With the promise of free homes, cars and generous pensions, a mass radiography survey was carried out in 1950s Edinburgh in the fight against deadly tuberculosis (TB).
Spearheaded by the then newly-created NHS, the ambitious x-ray campaign aimed to screen 80 per cent of the capital's population in March 1958.
The Mass Miniature Radiography (MMR) programme deployed mobile van units to carry x-ray equipment deep into the heart of local communities.
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Bombarded by an unprecedented Department of Health marketing campaign, which included press articles, posters, cinema, TV and radio adverts, and even a huge circus tent in Princes Street Gardens, ordinary people were further encouraged to be screened with the promise of monetary rewards.
X-ray prizes
Willing participants entered a prize draw in which they could be rewarded with a £3,000 house, a car, a £2-a-week pension for life, home furnishings and other smaller items.
TB was no laughing matter in the 1950s. Nationwide, it was estimated that the disease claimed the lives of more than 20,000 people every single year.
Now, thanks to advanced chest x-ray technology, doctors had the ability to diagnose patients in minutes, while the scans could also detect other abnormalities relating to chest and cardiovascular disease.
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Over a four-week period in March 1958, an astonishing number of volunteers lined up at mobile units around Edinburgh. All they had to do was strip to the waist and have their picture taken.
In Princes Street Gardens alone, where a 'Big Top' circus tent was erected to provide entertainment for those waiting to be x-rayed, more than 55,000 people were screened.
By the end of the campaign, more than 295,000 Edinburgh locals had taken part in the survey - a whopping 84.4 per cent of the capital's population at the time. Health screening on such a scale would not be seen again until the rollout of Covid-19 testing more than 60 years later.
Similar results were witnessed in cities up and down the UK, leading to a significant decline in TB rates from that point on.
Edinburgh's mass x-ray campaign of 1958 was recently the topic of discussion on the Lost Edinburgh Facebook group.
Norma Muir commented: "I had my test in Binn's [department store]. You got a little white badge with a castle on it to show you had been tested."
Mary Wight said: "I remember a mini car with the number plate 'x-ray U 2'. I think that is correct. It was standing at the west end of Princes Street Gardens. Was it a prize for a draw of some sort?"
Eileen MacBride wrote: "My late father used to drive the mass x-ray unit all over the place in the 50s."
Corstorphine's 'x-ray house'
According to several people, the £3,000 house, which had featured in the prize draw, was located at Caroline Terrace in Corstorphine. It became known locally as the "x-ray house".
One member said: "My parents bought a house in Caroline Terrace in 1958, just across the road from the x-ray house. We still refer to it as the x-ray house."
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