Latest memories and comments from DoYouRemember.co.ukhttp://www.doyouremember.co.uk http://www.doyouremember.co.uk/memory.php?memID=3689 Wish World Kids were little dolls, about 2 inches tall, that came with playsets where an everyday item would turn into something fun. There was one with a bed that turned into a playground, for example. One doll had curly bright neon yellow hair and her playset was a tub/shower that transformed into a pool. She wore a tiny pink bathing suit with little flowers on it.Wed, 01 Sep 2010 12:04:47 +0100 http://www.doyouremember.co.uk/memory.php?memID=9976 Uno, the card game of fun champions. Champions of fun. The game is played with specially printed cards consisting of four colours, red, green, blue and yellow. The game was created in 1971 by a Mr Merle Robbins, but has been produced my Mattel since 1992. The name UNO comes from the Spanish word for “one”. How this is relevant to the game, I’ve never been sure, but perhaps it’s got something to do with only playing one card, but it’s not made clear by the game’s producers. There have been an astonishing number of different themed packs of UNO created - some of my favourites being: “dogs herding breeds UNO”. “Care Bears UNO” and “Betty Boop UNO”. Of course most of the 70 or so other off shoots are big market tie-in like “Pirates of the Caribbean UNO”, but those first three are still my favourite. UNO has recently had something of a resurgence, being championed by the award winning comedian Josie Long, who held UNO championships at the Edinburgh Festival in 2007 and 2008.Wed, 01 Sep 2010 11:50:39 +0100 http://www.doyouremember.co.uk/memory.php?memID=9977 I came across some of these building blocks once in a doctor’s surgery as a child. I was slightly baffled by them. They were so much like Lego, but… they weren’t Lego. How odd… At the time it made me feel like I might be losing it, and that it was lego, but I was perceiving incorrectly. But no, this was Tente! Tente was less well known in the UK than in other European countries probably because it was a direct competitor to Lego. Lego of course was huge in the UK, and has been huge all around the world, but in some ways Tente was better. Tente were mostly multi-colored interlocking plastic bricks in different scales with wheels, minifigures, and various accessories, but the bricks were slightly larger than lego blocks. They were first created in 1972 by a plastics and toy company in Barcelona, Spain and were sold worldwide with Hasbro selling the toys in the US and Japan (Hasbro are a huge company selling many classic toys like Transformers and My Little Pony. In the United States, Tente sets were typically found in specialty toy and model/hobby shops and not major toy retail stores. They are no longer made, so have now of course fallen into the realm of collectibles as rare items, no doubt to be brought up to someone in the Antiques roadshow in 30 years time to be proclaimed priceless. I definitely preferred Lego at the time, but I'd rather a mint condition collection of Tente now...Wed, 01 Sep 2010 02:06:56 +0100 http://www.doyouremember.co.uk/memory.php?memID=9975 Captain Scarlett! Dum, dum dum du-dum! “Stand By for action!” Every Saturday Morning Captain Scarlet was beamed into my child sized consciousness, and it’s been etched there ever since. It was first broadcast in 1967, but was played regularly right up until the late 1980’s. The programmes were produced by Gerry and Sylvyia Anderson, who also made classics like Thunderbirds, Terrahawks, Joe 90 and Stingray. Captain Scarlet itself was sold and broadcast regularly to 40 other countries, surely making it one of the most watched TV programmed ever created. Set in 2068, the plot is of the war between Earth and a mysterious Alien race, mysteriously known as…. “The Mysterons“. After a misunderstanding causes human astronauts to destroy a Mysteron settlement, the vengeful Mysterons declare war on Earth. Earth is defended by “Spectrum” that has the remarkable Captain Scarlett heading up the attack - Captain Scarlet has the Mysteron ability to return to life after suffering fatal injury - this of course makes Scarlet "indestructible". Of course the marionette that played Captain Scarlet was also indestructible. But the irony wasn’t visible to a 6 year old like myself. There were inevitably, Captain Scarlet dolls and space ships and all manner of other paraphernalia available, none of which I owned. There was also comic strips of the TV programme available in the