Meeting the Duke of Bedford

It would have been whilst I was in my late teens that I decided to reply to an advertisement in our Evening Telegraph for several models. Esso petrol had decided to run a campaign in order to promote their own fuel. I was astonished to be one of the girls selected. We all dressed in red mini skirts,white tee-shirts and wore, I think, a red peaked cap.

   I'm unsure why an elephant was used as part of the promotion, maybe implying power and strength, one of the girls sat on this elephant which was paraded around the centre of kettering. The then Duke of Bedford followed us in his chauffeur driven car. Of course such an unusual parade did the trick as shoppers stopped to see what was going on.

    The most frightening part of the event, as far as I was concerned, was sitting either side of a long trestle table with the Duke at the head. I think that I managed a hello! I spent the rest of the day with a Esso representative. We visited a petrol station in Thrapston before driving onto Northampton town centre.

   What makes me smile now is that mini skirt I wore then would now be impossible or indecent to wear now. That day in the late sixties was a very happy day for me.