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The Flumps was one of the regular programmes that was shown on the BBC’s See-Saw slot for tots, shown around 1pm in the afternoon on weekdays, if my memory serves me correctly. It was perfect gentle viewing for pre-schoolers, and centred around a family of Flumps, strange hairy ball creatures consisting of little more than a face, and a pair of arms and legs. Whilst their arms and hands could move, the relaxed position for them was to have them holding the front of their body, almost as if they had just finished eating a massive meal.
Most of the episodes centred around the adventures of Posie, Perkin and Pootle, the three child Flumps. Pootle was the youngest and funniest of the three, who frequently misunderstood what the rest of the Flumps were talking about and spoke with a wonderful voice that sounded like he always needed to blow his nose a bit more often. The rest of the family were made up of Mother and Father Flump, and Grandfather Flump. Obviously Flump hair colour is not a genetic trait, since Mother and Father Flump were both a deep brown, whilst the children were much lighter in colour, with Pootle being blonde. Either Mother Flump was lying to Father Flump, or Flumps hair colour gets darker with age…
The first time I heard of Culture Club was one evening when they appeared on Top of the Pops. Said show was on TV, and Culture Club were playing their first big hit “Do you really want to hurt me?“. My Dad walked in and, never being one to mince his words, said, “That’s a bloke singing!“, referring of course to Boy George. Of course, being still of primary school age both my sister and I refused to believe him, since the person on TV was clearly a woman in our eyes, what with the heavy make-up and wearing what appeared to be a white dress.
Do you remember Opal Fruits? OK, I know you can still get Opal Fruits today (I refuse to call them Starburst - this is an 80’s site you see!) but the reason I ask this question is if you remember them being called Opal Fruits you may also recall the subject of this post - Pacers mints.
Like most kids, I loved playing with my Lego when I was growing up, but I still remember the excitement I had when my Dad came home from work one day with a little present for me and my sister - one of the new Lego Town kits each! In fact, the kit he brought for me is the one pictured on this post! Ah, the memories!
Whatchoo talkin’ about Willis?
Paddington Bear was the brainchild of Michael Bond, who created the little brown bear from darkest Peru way back in the late 1950’s. The idea for the character came from a toy teddy bear that Michael Bond had bought for his wife on Christmas Eve 1956, because he saw it sat all alone on the shop shelf and felt sorry for it. Since they lived closed to Paddington railway station in London, he named the bear Paddington.
In the days before DVD and hard disc based Personal Video Recorders we all used videotapes to watch and record our favourite TV programmes and films. To be fair, most people still record off the telly using videotapes to this day, but with the cheapness of DVD players these days, I don’t suppose many pre-recorded videotapes are bought any more.