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For many Jon Pertwee will be best remembered for playing Timelord Doctor Who, but given that he handed over to Tom Baker when I was only one year old, I will forever remember him best as the scarecrow that came to life, Worzel Gummidge.
Worzel Gummidge was one of my favourite shows as a kid, and was one of those TV programmes that got the whole family together regardless of their age. Worzel was a scarecrow who was made by The Crowman, a strange old man played by Geoffrey Bayldon of Catweazle fame. The Crowman’s scarecrows were very special as they could come to life, although they were supposed to remain lifeless whenever a human was around.
Worzel’s head was made from a Mangelwurzel (a root vegetable, a bit like a large turnip), although more properly, I should say “heads”. Worzel had a number of different heads he could switch between. A sharp twist removed his normal head, and a different head could then be slotted onto his shoulds. Each of these heads looked slightly different, and gave Worzel different abilities. Most often used was his Thinking Head, which gave him an intelligence boost, but he also had a Counting Head and a Brave Head, amongst others.
Here’s a puzzle for you. Just how do school playground catchphrases spread so quickly, and who invents them in the first place. Looking back it seems strange how suddenly everyone at your school would suddenly latch on to the latest fun thing to say. I’m not talking about catchphrases from TV shows either. No, I’m talking about those weird little sayings that pop up seemingly from nowhere, and for me a great example is the “Chinny Reckon” insult.
Duran Duran were one of the biggest bands of the 1980’s, but have never disbanded and are still recording today. The band had a string of hits including Girls on Film, Rio, Hungry Like The Wolf and the James Bond theme A View To A Kill, and were initially part of the New Romantic scene, dressing flamboyantly and with crazy big hair styles. They also have the honour of being named Princess Diana’s favourite band!
Sticker albums may not have been exclusive to the 1980’s, indeed they first appeared in the 1970’s and are still available today, but they’re one of those things that you remember about growing up. Most people probably had a phase during their childhood of finding these things the coolest idea ever, before they realised that actually completing one of the damn things was often near impossible. They were generally made by an Italian company called Panini, although in recent times another company called Merlin has also been getting in on the act.
The humble pencil is pretty much a perfect invention, and hasn’t changed a whole lot since it’s invention in the 1500’s. In those days graphite was wrapped in string to stop it breaking, but in the mid 1600’s the first mass produced pencial was created, which encased the graphite in wood, much as we still do today. History lesson out of the way, these days we still basically have only three types of pencil (excepting what’s used as the actual writing material itself). The standard wooden pencil, the propelling pencil, and the Pop-A-Point pencil!
This particular marvel of 80’s confectionary went by many names, but I always remember it as Space Dust. It was a curious looking concoction, being little coloured granules of various sizes from quite literally dust to pieces of a millimetre or so in diameter. It was fruit flavoured but the most important thing about Space Dust was what it did when you put it on your tongue. It would crackle. It would pop. It would make your tongue feel all tingly. Occasionally with a really big pop it might even hurt your mouth a little bit, but that didn’t stop you tipping a load more into your mouth later.
“Super, smashing, great!”
If turning a sheet of A4 paper into an aeroplane always left you disappointed because the average paper dart didn’t look particular plane like, then the Polystyrene Glider was the cheap solution to your woes. I remember buying them on my way home from primary school in the corner newsagents. They only cost about ten pence, and came in a little paper envelope with a picture of the plane you had bought on the front.