BS: Nostalgia? (UK comics)

Subject: RE: BS: Nostalgia? (UK comics)
From: C-flat
Date: 25 Sep 04 - 01:09 PM

Muppet, thanks for reminding me of "Alf Tupper - tough of the track".
Like you I remember the cartoon but not the comic.
I seem to recall the storyline being similar each week, involving our hero Alf, being forced to spend the night prior to the "big race" doing some urgent welding repair in his workshop and then, possibly due to the lack of decent public transport in his locality, having to run all the way to the track meeting, arriving with seconds to spare, and going on to win the race!!
What a guy!!
Now what was the comic?

C-flat.

Subject: RE: BS: Nostalgia? (UK comics)
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 25 Sep 04 - 12:27 PM

PC49 was in The Eagle - and before that on the radio, but it was only in the Eagle that he started running a Boys Club for reforming young hoodlums. "Oh my Sunday helmet" was the strongest language he ever used in a crisis, but he always able to deal effectively with the villains and the spivs.   We could do with him today.

The "Wizard" if I remember right, was for girly swots only, as it didn't contain any pictures. You don't remember rightly. Proper adventure comics didn't have more than a few pictures in those days, mostly tiny grey print, but great stories. Only baby comics like Beano and Dandy had much in the way of pictures. That was until The Eagle came along and changed everything.

There were some brilliantly daft serials - there was one about this lawman in the Wild west who got on the wrong side of some Medicine Man, and was turned into a centaur. He still had to do his job, without letting people know about the change. And the boy who bought some strengthening exercise equipment by mail order, but they sent him the ones meant for elephants, so he got incredibly strong.

Subject: RE: BS: Nostalgia? (UK comics)
From: Fiolar
Date: 25 Sep 04 - 09:44 AM

I only mentioned "Hotspur etc because they hardly contained any pictures and were mainly text. Of course there was also "Knockout" (with "Our Ernie - Mrs Entwhistle's little lad" and his caterpillar. The last frame frame always had his dad saying - "Daft I call it" not forgetting "Stonehenge Kit - the Ancient Brit"); "Film Fun"; "Radio Fun" with "Jack Keen - 'Tec". If I remember correctly the Knockout used to run a series of Sexton Blake adventures as well as Billy Bunter. Comics today cannot really measure up. I remember one fantastic series in one of the "text" comics about a mountain which really was a gigantic monster who had slept for millions of years and finally came awake. Also a series in which Earth was invaded by aliens who rendered all guns and missiles unusable and fought like the Roman army. Great stuff. Don't know if any one remembers the above.
Incidentally it's worth getting hold of a book called "Boys will be Boys" which traces the history of British comics.

Subject: RE: BS: Nostalgia? (UK comics)
From: MBSLynne
Date: 24 Sep 04 - 04:52 PM

I used to have all the posters out of Fabulous and Fab 208 on my bedroom walls! Yes, I went onto Cosmopolitan too, and Cleo to be followed by Practical Parenting and Family Circle! You can chart the course of your life by the magazines you read!

Yes, I remember all those sweets...and I loved the aniseed balls with a real seed in the middle, and gobstoppers, sherbet dipdabs, sherbet fountains...... In Australia the sweets were different. We had mint leaves, ripe raspberries, minties and spearies, jaffas, fried eggs, milk bottles.......

Love Lynne

Subject: RE: BS: Nostalgia? (UK comics)
From: GUEST,milk monitor
Date: 24 Sep 04 - 12:36 PM

Jeanie thanks for the memory jog, so it wasn't just a figment.
I reckon there is treasure in your shed, and don't worry about gardens, they are timeless.

I too cosmo'd, but had to close it up if parents were nearby!

I recently bought Ideal Homes and Gardens, not that I have one, I just like to look at other peoples.

Subject: RE: BS: Nostalgia? (UK comics)
From: Jeanie
Date: 24 Sep 04 - 12:18 PM

Milk monitor: "Fabulous 208" started out being called just "Fabulous" and some time or other became connected with Radio Luxemburg and added the "208" to its name. I've still got some copies of it in my shed - I wonder if they are worth much ?

