Our subject, Alex James of Arsenal, appears on quite a lot of cards, which you can see at
Doingthe92.com/AlexJames
As to the reason for our card, the BBC may have started its television service in 1936, but it did not televise a football match for almost a year, and this was a specially arranged "friendly" between Arsenal and Arsenal Reserves, (hence our card) which took place at their home ground on 16 September 1937.
I've not been able to find out whether Alex James played in that but if someone out there knows do please tell us. You may be interested that the first "International" match to be shown on the small screen was England vs Scotland on 9 April 1938, possibly this was a trial for the F.A. Cup of 30 April 1938 (Huddersfield Town vs Preston North End). None of these were shown live because the F.A. was opposed to that, believing that showing live games would reduce physical attendance at them. It took until 1946 for live football to be shown, and this was not a division match, just a local between Barnet and Wealdstone.
Now this set was actually issued twice within the same year. Don`t worry though, as there is a difference between the two sets, as explained by our original Gallaher reference book (RB.5) issued ten years after the cards, in 1944. That reads :
1934 CHAMPIONS. (titled series). Size 2 1/2" x 1 1/2". Numbered 1-48. Fronts, printed in full colour by offset-litho. black marginal lines and white margins. No name of subject on fronts. Backs, printed in vermilion, with descriptions and "Park Drive Cigarettes, Gallaher Ltd., Virginia House. London & Belfast.
1934 CHAMPIONS. (titled series). Size 2 1/2" x 1 1/2". Numbered 1-48. Similar to the above. This is the second printing, and each card is titled for subject on the front. There are considerable variations in the drawing of the subjects - many of the "Champions" are larger. The wording is also larger on the backs, and descriptions are altered.
There seems that no reason has been recorded as to why this was done. However from the London Cigarette Card Company catalogue of 1950, we can tell that the first version without the names was already scarcer, being listed on sale at 6d a card and 30/- a set, whereas the second version, with the names, was listed as only 3d. a card, 15/- a set.
There was also a second series, issued in 1935, which we featured in our newsletter of the 30th of December 2023 as the diary card for Wednesday the 3rd of January.
In our original World Tobacco Issues Index the first part of the set is recorded as :
CHAMPIONS. Sm. Nd. ... G12-77
1. “A Series of 48”. Front (a) with (b) without caption
2. “2nd Series of 48”. Front with caption