Arsenal v Derby County, Christmas Day 1948

                             

Welcome to my final post of 'After You've Gone' in 2021. As in the past several years, for this Seasonal theme, here is another match day programme from a Christmas Day football match. This time it's an old First Division encounter between Arsenal and Derby County which was played at Highbury on 25th December 1948. 

As was the tradition in those days, the opposing teams would play the home and away fixtures on Xmas Day and then usually on Boxing Day or the day after. In this case, the first match took place in London on the 25th - and then at Derby's Baseball Ground two days later on 27th December. 

Arsenal Football Club treated the fans to a special festive programme printed in red and green, accompanied by an illustration of holly leaves and berries on the cover. The game itself must have been a wonderful slice of Christmas entertainment, as 43,000 fans witnessed a 3-3 draw. For the record, Derby won their home match 2-1 with 33,378 in attendance. 

Much of this slim eight page programme was dedicated to nostalgic stories with a Christmas theme, though there was clearly much excitement in the air with the prospect of an upcoming FA Cup 3rd Round home tie versus North London rivals Tottenham Hotspur, who were then playing in the old Second Division. It was a game that the Gunners would win 3-0, but coincidentally they met up with Derby again in the 4th Round draw, who would go on to win the match 1-0 at the Baseball Ground.

Besides this unique Christmas edition, Arsenal's 1948/49 season programmes were identical in format to the issues of the previous season. These clearly reflected the post-war austerity measures. However, in 1949/50, the Arsenal programme underwent a transformation as both page count and page size increased - as the availability of paper must have increased dramatically after years of rationing. On the pitch, the club failed to hold on to the First Division trophy they'd won in 1947/48, ending the season in 5th place. Derby finished up 3rd in the table.

Arsenal v Derby County, 25/12/48. It was a morning Kick Off, and then a dash to get home for Xmas dinner.

'Marksman' was the pen-name of programme editor, Harry Homer

A double-page spread with Xmas-related stories harking back to the footballing days in Woolwich

A regular advertiser was the Finsbury Park Empire in St Thomas's Road.  The theatre closed in 1960, and was demolished in 1965. A block of flats appropriately named 'Vaudeville Court' stands on the site today.

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A look at the League, and the Line-Ups in 2-3-5 'pyramid' formation

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

YUGOSLAVIA, Public Telephone Booth Postage Stamps, 1988 - 1992

In July 1988, the Yugoslavian Post Office printed a 23 x 26 mm stamp depicting a payphone with a woman on a call. It was part of a wider set illustrated by D. Cudov that was issued over a two year period marking the work of the postal services. Other denominations in the series showed mailboxes, computers, envelopes, post women and even carrier pigeons.

The payphone stamp has a range of variants, from a colour change to overprints that reflected the ongoing revaluations of the Dinar due to a chronic inflation in the 1990s, and the independence of nations within former Yugoslavia.

1,000 din. - Yugoslav dinar

0.40 din. - Yugoslav dinar

Overprint 26.6.1991 SLOVENIJA: The Declaration of Slovenian Independence was held at a public event in Republic Square, on June 26th 1991

5 din. - Yugoslav dinar, 1992 overprint

Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbian Administration. Overprint issued on 26th October 1992

20 din. - Yugoslav dinar, 1992

SEYCHELLES, Public Telephone Box Postage Stamp, 1986

 

In May 1986, Seychelles in the Western Indian Ocean, issued a four stamp set depicting 'Inter-Island Communications' as part of their commemoration of the AMERIPEX '86 stamp show. Dubbed ''the World's Fair of Stamps", this was the largest philatelic show to be held in America's history with some 150,000 people attending, and over 50 participating countries.

The event took place at the O'Hare Expo Center in Chicago, Illinois between May 22 to June 2, 1986. Dozens of countries across the globe - from the likes of Bhutan, Jamaica, Poland, and Tanzania - issued sets of stamps marking their participation in Ameripex '86. 

The Seychelles 2 Rupee stamp shows a young woman on a call in a 'public telephone kiosk'. 

