There are many things to be recalled from television of the 1960s and early 70s, especially when it comes to those short films that were mentioned in issue 30 of 405 Alive.

One that has been mentioned is the one about the cartoon couple sitting on a clifftop somewhere in the UK, making observations about that chap in his little sailing dinghy.

"Oh loo-ook Petunia, I think he's splicing his mainbrace."
"Yes Joe."
"Now he's waving to us, Petunia."
"What about that couple on table no.6, Joe? They seem very nice, don't they?" (Licks at ice cream.) 

Then there is the one about road safety done in still drawings, with Frank Muir providing the voiceover, which goes something like this:

Flapping canvas, brakes that squeal,
a careless movement of the wheel.
To all you drivers on the road,
use signals of the highway code.

Slow in advance, drive with care,
don't give us all a sudden scare.
For flesh and blood like you we are,
but we're out here, not in the car.

Then there are the ones that remind us about car theft. The first that springs to mind is the one where tow-rag is walking along a row of parked cars, and gives us his reasons for not bothering with this one, or that one.

"Crafty devil, put a padlock on the steering wheel", then the next one he comes to, he says "Uh oh, not with a doggy in it." At last, the one he has been looking for, a Triumph Herald. "He's left the quarterlight open, in we go, key in the ignition, and we're away. Some of em won’t nevver learn."

House fires were always being warned about in these films. The earliest one I recall is a cartoon called Guard That Fire. It featured some guardsmen of course and used to be shown just after Watch With Mother, before Test Card C came back on. Another more recent one was the famous Shaw Taylor film – he even had a telephone box in the studio, how very convenient!

One of my all-time favourites is the one about Reginald Mowhusband, The Safest Parker in Town. Reginald tried and tried to park his Austin 1100, but what he missed hitting at the front, he was sure to make up for at the back. People would come for miles just to watch. Bookmakers gave odds on his performance until the day Reginald got it right. "Well done Reginald Mowhusband, the safest parker in town!"

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