Anderson-related children's magazine, TV Century 21 - I had a few of those and an annual I think. Amazingly, in fact astonishingly, the 32 episode series of Captain Scarlet cost £1.5 million in 1967, which is roughly £2000 per minute. And as my father is fond of saying “Money was worth a lot more back then”. that is an amazing amount of money. No wonder they showed these episodes on continual repeat for the next 20 years!Wed, 01 Sep 2010 01:59:49 +0100 http://www.doyouremember.co.uk/memory.php?memID=9974 This is an almost impenetrable board game. Try it. Sit down and read the rules. It’s a mix of every type of game you can imagine (other than water polo) and is challenging to say the least. Hasbro - who produce the game claim that it “includes a wide variety of activities that test and challenge your whole brain”. They are not wrong. It sometimes feels like trying to play twister while juggling jelly. Not surprisingly it was dreamt up by someone with multiple Brains to spare - a former Microsoft employee - the intelligent and energetic sounding “Whit Alexander”Wed, 01 Sep 2010 01:54:09 +0100 http://www.doyouremember.co.uk/memory.php?memID=9973 Who invented Cluedo? It was Reverend Green, in the Library with the lead piping. No, actually, it was a Mr Antony Pratt, in Leeds in 1949. Cluedo, is quite literally a board game phenomenon. It couldn’t be more successful if it could dance and make you coco. Originally published by Waddingtons (the same manufacturer that brought you Monopoly, Risk and Subbuteo it was the brain child of a solicitors clerk called Mr Pratt. The game is all about strategy. You move about the board using counters that represent different characters collecting clues as you try to deduce who murdered who, where and with what weapon. It is tremendous fun to play, as you look suspiciously at your friends, trying desperately to use your long defunct brain to deduce who actually killed who and with what. I always feel so close to winning, but am usually completely wrong. Mr Pratt originally called the game “Murder!” But it was changed by Waddington’s to “Cluedo” which is a merging of the words Clue and Ludo (another board game which has a similar way that the counters move around the board) Amazingly there have been over 40 official versions of the game produced including Harry Potter and James Bond themed manifestations. There have been many computer versions as well, for most consoles - including Commodore 64, Atari ST, PC, Game Boy Advance, ZX Spectrum, Nintendo DS, Super Nintendo Entertainment System, CD-i, Sega Genesis, In 1985 there was even a comedy film “Clue” released. In this version, the person murdered was Mr. Boddy. The film, which featured different endings released to different theatres, failed at the box office, but they never found out who murdered the plot.Wed, 01 Sep 2010 01:51:40 +0100 http://www.doyouremember.co.uk/memory.php?memID=9972 Chinese checkers is a game I remember for my attempts to actually finish a game. It always took so long that I had pretty much given up by the time I was only half way through it. You play it on a star-shaped board, a 6 pointed star, and the object of the game is to get all of your 10 pieces over to the opposite point of the star. Moving across the board something like you do in draughts or regular “checkers”. Each player is a different colour and you can have from 2 - 6 players. A strange but true fact is that this game is in no way Chinese. In the same way that Pineapples are not from Hawaii, it was all a marketing ploy. The game was originally produced in Germany under the name “Stern-Halma” in 1982! (“Stern” is German for “Star” ) the name Chinese Checkers was introduced by Bill and Jack Pressman in 1928 as a marketing scheme. Most probably to account for the checkers like aspect but it’s strange merging of the 6 star board. As a child I did think that perhaps every country played checkers slightly differently, and that Mexican Checkers, or Chilean Checkers might be more fun than English Checkers (Or as it is obscurely named... “Draughts”)Wed, 01 Sep 2010 01:43:39 +0100 http://www.doyouremember.co.uk/memory.php?memID=9971 Chess is perhaps one of the oldest games in town (or village). Everyone should remember it in some way or other - even if it’s just as a few confusing moments trying to understand how to play it before you gave up. It’s a game that has two players, played on a checkered 64 square chess board, and of course has 16 characters named after courtly roles - one queen, one