Caroline Munro

Conversation in the Caroline Munro Yahoo group has turned to the actress's days as a model.

I mentioned a couple of magazines that she had been in, namely Practical Photography and Amateur Photographer. The latter's regular columnist, the sadly missed Victor Blackman, a Daily Express staffer, always used to say she was his favourite model as she was willing to work hard, didn't have any prima donna demands and (most of all) looked absolutely gorgeous!

I bought just about every issue of Practical Photography from around 1968/9 until the mid 1980s and Caroline used to feature quite a bit throughout the 1970s and into the 80s.

Sadly I threw them all away - you can't keep everything! But here's a cover from Camera Weekly showing one of the shots from Caroline's famous Lambs Navy Rum adverts on the cover.

1980s Photo Mags

I suppose it was inevitable wasn't it?

I mention finding a load of photography magazines from the 1980s and then get emails wanting to see photos of all the glamourous models...

Well, in answer to the somewhat accusatory missive that came in amongst them, yes I was only 15 when I started to buy Practical Photography, but whilst I certainly didn't skip past photos of topless models, throwing my hands up in disgust, I do have to point out that the photos of the 60s and 70s were a bit more tame than you would find in lads' mags of today!

Even in the 1980s they were hardly what you'd call porno! Cheesecloth was used quite a lot to great effect and there were a few shots along those lines in the mags I came across so I've included a couple here in answer to most of the emails, which were of the begging sort...

Remember not to look when your Gran is in the room.

What? A Week???

Ah yes... perhaps a little remiss of me, but it has been a busy week.

Since my last missive I've been to Glasgow, Lancaster, Newcastle and Edinburgh for work and there's not been a lot of time to devote to the blog! I've not taken the camera with me either on the trips I've been on.

Last weekend Fran and I drove up to Anchorsholme for a walk along the cliffs and a view of the Riverdance which is still there. As you can see from the photo it is now well and truly on its side and as fast as they empty the fuel out, it has to be filling up with seawater as the tide half submerges it twice a day. My guess is that if the March spring tides don't let the salvage people float her then she will end up being dismantled where she lies - or Cleveleys will have a new permanent tourist attraction.

The roads in and out of Cleveleys - which is the main Fleetwood peninsular road - has been horrendous at weekends with sightseers coming in to have a look.

In an non-customary fit of junk-throwing I unearthed a folder containing a load of old photography magazines from the early 1980s last weekend which have provided a few hours of fun reading through them again.

I used to buy Practical Photography every month, Amateur Photographer every week and Photography most months in the 70s and 80s. Practical Photography I see used to cost 80p in 1982... It brought a load of memories back, of sending off loads of photos and the joy of seeing one in print every now and then. Ex-PP editor Robert Scott also used a couple of photos in the Club Canon magazine and I came across a couple of photos of the gorgeous Collette Caton, a model who got noticed through Practical Photography's annual Photo Girl contest one year. I met her on the PP stand at a fair in Haydock and have a hideously underexposed slide somewhere that totally fails to do her justice!

Ah well, so now at least you know what I've been up to and now I've got to get ready for another trip. Shrewsbury, here I come!