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The stranger memorizing the license plate from a single announcement on the radio and then finding that car on the street to deliver news of a sick kid is a fan
by bumholio 8y ago
The stranger memorizing the license plate from a single announcement on the radio and then finding that car on the street to deliver news of a sick kid is a fantastic story.
It's hard to imagine for someone brought up in the age of the information overload just how starved people were back then for entertainment and news. I remember the anxiety with which I waited a whole week for my favorite (and only) cartoon I could watch on the national television (the only TV station available). It was a Japanese show called Spaceship Sagittarius and the episodes are forever burned into my memory down to the planet names the protagonists were visiting, minor characters and plot twists. Back in the 50s, I could imagine thousands of people memorizing a license plate announced on the radio, and the story of the SOSes becoming talking subjects in the local pub.
- phkamp 8y agoBack then the first three letters of the license plate identified the city council where the car was registered. There wouldn't have been a lot of cars in London with that particular three-leter code which increases the chance of recognition a lot.
- rwmj 8y agoStill does (the first two letters anyway). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vehicle_registration_plates_of_the_United_Kingdom#Characters https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vehicle_registration_plates_of...
- NeedMoreTea 8y agoIt used to encode the town or part of a city, now it gives a region that could be anywhere in several counties based on the nearest DVLA local office (now all closed).
- tomjen3 8y agoGranddad (born in 39) told me his childhood home didn't even have a radio. Granted they were unskilled labour, but in my mind not having any news is still weird.