king, two bishops, two knights, two rooks and eight pawns. The objective of the game is to take control or “checkmate” your opponents king. My first memory of this game is being continuously and roundly beaten by my uncle who seemed to enjoy robbing me of my optimism or faith in my own abilities, piece by humiliating piece. The game is in some ways like checkers or backgammon in it’s origins, and shares the same board as checkers. but it first appeared in it’s present form around the 15th century by all accounts. Famously, the use of computers to play chess was one of the first uses of the machines, but it took until 1997 for deep blue to famously beat Gary Kasparov the reigning world chess champion. I remember that being a big news item on “Newsround” with John Craven.Wed, 01 Sep 2010 01:41:12 +0100 http://www.doyouremember.co.uk/memory.php?memID=9964 Odd Man Out was a sitcom starring John Inman (Are You Being Served?). He inherits his Father's Rock Factory in Littlehampton, and runs it along side his sister played by Josephine Tewson (Clarence, Keeping Up Appearances). A very good series and at the end of each episode John Inman personally addressed the television audience and thanked them for watching and wished them well wishes. The series is not officially available on DVD.Tue, 31 Aug 2010 16:21:52 +0100 http://www.doyouremember.co.uk/memory.php?memID=9957 A secondary character on the Sooty Show, in the black and White Harry Corbett days. Ramsbottom was a snake who spoke in a rich Yorkshire dialect. He had the habit of telling rather convoluted stories and ditties. Best thing about the show - I still remember him after 50 years!!Tue, 31 Aug 2010 16:03:34 +0100 http://www.doyouremember.co.uk/memory.php?memID=9955 This was a Children's TV show in the 90s about 2 boys called Geoff and Tom who found a space ship in an underground cavern while on holiday. The two series, aired on the BBC from 1997 to 1998, charted their discovery and mastery of the spaceship. The series was based on a book by British author Andrew Norriss and set in Bristol.Tue, 31 Aug 2010 15:59:12 +0100 http://www.doyouremember.co.uk/memory.php?memID=9950 A chocolate bar in a red and white gingham wrapper. The milk chocolate had pieces of biscuit and raisins in it - delicious! The bar was the same size as the old Jamaica rum bar. It later changed its name to 'Ticket' and became smaller - more like the size of a small dairy milk bar - but still yum!Tue, 31 Aug 2010 15:47:47 +0100 http://www.doyouremember.co.uk/memory.php?memID=9952 The comic called "The Tiger - The Sport and Adventure Picture Story Weekly" was first published in Septmber 1954, and featured predominantly sporting strips. The Roy of the Rovers comic strip first appreared here in the first issue and proved so successful it was spun out of Tiger and into its own comic. In the mid 70s the comic was merged with the football magazine Scorcher and became known as Tiger and Scorcher.Tue, 31 Aug 2010 15:46:07 +0100 http://www.doyouremember.co.uk/memory.php?memID=9947 These toys were tiny plastic dolls that were made by blue bird. The Tiny plastic dolls came in little things, such as a genie lamp, ice cream cone, sea shell, sunflower etc.... The would come in sets such as a fun fair set, a drive in or swing park. These days they are quite collectable.Tue, 31 Aug 2010 15:17:53 +0100 http://www.doyouremember.co.uk/memory.php?memID=1 Is there anything more frustrating - and rewarding - in the world of toys than a Rubik's Cube? No, I didn't think so... Created by Erno Rubik, a Hungarian sculptor and professor of architecture, this timewaster of a 3D toy measuring 2.25inches on each side, consists of a 3x3x3 assortment of 26 coloured squares. The puzzling bit comes when you attempt to unscramble them by twisting the rows of squares around, so you eventually end up with only one colour on each side. The original Rubik's cube (the called a Magic Cube) first came onto the scene in the mid-70s, but it only became a craze once Ideal released it into American culture. In 1980 it was won the German Game Of The Year award for Best Puzzle. From then on, brows were uniformally furrowed as kids (and big kids) all over spent hours, days, even months trying to crack the code... until they realised the coloured stickers could be peeled off and reassigned by their own fair - if a bit blistered - hands. Cheats! For those who didn't stoop this low, there were competitions to enter to see who could solve the Rubik's cube the fastest. The Rubik's