Echoes from the past

Optician's decision to dedicate its inside back cover to a look back at past issues of Optician from 100, 75 or 50 years ago seems particularly timely. In the last few week I have been contacted by a lady writing a book on the phenomenon of iconic sunglasses and seen the launch of several vintage ranges.

My attention was also drawn to a letter to the Daily Telegraph on the subject. Clearly the history of spectacles does go back a long way. Nero was said to have watched gladiatorial contestsat the Colliseum through an emerald. I am sure there are even older tales of refractive history.