FREE GIFTS FOR KIDS - 60'S & 70'S

Youngsters do like to get their grubby mitts on free stuff.

Here's how us school kids got some of ours back in the 60's & 70's - as gifts in comics.

I'm sure you'll remember some of the ones shown above.

The Super Skimmer and the Wiz Whizz were the same thing, only different names, but they were plastic rotor blade wheels that used either lollipop sticks or elastic bands to get them spinning off into the air.

Toys that made noises were popular.

The Red Racketty was on a length of line and spun around over your head, the toy emitting a rasping buzzing noise in the process.

Thunder Bangs were great - just a swift downwards swipe to set off the loud bang.

I remember we made Thunder Bangs as part of crafts in Primary.

Then there was the Pop Gun of course, with its plastic plug to get the popping noise.

Balloons were also used for their sounds, coming in all shapes & sizes & names, fitted with plastic valves that made the balloons rasp when let fly around in the air.

As well as the Beezers Flying Fizzer above, the Beano also had the Flying Snorter and the Screamin' Demon.

There were whistles too - the Whoopee Whistle and the Happy Howler that made siren noises.

An annoying one was a toy called the Clicketty Clicker which was a hollow metal object with the image of Dennis The Menace on it, and when pressed in & out, made the clicking sound. Not a fave with parents!

The Whizzer & Chips was already 2 comics for the price of 1, but they also gave away free stuff, the one above being for a Flick Book.

Again, we used to do our own versions of flick books by drawing wee animations on the corners of our jotters.

Many of the gifts that were specifically for girls were adornment based items, while the boys were catered for in other comics with football related freebies.

So there's just a small selection of stuff we got for free when we were kids, generating lots of mucking about in the playground and at home.

SUBBUTEO ACCESSORIES - 1972-73

Some amusing accessories were available in the early 70's to customise your Subbuteo pitch layout. Photographers, ambulancemen, police, TV crew, fans, in fact just about everything you can think of - apart from a streaker!

I had to scan the page in 2 sections, so poor old Ken Baily is split up the middle!

SUBBUTEO CATALOGUE - 1972-73

It was my wee brother who had the Subbuteo football gear, not me, but in the early 70's I was the one who came up with the idea of having a European League Table for us to indulge in at home. So along with Dundee, we had a few of the top Euro teams from that era in it - Ajax, Ujpest Dozsa etc, and I had the job of organising the fixtures, recording the results and writing out the league positions in my wee notebook! Good fun.
Looking back at the 1972-73 catalogue again reminded me that I have no idea how you went about playing Subbuteo Cricket, Rugby or Angling!!!

THE SCHOOL FORTUNE TELLER

You'll all remember these paper fortune tellers from your school days. Place your index fingers and thumbs underneath the 4 segments then flip back & forwards.
Here's a reminder of the sequence involved -
FT OPERATOR "Pick a colour"
CLIENT "Blue"
FT OPERATOR "B-L-U-E"
FT OPERATOR "Pick a number"
CLIENT "Three"
FT OPERATOR "1-2-3"
FT OPERATOR "Pick another number"
CLIENT "Eight"
FT OPERATOR lifts flap and reads out what is written underneath the number 8 segment.
At primary school in the 60's we usually had silly things written like "You fancy the teacher" or something. In secondary in the 70's it was the same kind of thing...only X-Rated.!!

BUBBLES, WINDMILLS AND SPARKLERS

A variety of things on sticks can keep young kids entertained for ages.

A matter of simple but effective.

This is me (yes it's GG) playing aroond the backies in Craigie in the 60's.

I put it on view not because of me but because of the bubbles container. Notice, no product packaging, no logos, no manufacturing details, and yet that's how they were sold in shops. Just the plain tin with the stick inside. As basic as that.

Windmills too were as basic as it gets. A wooden stick with 4 plastic petal-like blades. The fun was derived running around pretending to be an aeroplane or attaching one to your bike. Then at the end of the day when you were puggled, you would plant it in the garden and pretend it was a flower!

Sparklers, however, well they were more of a luxury stick! Only allowed to indulge one week a year!!

I couldn't resist animating the photo (see below).
A circular breathing technique was needed to do this!

 

 

TANNADICE STREET - 1970

This photo of Tannadice Street was taken in 1970. It has changed a wee bit since then. Gussie Park carnival would have been there, as well as the Angus Jute Works, and obviously the other 2 "Parks", Tannadice and Dens, have now become Stadiums.
I reckon if they moved the cars out of the way, this would be the ultimate spot for Dundee kids to play Kerby! A backdrop like that would surely inspire a few good throws to get those "half-roadies".
Stats show that Dundee FC and United were eeksie-peeksie around this time.
The 1969/70 season had United finish in 5th position on 38 points and Dundee in 6th with 36 points.
The 1970/71 season saw Dundee finish 5th on 38 points and United in 6th spot with 36 points.
The cool piece of film below was taken a year or so earlier and shows the comings & goings at Tannadice on match day.

