Baby boomers - what books did you read when you were a nipper ?

[joe cassidy]

Do "The Observer's Book of .........." still exist ?

They were great.

[Newportnobby]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Observer%27s_Books

I have 2 x 1960s Railway Locomotives and 1 x 1960s Automobiles

[port perran]

Do "The Observer's Book of .........." still exist ?

They were great.

I had loads as a lad...Railways, Cars, Trees, Flowers, Birds, Butterflies etc.
They, along with the card collections from packets of tea were invaluable in building up knowledge which I still use to this day.

[anselm]

My favourite book when I was 13, so a bit older than a nipper (?), was "British Railways Today and Tomorrow"  by G Freeman Allen - another Ian Allen publication.

[joe cassidy]

They, along with the card collections from packets of tea were invaluable in building up knowledge which I still use to this day.

I swapped my collection of tea card albums for a pile of Superman comics  :'(

[joe cassidy]

We must have been very poor, hardly any books in the house, except for a set of encyclopaedia.
/quote]

I asked my parents for an encyclopaedia - they said OK.

I was expecting a 20 volume set of the Encyclopaedia Britannica.

What I got was Pears Cyclopaedia, 1968-69 edition (one volume).

I still dip into it from time to time.

[Trainfish]

They, along with the card collections from packets of tea were invaluable in building up knowledge which I still use to this day.

I swapped my collection of tea card albums for a pile of Superman comics  :'(

I preferred this superhero. Still do actually, it certainly left a lasting impression on me. She was my idol:



Hopefully the mods will allow my post even though I'm not old enough to post in this thread 

[railsquid]

Hopefully the mods will allow my post even though I'm not old enough to post in this thread 

Oh just this once then, but you must be a good boy else there'll be no jam and dripping sarnies for your tea.

[trkilliman]

On my bookshelf is a copy of Ian Allen Trains Annual 1966. It was bought by an aunt for a Birthday.

Within is an article by the late R.C. Riley on the Broccoli (actually Cauliflower) specials that ran from Penzance in a bygone age. I read the article over and over, and wondered what those sidings at Ponsandane must be like.

Fast Forward to 2007 and we moved from Bristol to Falmouth. Fairly soon I visited Ponsandane and the loading platforms extended in 1937 were still there, with GWR remnants such as rail chairs and drain covers marked GWR.  Sadly the goods shed also built in a 1937 Government initiative had gone. It had been replaced by a Safeway supermarket that also took in some of the former steam shed. I've re-visited a few time but not recently, so those loading platforms may be gone now.

So here's a book I read as a nipper and never forgot the important role Cornwall once played in growing and delivering produce throughout the U.K. before the days mass importation and airfreight.

A couple of years back I saw Blackberries in my local Sainsbury's...from Guatamala !!!

[port perran]

A couple of years back I saw Blackberries in my local Sainsbury's...from Guatamala !!!

Before retirement, one of my jobs was training and assessing supermarket delivery drivers.
I was staggered to learn that one supermarket transported Cornish new potatoes and spring greens from west Cornwall to the home counties for packaging and then back to Cornwall for selling.
Talk about "straight from the field".

[Newportnobby]

else there'll be no jam and dripping sarnies for your tea.

Jam and dripping!

[port perran]

else there'll be no jam and dripping sarnies for your tea.

Jam and dripping!

Is it the jam that you don't like then ? 

[dannyboy]

One thing I miss here in Ireland is my Yorkshire 'mucky dripping'.  Pork dripping with the jelly spread on lovely fresh bread.  . I usually bring a couple of tubs back with me when I visit home - but can't do that now. 

[daffy]

First proper books I can remember reading were four Puffin paperbacks in a box-set either my older sister or brother had one year for Christmas. If I remember correctly they were:

The Otterbury Incident - C. Day Lewis
To School in the Spanish Main
Malay Adventure
Sabotage at the Forge

The last one I only fully recalled after a Google search, but the other three are a clear unassisted memory, even down to what the book covers looked like.

I also read The Little Grey Men by 'BB' around that time - about 1960 - and it was a real favourite, read a number of times. When I re-read it a few years ago I enjoyed the memory, but the style of writing sadly seemed so old fashioned and rather poor to this now 21st century mind.

The Eagle comic was a weekly addition to our household (as was my sisters Bunty and Judy comics, though of course I never read them  ) , with its superb cut-away drawings to study after catching up on Dan Dare and Digby. I had the Eagle Annual for Christmas for many years, but foolishly gave them away (they were in perfect condition) when I left home in the '70's.

[Paul B]

Firstly I have never understood these labels like 'Baby Boomers' - although maybe I just didn't understand them as I am just an old 'Baby Boomer' myself! (Only just apparently - born in 1961.)

However, early on, I can remember my mum reading the Rev Audrey Thomas the Tank Engine series, all borrowed from the library (may explain why I like railways? Not helped to that my mum loved steam trains too, and used to take me to preserved railways when she could afford to!) Apart from comics (Beano was my fav) I was into Enid Blyton books - Secret Seven and Famous Five were the two series I had most of. However, my first what I would call real book, was written by Ronald Welch and was called The Gauntlet. It was about a young teenage boy who found a medieval gauntlet near an old castle in Wales and ended up going back in time to the siege of the castle. Once again, my mum loved historical novels, and it was she who got me into this type of book as early as she could - not that I am complaining!