TOYBOX TREASURES Of The PAST: A CASE For The MAN From U.N.C.L.E. ...

Look at the LONE STAR (I think) MAN From U.N.C.L.E. attache case I had as a kid, given to me by a paternal aunt and uncle for Christmas in the late '60s.  There were at least a couple of versions, of which this one was the cheapest as the case was only cardboard.  Not that I cared one whit about that, 'cos, to me, it was brilliant.

 

The case and contents eventually faded into the limbo that claims most childhood toys, but I still possess one of the bullets from the gun.  At least, it's a bullet I associate with the gun, which, in my memory, didn't fire caps as one would expect, but actual plastic bullets.  Perhaps my recollection is confused, not that it matters much, as whenever I look at that bullet, the above case is what comes to mind.

Ah, such happy days.  What tremendous fun it was to be an agent of U.N.C.L.E. back in the '60s.  Do kids today have anything similar to such a great toy, or is it all computer games, mobiles, and iPads they go for nowadays?

Their loss.

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Update 2026: I now have the attache case (acquired in February) and was surprised to find that the gun is indeed a cap gun, leaving me to wonder where my bullet comes from.

RAMPAGING REPOST: ROBIN In The BATCAVE...

Images copyright DC COMICS

Let's now travel back in time and space to a dark winter's eve in Glasgow in 1967 or '68.  The precise location is under a bridge (now gone) in Stockwell Street, where I'm gazing through a shop window at the cover of a BATMAN colouring book (above) which was simply crying out to be mine.  The shop was shut, so my mother promised to buy the book at a later date for my fast-approaching birthday.  And she did, though I've no idea whether she purchased it from another source or had to return to that particular shop to obtain it.

I recall once taking it to school and colouring various bits in during the break, and letting ROSS CAMPBELL colour-in one of the pages in return for allowing me to do the same in his different Batman colouring book.  His book may well have been the other one featured here - but then again, may well not have been - so don't go betting your house on it.  You wouldn't want to have to live in a cave, would you?  (Unless it was the BATCAVE of course.)

Ah, many happy hours of innocent fun, to be had from the mere application of some coloured pencils or wax crayons - why aren't kids today so easily pleased?