I had a lovely email from Kate nestled in her voluminous, warm cardigan over at Lichfield Lore today. Here’s what she had to say:

Hi Bob

I’ve been so busy busybodying that I forgot to tell you about this snippet I found in the Lichfield Mercury!

In the edition of 16th November 1939, 3 Brownhills boys appeared at a juvenile court on charges of shop breaking & larceny. The stole cigarettes, a pipe, matches and a game of ‘Bob’s Your Uncle’ from the shop of Thomas William Booth. They also broke into the house of Alfred Craddock.

The boys were placed on probation for 2 years and one of the conditions was that they were not allowed to attend any cinemas where gangster films were being shown. Apparently, they were influenced by the ‘Dead End Kids’. If they broke probation, they were told they would be dealt with severely & sent away.

When I saw they’d stolen a game called ‘Bob’s your Uncle’ I had to forward it to you. On a serious note though, reading these old newspapers really helps to look at the past without the rose tinted filter.

Anyway, thought you’d find it interesting,

Kate

As it happens, that was brilliant, and just the kind of offbeat observation that makes Lichfield Lore such a great site. An amusing trawl of YouTube turned up the following – but I don’t want to hear of any of my more impressionable readers going and nicking smoking paraphernalia, OK? I’m trying to run a responsible blog here…