[jambutty]

Originally Posted by West Ender

I started smoking when I was 17, in 1960, and I didn't know the risks then either. They were known to the government in the 50s but the information wasn't made public for a long time.

Yes the government has a lot to answer for in the smoking debate.

Back in ’54 sailors were allowed to buy 300 specially made cigarettes by BAT and two other tobacco companies, for 7 shillings and sixpence each month. That is six pence for twenty. We called them “Blue Liners” because each fag had a blue line running down the length of it. Sailors on ships in home waters and abroad could buy 800 branded fags per month for £2. That is one shilling for twenty when the same fags were three shillings and sixpence for twenty in civvy street. We could even buy Woodbines that were the same size as Players or Senior Service, known throughout the land as “Ship’s Woodbines” and much sought after in civvy street.

This concession was to all intents and purposes was encouraging sailors to smoke and even got some non-smokers to start.

If you have ever seen the newsreel footage of the troops coming home from Dunkirk, you would have seen that they were given a mug of tea by the nurses and a fag as they disembarked, even those on stretchers.

At least in those days smoking tobacco was much purer than it is today.