Manchester Evening News Saturday November 27th 1982 UK TV and Cinema Listings

I found this old Manchester Evening News newspaper from 1982 in an old family photo chest.

What interested me were the Saturday TV and cinema listings. I was 21 at the time and living in Germany.

In Britain these were the days of just 4 TV channels and countless small town-centre cinemas.

Interestingly they included a Saturday night thriller, which I assume was a TV play, 2 horror films - Fiend Without a Face and The Strange Door, a prime-time episode of Shogun and an episode of Cannon.

TV stations also ended early in the morning for the night as signified by the word 'close'.

What else catches your eye?

The cinema listings are a revelation and reminded me just how many cinemas there were showing both popular and in some 'blue' movies.

Films being shown included Zombie Creeping Flesh, the Warriors, the Entity, American Werewolf in London and Flesh Gordon.

Interestingly The Fall were playing a gig at Manchester's Lesser free Trade Hall. The influential lead singer Mark E. Smith, hailing from Salford, has passed away this week aged just 60.

 The suburban cinemas around Manchester were showing an even more eclectic mix of thrillers and sleaze with films like The Thing, Brimstone and Treacle, Poltergeist and Hot T-Shirts.

They were also showing Wolfen, one of my fave horror flicks of all time.

What would you have gone to see?

Sears Rocket Base Mysteries

Eagle-eyed reader Tony K alerted me to this superb example of the Sears Rocket Base he spotted on auction.

I don't have this toy set so looking at the excellent images I noticed a few things.

The base-plate has a mirror beneath the rocket's engines. In fact the engines are reflected in it. I assume that this feature was to make the smoke emission even more dramatic by reflecting it in the mirror too. Is this correct?

The gantry, which looks like its made of tin, has two levers, which can rotate either way.

I can only guess that the right hand lever draws the whole gantry forwards and backwards on the metal track which is visible.

The second lever on the left presumably moves the elevator up and down the gantry tower.

Could a plastic astronaut figure fit in the elevator?

What is the grey mechanism at the bottom of the chain in the above picture? A lock? Could the rocket itself be moved backwards and forwards on this movable gantry?

Last but not least is the image of the rocket bottom. Since this example is missing its engine window panes its possible to see inside.

What's visible is a cylinder with holes. It looks like its made of metal. Am I right in thinking that this is the unit that creates and distributes the smoke?

You can see the word SMOKE at the top of the switch.

If you own one have you ever had yours smoking?

Mystery toys in Thunderbirds Give or take a Million

I noticed these toys in the Thunderbirds episode Give or Take A Million.

On the left side you can see a toy rabbit and a toy vintage car.

Anyone any idea what they are?

D R O D E

A  rather sombre little Lovecraftian speech on my favourite local field at dusk.

I call these dreary odes drodes.

Well, you have to do something when your dog-walking and Blue just keeps pestering for bigger roles. In the meantime .....

PS. let me know if you have any problems viewing this video please.

Colonel Hap Hazard Rack Toy 1970

Located with an East Coast US seller, I noticed this unusual spaceman late last year. This is the picture from Ebay.

Its a Marx Apollo Astronaut carded set from 1970. The figure is names as Colonel Hap Hazard.

It all looks so familiar and I may well have had one of these sets. I was 9 in 1970 and 10 that Christmas. 

But I can't help thinking that all the accessories look so much like Major Matt Mason equipment that that's what I'm actually remembering. Its hard to say. I suppose I'm now wondering whether Marx simply cashed in on Mattel's success with Major Matt. What do you think?

There are also countless knockoffs of this Marx set especially in Mexico where the body has many colour variations and different heads including Callisto like these from the amazing Madhunter collection.!

Interestingly Marx released Colonel Hap Hazard in an earlier guise as a tinplate robot in 1968.

Here's some footage on You Tube of the robot by gfu collectible.

Do you have any Hap Hazard toys or knockoffs?

Space on The Brain

I've clearly been going on Moonbase Central far too often, I see spacecraft in the simplest things!

Mark J

*

Ha ha, love it Mark!

I'm the same.

When I see a toilet duck all I see are red Thunderbird 2 engines!

What do other space stuff do you see readers?

Mini Mobile Explorers

A chance purchase on ebay, brought home these three neat little vehicles made by south American company, Apollo. Dating from the mid 80's by the look, the pack must have spent some time in a damp place, as the rubber tyres have begun to break down slightly and stain the packaging. Similar to several early years toys available from Mothercare etc, these little vehicles have sprung suspension and decals on the back. They are just nicely scaled to fit with the Apollo Moon Exploring toys.

Have You Ever Made a Fanzine?

Did you ever make your own fanzine?

The worlds of Gerry Anderson have generated many many fanzines and these are fabulously detailed in Dennis Nicholson's Memorabilia Guide, which I'm pleased to have.

The worlds of horror films also generated countless fanzines and these are similarly well catalogued in the newer version of the Monster Magazine and Fanzine Collectors Guide, which I also have on my bookshelf.

I didn't create a fanzine for either of these genres but I did produce a home-made joke and sketch book a bit like a comic circa 1970 ages 10. 

It included copies of gags in the funny pages of Beano and Buster, as well as some of my own made-up stuff. 

Somewhere in the cobwebbed eves of the attic lies this very thing. As for now all I can muster is the name, What a Heap of Laughs.

Have you ever made a fanzine, comic or indeed a magazine proper, either as a kid or maybe even professionally?