What the big names were wearing in ’56
FOUR weeks ago, reader Neil Sutton took us back to his childhood in the nineteen-fifties, reminding us of some of the nation’s favourite comics.
Neil mentioned that many of those weekly favourites would offer free gifts, in the form of booklets, charts, and minialbums on anything from warplanes to sports teams.
Neil kept many of his, and here we can take a look inside some of the ones he’s kept for more than sixty years.
Across the top of the page is a selection from a pocket guide given away free with The Rover comic. Entitled ‘Famous Football Jerseys’, it gives a snapshot how shirts looked in the mid-fifties – mostly V-necks and the odd full collar – and included not just the top division, but all the English and Scottish divisions, even including the now defunctathenian League, Kent League, Midland League and Western League, as well as English, Scottish and Welsh Rugby Union clubs.
Change
A huge amount has changed in the intervening decades, but it’s interesting to note that half of the current Premier League was in the top flight back in the 1956-57 season – though some, Wolves in particular, have been right down into the depths before making their way back again.
Wolves finished sixth that season, with Aston Villa tenth and West Brom eleventh. Manchester United were champions – the Busby Babes, featuring our own Duncan Edwards.
At right is another of Neil’s old survivors, this one a copy of ‘Every Boy’s Cup-tie Album’, which came free with the Tiger.
No prizes for recognising who’s on its cover – the West Bromwich Albion side who won the FA Cup in 1954, captain Len Millard shoulder high, and holding the famous trophy aloft.