Nation’s oldest toaster... a little slice of history
BRITAIN’S oldest toaster, which is more than 70 years old, is still used every day by its owners, who have urged others to make do and mend.
Jimmy James, from Stanwick in Northamptonshire, has a Morphy Richards pop-up toaster which was given to his parents as a wedding present on Dec 29 1949.
It is thought to be the oldest working toaster in Britain, manufactured just a few weeks before the wedding day. The last reported oldest toaster was a Morphy Richards made in 1953 and gifted to a couple in Devon for their wedding the same year.
Mr James, 69, inherited the toaster from his parents in 1993. The father of three, who works as a charity fundraising consultant, said he is committed to his parents’ wartime generation mindset: fix broken items if you can, rather than throw them away.
He said: “The toaster is now older than I am! It has been used virtually every day of its life. My parents used it, and my wife and I have used it ever since.
“To me, it’s second nature to make do and mend. My parents were wartime generation and everything was repaired and recycled – nothing was ever thrown away that I can recall.
“You’re doing a tiny little bit to preserve the environment and you’re manufacturing jobs in the repair industry as opposed to manufacturing jobs in China. I work on the basis that there’s no point in throwing things away if they’re working perfectly well.”
Mr James said he has to carry out minor repairs on the toaster only every six or seven years.