“It is intolerable that children who have done wrong should be kept waiting for their punishment,” the chairman of East London Juvenile Court stated this week 60 years ago.

Leo Gradwell was replying to an official who said it would be more convenient for two boys who admitted stealing a crash helmet to be remanded in custody for three weeks instead of two.

“I remember being kept waiting three days for a beating when I was a boy, and I remember thinking it was wrong to be kept waiting,” he said.

In other news, two young men were charged with breaking and entering a shop in Homerton High Street and stealing five packets of assorted cake, six bars of chocolate and 180 cigarettes.

“Romantic teenagers” were advised by golden wedding anniversary pair, Mr and Mrs C K Skinner, to court a little longer, and first get to know what it means to set up house before getting hitched.