The lesson of when humour doesn’t travel ……..

It is one of the obvious observations that what you once found funny no longer does the biz.

True there are plenty of clips of Del Boy, Morcombe and Wise, and the Two Ronnies which stand the test of time.

But then there are heaps more which now go down like a lead balloon

So, for me, much of the 1980s alternative humour has lost it.  Perhaps because so much of it relied on a political and social backdrop that has vanished, which leaves what’s left just a bag of shouty comics relying on four letter words to see them through the set.

And that brings me to the postcard and the play on “shot at his seat”, which if you are old enough or aware enough will be a reference to his estate in the countryside, where those who could held shooting events to which the great and the wealthy were invited or paid to take part.

That said even back in the early 20th century I wonder whether Eric in Blackpool or Brenda in Brighton found the message funny.

After all, if the nearest bit of green is a Corporation Recreation Ground, just a an acre square, the rolling verdant estates of some aristocrat or wealthy businessmen might seem as irrelevant as an excursion ticket to the Moon.

Location; early 20th century

Picture; Picture postcard undated, from the collection of David Harrop