1972: Real Berlin

Kids at the Wall

© Picture Alliance/DPA

Brandenburg Gate

By JPhilippe17 @ Flickr

East Berlin

by Sibylle Bergemann

LOWA Trolleybus

by Winfried Meier

Television Tower

Bundesarchiv

1972: Fashion

Paco Rabanne

Photos: Corbis, Scream for Ice Cream

Real London. 1972

Pub in Edgware Road

© Copyright 1970 - 2010 Ian Mackean

Mother

WillemGT @ Flickr

Towers of Horror

‎...an ugly structure, resembling an oversized automatic pencil, towering over London. Another tower, no less ugly, black and angular, is climbing to the Paris skies, not far from the Gare Montparnasse. And a third one in Warsaw - not so tall but so grotesque, with baroque ornaments and enormous spire, probably some government office. A page or two, and I'm in Berlin, looking at Brandenburg Gate. The gate is here, like on any other day, but... no Adlon, no Palais Blucher, nothing - and in the background, the Reichstag without its dome! This artist must be crazy. No wonder there's no Royal Palace in his Berlin. Who needs to search for Potsdamerplatz when everything, absolutely everything is wrong. And the peak of insanity is certainly near Alexanderplatz, where a silver needle is growing out of rubble, punching a crystal ball eight hundred feet above the ground.

Berlin TV tower

January 19, 1972

Photographer: Horst Sturm

Well, what has he done to my hometown? Not bad - just the Southern Railway Station is missing and the Radio Building (so many years there ...probably too much) is guarded by two shining cubes.
- Maybe you will be so kind to explain all this insanity?

Photo: Bundesarchiv

Reichspräsident Speer

Albert Speer is one of the althistory's brightest stars. No wonder we meet him in the Strangers' Journey - only as a background character though.

Here's an extract from an article published in the New York Times Literary Supplement, June 1972:

An unemployed architect who turned out as chief decorator of Hitler's short-lived dictatorship; who reached ministerial status under the military rule; who was appointed a Vice-Chancellor of the interim government and finally appeared at the steering wheel of the new Reich - isn't it a success story so popular among us Americans? But Speer's career is too far from this popular genre. No business or politics of his own. Just service to the State. And quiet (no flashes, no scoops, not a single scandal) transformation of the State he serves so well.

Безработный архитектор, ставший главным декоратором недолговечной диктатуры Гитлера, поднявшийся до министерского поста в годы военного правления, назначенный вице-канцлером в переходном правительстве и получивший в руки государственный штурвал нового рейха – чем не история успеха, любимый жанр американцев? Но нет ничего более далекого от этого жанра, чем карьера Шпеера. Вместо собственного бизнеса или собственной политической платформы – служение государству. И постепенное, без вспышек и сенсаций, преобразование системы, которой он служит.

Sir Alec Douglas Home

1903-1995

Formerly 14th Earl of Home (renounced his peerage before the October 1964 General Election). MP since 1931. In 1937-9 served as Parliamentary Private Secretary to Neville Chamberlain.
British Prime Minister in 1963-1964 (OTL), and in 1969-1973 (Strangers' world). Close friend of Ernest, Duke of Edinburgh. Main driving force behind the Special Research Bureau.
Cricket player, president of the Marylebone Cricket Club from 1977.

Après Toi - Eurovision Winner, 1972

"Après toi" (French for "After you") was the winning song of the Eurovision Song Contest 1972 performed in French by Vicky Leandros representing Luxembourg.

The song was performed seventeenth on the night (following Belgium's Serge & Christine Ghisoland with "À la folie ou pas du tout" and preceding the Netherlands' Sandra & Andres with "Als het om de liefde gaat"). By the close of voting, it had received 128 points, placing it first in a field of 18.

The song was released in Britain in an English translation, "Come What May", also sung by Vicky Leandros, it reached no. 2 in the charts.

(Info: Wiki)

"Après toi" is mentioned in Strangers' Journey as a 'summer anthem played here, there and everywhere just like Mungo Jerry's "In the Summertime" two years before'.

Humbers

For decades Humber was the favorite mount of British Army, special services and government agencies. No wonder that Special Research Bureau has chosen this car. More precisely, different cars: agent Dora drives a compact Humber Sceptre (above) while big brass travels in spacious Super Snipes (shown below) or luxury Imperials. Mark Toma was taken from Heathrow airport to Charing Cross hotel in a 'big Humber' - model not specified.

Typewriters. Why?

There are at least two mentions of typewriters in our project: a Rheinmetall supposedly used at the Military Counter-Intelligence HQ and Mark's own device, no name given.
Well, the military could of course use a Rheinmetall shown in the previous post, but most probably they would emloy another German wonder nicknamed 'the Mercedes-Benz of typewriters' - Olympia SG1:
Being an Anglophile, Mark Toma could easily buy an Imperial portable just for the label. But he could also go with the crowd purchasing the most popular portable of its time - Olivetti Lettera 22:

Typewriters

British Imperial Good Companion portable, 1961

German Rheinmetall Standart Gs, 1960

Seventies Hairstyle Gallery

See more here

Real London. 1972