Thanks to Charlie Horse 47 and Killdumpster for their sponsorship of this post, via the magic of Patreon.
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| Image by Tumisu from Pixabay |
It's time, once more, to slap some democracy on the table.
And we all know what that means.
We're going to need a stronger table.
Not only that. We're going to need an active comments section.
You guessed it. It's the short-awaited return of the feature in which the first person to comment gets to decide the topic of the day.
And what will that topic be?
That is a thing that only you can decide.
So, whatever it is you want everyone else to get off their chests, say so below and let us see what kind of a vortex of vox pop unfolds.
Posts
40 comments:
I'm calling this "Artifacts" - or "artefacts", if you prefer!
Choose 5 (or more) "artifacts" (solid objects) that had a powerful influence on your childhood.
You cannot choose comics or books, as we've done those before.
From me:
1.) Aged 4 or 5 - the Dinky FV102 Striker
2.) Aged 4 or 5 - Dinky Green UFO Interceptor
3.) Aged 5 or 6 - Cyborg:
https://reprobatepress.com/2019/08/10/cyborg-muton-and-android/
4.) Aged 10 (?) - The Brotherhood of Man Sing 20 No.1 hits
5.) Aged 10 - Themes For Superheroes - mfp cassette/tape
Phillip
6.) How could I forget...
The 1977 Superheroes card game!
Phillip
The Sears Christmas catalogue
Hot Wheels and Johnny Lightning cars
My purple banana-seat bicycle
The automobile related stickers theyd give out at gas stations that we stuck on our bikes, bed head boards…
Odd Rod stickers and baseball cards
And all those plastic models we built of funny cars, dragsters, planes, tanks, and ships that we later blew up with firecrackers and bb guns!
Good question! Charlie
Charlie - The UK version of Sears catalogue is probably the Argos catalogue. Also, in the 70s, the UK had another catalogue, named 'Shoppers World'.
Is Hot Wheels the US version of Scalextric (a track with grooves on, that cars run on, with one player controlling each car?) Or are Hot Wheels just individual little cars, like matchbox rollermatics?)
As regards plastic models, to me, matchbox were not only cheaper than airfix, but better made, requiring less 'filing down'. In the US, it was Revell/Monogram, n'est pas?
Phillip
1: Candy-flake red 3-speed Schwinn Sting-ray with banana seat, ‘sissy bar’ and air-brakes
2: Tuffy the plush bulldog, purchased with Blue Chip Stamps
3: Aurora Glow in the Dark Dracula model kit
4: combo AM/FM Radio and alarm clock, with which I grooved to the wonderful Top 40 hits of the early 70s
5: Captain Action figure with Captain America costume and accessories
— b.t.
Good question!
1] The 'Horror Parade' stickers that were popular in the UK in the early 1970s. They give me a thrill of concentrated strangeness to this day.
2] Star Wars trading cards.I couldn't afford to collect them, and I only had a couple. Since we were a family of extremely modest disposable income at that point we couldn't afford any of the Star Wars merchandise that washed over the country throughout 1978. But wealthier classmates had them, and they offered glimpses of this thrilling weird universe.
3] The Six Million Dollar Man jigsaw where he punches a shark underwater. By association with Jaws, which I was obsessed with at age 5. That Jaws marketing really hit the spot. So much shark-related stuff kicking around.
4] I was given a small microscope as a young boy [a combined present from multiple generations of family] and that never got old. I think I've still got it somewhere.
5] Starbird. The noise-emitting toy spaceship that appeared around 79/80. I had one and it was endlessly fun to play with. Not even a Big Trek was as much fun.
Matthew - Do you mean the Star Wars bubble gum cards?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Wars_trading_card#/media/File:Star_Wars_Topps_Trading_Card_No.10.jpg
My brother & myself had a few, but not many. Grand Moff Tarkin was definitely one of them!
Phillip
Phillip-
Yeah, those ones. They remind me of the strange time when there was such a thing as Star Wars freshness and scarcity.
Thanks for the topic, Phillip.
These are the first suggestions that come to mind.
Lego. With it, I could build anything I wanted to. And did.
A Dinky Space:1999 Eagle. At last, I could explore the universe. Even if my vehicle was green when it should have been white.
Television. A window onto the world.
The first radio I ever owned. It was made by a company called Satellite, was entirely battery-powered and enabled me to discover a whole new world of music, thanks to the likes of Radio One.
