WHEN Bi BECAME BUSES

摘要

Fifty years ago this month, the publication of issue 157 of this magazine brought the Father Ted moment in our history. Those of you who followed the Channel 4 comedy first aired in the 1990s may recall the episode where the Irish priests consult their diary to find out why 19 July is such a significant date in the calendar. Turns out that was when, besides the Ice Age ending and Galway being liberated from the Indians, the chocolate bar Marathon became Snickers. April 1968 was when Buses Illustrated became Buses, an event etched in thememories of the generations of readers we had been picking up since the magazine first appeared in autumn 1949 and which was produced monthly from January 1958.This was more than a change of name, as Buses Illustrated - produced for and largely by enthusiasts and known widely as BI-was absorbing its sister publication Passenger Transport, a much longer established monthly for the bus and coach industry. The Ian Allan company had acquired it from Berrow's earlier in the 1960s and it bowed out in March 1968 with its 3,260th issue.