1965: The Joy of Vintage Post Boxes | Tonight | BBC Archive

"There's a Penfold 7,000 feet up in the Himalayas, and I myself have seen another one in the middle of the Malayan jungle."

Julian Pettifer looks at some of the oldest Post Office pillar boxes in Britain.

Liverpool, Birkenhead and the surrounding areas have proved to be particularly fruitful sources of vintage pillar boxes. Enthusiasts, rallied by the Post Office Magazine, have discovered Liverpool Specials, Penfolds, First National Standards, Low Apertures and even an early Fluted, which is still in regular use.

Julian is joined on his pillar box safari by Mr Harold McLaughlin - the Post Office Inspector tasked with finding these rare and ancient boxes, and Mr Emil Vivis - who maintains some 1500 pillar boxes in the Merseyside area. Their final stop is at a true one-off pillar box, a box specially modified for children living in a local orphanage in 1890, which is still in use by the public today.

Clip taken from Tonight, originally broadcast on BBC One, 25 March, 1965.

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