A lady I used to work with told me before the internet on a Thirsday there used to be a section in the Telegraph where people advertised themselves in the dating section and contact was made via a postal box. This was a posher way of dating aimed at professional people. However, those not able to spend £15 sometimes wrote a card out and paid the local Pakistani shop owners £1 to display it for a week.
The news paper was how you looked for a job, found out who got married, divorced, had a baby or died. Court actions, bankruptcies... I always wondered if anyone ever got found out and teased for putting out a personal ad. In the small area I grew up in, hiding your identity wouldn't have been easy.
