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Strange toys

Vivienne14

Vivienne14

Kentish Brummie Moderator
Staff member
Went looking for a bit of nostalgia this afternoon and came across these. I had a Troll with white hair that was constantly groomed. These were small enough to sit in our school skirt pockets and could easily be brought out at break times for combing and styling. Seems so odd today, can’t quite see the point - we must have been 11 or 12 year olds at the time, about mid-60s.

The other ‘odd’ one was a Gonk. The one in the photo is supposed to be one of the Beatles - Yeah, Yeah ! I didn’t buy one of these but made my own out of felt in a character of my own making. It sat on my bed _ that’s about the fullest extent of its interest !

Finally, one other thing I made (for which I don’t have a picture) is a Dougal Dog (from the Magic Roundabout). Made it out of an old pillowcase, and threaded loads and loads of chunky knit wool onto it for its fur, Then two pieces of felt for the eyes. Voila ! Very cheap but again it just sat on the bed along with the Gonk. All harmless fun though.

Viv.

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Vivienne14 said:
Went looking for a bit of nostalgia this afternoon and came across these. I had a Troll with white hair that was constantly groomed. These were small enough to sit in our school skirt pockets and could easily be brought out at break times for combing and styling. Seems so odd today, can’t quite see the point - we must have been 11 or 12 year olds at the time, about mid-60s.

The other ‘odd’ one was a Gonk. The one in the photo is supposed to be one of the Beatles - Yeah, Yeah ! I didn’t buy one of these but made my own out of felt in a character of my own making. It sat on my bed _ that’s about the fullest extent of its interest !

Finally, one other thing I made (for which I don’t have a picture) is a Dougal Dog (from the Magic Roundabout). Made it out of an old pillowcase, and threaded loads and loads of chunky knit wool onto it for its fur, Then two pieces of felt for the eyes. Voila ! Very cheap but again it just sat on the bed along with the Gonk. All harmless fun though.

Viv.

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Hi Viv,

I too was troll crazy in the 60s, a little bit later than you when I was at Junior school. We made up all sorts of stories and games featuring them, very odd! I can't remember how the craze started but they were featured in a comic I used to read called Princess Tina. I also remember that you could win them at fairs, don't know where we actually bought them from though. Unlike you I don't still have mine. Don't know if that's a good or a bad thing....

Lynn.
 
I had a troll on the end of my pencil! He had long purple hair and I groomed him so much it came out so had to put a bit of sheepskin the gap. (Yes I still have him!) I knitted my Gonk from a pattern in mother's Woman's Realm or some other magazine, I don't remember what happened to him.
rosie.
 
I am sure that they used to sell trolls at Gills toy shop in Sutton Parde where I worked as a Saturday girl.
 
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Clickers. Remember these. We had one. All it did was click when pressed. Think it might have been free with a magazine. I’m certain we wouldn’t have gone out purposely to buy one. These are 1950s German clickers. Viv.

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For my 9th birthday in 1955 I had a deep sea diver in a water filled glass tube. By pressing the button on the top the diver went down and when button was released he came back up. I've tried to find an image of this particular toy without success. However, it's based on the Cartesian Diver principal of which there are many variations on You Tube.
 
Banjo said:
For my 9th birthday in 1955 I had a deep sea diver in a water filled glass tube. By pressing the button on the top the diver went down and when button was released he came back up. I've tried to find an image of this particular toy without success. However, it's based on the Cartesian Diver principal of which there are many variations on You Tube.
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One of these?
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Hi RobT, no, it wasn't that. The diver itself looked like your photos but had no attachments and was about 1 inch tall. He was also sealed in a clear plastic tube filled with water about 10 inches high. Couldn't squeeze the tube because it was hard plastic so there was a rubber button on the top. Here is a modern home made version. First time I've uploaded a video so apologies for not giving a proper link. <iframe width="560" height="315" src="
" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>
 
