Thanks Archie, I'd never heard of them until now.
50 years after that in 1969, was roughly when I heard about Alcock and Brown and the other pioneers when to a kid, aviation was as exciting as it gets. The B747 and Concorde were making test flights so the choice would be between supersonic speed and 'piano bar' comfort. With people also walking about on the Moon in 1969, the future sure looked amazing.
Anyway, 50 years after that in 2019, I'll try not to think about that when I get shoe-horned into a B737/A320 MBALiner tomorrow.