A pair of 8x40 binoculars made by Commodore. Never before had distant objects seemed so close.
By the way, Hot Wheels were toy cars that had really thin axles that allowed them to travel at a far higher speed than toy cars by the likes of Matchbox. You could get plastic tracks for them to run on but the tracks had no groove and the cars were powered purely by gravity, not by electricity.
In the (junior)school playground, I seem to remember we used to skim Star Wars cards against the wall, with the boy whose card came closest to the wall, winning his opponent's card.
Phillip
Steve - you've just refreshed my memory. I had a Dinky SPACE:1999 Eagle, too!
Phillip
Miss Charlie found this question so fun, she insisted on contributing!
Family Jarts game (banned nationwide)
The family Bow and Arrow set
Old Maid card game which she still has, laminated it, and actually was her mother’s from the 1940s.
A stuffed hippopotamus her mother made at xmas because the xmas gift money her dad took out of the bank was stolen! (Geezus… sounds like “It’s a wonderful life”)
Hot Wheels were introduced around 1968. Johnny Lightning was a copy cat but they had Al Unser endorsing it! Same size as Matchbox, but differing axle and tires making them quite fast! There were/are plastic tracks/kits that could be set up for racing side by side. But, as i think i and others said a few weeks ago, these tracks could be used like a dad’s belt to fight with or discipline (bybdad)!
Oddly, Charlie’s fastest car was a matchbox-like Corgi car from around 1969. Looked like a “james bond” kind of car. Me friends were jealous and we were all mystified because the car did NOT have the racing axles /wheels!!!
1. Sports trading cards (Baseball, Football, Hockey)
2. Wacky Packages
3. Rawlings Baseball glove
4. 7 Eleven Slurpee Superhero cups
5. Big Jim and his Sports Camper
Fun topic!
1) Lego and Meccano
2) Planet Of The Apes trading cards
3) Matchbox and Corgi cars
4) Airfix models
5) Planet Of The Apes and Star Trek action figures
6) Board games (and Connect 4)
7) My Ferguson b/w portable TV which I got when I was 13
8) Ice lollies from the village shop
9) Dandelion & Burdock pop
10) The second-hand bike from a neighbour on which I learned to ride
11) My sister's magnetic chess set with which I learned how to play chess
12) The Planet Of The Apes leather belts which I and my friend Carl Coffey ordered from Marvel UK
Apologies for not sticking to just five things!
Phillip, in our house we had the Burlington catalogue and later the Grattan catalogue.
Great topic Phillip!
1. GAF "View Master" stereo viewer, and the associated photo reels. Got one for my 4th. birthday (one of my earliest memories); with a packet featuring Yogi Bear and Huckleberry Hound. My first 'reel' exposure to pop culture. I loved that viewer, and accumulated countless photo packets over the ensuing years.
2. Hot Wheels cars. I'd had Matchbox cars, and Tootsietoy, but the flashy,new Hot Wheels really hooked me (and most of the boys in our school). My first was a blue Custom Cougar, but my early favorite was an aquamarine "Beatnik Bandit". I do still have a handful of my old Wheels...
3. Topps 1971 Willie Mays baseball coin. By the time I was 10, trading cards had become a favorite collectible for me. Baseball cards were my first choice, and Willie Mays was my big hero. One summer evening I scored his metal coin from a pack of 1971 Topps baseball. And though all my trading cards fell victim to the parental cleaning fate, I still have that coin.
4. Panasonic sperical portable radio, circa 1972. A Christmas gift, it was my first personal radio and rapidly developed my interest in pop music. It was pretty cool- looked basically like the Star Wars Death Star (which came along several years later), and hung on a silver beaded chain so you could swing it around. A potentially hazardous activity for a fairly heavy electronic device. Probably heard Casey Kasem and "American Top 40" for the first time on that radio.
5. Since comics are out, I'll go with a Windsor Newton acrylic paint set. My 15th. birthday gift; inspired by my parents hearing constantly how I wanted to be a comic book artist. Never achieved that, but that first paint set eventually led to Art School, my career, my roommate who introduced me to my then-future wife, and to my still- powerful fascination with art.
Everyone else’s answers are stirring further memories, especially Mr & Mrs Charlie’s about inherited objects…
6) The World We Live In.
