Lost in the post – for 100 years
Hoteliers are usually prepared for late bookings these days, but one hotelier on the Isle of Wight was baffled when a postcard asking for accommodation arrived almost 100 years after it was posted.
The postcard was delivered to the four-star, 55-bedroom Royal hotel at Ventnor, bearing a halfpenny stamp issued during the reign of Edward VII - who died in 1910.
It had been posted in Oxford by a German asking the addressee, Herr Lewaq, who was staying at the Royal, to find holiday accommodation for a planned visit to the island.
Hotel manager Nigel Holland said: "We get all sorts of mail here, but never a postcard that has been in the postal system for nearly a century. We have had delayed post before, but never this late. It must be a record, even for the Royal Mail."
