Aww… 
1957: Strong roots
Yes, it certainly would have been a mistake, though rather unlikely.
1949: Tunnel vision
I remember that the BBC did a lot of outside broadcasts of this type at that time. Dr Ludwig Koch used to present them. His enthusiastic German accented descriptions were part of the appeal. These broadcasts were very popular. I am pretty certain that Koch was being referred to here.
I like how the gnome is looking up at the group
1951: At the optician’s
Near sighted and far sited co-operating.
Yes, so cute and what about the lady with the violin? That’s a puzzle:)
I think that the lady with violin is ready to provide some accompanying music to the cuckoo’s singing.
1950: The rich are different
Every now and then Punch satirises the very rich. The magazine was aimed at the quite well-off but not the extremely well-off.
Lavinia seems to be playing patience. It is true that the very rich often found themselves with not enough things for them to do.
1947: Making a will
Anton is suggesting that the elderly pet owner is being persuaded by three of her pets to leave a significant of money for their upkeep after her death.
There is a word for pretending that animals can behave like humans. That word is anthropomorphism.
New word for me Mr Magoo
New word for me Mr Magoo thank you for the clarification on the violin by the way
1947: No online database here
This is a solicitor who hasn’t got a decent filing system. Searching could indeed take a long time. Google is still a long way off.
1947: Post-war austerity
This cartoon is aimed at the official attempts to reduce consumption of various public services. The man depicted here is using ’less light’ but consumption has not been reduced and he now can’t read the paper.
1957: Cheering the team
What is the point here? We can be sure that the central point is the ubiquity of television by this date. Who is this fan who has rigged up a telly set powered by an underground cable? He might be a night-watchman whose job is to guard the site. Clearly, he has decided not to miss out entirely on the buzz of being present at an important football march.
1951: The romantic view of transport
Why are they all enamoured of steam as a method of propulsion? They would have known about the soot but the pollution would be diagnosed later. For older people it was a reminder of their earlier lives but for young this would not be the case. Even today there are various local steam trains, staffed by volunteers.
1951: Beware of the (postman’s) dog
Postmen delivering mail attacked by dogs are the staple of many cartoons. This one diverges from this classic situation by showing a postman with his own dog who masters the resident dog.
1951: Narrowing it down?
This customer clearly is not used to drinking alcohol. This conversation isn’t going to go anywhere.
1949: Lady Golfers
This is a town versus countryside sort of joke. A town dweller shows her complete ignorance although even she feels that this is not a normal situation.
1951: Joking about modern art
Punch habitually ridiculed ‘modern art’. The whole movement was repeatedly treated as a joke. The hanging committee surely referred to the practice at the Royal Academy. Artists are free to submit their work for display at the annual summer exhibition. The point of that exhibition is that visitors are able to purchase work that they have seen. Before an artist can get his work accepted it has to be submitted. The hanging committee of the Academy will tend to have old fashioned ideas about art. The artist here shown looks exactly how ‘modern’ artists are expected to look. What we see of his work also conforms to the widely believed stereotype.
I thought the cartoon would show the artist being hung:)