As I have said often before, one of the most enjoyable things about looking through old newspapers is the transient, inconsequential, provincial little article or advert which just happens to appear on the same page as a "major" news item. These little pieces tend to say far more about society than the big political events of the day. And, as I have also often said before, one of the best places to trawl for such gems is at the website of NewspaperARCHIVE.com. They publish a daily newsletter (The Daily Perspective) which is available in the form of a blog. Each issue takes an item from the current news headlines and goes in search of similar themes from over 100 years of archived newspapers. I have included a link to the Blog in my Blogs I Am Following List.
What has all this to do with Percy the Parrot? Well, today's issue of the Daily Perspective looked at the decision by the International Criminal Court to charge Omar Hassan al-Bashir, President of Sudan, with war crimes. One of the newspaper links was to the "New Mexican" of July 2, 2002 which included an article about the ICC. And there, tucked away on the bottom of the page was the above advert offering a reward for information about a missing parrot. President al-Bashir will no doubt be anxious to learn the outcome of the ICC charges. Me?, I just want to know what happened to Percy.
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