Sheffield United v Blackpool, Boxing Day 1961

Welcome to my regular seasonal post of 'After You've Gone' my now very irregular blog. Apologies if you used to enjoy seeing these pop up on a regular basis. One of my distractions over the past few years has been Instagram, where it is has been so easy to upload images and connect with friends and followers, so inevitably that has meant less and less of 'After You've Gone'. 

My Winter wishes this year are courtesy of a lovely football programme that was issued for a First Division match at Bramall Lane on 26th December 1961. Throughout the 1961/62 Season, Sheffield United produced a splendid looking publication with a crowd scene that evocatively captures football going in this era. 

I really like the artist's angle of being in the crowd viewing both fellow spectators in the stand and the action on the pitch. I'm sure that L.S.Lowry would have recognised the imagery - though sadly like many football programme designers, the cover illustration is not credited. 

The unknown artist would have certainly enjoyed this particular festive issue as the printers - Greenup & Thompson of Wellington Street, Sheffield - went for green ink instead of the regular black that was used to accompany the red print throughout the 1961/2 season. No expenses spared for Blades and Blackpool fans on this Boxing Day!

For the record, Sheffield United won the match 2-1, ending the season in 5th place, which was also one above their City rivals Sheffield Wednesday. The 1961/62 programme crowd scene cover was issued for only this one season, but it remains an enduringly popular design for fans of football programmes of this era. 

For anyone stumbling upon this post for the first time, please do check out '1/- The Football Programme Design Revolution 1965-85' that I co-wrote with graphic designer Matt Caldwell. Further information is at the bottom of this page. Now let's savour these cracking images...

The Red & Green special Boxing Day cover

Wardonia, Steel City

The Line Ups!

Tennant's Barley Wine, a welcome tonic after freezing on the terraces at a Christmas match

 

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

Book details: https://1-shilling.myshopify.com/

1 Shilling: The football programme design revolution of 1965-85

Hello! 

This post of 'After You've Gone' is a tie-in with KICKSTARTER for a book that I've been working on with graphic designer Matt Caldwell:

1 Shilling: The football programme design revolution of 1965-85

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1shilling/1-shilling-the-book

The book breaks new ground as it digs deep into the rich history of an astonishing era of football programme design, uncovering the stories of their remarkable creators. It features stunning cover designs from more than 40 British Football League clubs - a visual treat transporting us back to a time when a new generation of designers had burst on the scene fresh out of art school and off the football terraces... 

A selection of spreads from the book.

1 Shilling has tracked down these long-forgotten paradigm shifters, so for the first time we hear their story, both in their own words and through interviews with their families and colleagues. It’s a tale of passionate football fans designing for fellow supporters - but unlike the fashion or music industries - the names behind the artworks for the trusty, pocket-money priced, football programme were often uncredited or ignored. Until now. 1 Shilling champions these unheralded artists, finally cementing their deserved place in design history.

Cover and spine view of the book.

Spread across 200 pages, 20,000 words, 100 images and 11 chapters, 1 Shilling takes you on a nostalgic journey into the archives of football programme design. At its heart, the book is a deep exploration of the work of master creator John Elvin, a designer who broke all the rules. Ignoring the conventions of the day, he chopped up photos, massacred the formal code of lay-outs and blew-up typefaces beyond the imaginable.

Limited Edition A2 Poster - Coventry City vs Bayern Munich, 1970 (designed by the late John Elvin, and signed by his son). Included in selected pledges.

We meet a geezer from West Bromwich called Graham who designed programmes for several First Division clubs (in the same season), while high as a kite on a combo of lighter fuel and magic markers. Then there’s John Elvin’s protégé, Bernard from Birmingham, a prolific powerhouse of dynamic design in the Midlands. And also Don, an art school teacher from Aberdeen who conjured-up fantastical images for a few shillings’ worth of beer money.

In a collection of essays, 1 Shilling explores the wider cultural, economic and political backstory of British football over a transformative two decades from the mid-1960s. The book gets to the core of the ritual which saw fans buying programmes that were read at the match, in the pub, at home - and often treasured for years and years.

1 Shilling postcards - one design included with every pledge.

Our objective  is that following printing and distribution, a significant donation will be made to the Huntington's Disease Association (HDA), a national charity supporting anyone who is affected by Huntington’s Disease. It was Huntington’s Disease that claimed the life of pioneer programme designer John Elvin at the age of just 53.