JOHN MENZIES - MURRAYGATE CORNER - 1982

The above photo was taken in 1982, so this would have been a kind of last glimpse of John Menzies corner spot before moving to the opposite side of the Murraygate into Woolies old premises at the tale end of 1983.
As an added bonus, below you'll find a reminder of the Galaxian machines Menzies had on the stair landings.
Incidentally, at the time of this photo, there was also an Amusement Arcade next door to JM's that no doubt had the sound of Galaxians blasting out all day long too!
Photo by DC Thomson.

THE TONIBELL MINIBALL

A novelty ice cream idea that was a big hit with youngsters in the 60's and 70's was the Tonibell Miniball - a plastic ball filled with ice cream. To tuck into the contents you removed the lid, and when the ice cream was all gone you just snapped the lid back on, then you could have a game of football, tennis and so on, with it. They were sold in various colours and they came with a flat wooden spoon.
This advert is dated June 1968 but I can recall when I was at Craigie High school in 1970-74, the 70's ones had either a gobstopper or bubblegum inside as an added extra feature. Needless to say we had many games of football in the playground with them too.
I've no idea when they stopped selling them, I don't have any memory of having ever seen them after my school days, but they were popular in their day, and one of the rare occasions when kids didn't get in trouble for playing with their food!

FUTBA IN THE CULDEE - 1960's

This is the cul-de-sac in Kemnay Gardens where many a football game was played as a lad in the 60's. Usually it was 2-touch or shootie-in, depending on how many there were.

Three doors along from me was a house which was an official Guest House connected to Dundee Football Club. This was the 1960's to 1990's period, and out of town players would reside there for a spell until they got their own place.

One such player, in the mid 60's was, George Ryden.

I remember on a few occasions when we were having a kick about in the culdee, George would join in and teach us a few keepy-up skills & tricks. He even managed to do all this fancy footwork wearing winkle-pickers.

I was always half expecting him to burst the ball with those pointed boots of his!

DUNDEE'S AMUSEMENT ARCADE - 1970's

Around 1970, another Amusement Arcade was proving popular in Dundee - this one was in the Wellgate, and on 2 levels.

The ground floor of #34 (on the corner of Baltic Street) had all the slot machines & games, and upstairs there was a mini dodgems track.

I remember it had the first ever primitive computer screen game, it was called PONG and based on table tennis (ping pong).

Spent quite a few bob at the arcade there Saturday mornings - Pong in particular.

Photo by DC Thomson.

DUNDEE'S AMUSEMENT ARCADE - 1960's

Probably most of Dundee's kids paid a visit to the Amusement Arcade in Shore Terrace in the 60's. It had the usual kind of stuff, slot machines, rides & shooting games, but the one I liked best was "Torpedo". You looked through a submarine periscope to view ships passing on the horizon. You then had to calculate when to fire the torpedo to hit the ships. It did take 2 or 3 seconds to travel through the water, so it was a bit hit and miss. The path of the torpedo lit up and when you did make contact, the whole consul flashed on & off along with the sound of the explosion. No computer screens then, these were in 3D depth.
Photo by DC Thomson.Tints by GG.

60's CLACKERS

One of the most popular fads of the 60's, were Clackers. They took Dundee, and the rest of UK by storm. There was probably no street or playground where you couldn't hear the CLACK,CLACK,CLACK blasting out back then. The noise annoyed adults so much that they invented a story about them being dangerous and banned them.
Here, below, is some outlawed footage of the treacherous toy in action!!

GIRLS PLAYING ELASTICS - 1960's

Around the playgrounds and streets of Dundee in the 60's, one of the games girls used to play was ELASTICS.
They would tie dozens of elastic bands together to form a large loop and then they were ready.
2 girls stood opposite each other with the elastic loop around their ankles and a 3rd girl would jump in & out of them, as they did with skipping. There were different moves & different degrees of difficulty - twisting them, hopping in between etc.
After the first ankle level was complete, the elastics would be moved up to knee height, then the waist.
Can't recall now if there were rhymes that went with it too.
Anyway, here below is film of Dundee lassies showing how it's done...although demonstrating that you could also tie the elastics around a lamp-post to play the game.

ROLL OF CAPS

Popular around the school playgrounds of Dundee in the sixties were "Caps", sometimes called keps. These were sold in rolls (as above) or bought as boxes of individual caps. Caps were used mostly in toy guns to make them go BANG!... but because they were cheap, they were used a lot at school without the need of a gun. One technique was to rip off a strip of about a dozen, place it on the ground and drag your foot across it to trigger a machine gun effect. We also used our thumb nails and stones to get them to explode!