This is rather a truncated newsletter but it will be completed over the weekend, internet permitting, as I have had a lot of trouble with it this week, the heat, perhaps, the light on the modem keeps going red and the internet shuts me off midstream. I have also had several other things that popped up unexpectedly, I had a physiotherapy appointment for my back, and, on a more pleasurable note, I have been job hunting and flat hunting, out in the country, by train.....
However, maybe you will enjoy the chance to watch a newsletter as it builds, across the weekend..... And apologies, if not
Today in 1921 saw the birth of Ernestine Jane Geraldine Russell. She was known mainly for her physique, exploited by Howard Hughes for his long-banned film "The Outlaw", filmed in 1941, but not released across America until 1946 - but there was much more to her than that.
She was born in Minnesota, the only daughter to an ex First Lieutenant in the Army and a travelling actress. They also had four boys, her brothers. For some reason, never fully explained, her parents came down from Canada, gave birth to her, and then went back to Canada when she was just over a week old. They then moved down to California about a year later.
It was in California that young Ernestine first took dance and piano lessons, and would eventually supplement her income, after her father`s death, by modelling for photographers.
This brought her to the attention of Howard Hughes, who signed her up in 1940 to a seven-year contract. Some say she was lucky, for she was very tall, at 5 foot 7, taller than some of the actors she worked with, but others say that this was more than compensated for by her vital statistics of 38-24-36.
She spent most of her early career on publicity tours, drumming up interest for "The Outlaw", but in 1946, with it still only on limited release, she took a role in a film called "Young Widow". It was not a success. She did not think that she would ever get on in the movies, so she decided to try her hand at singing, with the Kay Kyser Orchestra. She made two records with him and one on her own, but singing was not as exciting as she thought it would have been, though it is worth mentioning that she did a later record with another singer who briefly worked with Kay Kyser, Mr. Frank Sinatra - it was called "Kisses and Tears", and was released in 1950.
Before that she had a breakthrough, when she was cast as Calamity Jane in "The Paleface", released in 1948; a spoof of the western genre co-starring Bob Hope. It has been written that the main humour was that she was so much taller than him, but that is incorrect, he was actually an inch taller than her - though for the time it was unusual, as leading women tended to be quite a bit shorter than their leading man.
In the same year, Howard Hughes bought R.K.O. Pictures, and became her employer again. His first film with her was a musical, teaming Frank Sinatra and Groucho Marx; it was not a great success. Her next film was not great box office, but it was important, as it teamed her with rough, tough, Robert Mitchum, and they had instant on-screen chemistry, though he had been married in real life to Dorothy Spence, since 1940, and they would stay together until he died in 1997. The film was called "His Kind of Woman", and it was an early example of what would come to be known as "Film Noir". Sadly they were only teamed together once more, in 1952, on a film called "Macao". In that year she was also loaned out to Paramount Studios for a sequel called "Son of Paleface", again with Bob Hope. And she would also appear, briefly, in one of his "Road To" movies, with Bing Crosby - the "Road To Bali".
Her biggest commercial hit, though, was yet to come, and that was "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes", which teamed her with Marilyn Monroe. I am not sure it is a great movie, but it was definitely popular with fans, and remains so to this day. Musicals were also very suited to her singing and dancing talents, and the film does showcase that well. And it led to her next part, another Howard Hughes production, called "The French Line". This was a curious film, shot in 3-D, and co-starring Gilbert Roland, but it is notable for being the first screen appearance of Kim Novak.
From there she did her last film with Howard Hughes, before her contract ended in February 1954. This was "Underwater", released in 1955, a sub-aquan adventure with Richard Egan. It did well at the box office. Her contract with Hughes ended in February 1954.
Unfortunately the heyday of her career was in the 1940s and 50s, and so she appears on few cigarette cards. You will find a lot of her on "Dutch Gum" though, including our card, which is very unusual as it not only spells her name wrong but has a "signature" that repeats the same error.
She was married three times, firstly to the footballer Robert Stanton "Bob" Waterfield, but they divorced in 1968, then to Roger Barrett, who died within the year. Lastly she married John Calvin Peoples, in 1974, who died in 1999. She adopted three children, who gave her eight grandchildren and ten great grandchildren - and in 1955 she founded the first ever international adoption programme, called "Waif". She died at her home in California in February 2011.
