There were emergency messages on the radio (Home or later Radio Four) for people who were out of contact and needed to be found urgently for a family emergency, such as an imminent death. They used to be made once and this would be immediately before the six o’clock news.
“Before the news, here is an emergency SOS message for Mr John William Smith. Would Mr John William Smith of Acacia Avenue, Dartford, currently believed to be touring the Lake District in a blue Triumph Herald, registration number ABC123D, please contact the Memorial Hospital, Orpington, where his mother, Mrs Anne Mary Smith, is dangerously ill. That is the the end of the SOS message.” Alternatively, John William Smith might be described as ‘last heard of in the Reading area four years ago’.
Around 1980 a friend was on a family camping holiday: he was an ardent Nottingham Forest supporter, when that team was at the top. He and his brother missed the football results, so they were allowed to get back in the car at the campsite to listen to the news (No doubt they were told not to run down the battery.) Just before the news there was one of these messages. Suddenly his brother got out and went across to a family sitting opposite and spoke to them: it was the people who the message was aimed at. His brother said it was a bit odd as they gave the description of the type of car and he thought, ‘Like that one opposite’, and then found himself reading the numbers as the announcer read out the registration.