Actor, comedian, writer, Robert Llewellyn is perhaps most well known for his role as Kryten in the sci-fi comedy Red Dwarf and as presenter of Scrapheap Challenge. He has more recently become a champion of electric propulsion and written a trilogy of protopian science fiction. In his toy story, Robert recalls the memory of where his love of all things mechanical began.
Continue reading Robert Llewellyn – Meccano (Hornby, 1901-Present)
Sara Hawthorn is a writer of fact and fiction, who bakes a little, brings cake to meetings, and thoroughly enjoys swishing her flamenco skirt and twirling in circles. Here she looks with thirty-something eyes at a classic 80s toy.
Continue reading Sara Hawthorn – ‘Belinda’ the Cabbage Patch Doll (Coleco, 1982)
Simon Guerrero works in I.T. The least said about that, the better. He occasionally does a bit of writing and drinks rather too much coffee. He likes poetry, cars, computer games and short, strong women. He tweets as @fiatpanda. In this guest post he tells us about love, loss, guilt, shame and a familiar BEEP BEEP BEEP.
Continue reading Simon Guerrero – ‘TRON’ (TomyTronic, 1981)
When not building dens in the woods Christian Payne aka @Documentally earns a living as a creative technologist. In this guest post he tells us about adventurer, secret agent, super hero and bedtime buddy ‘General Jiffy’, his first and last childhood toy.
Continue reading Documentally – ‘General Jiffy’ (Unknown)
KT Davies has worked variously as an actor, a scaffolder, a teacher, and theatrical prop maker. She now writes. When she isn’t writing she can be found reading comics, playing computer games or practicing western martial arts and one day, she might get the hang of them, until then no light bulb is safe. In this guest post, she tells us about a bear who is always there for her.
Continue reading KT Davies – Teddy Edward ‘Big Ted’ (Unknown, 1970’s)
Mo gets paid for chasing after inconsequential facts and looking at pictures. But in this guest post she tells us about a special present from her father that avoided gender stereotypes.
Author, illustrator, speaker, songwriter, skeptic, Blue Peter badge winner, ‘QI’ Elf and researcher/writer for ‘The Museum of Curiosity’. Stevyn Colgan has done many things in his life, including a 30 year stint in the Metropolitan Police, but here he tells us about his passion for the humble Viewmaster.
Continue reading Stevyn Colgan – Viewmasters (Sawyers/GAF/Fisher Price, 1938-present)
David Bradley has been writing about sciencey stuff for a quarter of a century and is the author of ‘Deceived Wisdom‘, a book about how everything you know is wrong. In this guest post, David tells us about his fascination with the Rubik’s Cube and demonstrates his uncanny toy juggling ability.
In the first of a series of guest posts, former TV-AM weather presenter and all-round nice person Wincey Willis shares her memories of the very first toy she remembers owning. Although well known for her weather forecasts, Wincey is most proud of her work as a writer and as presenter of television programmes about animals, notably Animal Watch on TV-am and the Granada TV series Wincey’s Pets.
My love of toys spans many different mediums and none more so than the relatively recent craze of Designer Vinyl. This type of toy is usually identified by its limited quantity and unusual appearance, due partly to its creation by artists and designers.
One of my favourites in this field of ABS plastic is the ‘Lunartik In A Cup Of Tea‘ by Matt JOnes. Matt first conceived of the Lunartik in 2004 and has been producing many different flavours, and sizes, ever since.
Continue reading Lunartik In A Cup Of Tea (Matt JOnes, 2009)
No toy story would be complete without LEGO, and for the first of many mentions that this capstone (or should that be capbrick?) of childhood will be getting I have chosen my very first set.
As a long-time lover of toys and an avid, albeit frugal, collector I have amassed quite a hodgepodge of plush, plastic and die-cast metal. Each one of these treasures speaks to me on varying levels, some hold deep rooted memories whilst others simply look cool. Over the coming weeks I would like to give you a glimpse into my collection and share these toy stories with you.
To begin with, I’m going to start at the beginning…