Musical pigs and giant beans

Discover some hidden gems and quirky surprises in the Daily Herald Archive

A photographic print of Industry, Agriculture, Pigs, (Daily Herald only, including Drawings) A photographic print of Industry, Agriculture, Pigs, (Daily Herald only, including Drawings) (1969-10-08) by MurphyNational Science and Media Museum

1. A Musical Pig

Malcom Eckley, a pig breeder from Shropshire is serenading "Harry", whose real name was: "Elaccia Field Marshall 26th", a giant pig. They were rehearsing for a children's TV Show. 

A photographic print of Vegetables - Cucumber A photographic print of Vegetables - Cucumber (1934-07-10)National Science and Media Museum

2. Collecting Cucumbers

This picture was taken in a cucumber seed house in Cheshunt which holds 1,000 cucumbers. Each cucumber has about 200 seeds and each seed can produce an average of 70+ cucumbers. This single greenhouse would produce around 1,920,000 cucumbers a year!

A photographic print of Industry, Agriculture, Hop Picking, Workers In The Fields A photographic print of Industry, Agriculture, Hop Picking, Workers In The Fields (1961-09-06)National Science and Media Museum

3. Farming Essentials: Gramophones and Hats

About 20, 000 pickers from the East End of London enjoyed their annual hop-picking holiday on farms in Kent. 

Here Dawn Nathan (15) on left and Linda Blaker (14) listen to records as they pick the hops at the Whitbread Farm in their finest holiday hats.

Daily Herald Photograph: Giant beanstalkNational Science and Media Museum

4. Martin and the Bean Stalk

Martin Hulme was sent some beans attached to a birthday card from his aunt in Yorkshire. After three years the beanstalk had grown to 16ft tall. Neither his aunt, his mother, Mrs. Trudy Hulme, or the company who printed the card could explain what species of plant it was.

Mr Elms, the Herald Gardener, said the species must have come from abroad to have grown so high in three years.

A photographic print of Industry, Agriculture, Poultry - Eggs A photographic print of Industry, Agriculture, Poultry - Eggs (1966-04-13)National Science and Media Museum

5. Eggs for Everyone!

Drama students dressed as chicks visited homes in about 300 towns and asked "are you eating an egg?" If you were, you got a £1 premium bond, if not you, were given six eggs. This campaign was part of the Egg Marketing Board’s first national publicity promotion.

Credits: Story

All images are from the Science Museum Group collection. Copyright Mirrorpix, Hulton Archive/Getty Images, and TopFoto. 

Credits: All media
The story featured may in some cases have been created by an independent third party and may not always represent the views of the institutions, listed below, who have supplied the content.
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