Childhood Toys

Re. comments on childhood toys. I remember spending hours with Bayko in the 1960s.  I have not seen this around now.  It was a building set, the parts being a green base with holes into which were inserted metal rods according to the base plan of the structure being built.  Bricks, windows of all shapes and sizes etc., all of which had grooves along their sides to fit between the rods were then slotted down between the rods.  Red roofs were available to complete the buildings.  Sets of various sizes were available and each had a book of building plans to follow to make various houses, bungalows, etc.  I think this was essentially a 'boy's' toy, but I think I, a girl, used my brother's set more than he did. Maybe this started me off on my eventual career in the land professions!  Is Bayko still available? 

Margaret Lewis

Baffle Ball and Tug-a-Bug

Apart from my own siblings, I have been unable to find anyone who recalls my family's two favourite toys.  We spent hours fiddling with the "Baffle Ball", a clear plastic ball containing a small black ball and 8 numbered cups.  The object was to flick the little ball into each cup. Unfortunately the thing was dropped so many times that eventually there was more glue than plastic.  My brother was the Baffle Ball king. 

The other favourite was "Tug-a-Bug" which consisted of a square cage with an opening on each side and a "bug" made of plastic but looked like it had been manufactured by Meccano - holes all over it.  Four players, each armed with a long hook, tried to get the bug out of the hole on their side of the cage.  It usually ended with one or more of us helpless with laughter, long before the target of "10 bug extractions"!  I even wrote to Parker Bros when all four hooks and the bug finally gave up the ghost, but the game had been discontinued.

By the way, I love the new look "broadsheet" style for the Bazaar Times.

Yours faithfully,

Miss Lorrie Crofts

When I were a young un

Back in the dim and distant time of my youth I had a magical magnifier that you could look at cells and things with....... it was a favourite. They don't make em like they used to...

Juneero

Hi there, Hawkin

I remember two particular toys from my youth - some 60 years ago!

(i) Juneero. The centre piece of this was a tool that could cut, bend and punch holes in the provided metal strip and also cut rods which could then be threaded. It was in effect a DIY Meccano, where you created pieces to match your design rather than make a design using pre-prepared pieces. I imagine that these days Health and Safety would have kittens over this!

(ii) A tinplate toy which now I come to descibe it I am a little bit vague on exactly how it worked. In essence there was a slightly concave trackway with a hinged arrangement above it. On this ran a small tram with some form of switching at each end so that when it ran into the end stops it reversed. When it went in one direction it went under the superstructure and tripped a hinged piece so that when it reversed it went up the ramp and over the top. But then what?  Did it just drop onto the lower track? - or was there another hinged portion. And how did it reset things? As I said, a bit vague on details - does it ring any bells?

Regards Alan Cox

PS I am almost certain that our (my children's) version of the drinking bird was called a Dippy Duck.

Robot Pincer Hand

I have just received the BAZZAR TIMES May / June 2008 and the picture of the Robot Pincer Hand page 23, prompted me to write.
Around eighteen years ago my son, wanted  one of these from a local stationery shop and I did not think it was worth the money. I gave in and purchased one, I think I paid £1.99 for it. We still have it and I regularly use it to retrieve items I cannot reach from shelves, etc.
It has certainly paid for itself over and over. I would recommend it to adults as well as children.

I enjoyed reading " From Times Gone By"

Yours Sincerely  Rosemary Hooper

Portable Record Player

I used to love my little steelophone portable record player. It was bright red and had a detachable speaker.

Dean

Talking Doll

When I was about 7 years, 1978, I saved all my pocket money to buy a doll. You had to pull the legs down (i.e on a string) then it said several phrases such as "i losing my head over you". This is my most memorable toy that is now a long forgotten memory of other girls my age. I'd love to see this again.

Mel

Squidgy Key Ring

Dear Sirs,

In the late ‘70’s I had a key ring novelty that was clear Perspex, circular and slightly domed, backed by thick plastic. The contents changed colour as you squidged it about, changing from bluey greens when cool to oranges and reds as it warmed up. I lost this key ring at some point in my life but have always remembered it as a wonderful time waster, tactile and colourful.

If you could bring this back I would be a definite buyer and I would buy them for all my family and friends too.

Thank you, Emma

Rebound

Would like to know whether it is possible to still buy Rebound? Thanks.

Koppit

I loved a game called 'Koppit' - it was a board game with 'witches hats' - you had to chase your opponent round the board and land on top of them with your hat and send them home!

Indoor Fireworks

I remember indoor fireworks as a child - especially a great long writhing snake that grew out of some sort of ash.  Are they considered a fire risk now? Or can you bring these back?

The Revenger

I would like to see "The Revenger" brought back and made available again.