I'd completely forgotten about "Sunny Stories" ! As I remember, it was quite a thick, small format magazine - was it the one that used to have stories about "Winnie the Witch" ? The first comic I used to get was "Robin". Anyone remember that one ? They used to give away really good prizes in their competitions (I won a "Doodlemaster" - like etch-a-sketch) and they used to hold an annual Christmas carol concert for their readers in St. Paul's Cathedral.

My magazine-reading history: Robin - Princess - Jackie - Fabulous 208 - International Times - Cosmopolitan, from its first issue. Goodness, that dates me !   Sadly, I recently caught myself buying the "Essex County" magazine to read an article about a garden I'd visited. Not yet succumbed to Saga magazine, although now eligible. It can only be a matter of time ....

- jeanie

Subject: RE: BS: Nostalgia? (UK comics)
From: Paco Rabanne
Date: 24 Sep 04 - 11:31 AM

Spanish Gold it was!! I ate tons of the stuff! Never realised until today that it was made out of coconut... errrh..... Shouldn't we be talking about Bush and Kerry or Iraq or something?

Subject: RE: BS: Nostalgia? (UK comics)
From: GUEST,milk monitor
Date: 24 Sep 04 - 11:29 AM

Spanish Gold! That was the coconutty baccy? Be like your Dad and roll real fags!
Lucky bags were never my forte, I always got a sherrif star or one of those lethal plastic darts that didn't do anything.
Chols.....chocolate covered orange lollies, brought shite chocolate to new levels. Rosy apples, Tom Thumb drops, Glees...........

Subject: RE: BS: Nostalgia? (UK comics)
From: muppett
Date: 24 Sep 04 - 11:26 AM

I'm a silver member of the beano club, become a gold member next March, but by eck haven't they messed up the Beano & the Dandy.

Subject: RE: BS: Nostalgia? (UK comics)
From: muppett
Date: 24 Sep 04 - 11:23 AM

Then there was the barley sugar twists and the chocalate version of it and the toasted coconut shreds that were made to look like tobaco and fruit polos and bar 6 and lucky bags.

Subject: RE: BS: Nostalgia? (UK comics)
From: Paco Rabanne
Date: 24 Sep 04 - 11:13 AM

Chocolate tools!!!! I remember them well, the chocolate used in them was SHITE! it was about 2% cocoa. flying saucers used to make my eyes water they were so acidic. God I feel old!

Subject: RE: BS: Nostalgia? (UK comics)
From: muppett
Date: 24 Sep 04 - 11:10 AM

NAY Flying saucers were even better and who collected Land of the Giants cards (with Bubbly)

Subject: RE: BS: Nostalgia? (UK comics)
From: GUEST,milk monitor
Date: 24 Sep 04 - 11:10 AM

You couldn't blow a bubble so big that it entailed having to have your fringe cut off, with a Black Jack.

Chocolate tools.......don't go there superted.

Subject: RE: BS: Nostalgia? (UK comics)
From: Paco Rabanne
Date: 24 Sep 04 - 11:05 AM

Stuff bazooka joe! The best sweets were "black jacks" and "fruit salad"

Subject: RE: BS: Nostalgia? (UK comics)
From: GUEST,milk monitor
Date: 24 Sep 04 - 10:54 AM

Bazooka! I was the sad owner of not only the invisible ink kit, but also the Bazooka Joe T.Shirt, the cartoon boy had a chheky smile and a black eye, I think.

Subject: RE: BS: Nostalgia? (UK comics)
From: muppett
Date: 24 Sep 04 - 10:51 AM

The Adverts in comics - What was the bubble gum you could get with a little comic in them and if you saved up vouchers you get all manner of toys such as spy kits or water pistol cameras

Subject: RE: BS: Nostalgia? (UK comics)
From: Billy the Bus
Date: 24 Sep 04 - 10:30 AM

Aaaarrrrggghhh..... the Eagke centrefolds of cut-away drawings of ships etc were fantastic. Was it the less-gkossy Beano that had PC49? I can't remember.... Yup... We got'em in NZ in the 49s and 59s - alomg with some Yank ones - like Mickey Duxk...

Mind you, the thing I drooled over most was the adverts - especially those for Honby Trains and Hobby Fretsaws....

Take me back to 395- === I'm lost.....

