THE GLORIOUS TWELFTH

This is one of the busiest days in the shooting season, with large amounts of game being shot. The date itself  being the traditional start of the shooting season for Red Grouse is enshrined in legislation through the Game Act of 1831. Since UK Law says that the start of the season cannot begin on a Sunday it has sometimes been postponed to the 13th August. Whatever day it starts on not all Red Grouse are in danger though, as shown here by George D Armour (1864-1949) cartoon where a serious lack of skill on the part of the shooting party has in fact resulted in very few actual birds having been shot.

Transcript below:

PROPRIETOR OF SHOOTING: (inspecting game-book after being away) "The boys didn't get many birds, but you've entered 'various' too often. I like everything put down."

SCOTCH KEEPER: "I couldna' juist dae that. Ye see there was a gillie and twa dogs, no' to mention some sheep and Sandy's auld coo."

WISH YOU WERE HERE

Now that we are well through what is called ‘Summer', the daily delivery of postal mail has a number of holiday postcards arriving from far and distant places, showing beautiful sunny scenes and gorgeous views of exotic locations around the world. While grateful that friends and family are having a lovely time enjoying the summer sun, we in turn appear to be languishing back home in a never ending spell of cold, wet and misty days.

The bright summery spell we all enjoyed back in April, May and parts of June have long since disappeared into the memory banks, and in turn we mope about muttering and complaining of the weather. Amidst this plops yet another card through the letterbox with comments about hot, sunny days and the time spent enjoying all that these holiday resorts have to offer. Hamilton Williams (circa 1920) cartoon shown below typifies our summer weather at the moment, and highlights the old rural Post Office pastime of reading the postcards arriving from all over the world prior to delivery.

Transcript below:

HIGHLAND POSTMASTER: (to party sheltering from the rain). "Wull ye no come in oot o' the rain, yer Leddyship, an' I'll gie ye a wheen postcairds to read to while awa' the time? There's some gay queer anes by the last post!"

MORE TO THE GALLON

This week sees The International Island Games being held in the Isle of Wight and were founded in the Isle of Man in 1985 and today include 25 member islands in, or associated with, the nine sovereign nations of Canada, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Greece, Norway, Spain, Sweden and the UK, plus the Caribbean. They stretch across the globe including the Falkland Islands, Greenland, St Helena, Bermuda and the Shetland Islands among 20 others.

There are approximately 4000 participants competing in 14 different sports over the 7 days. Of all the sports being contested Shetland has become one of the top medal winners in the swimming with 5 Gold Medals, 2 Silver and 3 Bronze. Four of the Gold Medals being won by Andrea Strachan with her team-mate Amy Harper picking up 1 Gold, 2 Silver and 2 Bronze, and young Felix Gifford collecting the final Bronze Medal. 

This amazing performance from such a small island will no doubt result in a flood of hopeful people of all ages trying to match these young swimmers valiant efforts. Bert Thomas (1883-1966) cartoon shows the helpful encouragement given to those just starting out in the sport by the poolside instructors.

Transcript below:

INSTRUCTOR: "That's better, Sir; you ain't swallerin' so much water -
doing more to the gallon, so to speak."

WE'RE HAVING A LAUGH ... !

After an absence of some 3 months, while I have been sourcing some more ‘new’ old cartoons to share with you all, I thought that this being the longest day it would be a good time to re-start the blog. Today is the first day of summer according to that fountain of all knowledge – Google – and so with that in mind I have chosen a holiday related cartoon from George Belcher (1875-1947) It’s good to see that while summer visitors get a lot out of their holiday and return refreshed and invigorated by their stay, they in turn also leave a lasting legacy with their hosts!

On another note, I would just like to thank the authors of the following blogs for listing "CARTOONS OF OLD" among those that they follow regularly:  Desperate Reader,  Shetland My Love, and Auld-Rasmie . Thanks to them the number of ‘visits’ have increased dramatically over the last few weeks especially, and if you are one of the new readers, welcome, and I hope you enjoy these old cartoons and have a laugh at them with us all.

Transcript below:



VISITOR TO VERY QUIET SEASIDE PLACE: "And what ever do you people do with yourselves in the winter ?"

