English newspapers

My dad made some good friends in England when he was stationed there during the war. I met the daughter when she came to Canada in 1967. She had been a teenager during the war. I met her again with her mom when my mom and I went to England in the fall of 1975 after my dad had died suddenly.

My mom and this family exchanged Christmas cards and various presents over the years. I remember my mom going to a local cheese producer in Vankleek Hill Ontario to buy some Canadian cheddar. It was specially wrapped to send to England.

In return they sent to us a subscription to the “Illustrated London News.” It was a very distinguished publication that started in 1842. My mom would pass the magazine to someone else when she was finished with it. It seems that the magazine made the rounds of Lachute. She was once offered a copy and had to admit that she did not need to read it as it had started out at her house!

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A much less reputable newspaper that was sometimes around in the house in Lachute was “The News of the World.” It is known to be involved with various scandals - I think my parents enjoyed it as a bit of a joke.

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Can I compare these two titles to the Ottawa Citizen or the Ottawa Sun? Not really. Now I do not read either newspaper in hard copy and when I am phoned to take out a subscription I tell them that I only read it online - which is true.