2 ₨ - Seychellois rupee

GHANA, Public Telephone Box Postage Stamps, 1990

On the 24th October 1988, International Direct Dialling (IDD) was introduced in Ghana, West Africa. Two years later, the Ghana Postal Service issued a four stamp set dedicated to its telephone service. Two of these depicted Ghanaians using a public telephone. 

The lower denomination issue shows a man inserting a telephone card into a pay phone. For the 200 Cedi stamp, three women are congregating around two public telephone boxes.

I've not been able to identify the illustrator of these stamps, so any further information will be much appreciated.

80 ₵ - Ghanaian new cedi

  

200 ₵ - Ghanaian new cedi

FINLAND, Public Telephone Box Postage Stamp, 1988

In 1988, a set of five postage stamps was issued to celebrate the Finnish Postal Service. The key stamp that I'm interested in for my on-going series of 'telephone boxes on stamps', is the one depicting a man in a brightly patterned yellow shirt posting a letter in a post box that's right next to a public telephone box (or 'Puhelin' in Finnish). 

The designer was Victor Torsten Ekström (1926 - 2015), an illustrator of many postage stamps in Finland.

1.80 mk - Finnish markka

It's a wonderful touch that Ekström had not only chosen to include the phone box in his artwork, but he's also illustrated someone who is in mid-conversation inside the box. The stamp was available to buy in a booklet with the other stamps in the set, where it was issued as a se-tenant pair.

  Finland de-activated its very last public telephone box back in 2007 

 

More Public Telephone Boxes on Postage Stamps

I'm hanging on the public telephone theme for a while longer. This time a quick whizz around the globe to highlight another selection of philatelic phonebox curiosities.

First up is a lovely illustration of a roadside scene in Costa Rica that was depicted on its 1999 issue marking the Island's 50th Anniversary of its Electricity Institute. There's a distinct contrast between the rural setting, the pair of cows pulling a cart, and the modern looking phone booth - which is also in use. The stamp was designed by A. Suarez.

75 ₡ - Costa Rican colón

15 din. - Yugoslav dinar

Designed by R.Bojanic, a 2001 issue from Yugoslavia commemorates the centenary of telephone booths in Serbia, and the Ivory Coast's 1989 'Communication' stamp marks the 30th anniversary of CAPTEAO. It's a pity that the group of blue telephone boxes only gets a cameo appearance on the stamp itself. 

155 CFA - West African CFA franc

British Design Classics, 2009

0.63 € - Euro

In 2019, Malta issued their 'Residential Houses' four stamp set. The K6 CARDPHONE is in the foreground of a building in the capital Valletta. The designer is Anthony Xuereb. 

Terrence Millington was the designer of the British 63p stamp in the 1997 'Sub-Post Offices' set.

Issued on 12th August, 1997

30 Botswana thebe

One of a set of four stamps with the theme 'Telecommunications' commemorating the International Stamp Exhibition 'STAMPWORLD' which was held at the Alexandra Palace in London in 1990. The show marked the 150th anniversary of the introduction of the Penny Post in 1840. The stamp is subtitled 'talking', and was designed by M.Kahn.

Nevis - Public Telephone Booth Postage Stamps, 1995

 

In October 1995, the Caribbean island of Nevis commemorated the 10th Anniversary of Skantel (St. Kitts and Nevis Telecommunications Ltd) with a set of two stamps and a souvenir sheet. Nevis had first issued stamps between 1861 and 1890, and only returned to being a separate postal administration as recently as 1980. Saint Kitts and Nevis is the smallest independent country in the Western Hemisphere, being just 267 square kilometres - with the smaller island of Nevis just a 15 minute ferry ride from neighbouring Saint Kitts.

Public phone repairman at work

The $1 stamp is an illustration of a repairman fixing a public telephone - perhaps the only stamp to have ever been issued with such an image. The $1.50 stamp is a rather uninspired photo of a Skantel sign outside their office in Nevis. Again another unusual design, which has unlikely been attempted many times either before or since. But it's already a slice of history as telecommunications on the islands is now administered by a company called Flow, having previously been run by LIME (formerly Cable and Wireless).

Skantel sign, Nevis office

Saving the best stamp in the set for the souvenir sheet, the $5 issue presents a street scene with a photograph showing wall-mounted public telephone booths outside the Skantel office in St Kitts. 

