Famous film star and actor David Tomlinson was in Watford on Tuesday. He lunched with the Press and then met the people of Watford when signing autographs at W.H. Smith and Son in the High Street. Mr V Cheesewright, manager of the Empire cinema, presented the star with a handsome fountain pen with which, presumably, he was later to sign autographs. The book which is carrying his signature is Jerome K Jerome’s classic Three Men in a Boat, the film version of which will be shown at the Empire next week.

[From the Watford Observer of January 3, 1958]

NOSTALGIA NOTE: Although already well known as an actor in 1958, it wasn’t until six years later that Tomlinson became a real household name when he starred as George Banks in the Disney film Mary Poppins. He went on to continued success in other Disney films including the first ‘Herbie’ film, The Love Bug, in 1969. He died in 2000, aged 83.

Watford’s 1lb ration book allocation of South African oranges will be on sale from 2.30 tomorrow afternoon. This is an experiment, sanctioned by the Ministry of Food, which should enable factory and office workers to take their place in the queues. We also understand that a further allocation of oranges will follow very shortly after tomorrow’s but there is, as yet, no news of the hoped-for arrival of lemons and grapefruit.

Bananas are reaching this country from Jamaica and after consignments have been shared in the Bristol, Liverpool and London areas, Watford is expected to have its turn. That should be, the Watford Observer understands on good authority, not before the end of February. Then they will be sold at 1s 1d a pound.

[From the Watford Observer of January 4, 1946]

Archaeologists digging just behind the building line of Watford High Street have unearthed the earliest recorded medieval coin yet found in Watford.

Experts have identified it as a silver penny of Edward I, minted at Reading in 1279. With other 13th Century finds it was recovered by members of the Watford and South-West Herts Archaeological Society in an area of the town which may have been near the centre of medieval Watford.

Mr B.F. Rawlins, director of the excavation, says that ... it is now possible to begin to draw a plan of 13th Century Watford.

[From the Watford Observer of January 26, 1973]

A 35-year-old South Oxhey man had the somewhat unusual experience of having his death reported in a national evening paper on Monday – and living to laugh about it.

The “deceased” man, MM of Woodhall Lane, was injured in Prestwick Road on Monday morning after being involved in a collision with a car. He was knocked unconscious for a time, and it was his prostrate form which probably gave rise to the story that he was dead.

By the time an ambulance arrived, however, he had recovered sufficiently to get up and walk into it. He was taken to Watford Peace Memorial Hospital with head injuries.

[From the Watford Observer of January 13, 1961]

These stories concluded the Nostalgia column first published in the Watford Observer on January 31, 2014. The next Nostalgia column – with information on Princess Anne's wedding cake, power cuts, postcodes and an underground Bushey river, among many other things – can be found in this week’s Watford Observer (dated February 7, 2014 and available in newsagents now, priced just 90p) or read online here from 4pm on Thursday.

If you have anything to add – or would like to tell us anything you think our readers may enjoy about Watford’s history – we are always pleased to hear from you. Contact Nostalgia, by clicking here watfordnostalgia@london.newsquest.co.uk