A Plumstead couple have donated two copies of the Cape Times published in May 1935, and a special edition for June 3, 1953, which published the coronation of Queen Elizabeth the previous day.
The Cape Times, which will celebrate its 141st anniversary on March 27, basked in nostalgia when a Plumstead couple yesterday donated two Cape Times publications dated May 7, 1935, and June 3, 1953, and The Times of London of June 1953.
Eighty-two year-old Noel Miller said he and his 83-year-old wife Pamela Miller had received the newspapers from two female friends, who had since died.
The Cape Times’ May 7, 1935, special silver jubilee supplement is headlined “Their Majesties”, with the sub-heading: ”25 years of service from the throne”.
It features a front-page picture of the then British king and queen riding in a carriage. The 71 pages are filled with royal family portraits and accounts of royal life.
The June 3, 1953, Cape Times, which cost 3 pennies, has a front-page picture of Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip on the Buckingham Palace balcony on their wedding day.
The Times of London coronation supplement, dated June 1953, highlights royal ancestry and history and is headlined ”The Life and Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II as Recorded in the Pages of the Times”. It boasts a breathtaking front-page photo of the Westminster Abbey coronation.
Miller said: “The newspapers have been here in our house for 20 to 40 years. I did not want the newspapers to die, so I adopted them.
“My main interest was the history of the Cape Times in the 1930s, so I kept a lot of cuttings of Cape Times publications of that period.
“I must say the standard of photography in those days was much better. I’ve got scrapbooks of pictures of Cape Town in those days.”
Miller’s wife said she had written to the queen following the queen's visit to South Africa in the late 1940s, to request photos of the princesses, but was refused. “It’s interesting to see how things were in those days,” she said.
Miller said his daughter, Monica Miller, had suggested they donate the old newspapers to the Cape Times.