Are they still there?

Skantel, St. Kitts Office

Norway - Public Telephone Box Postage Stamp, 2009

 

In the Autumn of 1932, Oslo Telefonanlegg (the Oslo Telephone Exchange) announced an architectural competition for a Norwegian public telephone box. The winner was the architect Georg Fredrik Fasting (1903-1987) with his Riks booth (literally The National) which was made of spray-painted sheet metal plates riveted to an angle iron frame, and was strong enough to withstand the freezing winter weather. 

Production of the booth started in 1933, and the first one was installed that year at the Norwegian America Line quay in Oslo. By the time production ceased in 1995, more than 9,000 red Riks booths had been made. 

The Norwegian American Line Pier and telephone box, 1930s

The irony was that Fasting himself couldn’t hear as he was born without ears. But at the age of 56, he became the first person in the world to have ear canals constructed, so he could finally use his own creation!

In 2009, Norway Post Office issued a stamp of Fasting's legendary creation as part of their Year of Cultural Heritage's 'Communication' set. 

The designer was Inger Sandved Anfinsen.

A nice cancel of a reindeer over the 2009 TELEFON stamp

The Norwegian Year of Cultural Heritage 2009 (Kulturminneåret 2009) was aimed at highlighting the diversity and importance of Norway's cultural heritage for all sectors of the community. 

Saint Helena - Public Telephone Box Postage Stamp, 1990

 

Saint Helena in the South Atlantic Ocean, measures about sixteen by eight kilometres, and is one of the most remote islands in the world. The British Overseas Territory has been issuing stamps since 1856, the first of which was a portrait of Queen Victoria printed with blue ink. 

For my latest in an ongoing series of irregular posts about public telephone boxes on postage stamps, this study of a cardphone box in Saint Helena offers up a remarkable possibility of someone in such a remote place having a chat with a friend or family member many, many thousands of miles away. Because mobile telephony only began on the Island in the past six years or so, there are still 36 booths in operation that use either coin or cards, or a combination of them both, for both local and international calls.

Woman in Card Phone Booth, 1990

This 20p stamp was issued in a set of four in 1990 commemorating  'Communications' on the Island, and it was designed by the British illustrator Nick Shewring, who has created over 200 sets of stamps for over 40 countries across the world. The sheet edge also included an attractive decorative border depicting pared down versions of the four subjects in the stamps.

 

Pop Pic Library, Wells Gardner, Darton and Company, 1965 to 1968: NEW DISCOVERY!

Hurrah! As the years have passed since my first post on After You've Gone about the 'Pop Pic Library' series of music-related comic books, a remarkable piece of the publishing jigsaw has just been discovered!

Somehow, the original aluminium offset lithographic plates for two of the covers have surfaced: No.57 'Pleasant Valley Sunday' by The Monkees, and No.58 'I'll Never Fall in Love Again" by Tom Jones.  Both hit singles were issued in the Summer of 1967, so the comics themselves would have likely been published around this time.

As with most of the numbers that were issued later on in the run of the series which seems to have ended in 1968 with No.72 ('Congratulations' by Cliff Richard), the original comic books themselves are hard to find. In fact, to my knowledge, a copy of 'Pleasant Valley Sunday' has never turned up on the market. But these cover plates are the first ever publicly known examples of ephemera relating to the Pop Pic Library universe. 

Many of us fans are still hoping to come across the beautiful original artwork for the covers which was provided by such luminaries of the UK romance comics scene as the Spanish artists Jose Maria Miralles and Angel Badia Camps. These were occasionally signed. It's clear however, that the lack of credits in the comic books for the photographer or their agency of the colour picture of the singer or band that always appeared the back page, or for any of the songwriters and record labels, surely means that Pop Pic Library was unlikely to have been fully endorsed or authorised by many of the rights owners themselves. 

I always look forward to seeing new research on the series, and perhaps others may be able to track down exactly who was responsible at Wells Gardner, Darton and Company, the publishers, for creating this intriguing and ever so Sixties slice of POP culture.

For anyone interested in purchasing these original aluminium offset lithographic plates, please contact David Walker at The Shibusa Gallery: david@shibusa-gallery.co.uk