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I had one of these as a Christmas present when I was a lad ... much fun but sometimes painful ... :)
Ray Griffiths said:
Hi Folks These two pictures show a shocking machine which would have been attached to a battery. My Dad bought it convinced it would help with his pains.
He would spent some time holding the 2 hand pieces and you would see his arm jumping.
Picture 2 was the trick he used to play on us as kids, he'd put a coin into a bowl of water and you would hold 1 hand piece and the other hand piece would be inserted into water which you had to put your hand in to retrieve the coin .
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Eric Gibson said:
But I wonder if that was just added for drama by the film makers Pete, did it really happen? I'm sure I can tell the difference having had use of both. ;)
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true eric, i think that was just movies, my bolts don't sound like clicks more like clacks.....:)
 
Banjo said:
Hi RobT, no, it wasn't that. The diver itself looked like your photos but had no attachments and was about 1 inch tall. He was also sealed in a clear plastic tube filled with water about 10 inches high. Couldn't squeeze the tube because it was hard plastic so there was a rubber button on the top. Here is a modern home made version. First time I've uploaded a video so apologies for not giving a proper link. <iframe width="560" height="315" src="
" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>
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Super video Banjo, demonstrated the toy very well, never seen one of those before.
 
Don't know why but as I woke this morning I suddenly thought of a toy I used to love playing with,[ perhaps in old age wishing I could get back to my childhood]. It was a little tin speedboat, about 3 inches long and you put a little bit of lighted candle or taper in it and somehow it would speed along the bath. I can remember a little overhead tank in it but can't remember anything else as to how it worked.
Looking at some of the above I would love to play with them now. Keep telling wife I'm in my second childhood but she says I've never grown out of the first one !
 
Wow! Thanks for that Morturn. I get more amazed every day at what you can find on the internet and more so at what the folk on this wonderful site find out for you. Apart from the boat on the video being somewhat posher than mine it worked exactly the same. It certainly brings back memories of my childhood pre WW 2
 
I also have to admit owning a couple of these pop pop boats myself. They are great fun and work remarkably well
 
Seeing the working diver toys on this thread reminded me of the little plastic submarines that I used to get from Woolworths in the 50s. The packaging blurb insisted that if I put some baking soda in a hole underneath the thing, it would sink in a bath of water and then resurface after a bit. I bought a few of them and never managed to get any of them diving and coming back up. They just floated there!
 
I remember seeing them demonstrated in Lewis's in the mid '50's, couldn't afford to buy one with my pocket money, they always fascinated me ................Mal
 
Does anybody remember the odd-looking bird that would continually dip its beak into a glass of water, I seem to recall it was called something like a 'dipping duck' ?.............................Mal
 
It’s the Dippy Drinking Bird toy. They have been around for years, I read about them in a science book at school and became fascinated with them. I was delighted to find one in the café on station road Erdington. They are still available onEbay.

Here is a video of one
 
These are pictures of one of my favourite toys. Always known as a Scarab. I've just found out that there was a real vehicle in 1930s USA like that, a Scout Scarab.

The toy (exactly like these) was available to me as far back as I can remember. Dad had a business trip to the USA in 1938 and must have brought it back with him for me. Red, just like the one in the picture, and repainted more than once in the same colour, when it got a bit knocked about.

Dad had built a garage on the side of our house before I was born and this had a smooth concrete floor where this toy came into its own. It was quite remarkable in that it was able to pursue a triangular course. When it had run in a straight line for a few feet, a fifth wheel emerged on the underside at the rear, the vehicle swivelled around on it for 120 degrees, then a few further feet and then the same thing happened again. All rather remarkable! You could pull a little lever to disengage that and then it would go shooting off in a straight line, either hitting a wall, or disappearing under the workbench, or getting tangled up in the bicycle wheels.

Quite a solid thing, as I remember. I have no idea what its size really was. It was a two-handed holding job for me as a five or six-year-old.

Wish I knew what happened to it. No doubt just dumped. Might have been worthwhile addition to the pension with the help of eBay.

Chris

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