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The toy and merchandise adverts in comics are sometimes almost as interesting as the comics themselves (at least). Looking through some back issues of TV CENTURY 21, I spied these ads, which I thought those who had lived through the era might like to see again. So, fasten your seatbelts, as we make a lightning-quick tour of 1965 and remind ourselves of just what was available back in the day.
Incidentally, I still have (replacements of) my Parachute FIREBALL XL5 toy, two Bump'n'go DALEKS, and six ROLYKINS, seen in the page above. And I used to have at least one of the Bagatelles.
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Got two of the above mini Dalek badges as well. Never had the Scooter Skate though.
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There's a photo of me as a kid somewhere on this blog with one of the above Dalek toys. They're worth a small fortune now.
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Also got two boxed original 1965 ASTON MARTIN DB5s. (Yes, boasting again.)
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Which ones did you have as a child - and how many of them do you still own? Feel free to share your reminiscences in the comments section. Go on - you know you want to.
Had the Astin Martin and the Mini traveller. The mini was in a kinda pastel green and removing and stowing the surfboards was a source of continual amusement, didn't have the trunked figure though.
ReplyDeleteIt brings it all back - seems like only yesterday. In fact, 1965 was 48 years ago -- just as 1917 was 48 years ago in 1965. So someone who was our age in those days might have looked nostalgically at the "fabulous fighters of World War 1" and said... "it brings it all back - seems like only yesterday".
ReplyDeleteAndrew, I often think along those exact same lines. My father's wartime exploits, which he so often recounted to me and my brother when we were teenagers, was nearer in time to him then than my teenage years are to me now. Yet at the time, to us, it was almost as if he was reaching back into pre-history. The mind boggles.
ReplyDeleteIt will probably come as no surprise to you that I had all of the Daleks shown above, in including black and grey Marx bumpers , large and small friction, (all original), plus the original clockwork, every colour Cherilea and even a red Dalek suit! ALL of which were handed down to my brother, who ,I have recently found out, in turn gave the whole lot away to some under-privileged kids who had no toys of their own. So I suspect they would have been really appreciated.
ReplyDeleteDSE, he must've made a run (or a swim) for it before it came into your possession, eh?
ReplyDeleteI remember having a model of Stingray that floated in the bath and had an elastic band you wound up that made the properlor at the back move it - Ihad totally forgotten about that until now it was a one mould light plastic toy (not model shown here) I dont think I ever had a Dlaek like that recal some all in one cheapo plastic ones and a paper/card model - I also recall that wee Golden Wonder man not seen him in a while (remember the small blue bag of salt at the bottom of some plain crisp packets?) McScotty
ReplyDeleteI've got that very Stingray, McS (by Lone Star) - Vivid Imaginations did an updated, more detailed version of it in the early or mid-'90s, which I also have.
ReplyDeleteKid, Dalek related memory of visit to a Dr Who themed Christmas grotto in Belfast about 1965. I have scattered recollections of a small shop with a darkened interior, a 'Tardis' probably done by a local joiner, I think a full size replica Dalek saying very little and a very bored looking girl dressed in space garb giving every child every child a small plastic Dalek on leaving the grotto. Not a setee in sight to hide behind but there again she would have probably plonked herself down, kicked of her groovy boots and fired up a B@H.
ReplyDeleteI was reading Terry Nation's book a few years ago and he was recounting the first wave of Dalek merchandising and much to my joy he mentioned said grotto in Belfast! I have always wondered if there was a BBC franchise or was this just the vision of one very clever Irish entrupener. Every time I pass that shop I think back to my encounter with a very quiet and friendly Dalek.
Ken.
Ken, all Daleks are friendly when you get to know them. Trust me - I've got hundreds of them.
ReplyDeleteI remember ads for the Aston Martin in Sears catalogs, but never had one. I've never seen any Doctor Who-related toys here in the USA. Both Who and the Gerry Anderson shows have a cult following here, rather than widespread popularity, so I guess marketing and merchandising opportunities are limited. The Peter Cushing movies were my first exposure to the Doctor. Sometime around 1980, the TV series began to show up on local stations here and there. Some started with the Tom Baker series, but some reran the Jon Pertwee episodes. I remember having a cardboard Supercar and a Fireball XL5 Space City play set. I remember Stingray and Captain Scarlet from Saturday morning TV, but never saw any toys based on those shows, either. And, sometime around 1979-80, I did see some toys (they looked die cast, maybe Corgi) of spacecraft/aircraft from UFO and Space: 1999 on sale in department stores. I don't know how well they sold, although I don't recall either show being all that popular with kids, even during their original runs years earlier. Today, those toys are probably all highly sought-after collector's items. -TC
ReplyDeleteIndeed they are, TC - cost a fortune to buy nowadays. The diecasts you mention were probably by Dinky Toys, who produced all the Anderson diecast toys back then.
ReplyDeleteI had to do a bit of editing on this page, so here are a couple of comments that got lost in the shuffle:
ReplyDeleteCome to think of it, my Bump'n'gos are Dapol replicas - I never actually had the original ones when I was a kid. The rest of the items are (replacement) originals 'though. I had one of each colour of the Herts Dalek (at least one of which was purchased in Woolworth's in Rutherglen, I think), various Cherilea Daleks, the Rosenthal TB1 2 & 3, and a Lone Star rubber-band powered Stingray (acquired a replacement some years ago).
I had four original small friction-drive Daleks - never had a Dalek suit. I suspect your toys would have been really destroyed before too long. Think of the dosh you could have made from them today, if you still had them.
Did you have the earlier, fatter Bump'n'go Daleks with the big round eye, JP - or the later slimmer ones with a more accurate-sized orb?
John Pitt said...
I had the originals with the big fat eye. Plus large and small black & grey friction models. Plus loads more DW/Dalek stuff.I know they'd fetch a fortune now, but if I still had them I wouldn't want to sell them now. Still, as they say, better to have loved (toys) and lost, than....
(Originally posted on 2 September 2013.)