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Our childhood toys

Spargone said:
I expect every age is the 'golden age' for each generation, after all they know no better, but I think I did quite well. There were a lot of quality toys available at pocket-money prices. We quickly worked out the merits of tin-plate, die-cast and plastic materials, a useful life-skills training, the right material for the right job.

Something else that I had was independence. Just about every newsagent sold a range of decent toys and there were many newsagents within walking distance, (and of course I was allowed to walk!). I knew in advance what I might want to have, a few pennies would buy a catalogue or price list that could be eagerly studied and plans made!

I wasn't restricted to the newsagents either, a trip to the Post Office, a postal order, clipped coupon or short note and a few days later 'Master S' was the proud owner of a new purchase, (sometimes to the consternation of the parents!).

I'm sure many of my generation sent off for the 'Seebackroscope' or 'Throw Your Voice' instructions, complete with the dangerous looking 'swazzle' or that clear-plastic 'ten-in-one' device, (most of which were variations on magnifiers, plus a mirror and compass).

But then today's youngster just raises their voice above the noise of their computer game and says, "ALEXA! Buy me a ...", and it all goes on a parent's card?
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ade said:
that radio would have been every young boys dream, I had a radio given to me at a very early age and now have this obsession with old vintage radios, I remember as a kid, my dad started his own business in a small shed in the garden and I used to sit for hours with him listening to the cricket commentary from far away from Australia, or radio five football night. I'd take radio over T. V any day of the week
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Before I could stretch to a transistor radio, as boy I made myself a crystal set from parts bought from a shop in town, whose name I can't remember. Having soldered the few components in accordance with a circuit drawing I had, and spread a thin wire around my bedroom ceiling to act as an aerial, I could twiddle with the little tuning device and sit up late at night listening to Radio Caroline and other stations on my little bakelite headphones. Does anybody else remember their crystal set?
 
Ray T said:
Before I could stretch to a transistor radio, as boy I made myself a crystal set from parts bought from a shop in town, whose name I can't remember. Having soldered the few components in accordance with a circuit drawing I had, and spread a thin wire around my bedroom ceiling to act as an aerial, I could twiddle with the little tuning device and sit up late at night listening to Radio Caroline and other stations on my little bakelite headphones. Does anybody else remember their crystal set?
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Those crystal sets were a good learning curve for boys and girls interested in radio, at the time, to actually go to a shop and bring home some components to build your own radio, then hear it working would have been wonderful. I still think radio is an amazing invention, to hear voices and music coming through airwaves and to be able to listen to it anywhere you like at anytime
 
Ray T said:
Before I could stretch to a transistor radio, as boy I made myself a crystal set from parts bought from a shop in town, whose name I can't remember. Having soldered the few components in accordance with a circuit drawing I had, and spread a thin wire around my bedroom ceiling to act as an aerial, I could twiddle with the little tuning device and sit up late at night listening to Radio Caroline and other stations on my little bakelite headphones. Does anybody else remember their crystal set?
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see #344.....i built a lot from bits.1577875150089.png
 
Ray T said:
.Having soldered the few components in accordance with a circuit drawing I had, and spread a thin wire around my bedroom ceiling to act as an aerial...
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Picture rails, (remember them?) were good for that. I bought a box of single-core insulated cable from Civic in Sheldon for use as an aerial. It was possibly sold just for that purpose. I never saw cable like it elsewhere, the insulation was quite thick and it very strongly smelled of town gas.
Most of my radio parts came from advertisers in Wireless World, a magazine that my dad had bought from his late teens. There was a very good shop across the road from Lewis's that I visited a few times in the late 1960s. Wasn't Hurst Street home to a few electronics-based shops? Henry's, Bi-Pre-Pak, Electrovalue and Maplin (customer 2457) were some of my postal suppliers.
 
Ray T said:
Before I could stretch to a transistor radio, as boy I made myself a crystal set from parts bought from a shop in town, whose name I can't remember. Having soldered the few components in accordance with a circuit drawing I had, and spread a thin wire around my bedroom ceiling to act as an aerial, I could twiddle with the little tuning device and sit up late at night listening to Radio Caroline and other stations on my little bakelite headphones. Does anybody else remember their crystal set?
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I had one for Xmas in the early 60s. I think my Dad bought it from The Army and Navy Store, the headphones looked military like with a black metal headband, Bakelite ear cups and khaki coloured wire which attached to two terminals on a wooden box with a speaker like grill on the front , though it emitted no sound! I couldn't understand how it could work, having no power supply and was even more confused when I took the back off to reveal a couple of soldered wires and what looked like a glass filament. The only connection to the box as I recall was a wire which was attached to a earthing rod outside in the garden? I think he bought them for my cousins too and later made one for himself, though this one was powered by a small battery, maybe this was an early attempt at making a transistor radio?
 
ade said:
that radio would have been every young boys dream, I had a radio given to me at a very early age and now have this obsession with old vintage radios, I remember as a kid, my dad started his own business in a small shed in the garden and I used to sit for hours with him listening to the cricket commentary from far away from Australia, or radio five football night. I'd take radio over T. V any day of the week
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I wanted to respond to this but it was off thread so posted it on

