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Reading comics and magazines in my youth

(45 Posts)
NanKate Tue 14-Oct-14 07:37:01

Reading has always been ones my greatest pleasures.

My sister who was a tomboy always had The Eagle - was Dan Dare in that one ?

I loved all the Rupert Bear stories in the Xmas Annuals.

When I was about 12 I discovered Valentine which I hid from my mother in case she thought it was too racy smile

Of course alongside this I was heavily into Enid Blyton.

What girls/boys reading took your eye ?

JALSsgran Thu 16-Oct-14 16:10:06

I had Twinkle and then Once upon a Time. It didn't run for that long but I've still got them all!!! Progressed to Jackie at 'big' school!!

mrsmopp Thu 16-Oct-14 00:49:49

Did anyone buy the last ever edition of the Dandy? It went on sale last year I think. I was hoping it might be worth something in years to come.
My idea do a good investment!!

feetlebaum Wed 15-Oct-14 21:51:44

We were started on Chick's Own, and Playbox, then moved onto Mickey Mouse Weekly (2d). Later there were Radio Fun and Film Fun and Knockout. Then came Wizard, and other boys' copies of Hotspur, Adventure and Rover.

Dandy and Beano were in the mix somewhere too...

Deedaa Wed 15-Oct-14 21:23:43

I loved Petticoat! The clothes and make up they showed always seemed to be affordable for a teenager and I got lots of ideas from it. My father brought home some silver lame left over from a window display and I used the Petticoat pattern to turn it into a cool little disco dress.

Tegan Wed 15-Oct-14 19:23:20

I've got boxes full of old Beanos [before they changed to a more glossy paper]. I'm still thinking of things to do with them.

rockgran Wed 15-Oct-14 19:15:13

I did like the Beano and remember saving my copy to read in the "sidecar" on the way to a holiday in Scotland. (Ten hours on a bike and sidecar!)

I enjoyed "Judy" dropping through the letterbox. I always did the competitions to win a "leotard, hockey holdall or rolled gold locket and chain". I don’t think I ever won anything but I did win a knitting set from "The People's Friend" children's page.

I loved Look and Learn and still remember some of the science stuff in it.

Later on I liked "Petticoat". I always tried to make the clothes -a disaster usually!

whitewave Wed 15-Oct-14 18:44:50

Heidi and Heidi and Peter. Loved them. Envied Heidi her loft bedroom.

And yes I remember being frightened of the mad woman in Jane Eyre. Rochester also worried me.

I am sure we were more widely read than today's children - may have been lack of television and computers? But what glorious memories they are.

Tegan Wed 15-Oct-14 18:04:29

I've just sent away for a film annual that [I think] I had as a child. The cover looks familiar anyway. I still remember the little gifts we sometimes had with Bunty [little Scottie dogs one year smile].

rubysong Wed 15-Oct-14 17:47:49

Woman's Realm! Gosh, I haven't heard of that for years. My mother got it and made me several 'cut out and ready to sew' dresses from it. I particularly remember a really nice one which I ripped climbing over a barbed wire fence the first time I wore it. sad

Funnygran Wed 15-Oct-14 17:17:06

How nostalgic reading the names of all the comics - I think I read them all as a child. Since I had an older sister and younger brother there were plenty to choose from. Like lots of gransnetters I was and still am an avid reader and I think my parents ran out of books for me. In those days where I was brought up, you couldn't join the public library until you were 8 and even then I remember it as being a very hushed and rather unwelcoming place. My parents bought me a subscription to Boots library (does anyone remember that?) and I used that until I was old enough for the 'big library'. I used to love staying with older cousins and reading their books and that's where I was introduced to Pamela Brown, Angela Brazil and lots of boarding school stories. Loved Enid Blyton - and Valbeasixties the little magazine was Sunny Stories as I still have some which were passed on to me having been bound into a hard cover.

numberplease Wed 15-Oct-14 16:12:48

I`d forgotten about Photoplay, the film magazine, where I obtained all my information on the film stars. Talking about reading the Sunday papers, I can remember avidly devouring the News of the World reports about Christie, the murderer of Rillington Place, and my mother taking the paper off me, but too late!

gma Wed 15-Oct-14 10:14:28

I was a compulsive reader and I still am. Fortunately we lived very close to a public library and would visit every day if I could, as we could only borrow 2 books at a time!In the children's section they would have children's magazines in heavy celluloid covers for us to read. I can only recall "the young Elizabethan " and I got so well known to the librarian that he would let me have old copies. My personal favourites were Enid Blyton, especially Mallory towers! Also The Bobbsey Twins, about a family in Canada, they didn't take long to read!! School friend and Girl were early favourite comics. Also Sunny Stories and my mothers Woman's Weekly. The Readers Digest occasionally came my way, they were saved by me to read in bed, easy to handle!!
I would read any thing that I could get my hands on especially daily papers!! Sunday papers were great! My parents could not afford them, and I would collect them secondhand from neighbours! One of our neighbours had a daughter who was very keen on the cinema, and I would collect her old copies of Picturegoer to read! Many of the stories in News of the World, The People and Titbits were highly unsuitable but great for a 9 year old!
I still read when ever I can, either on my Kindle or regular books. Working my way through JR Tolkein and Elizabeth Jane Howard (a match made in Heaven!) at moment! Loved Miss Carters War, got better as it went on!

