WERE YOU A YOUNG ARCHAEOLOGIST?

Where you a junior garden archaeologist?

I spent many a happy hour as a kid digging up the family garden looking for treasures!

Armed with a large metal pudding spoon and a small brush I would brave the dangerous pampas of Mum's borders and set to.

Alas I never found any Iguanadon shoulders beneath the dahlias - they must have all avoided Preston - but I did find loads of pottery: white glazed pieces; brown earthenware chunks and the occasional floral swish.

But by far my favourite finds were blue Delft, small samplers of light blue and white hinting at the simple beauty of pastoral Holland; windmills, milk pales and all.

Once all my bits and peices were washed I'd glue them in swirls on hessian-covered boards for display.

Happy days! ha ha

Indiana Jones had to start somewhere! Were you a garden Indy readers?

BRIAN CUTTLER OF CENTURY 21 TOYS

Courtesy of Rob Godwin

DOUG LUKE: CENTURY 21 MERCHANDISING PHOTOGRAPHER

This is an interesting articles concerning the late Doug Luke, the photographer for Century 21 Merchandising. Doug photographed their toys too!

The article is by James Fielding of the Independent from 2015.

Go here.

CENTURY 21 MERCHANDISING'S RICHARD CULLEY AND PATRICK McGOOHAN

Here's an interesting snippet on the Unmutual News Archive concerning Century 21 Merchandising's Manager Richard Culley and star of The Prisoner. It refers to an article by Martin Gainsford.

Go here.

CENTURY 21 MERCHANDISING'S PAUL DANIELS' PUZZLETIME

Apparently Century 21 Merchandising published the late magician Paul Daniels' Paul Daniels' Puzzletime. 

It ran from November 1981 to July 1982 and ran for 9 issues. 

I can't find a picture anywhere of this publication. Can anyone help?

Missile Down the Wind

Responding to Woodsys Nike Hercules post earlier and to tie in with my own love of rocket bases, heres one of my earliest toys. Only the toy is mine, the box is via ebay. The missile itself is a remainder from a mid sixties childhood, the launcher a late 2000's replacement. Its a Tudor Rose toy and classically styled. At the base of the rocket is a metal pin and a small striker in the barrel of the launcher, allows caps to be placed between, for a realistic bang on launching. Quite a fabulous piece, with a nice retro feel to it.

THE CASE OF THE MYSTERIOUS MAN FROM UNCLE SHIRT AND HAT AFFAIR

I do love original displays of Century 21 merchandise and toys from the time they were made. There is something definite and undeniable about them, a brief but clear glimpse into a murky past we are desperately trying to see.

Here's one I've had languishing in my online photo archive for ages. Its appeared many times before in magazines and online but its sheer volume is worth seeing over and over:

Hailing from the journal British Toys, December 1966, it displays many of the character toys under licence to Century 21 Merchandising. Not all were released via Century 21 Toys and many other toy companies are represented here too.

With this mind, two items I've never noticed before now intrigue me:

The top item is a school or work shirt clearly branded with the Man from Uncle logo. The bottom item appears to be a pork pie hat, again branded as Man from Uncle. .

I know Century 21 had a licence for Man from Uncle but I've never seen these two before.

Has anyone any more information about them readers? Its an UNCLE mystery!

OLD NIKE HERCULES ART

The more I see of the Nike Hercules the more I'm smitten with the idea that it was the source design for the Project SWORD Probe Force 1.

This old painting is just so cool so I've included the Probe Force 1 box for comparison [artists's name unreadable. Source: Astromonster.tumblr]

What do you think readers?