There are many ways in which the Watford Observer of yesteryear mirrors that of today. It looks different, of course, and the pages were twice as big, but the content is not dissimilar: plenty of stories from the courts (always popular unless you happen to be the person involved), council news, human interest... However, there is one way in which the paper – and indeed the world – has changed dramatically and that is in its treatment of women.

The concept of women being equal to men was nowhere near reality in the 1960s and while there are those who say it still isn’t, things have certainly improved – as can been seen by this competition run all over the country in 1961.

The Watford Observer of September 29 in that year featured what, seen through 21st Century eyes, seems an almost hilarious promotion in which one reader could win a home and a car, no less, by becoming Hoover Housewife of the Year.

A home and a car? Yes indeed. As the competition states: “This year, the fortunate housewife will win a luxurious Norwegian-style bungalow and a Hillman Minx convertible car, so that should she choose to have the bungalow built in the country or on the coast, she can motor to it at weekends at will.”

Oh – and the winner will also get £1,000 towards the cost of the plot of land on which to build it.

Not only that, but runners-up get washing machines and vacuum cleaners.

Well. So far so good. Who could resist? But here’s where it all gets a bit weird.

To enter the competition you have to obtain an entry form from your Hoover dealer, no doubt while having the benefits of the latest models explained by a snappily besuited salesman, then (and I’ll quote this verbatim so I don’t get accused of making it up) “arrange the six attributes of an Ideal Housewife in the order you consider to be of the greatest importance and state in not more than 12 words why you would like to own a Hoover Keymatic Washing Machine.

“The six attributes are:

1) To be well groomed

2) To have an interest outside the home

3) To be able to entertain her husband’s friends

4) To be a good cook

5) To budget housekeeping money

6) To share her children’s interests.”

I’m afraid I was unable to find out who won this competition, where she was from or, indeed, where Hoover built her Norwegian spruce home. If it was you, please let us know.

In the meantime, can you imagine such a competition being run in the Watford Observer today?

No, me neither – and I can’t help thinking we’re all the better for it.

Regular readers may remember last week’s extraordinary story of the Australian woman’s wedding ring which ended up, via a tin of meat, being served up for tea in Watford.

Well it so happens, that when it comes to rings ending up in odd places, a tale of similar bizarreness occurred in the Watford Observer of September 26, 1914.

Headed “X-Raying an Elephant”, the story reads as follows:

“To find the location of a 450 dollar diamond ring which she had accidentally wallowed, Minnie, a trained elephant, performing at a Cincinnati summer resort, was compelled to submit to being X-ray photographed.

“The elephant was eating peanuts out of the hand of a man wearing the valuable ring when playfully she slipped the saliva-covered end of her trunk over the fingers of the hand in search for more peanuts and, to the astonishment and consternation of the man, took the ring along in withdrawing it.

“Quickly she tossed it into her yawning mouth, heedless of the futile efforts of the owner to make her drop it.

“To locate the ring, X-ray photography was resorted to. Minnie’s side was marked off into seven sections and seven X-ray plates were marked to correspond with the numbers painted on her side. One after another the photographs were made of her interior in an effort to find the exact location of the missing ring. It showed up in plate No. 1. The ring had become firmly lodged in the throat of the elephant and she could not cough it up nor would it go down.

“A veterinary surgeon was summoned and he probed the animal’s throat for the ring. The valuable gem, according to the Scientific American, was soon recovered and the elephant was none the worse for her novel experience.”

Ten years earlier, in the Watford Observer of October 1, 1904, another story caught my eye.

Nothing to do with rings or, indeed, elephants and, as the headline was “Alarming Explosion” that’s probably just as well.

It reads: “About ten minutes past nine o’clock on Wednesday evening, people who happened to be passing along Rickmansworth Road were startled by a tremendous report.

“A party of six young men who were going to their homes on the Harwoods estate appears to have been nearest to the spot where the explosion occurred. Their story is that when near the old cottages, which stand opposite the park in the dip of the road, a short distance from the park gates, they were almost blinded by a flash which came from just beyond the park fence.

“This flash was followed instantly by a deafening report. When they had recovered from the natural consternation which seized them, they found a piece of jagged iron, five inches in length by one inch in breadth, in the road. This fragment was read hot and smelled strongly of gunpowder.”

Anyway, to cut a long story short (they did tend to overwrite in those days) they waited until it had cooled down and then gave this to police whose Superintendent Wood said it was “evidently a splinter of what was intended to be a bomb.”

