4 SEPTEMBER 1964, Page 20

BUYING A RAZOR

S1R,—Are our manufacturers going entirely mad? Last week I went up north, and found I had for- gotten to take a razor. So in a Lincolnshire town I went into a branch of a well-known firm of chemists and asked for a Gillette. They used to be obtainable at .ls., and even at one time 6d. I was told I could only have one attached to a book on football and cricket for 6s. 6d. I haven't the slight- est interest in football or cricket (except that as a Yorkshireman I am glad that Freddie Trueman rubbed the selectors' noses in the mud), so I then went to Woolworth's. They only had the same non- sense, but had reduced the price to 4s. 6d. I took a vow I would change over to another type of razor as soon as I got home.

AUSTIN 1.11.0 Great Paxton Vicarage, Hunts ' [Leslie Adrian writes: 'Gillette have gone mad—. about cricket. Their marketing man enthused to me about their county knock-out competition for the Gillette Cup, and the company's generosity in hand- ing out a book on cricket (and football) with their 6s. 6d. Slim Twist razor. Last year it was 6s. 6d. without the book and r.p.m.-protected. This year Woolworth's and others have cut the price. But Mr. Lee could have bought the humbler three-piece Silver Streak with two Blue Gillete blades for 2s. had be been really persistent.'--Editor, Spectator.]