Memories of Childhood

I did because he had a digital watch and I wanted one for my birthday-also Roger Moore had one in The Spy Who Loved Me so I really liked the look of them. I did get one, but it was a cheap one by TIMEX, but I did love it. It didn't turn me invisible though Oh yes I remember David McCallum's Invisible Man used to watch that series a lot AND I've recently seen the Man from UNCLE series which was shown last year on True Entertainment satellite channel.

Loved the Man a From Uncle when I was younger. Remember you used to be able to get cards with stills from the show on them from bubble gum sweets I think. Also I had lots of Man From Uncle toys including an identity card and a gun. Tried all over to get a shoulder holster for the gun like the one Napoleon and Ilya wore but never managed.

That was a little before my time but I remember reruns of the show in the seventies and they also produced a toy car based on Solo's car which I think you can get from specialist toy sellers. There was also a spin off called The Girl From UNCLE which I've never seen.

Yeah I remember that as well. Stefanie Powers was the girl. She probably is better known for her role in Hart to Hart.

On the subject of cards from bubble gum/ sweets I remember one product which gave pictures of scenes from the American civil war which were pretty graphic. Also in the same packs were Confederate "money" in different denominations - some of them huge. The aim between my friends and I was to see who could become the wealthiest. Funny really remembering this as I didn't chew a lot of gum.

I think she was also with Harold Gould(I couldn't remember his name until last night) in the Feather and Father Gang.
http://chezgrae.com/ShowInfo/FeatherandFatherGang.html

We had collectible cards with some very hard bubble gum once, they came with stickers and a card which in the case of Marvel Superheroes would build into the shape of a comic cover. We swapped stickers at school and you could hear the echoes of "Oh, need, need need" or "Nah, got that, got, got..." around the playgrounds of Britain. The bubble gum came in a flat, pink shape but was so hard you'd break your teeth, so you had to work it to make it softer but I still couldn't blow bubbles.

I've discovered another favourite of my childhood-The Magician starring Bill Bixby, who was a rich playboy-type who owned a Corvette car and a private jet but also solved mysteries. You can find episodes of it on youtube. I also discovered a cartoon version made in the 1990's which I have since downloaded from a cartoon site.

Children's tv. I am sure you all remember We Are The Champions with the late, great Ron Pickering(a family friend of ours) and the way kids used to compete against each other. I remember being a little envious about the games in the swimming pool because at that time I wasn't that confident in the water and I could never open my eyes underwater-using goggles instead-but I enjoyed the athletics aspect and it showed that kids could race against each other and didn't have to be rewarded for finishing 3rd(nowdays if you organise something for kids you have to have goodie bags or medals for heavens sake because the little darlings mustn't be shown as losers!) And in the true tradition, right at the end of the programme Ron would point at the kids and shout "AWAY YOU GO!"

Does anyone remember Star Turn? It was hosted by Bernard Cribbins and it had a special mystery round where you had to gather clues and he took on the mantle of detective Ivor Notion ("suddenly Ivor Notion, had a notion") It was a panel game with celebrities from children's tv.

(12-02-2019 20:27 )GreenMachine Wrote:  Does anyone remember Star Turn? It was hosted by Bernard Cribbins and it had a special mystery round where you had to gather clues and he took on the mantle of detective Ivor Notion ("suddenly Ivor Notion, had a notion") It was a panel game with celebrities from children's tv.

Star Turn...wasn’t Johnny Ball on it as well or am I thinking of a different programme? Don’t know why but as soon as you said Star Turn I had a sudden mental image of Johnny Ball as well as Bernard Cribbins...Graeme Garden comes to mind as well for some reason.

Pretty sure that one week Noel Tidybeard (as you call him) and Cheggers were on as a ‘Swap Shop’ team.

Other notable children's programmes Beat the Teacher with Howard Stableford, Blockbusters(ITV) with Bob Holness, Dangermouse(original series), The Wind in the Willows(animation stop-motion series) both from Cosgrove-Hall and Connections with I think Debbie Greenwood(former Miss Great Britain) and being a bit of a cartoonist I also liked Sebastian the Incredible Drawing Dog, in which Michael Barrymore interacted with a posh sounding, drawing dog called Sebastian "Ah dear boy, what a wonderful day for a story). Michael would do something madcap and comical and then sit and read a story whilst Sebastian drew his interpretation of it. I found a full episode on Youtube btw.

Speaking of Miss Great Britain, I can remember getting quite excited going to my Grandpa's flat with my Dad and we would sit and watch Miss World-why we went out I don't know-but it was fun trying to work out who we thought would win. One absolutely gorgeous woman Miss Guam, Kimberley Santos had virtually no competition in the 80's and she easily won which made a change from Miss USA or other blonde girls winning. Unlike Eurovision at least Miss UK/Great Britain was in with a chance of winning. Incidentally a young Welsh girl called Sian Adey-Jones won and she went on to be one of the best Page 3 girls around as well as later a hot Bond background girl.