Trip down memory lane

My latest jigsaw has been a cause of much nostalgia. It’s entitled “Memories of the 1960s”. It is a compendium piece showing various toys available at the time. I was a still child in search of toys in those days.

One of the games that instantly catches the eye is “Twister”. What bemuses me is seeing the box cover with images of people having fun, getting into a twist as they played. I have difficulty imagining anyone playing this game in suit & tie, yet this seems to be the proposition.

Another thing is that a number of toys seem to be related to space. But then I suppose the 1960s were the days of early space exploration & clearly fired the imagination of children & toymakers alike. I certainly remember the first walking on the moon, after watching numerous blast offs & landings before that. It therefore isn’t so surprising that toys should feature flying saucers & astronauts, even if I don’t recall such toys.

Along with space interest came TV spin-offs. I suppose the 1960s was also the time when most households gained a TV.  So here came Dr Who, the Thunderbirds, Stingray, Joe 90, Supercar, the Man from Uncle. There were also spin-offs of films. Here there are toys relating to James Bond with an image of Sean Connery in the role on the box. And yet I don’t remember any of these toys.

The 1960s also brought new technology with the arrival of the Concorde plane. I remember seeing it on test run when I first visited Paris.

There are the more traditional toys. These were more my thing. Even then the 60s brought changes. The traditional, rather chubby, doll gave way to the slim-line Barbie & Sindy. My did I long for one of them but never had one. This jigsaw also showed a “Peppermint Twist Doll”. It looks like a doll designed to do the twist, the latest dance craze which I loved. And the dolls wore minis or even trousers, very much the 60s,  not something you saw before.

Other more traditional toys were model cars. My brother & I had quite a collection of Matchbox toys, but those shown here are mainly Dinky or Corgi toys. Here is the bubble car, long gone from the roads of today. There are the latest models of Cortina & E-type Jag (the influence of the “Goldfinger” James Bond film”, no doubt. I even remember a Matchbox one my brother got with ejector seat!)

Scalextric was also was another one of those aspirational toys. Across the road we had some friends who had a table set up for it in their attic space. It was a wondrous place. I suspect, though if we’d actually had a set I would have soon have got bored. There is only so many times I want to race around a circuit!

Another new feature of the 1960s was caught in a Triang game based around motorways. Motorways were a very new idea in this country. I remember even making a trip down to Coventry to see where the M1 ended whilst at the same time seeing the new Coventry cathedral & recalling some of my mother’s memories. She was born in Coventry & grew up there & in the nearby area.

Oh there’s a box of puppets. The cover feature two dressed up pigs, Pinky & Perky I do believe.  That puppet show always irritated me more than it amused me, & yet I still remember them.

Oh & there’s a Dr Kildare doll, another TV spin-off. I remember Richard Chamberlain well in the role.

This jigsaw certainly brought back memories, even though most of the toys featured meant nothing to me. I certainly don’t remember the Dr Who & Gerry Anderson series spin-offs, though I do remember the programmes.