oldapple wrote:The relatively young policeman referring to Southern Ireland as 'the Free State' was unintentionally(?) funny - my father, born 1928, would have called it this, but almost no-one born after this. And obviously I'm no spring chicken.
Indeed.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irish_Free_State
>>> The Free State came to an end with the coming into force of a new constitution on 29 December 1937 when the state took the name "Ireland". <<<