Saturday, May 10, 2008

The price of reading

A propos of nothing really except thinking about what has happened to the price of plane tickets

Back in the 1960s The Guardian cost 4d – that is less than 2p in decimal money. We used to sell it to fellow students for a 1d commission

These days The Guardian costs 70p, more than 40 times as much as 40 years ago

I wondered how that compared with the cost of paperback books

At the end of my second year in college I went on a splurge in WH Smith & bought 6 books, all novels – I had hardly read one for over 4 years, what with A levels, travelling & college. Total cost £1. I don’t remember them all now, but they included High Wind in Jamaica, The End of the Affair & Brave New World. The total would be at least £42 now I think. A steeper rise than newspapers, but essentially in the same ballpark