"I'M A TOMORROW PERSON" Seventies Super T-Shirts (1976)

We haven't talked about The Tomorrow People yet but we will.  For now though I'm going to assume you have a passing knowledge that its a Classis 70's kids show that almost spanned the entire decade.  Its Sci-fi.  And its about the next step in human evolution.  Look-in used to love The Tomorrow People and Mike Holoway.  Here they are using him to model their exclusive Tomorrow People T-Shirt. (available in white or yellow at a cost of 99p plus 20p P+P)

Now that's a super T-Shirt.  Anyone wearing that in the summer of 76 was going to look pretty cool in the queue for the standpipe.


Steve

Ken Dodd's Diddymen Annual 1972 and other Christmas Annuals (1971)

 

 

So its 1971, Christmas is a few short weeks away and there is a fresh batch of Annuals to be looked at in the bookshops  It was traditional, I recall, that during a trip into town, we kids would select which ones we would like Santa to bring us. Sometimes it was hard to pick just one and sometimes the choice would be made for us  My mum would then make a note, so as not to forget who wanted what when letting the fat red fella know, and then we would leave and let the magic happen.

This particular year I ended up with the Teddy Bear Annual and my elder brother had Star Trek.  This amuses me no end because as I may have already said in a previous post, he grew to hate all that "sci-fi rubbish" where as I remain quite keen.  If I'm honest though, I'm not all that fussed about teddy bears nowadays but in 1971, and for a few years after, I think I spent a lot of time in that book. Having recently discovered it lurking in the old family home, I was compelled to immediately revisit the Ice-Cream Mountains, a double page spread of what I remember as the first place I ever wanted to emigrate to.

Cool! isn't it and with the pun fully intended.  And while I'm not sure I would still make the move today, I find I remain very fond of Ivor, the giant four legged Jumbly who seems like he might be a distant ancestor of Chorlton the Happiness Dragon.

That's it for this post except to say that we'll definitely be back to look at the Diddymen again

because they do have a touch of the Candy and Andy uncanniness, abut them.

 

And when we move forward to Christmas 73 we might also be taking a closer look at that Wham! cover because the artwork seems strangely familiar.

 

Steve

A Candy and Andy Gallery - part one (1967)

This is Candy and Andy....they want to play with you!

 

Candy and Andy live with two panda bears called Mr and Mrs Bearanda

 

They enjoy pre-decimal ice cream

 

They like the colour red

 

 They really like the colour red

 

 Sometime it seems that they are planning something

Sometimes Mr Bearanda and Andy like to pretend they are having car trouble

 

In 1966 Gerry Anderson came up with a "killer" idea for a new TV show.  Unfortunately no one shared in his vision and the project was never developed.  However, maintaining his belief that the idea had some potential, Gerry developed it into a weekly comic instead which began publication in January of the following year

 

 

Photography was by Doug Luke who struggled through 154 issues of the "Candy" comic as well as various annuals and numerous story books.  Some would say this was one of Gerry Anderson great misjudged failures! I, on the other hand, think it a work of dark genius.

 

 

Steve

Clangers Annual 1971 and other Christmas Annuals (1970)

 

      

In case you are curious as to which one Santa brought me that year then it was Bobo Bunny.  The highlight of which is not the blue rabbit of Dutch heritage but rather the home-grown Pinki and Purr indulging in a little makeshift Maypole action...

...a pastime that seemed quite popular back then, with even the Doctor getting tangled up in it in the coming year.

 

Steve

Candy and Andy Book (1968)

Candy and Andy are Strange England at it's very strangest.  I'm going to be showing you a number of images of Candy and of Andy and their "guardians" and every single one of then has an "uncanny" wrongness that's as hypnotic as a slow-motion car crash.

I'm not sure where or when but somehow they were hiding in my head, lurking in the; too early to remember them as anything more than a strong feeling of familiarity.  I saw the cover image above and I suddenly remembered then again.  Perhaps my elder sister had the comics?  Perhaps I saw the book in a bookshop or perhaps they just climbed in there on their own; Cuckoo-kind, Stepford Pinocchios with dreams of becoming something even more than real children!

Enjoy the nightmares.


Steve

Phase IV by Barry N Malzberg (1973)

"ebay - delivering the past to the present since 1995"...  Or at least that's how I think of it!

 

As mentioned a few days ago, I decided to order Barry N Malzberg's tie-in of the film Phase IV after many years of just not getting round to it.  It only arrived today so I've not started into it yet but I understand there is a variation to the ending.  I will report back here with my thoughts and observations, once read.

Of course its worth remembering that back in 1973, the novelisation would have been the only way to relive the film, which was obviously also true for other movies and TV shows.  I bought and read a lot of tie-ins as a kid and really enjoyed them.  Sometimes it was even a way to "see" an 18 certificate film, when you were too young to sneak into the cinema - Such as Alien, to name the first one that comes to mind.

 

With the advent of Video, DVD,  Blu-ray and Digital Download we can now have those films on hand and on repeat almost any time.  As such this kind of fiction has all but gone which is a shame.  As a generalisation they are usually quite exciting and an easy read.  And that certainly helped me begin to enjoy reading when the school-selected titles were doing their very best to provoke the opposite.

 

 

Steve

Tom Baker and the Daleks at BBC TV Centre (1974)

Its interesting how they've been using these images for decades now but its only through putting a few of them together for this blog post that I've thought of them as a set of stills from the same photo-shoot.  That's quite an icon and successful photo-shoot for which I would like to credit the photographer, if anyone knows.

I reckon this must be Tom's Abbey Road

 

Which oddly the following isn't!

 

And that's why you haven't seen these images of Jon Pertwee, 3rd Doctor, used quite so much - Come on Man! Get up and stand up to them!

 

 

Steve