Eagle Annual (1973) and other Christmas Annuals (1972)

 

 

 

Christmas 1972 I was 4 but heading towards 5.  I don't know what annual I got that year. I've no memories and no images have yet to trigger a sense of ownership.  My older brother had The Aeronauts and Star Trek.  I know because they lurked around the family home for years after, until being rescued by my younger brother -Who probably still has them stashed away somewhere safe, to this very day.

Looking at the selection above I like to think I would have gone for the Wham! and Pow! Annual but I don't think that's what I would have got.  Well intentioned parents would have picked me something more cartoon in style and probably rabbit or teddy bear based.  Which got me thinking..

I had a lot of cowboy and soldier toys when I was a nipper; Airfix, Timpo and Britains.  I was just looking through a few online catalogues and was almost embarrassed by the realisation that my parents had bought me so much of it.  Maybe my grandparents contributed too.  I was ill a lot as a youngster which meant time off school and day trips to the nearby town to visit the elderly relatives for a cup of tea and a catch up.  Maybe they felt sorry for me, or maybe it was just a bribe to keep me quiet and distracted while they talked.  Who knows or really cares but the end result was a very large and full toy box.

Anyway that Eagle Annual atop, reminded me of this little beautie below.  I owned this, I floated this in the sink and even with the metal bar at the bottom I seem to remember that it always listed to one side.  I had a bit of an underwater thing going on back then.  The oceans were a strange alien world and the frog men were its astronaut explorers.  I watched Jacques Cousteau, I owned the Ladybird book of Underwater Exploration and I played Voyage to the bottom of the Sea in the playground when there.

So I now realise that we'll probably have to look at these things in more detail as well as the realisation that the 60's into the 70's was as much about the oceans as it was of space.


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

Look-in #3 (1972)

The cover star is Catweazle, an eccentric 11th century wizard who accidentally travels through time to the year 1969.  And the competitions are all about the Apollo moon missions.  Magic and rocket science in equal billing.  This is 1972.

 

 

Steve