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| Annual for 1967, released in '66. Copyright relevant owner |
I don't think I ever read, never mind owned, any The Man From U.N.C.L.E. Annuals back in the day. Many years later - more years than I care to recall or am actually able to - I acquired the first in the series of four, though I didn't know it was the first as, until fairly recently, I wasn't aware of how many there'd been. Anyway, numbers two-to-four were obtained only in the last week or two, so I now have a full set which I gladly share with you here.
There was a fair bit of merchandise for the show, from Aurora plastic model kits, Gilbert action figures, MB card games, A&BC card sets, Corgi and Husky diecast cars, badges, ID cards, attache cases, fountain pens (with invisible ink), and a whole host of other things. Personally, I have the Corgi Thrushbuster, the World Distributors Annuals ('natch), and used to have the cheaper cardboard attache case, which an aunt gave me for Christmas back in the '60s. (I still own one of the bullets.) My brother had the fountain pen, though I dropped it walking over a playfield one day with my sibling and one of his pals, and the pen was never seen again.
Anyway, included here are the four Annual covers along with their rear illustrations, to allow you the joy of reliving an aspect of your past if you're old enough to have had them when you were a kid. (And I've included a few bonus items just for you!)
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If you're the kind of reader who prefers more 'meat and potatoes' than my rather superficial posts, you can learn more about The Man From U.N.C.L.E. by clicking this link.
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| Annual for 1968, released in '67 |
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| Annual for 1969, released in '68 |
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| Annual for 1970, released in '69 |
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BONUS U.N.C.L.E. ITEMS...
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| Wasn't Napoleon senior to Ilya? Then why was the former number 11 and the latter number 2? |
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| Who knew that Prisoner 'John Drake' was also a member of U.N.C.L.E.? |
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| Replaced my yellow membership ID card a few years back and acquired a white version at the same time. Prefer the yellow one |
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| This is one I no longer have, alas. Image 'borrowed' from Internet |
19 comments:
Some of those annuals look familiar but I don't think I ever owned one. I certainly had a badge though That gun set would have been catnip to a kid in the 1960s.
Wouldn't The Men From UNCLE make more sense? I assume UNCLE was shown on Auntie Beeb?
I believe there was another version of that attache case in a more robust form, McS, and perhaps with a couple more items, though I didn't know that until decades later. However, I was well-pleased with it at the time and wish I still had it. Maybe one day.
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Napoleon was supposed to be the 'main man', CJ, with Ilya as only an occasional minor character, but McCallum proved popular with the ladies and was given a larger role pdq. The title 'Man' had already been approved before this, however, so it was too late to change it. Besides, every male agent was a 'man' from U.N.C.L.E. so the title was accurate in that respect, I suppose.
I forgot to wish you a happy St. Andrew's Day, Kid, and Paul too. Did you know that today is also the 150th anniversary of Winston Churchill's birth?
I hope they're not expecting a card, CJ.
At school, my French teacher referenced 'The Man From U.N.C.L.E.', to help us learn. She'd say: "There is or there are - sounds like a Russian spy!" (Obviously, 'Il y a' !) My memory for French is now so bad, I can't remember if the letters should all be separated, or not. Nevertheless, at the time, referencing 'The Man From U.N.C.L.E.' was pretty sharp. To modern kids, however, that reference is now meaningless.
Phillip
I can count to 6 in French (used to be 10) and say a couple of phrases, P, but that's about it for me - apart from a few isolated words, like 'Merci' and 'Oui', etc.
I have two matchbox carry cases full of Matchbox, Lesney and Corgi cars, one being the 1968 Husky original TMFU pale blue missile firing car with both Napoleon and Illya figures inside. Side note, my french teacher was OO, LA, LA, she was tanned, toned, and flirtatious trouble for us horny teenagers and doubled as a PE teacher so she always walked around school in white tennis gear, and a short, short skirt. She was fancied by all us lads so we were like eager puppies around her, and she knew it! The French Fancy, that was Mrs Myer....Sweet Memories.
Och, never mind her - tell us more about these diecast cars (he said, jokingly). Bet the male teachers all fancied her too.
I've got an A-level in French and if I recall correctly it's il-y-a, Phillip.
Kid, Gail McKenna has now been replaced by Robert Vaughn as the Crivens photo in the bookmarks list on my Samsung tablet.
It's December 1st which is the first Sunday in Advent this year so it's time to start opening your advent calendar, Kid, if you've got one that is. I haven't but I have got a Cadbury's chocolate Santa which will be on display in my kitchen from now till Christmas morning when I'll scoff it.
What I want to know, CJ, is who did you steal your French A-level from? No Gail McKenna? Seriously, if it isn't Vaughn thing it's another. Nope, haven't got an Advent Calendar, though I might get one yet. I've got a wee Santa tin of chocolate coins, but I doubt they'll last to Christmas.
100%, rats up a drain pipe, she resembled a young Dianne Keen in her day.
If only my French teacher had looked like Dianne Keen. H'mm, on second thought, perhaps not, 'cos my French teacher was a guy. (Yuchh!)
When the program was first shown it was hard to take the Robert Vaughn character seriously (if indeed that could be taken literally) after his role a few years earlier in The Magnificent Seven movie.
After I moved to the US, for five years I walked past the store that was the tailors shop from the opening credits on my way to work. It was on Second Avenue in Manhattan not far from the UN. As it was about 12 years after the TV show UNCLE had moved on.
I think the first series was more serious, T47, so presumably Solo was more serious too. However, after Batman, the producers made the show more camp, which only hurt the ratings.
I'd love to be able to say that I'd walked past that store, but, alas 'twas never to be. What kind of store was it then, do you know, and was it ever really a tailor's at any point in its history?
I don't recall what the store was in the 70's, I'm pretty sure the signage was changed for filming purposes. If I get a chance I'll try the NYC Archives to see if it was ever a tailors.
Don't go to any trouble, T47. I assumed the signage was changed for filming, but then it occurred to me it might've been a tailor's shop and that's why the producers went down that route.
Solo has a number 11 because Vaughn thought they were using Roman numerals. During the filming of the show he got bored and took classes at USC and got his phD in politics.
But surely he'd have seen that McCallum's 2 wasn't Roman, PS? Interesting.
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