EVERY day was like a window into the past, where it was possible to glimpse how things used to be. An era of wealth, elegance, and exclusivity.

For a time back in the 1960s I worked in Southampton Docks for the newspaper and bookseller WH Smith, once based in the colonnade of shops just inside the main gate of the Eastern Docks.

During this time it was the beginning of the end for the great passenger liners as many travellers were tempted away from the ships to jet aircraft, which could complete the identical journey in the same number of hours as an ocean voyage took in days.

However, there was still a sizeable number who refused to turn their backs on the broad, open decks and legendary service of ships such as Queen Mary, Queen Elizabeth, the wonderfully chic SS France, and those two Atlantic greyhounds, America and United States.

Besides the main, open-fronted store, WH Smith also had a number of large kiosks in the various passenger lounges around the port to cater for people who were waiting to board a ship.

Of all of these, the prime position was in the old Ocean Terminal, where Smith’s had a wonderful shop, reflecting the atmosphere of the First Class lounge. The shop sold newspapers, magazines, novels, writing paper, pens and postcards – in fact all the last-minute bits and pieces needed by the passengers.

From behind the counter – a job I would often share with my mother, Margaret, who also worked for Smith’s – we could look out and try to spot any famous faces in the lounge.

Word usually spread quickly if anyone notable was travelling and there would be an extra buzz of excitement around the terminal.

Just a few of those who wandered by the shop included Charlton Heston, the veteran Hollywood actor, Joseph Cotton, and, one remarkable day, Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor.

However it was not one of the great movie stars who I will always remember, but Britain’s great comic talent, Norman Wisdom.

Complete with the his trademark tight fitting suit and cap, Norman staged an impromtu performance, pretending to trip over and calling out: “Where are you Mr Grimsdale?’’