Letter: Early skateboard
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Your support makes all the difference.Sir: I read that Andrew Baker, and perhaps many of your readers, are
interested to know of the earliest skateboard ("On the Boards", Magazine
19 October).
It seemed to me when I arrived in London in 1950 that the skateboard,
albeit in a primitive state, was already in general use by boys from nine
to 15 or so. It consisted of a short plank with two cross-pieces nailed
to it. On the four ends of the cross-pieces were fixed ball or roller
bearings discarded from old cars etc.
These contrivances made an ungodly rattle as they were propelled down
the pavements by their young owners.
MARTIN MOTTRAM
Salisbury, Wiltshire
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