LANDLADY: "Oh, we talks and laughs about the people what stays 'ere in the summer."

TROUTS AND TYROS

With the Sea Trout season opening on the 25th February and the Brown Trout Season on the 15th March, thoughts of anglers the length and breadth of the country are turning to their annual battle with the wily fish. Many an ardent fisherman has tales to tell of the ones that got away, and in the Highlands of Scotland, gillies are looking to a new season of guiding, cajoling and informing many a newcomer into the ‘tricks of the trade’. George D Armour (1864-1949) cartoon shows that even the tactics of an expert can sometimes be proved wrong.

Transcript below:

 
SELF SATISFIED TYRO: (who in spite of disregrading expert advice has caught a "fish")   "I was a bit too cunning for that one, Duncan."
DUNCAN: (gloomily extracting the fly) "Ay, there's daft idjits in the watter as weel's oot o' it."

SLOGGERS END

Today sees the start of the 2011 Cricket World Cup, which will be the tenth CWC, and this year it is hosted by the three South Asian Test Cricket playing countries: India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. Cricket has never really been a Northern Hemisphere sport even though its origins emanate from England.

Cricket arrived in other parts of the globe during the early 18th century and was introduced to the West Indies by colonists and to India by British East India Company mariners in the first half of that century. It arrived in Australia almost as soon as colonization began in 1788, and New Zealand and South Africa followed in the early years of the 19th century.

Scotland though is hardly a cricketing nation and certainly the farther North you go, the less popular it is. However, throughout the counties of England it is still played regularly by many, and every game has the same passion and fervour of a World Cup match. Frank Reynolds (1876-1953) cartoon depicts a village game where this passion is ably demonstrated.

Transcript below:

LOCAL FISHMONGER: (as exasperating batsman is at last disposed of). " 'E's filleted !"

LOVE IS IN THE AIR

St. Valentine according to ancient history was an early Christian martyr, executed on February 14th and established as a Saint by Pope Gelasius in 500AD. This was deleted from the Roman Calendar of Saints in 1969, but it has traditionally been a day when lovers expressed their affection for one another. Since the 19th century hand-written Valentine Cards have given way to mass produced greetings cards. By the second half of the 20th century all manner of gifts were being exchanged and now this practice has extended to the internet where an estimated 15 Million e-Valentines were sent in 2010.

Whatever the thoughts behind the commercialism of Valentines Day, it has traditionally been one of romance and courtship, and this is highlighted by Leo Cheney’s (1878-1928) excellent cartoon from the early 1920’s.

Transcript below:

MURIEL: "Before I consent to marry you, Archie, I must ask you one thing.
Do you ---- er ---- drink anything ?"
ARCHIE: (proudly). "Anything."

LIFE BEFORE BROADBAND

During a week when BT Broadband crawled to a standstill yet again and gales and heavy salt deposits played havoc with the main power supplies, the realisation of how much the modern world now relies on the internet technology for ‘instant’ communication was more than evident. Back in the 1920’s the wireless as it was known was only becoming a feature of life. The British Broadcasting Company began radio services in 1922, becoming the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) in 1926, and gained control of the airwaves.

No other broadcasting organisation was actually licensed till 1973, but foreign commercial radio stations broadcast programmes in English up until World War 2, when they were all virtually silenced bar Radio Luxembourg which continued transmitting American style entertainment. In 1964 the first of around 10 offshore Pirate Radio Stations began transmitting until finally silenced by the Marine Offences Act of 1967.

The BBC attempted to win back the millions of listeners who had tuned into these ‘pirate’ radio stations by introducing Radio One. The DJ’s Tony Blackburn and the late John Peel were hired by the BBC to continue their style of broadcasting made famous by stations like Radio Caroline's 'Morning Show' and Radio London's ‘The Perfumed Garden’.

Bert Thomas (1883-1966) cartoon highlights the influence the new ‘wireless’ had on the population of the 1920’s as prominent people of the age were suddenly thrust into the homes of unsuspecting listeners.

Transcript below:

 

OLD LADY: (as a certain politician's name is announced on wireless). "Shut

that off! I won't have that man in my house."

