Sunday 26 May 2013

The Shroud of Turin

Daily Sketch dated Monday March 7th 1955
Click to Read
Cont'd from Front Page - Click to Read
Cont'd from Front Page - Click to Read

This is very much a personal view by Group Captain Leonard Cheshire VC and offers no scientific evidence for or against the authenticity of the Shroud of Turin.  In 1954 Cheshire, having been inspired by a photo of the Shroud face while recuperating from tuberculosis, toured Britain with an exhibition of Shroud photographs.
Extensive scientific tests were carried out on the Shroud in October 1979 and in 1988 radiocarbon dating was done on some samples of the cloth, the results of which indicated that the shroud was no older than the 13th Century. Some authorities claimed that the samples were from a medieval repair rather than the original Shroud material, so the controversy continues but one mystery remains, apart from whether it is the image of Jesus or not, how was it made? 

Cont'd from Front Page - Click to Read
The shooting of Arthur Leonard by men from the Ulster Special Constabulary aka B-Specials was widely condemned in Southern Ireland as murder by trigger happy part-time policemen. The USC had been formed as a reserve police force to be used only at times of heightened threat against Northern Ireland. The IRA Cross-Border Campaign of 1955 - 1962 was one such time.

Click to Read
No CCTV, cash payments for everything and a description that would fit hundreds if not thousands of men, I think even Fabian of the Yard would have been scratching his head. I can’t find any follow up to this story.

Click to Read
Canadian born Paul Carpenter was a stage and radio actor, a familiar face in British cinema from 1946 and on TV from 1953 until his death in 1964 when he collapsed in his theatre dressing room at the age of 46. 

Click to Read
Beniamino Gigli was an Italian opera singer whose career lasted from 1914 until this worldwide farewell tour in 1955. He died in 1957.

Click to Read
Leonard John Coley was tried for the murder of his half-sister Irene but I can’t find out what happened to him. The trial records at the National Archive are closed until 2030. He is not on the list of 12 people (11 men and Ruth Ellis) that were hung in 1955.

Click to Read
It’s the mid-1950’s so there must be a reference to UFO’s. Mr Girvan’s ‘Flying Saucers and Commonsense’ can be picked up on Amazon UK for as little as £3.76 or as much as £86.46. George Adamski claimed to have photographed UFO’s and even to have had a Close Encounter of the Third Kind with a Venusian called Orthon.

Click to Read
This very disparaging review is of Peter Ustinov’s play ‘The Moment of Truth’ which, after a short theatre run, was made for TV and starred Peter Cushing and Donald Pleasance. By one of those coincidences that make you look over your shoulder fearfully, it just happens that the play is being revived in the theatre for the first time from June 26Click to Readth until July 20th 2013 at the Southwark Playhouse. 

Click to Read
One of the lesser-known cartoon strips ‘Harry’ about which I can find no information except that it ran in the Sketch from at least 1953 until 1955. I’m not sure that the visual ‘joke’ works but I do admire the draughtsmanship.

Click to Read
Apparently there was a crisis in British football in March 1955 and I seem to have missed it. Ah well, not to worry. Someone might find this story interesting.





No comments:

Post a Comment