It was a hardcover book full of fantastic nature photos, paintings and speculative imagery of the world, prehistory, geology, nature. It had been my mother’s in the 1950s and I discovered in my grandparents’ cupboard when visiting and was allowed to have it. It’s still my favourite book. The paper smells wonderful. I still have it in my office.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_World_We_Live_In_(Life_magazine)
(As a footnote, I also inherited her Dalek annual which was packed with comic strips and photo stories. It was falling apart though, and when I’ve looked to get a better reading copy it sells for insane money).
7) Lego. My god yes. I was playing with Lego right up until adolescence. I can still design and build a killer spaceship on the fly. I remember getting my first Lego set aged, what…4?
I am dismayed at the preponderance of specific ‘build this’ Lego kits these days, whereas for me the joy was creating something yourself from your own imagination.
3) My Dr Seuss books. I never was too into the Cat In The Hat or Grinch type ones. I liked the hardcore surrealism of The Lorax / Solla Sellew / Did I Ever Tell You How Lucky You Are etc.
These were the most important books in my life.
I always wanted a Space 1999 Eagle but never had one. Also a Thunderbird 2.
Sorry - 3) should be 8). - ed
Perhaps inherited toys/stuff's a topic unto itself.
My bro & myself inherited some Lego. I built a house, with lots of intricate rooms, etc. Then built another one, and attached it on top. One of my mum's friends visited, with her son, who threw my Lego house to the floor, smashing it into a thousand pieces! At the time, I wasn't best pleased; but - admittedly - the culprit was little more than a toddler, at the time!
Matthew - that volume looks very interesting, particularly its falling back on Newtonian physics and geological theories, pre-plate tectonics. Like so many much-loved books from our childhoods, such things add to the nostalgic glow. Nevertheless, the prose seems really readable, and compelling. I love the alliteration ("brainless brutes" & "murderous mouth")!
So much 1960s/70s dinosaur stuff (art's) now obsolete, what with them having feathers, etc, but I don't care!
Phillip
Colin - Do you remember Airfix's dinosaur models? I was too young to buy/assemble them, but remember seeing them in shops, and being fascinated. For ice lollies, I'd single out Red Devils, Orange Dragons, and Haunted Houses, for special consideration! I've got an Orange Dragon badge, somewhere - my brother had a Jelly Terror badge. Plenty of SDC chess players!
Phillip
Redartz - That viewmaster rings a bell. I remember a viewmaster showing the opening to the 60s Spidey cartoon. My 12 years old sister had ( I think) a much older red viewer (with 2 'eyeholes'), that showed stills (I think of famous scenes in foreign countries, etc.)
Phillip
As usual, so many of us have similar experiences that I am now recalling a whole lot more!
RED - i too spent countless hours on my View Master circa 1967(?) looking at reels of (yep!) dinosaurs!!!
And, countless hours with color by number and paint by number!!!
(Must be the Hoosier in us???)
Mathew, Phillip, et al. I think we indeed have another topic revealed: those inherited / hand-me-down items! (Good or not so good, lol.).
Now, for fun, Charlie is going to ebay to see if any UK. xmas catalogues are on same cheap in the USA. Sometimes you get these weird opportunities like DC Thomson annuals in the USA which basically have a tiny market as compared to the UK.
Charlie - Old Argos catalogues can be viewed free online - e.g:
https://archive.org/search?query=argos+catalogue&page=2
Phillip
Phillip- the viewmaster you describe your sister as having sounds like the one I had, except it was tan colored. You looked in the twin eyeholes, and saw paired pictures designed to give a 3-D image. My collection of packets included dinosaurs, Spider-Man, the Flintstones, Apollo 11, and many 'scenes of the world'. One was "England"...
Charlie- yep, we 'Hoosiers' shared a bunch of activities! I had colorforms, a Batman set if memory serves. And paint by numbers, and a woodburning set. Wonder if those are still sold these days, that woodburning stylus got mighty hot!!
Phil, I received an Airfix Tyrannosaurus Rex kit for Christmas 1978 but it didn't need much assembling as it was only two halves that required sticking together!
Colin - And I criticized Airfix kits for requiring more finishing than Matchbox!
Phillip
So are you back online then, Phillip?
I missed you under the last post when 'Island at the Top of the World' came up.
As to your topic, I will go with -
Television. Steve pretty much covered the reasons.
Paper, pencils, pens, paint etc. Self explanatory really.
