The BUMPER BOOK For BOYS...

I was in a charity shop yesterday and bought an old book for £1.50.  It's from the '30s, I think - maybe even the '20s.  Hard to say for sure as there's no date anywhere inside.  The four colour plates evoke a long-vanished age, so I thought it worth sharing them with you here.  Couldn't say whether it ever had a dustjacket - perhaps you know?  If so, do tell.

I'VE GOT ONE, YOU'VE GOT ONE, EVERYBODY'S GOT ONE...

Radio Victory

Back in early 1985, I was busily pursuing my freelance comics career from a bedsit room in Shearer Rd. in Fratton, Portsmouth.  I usually had the radio on as I worked, and, one night, I was listening to a show by a DJ called GEORGE REID (I think)* on the local station, RADIO VICTORY.  (Whose premises were situated just along the road from me actually.)

(*Might have been Reed.)

George announced his regular 'phone quiz and offered up the following question for the consideration of his eager and loyal listeners.  "I've got one, you've got one, everybody's got one - what is it?"  Then he played some records as he waited for folk to ring in with their various suggestions.  Eventually someone did, and the bold host repeated his question and then asked for the fellow's answer.  "Is it 'penis'?" came the response.

The caller was immediately cut off and a record was played while the stunned George composed himself.  When he returned after the song's end, he bemoaned what had happened, saying that in all the many years that he'd worked on radio (in America too, he was keen to point out), he'd never once had such a rude response to one of his questions as the one he'd just had the misfortune to hear (and inadvertently broadcast).

George then took another call, and a voice (which, to me, sounded suspiciously similar to the previous one) said "I'd just like to say how shocked I was to hear that last caller say 'penis' on the radio..."  You could almost hear George's internal indecision over just how he should respond.  The offending word had been repeated, but it was in the form of a complaint, so the repetition was perhaps legitimate - or was it? George hesitated and was lost, as the caller continued "...personally, I thought the answer was 'pr*ck'!"

  

George spluttered his indignation as I (and no doubt his entire audience) had a good laugh.  Truth to tell, George sounded just a bit too far up himself, and the courts of the universe demanded that he be brought down a peg.  He was, and in hilarious fashion too.  His pomposity had been punctured, justice was served, and all was right with the world.

And what was the real answer to the question?  I'll have to disappoint you all there, because I can no longer remember.  I doubt it was as entertaining as the first one though.  What do you suppose it might have been?

Update: I was astonished to discover some time after publishing this post that Radio Victory ceased broadcasting just over a year after my stay in Pompey, on June 28th 1986.  It had first started on October 14th 1975, and was one of the first 19 independent stations to be launched in the U.K. between 1973 and '76.  It popped up again over the years in various forms and from different buildings, but I last heard it in 1985, 30-odd years ago.    

KLASSIC KOMIC KOVERS - WARLORD #1...

Image copyright D.C. THOMSON & Co., Ltd

Was never really into war comics, but I was into #1s, so when DCT released the first ish of WARLORD, I bought it - and several of the subsequent issues.  Looking at the date, I see that I was yet a schoolboy, with another 3 months to go before I joined the working world, but it seems like it was only a few short years ago, such is the paradox of time.

(BOND) BABE Of The DAY - JILL ST. JOHN...

I don't usually like  redheads, but I

make an exception for JILL St. JOHN

as she's an total stunner!  I also make an

exception for ATLANTA SHORE - even

if my chances with either of 'em is about

 the same - not a ruddy snowball's!