For those amongst us who remember:- "When I was a boy"!

[MikeDunn]

Patrick McGoohan's 'The Prisoner'; was VERY influential and it is STILL one of my personal favourites.

I found the Yank remake extremely poor ...

[Komata]

Thanks Mike; I wasn't aware that a remake had been done (attempted?) , although the fact that it  was  the American's who did so doesn't surprise me.  As with many of their 'remakes' it could never have been as good.  For some odd reason, and try as they will. the American 'movie / TV' industry has never been able to reproduce the nuances and subtleties that  are inherent in British 'Theatre' and theatrical tradition'.  It's a certain 'something' that has never travelled intact across the North Atlantic.  Theatre in the  'White Dominions' of the former Empire have it, the Americans' don't.  Very, very odd.

And no, I won't be looking for the 'remake'...

Thanks again.

[Tdm]

This has been a very interesting thread, but what really are the abiding memories of when we were young, and ones that we will never forget?

For me it was :-

1. Looking out of my bedroom window and seeing German WW2 bombers trying
    to destroy the place where I lived.
2. Watching "Rock around the Clock" at the Cinema and dancing in the aisles,
3. First kiss with a young girl I thought would be mine for ever more,
4. Being intoxicated by drinking youngers No. 3 and Australian white wine in
     Yates Wine Lodge,
5. My first car purchase – a green Morris Minivan,
6. Driving an Austin A40 all the way to the Costa Brava and back.
7. Meeting the girl I knew I would eventually marry after a bomb scare in our
     local pub.

I could add more, but that would only make this post boring.

[Newportnobby]

As a  to this thread I've just watched the repeat of the 2010 programme 'Top 100 Toys'.
Model railways (in the shape of Hornby 00) came 17th just above Airfix (19th) but sadly far behind Scalextric which came 8th. Meccano was 16th.
For anyone interested the top 3 were, in reverse order:-

3. Dungeons & Dragons
2.Monopoly
1. Lego

[port perran]

1 & 2 are fine with me but 3 is far too modern.
I had Lego from a very small boy.
Who remembers the Lego Blueprint leaflets that you used to be able to buy ?

[Malc]

I didn't have Lego, but my kid brother did, so I got to play with it. I had Betta Builder, where you slotted steel rods into a baseboard and slid pieces in between to make walls. Houses were all you could really build, so I got fed up with it pretty quickly and went back to Meccano.

[Bealman]

I had Lego and I bought an illumination brick (clear 8 stud brick with bulb in it to work from 1.5V battery). The Sunday afternoon after the FA Cup final, me dad was watching the replay as he'd missed it live as he was at work. I was in another room, which was newly wallpapered, mucking about with me new light.

It was in old flat above a shop (it's long gone now, as documented in my latest adventure on the forum), and it had a power point in the middle of the newly papered wall.

I decided I'd get a brighter light if I used that, so I plugged the brick in, let it hang down against the new wallpaper, and switched on.

The resulting explosion blew me across the room, put a scorched crater in the new wallpaper, but worst of all, blacked out the FA Cup replay.

The explosion was nowt compared to me fatha's reaction.

[MalcolmInN]

I had Betta Builder, where you slotted steel rods into a baseboard and slid pieces in between to make walls. Houses were all you could really build, so I got fed up with it pretty quickly and went back to Meccano.

Facinating !
Substitute kid sister for kid bro. and that was sortof my experience !

I had 3-rail Dublo and Meccano, she had that building stuff that predated Lego ( and dolls and things huh! ) and as you say, not a lot could be done with it once a few buldings, factories engine sheds (she wasnt too impressed with them !) etc had been built I went back to my toys.

However, after a few years (ahem!) a little while ago I went looking for what it might have been and the closest I could come up with was Bayko building system, or maybe Bayko Builder

Are we in similar ball-park or were there lots of variants ?
Bayko has a feel to it for me cos it was of the bakalite era ??

and the rods soon went rusty and I dont think Mum&Dad were too keen on it cos we were always building much bigger/better houses than the 30's semi we had ( many more play-rooms of course ! )

Seasons greetings etc.

[Komata]

Does anyone else remember the 'cast your own walls etc.' packs that were popular in the 1960's?  They were marketed under several titles ('Linka' was the one most readily available locally)  and used a form of casting powder which was mixed with water and poured into flexible moulds where the plaster was allowed to set.  With that done, the resulting plaster 'bits' (which came in a variety of shapes) were used to create walls and (eventually) buildings.  The cast 'plaster' walls could be interlocked and used to make a variety of structures.  Great fun, until the plaster ran out, and then it was discovered that no replacements were being  imported, while simultaneously, one's parents were expressing their 'displeasure' at the way quantities of  casting powder was appearing in various locations within the house; and then setting...

It was great fun while it lasted, and oddly, I still have the moulds...

And then there was 'Dippity Glass'....

[Agrippa]

I remember the Linka type of material , though never used it, presumably a
messy business. Don't recall Dippity Glass, some sort of liquid glazing material?

One thing I remember well was the Meccano Magazine, which covered
Hornby, Dinky and Meccano. There were usually readers' photos of their
Meccano structures, huge Ferris wheels and cranes.Each month the mag
would have a project , often quite complex , like building a 4 speed gearbox.

If like me you only had the basic struts , plates and pulleys you were
not able to indulge in such sophisticated engineering.

And don't forget the trunnions. That's a great word. " I'll have half a
pound of trunnions to go with my Number 1 Meccano set. "

[Bealman]

It's a matter of opinion said the man with a wooden leg. 

[Agrippa]

There's no escape from these whiskery old gags,,,,

[PhilD]

I had Bayco (metal rods into baseplates with holes, and slot in windows, doors and wall units.

Also Minibrix which was like an early version of Lego, but I recall the bricks were rubbery.

Phil

[Geoff]

I had Bayco (metal rods into baseplates with holes, and slot in windows, doors and wall units.

Also Minibrix which was like an early version of Lego, but I recall the bricks were rubbery.

Phil

Oh I remember Bayco I did ask for Lego but hey it kept me quiet .

[Malc]

Reading the previous posts, the mists are clearing. My kid brother had Betta Builder, which was a precursor to Lego. I had the Bayco system. The lad over the road had the one where you mixed stuff with water and poured into moulds. Neither his nor mine lasted very long. He ran out of mix, I ran out of enthusiasm. Next Christmas I got a 4 colour biro and a Spirograph.