Cassette player. I was always fascinated by records too, but after a couple of scratchy old Walt Disney soundtracks when I was a little scrote and then moving onto my mum's couple of - yikes! - Bob Dylan lps, being able to listen to tapes of my choice of appalling noisy racket was great.
A very basic cassette editing set, which sort of follows on from the above. Being able to record stuff and then make cut ups of it was hours of fun ("tonight Matthew, I will be Throbbing Gristle")
Jumpers for goalposts.
-sean
Sean - Yes, thanks for remembering.
Here's a snooze fest.
This morning I posted the old router & cables back to Shell Energy, in the pre-paid plastic bag they provided. When I said I didn't want to pay for the 2 weeks I've been off-line, Shell said despite the problem not being their fault, as a gesture of good will (mighty big of them!), they'd give me a £10 voucher. I suppose that's about right, the phone & broadband being £21.99 a month (although I hardly use the phone, so it's not 50/50.)
Shell doubled their profits, what with energy inflation. How about halving customers' bills, then?
Good grief, you're thinking - I wish I never remembered his &%$*& internet going down!
Some interesting "artifacts".
Even nowadays, tapes have advantages, as you can record with the press of one button (or 2, as it's record & play pressed together). Also, the cassette, when stopped, stays at whatever point on the album it's left at.
Stating the obvious mode.
Phillip
RED! I inherited the wood burning kit, the soldering kit, and a jig saw lit that cut balsa (?) templates. Such were the toys back then!
Did you ever het any of the Ronco or Mr. Magic Hand magician stuff as gifts which were heavily advertised on WGN TV?
Good grief, I wish I'd never remembered Phillip's &%$*& internet going down!
-sean
Sad news about Tina Turner.
Phillip
Tina Turner's death is the top story on the BBC tonight - not many singers get such special treatment!
Phillip, you only pay £21.99 a month for your phone & broadband??? I'm paying £52 a month with BT but they do provide a very good service so I can't complain.
Many Lego mentions. I'm wondering why we didn't have those till much later?
Our building toys were Lincoln Logs and TinkerToy's. I'm guessing because they were cheaper.
And yes, sad to hear about Tina Turner. Dynamic, Max energy, Icon.
A sad day; Tina was incredible. The talent, the energy, truly matchless.
Killraven- you weren't alone in being late to Lego. I didn't have any experience with them until my teens; in youth it was those same Lincoln Logs and Tinker Toys. Oh, and really early: Flintstones' "Building Boulders". Styrofoam bricks that broke off easily; anyone else have those?
Red, Killraven - Charlie too was a Lincoln Log and Tinker Toy kid, having been born in 1961. Playdoh also satisfied the project- manager / construction needs, lol. I think the legos are an early 70s thing but we called them something else in the USA?
Excellent suggestion and some great memory jogger replies. 5 min comic book items from myself are:
A Noddy car I had as a 4 or 5 year old
Timpo model knights
Matchbox cars, in particular an E -type Jaguar
Plasticine modelling clay
Action Man
Colin - Compared to £52, mine doesn't sound so bad! However, I reduced my bill for Shell phone + broadband (it was £34/37 quid, before price rises), by removing free international calls, & free anytime calls plan. Unfortunately, this means phone use (e.g. being kept on hold, trying to switch energy providers) might be incredibly expensive. ( You can't switch until you've paid off your existing debt, which probably necessitates a long phone call - although I might try other means.)
Looking up 1980s Tina Turner songs, I noticed Terry Britten, who wrote several of Tina's 80s hits, was also in Cliff's band (along with Sky's Herbie Flowers & Tristan Fry), and wrote 'Carrie', & other late 70s/early 80s (?) Cliff songs.
The BBC said Tina was working as a cleaner, until 2 of the Heaven 17 boys got her career back on track, with Private Dancer.
Also, I never realized (probably everyone else already knew!) 'What's Love Got to Do With It?' is a cover of a Bucks Fizz song.
Paul - Very good point about model knights. Mine were mostly 'Britains', but I may have had the odd Timpo one, too! Nevertheless, model knights were a very big thing at the time!
Phillip
I certainly didn't know that 'What's Love Got To Do With It' was a cover of a Bucks Fizz song! Now I'm trying to imagine Tina Turner singing 'Making Your Mind Up' or 'The Land Of Make Believe'.
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