This is definitely the coolest thing Kuwait Times have ever done. Today’s issue of their free Friday Times newspaper was wrapped with a copy of their first issue ever dating back to September 24, 1961. Their first issue was only 4 pages but there are enough gems in there to make it worth picking up. Here are the coolest things I found in the paper:
– An ad announcing a new 1962 model of an RCA TV arriving at Morad Yousuf Behbehani
– An ad from the then not yet opened Gulf Bank (pictured below)
– Kuwait Airport arrival and departure timings. The only destinations were Bahrain, Damascus, Beirut, Abadan, Doha and Cairo. No European or any other countries
– A classified ad for a car “Immediately available Austin 55 – 1969, roughly used by it’s careless owner, with one head lamp broken (by courtsey of a fellow motorist) dented all over it’s sleek frame, springs making noise only when driving on bad roads (bad roads non-existent at Kuwait), if you are still interested, send offers to K.T. Box, No. 524 Kuwait.” What I found funny is the honesty and the fact you need to send him a letter if you’re interested. The postal service must have been very reliable back then
– Kuwait Cinemas schedule, Psycho was playing at Al Andalus, Al-Hamra was closed due to repair, Al-Firdous was playing The Golden Horde, the open air cinema in Hawalli was playing Bayabit Al Ward and finally the open air cinema at Fahaheel was playing Tomb of Love.
I highly recommend you pass by a bakala or newspaper stand and pick up today’s free issue of the Friday Times. And if anyone from Kuwait Times is reading this, if you still have all your old issues, please convert them to PDF and upload them online!
Thanks Q
13 replies on “Kuwait Times issue from 1961”
I love this newspaper. Its not because its free but its full of interesting topics that other newspapers doesn’t have.
Sadly, most of the bakalas/bookstores they hide the newspapers and (maybe) give it only to their friends or if you buy something. Today, my husband paid 30fils for the newspaper ‘coz he was asked to by the bookshop cashier (in fahaheel near alkout beside mcdonalds). This bookshop when we go there every friday to ask for the newspaper they always say we don’t have although all the other newspapers for the day are available in their stand….God Bless Them.
he probably paid 30fils cuz it says 30fils on the cover.. but thats the price of the newspaper back in 1961. When you open the paper you can find the actual friday times cover which says Free. I got mine from the small stationary shop next to Jeita and Maroosh in Salmiya
I like the Friday Times coz some of the articles on local events and social life are quite interesting and you won’t find something like that in other dailies.
Looks like newspapers were more respectable back then. No silly sensationalist crime section with “Toilet Peeking” and “Merry Making” LMAO.
Happy new year mark 🙂
Better branded back then.
PSYCHO was shown here in 1961 (the year of its debut in the US).
If it had been released today in Kuwait, it would probably be banned just for the shower scene alone.
There was no Ministry of Information at that time.
Old Kuwait was beautiful, the cinemas, the theater, the open air theaters, the concerts — Culture was vibrant.
They ruined it.
The paper had a hilarious ad about a car for sale….Check it Out :” roughly used car…creaking sounds..” ha ha ha
Happy New Year Folks !!!
How is there a 1969 Austin 55 being sold as a used car in a 1961 issue of a newspaper? Twilight zone?
Great issue. 😀
Todays issue is very cool as well. Usually it comes as 2 separate, now everything is condensed into one…looks a lot better!
The Austin was probably a 1959 model and the 1969 was a typo
Austin is the grandaddy of the Mini-Cooper. It was a very popular “economy” car in Kuwait in the 1960s.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Austin_Motor_Company
Eh! I should have read this earlier…