The Agatha d'Ascoyne Papers

 ‘Good Time Girl’ (1948) is quite the hidden gem. I unearthed it on You Tube, and I’m sure that I have neither seen nor heard of it previously. This is odd, because it has a stellar cast. Jean Kent has the starring role and she is supported by Herbert Lom, Dennis Price, Flora Robson, Diana Dors and Jill Balcon. As you would imagine with a cast with this kind of quality, the film is no turkey – it is compelling and atmospheric. So why is it not a household name? I wonder if this is because the film was too radical in its outlook for the times. Did it have a subdued reception in 1948 because, in general, people found its message difficult to deal with? This in turn might have led to it becoming quickly buried and forgotten. The story focuses on Kent’s character, a girl of sixteen called Gwen. We are invited to watch her spiral down into a life of crime and eventual imprisonment by the haughty and moralising magistrate (Robson). We first find her living at home with her paren...

 Worried Words I have been collecting vintage women’s magazines for some time now. They are an excellent historical resource, very helpful in my research around the history of sewing. The best thing is, they can be picked up on ebay for less than the price of a modern magazine – and I often find that there are more articles worth reading in the old ones! As well as the nostalgia and reminders of domestic history, there is always something that makes me laugh. It might be the corny romance story, the endless adverts for laxatives (which says a lot about the British diet of yore) or the health article that doesn’t actually refer by name to the condition it is talking about. There are all kinds of quack remedies discussed and advertised for that regular female affliction that can never be mentioned! The language used to get around this taboo is fascinating. But best of all – the page that I always turn to first – is the problem page. What a feast of entertainment this can be. Living i...