Christmas Gift Ideas from December 1919 Times Newspaper

Let me take you back in time to December 1919. A time when the Royal Navy's annual spending was £157 million and there was speculation that the RAF were to become a permanent force after the Great War. Britain was now at peace but John Maynard Keynes announced that "There are a lot of hard-faced men who look as if they have done rather well out of the War".
Christmas was fast approaching and people as they are today were frantically trying to find that ideal gift.


When I was in the 1919 part of the original newspaper archive I found this great gift idea section from The Times newspaper. The above picture is an actual page from one of Papers Past historic newspapers straight from the vast newspaper archives. This original newspaper page shows a few gift ideas like "Drambuie for Christmas Gifts" and "McAfee's Golf Shoes, with McAfee's rubber studs." Drambuie would've been a real treat as a Christmas gift as it was only made possible "by the removal of war restrictions," and case of three bottles were £2.19.6.

My personal favourite is the picture below, again from an original times newspaper it shows "Harrods Gifts For Men Folk" (what a great headline). So for your "Men Folk" in your life why not treat them to a lovely set of Harrods Pyjamas for "39/6" or for a special treat an " All Silk set for 50-."

Our special dated newspapers turn up some amazing adverts like the ones above so please do keep an eye out for Papers Past's future blogs and twitter updates. Trust me I've got some great adverts from 1939 newspapers, 1949 times newspapers and 1959 original newspaper but they are for another day. In the meantime if you are interested in buying a Birth date Newspaper simply visit http://www.paperspast.co.uk and let us solve your gift buying problem!