Katek Wed 15-Oct-14 09:21:39

Hmm....overuse of exclamation marks methinks.

Katek Wed 15-Oct-14 09:20:21

Bunty and Judy for me with occasional forays into my mother's Woman's Own. But oh how I loved the Chalet School! I just wanted to be there with them and drove my parents mad demanding to go to boarding school!! I also scared myself witless reading 'The Speckled Band' and 'Hound of the Baskervilles' under the bedclothes by torchlight!

inishowen Wed 15-Oct-14 09:10:28

I started off with Jack and Jill comic when I was about five. I also loved my brothers Topper. I then went on to the Judy, loved the free gifts, especially the ballet cards you could collect. I also liked June and Schoolfriend. As a teenager I got Jackie and Romeo. At the same time I was reading mum's Woman, Womans Own and Womans Realm. I always loved magazines but sadly they've gone too trashy for me.

FlicketyB Wed 15-Oct-14 08:27:20

As soon as he got back from the War my DF bought us Dandy and Beano and the Mickey Mouse comic, which DS and I loved but I suspect they were bought more for him than us! We also got the Children's Newspaper, which I LOVED. I have always, generally, preferred fact to fiction. Later I read Girl, School Friend. Does anyone remember 'Honey', the first beauty/fashion magazine for teenagers. I read this from the start and loved it.

I was an omnivorous reader, it used to be said that I would read the back of a bus ticket (they were right). I loved any Enid Blyton book, and even though I had no interest in horses I loved the Pullein-Thompson books, Angela Brazil, anything, anything, anything, my nose was always in a book. But the book (and series) I fell in love with and changed my life was Swallows and Amazons and the rest. I desperately wanted to learn to sail. As soon as I went to university I joined the sailing club and as a result met DH.

By 11 I read a mix of children's books and classics. I had started on Jane Austen, the mad woman in Jane Eyre gave me nightmares and I started on John Buchan, D K Broster, and, of course, Georgette Heyer, I still love her books.

absent Tue 14-Oct-14 21:59:07

A friend of my parents used to visit every Sunday morning for coffee and a chat. He always brought comics for my sister and me. I started with Robin, progressed through Swift (and that was a swift progression) and then on to Girl and School Friend. Eventually, I used to read the Young Elizabethan which included wonderfully funny and revealing articles about being a teacher by Edward Blishen. My ma would never allow the trashy stuff, although once or twice I did manage to buy and hide something pretty dire that I think was called Boyfriend. However, when I got my first job after leaving university, my father bought me a lovely briefcase. Inside was a copy of the Beano.

Starling I had forgotten all about Malcolm Saville. I bought one – called something like The Gay Dolphin Adventure, at a school jumble sale and was firmly hooked, getting all the remainder of the series out of the library.

I also remember being hooked on a series of stories about a theatrical family by, I think, Pamela Brown and was thrilled when I found one in a Christmas stocking, having, as before, got all the others out of the library. I also loved Noel Streatfield's ballet stories and Paul Gallico was another favourite author.

CoolMichael Tue 14-Oct-14 21:50:31

Well I read the Victor , Hotspur Eagle and (can you remember?)the Buster like Andy Capp's grandson
. . . .and when I was a COOL LAD, I read Fab 208 !

merlotgran Tue 14-Oct-14 21:49:15

I was a tomboy so I loved 'Swift' which came between Robin and Girl. I cut my hair short because I wanted to look like Tarna the jungle boy. shock

I used to read my brother's Eagle comics and I loved Girl because of the historical stories on the back page. Gladys Aylward was my favourite. The Inn of the Sixth Happiness will always be one of my favourite films and The Small Woman is still on my bookcase.

Mishap Tue 14-Oct-14 21:44:33

I spent all my summer holidays at my grandma's in Devon when I was a child and vividly remember the summer activities organised by the Robin/Girl/Eagle comics on Exmouth beach. I do not know whether this happened in other seaside resorts, but remember the kind lady saying "Come along all the little Robins!" I loved it.

Deedaa Tue 14-Oct-14 21:41:15

Am I the only person who enjoyed Look and Learn? Topper was one of my favourites and my parents liked a lot of the cartoons in it. I originally started with Robin and then moved on to Swift and later Girl. Usually had the Dandy and Beano too. When not reading comics I devoured every pony book known to man.

numberplease Tue 14-Oct-14 21:36:33

Dandy, Beano, Schoolfriend, the Enid Blyton Magazine, and later on, in my teens, Reveille and Valentine. My brother read Eagle, and hubby`s mother had to buy it until the last of her sons married and left home.........aged 32!

Ana Tue 14-Oct-14 21:16:08

Mabel Lucie Attwell

whitewave Tue 14-Oct-14 20:57:29

Lucy Attwell!!!

whitewave Tue 14-Oct-14 20:41:24

Oh! Mary Mouse!! and at my Aunts house in one of her dining room cupboards were comic books with Felix the cat - written during the 20's and 30's I think. Also can any one remember the artist who wrote young children's books just before the war? The characters were fat chubby little souls very characteristic of the artist - I am not explaining it very well but they were lovely. Very collectable now.

All the entries above brings back wonderful memories

As I got older I got books from the local penny library they were a bit racey and I can't remember what they were called but they were set in France and it largely centred on the heroine and the affairs she had with various aristocrats Oh! I know "Angelique" I thought them very rude at the time which of course why I found them so good.