Topps [trade/commercial : cards : O/S - USA] "Wacky Packages - 50th Anniversary" (2017) 7/9
Today is National Onion Ring Day. And it is also National Kissing Day, but it may not be a good idea to combine the two.
I actually wrote that second one down because I thought that finding an onion ring on a card would be quite impossible, but look, I was wrong. And I am amazed.
I also remain amazed that the onion ring was invented in 1820 by John Mollard in a book called "The Art of Cookery Made Easy & Refined", for basically the onion ring is a simple thing, just a slice across an onion, of a reasonable thickness, then each ring popped out, (though it works better with the larger ones than the middle ones). This is then coated in either batter or breadcrumbs and fried - though at the turn of the twentieth century they seem not to have been dipped, just fried in their naked form.
As far as Sonic the Hedgehog`s connection with the onion ring apparently if, during the game, you allow him to eat them, he becomes fatter and fatter as he eats more and more. I am not sure quite how this helps him, but it is a salutary warning as to what happens to us, if we do the same !
Now this is not much of a segue from yesterday`s card, but I knew I would never find another card of an onion ring, and I could not find an alternative I liked for an event of today.
But I did confine the write up above, pretty much, to onion rings, and now I can talk more on the fact that today, in 1991, saw the release of the Sonic the Hedgehog video game.
The truth is that there would not have been a Sonic the Hedgehog if there had not been a Super Mario Brothers. For Mario the plumber gave Nintendo an icon, something Sega, their rivals, did not have.
It was a trio of Japanese game developers, Yuji Naka, Naoto Ohshima, and Hirokazu Yasuhara, who came up with the idea of a super fast hedgehog. Now hedgehogs are not native to Japan, which is why Sonic looks slightly odd to our eyes. And in fact Sonic was going to be a rabbit, but the ears were hard to animate successfully.
The first game was made available in 1991, and it worked only in the Sega Genesis system, which we know better as the Mega Drive. Since then, Sonic the Hedgehog has become one of the world`s best selling games, and also four movies.
The downside of his success it that it has led to real hedgehogs being imported and sold as pets in Japan, something they were not designed for. Then they are often discarded when they cannot be taught to perform tricks like Sonic. And so their lives are short, and sad.
On a brighter note we know a few of these cards - they are often confused with another set though, also by Bel, known as "Mini Jeux" or mini games. Our set comprises :
- La Photographie - De Fotografie
- Cinema
- La Calculatrice - De Rekenmachine
- L`Ampoule - De Gloelampe (light bulb)
- La Television - De Televisie
- La Telephone - De Telefoon
Today is the centenary not of the "Five Sisters" window in York Minster, for it was built between built 1250 and 1260, but of its unveiling by the Duchess of York.
It was being unveiled for a rather curious reason. There had been a bomb, dropped from a zeppelin raider, quite nearby, and it was decided to remove the windows and put them into storage. However when they were removed it was discovered that the glass was getting thin and holed, something which would not have been seen if they had been left in place, until they just fell apart. So they were not just stored, but it was planned that they be re-stored. Dreadful pun, I know.
Now we have to go back a bit in time, to meet Mrs. Helen Drage Little, who had gone with her husband to Egypt during the first world war and seen the men coming back wounded from Gallipoli. She remembered the way that the nurses came down and comforted them, and, after the war, wondered why when there were memorials to the men, the women, many of whom she knew had also lost their lives, were forgotten.
In 1922, she heard that the "Five Sisters" window was being restored, and she, along with a friend, Almyra Gray, who was a local magistrate as well as the former president of the National Council for Women Workers, and a proud suffragette, launched an appeal for local women to help with the restoration. She also first mooted the suggestion that the windows be dedicated as a permanent memorial to all the "sisters" who had lost their lives in wartime.
It only took nine weeks to go past the £3,000 which had been set as a target, and more than local women had joined in, women from all across the Empire were sending in little and large sums of money. Even Princess Mary sent £50. And so the windows were very well restored, and then unveiled by the Duchess of York, with a plaque to read that they were "Sacred to the memory of the women of the Empire who gave their lives in the European war of 1914–1918".
Sadly, it remains the only memorial in the UK which is dedicated to the lost women of the First World War.
