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What’s this … Jolly Fisherman in the tropics ?

MR PETER Ibbotson, of Bromley, Kent, received an unusual New Year’s card in 1973 from Mauritius, in the Indian Ocean. It showed the familiar figure of the Skegness Jolly Fisherman skipping along a beach with a yacht on the sea, a palm tree growing in the sand and distant cliffs.

The wording was “Mauritius is SO bracing.”

The card was reproduced in Friday’s editions of “The Times ” with this comment: “It is based on a well-established publicity poster for Skegness, except that a palm tree has been added on the right for extra authenticity.
Mr Ibbotson points out that the fat sailor is certainly over-dressed for Mauritius, which may or may not be bracing but is certainly very hot. Possibly trying to lose weight.”

On Friday the Skegness Publicity Manager, Mr Cairns Boston, said perhaps Skegness ought to invite
the Mauritius publicity officer to come and sample our bracing air.
He also suggested that the new district council covering Skegness might `twin’ itself with Mauritius.

What we say… Skegness twinned with Mauritius? Yes, we can see the similarities…

The poster is our own illustration just for fun - not the one referred to in the story.

WHO SHOULD CHECK COMIC CARDS?
Distributors want Skegness to give them advice

DISTRIBUTORS who supply comic postcards to Lincolnshire coastal resorts are worried because no authority exists to advise them which are considered fit for sale to the public.
Resorts such as Skegness, Mablethorpe, Sutton-on-Sea and Cleethorpes, have no recognised “censorship authority such as those which exist in other seaside towns and the provision of a national body for this purpose which has been mooted by the Association of Health and Pleasure Resorts is still something for the future.

The representative of a firm which supplies many retailers on the coast said this week that his firm and others are now preparing to dispatch supplies but are wondering which of their stocks should be sent out to the shops.
Although, our informant stated, he has more than 100 samples, all of which have been passed by the Great Yarmouth censorship committee, he feels that what might pass there could cause offence in other parts of the country. There is no nationally approved standard.

NO HELP
He could get no guidance from Skegness Town Hall or from the Foreshore Office and even called at the police station to ask if they could help.
The police, who have power to prosecute if they consider that a particular card gives rise to “unnatural and lustful desires,” but, according Jo our informant, they were unable to advise him.

As a result it may be that local distributors will combine to ask for the setting-up of a local censors” board.

The ” Standard reported last September that postcards offered for sale in the resort were being watched carefully, by interested organisations.
The Rector, the Rev. G. R. Sansbury, in his parish magazine, urged shopkeepers to be careful of what they offered for sale. It is probably this reaction which has caused distributors concern, for the “Standard” was told “we have no desire to sell anything that could give offence. What we should like to see is a committee representing the police, council, retailers and public to guide us.”

1958 news story

The cheeky postcard illustrating this news article is used with kind permission of

Axe Nautique The Saucy Seaside Postcard