Fifty years ago this month - January 1969.

If there was one set of people who were delighted when January 1969 arrived, it was people who like to sit down and bounce around.

That's because it was the month in which the Space Hopper was introduced to Britain.

I could write now about the hours of fun I had on my Space Hopper but I never had one.

I do remember having a go on someone else's but, to be honest, it was one of those things, like pogo sticking, whose appeal faded very rapidly once you realised it involved far more work than fun.

Elsewhere that month, Pete Best, the man who must himself have felt like a Space Hopper, the way he'd been bounced out of the Beatles, won his defamation suit against the Fab Four. Exactly what they'd said that he hadn't liked, I've no idea but I do know he'd been after an $8 million settlement but ended up having to accept far less.

Speaking of the Fabs; that month, they performed live, for the final time, on the rooftop of Apple Records, before the police showed up to ruin the fun.

It's one of those magnificent Marvel weddings where every super-hero in town shows up - and so do a bunch of super-villains.

You might think you'd need a doctorate in Idiocy to attack the Avengers Mansion when every hero in the Marvel Universe is inside it but the Circus of Crime passed that course with honours, and so it is that the gang who once got their backsides whupped by Daredevil tackle the mightiest super-team of them all and, at last, the not-so-stunning truth about Yellowjacket's true identity is revealed.

In a sensational development no one could have seen coming, the book decides to break new ground and give us its 95th retelling of Cap's origin.

You know, I'm sure I write this same plot summary every month. It really does feel like Groundhog Day sometimes.

Possibly more intriguingly, this issue's letters page contains a missive from the pen of Don McGregor.

If that's not one of Gene Colan's greatest DD covers, then I'm a pair of stilts.

It's true. The man who, I suppose, was technically Daredevil's arch-enemy is back, to try and put a stop to Foggy Nelson's attempt to become DA.

As I can see no other reason why Stilty would do it, I'm assuming some meddlesome manipulator like Richard Raleigh or the Masked Marauder must have put him up to it.

Needless to say, our hero puts a stop to such fiendish plans and Foggy is duly elected.

The FF are back in the Great Refuge and I've no doubt Maximus is up to no good again.

To be honest, I really don't recall anything about this tale, other than that it existed.

On the other hand, I recall plenty about this one.

Abducted by aliens, the Hulk decides to start dismantling their ship around them.

Fortunately for all concerned, it manages to arrive back home before it's too late.

But that only sets up the Hulk for a clash with the Galaxy Master, the most menacing mouth in comics.

I think I vaguely remember this one. Isn't, "The Hulk," actually an android creation of the Mandarin?

Beyond that, I've no idea what Mandy's plan is or why it involves a robot Hulk.

Robot Hulks seemed to be popular with super-villains. I recall both Doctor Doom and the Mad Thinker using them at various points.

Stan the Man gets radical, as the students of ESU protest about something or other and the Kingpin decides to use the disruption as a smokescreen while he and his men steal a priceless tablet that's being kept on display there.

Galactus is causing all kinds of trouble for the colonisers of Rigel, and Thor must go to their aid.

After all these years, I still know nothing of Erik the Red. Wasn't he Cyclops in disguise?

If so, I don't have a clue why he was doing it.