Now cards of women in war are also rare, and I have used most of the sets already, but maybe someone has an earlier, actual First World War nurse card, tobacco, trade, or silk, that they would like to donate a scan of the front and back for?
Until then, we have this, which shows a nurse in a blue cape. Now you may be surprised to learn that this would be instantly recognisable to nurses of the First World War. And that there were no nurse`s uniforms until Florence Nightingale created a long grey tweed dress, and a scarf, along with the need to keep the hair back out of the way and the wounds. She also first wore a belt with all the tools of her trade, fastened by a large silver belt.
There were a few changes to this by the First World War. Blue was shown to need less washing than grey, and aprons were also introduced, which could be frequently changed, rather than having to change the entire dress. The dresses also grew shorter and thinner, and military nurses, over a certain rank, were also issued with a cape.
The white dress, shown here, would continue right into the 1980s.
The one big change, and the defining item of the image, as far as dating it goes, was the hat, which came in with the 1950s and was gone by the end of the decade.
This week's Cards of the Day...
have been adding more images to our calendar of cards - these being ones which were first issued in the month of June.
A few statistics :
The earliest card we have tied to this month is Wills "Borough Arms" which was recorded in the Wills Works magazine as having been issued in June 1904, though there were actually eleven sets under that umbrella, and not all of them could have been issued in that one month.
The latest card proven to have been issued in this month, that was also by Wills, namely "Garden Flowers - New Varieties" second series (large size), issued in June 1939.
The most popular June for card issues was 1912, with seven issues :
- Smith "Cricketers"
- Wills "Birds of the East" - `Ruby Queen` brand
- Wills "British Empire Series" - `Capstan` brand
- Wills "British Empire Series" - `Vice Regal` brand
- Wills "Signalling Series" - `Capstan` brand
- Wills "Signalling Series" - `Vice Regal` brand
- Wills "Types of the British Army" - `Flag` brand
The runner up was June 1930, with six issues :
- Churchman "Nature`s Architects" (large size)
- Churchman "The Story of London" (small size)
- Churchman "The Story of London" (large size) [in newsletter, scroll down to Tuesday 23 January]
- Faulkner "Old Sporting Prints"
- Player "Treasures of Ireland"
- Wills "Irish Holiday Resorts"
On the other hand we have not yet found any cards issued in the Junes of 1907, 1932, and 1935 - and there is also a gap, caused by the First World War, between the June 1917 Wills` set of "British Birds" and the June 1923 Wills` set of "Arms of Universities"
Saturday, 14th June 2025
This clue was a bit of a tangent, as it was not, as far as I know, issued in June - but it does show an extraordinarily young Alan David Hansen, and he was born on the 13th of June, 1955.
However it is not his "Rookie" card - which is stated by many collectors to be Topps Footballers (Scottish, Yellow backs), issued back in 1977, on which he is playing for Partick Thistle.
He was born in Sauchie, Scotland. and his first football team was Sauchie Juniors. After he left them, he almost changed sport, to golf, but his family wanted him to return to football and got him a trial with Hibernian, though he actually turned down joining the squad as he did not want to give up the golf.
However, in 1973 he signed for Partick Thistle, and also played for his country, Scotland, in the Under 23 squad. He stayed with them until 1977, when he signed for Liverpool, and he was there right until 1991, making almost five hundred appearances, as well as playing for Scotland on the senior squad.
He then retired, and began a second career, commentating on football for radio, and then for television, including many appearances on Match of the Day.
This card may be replaced as we have used this set before. So I will sort that out and then wax lyrical about this set on whichever one I decide to keep - which will be based entirely on which I can replace most easily... Watch this space!
Panini`s "Football 81" was a mixture of sticker styles. Cards one and two were Terry McDermott of Liverpool and Davie Provan of Glasgow Celtic. But I have no idea why? Maybe a footballing fan can enlighten me?
I did start to tell you how the set developed, but I will scratch that, for I have now been told you can see most of these cards at Last Sticker.com/Panini8081
There is a rather curious fact this set, which, though devoted to players of English and Scottish clubs, was somehow also issued in Canada and South Africa.
And, odder still, it was also issued in Switzerland, or so it appears, but if you look into that set it is only the name "Football 81" which remains the same, the stickers, of which there are four hundred and two, are all of Swiss teams.
Perhaps there are other varieties too - so if you know of any do let us know.