Cube World Championship was held in 1982 in Budapest, where crowds witnessed a boy of only 16 years' worth of cube cracking under his belt solve the cube in under 23 seconds! Since then, the record has been broken over and over again, currently standing at 7.08 seconds, set in 2008 at the Czech Open. Other crazy cube competitions have featured contestants solving their's underwater, blindfolded and even using only their feet! The year 2008 also saw the Guinness record being set for the most people solving a Rubik's cube at one time - 96 people. Continuing on from the success of the original Rubik's cube - well there had to be more for those who'd completed it - there were the 2x2x2 Pocket Cube, 4x4x4 Rubik's Revenge, Rubik's snake, Rubik's clock, Rubik's Magic, pocket chains for the hardcore addicts, and more recently Soduku-theme cubes. Other legacy's include a cartoon, an addict's support group and no doubt a fair few cases of RSI (repetitive strain injury). But so worth it, so say the 350 million people who've bought a Rubik's cube to date. In February 2009 the most exciting update yet was unveiled at the American Toy Fair in New York - The TouchCube. The cube works on the same principle as the original, but is an electronic. light-up, touchscreen version, sure to excite fans of the toy. This time around, moves can be undone and the cube even gives you handy hints, See, things were always harder years ago. Kids don't know how good they've got it today.Fri, 27 Aug 2010 11:44:38 +0100 http://www.doyouremember.co.uk/memory.php?memID=4522 The Pacman Board Game was based on the Pacman computer game (no surprise). The board had holes in it into which you had to put white marbles. You then had a Pacman each and by throwing the dice you had to move around the board gobbling up marbles as you went. You also had 4 ghosts that you could move around too to try to catch your opponent. The winner was the one with most marbles in their Pacman at the end of the game. There was a similar Frogger board game which I don't remember much about 'cos it was far more boring!Tue, 24 Aug 2010 21:39:25 +0100 http://www.doyouremember.co.uk/memory.php?memID=9901 These were bags of sweets, a mix of different sweets and some ind of toy of "lucky charm" I remember there being treasure chests. Though they changed to become "Lucky Bags" at some point. The sweets weren't that nice, but when you're a kid you take what you can get!Sat, 07 Aug 2010 01:15:23 +0100 http://www.doyouremember.co.uk/memory.php?memID=9943 "Space Fiction Adventure in Pictures" published in black & white format by D. C. Thomson & Co. Ltd who also produce the "Commando" series of comic books. Each issue was intended to be a 'one-off' episode, although a number of characters were revisited in further issues. The adventures of The Suicide squad,Jubal McKay (The Planet Tamer),Matt Tallis,Hadron Halley, & Mikal R Kayn were regularly given new adventures 281 issues in the series Apr 1979 to 1st Jan 1991 In an attempt to win more readers, there had been several issues similar in format to the then popular Fighting Fantasy and Lone Wolf gamebooks, but this project was quickly & Quietly dropped after a few issues when it proved unpopular.Sat, 07 Aug 2010 00:30:26 +0100 http://www.doyouremember.co.uk/memory.php?memID=9939 This was a UK music TV show, that ran on ITV, but just for 8 episodes - one series. This programme was intended to be the antidote to the anodyne and family friendly Top of the Pops. It features live bands, a lot of punk bands as it happened. And also acts like Kate Bush and Dire Straits Peter cook had a part in the series, playing a fictional manager of the set, he would often make negative or funny remarks about the guests. It was on quite late at night, rather than primetime which might account for it's poor viewing figures (and subsequent de-commisioning!)Sat, 07 Aug 2010 00:27:27 +0100 http://www.doyouremember.co.uk/memory.php?memID=9942 Body Parts was frozen fruit flavoured ice body part shapes (no bigger than 5p piece each) feet, hands, ears..that came in a light blue plastic packet/bag. To be honest they were a bit of a 'thin thing' but I liked them because of their novelty at the time. They couldn't have been on the market too long. They came out around 1992-1993. Then quickly replaced by a similar sort of product: 4 different fruit flavoured Ice fruit shapes on a stick (ice lolly!) I can remember there was a strawberry, orange and lemon on the same stick....Sat, 07 Aug 2010 00:25:49 +0100