British Comedy Guide

Toys and Games you used to have. Page 3

Quote: Lee Henman @ August 10 2009, 11:03 PM BST

When I was about 8 my Dad was on the dole and had no cash to buy expensive Christmas presents. So he secretly started work in October on building me a model railway. I always wondered what he was doing, hammering and clattering away in the back room but the door was always locked.

Anyway, come Christmas morning, I clearly remember Dad leading me into the back room with his hands over my eyes. He took them away and I opened my eyes to see the most amazing landscaped trainset I'd ever seen. Over the course of 3 months, he'd built the whole thing with his bare hands on a huge 6ft x 4ft board. There were rolling hills, that he'd fashioned out of chicken wire and papier mache, windmills, a little town, tunnels, loads of little people, even a working level crossing. The detail was amazing, even down to the fake grass that he'd lovingly sprinkled about. It truly was a work of art.
"Well?" said Dad expectantly, "What do you think?"
And I looked up at him with tears in my eyes and said "I don't like trains."

Laughing out loud Laughing out loud Laughing out loud

I had my Scaletrix set up like that. It was awesome... Teary

When I was 7 my best friend was a kid named Andy. When we were playing in the park and got bored of the swings etc, his idea of a game was to take all his clothes off and hide in the bushes. Because in those days kids made their own entertainment. Errr

Was Andy a lot older than you? Show me on the doll where he touched you...

Quote: Nil Putters @ August 10 2009, 11:09 PM BST

Was Andy a lot older than you? Show me on the doll where he touched you...

Action Man doesn't have one.

Quote: Tim Walker @ August 10 2009, 11:10 PM BST

Action Man doesn't have one.

A tolerance for terrorists?

*sniggers*

Quote: Leevil @ August 10 2009, 11:11 PM BST

A tolerance for terrorists?

:D

Quote: Fred Sunshine @ August 10 2009, 10:32 PM BST

And something called a 'Sonic ear' you could point it and hear things from really far away in very low quality.

I just searched for this online.

http://tvcream.squarespace.com/toy-list/sonic-ear.html

I wondered why I'd never heard of it since.

Here's an excerpt:

MI5-standard surveillance gadget mistakenly marketed as children's plaything

There are exactly fourteen people in the UK who know this existed. They remember the telly ads featuring a lad spying on his family and neighbours from fifty feet across the garden. They remember the shape and size of the thing, something like a cross between a rifle and a trombone, fashioned in white and red plastic (and not to be confused with the U.S. "super" version, which parabolically anticipated Murdoch's micro satellite dishes). What isn't known is if anyone ever owned one.

Seemingly on sale for about a fortnight in the summer of 1978, although never spotted on toyshop shelves, the Sonic Ear (nice solipsism implicit in the name, there) was hastily erased from history - clearly as part of some government cover-up or national security conspiracy. Sure, it might have been possible that the ability to eavesdrop on the confidential conversations of people up to 200 yards away contravened some kind of privacy law, but – hey – that's what they wanted us to think, right? There was obviously a more sinister agent at work, possibly connected to the nanny state's wider scheme to prevent us kids from "breaking out" and becoming telepathic, paranormal Tomorrow People

Mental. Fred Sunshine. Spook.

Did anyone ever have those giant construction trucks, like a digger and crane and things? I used to call them Monster trucks but not sure if that was their real name. Plus a Google search just brings up the ones with the big wheels.

I had a Tonka truck. Pretty heavy weight. Proper metal, and lead paint. Was AWESOME!!!

Quote: Tim Walker @ August 10 2009, 10:56 PM BST

Or shove-ha'penny?

Ha, my mum and dad have still got that! :D

Quote: JuliaC @ August 10 2009, 11:29 PM BST

Ha, my mum and dad have still got that! :D

My Dad was very excited when he found an old bagatelle board/table? in a charity shop.

Quote: Nil Putters @ August 10 2009, 11:27 PM BST

I had a Tonka truck. Pretty heavy weight. Proper metal, and lead paint. Was AWESOME!!!

That's it, that's it! Yay! Tonka Truck :)

Tonka Toys were great. Rugged as hell.

I saw one recently, they're not as good now. A bit plastic-y.

Dad's cock.

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