Sunday, 15th June 2025
This card is the second card on our calendar of known June issues - but it had actually already been issued, by Churchman, in October 1904.
This is another set with a complex story, not that you would know this from the entry in our original World Tobacco Issues Index, which just says :
- BEAUTIES - "CERF". (A). Sm. Unnd. (12). See H.57. ... E14-13
This is unaltered, too, in our updated version of this volume, save for a new card code, of E265-260.
The big story comes if we follow the trail of the "H" code. Now with the original World Tobacco Issues Index, that leads us to the original London Cigarette Card Company Handbook, published in 1950, and bound uniform with the catalogue of that year. The Handbook shows all twelve cards, and reads :
- H.57. BEAUTIES - "CERF". (adopted title). Code letters taken from Churchman, Edwards, Ringer & Bigg, Franklyn Davey. Fronts in colour. Unnumbered series of 12, illustrated in Fig.57
Pre-1919 - Churchman
Edwards, Ringer & Bigg
Franklyn Davey
Thanks to the catalogue which accompanies this volume, we know that the Churchman version was issued in October 1904 (and retailed, in 1950, at between 17/6 and 50/- a card, or £30 for a complete set) - that the Edwards, Ringer & Bigg version was issued a few months later in June 1905 (and retailed, oddly, for less - odds being between 10/- and 30/- , and sets at just £20) - and that the Franklyn Davey version was circulated in 1905, without a month being recorded (and retailed at between 12/- and 35/- for odds and £22 for complete sets).
The fronts are identical in both sets, save the maker`s names, and only that one word "Churchman`s" (or "Ringer`s) alters. However the backs are very different, as the Churchman version is completely blank. And as for the Franklyn Davey one, that says "Loadstone" in the space - and it actually has an advert back.
Now the "H" code in the updated World Tobacco Issues Index leads us somewhere else, that being our own Handbook. This also adds a twist, for the listing reads :
- H.57. BEAUTIES - "CERF". (adopted title). Code letters taken from Churchman, Edwards, Ringer & Bigg, Franklyn Davey. Fronts in colour. Unnumbered series of 12, illustrated in Fig.57.
An anonymous set, possibly proofs, is known, with plain back and an empty name panel at the base of the front.
Pre-1919 - Churchman
Edwards, Ringer & Bigg
Franklyn Davey
This also has pictures, but they are darker than the ones above, possibly because they were copied from that volume. I may even find the original block, one day, which would have appeared in a copy of the London Cigarette Card Company`s "Cigarette Card News".
Monday, 16th June 2025
This card was born in June 1906, two years after the one above, but it is very different, much more crowded to the front, and also the back is now a descriptive text.
Here we have Penrhyn Castle, in North Wales, a building which is much younger than it looks, for it replaces a fifteenth century manor house. That was still in place when the Penrhyn estate was acquired by Richard Pennant, the first Baron Penrhyn. There is confusion as to how he came to get the land, some say through his father, and others that it was connected with his wife; whilst there are also rumours that it was acquired not entirely legitimately, in connection with one of the slave plantations he owned in Jamaica. You could say that he seems to have had more heart for the local area, as he pretty much set up the slate mining industry in the area - or, alternatively, that this was another kind of slavery.
Anyway, towards the end of the eighteenth century. he decided that he wanted a better house. That was built, incorporating parts of the former manor house, but this is not it, for when he died, in 1808, his second cousin inherited the estate. His name was George Hay-Dawkins, and he dropped the Hay part and took on the Pennant part of his relative`s name. And he also kept the antelope crest which appears on this card. Most of all he added to the castle, the large tower, as seen on our card, designed to look like a Norman castle. In fact this tower is a copy of the castle at Hedingham in Essex.
It took fifteen years to build, starting in 1822. It was also expanded quite a bit about ten years into the build, when the owner was compensated for having to give up his interests in the West Indies as part of the Slavery Abolition Act. This included lands, but also the ownership of almost eight hundred slaves, men, women, and children.
Before it was finished, however, he gave the estate to his new son in law as a wedding present. He was the "Douglas" quoted on the back of this card, a Grenadier Guard, who added the crest of the boar by the tree, and the unusual motto "Lock Sicker", which means "Keep secure". He also added his wife`s surname, or the Pennant bit, anyway, to his name, making the family name Douglas-Pennant.
