Here we have the most popular sort of newspaper, a "daily". Now you may think this means it is issued every day, but the dictionaries will tell you that legally it is a newspaper that is published every day of the week, except Sunday.
The most popular "daily" is actually not published on Saturday or Sunday, and that is "The Metro", available from racks, free of charge, at London stations, though it goes right to the end of the line and you can get it out at Chesham station, so presumably at Amersham too. The Metro is published by DMG, who also publish "The Daily Mail", but it aims to not be tied to left or to right, just to present the news in an unbiased form, and I have to say perhaps that is why it is so popular.
Our team for today, Stenhousemuir, seems to have been allied to the Stenhousemuir Thistle Cricket Club, which began in 1881. It is possible that, like most teams, the football was a summer means of keeping fit and it was not considered a proper football team until 1883.
Though we have to say that there are some club historians who firmly believe that the team allied to the cricket club was not the same one, and that there were two teams, a Stenhousemuir Thistle and a separate Stenhousemuir team for men who were not part of the cricket club.
We know that Stenhousemuir (without the Thistle) was accepted into the Scottish Football Association in August 1883, and played in the Scottish Cup, until 1885, when they were removed from the Association because they had failed to pay their annual subscription. But that was all sorted out.
You can read more of their story at HistoricalKits.co.uk/Stenhousemuir
Scottish Daily Express appears as an issuer for the first time in our original British Trade Index, and there is an entry for "Scottish Football Teams 1956-7", but our set is not there; it only covers cards on which the reverses were headed "Pools Fans!" or "Scottish Daily Express - 1, 2 or X?". Though it does also include cards for the following season, 1957-58.
And I have to say I am rather confused by the listing in part four of our original British Trade Index, which tells us to strike all that out and split them into just two groups, namely :
- SCX-1 (Scottish Football Teams)
1. "Season 1956-7". 19 now known :
A. Front "Scottish Daily Express". 10 known. Two backs -
Aberdeen
Celtic
Dunfermline Athletic
East Fife
Falkirk
Partick Thistle
Rangers
St. Johnstone
St. Mirren
Third Lanark
B. Front "Presented by Scottish Daily Express". All 19 known - two versions of Partick Thistle (different players). Nine backs
Aberdeen
Alloa Athletic
Ayr United
Brechin City
Celtic
Dundee
Dunfermline Athletic
East Fife
East Stirlingshire
Falkirk
Kilmarnock
Partick Thistle (a)
Partick Thistle (b)
Raith Rovers
Rangers
St. Johnstone
St. Mirren
Stenhousemuir
Stirling Albion
Third Lanark
However, I have had a bit of help since then.
I also have a note of all the backs, some of which are listed in their entirety and others of which are in a shorter form.
The two backs on the first group, SCX-1.1.A, are
- "Pools Fans! For that £75,000 you must follow the top ten in the Scottish Daily Express"
- "Scottish Daily Express. 1, 2, or X? The Answer is Wednesday's Pools Guide. Make sure of your copy".
The nine backs on the second group, SCX-1.1.B are not all identified, but they definitely include :
- Greatest Ever Motor Show Contest. A Car A Day and a bonus car must be won. Enter now. Full details in the Scottish Daily Express [in horizontal format - and the cars are Hillman Minx, Morris Isis, Sunbeam Rapier, Standard Vanguard, Austin Healey, Ford Consul, Humber Hawk, Wolseley 15/50, Triumph T.R.3, and M.G.A. Coupe]
- Reprinted from the Scottish Daily Express, 29th August 1956. Keith Miller Declares! [in horizontal format, and it is way too long to transcribe!]
- "Great New series. "What I think of my old team". Four famous ex-players will give their opinion in Monday`s Scottish Daily Express".
- "Scottish Daily Express. Schoolboy Footballers. Look Out For Jock Govan's New Feature Schoolboys on parade. Every Tuesday." [John "Jock" Govan being a Scottish footballer from Larkhall, in Lanarkshire, who played for Hibernian, and later Ayr United, and must have had a column even later than that about schoolboy football. He died in February 1999, aged seventy-six.]
We think the others, still to be completely written in full, are :
- Must Be Won £4,000 House Plus….
- New Film Contest, £2,0000 Must Be Won…
- Safer Motoring Contest, £5,000 Must Be Won…
- Sports Fans! World Athletics Stars… Ibrox Stadium… Saturday, 15th Sept….
- Win a Country Cottage and a Car…..
By the time our four original Trade Indexes were combined into a single updated volume in 2006, the listing had changed a lot, but still left additional questions. It reads :
- SCOTTISH FOOTBALL TEAMS (A). 140 x 90. Black. Multi-backed, see HS-24. ... SCO-250
1. "Scottish Daily Express" at top. Season 1956-7. Nd. (19). Two different printings of the heading known.
2. "Presented by Scottish Daily Express" at top. Season 1956-7. Unnd. (20). See HS-24.1. Four different printings of the heading known.
3. "Presented by Scottish Daily Express" at top. Season 1957-8. Unnd (9). See HS-24-2. Two different printings of the heading known.
4. "Scottish Daily Express Super Sports Postcards". 1956. Nd. (12?) No.12 is double sided.
5. "Hearts F.C. - Scottish Cup Winners - Hampden Park April 1956. Single card.
The differences in the heading are easy enough to spot, one having thick bold capital letters with serifs, and the other having thinner and italicised letters without serifs. However the entry for our set says that there are four differences, so I will have to hunt those out.