Customs

Board of Trade Tape - The Waterguard used a special tape, made by Rabone Chesterman Ltd. and supplied by the Board of Trade.

Extending Rummage Mirror - Extending from about 1 foot to about 3 feet with the mirror mounted on a short 'ball and socket' arm, this was official issue to all APOs on rummage duties in the 1960/70's.

Shuftyscope - It was used by officers on rummage duties to see into confined, enclosed spaces. It had a light source powered by batteries and a lense mounted at the end of a 20mm diameter tube. The eye piece could be focused by a knurled ring mounted close to the handle.

Sykes Hydrometer - This used by Waterguard Officers to assess the alcoholic strength of any liquor presented, or detected, during passenger or crew baggage examination. Some spirits, such as rum, had the indicated strength reduced to compensate for any colouring or sweetening held in solution in the liquid. This was calculated in degrees of Obscuration.

Tuckstick - The tuckstick, or sword cane, was used from the 19th century onwards as a rummage tool to prod cargo in order to locate contraband goods.

All things smuggling at HM Waterguard. Link…

Rogues Gallery

"Patrick Reilly was convicted of cutting ladies skirts with a razor at Edinburgh Waverley Station on 28th February 1918. Being insane he was sent to Morningside Asylum." Some British Transport Police history. Link…[edit: broken link - 20 April 2010]

The King of Dolls

Ljeposlav Perinic's collection contains dolls that he obtained as gifts from dignitaries, Kings, Queens, Emperors, Empresses, Presidents, First Ladies, Prime Ministers, Governors, etc. Link…

Paper Dolls

Sindy and Bunty. Link…

Lionel Lindsay Bookplates

More bookplates. This time from Norman's less well-known brother. Link…

Space

Space books for children. Link…

Eugen Sandow

Born Friedrich Wilhelm Mueller in Konigsberg, on April 25, 1867. His father was a greengrocer and his mother was a Russian emigrant. In his teens, he ran off and joined a circus, where as a naturally athletic youth with a well-developed sense of balance he took to acrobatics. In Brussels around 1887, Louis Durlacher (Atilla) recognized the young man's potential and decided to turn his young pupil into the star he had never become. At this point, Mueller changed his name to "Eugen Sandow" and under Attila's tutelege began progressive weight training. Link…

Hong Kong

Rummaging through a box of old odds and ends at home, I came across a box of slowly decaying slides. In amongst the family outing shots there were a few landscape and street scenes. Taken in the mid-sixties they show a mostly disappeared (I assume, although I've never been back) Hong Kong and its surrounds. The skyline is unrecognisable compared to today. Kai Tak airport is closed and its future still up in the air (up in the air - geddit). The trams (note that's Jardine House on the left of the tram) and ferries are still running. Chungking Mansions is still there, as is the Sha Tin floating restaurant, albeit in a drastically altered form.