I'VE JUST BECOME AN UNCLE (AGENT)...

Open Channel D.  Freshly arrived today at Castel Crivens - my replacement Man From U.N.C.L.E. badge for the one I had in the '60s.  It always puzzled me that Napoleon Solo was number 11 and Ilya Kuryakin was number 2, thereby giving the impression that he had superiority in the pecking order over his colleague.  Different departments maybe?  If you know, don't keep it to yourself.

So I've got the Corgi car, the badge and the ID card - all I need now is the attache case and the fountain pen ('cos I had them as a kid - well, the pen was my brother's).  One day perhaps.

Were you a Man From U.N.C.L.E. fan in the '60s?  Let's hear all about it, effendis.

FAVOURITE ANNUALS Of The PAST... (1960s - 1990s)

Images copyright their relevant and respective owners

The first Annual I remember receiving as a Christmas present was the TV Century 21 Annual for 1966 (issued in '65).  Around the same time or not long afterwards, I got the Stingray Annual for the same year.  I also had all four Fireball XL5 Annuals, but they were acquired from jumble sales a year or two (or more) after the fact, not bought new as they were published.  (Though I recall seeing the endpapers of either the first or second Annual, belonging to a pal of my brother's, as we walked to school one morning in 1964.)  I had a couple of the 'new' Smash! Annuals, the first Thunder Annual, plus the Super DC Bumper Book, only one of which was ever produced.  (As in for one year only, not one lone book.)

My brother may've had one or two Beano Books obtained from friends in the early '60s, but I'm not entirely sure.  The reason I think it's possible is because I remember using one as a 'seat' on a single skate and racing down the street where we lived at the time.  The first Annual I purchased in my present house was the Knockout Annual for 1973, soon followed by the Marvel Annual for the same year.  Then followed Spider-Man, The Avengers, The Titans, The Incredible Hulk, Captain Britain, and The Super-Heroes.

Doubtless there were many others, but they escape the clutches of memory as I type this.  Once I've finished, I'll sit down, cast my thoughts back, see which ones spring to the forefront of my mind, and include them in some kind of order in this post.  New, old, second-hand, I'll feature all the ones I recall having as a kid and teenager.  See how many of them you remember having yourself, and reminisce about them to your heart's content in our comments section.

As I showed them on the blog only recently, I decided to keep the Fireball XL5 Annuals until last so that your familiarity with their images wouldn't interrupt the 'flow' of the rest of them.  Sure, they're out of publishing sequence in relation to the other Annuals in their respective years, but they're just too good not to include, albeit in their own little section.