Search for treasures from the past

WE'VE been laughing on Boom Radio recently about how youngsters nowadays wouldn't even recogprobably nise some of the things we used in the schools and offices of the 1950s, '60s and '70s.

- JUDI SPIERS

The thrill of the office guillotine! There were always gory tales from someone who knew 'someone' who had sliced their thumb off! Carbon paper and typewriter ribbons that had you scrubbing your fingers for days. IBM golf ball typewriters and Telex machines. Rolodexes, Roneo duplicators, Gestetner machines with that unmistakeable odour of fresh solvent! And Tippex!

Wasn't it Mike Nesmith of The Monkees whose mother was the inventor of liquid paper correction fluid so beloved by typists? And what about a 'wet willie', the roller used to wet envelopes and stamps? And that little brick red rubber knobbly thimble thing that helped turn pages?