Roy Blakey
master brummie
I recall a period during WW2 when we kids started experimenting with " invisible ink messages ".
I think we were imagining ourselves as some sort of boy and girl " spies ".
At the time the nation was getting pretty conscious of such things as " espionage ".
Posters and Notice Boards all around Brum displayed the slogan " Careless talk costs lives ".
So for us kids I guess that spelt that there were " enemy spies " around somewhere.
Some bright spark, up our end, created a number of invisible ink secret notes and brought them to one of our street gatherings and passed them around.
He suggested to us to take the notes home and hold them over some sort of heat source
We gave it a go.
I think most of us used the kitchen gas stove burners to bring the " message " on the note to life.
After a few burnt notes and burnt fingers we eventually got the technique sorted out and decided we could all have a bit of fun with this new " game on the block ".
So for a while " invisible ink " messages were passed between us.
Can't remember the general contents but they would have been of the best " secrets " that we could think up at the time.
If I recall it right we used some sort of baking powder, mixed with water, as our invisible ink.
Mostly worked okay.
The main thing was that the " enemy " we're not going to know what was in our secret messages.
Probably helped our spelling a bit as well.
Good fun anyway.
I think we were imagining ourselves as some sort of boy and girl " spies ".
At the time the nation was getting pretty conscious of such things as " espionage ".
Posters and Notice Boards all around Brum displayed the slogan " Careless talk costs lives ".
So for us kids I guess that spelt that there were " enemy spies " around somewhere.
Some bright spark, up our end, created a number of invisible ink secret notes and brought them to one of our street gatherings and passed them around.
He suggested to us to take the notes home and hold them over some sort of heat source
We gave it a go.
I think most of us used the kitchen gas stove burners to bring the " message " on the note to life.
After a few burnt notes and burnt fingers we eventually got the technique sorted out and decided we could all have a bit of fun with this new " game on the block ".
So for a while " invisible ink " messages were passed between us.
Can't remember the general contents but they would have been of the best " secrets " that we could think up at the time.
If I recall it right we used some sort of baking powder, mixed with water, as our invisible ink.
Mostly worked okay.
The main thing was that the " enemy " we're not going to know what was in our secret messages.
Probably helped our spelling a bit as well.
Good fun anyway.
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