Word: alf
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Dates: during 1940-1949
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Boom & Byline. In a political year, almost every man is a politician of sorts. But most men merely play at it. Roy Roberts devotes a great part of his skill, energy and time to it. He almost lost his amateur standing in 1936, when he guided Alf Landon into the worst debacle the Republican Party ever suffered. But in 1948 he made most of the 14-carat professionals look tarnished. He was closest to the biggest political story of the year-the Eisenhower boom...
...Britain these days. Most British workers have been willing enough to heed their government's pleas, swallow their grievances and stay on the job. But there are some things a self-respecting Briton can't swallow. That was the way of it with 26-year-old Alf Cole, driver's mate on a lorry owned by Wells and Winch, the big brewers of Biggleswade, Bedfordshire...
Three weeks ago a pal bet Alf 10 shillings and two gallons of beer that he couldn't grow a beard and keep it on till Easter. Alf figured the bet was a cinch, because he had grown a beard last summer and none of his bosses had said a word. This time, however, Brewery Manager Jack Redmund (who had been Alf's officer in the territorials during the war) issued an ultimatum: "Shave it off or work inside." A brewery executive explained: "We didn't feel that the growth of the beard upheld the prestige...
...Alf took a job in the barrel room at a 5-shilling cut in wages, but he was far from happy. "Redmund smokes a pipe," he grumbled. "I don't like it, but I ain't saying anything." A reporter from the Daily Herald printed the remark and Alf got the sack...
Last week 38 Biggleswade unionists went on strike against Wells and Winch, claimed they had cut deliveries to the brewery's 370 pubs by one-third. With three weeks still to go before Easter, Alf's sporting friend offered to pay off the bet and forget the whole business. But Alf, taking his turn on the picket line, turned the offer down cold. "After all," he said, and his fellow strikers agreed, "it's the principle of the thing. A man has a right to grow a beard any time he wants...