The art collection of the British Rail Pension Fund

Fine art and British Rail may not seem like they have much in common, but for several decades British Rail, through its pension fund, was a major player in the world of fine art. From the
NY Times (Apr 5, 1989):


The pension fund began selling its art in 1986, and sold the last of it in 2003.

The Wall Street Journal reported in 1996 that the pension fund made a return of 13.1% per year on its art. Which doesn't seem bad at all. However, its stock portfolio, during the same period, returned 22% a year.

If you're looking for a coffee-table curiosity, there are several books dedicated to the artwork owned by the British Rail pension fund.

More info: "When a railway fund started buying paintings"

Posted By: Alex - Fri Sep 20, 2024 - Comments (0)
Category: Art, Money, Collectors

Penal Self-Mutilation

Posted By: Paul - Fri Sep 20, 2024 - Comments (1)
Category: Prisons, 1930s, Pain, Self-inflicted and Otherwise

Va-rice-ity

Heavy sexual innuendo to sell rice.

Life - Oct 3, 1969

Life - (L) Mar 13, 1970; (R) June 19, 1970

Posted By: Alex - Thu Sep 19, 2024 - Comments (1)
Category: Food, Innuendo, Double Entendres, Symbolism, Nudge-Nudge-Wink-Wink and Subliminal Messages, Advertising, 1960s, 1970s

Purse Converts to Jacket—Or Vice Versa!

Full patent here.

Posted By: Paul - Thu Sep 19, 2024 - Comments (1)
Category: Inventions, Patents, Purses, Wallets, Billfolds, Poke Sacks and Other Carryable Containers, Clothing, 1980s

The dog with the nuclear nose

Physicist Cristjo Cristofv claimed that his cocker spaniel, Bijou, could not only detect nuclear fallout but also "changes in the atmospheric electrical field" caused by nuclear explosions halfway around the world.

Certainly a dog like that would be worth at least $10 million. Or so he claimed when the dog died as a result of a bad reaction to medicine given to it by a vet.

Cristofv eventually dropped his lawsuit against the vet due to unexplained "security reasons."

Peninsula Times - July 30, 1965

Chicago Tribune - July 30, 1965

Akron Beacon Journal - May 25, 1966

Posted By: Alex - Wed Sep 18, 2024 - Comments (1)
Category: Lawsuits, Atomic Power and Other Nuclear Matters, Dogs, 1960s

A New Sound from the Japanese Bach Scene

Just what you'd expect: Bach played on Japanese instruments. Player is embedded below the Tracklist.

Posted By: Paul - Wed Sep 18, 2024 - Comments (5)
Category: Music, 1960s, Asia, Europe

‘Sanity clearance’ for Japanese drivers

In the 1960s, Japan experimented with two ways of improving road safety.

First, it required that new drivers obtain a "sanity clearance" from a doctor. This was supposed to keep psychotic motorists off the road.

Second, it urged pedestrians to either raise a hand or wave a yellow flag to indicate to drivers that they wanted to cross the road.

Both efforts failed and were quickly scrapped.

The "sanity clearance" was too easy to obtain and people disliked the expense. (Imagine flunking your driving test because you failed a sanity clearance!)

The hand-raising promotion actually increased pedestrian deaths. Apparently pedestrians seemed to believe that, as long as they raised their hand, they had "permission to ignore all traffic rules and boldly march out in to the middle of the road whenever they felt like it."

Sydney Morning Herald - Mar 24, 1968

Posted By: Alex - Tue Sep 17, 2024 - Comments (2)
Category: Regulations, 1960s, Asia, Cars

Rebecca Horn, RIP

Her Wikipedia page.

Posted By: Paul - Tue Sep 17, 2024 - Comments (0)
Category: Ineptness, Crudity, Talentlessness, Kitsch, and Bad Art, Performance Art, Europe, Twentieth Century

Kinematic programming for rain

July 1966: The mathematician Mervyn Stone published an article in the journal Nature that analyzed "the optimal speed and posture to adopt when caught without protection in a rain shower."

The article itself is mostly gobbledygook to me, but apparently he concluded that if the rain is coming from behind you then "walk forward leaning backwards." While if you're walking into the rain then "lower the head and walk as fast as possible."

Reference: "Kinematic Programming for Rain," Nature - July 23, 1966

The Branford Expositor - Sep 19, 1966

Click to enlarge as PDF

Posted By: Alex - Mon Sep 16, 2024 - Comments (8)
Category: Science, 1960s, Weather

“Dispatch from Solitude #1: Walking the Unknown Path”

The artist's homepage.

Social Distancing & Art Episode 3 from Ogden Contemporary Arts on Vimeo.

Posted By: Paul - Mon Sep 16, 2024 - Comments (3)
Category: Furniture, Hunting, Trapping and Other Wilderness Activities, Ineptness, Crudity, Talentlessness, Kitsch, and Bad Art, Avant Garde, Performance Art