Forgotten: The Dionne Quints. Few 

remember the quintuplet craze that gripped 

the nation during the Depression. Tree and gift

ornaments available at Ancient Industries.

Strange Occupations, Part II: Pit brow lasses. 

A Lancashire livelihood involving coal, flour sack 

aprons and clogs fitted with horse shoe irons.

From the collection of Will Brown at Old Town.

Living: Jodhpurs. Another colonial import 

from India, the jodhpur was taken up by 

equestrians, the cavalry, movie directors 

and aviators. Photograph by John Gutmann.

Brent Hall from the South, Finchingfield, c.1940

The Smoke Room, Ashopton, Derbyshire, 1940

The Livermore Gravestones, Barnston, 

near Dunmow, Essex, c.1941

Extinct: Kenneth Rowntree, 1915-1997. Contributor 

to Recording Britain, a scheme to boost moral whilst 

celebrating Britain's heritage in the face of destruction.

Complete Recording Britain archive at the V & A.

Vanishing: The conformity of social identity.

Les Gentilshommes du duc d'Orleans dans

l'habit de Saint-Cloud by Félix Philippoteaux.

Living: The gentleman's gentleman.

As long as there have been gentlemen 

there have been gentleman's gentlemen.

1890s

1920s

1967

Extinct: The lunch box. Not initially designed

to capture a child's imagination, the recycled

and utilitarian approach gave way in the 1950s.

On view at the Smithsonian Museum.

Strange Occupations, Part I: Cliff egg gatherers.

A Yorkshire livelihood involving a rope, a basket,

and a bowler hat (to protect against falling rock).

From the collection of Will Brown at Old Town.

Samuel Beckett, 1976

William Powell, 2004

Living: Jane Bown, 60 years at the Observer 

newspaper. See the exhibition, buy the book.

Living: The pajama. Native dress discovered

by British colonials in India, the voluminous

night shirt was quickly discarded in its favour.

Living: Leeds Pottery, est 1781. Named after the

village in which the pottery was founded, the Hunslet

range is inspired by the utility crockery once found

in taverns + below stairs. At Ancient Industries.

From Domino magazine, via Apartment Therapy

Julia Child's pegboards at the Smithsonian Institute

Living: Pegboard. A failed science experiment, this

hardboard with holes was created in 1897 as a material

designed to shield lepers from spreading disease.

Later discovered to be useful for hanging pots.

Living: The cuckoo clock. Often associated

with Switzerland, the cuckoo clock emerged from

that other country of brotherly love, Germany.

Mid-nineteenth century.

Living: The donkey jacket. British work wear derived

from the 19th century wool sack coat. Photograph of

coal miners by John Bulmer, thanks to Lark About.

Living: The Uffington White Horse. Created from

chalk during the Bronze Age, it was only obscured once,

during the Blitz. Now owned by the National Trust.

Living: Guy Fawkes, whose effigy is burnt atop

a bonfire to remember the gun powder plot of 1605.

He jumped from the gallows to avoid being hung,

drawn & quartered. And thence broke his neck.

In perpetua: Frederick Austerlitz.

Photograph by Martin Munkacsi.

Extinct: Really tiny windows, for retaining 

cool air in summer and heat in winter.

Living: Cash's woven labels. Identifying school 

uniforms for generations, Cash's began as a ribbon 

manufacturer in 1846. Now the last survivor 

of the Coventry silk weaving industry.