Flanders and Swann hold a special place in my heart as I first heard them at 3 years old when I got my first tape machine and my parents gave me “At the drop of another hat” on a cassette to play on it. I loved the songs so much, I barely got any of the jokes, but I thought the pair were friendly and funny and I listened to it over and over again. Aged about 7, I got their first album, “At the drop of a hat” on CD and enjoyed it just as much. Over the years as I grew up, I understood more and more jokes and a little leap of joy would come from each new connection made. By about 16, I understood every joke and could recite both albums by heart.
I bought these two original programmes in quick succession (soon after I discovered the delights of eBay in 2016) as mementos of both Flanders and Swann and examples of design from the late 1950 and early 1960s. The first programme is understated and just one sheet of paper folded in half with a crude illustration from “Punch” magazine on the cover. To save on printing costs for a fairly new show like this, there are just three lines on the whole programme printed in a light red colour, everything else is in black and white. The programme originally cost just “sixpence” (90p today).