[HPforGrownups] Re: Vauxhall Road again

[Shaun Hately]

No: HPFGUIDX 87244

On 17 Dec 2003 at 16:13, annemehr at yahoo.com wrote:

> Annemehr:
> But I'm afraid I have a complication for you.

Shaun:
Good - this is what I am looking for.

> "Harry saw at once that it was a diary, and the faded year on the
> cover told him it was fifty years old.  He opened it eagerly. On the
> first page he could just make out the name 'T. M. Riddle' in smudged ink."

Shaun:
The thing is, though, when it says 'fifty years old' does it mean 
*exactly* fifty years old or *approximately* fifty years old.

50 years is a nice round number - it wouldn't be that uncommon for 
a person in 1992, to describe a book printed in 1938 or 1939 as '50 
years old'.

Other issues to be considered - possibility is that the diary could 
have beeen for more than one year (five year diaries were not 
uncommon back then - especially if you were talking about something 
that was well put together).

I've seen other diaries - especially those sold in small newsagents 
- which were printed for generic years (dates were printed inside 
but without the days of the week) and you added the date yourself 
to the cover. I've no idea if that was done back in the 1930s and 
1940s but I know it was more recently - I used them at school.

One other issue to consider... Britain had paper rationing during 
World War II. I wonder how easy it would be to buy a 1942 diary 
under those circumstances. I confess I have no idea - it just 
occurred to me now.


Yours Without Wax, Dreadnought
Shaun Hately | www.alphalink.com.au/~drednort/thelab.html
(ISTJ)       | drednort at alphalink.com.au | ICQ: 6898200 
"You know the very powerful and the very stupid have one
thing in common. They don't alter their views to fit the 
facts. They alter the facts to fit the views. Which can be 
uncomfortable if you happen to be one of the facts that 
need altering." The Doctor - Doctor Who: The Face of Evil
Where am I: Frankston, Victoria, Australia