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Tuesday, September 28, 2010

Some saucy history....


In 1870 James Bamforth began his business in Holmfirth, near Huddersfield, West Yorkshire - a village now most famous for being the setting of the long running BBC comedy Last Of the Summer Wine.
Bamforth was a portrait photographer who later specialised in lantern slides. But it was the saucy postcards, launched in 1910, which sealed his firm's reputation.
They sold 14million a year in the cards' 1950s heyday, but political correctness and a change in social attitudes to sex were blamed for their decline and in 1990 the firm closed and the cards went out of print.
Many of the originals, including famous cartoons by Donald McGill, a staff artist at Bamforth for 62 years, and Arnold Taylor are now collector's items.
Pneumatic young miss   Early postcard
The large lady at the beach was a common theme for Bamforth postcards
Taylor's favourite crack involved a policewoman, motorist and the text of their brief exchange. Policewoman: 'Anything you say will be taken down.' Male motorist: 'Knickers!'

Another recurring source of giggles on the postcards is women's fascination with what Scotsmen keep under their kilts.
As it did for the postcards' near relatives the Carry On films, the newly-created NHS was a source of much merriment
As it did for the postcards' near relatives the Carry On films, the newly-created NHS was a source of much merrimen
A later, marginally more explicit example of the cheeky postcard draughtsman's art
A later, more explicit example of the cheeky postcard draughtsman's art



Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1315810/Ooh-saucy-Classic-seaside-postcards-make-comeback.html#ixzz10qtZJaMD

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