Room 2D

For most of its modern incarnation Janus magazine featured a one-off drawing by one of its resident artists on the Contents page. These warrant more attention than a glance in passing as one avidly checks the line up of delights in a newly acquired mag. Paula Meadows provided the illustrations from issue 16 to 43 and then returned to do a few more from issue 152 onwards. Here is a first batch of five. From Janus 16. A smashed vase while dusting will cost this young chambermaid dearly at the hands of the stern housekeeper. From Janus 18. Some priceless facial expressions — the schoolgirl awaiting her turn with the Head looks like she might wet herself with fright. From Janus 19. A nice schoolgirl portrait but nothing particularly indicating that a punishment is in the offing. From Janus 20. Some nautical discipline being applied to a young rating by the Captain. From Janus 21. This is clearly a household with old-fashioned...

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From Uniform Girls 1 Group Captain Brian Marshall’s office was to say the least, sparsely furnished. However, he liked it that way. His desk was bare but for his diary and a single sheet of paper. In front of his desk was a plain wooden chair; on the wall facing him hung a mirror. In this the Group Captain could see himself reflected. Vanity? Possibly… but the mirror had been there when he had arrived on the station and he had never bothered to have it removed. Now he looked into that mirror, seeing a head which was steadily balding and a face somewhat lined after twenty four years in the Royal Air Force — ever since he was twenty. One year to go before he could take retirement and a nice fat gratuity. But would he do that? Now, having risen steadily through the ranks to become a Station Commander, with his highly respectable rank, there were quite a number of perks which he would surely miss in civilian life. Like Flight Lieu...

From Janus 123. Lovely girl — my favourite from this series despite stiff competition. When we asked her about career prospects and why she decided to be a model, 20-year-old Andrea Drixoll brightly informed us that ever since she was a little girl she had always enjoyed dressing up. Modelling was just an extension of that. ‘I wish I was tall enough to be a fashion model,’ she said wistfully, ‘then I would be able to wear all those wonderful creations by Westwood, Dior and Armani, and people like that.’ In those formative years, whenever she was alone in the house, Andrea would raid her mother’s wardrobe for high heels, skirts and hats. Wearing a garish red lipstick from ‘mummy’s’ cosmetics case, she would totter around the house looking at her reflection in every mirror and pretend to be a beautiful, grown-up princess. As she got older and entered into relationships, Andrea quickly discovered that dressing-up had other and more...