It was a small black box  which had black buttons which when pressed gave

sounds such as "Machine Gun", "Grenade lancher", etc. It could be used by

children as a toy or by drivers in car. (In this day and age when "road rage" is

to the fore it would be a welcome addition I feel and may give the option of

stress relieving in car rather than some of the shennanigans which occurs

these days.

Best Regards

I Allan

Merlin

Hello,

Whatever happened to "Merlin", a red plastic battery operated "brick", that surfaced in the late 70's/early 80's? I seem to remember playing noughts and crosses/tic tac toe on it and punching the keypad to play different monotone tunes such as "Red River Rock".

Regards,  Jason Wilkinson

Clackers

In about nineteen seventy i got my first pair of clackers . They were the two balls hanging either side of a plastic holder and then the strings went down to the balls. They then clacked as you pushed down on the plastic holder. Then you did tricks by being able to make the balls clack below and above..

Anyway i loved mine. So that is a toy i would love to see brought back.

Tish

Drinking Bird

I'm sure the Drinking Bird would bring back happy memories to many people. I have to buy mine from America.

Richard Barneby

Pop Up Monsters

Dear Mr Hawkin,

Would it be possible to bring back the wobbly pop-up monsters from the Capital One advert!

I had the full range, millions of years ago ;-) but can't find any trace of them on the Internet.

The one with the long wiggly arm was my favourite and they've done a great job of him on the ad.

Being on an advert would probably do wonders for their sales too!

Appealing to those who don't already know they once lived in homes all across the UK.  Fingers crossed.

Sue

(70s child)

Clackers

Hi, my favourite toy in the late 70's - 80's were my clackers, they were plastic balls one at either end of a piece of thick string, with a wee plastic tab in the middle of the string, the idea was to flick your wrists and make the 2 balls hit each other, great fun but could be pretty painful as well. I've been looking for a set recently but can't find them.

Yours Sincerely

Ann Harrison

Swirling Beads

Hello everyone, You must of heard this a thousand times or more, We men never grow up. Well I'm now in my late fifties and I wanted to tell you that it is a long long time since I last read a magazine or news paper, every word from front to back, thank you so much for your catalogue / magazine I thoroughly enjoyed it.

When I was just a child on holiday in Blackpool I bought myself a marvellous gadget / toy. It was a sealed glass ornament containing a clear liquid and numerous coloured beads. The heat of the hand was enough to make the liquid "boil" and send the beads swirling round in all directions within the glass container. The point is this that I have never seen one since. Can anyone help me with this (I want another one).

Very best regards, Norman Yates

Yes/No Books

Hi there, About 25-30 years ago I used to get given by my parents what we kids called 'Yes/No books', which generally appeared on rainy days during our camping holidays. This series of books contained puzzles of various types, with answers or solutions in invisible ink. Using the magic pen provided we would select our answers and see whether we were correct... I have no idea what they were called or who made them, and haven't seen anything like them in years. Have you? Thanks! Julie

Magic Wizard

My favourite toy was a Wizard with a wand and when placed on a question, would spin around and point to the answer of the question. I was fascinated by this as a child as the Wizard was always right and would dearly love to find a similar game for my grandchildren

Dancing Ballerina

You used to sell these....

They were a little ballerina, made of plastic, standing on a circular plinth, which was in fact a round magnet . In the kit you were also given a mirror - with another magnet set in plastic behind it, and as you approached the ballerina with the mirror/magnet, because of oppposite poles(if my O level science is correctly rememberd) she would spin away, nicely refelcted in the mirror..

I lost my last one years ago when my daughter took it to school for a science class.  I think they were East German.  Do try and bring them back : they were fab stocking fillers for Christmas ;-)

With kindest regards

Magnetic Balancing Butterflies

Please please please could you stock the magnetic balancing butterflies again.

I used to buy packets of them and send them in with birthday cards etc and wherever i go to visit friends, there is at least one of your butterflies on their fridge - and everyone who sees them covets them!!! I would love to be able to buy loads again and send different colours to all my friends.

Look forward to hearing from you.

Ros Clayton

Match Box Beaney Babies

Hi there.....my most memorable toy from years ago was the "Match Box " Beany babies. They were  small approx 2" beany dolls like babies or Elves and they came in a match box. They had nice bright suits on and were really cute. I still have mine as I liked them so much.                                    
                                            Many thanks....Fiona Bailey....43 years young

Stylophone

Dear Hawkin

I want to congratulate you on you're online newsletter. I saw "stylophone" in the title of one email and my heart jumped, I was taken back to images of the adverts for stylophone, I can still remember them, and even more vividly i can remember ripping the wrapping paper off and finding that my brother and I were lucky enough to have been given stylophones for xmas.

