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