The new owners, thankfully, were not permitted to keep slaves, but they seem to have tried to add a number of impositions on to their slate workers, and were vehemently opposed to any whiff of Trade Unions, so their quarries were frequently closed due to strikes. The longest of these lasted for three years, and still holds the record for the longest industrial action.
It does not seem as if this couple had any children, for, in 1866, the estate went to someone who seems to have been quite a distant relative. He had the castle for only twenty years, and then died, but he had a son, who took over, and who lost several members of his family during the First World War. One of them, at least did survive, and he took over the castle until the late 1940s, at which time it was left to a niece. But she seems to have also died, very shortly after, and, without anyone to leave it to, or to pay her bills, the castle, and a large proportion of the estate, was acquired by the National Trust in 1951, via the Treasury, in lieu of death duties.
I have been waiting to use one of these cards for a while, but it is a complex set and better as a Card of the Day, at least as far as the first fifty cards are concerned.
The first thing about the set is that it has no title, "Country Seats and Arms" being the title chosen for the set by early collectors in order to classify it.
In addition, the second series was definitely reprinted, at least twice, and it is probable that the first, and possibly the third, were too.
Then there is an anomaly with the date, our original reference book to the issues of John Player quoting May 1909, and the London Cigarette Card catalogues quoting June 1906.
Anyway let us start the card chat with our original John Player reference book, RB.17, issued in 1950. This lists all three sets together, as :
- COUNTRY SEATS AND ARMS (adopted title). Small cards. Fronts in colour. Backs in blue, with descriptive text. Home issues.
56. 50 Series of 50. Numbered 1-50. Issued May 1909.
Error card - No.9 (a) ROSNEATH (b) ROSENEATH
Minor caption varieties have been reported, at No`s 7, 10, 21, 38, 42, 44, 48
57. Second Series. Numbered 51-100. Issued May 1910.
A. First printing - Nos. 51-75 only
B. Second printing - Nos. 51-100
The two printings can be distinguished as follows :-
First printing (caption in two lines).
Second printing (caption in one line)
Nos. 51-55, 58, 59, 64, 66, 67, 69-84, and 86-100.
In other cases both printings bear captions in two lines, and the distinctive difference occurs in the alignment of letters in the second line of the caption.
58. Third Series. Numbered 101-150. Issued September, 1910
This is slightly altered in our World Tobacco Issues Index, to :
- COUNTRY SEATS AND ARMS (A). Sm. ... P72-30
1. "Series of 50". Nd. 1/50.
2. "Second Series". Nd. 51/100. Two printings of Nos. 51/75, see RB.17/57
3. "Third Series". Nd. 101/150.
And in our updated World Tobacco Issues Index it appears exactly as above, but with a new card code, of P644-070.
As far as retail values, the three sets were listed in the 1950 London Cigarette Card Company 1950 catalogue as follows :
- first series - odds 1/- to 1/6, sets 70/-
- second series
first printing - odds 1/- to 3/-, sets £4
second printing - odds 9d. to 1/6, sets 70/- - third series - odds 9d. to 1/6, sets 70/-
Tuesday, 17th June 2025
We mentioned this set in conjunction with another set, Wills` "Auction Bridge" (July 1926), so it is pleasing to be able to show you it, at last.
Contract bridge is a development of Auction Bridge, but it seems to have become more popular, almost immediately. It still uses a single deck, and is played by four people, but they double up as teams. However it still involves these players bidding in an auction, over the number of tricks that the other side must win in order to win the entire game. There is a difference, about the scoring, but it is not easy to understand - so if there is a bridge player reading this who would like to simplify them, please do!
Its first appearance comes in our original Churchman reference book, RB.10, published in 1948, as ;
- 34. June 1935.
50. CONTRACT BRIDGE by "Slam" (titled series). Size 2 11/16 x 1 7/16" or 67 x 36 m/m. numbered in words on front and back 1-50. Fronts printed by letterpress, 4-colour half tone process. Backs in black, with descriptions (continued from fronts). printed by Mardon, Son & Hall.
