According to a comment I saw in yesterdays Times the Commission for Racial Equality, no less, has perpetuated a myth in its valedictory report.
The myth is that newsagents windows used to carry cards advertising accommodation which said:
NO BLACKS, NO DOGS, NO IRISH
The report also claimed these cards were still common 30 years ago. 1977? That surprises me - I thought they were illegal by then.
What I can say (having been excluded on 2 of the 3 counts) is that in the 1960s such cards used to say:
NO COLOUREDS, NO IRISH, NO CHILDREN
Cathy Come Home is such an iconic piece of tv - doesnt anyone remember what it was actually about?
Older viewers may also remember a tv comedy series - Marriage Lines - starring a very young Prunella Scales & Richard Briers. Particularly the hilarious episodes where, in order to avoid eviction, they tried to conceal her pregnancy from the landlord.
I prefer not to think about why dogs rather than children now seem more plausible equivalents of Black & Irish
