Friday 12 December 2008

Christmas Is Coming... Bouncing Spacehoppers of 1969 and Comic Strip Mavis Rileys of 1979...

Christmas is coming - and here's a little treat - a full-page ad from my local newspaper archive (Cambridge Evening News, 14 November 1969), featuring lots of toys all ready for Christmas 1969 - including the famous spacehopper (from Mettoy). And before "Curious of Croydon" writes in, yes, I know that the BBC and the Toy Retailers sites say that the space hopper arrived in the UK in 1971, but both organisations like to pretend that everything happened in the 70s. The image above is from a real 1969 newspaper. Click on the image for some true nostalgia.

And Christmas ten years on was equally interesting...

The swinging '60s had been left well behind by 1979, but, as little girlies across the land prayed desperately for a Holly Hobby in their Christmas stocking, we Corrie fans had the joy of seeing Mavis Riley, Rita Fairclough and other Street favourites in comic strip form. Above, Mavis dishes the gossip to Rita. In my humble opinion, both the artist and the writer have caught Mavis brilliantly!
What was it all about? Find out more soon...

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