Pupils at a north-east school have been busy studying a 70-year-old copy of the Evening Express.
The front page of the late city edition of 6th February 1952 breaks the news of King George VI’s death, with the headline ‘The King Dies in Sleep’.
The newspaper belonged to current Bracoden Primary School teacher Shirley Sutherland’s father-in-law, Reverend Douglas Sutherland, who was minister of West Parish Church in Inverness at the time.
Rev Sutherland heard news of the King’s death on the radio, and went straight to the railway station in Inverness to await the arrival of the Aberdeen train with the latest edition of the Evening Express (priced two pence). The newspaper has been kept in the family ever since.
EE broke King’s death news to Balmoral
During their investigations, Mrs Sutherland and her pupils discovered that news of the King’s death was broken to staff at Balmoral by a reporter from the Evening Express.
Viewers of TV series The Crown will remember the poignant scene when the King passes away at Sandringham House. Two days later, his daughter Elizabeth – who has been on the throne ever since – was proclaimed Queen.
The Bracoden kids got the chance to go back in time and relive events as they happened. As well as reading about the King’s death, they studied all the other stories and advertisements from 70 years ago.
Here are some fascinating factoids from 1952:
It’s all part of the school’s celebrations to commemorate the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee. Pupils also planted an orchard in the school grounds.
Mrs Sutherland told us the story behind the newspaper.
Waited for latest edition at train station
“My father-in-law heard on the radio in the morning that the King had died. He knew that the Evening Express would be delivered by train from Aberdeen.
“So he set off for the station in Inverness and waited for the arrival of the Aberdeen train with the latest edition. That very copy has been kept in the family ever since.
“We discovered from the article that it was actually someone from the Evening Express who broke the news to Balmoral.
“The Queen’s staff up at Balmoral were unaware – it was you that broke it to them!”
‘The children were amazed it was the same paper’
She added: “My P5/6/7 class have been looking at the paper. I made loads of copies because it’s a very delicate paper now. I’ve not used it as a teaching aid before, but thought with the 70 year jubilee it was a good opportunity.
“The children were absolutely amazed that I was holding the same newspaper that my father-in-law bought all those years ago. A definite ‘wow’!
“We’re looking at the history of it, particularly regarding the King’s death, but also the other stories and advertisements. We looked at the entire paper, everything that was going on at that time, on that day – 6th February 1952.
“It’s all part of our celebrations to commemorate the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee. We’ll obviously do more in June, but we have a few things planned this week including planting an orchard in our school grounds. We’ve named it the Jubilee Orchard.”
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