Huntington’s is not something you can catch: it is inherited. Every child conceived naturally to a parent who carries the Huntington’s gene has a 50% chance of inheriting it. You can live with the faulty gene for years without symptoms, but eventually it will impact on your life, manifesting as changes with movement, learning, thinking and emotions. Once symptoms begin, the disease will always progress: there is currently NO cure.

As an organisation boasting many committed football fans, the HDA were intrigued to hear about the 1Shilling project and the story John Elvin, especially when they learnt how Huntington’s Disease took the life of John at a young age.

All profits from this project go to the Huntington's Disease Association.

The funding that we generate through this Kickstarter will be for the printing and distribution of the book. All profits will be donated to the Huntington's Disease Association.

We have already factored in a budget that will enable us to print 500 copies, although we’d love to raise enough to print a few more, so reducing the unit price for printing - and maximising the surplus which will all go to charity.

Remaining copies will be sold & distributed through online and physical retailers.

THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT!

A letter from Argentina to Laurence Harvey, 1957

On Sunday afternoon, I dropped in to the Business Design Centre in Islington, N1 to have a look around the London International Stamp Exhibition 2022. I took some time to view the various philatelic exhibitions on display, and had a rummage through the hundreds of thousands of postage covers that were sold in the dealer's areas. I was hoping to find some interesting items relating to my ongoing exploration into public telephone boxes - or perhaps any ancient fragments of ephemera connected to advertising gramophone companies and recordings.

By sheer chance, I spotted an envelope addressed to the actor Laurence Harvey, perhaps best known for his performance as the aspirational womaniser Joe Lampton in the 1959 film adaptation of John Braine's 'Room at the Top', or the hypnotised Communist spy in John Frankenheimer's 'The Manchurian Candidate'. Sadly the letter itself was not enclosed, but they rarely are in these kinds of philatelic artefacts. But I couldn't resist buying the cover, especially as the asking price was a mere £2.

The letter had originally been sent from Argentina on the 28th May 1957 at a cost of 3 pesos, and on the reverse there is a another post mark. A cancellation dated 10th July 1957 showing that the letter had taken over two months to reach the corrected address for Laurence Harvey - c/o Romulus Films in Soho Sq, W1 - the company founded by the Eton-educated brothers John and James Woolf.

the flimsy 17 x 9.5 cms Air Mail envelope

The year 1957 was certainly a busy one for Harvey. He had two starring roles in British films - in the comedy drama 'The Truth About Women', and  'After The Ball' the biography of Music Hall performer Vesta Tilley.

Julie Harris and Laurence Harvey in 'The Truth About Women'

 'After the Ball' was filmed at Beaconsfield Studios for Romulus Films

The 9th World Scout Jamboree was held in Sutton Coldfield in 1957. It was dubbed the Jubilee Jamboree marking the 50th anniversary of the Scouting Movement, and the 100th anniversary of the birth of founder Robert Baden-Powell. 

We can never know what exactly were the written contents of the letter to Laurence Harvey sent from Argentina in 1957. However the name and address of the sender is on the back of the envelope: R. Mendez, Moreno 215, Quilmes, Buenos Aires. More than likely this is a fan letter to Harvey, written from a country that was in the midst of a series of coups in the fifties, and perhaps one of many dozens a week that he would have received at this time. Somehow the envelope found its way onto the philatelic market, sitting in collections for decades, and then boxed up to be taken to various stamp fairs until ending up in the hands of another buyer - this time me...

And here is Moreno 215, Quilmes, Bs As in 2021, courtesy of Street View

Little did Laurence Harvey know in 1957 that his career would soon take a major upturn after the huge public and critical success of 'Room at the Top', just two years after this letter was sent from Argentina. 

Harvey continued to star in films and television up to his death from cancer in London, at the age of 45 in 1973. 

Where's the Public Telephone Box? Part 9

After a short hiatus, here's another set of old postcards that include a vintage telephone box within the views of British street scenes. 

There are some lovely ones in this collection, and you may feel the urge to check Google Maps to spot which of the phone boxes are still in situ after half a century or more since they were photographed for a trusty and traditional picture postcard...

Cornwall

South Coventry, West Midlands

Devon

Pontypridd, Wales

Dorset

Louth, Lincolnshire

West Sussex

North Somerset

Essex

Derby Guildhall in the Market Place. In 1949, the Town Council moved to the Council House building in Corporation Street.

Merseyside

Great Yarmouth, Norfolk