An old Irish man approached me on the tube today, asking me if I know what I was doing on the date of his paper.

Reluctantly I pulled out my earphones and glanced at the yellowing paper in his hand. Underneath the title ‘The News Of The World’ read:

LONDON, SUNDAY OCTOBER 1, 1843                                                                              PRICE: THREEPENCE

When i frowned, he laughed. Looking closer, I noticed that the entire front page looked like the listing page from more recent newspapers. The writing was tiny, and sectioned in small boxes with bold headings.

The man preceded to tell me (without any prompting) that a lady who’s dog he used to look after had left her house to him and he had found the paper in it.

“What are you going to do with it?” I asked.

“Leave it to my grandchildren, I suppose,” he wheezed.

This story might not seem that strange, but when you think about it, this man was holding a slice of history in his hands. This newspaper held details of what was important to people over a century ago. And those people are not around anymore – their grandchildren and great grandchildren are now reading and writing newspapers and are concerned (or not) of the going ons in the world around us.

What would they think of society now, I wonder? Although people are always talking of the good old days, history is seriously distorted and is only true to the person who is recounting it. Many of the horrible and terrible things are forgotten, while the warm, fuzzy memories live on. Would the people who created and read that paper be interested at all in our world as it is today? The gadgets, the connectivity, the pace. Would they be amazed at the amount of freedom we have – especially the young? Or would they be truly disgusted.

As i left the tube, the old man had started showing his ancient paper to a couple who had entered our carriage. It seemed he was trying to show as much people as possible and I wondered why. It did seem as though he liked to talk and a newspaper with such a date was a good icebreaker indeed, but does he not realise that the paper is rare and may be valuable? It was in very good condition as well, apart from the yellow. He should be more careful.

Still, I like the fact he is promoting his paper and making us unsuspecting travellers think of the past, if only for a slice of our time on the tube.