This card shows us a weather station, being examined by small boys, perhaps even at their school. Weather forecasting at that time was quite adequate, and had been developing since the 1920s.
However, in 1950 we saw the first computerised forecasts take place, and they would mean not only that the forecast was more accurate, but that it could be sent, in real time, to head office. This machine was called ENIAC, this being an acronym for Electronic Numerical Integrator & Computer, and it had been developed and funded by the American government during the Second World War, and it was a joint effort by Americans and Norwegians.
They actually used a far simpler system than we do today, but deliberately, because the machine was not capable of too much complexity, and also they felt it would both speed up the results, and not use too much of the memory of the machine. In fact, despite this, it still took almost a whole day to get a result.
This set is one of thirteen that was issued by Priory Tea & Coffee Co. Ltd,., of London S.E.1, in a crafty little tie up with the I-Spy series of spotters books and also the News Chronicle and Daily Dispatch newspapers who ran an I-Spy Column every day. I do not know how Priory Tea managed to ally themselves with the I-Spy series. These are always thought to have began in the 1950s as a kind of club, presided over by a real Native American called Big Chief I-Spy - except it was a retired headmaster called Charles Warrell, who had made the first few books all by himself, starting in 1948. He then sold the idea to the Daily Mail, who started publishing a regular column, though they seem to have, quite quickly, moved them along to the News Chronicle. Mind you, when the News Chronicle stopped in 1960, the Daily Mail seem to have got them back. And, by the way Mr. Warrell lived to be 106 years old.
The idea came from the game, where one person thinks of an item and the others have to guess it. In the books the items were shown, and you marked them off. Each item gains a point, and when you had spotted all the items you would send them up and receive in exchange a feather and an order of merit. Simple, maybe, but by the mid 1950s there were half a million members in the I-Spy Tribe.
The sets are described in our original British Trade Index part two, as :
Priory Tea & Coffee Co. Ltd., London, S.E.1. Cards issued 1957-64. Small size 69 x 37 m/m. Special album issued to house the 13 series, listed below in order used in album. Series numbers appear only on album sheets.
SERIES 1 "I SPY OUT AND ABOUT". Sm. Nd. (24) ... PTT-1
SERIES 2 "I SPY PETS". Sm. Nd. (24) ... PTT-2
SERIES 3 "I SPY PEOPLE IN UNIFORM". Sm. Nd. (24) ... PTT-3
SERIES 4 "I SPY DOGS". Sm. Nd. (24) ... PTT-4
SERIES 5 "I SPY CARS". Sm. Nd. (24) ... PTT-5
SERIES 6 "I SPY FLOWERING TREES". Sm. Nd. (24) ... PTT-6
SERIES 7 "I SPY MEN AT WORK". Sm. Nd. (24) ... PTT-7
SERIES 8 "I SPY BRIDGES". Sm. Nd. (24) ... PTT-8
SERIES 9 "I SPY CYCLES AND MOTORCYCLES". Sm. Nd. (50) ... PTT-9
SERIES 10 "I SPY WILD FLOWERS". Sm. Nd. (50) ... PTT-10
SERIES 11 "I SPY AIRCRAFT". Sm. Nd. (50) ... PTT-11
SERIES 12 "I SPY BIRDS". Sm. Nd. (50) ... PTT-12
SERIES 13 "I SPY CARS". Sm. Nd. (50) ... PTT-13
Now on the cards it tells us that each album takes two sets - and further information appears in our updated British Trade Index where it says "Special album issued to house all 13 sets. Albums to take one or two sets were available for 6d." And it also gives me the dates of issue, where the "Sm." formerly was, series 1 to 4 being issued in 1957, series 5 in 1958, and series 6, 7 and 8 in 1959, all being of twenty-four cards, then series 9 to 13, which started in 1960 and were released on an annual basis thereafter, all being sets of fifty cards.
I cannot believe we have never featured any of these before, so I look forward to sharing them all with you in the very near future!
Both our final original British Trade Index, part IV, and our updated version also mention that there was a final "End of Series" card, wording only, asking "Are your sets of cards complete?" so it must have been a last chance saloon to get those missing odds out of the stock or remainders that Priory Tea still held. And there is also another issue, a "Bingo Slogan Competition", printed by letterpress in black only - of which eighteen cards have been seen so far.
Even more interestingly, our updated version also mentions an advertisement card of 1910 - though a quick look into the Priory Tea story online reveals that they were only incorporated in May 1932 - and that they are now dissolved.