THE PERSUADERS!

Sinclair and Wilde are The Persuaders! 

English aristocrat, Lord Brett Sinclair, with interests raging from art collecting to motor racing. He was born with a silver spoon in his mouth and has spent his life licking the jam from it.

American playboy, Danny Wilde,  born in the New York slums and using sheer nerve has  climbed his way up to financial success. He wastes his talent drifting round the world gambling and womanising.

A Riviera meeting with retired Judge Fulton changes their  lives. They are coerced by the Judge into becoming his agents for justice - The Persuaders!

I loved The Persuaders!  as a youngster. With it’s unique John Barry theme  coupled with those split screen titles, this was one hip show. Roger Moore as Brett was already well known to me as The Saint, and Tony Curtis was perfect as his wise cracking partner.

Over the years I’ve picked up the odd memento from this classic series.

I remember getting the theme music on this John Barry record, one of the first L.P.’s I ever got.

I was chuffed when Countdown comic, published by Polystyle  announced it was going to feature a full colour strip, beginning in issue 35 dated October 16 1971.

The series had started in September 17, 1971 so Countdown was very quick off the mark.

The strip continued to feature when Countdown became TV Action, although not always in colour.

The series even made the front cover of the final edition of TV Action issue 132 dated August 26, 1973

Polystyle  produced a Persuaders Annual ( with a missing exclamation mark ! ). This was an excellent publication with loads of dedicated articles on the show.  Century 21 Merchandising shares the copyright with Polystyle for this publication, which is dated 1972.

Polystyle (without Century 21) produced a summer special during 1972 which to my mind was a little disappointing as most of the articles in it were just fillers dealing with motor racing and helicopters. There was a couple of pin up pictures of Danny and Brett along with a centre spread showing scenes from the series.

A set of  picture cards were produced by the Dutch company Monty  in 1971.  The back of the wrapper states that there are apparently 96 in the set along with an album. The British set has a copyright credit to Century 21 Ltd.

I picked up the three Pan paperbacks which had adaptations of some of the TV episodes. 

In the eighties with the advent of video, I picked up several of the Persuaders! compilations that comprised of two episodes being edited together to create a theatrical feature. There were four films - London Conspiracy, Mission Monte Carlo, The Switch,  and Sporting Chance.

This is the  Channel 5 version of Sporting Chance from 1986

These are some Front of House stills for the theatrical release of Mission Monte Carlo. 

In 1992 ITC released several of the proper episodes on video. This is the cover. Although it’s ITC they annoyingly don’t use the proper logo and miss out that exclamation mark!

One of the big signature things about the Persuaders! was the cars - Danny’s red Ferrari Dino 246 GT and Brett’s Bahama Yellow Aston Martin DBS with V8 wheels and markings.

In 2002, Corgi released a lovely die cast model of the DBS along with a resin figure of  Brett.

I'm still waiting for Danny's Ferrari!

So there you have it, some of the items in my small collection of Persuaders! memorabilia.

SWORDCAST TONIGHT!

DON'T FORGET TO TUNE INTO THE EASTER SWORDCAST TONIGHT AT 8PM - ITS A MONSTERS SPECIAL!

GORDONS' ALIVE....!

 

Ive been enjoying a long trip down catalogue lane lately, as ive finally got a little time to examine a huge box of old kit and railway catalogues, my dad collected. In amongst the regualr fare of Airfix, Hornby and general toy brochures are the odd selection of other makers. One such was a sixties Revell brochure, which along with the usual series of planes and cars has a rare kit of Flash Gordon. Ive never seen this kit made up, in fact I only saw the box from a distance in an old model railway shop in Liverpool, years ago. It features a stereotypical 'Flash' and doesn't seem to reflect any of his tv or (mercifully film ouitngs. In the catalogue, it's only a small photo and easily overlooked.Has anyone got this model ?

Perhaps more recognisable are the Ed 'Big Daddy' Roth custom monsters, featuring a crazy creature in a modified hot rod. Earlier still I found a Playcraft catalogue offering Aurora kits with some fine monochrome illustrations of the classics.

EASTER X: GLICO ZERO-X NEW TO THE BLOG

This beautiful miniature Zero-X recently appeared on Yahoo Japan. It's completely new to the blog and to me. Most likely made by Glico, the Japanese candy premium kings, it appears to be a snap-together model  with moving wheel axles typical of their candy toys. Its has a less realistic look than the Morinaga candy Zero-X we've covered before but I really like it. Fellow glico fans dud too as it sold for a princely £85. There was no box so I wonder if there is a small glico box somewhere with a Zero-X picture on it?

 

 

A second candy premium also surfaced in Japan recently amongst a small group pictured below. What on earth is the pink Zero-X-like spacecraft bottom right? It looks positively baroque! Adding to the mystery it appears next to a tiny orange Glico MSV from Captain Scarlet!

 

 

I wouldn't mind any of these toys in my chocolate eggs this Easter!

'THE WRONG TROUSERS!' - GRAND DAY OUT 2

To compliment Wote's post on our very enjoyable visit to the Dinky fair in Southport here are my humble purchases.

First up a green Bentley from the Avengers gift set complete with John Steed figure, and at the point of buying, an intact windscreen. On removing it from it's carrier bag the fragile screen had broke off - Super Glue to the rescue!

Next a Vivid Imagination Mac's Car. A dodgy front wheel on this example but a nice die cast nonetheless.

A Matchbox Jumbo Crane as can be seen in various episodes of Thunderbirds, and will doubt find itself on in one of my diorama's.

Pleased with this one, A later version of the Batmobile and Glastron Batboat. The car has solid tyres and the flame from the exhaust doesn't go in and out.

Finally, a  set of Brooke Bond cards showing the History of Aviation which Wotan, knowing of my interest in aircraft  generously gifted to me.

I will, of course give all these little beauties a more detailed blogging in the fullness of time

A GRAND DAY OUT

Me and Scoop spent a great day today at a local Train and Dinky fair. Its always good to immerse yourself in some toy nostalgia and there was plenty to see today, lots of classic Triang Hornby trains, Corgi, Dinky and Matchbox cars. There were plenty of tempting offers and more than a few bargains. I came away with a dilapidated Dinky Macs Car, a Triang Battlespace low loader and Exploding Munitions wagon and a shoebox choc full of Brooke Bond and cigarette cards. Scoop kindly found me a fine Corgi futuristic Fire Engine too. My Battlespace collection now consists of four models and counting... Just before I left, I picked up a Hotwheels Redline Python too.