Miraz Jordan

Among my papers is the (English) Eastern Evening News from 26 June 1940.

Right up there at the top are the blackout times for that day: 9.49 pm to 4.17 am. So precise!

I've kept the paper though for an item on the back page which refers to my father.

SOLDIERS USE RIFLE
AS "DETECTOR"

How Black-Out Offender Was Traced

£20 FINE AT YARMOUTH

The story of how a lighting offender was discovered by soldiers, who aimed a rifle at the window to find its direction, was told to Yarmouth magistrates to-day, when Thaddeus Walter Ryan, of White House, Arnott Avenue, Gorleston, was summoned for displaying a light on June 10th. He admitted the offence in a letter.

The chairman (Mr. J. Fisher) said that the magistrates considered the offence very serious. They were determined to stop lights being shown, more especially on the front, and in future cases defendants would be fined very severely.

Ryan was fined £20 and 5s. costs.

Private Leonard Douglas Jordan said that he and his companions laid aim on the window with a rifle and rifle rest, and as soon as it was daylight they found where the light was coming from. The light was on for at least an hour.

Police-sergeant H. Wright said the police had received complaints from the military. There was a covering over the window, but it was of light cloth, and the house was in a very exposed place.

Claude tells me the fine today, 85 years later, would have been about £1,500.