Radio

My husband used to have lots of those! We've still got valves in the shed, not the useful common ones though. The radios were damaged in the loft when part of the roof came off in the storms a few years ago. rosie. how rosie sorry hear that. i love valve radios. i have one and it only goes on...
birminghamhistory.co.uk birminghamhistory.co.uk
 
Ray T said:
Before I could stretch to a transistor radio, as boy I made myself a crystal set from parts bought from a shop in town, whose name I can't remember. Having soldered the few components in accordance with a circuit drawing I had, and spread a thin wire around my bedroom ceiling to act as an aerial, I could twiddle with the little tuning device and sit up late at night listening to Radio Caroline and other stations on my little bakelite headphones. Does anybody else remember their crystal set?
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Very much so......It took me a while to get it working and my parents did not appreciate the wires around my bedroom. Every once in a while I would come home and they were gone! My mother had enough.....
 
Richarddye said:
Very much so......It took me a while to get it working and my parents did not appreciate the wires around my bedroom. Every once in a while I would come home and they were gone! My mother had enough.....
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:joy:i hid my very thin wires under the skirting board. and through the corner of the window to the outside.
 
as i was into electrics.i bought one of these for 10/- 1577884956762.pngto tinker with. and so did my mate next door. we conected them.and was talking at night. mom did draw the line at that. we was e:(victed to the garden shed and air raid shelter.as coms rooms
 
And dozens of amateur stamp dealers making a bit of money on the side. I bet that they and the many in Exchange & Mart were frequent recipients of letters from the Inland Revenue!

Maurice :cool:
 
Alan had that Money Box for years.Gave it to my G/son for his 10 birthday last year.He loved the smiling face
 
Ray,just after the war finished ,my father worked for a Co in Balsall Heath named Lengs who made brushes of all kinds.Mr Les Leng give me a Crystal set he had made.Spent many hours listening with my head phones on
 
Ray T said:
Before I could stretch to a transistor radio, as boy I made myself a crystal set from parts bought from a shop in town, whose name I can't remember. Having soldered the few components in accordance with a circuit drawing I had, and spread a thin wire around my bedroom ceiling to act as an aerial, I could twiddle with the little tuning device and sit up late at night listening to Radio Caroline and other stations on my little bakelite headphones. Does anybody else remember their crystal set?
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I never had a crystal set , but a mate had one up the street from me , after messing and twiddling for hours one Sunday afternoon we started receiving interference . I unfortunately had to leave for about half an hour , when I went back I was told by my mate which was endorsed by his three younger brothers . That in my absence they had received an SOS message I at a young age was baffled , is it true or not I asked myself ? After chewing the fat with the present company for what seemed ages , they then told me that the SOS translated read Send our Sunblest with that they all collapsed with laughter . Needless to say I wasn't that amused , I rather thought we might have been on the track of something important
 
Williamstreeter said:
I never had a crystal set , but a mate had one up the street from me , after messing and twiddling for hours one Sunday afternoon we started receiving interference . I unfortunately had to leave for about half an hour , when I went back I was told by my mate which was endorsed by his three younger brothers . That in my absence they had received an SOS message I at a young age was baffled , is it true or not I asked myself ? After chewing the fat with the present company for what seemed ages , they then told me that the SOS translated read Send our Sunblest with that they all collapsed with laughter . Needless to say I wasn't that amused , I rather thought we might have been on the track of something important
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you could have done xsets were hf and some SOS CQD Frequencies were down there
 
i have been in my brother in laws loft to fix a leak. and found 1638193436126.jpegsome like these they were my sisters. i never knew she had kept them she died 18 years ago
91gm0QJhVhL._AC_SL1500_.jpg
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Williamstreeter said:
I never had a crystal set , but a mate had one up the street from me , after messing and twiddling for hours one Sunday afternoon we started receiving interference . I unfortunately had to leave for about half an hour , when I went back I was told by my mate which was endorsed by his three younger brothers . That in my absence they had received an SOS message I at a young age was baffled , is it true or not I asked myself ? After chewing the fat with the present company for what seemed ages , they then told me that the SOS translated read Send our Sunblest with that they all collapsed with laughter . Needless to say I wasn't that amused , I rather thought we might have been on the track of something important
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When living in a students hall of residence I had a go at making a small VHF transmitter partly with the object of messing about with a fellow student across the quad who had built his own VHF receiver. I stopped the experiment when police messages started to come out of the AM radio that we had been using as a signal source. Sauntering over to our friend we found him crouched over his set, fiddling with the alignment, as he had been picking up 'strange signals' so I guess my transmitter had worked! The transmitter had been made using self-adhesive copper foil stuck to cardboard from a university jotter. The small VHF transmitter idea was used by other students later in the year for 'Radio Summer Festival'. A 'secret' room contained the studio and it was linked by low-power VHF to an AM transmitter strung up in a tree, the idea being that if the 'powers that be' tracked down the main transmitter the expensive hi-fi kit would still be safe.
 
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