Me and the Missus caught a flick the other night called The Dig.
Its a modern film recreating how the Sutton Hoo horde was unearthed in Suffolk in 1939 as the Second World War broke.
Its certainly not an action film and takes on the pace of soil being slowly scraped away but it was very enjoyable and interesting.
The champion of the dig, on whose land it is, is one Mrs. Edith Pretty ably encouraged by her young son, who in the film is a Back Rogers nut. The archaeologist or 'excavator' as he called himself is Mr. Basil Brown.
What they find under the mound is magnificent: an entire wooden ship bursting with Anglo-Saxon treasures like coins, swords and all sorts. Oddly the famous helmet isn't shown.
It would appear from the flick that the 'authorities' took credit for the find and for years Basil brown was unknown. It was only relatively recently that his work was formally acknowledged.
I remember reading about Sutton Hoo as a kid and being entranced by the majesty of the gold torques and the shining helmet. I don't think I had any specific toys relating to Hoo but I adored plastic armour and swords. I really did. So much so that I find myself staring at them in Museum shops were they always seem to be. One of my favourites was a plastic mace made from brown plastic. I also loved digging up pottery and the like in my parent's garden. I even buried some coins in a biscuit tin.
On a whim I googled Sutton Hoo toys and lots of stuff appeared. I didn't even need a trowel. I was most surprised by a Timpo Viking figure wearing a Sutton Hoo helmet.
Did you have anything like this or any plastic arms and armour?
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