This was undoubtedly my favourite 'Girls' annual. It was given to me as a Christmas present in 1965. I would have been 6 years old at the time and I can remember this annual giving me years of enjoyment.
In an age when there was no TV (S Africa only got TV for the first time in 1975), no personal computers or Internet and no gaming consoles, annuals like these were a major source of entertainment. For me they had everything - below are just some of my personal highlights . . .
Famous celebrities with humorous captions. . .
Sweet things to make . . .
Craft ideas - I can remember being intrigued by quite a few of these and may have attempted some
Cliff was the main heartthrob! - appearing in a pantomime of Aladdin . . .
Of course the Beatles were there too . . .
And most importantly for me a ballet feature (The Nutcracker) . . .
There was even a ballet related story (this was the one I poured over the most) . . .
Other stories galore - many of them had a horsey theme . . .
Not all the stories were in comic book form although many appear to have been illustrated by the same artist. If anyone would like to see the full story of the two I have featured leave me a comment and I'll include them in another post.
See the full story in Dream House (posted 4 Sept 2012)
The full contents page -
What more could a young girl in the Swinging 60's ask for?
7 comments:
How special that you still have this. It looks like it was a gift from your grandparents. My grandparents always seemed to know the right thing to give me (like my first Elvis Presley album - I think I may still have that actually). I would have enjoyed that magazine as well. We didn't get a TV until I was 12 years old so magazines and books entertained me!
What a wonderful treasure Sharon!
What a fun post! This is so wonderful that you held on to these items that have become such amazing keepsakes! I wish I could go back in time and save a few things like this from my own childhood! Thanks for sharing!
I was 18 when this was published, dating Terry and madly in love with the beatles!! At that time one wall in my bedroom was covered with pictures of the beatles, and another with beer mats (the cardboard ones they use in pubs). I didn't frequent lots of pubs! But everyone knew I collected the mats, so I had hundreds. Can you imagine the state of the walls when my mum redecorated after I left home? I would have loved this annual (even at that great age) it’s so nice that you still have it.
I have to confess that all my sister's girly annuals were used to put on top of a roller skate and zoom down hills before the days of skateboards. She once burnt my Beano annual from revenge. The cheek of it.
Fun post. I don't believe we had annuals here. What a cute magazine. I too loved the Ballet page. And in 1966, was there anything out there other than the Beatles? My friends and I, of course, were Beatle crazy.
My elder sister was Beatles crazy. She's five years older than I am and I remember her and her friends listening to their music constantly. The one song that always seems to stick in my head is A Hard Days Night. I remember her playing that one over and over and over. :)
I for one would love to read the rest of the stories. I'm particularly intrigued by the story Dream House, and I've always loved stories about horses (ever since I read Anna Sewell's Black Beauty) and of course stories about the Ballet having once upon a time dreamed about being a ballerina.
Post a Comment