I was so excited i can still hear the sound when i first touched the keyboard with the stylus!! Loads of other images ran through my mind like pages in an open book blowing in the breeze.. "Lucky Locket Kiddies" little dolls in plastic ornate lockets worn around the neck... then came my "Pogo Stick" ..Ooohh and the bruised shins that came with it until you mastered the art of staying on the darn thing!!.. Then came "Karnackers" Ouch! can still feel the bruised wrist bones when i think of those, mine were peachy/apricot coloured.

Then came the "Janet & John" books.. I read those in infant school. Whilst in your store at Bluewater I saw the "Fortune Teller Fish"!! They took me back to when we had them in Christmas crackers.. Then I remembered "Spangles" the sweets and also "Tiger Nuts" you needed jaws of steel to bite through those things.

I spent the next few hours reminiscing.. it was really good visiting old ground, thanks guys keep up the good work.
Kind Regards
Shel slater
Rochester Kent

Whips and Tops

Hi lads,

I remember fondly hours of fun with whips and tops, there were two sorts, the ones that looked like a mushroom with an elongated stem, and the ones we called "dutch" tops, which were chubby with a flat top.

Regards

Jackie Mabbott

Casio VL Keyboard

I would like to nominate the Casio VL tone mini keyboard as a favourite toy. I must have been about 13 when Dad managed to track one of these down for me for Christmas, he’d seen it in Exchange & Mart (!)  Basically its a keyboard about 12 “ long with various rhythms and instrument sounds programmed in. It works on 4 AA batteries or off power adaptor. It has a Swiss folk tune as an auto tune that you can drive folk mad with! You could create your own sounds with the synth key and best of all  (?)it doubled up as a calculator! My friend had a Stylophone which I never had and wanted so the Casio VL tone was a good substitute. I still have it and still use it when I need to check a tune out, I use it at school for teaching music too.  I also loved my Ideal Toys Tearie Dearie doll – you fed her and she cried and wet herself. However she was not the same again after been fed Ribena juice...

Thank you for the short lived Hawkin shop in Harrogate over Christmas and the eccentric manager in his long cardi... will you be back next year? I was so excited to see the shop I had to go in to make sure I  hadn’t dreamt it, shame you had to go.  Better crack on and get my order sorted – a stylophone is top of the list!

Best wishes,  Nicola Pollard  Harrogate

Clackers

You asked for any memory of old toys. I remember clackers, i think that's what they were called.  The two inocent looking plastic balls on string conected to a small handle that you got bouncing up and down at such a rate of knots that one small mistake and yep bruised knuckles.   Oh how we laughed when the damn things flew out of your hand and took your best friends teeth out. Then the outcry from teachers and parents alike got them banned from playgrounds.  Bring them back.  That's what i say ( over 18s only ) so as not to upset more parents or teachers... keep up the good work. Steve P.

Create Your Own Garden

One of my favourites toys was a miniature garden - I still have some of my collection! Consisted of cardboard/felt lawns, brown plastic "flowerbeds" which you "planted" plastic flowers into with a plastic/wire ended "planter". I also had a shed, greenhouse, bird bath, dovecote and crazy paving paths to lay around the lawns. On wet days and days off school sick I used to make all sorts of beautiful gardens, having used pocket money to collect the sets of garden paraphernalia!!! I never knew anyone else who had this toy - does anyone remember it? Any chance of a come-back??? Cheers! Ginny Burton

Summit Mark 1 Gun

Hi

In the 50's/60's there was a gun that fired white plastic balls. I think it was called a 'summit mark 1 gun'.

It comprised of 2 clear perspex tubes with rubber seals on the ends and black handles, one on each tube.

One of the tubes fitted inside the other with the balls loaded along both tubes when it was fully extended.

As you pulled/pushed the tubes together the balls were fired through the end rubber seal using the air pressure that was created as you pushed. I have been looking for one of these for years.

Also another fun item which was a free gift in comics in the '50s such as the Dandy and Beano was a clapper. It was 2 triangular cardboard side pieces with a brown paper insert, about half the size of the triangle, folded in between them.  As you flicked it in the air the brown paper was forced out and made a loud crack.

Regards

Richard Kingsman   

Totopoly

Maybe you could resurrect Totopoly (horse racing) and Formula 1 (car racing).  Fond memories of them both.

Sipping Bird

Hi,

This is a response arising from the invitation on your latest newsletter.  You'll probably tell me that you've carried this item in stock for ever!!!  However, in case you don't already stock it, it's the bird, (maybe an ostrich), that stands next to a glass of water and every so often bends over an tips its beak into the water. Then it just sways a few times for a while before repeating the exercise.  I'm sure you'll recognise the toy from my not very precise description; incidentally, I believe Homer Simpson has one.

