Whilst at University in the late '60's, my own car as a provisional driver was a Standard Vanguard Estate with the Indicators on the middle of the steering wheel, the gear shift (3 speed) on the column and an "umbrella style" handbrake . My girlfriends car, a Morris Minor, had the rotary indicator switch as the A35, the gears on the tunnel and the handbrake on the RHS of the driver. The Driving School car, in which I took, and passed, my test, a Triumph Herald, had the "normal" configuration of the controls with an indicator stalk, Handbrake and gear shift on the LHS.....Not a problem for a young man.

Nothing new there . The Citroen Visa had a satellite pod to the left of the steering wheel with all the important functions on it .,

The Visa wasn't the only Citroen without an indicator stalk, the CX, GS (late) and BX (early) also had an indicator switch mounted on a pod.

I’m old enough to remember hand signals which were obligatory on tests in the early sixties

Hand signals are undeniably the perfection of clarity. The driver has certainly not deceived any other motorists by forgetting to turn off/on an electronic device!