Its next appearance is in our original World Tobacco Issues Index, much reduced, to ;
- CONTRACT BRIDGE. Sm. Nd. (50) ... C82-40
And this remains the same in our updated cersion, save a new card code, of C504-450
Wednesday, 18th June 2025
Sadly we have no reference book devoted to Carreras issues, so the only listing of this set appears in our original World Tobacco Issues Index, as :
- TAPESTRY REPRODUCTIONS OF FAMOUS PAINTINGS. Sm. 70 x 41. Sectional. Nd. (48) ... C18-69
This is repeated in our updated version, but with a new card code, of C151-385.
There are eight paintings, each of six sections, and they are listed on the back, but not the artists, which I have added below as there are actually only three, namely ;
- Francois Boucher (1703-1770)
"Blind Man`s Buff"
"Music"
"The Cage"
"The Pastoral Concert"
- Francesco Vinea (1846-1904)
"Louis XIII Period"
"Louis XIII Period (cellar scene)
- Jean-Francois Millet (1815-1875)
"The Angelus"
"The Gleaners"
The backs also tell us that "When you have collected a complete set of section cards nos 1 to 48 you can obtain FREE and postage paid a beautifully coloured woven tapestry reproduction of any one of the 8 paintings." These tapestries measured 20" x 20".
The strange thing is that these cards are pictures of tapestries, whereas the originals were paintings. This means that they must have made the tapestries, then used them to make the cards.
Hopefully they then neither made too few or too many, because I have to say that in 1938 tapestries were not exactly "on trend" with the general public. There seems to have only been one main collector, Urban Huttleston Rogers Broughton, 1st Baron Fairhaven, who was born in 1896. He, for some reason, took quite a fancy to them and used them to decorate Anglesey Abbey. His passion was the seventeenth century ones, but he also liked them so much that he had other, modern ones made, including a view of his home.
Whether this suggested the idea for this set is not known, but it seems curious that although he had collected tapestries since the 1920s, it was only after his brother`s marriage in 1932 that he was able to enlarge the property, including a grand library in 1937, where many of the tapestries hung. So it seems possible that this may have been featured in the papers, and perhaps did suggest the idea to Carreras.
Thursday, 19th June 2025
So I am rather confused about this set, it took ages to track it down in the reference books and I am not entirely sure I have the right one even now. But according to the picture in the original Wills reference book, which I will insert asap, this set is ;
- 59.J 59 Prominent AUSTRALIAN AND ENGLISH CRICKETERS. Size 61 x 36 m/m. Numbered on backs. See Fig. 41.J. Fronts printed in letterpress in black and white. The series was originally issued as one of 50, with two printings - "Capstan" and "Vice Regal" backs. The "Vice Regal" printing shows much variation in the shade of black. Both printings were inscribed "A Series of 50". Subsequently, Nos. 1-50 were reissued, again in two printings - "Havelock" and anonymous backs and both were inscribed "A Series of ". Finally, the "Capstan" and "Vice Regal" printings were reissued as a series of 59, cards 1-50 being inscribed "A Series of " and cards Nos. 51-59, "A Series of 59"
The nine additional cards provide a clue to the date of issue - all nine subjects were members of the M.C.C. team which toured Australia in 1911-12. The names of the members of the team would have been announced in August, 1911. It appears likely therefore that the first 50 subjects (which include a number of English cricketers) were prepared for issue at the opening of the Australian Cricket Season (October, 1911) and the nine additional titles which cover the members of the visiting English team not included in the first 50 cards would probably have been added a month or two later; the series would thus appear to be a 1911 issue.
SUMMARY
A. "Capstan" advertisement, backs in BLUE.
(a) Nos. 1-50 headed "A Series of 50",
(b) Nos. 1-50 headed "A Series of "
(c) Nos. 51-59 "A Series of 59"
will have to continue this tomorrow....its huge!
Friday, 20th June 2025
This is a curious little set, really well coloured, and yet I have never come across it before. Even in our Wills reference book it has but a scant description, of :
- 300 RACES OF MANKIND. Size 62 x 37 m/m. Fronts lithographed in colour, gold background, blue borders. Backs in green, with star and circle trade mark, no descriptive text. General Overseas Issue, between 1905-1910.
When these books were reprinted, as one, beneath a hard cover, in the 1970s, they were enhanced by the addition of a list of dates, supplied from the Wills1 Works Magazine, and that tells us that this set was actually issued after that, in June 1911, which, coincidentally, was the same month as the set we featured yesterday - just in a slightly different part of the globe.
and that`s all I have time for right now. But I will continue, at first light!