Hungerford Arcade is a place of memories. Whose memories? Usually we don’t know, but every now and then the right person is in the right place at the right time and they find a memory of their own, just sitting on a shelf.
Two lovely ladies, Sue Chillingworth and her daughter, approached the desk with a book they wanted to purchase. It was a “TV Fun” Annual from 1957. Being the young wippersnapper that I am I never had the pleasure of reading “TV Fun” in my youth but I’ve seen a few copies of it around the Arcade before.
Sue’s Father, Albert Thomas “Charlie” Pease, was a cartoonist for the Amalgamated Press at around that time and on the off-chance that one of his cartoons may have been in the book, Sue picked it up. Which is when she found this cartoon – she says she recognised it by the hand writing as it wasn’t signed.
Sue says she remembers her Father sitting in the corner of the lounge making up stories while she ran about the place with her four siblings – I’m sure Charlie got plenty of inspiration for funny cartoons from his active household!
Sue bought the book for £2 from Countryside Books on the first floor of the Arcade and was overjoyed with it. £2 isn’t a lot to spend on something that brings back so many memories.