BURNS NIGHT - 25 JANUARY

This weeks cartoon has a very tenuous link to events due to take place on the 25 January this year. Apart from the largest Fire Festival in Europe it also happens to be Burns Night, a celebration of the life and poetry of the Scots poet Robert Burns, born on the 25th January 1759.

The cartoon displayed below by Lancelot Speed (186o-1931) is set in Scotland during the deer stalking season, and there lies the tenuous link – Robert Burns's poem “My Heart’s in the Highlands” which includes the verse:

My heart's in the Highlands, my heart is not here;
My heart's in the Highlands a-chasing the deer;
A-chasing the wild-deer, and following the roe,
My heart's in the Highlands wherever I go.

It also made me laugh, which of course is the main reason for including it.

Transcript below:

 
NEW SPORTSMAN: (who imagines himself to be invisible to the quarry). "They can't see us, can they ?"
STALKER: "I'm thinkin' they'll be awa'. There's naethin scares them sae much as an ostrich."

HORNS OR WINGS ....

Today in Shetland sees the start of the annual Up Helly Aa season, with the Scalloway Fire Festival getting underway tonight. Scalloway is the first of 10 Fire Festivals celebrated throughout the Isles, from mid-January through to the end of March. The main Up Helly Aa held in Lerwick on the last Tuesday in January is the largest Fire Festival in Europe and the most well known of them all.

The Lerwick Festival is also the oldest dating back to the late 1800's, and evolved from traditional torch-lit processions around the town at Christmas and New Year. The Viking element of the Festival emerged later and has now become a prominent feature of all the Fire Festivals. The Viking costumes are all made by the participants themselves and a very closely guarded secret. Speculation is rife throughout the Isles as each Up Helly Aa Day dawns as to whether the Jarl Squad, as it is known, will be sporting helmets with horns, wings, or what has now become quite common and more authentic, neither of them.

Leonard Raven-Hill (1867-1942) cartoon shows the problem sometimes encountered when trying to procure horns.

Transcript below:

CURIO DEALER: "There's a nice pair o' horns, on'y a couple of pounds."

CALEDONIAN: "They're awfu' dear."

DEALER: "Of course they're orf a deer. Wot d'yer 'spose they're orf! A rabbit?"

IT'S ALL IN A NAME

Today the 1st of November is the anniversary of the 1938 Horse Race in America dubbed the ‘Match of the Century’ between ‘Seabiscuit’ and the then favourite ‘War Admiral’ at Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore, Maryland. The race was held over a track just under a mile and a quarter long, and ‘War Admiral’ started out as favourite with odds of 4-1 on, with an estimated 40,000 people trackside, and a further 40 million listening in on the radio. Legendary trainer Tom Smith with his unorthodox methods had devised tactics for the race which ultimately paid off, and after a memorable head to head race ‘Seabiscuit’ won by four clear lengths. ‘Seabiscuit’ was subsequently named “Horse of the Year” for 1938.

‘Seabiscuit’ was an odd name, but the rules governing the naming of horses are strict, for example, horses names cannot be longer than 18 characters and spaces, and names currently on the Register of Horse Names or names of horses who have won a major flat or jump race cannot be used (so there can only be one ‘Best Mate’ or ‘Shergar’). And most famously, names whose meaning, pronunciation or spelling is obscene or insulting are prohibited. Over the years some have slipped through the net with ‘WearTheFoxHat’ and ‘Noble Locks’ being the most notable.

Silly names are often quoted in the racing press and on television as folk have struggled to find an exclusive name. ‘No D Feet’, ‘No Da Deh’, ‘Sexliesandalibis’, ‘Snoozin Susan’, and ‘Wontonsoupforyou’ are just a fraction of the thousands of ‘unique’ names already listed. Bert Thomas (1883-1966) cartoon below highlights the problems involved in naming a horse.

Transcript below:

OWNER: "You let the whole bloomin' field walk over you."
JOCKEY: "Well, whatcher expec' with a horse called 'Turkey Carpet' ?"

