The DALEKS INVADE ROTHESAY...

Copyright relevant owner

A whopping fifty-four years ago, while holidaying in Rothesay, my mother bought me the above copy of TV CENTURY 21.  Well, not this actual copy - this one's a replacement I bought recently, but in my mind, it's easy to believe that this is the very issue I hold in my young hands in the two photographs below.  I have every single copy of TV21 ever published - but only on a data disc.  However, I do own quite a goodly number of original issues as well (including the first full year's worth), and the disc is only to save me having to scan them individually whenever I want to do a blog post about the title.

However, as there's historical pictorial evidence of my ownership of this number, I decided to put the work in and scan the actual issue, so what you're looking at is my very own copy of TV21.  Still got my own hair and teeth, and I'm gradually reacquiring many of the items I owned as a kid or teenager, which is probably the best way to do things.  After all, it's harder to replace your hair and teeth than it is your other former possessions, so I reckon I'm ahead in the game.  Do you have any photos of your younger self holding a comic or toy that you owned back then?  Tell your fellow Criv-ites all about it in the comments section.

THE DALEK ORACLE... (Updated)

Copyright BBC TV and the Estate of TERRY NATION

Oh, look at what I've got - the figure from The DALEK ORACLE game.  Don't have the game (£400 on eBay at the moment), but I've got the modern release of The MAGIC ROBOT (called The AMAZING ROBOT, but is exactly the same) and once I remember where I put it, I'll see if the Dalek works in the Robot's place.  As with most '60s Dalek merchandise, not 100% accurate as far as the design goes, but still nice to have.  "Exterminate!"

Update: Found my Robot game on top of the wardrobe and tried it out with the Dalek. Unfortunately, though operating on the same basic principle, there are some differences.  The Robot game has 16 questions and answers per sheet, whereas the Dalek game has only 12.  The Robot always points at the answer (on the right-hand side of the sheet) six places away from where the question is located (on the left-hand side), whereas the Dalek points at the answer four places away (on its own sheet), so maybe that has something to do with it.  Having said that, I see that if the answers in the Robot game were swapped with the ones directly opposite each other, then the Dalek would point to the correct answer. 

Update May '26: Now got the full game also. 

SUPERCAR - THE MARVEL OF THE AGE...

It was 1962 or '63, and there I was, gazing into a newsagent's window at the wonderful friction-drive SUPERCAR toy that was on display.  The location was my local neighbourhood shops and I was accompanying my mother as she bought some 'messages'.  The toy must've been inexpensive, or perhaps my birthday was looming, because when I asked her to buy it for me, surprisingly, she complied.  I was never a spoilt child (well, apart from the time a steamroller ran over me), so even today I find myself wondering why she so readily assented to indulge me.

Of course, as you can see for yourselves, the toy can hardly be described as an accurate representation of the craft from the TV show, but it was close enough and I doubt that I was ever aware of the difference.  I remember one of the wings warped from the heat of our BELLING fire when I sat the toy on top of it, but I couldn't say exactly when that happened - days, weeks, or months later.  Nor could I say when it faded into the limbo that's reserved for most childhood playthings, but that's where it must've eventually sloped off to.

  

Until earlier tonight (Saturday), when I bid on the toy on eBay and won it.  These are the seller's photos you're looking at, as obviously I haven't yet got my grubby mitts on it, but it'll be winging its way to me soon, and then I'll be reunited with another fondly-remembered item from my long-ago childhood.  Only a few more essential replacements to go before I call a halt to my quest - at least for a while.  After all, there's always something else that comes along and stirs the quiet waters of my memory, asking me to invite it back into the fold.  Which I do - just so long as I can afford it.

Now, where can I obtain a SPACE BLIMP OF CHRISTMAS?  (Update: Never mind, got that as well now.  Hooray!)

   

And here it is in its nice new replica box, below.