Cheers - Sam

Subject: RE: BS: Nostalgia? (UK comics)
From: GUEST,milk monitor
Date: 24 Sep 04 - 10:08 AM

The Four Marys still exist!!!! Great, that's the Christmas stocking sorted and I can read it first. FAB 208 rings a bell, but I have it connected in my head with Kid Jensen, maybe it was a radio show here? Or maybe Radio Luxembourg was on 208?

Yes, Beezer was the broadsheet of the comic world, but I think it had an army centefold story, that was too khaki coloured....oh the mists of time have me struggling.

Subject: RE: BS: Nostalgia? (UK comics)
From: MBSLynne
Date: 24 Sep 04 - 09:59 AM

Milk monitor, my daughter (aged 9) got a Bunty summer special this year and it still had "The Four Marys" in!

I started with Sunny Stories went on to Playhour then Bunty, Judy and Princess. In between I sometimes got Beano, Dandy and Beezer...anyone remember that? From there I went to teenage mags......Fab 208 and 16, though I think 16 was an American one (I lived in Australia by then.

Love Lynne

Subject: RE: BS: Nostalgia? (UK comics)
From: GUEST,milk monitor
Date: 24 Sep 04 - 09:48 AM

Look in! Haven't thought of that for eons. I think Ed Stewpot had a weekly column. And Disco 45...you too could singalong to the top 20.

Fess up you read Jackie for the problem page....always the same, 'How do I kiss?' and variations on acne.

Subject: RE: BS: Nostalgia?
From: Paco Rabanne
Date: 24 Sep 04 - 09:38 AM

Tammy, Jackie, oh.... I'll get my coat.... I should have been reading boys comics shouldn't I. Who could forget "Look in"

Subject: RE: BS: Nostalgia?
From: GUEST,milk monitor
Date: 24 Sep 04 - 09:34 AM

Bunty, Judy, Mandy, Twinkle.....cut out and dress dolls....the Christmas annuals that smelt gorgeous.

We never ice skated, rode horses or went to boarding school, which seemed to be the mainstay of the stories? But 'The Four Marys' did all three. I wished I was the fifth Mary.

Subject: RE: BS: Nostalgia?
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 24 Sep 04 - 09:11 AM

Heard on the radio yesterday that the Dandy is having a makeover! They are becoming more glossy and introducing new characters. The only new one I could remember was 'Dreadlock Holmes' - a streetwise kid. Nice to hear that Desperate Dan is being kept even if he does no longer smoke his pipe!

The Bash Street Kids in the Beano were my favourites. Plug is still my hero:-)

Cheers

DtG

Subject: RE: BS: Nostalgia?
From: Paco Rabanne
Date: 24 Sep 04 - 09:05 AM

yeah! Wasn't he called Alf, "tough of the track"

Subject: RE: BS: Nostalgia?
From: muppett
Date: 24 Sep 04 - 09:01 AM

What comic had Tupper of the track. He used run races and win them on a diet of fish n chips.

Subject: RE: BS: Nostalgia?
From: Georgiansilver
Date: 24 Sep 04 - 08:59 AM

Hey, what about the "Eagle"....Dan Dare...pilot of the future? The "Beano" and the "Dandy"...and "Topper". Lot of memories coming back..nostalgia at its best. Best wishes.

Subject: RE: BS: Nostalgia?
From: GUEST,Elfcall
Date: 24 Sep 04 - 08:56 AM

I saw the thread and had a bet with myself that it would take no more than two replies to get the old chestnut about nostalgia not being what it used to be.

Leadfingers, you made my day !!! :0)

Elfcall

Subject: RE: BS: Nostalgia?
From: Leadfingers
Date: 24 Sep 04 - 08:53 AM

Its true isnt it - Nostalgia isnt what it used to be !

Subject: RE: BS: Nostalgia?
From: Paco Rabanne
Date: 24 Sep 04 - 08:47 AM

You forgot "Victor" The "wizard" if I remember right, was for girly swots only, as it didn't contain any pictures.

Subject: BS: Nostalgia?
From: Fiolar
Date: 24 Sep 04 - 08:35 AM

Anybody remember the good old days of the comics "Hotspur"; "The Wizard" ; "Rover" and "The Champion" with such characters as "The Wolf of Kabul"; "Strang the Terrible"; "Rockfist Rogan" (I'll never forget the phrase 'blue gun muzzles spat flame.'); "Roy of the Rovers" and of course "Wilson" to name just a few. Happy days.