Regards, Roy Burke

Magic Teacher

It was a quiz game,that was out in the mid fifty's. It was on a circular board with a statue in the middle with one arm outstreched that would point to the answer. the question was in a square bit on the top. I thought it was magic.

Buccaneer

"Buccaneer!" a clipper ship piece, treasure hunting game. the original game pieces were clipper ships with paper sails and wooden hulls. they travelled around a board that was a globe of islands etc and you went treasure hunting, complete with pirates etc. better than monopoly.

Friends still have an original game from the 30's maybe but apparently there was a later edition made out of plastic I believe, but I have never seen it. I'd love a copy of the original if its not going to cost the earth. if not just a repro if one exists somewhere.

yours faithfully,

miss lucie wade.

Sand Toy Acrobat

Years ago I bought a sand toy from you.  I had to assemble it from pre-scored cardboard and then add the fine sand to make the acrobat spin backwards and forwards.  To "recharge" the mechanism all you had to do was to slowly turn the entire box around a few times.  I made a few mistakes with it and so it didn't work perfectly, but the children loved it and so I tried to buy some more.  Tragically, you'd discontinued them. I've put in searches across the Internet for several years now but with no success.  I don't expect anyone else will remember them, but it felt good telling you about it!  Trish

Old Games

Maybe you could resurrect Totopoly (horse racing) and Formula 1 (car racing).  Fond memories of them both.

Summit Mark 1 Gun

Hi

In the 50's/60's there was a gun that fired white plastic balls. I think it was called a 'summit mark 1 gun'.

It comprised of 2 clear perspex tubes with rubber seals on the ends and black handles, one on each tube.

One of the tubes fitted inside the other with the balls loaded along both tubes when it was fully extended.

As you pulled/pushed the tubes together the balls were fired through the end rubber seal using the air pressure that was created as you pushed.

I have been looking for one of these for years.

Also another fun item which was a free gift in comics in the '50s such as the Dandy and Beano was a clapper.  It was 2 triangular cardboard side pieces with a brown paper insert about half the size of the triangle folded in between them, as you flicked it in the air the brown paper was forced out and made a loud crack.

Richard Kingsman   

Finger Twister

Dont know what it was called, but it was made of whicker, about the size of an adult middle finger, and you put a finger in 1 end and another finger from other hand in the other end, and then they were stuck. the more you twisted the worse it got - thats it!!! This was about 20 years ago when I was put to task with this.

Labyrinth

I played a game at my sister’s last year that I haven’t seen in years – it was called Labyrinth and it was really great fun…best of all, I won!  It would be great to be able to buy it again!

Regards
Penny Potter   

Chinese Guessing Game

first saw the magic of Chinese guessing as a child in the 1930s.

It amazed and amused and instructed. It was home-made needless to say in those days. It is a digital toy from long ago.

I imagine it could be printed and stamped out nowadays in small size suitable for a cracker or stocking filler.

I sent the attached pdf file to the parents of my grandchildren to make last Christmas. Alas they were too busy - a common situation in this whizz-bang digital age we live in.

If you adopt it please send the twenty quid to your favourite charity. I would be amply repaid by seeing it in your catalogue and buying it for my grandchildrens' next Christmas stockings.

TTFN Reg Briss

Download chinese_guesses.pdf

Chutes Away

Hi There

One that is fondly remembered by most of the people I know is Chutes Away, the rescue game. I have searched for years for it, and found it only on Ebay fetching stupid money. Loads of my friends had it and we wanted one for our kids so we asked around. Even the people who didn't have one as a kid remembers a mate who did and all asked if it was still available. Not sure you can work some magic on that one but heres hoping...

Phil T

Kiddles

Not so long ago really (maybe 35 years ago?), but I remember collecting a range of tiny (beautifully made) perfumed dolls called ‘Kiddles’.  I had to own them all! It would be nice to get them back for the children (and grandchildren).

Kathy Freeman-Smith

Pop Pop Boats

Hi,    The toy which was a favourite with me as a boy was the "Pop -pop" tin boat.  3 inches long, with a flat boiler above a candle powering the boat along in the bath by two pipes exiting at the boat's transom. The water was drawn into the boiler, the candle heated it up then propelled it as steam through the pipes with a popping sound.  (Jet Propulsion)   
Peter

Original Stylophone

Dear Hawkin,

I was so excited when you sent me details of the Original Stylophone. I ordered it straight away. When I saw it, I had to have it. I gave it as a gift for a 39 year old song writer. (yes he is famous).
He was so pleased with it. He said he has wanted one for ever. I liked the idea of plugging in your mp3 or i-pod to play along with.
You never know, the next big hit may just have been born on the Stylophone!
Thanks
Sarah (Child of the 70's)