{"id":5620,"date":"2026-02-17T07:38:40","date_gmt":"2026-02-17T07:38:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/phillumeny.com\/johnwalker\/?p=5620"},"modified":"2026-05-28T07:03:54","modified_gmt":"2026-05-28T07:03:54","slug":"on-line-exhibitor-ian-macilwain-uk","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/phillumeny.com\/johnwalker\/2026\/02\/17\/on-line-exhibitor-ian-macilwain-uk\/","title":{"rendered":"Ian Macilwain (UK)"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\n

\n
\"\"<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

Exhibit : How the humble matchbox shaped my life<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Scottish Bluebell label 50 x 112 mm, ca. 1961<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I am a retired psychiatrist who has devoted retirement to making a series of self-published photobooks on whisky, Romania, walking and cheese making ! My lifelong matchbox collecting started at the age of 12 while waiting for a bus to go to school. My hobby is always in the background and it only takes an unusual box to ignite the fire! (not literally)<\/p>\n

I was propelled into collecting labels at the age of 12 when, leaning over a fence waiting for the school bus I set eyes on a box of Scottish Bluebell which attracted my attention (I was in Hampshire and this was a rare label to me probably dropped by a soldier, as it was an Army camp). My friend who was with me wanted it for his collection but I decided somewhat selfishly that it would make a good start to mine !!<\/p>\n

I joined the BML&BS in 1970 and was a member for ten years, lapsing when I had a wife and children. I specialised in Eastern Europe and had many collector pen pals in The DDR, Czechoslovakia and Poland.<\/p>\n

The hobby has never lost its allure and now that I am retired I am revisiting the fantastic archive which the collection had become. Every label carries a story and is like a time capsule to my childhood years.<\/p>\n

Maybe with advancing years I will re-find the fascination that I used to have for this unusual hobby. Somewhat ironically I have lived in Scotland for half my life surrounded by more Scottish Bluebells than I would care to count.<\/p>\n

Click here<\/strong><\/a> to return to the Exhibition Catalogue.<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Exhibit : How the humble matchbox shaped my life I am a retired psychiatrist who has devoted retirement to making a series of self-published photobooks on whisky, Romania, walking and cheese making ! My lifelong matchbox collecting started at the age of 12 while waiting for a bus to go to school. My hobby is […] Read more<\/i><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5620","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-on-line-exhibitor"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/phillumeny.com\/johnwalker\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5620","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/phillumeny.com\/johnwalker\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/phillumeny.com\/johnwalker\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/phillumeny.com\/johnwalker\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/phillumeny.com\/johnwalker\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5620"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/phillumeny.com\/johnwalker\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5620\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6077,"href":"https:\/\/phillumeny.com\/johnwalker\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5620\/revisions\/6077"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/phillumeny.com\/johnwalker\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5620"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/phillumeny.com\/johnwalker\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5620"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/phillumeny.com\/johnwalker\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5620"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}