Mark Nicholls explores the appeal of the saucy seaside postcard and talks to exponent and EDP cartoonist Tony Hall about their enduring appeal.

The saucy postcard is a throwback to the hallowed days of the classic seaside holiday.

It was one of those childish pleasures, spending ages picking the right card for grandma while furtively reading captions ripe with innuendo and double entendre out of the corner of one's eye before matching it to the pictures of young curvaceous ladies with shocked expressions on their faces, bikinis that were three sizes too small covering accentuated body parts, and all painted against a backdrop of garish primary colours.

This was the seaside spirit of 1960, a tradition that began in the 19th century, and reached a peak in the 1930s and 1940s before moral censorship of the 1950s mortally wounded the saucy postcard.

While there remain steady sales of the saucy postcard today, it is more based on sentiment than practicality.

But there are new and cheerful designs in the saucy postcard genre still being produced, including some by Eastern Daily Press cartoonist Tony Hall.

'They are a bit of fun, but as well as that they are also a foil to the PC world where you must not say or do certain things, whether that is fattist, sexist or ageist,' says Mr Hall.

Want to see more of Tony Hall's postcards and find out why we like the saucy ones? See the EDP Sunday supplement in Saturday's bumper EDP.