On the apostrophe tip, just looked to till vs until in Fowler and Partridge: they totally disagree, which is pleasing. Partridge says until is always preferable in formal or poetic contexts; Fowler (who I usually defer to) says they are basically interchangeable, with till the more usual, except in a few cases where until has the same pseudo-archaic feel that unto has. Till is actually the older.

Anyway I occasionally encounter 'til in copy, at first taking it to be the product of unnecessary nervousness about propriety -- but (again) it's more common in the US, esp.in song-titles and such. It probably IS the product of unnecessary nervousness about propriety, in fact, but long enough ago and often enough that it's no longer an error.