The story continues: “The theory of the police is that the whole affair is the outcome of lads playing with gunpowder” before concluding that Superintendent Wood was “convinced that someone was either experimenting or ‘larking’.” Well that’s all right then!

Moving on, I’ve had a letter from regular correspondent Ernie Mackenzie, of Gammons Lane, Watford, reminding me that Sunday, September 29, marks the 30th anniversary of the closure of Odhams (Watford) Ltd.

He writes: “This once great printing enterprise started life in Burleigh Street off The Strand in London in 1847. It was known then as Biggar and Odhams, later to become William Odhams Limited.

“William Odhams ran this business until in 1893 he sold out to his two sons who continued to print at Burleigh Street but also formed a new company at Hart Street (now Floral Street) Covent Garden, under the name of Odhams Brothers Limited.

“In 1898 the companies were merged as Odhams Limited and in 1905 moved to new premises in Long Acre, WC2. The title Odhams Limited remained until it became Odhams Press Ltd in 1920.

“In 1920, John Bull Ltd, the company owning the first great mass circulation magazine printed by Odhams, merged with Odhams. It was a sucessful business, increasingly so under the direction of J S Elias, who later became Lord Southwood.

“Lord Southwood decided, because of the increasing number of magazines printed by his company, it should be given a more modern look. At this time John Bull had a print run of one and a half million copies a week, printed on a high speed newspaper press.

“So Southwood decided to swap this process to a rotogravure system which enabled four-colour printing of reasonable quality to be introduced into popular publications and at running speeds equal to that of newspapers. Southwood acquired the sole rights in Britain.

“In 1935, a new company was formed – Odhams (Watford) Limited. Construction of the works began in that same year and the main building completed in 1936.

“In 1937 he started the magazine Woman which was so phenomenally successful, an additional factory block was added in 1938, and further presses installed.

“In 1954, work started on a new multi-storey extension, the building which now presents such an impressive front to the A41. This magnificent building was designed and modelled on Stockholm Town Hall.

“The building was designed by Sir Owen Williams, of Yates, Cook and Darbyshire, the London based architects. On completion, more presses were installed and in 1966, a massive modernisation programme began to convert presses and enable them to print colour backing colour.

“At this time, Odhams employed more than 3,000 people, cutting 540 cylinders, printing, folding and stitching 52 million copies, perfect binding 300,000 copies, book case binding 240,000 copies, using 9,000 tonnes of paper every month.

“This was its peak. In the 60s and 70s print orders began to go down slowly due to the introduction of commercial television.

“In the mid 60s, Odhams was taken over by IPC (International Printing Corporation), owner of the Daily Mirror. Reeds then became the new owners of Odhams before, in 1982, one week before Christmas, it was bought by Robert Maxwell who announced he planned to close it and merge it with his own company, Sun Printers.

“All staff members at Odhams could choose a job at the new company or redundancy. Only 25 per cent chose the job option.

“In 1988, Maxwell moved the Mirror out of Fleet Street and into this building, where the Mirror and its sister papers are printed to this day.

“Before bringing a closure to this letter, I would like to say how grateful I am to Lord Southwood in making his decision to bring Odhams to Watford in 1935 and to give many working class people a very good standard of living.” 

Thanks, Ernie, for that tribute. If anyone else has any memories of Odhams, or has anything to add, please get in touch.

Watford Observer: Band 1

STILL MAKING A NOISE: Watford Band, pictured here in the 1920s, celebrates its 120th anniversary next year and is looking for all ex-players and associates to help mark the occasion.
They would like as many as possible to get in touch with photographs, stories and the like, so they can organise celebrations to include all memories of the band over the years.
Watford Band’s next concert is on Saturday, October 5, at St Luke’s Church, Langley Way, Watford at 7.30pm. The band will be playing pop hits from the 50s to the present day, from Rock around the Clock and American Trilogy, to Angels and many more. Entry is by donation (£5 suggested, under 12s free). For more information, contact the band secretary on 07842 198855.

ONLINE TOMORROW: Ferret walking in the 70s

These stories formed part of the Nostalgia column first published in the Watford Observer on September 27, 2013. The next Nostalgia column – with information about Sooty filming in Bushey, a novel protest against Dr Beeching and much more – can be found in tomorrow’s Watford Observer (dated October 4, 2013) or read online here from 4pm next 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