From the archive, a modest, unassuming piece from ‘Womans Day’ on how to transform the plainest of the plain into Betty Grable! (Julia Roberts to those of a later time span or Katie Perry to those so young as to make me feel disgustingly middle aged!)

Dating back to the late fifties and despite the austerities of the not long passed war years the fact remained that it was the ‘duty’ of a woman to look good for her man and, increasingly, herself.

A man didn’t have to of course. Scarring, a limp, or an eye-patch were all badges of honour, tokens of the war years, war wounds to be ‘passed over lightly’ in polite company and never discussed, verified or not!

I believe it was Winston Churchill himself who said:

“Women will never be equal to men until they can walk down the street with a bald head and a beer-gut and still think they are sexy!”

It may not have been of course, though he did have a somewhat caustic turn of phrase when occasion demanded. My favourite has got to be,

“Madam I may be drunk, but you are ugly. I shall be sober in the morning”

The original article came as a supplement in a 1959 edition of “Womens Day” magazine and is quite representative of its time.

The war had done wonders for the rights of women to do jobs long since considered the domain of men and flourish in their own right.

Mind you, the letter from the editor is probably one of the most patronising pieces I have seen in quite a while. The bloke who wrote that now would be strung up by the heels at the very least!

By the way and neither here nor there, I think the brownette (brunette) image is actually a very young Maureen Lipman but I could be mistaken.

My eyesight isn’t what it once was . . .