FYI - Public Information Films Quiz

Answer: Take the door off dis-used fridges

You could also get the council to take your fridge away, or smash the lock on the door. (A lock on your fridge? I know diets are hard work, but...) [I know really, no notes please!]. Newer fridges are not dangerous to dispose of, but you will not find many British people who can throw away a fridge complete with door.

Answer: Sneezing without a handkerchief

This film warned that sneezing was a serious matter, and was less amusing than pulling seats out from underneath unwary friends or balancing books on top of a door. Massingham is the founding father of Public Information Films: in 1938 he formed a small company which was to the first to specialise in information films.

He starred in and directed a series of odd, humorous shorts exhorting the careless to watch fuel consumption or use zebra crossings.

Answer: Clunk click every trip

'Clunk the car door. Click the seatbelt'. This advert ceased to be as effective when car doors became lighter, and no longer made a 'clunking' sound when closed. However it made a big impact in 1972, despite the fact that it featured the subsequently disgraced DJ Jimmy Savile with a special message for 'you ladies'.

The slogan still seems to be thoroughly stuck in the minds of all generation-xers, and was briefly revived as a slogan in the 1990s.

Answer: British Gas privatisation

'Sid' was portrayed as the only person in Britain who did not know about the joy of purchasing shares in this previously nationalised company. The 'Tell Sid' campaign for British Gas ruined the lives of men named Sid throughout the UK for many years.

Answer: Yes

Oh yes. Those officially in power in 1974 may not have been able to do anything about miners' strikes, IRA bombings or 16% inflation, but they were certainly not going to leave us to trip over mats. It's always good to know what is really important in life.

Answer: The girl was smoking

This film showed two teenage girls chatting in a bar. One points out that if you blow smoke in a boy's face it means you fancy him. The other tries this method and is rebuffed with the oldest line in the book. This was a very helpful film for girls growing up in the 1990s, as it encouraged us all to take up smoking in order to give non-verbal cues to the opposite sex. I expect that was what the authorities wanted.

Answer: Splink!

This stood for: 'STOP, stand on the PAVEMENT near the kerb, LOOK all around for traffic and listen, IF traffic is coming let it pass, when there is NO traffic near walk across the road, KEEP looking and listening for traffic while you cross.' Oddly enough, this catchy and not at all overly-verbose advert made no difference to road traffic accident rates. I can only feel surprise that the road-death rates did not soar as children wandered into roads while trying to remember what the 'p' stood for. Or any of the other letters, for that matter.

Answer: Build 'New Towns'

This film starred Charley, another staple of post-war public information films. No, not the cat. This one is a hard worker; a good bloke; a solid citizen who wants to improve life for his young family. He also looks unnervingly like my grandfather did in the 1940s. Charley helped to explain about the radical state reforms which took place after the war including the new National Health Service, and the changes in education provision.

Answer: True

Benjamin Britten and W H Auden collaborated on a number of public information / advert / documentary / art films, of which the most famous is 'Night Mail', which is informative, beautiful, and famous as a poem in its own right. The GPO Film Unit ultimately morphed into Central Office of Information which is still scaring us sensible to this very day.

Answer: A cat

Charley the cat could not speak, but his unintelligible mewlings were translated by his dim owner whom Charley prevented from a) Speaking to strangers, b) Falling in water, c) Playing with matches, d) Leaving home without telling Mummy first (presumably Daddy was too busy doing manly stuff to care) e) Getting too close to ovens, and finally f) Pulling tablecloths (no, really). First aired in 1973, they were still being shown in the 1980s. Personally, I was never able to take in the messages, but have been frightened of cats ever since.

Take care, don't have nightmares, and most of all, SPLINK!