage Clowns Guaranteed to give you Nightmares

10 Vintage Clowns Guaranteed to give you Nightmares

Did you think clowns couldn’t get more disturbing than ‘Cho-Cho the health clown‘ who terrified young children into good dental hygiene habits in the 1920s? Well it turns out they can be a darn site scarier. I don’t think any of these clowns were intended to terrify but they’ll certainly haunt my dreams. Wish I’d(…)