HOLIDAYS - THE PHOTOS

Continuing the theme of summer holidays, the aftermath of a week or a fortnight in the sun is the showing of all the holiday photos. Nowadays with digital cameras, mobile phones and social network sites there are instant playbacks of those immortal moments within minutes. Back in the 1920’s and 1930’s the camera and the photograph was still a relatively new phenomenon. William L Ridgewell (1881-1937) cartoon illustrates some of the problems associated with this new technology.

Transcript below:

"It's no use, Cyril, I don't understand this camera. I can only see your feet."

JULY WEATHER

The 150th British Open Golf Championship at St. Andrews tested the professionals’ capacity to play in all weathers, especially on the Friday when they sampled a day more often found at Dale or Skaw in Shetland. Some mastered the course and the weather while others fell foul of the conditions and faltered. Frank Reynolds (1876-1953) cartoon depicts an a special technique developed to cope with such situations.

JULY WINDS

Very Advanced Golf

GOLF - IT'S A FUNNY OLD GAME

On the eve of the 150th British Open, todays cartoon highlights the now universal game of golf. The Open was first played in 1860 at Prestwick and attracted a field of 8 professional Scottish golfers, who played three rounds of the 12 hole course in a single day. The style of wear for the golfer of the early 20th century favoured the 'plus fours', or trousers that extended just four inches below the knee, hence the name. Thankfully the more casual style of today has now become the norm. This cartoon by Bertram Prance (1889-1958) depicts some of the pomposity that surrounded the game for a long number of years.

Transcript below:

COLONEL PEPPER: (to woman sauntering aimlessly across fairway). "Now then! Hurry up with that baby of yours."

WOMAN: "Baby yourself - playing with that little ball and in them knickers!"

I AM SAILING, I AM SAILING .....

The arrival of the superyacht 'LADY B' in Lerwick Harbour this week, all £10 million pounds worth of aluminium and walnut highlights the continuation of the wealthy to indulge in beautiful pieces of precision marine engineering. The downside of owning anything of such value and beauty, is the tendency to harbour an over zealous protective nature as illustrated by this Charles Grave (1886-1944) cartoon.

Transcript below:

FASTIDIOUS YACHTSMAN: "Can't you find some other part of the river on which to practise your horrible cult of nudism and pickled onions?"

WORLD CUP - THE NEXT STAGE

The pundits, presenters, experts, call them what you want, seem to be of the opinion that apart from England having a singular lack of talent, they also appeared to lack any conviction. This didn’t seem to be a problem back in the 1920’s, as illustrated by this cartoon from Leslie P Marchant!

Transcript below:

VILLAGE TEAM   v.  POLICE

STRANGER: "What's that rough fellow doing in the team? He doesn't seem to know much about football."

NATIVE: "Oh, they allus play ole Ginger against the bobbies. E's 'ad sixteen convictions."

THE WORLD CUP

The media hype surrounding the forthcoming tournament in South Africa might do well to realise that really it’s "only a game" ….. as can been seen from this cartoon by Inder Burns from 1923. 

Transcript below:

CAPTAIN OF THE ROVERS. " ' Erbert, w'y can't yer keep up wiv the uvver forwards ?"

'ERBERT. " 'Cause they adn't ter blow up the blinkin' ball afore the game started, 'ad they?"

COUNTRY MANNERS

To start this blog sharing the fun and humour of old 'Punch' style cartoons from the early 20th century I have chosen one relating to the performers from the Music Hall era. The Music Hall brought together a huge variety of different acts, which together formed an evening of light hearted entertainment. By the late 19th century there were around 400 large halls spread around the UK, and at its peak the Music Hall was the television of its day.

It's stars were enormously popular and provincial tours around the country became very fashionable, visiting the smaller towns and cities. This in turn led to touring 'variety concert parties' who performed in country villages and parishes. This cartoon by George Belcher (1875-1947) depicts a country hall variety concert, where the visiting urban magician is upstaged by a local.

Transcript below:

CONJURER AT VILLAGE CONCERT. (to native who has volunteered to assist him) "And now I think I will surprise you, for I am going to produce a live rabbit from your right-hand coat pocket"
NATIVE. "Oi certainly 'ull be surprised if yew do. Oi've had my ferret in un all evening."