Nickel-plated, eh? Ah well, how the memory enhances things!

Thanks for all contributions. Mudcat wins again!

I had thought about the difficulty of actually singing this song in this day and age (could you sing it if the sexes and symbolic gifts were different?) Just wanted to remember some old friends from thirty years back.

Q - into the fifties and sixties, a pen-knife and even a sheath-knife would have been part of every boy's everyday "kit", whether you were a boy-scout or not. These would have been freely available in sweet-shops, newsagents/tobacconists, tuck shops and gift shops (and Woolworths RIP) only a few yards from all the town-centre schools I attended. Never heard of anything actually criminal happening (big talk occasionally, stamped on by teachers/adults who knew they were in control.)

Ross