To anonymity and beyond?

The front and back of another unknown spaceman, that turned up on a recent trip to Cardiff

Electrical Association for Women: 1970s Wiring Tea Towel

As promised in my last post, here is the tea towel that was issued by The Electrical Association for Women! It dates from the early 1970s when the wiring colours, inside electrical plugs changed from red, green and black to blue, brown, yellow & green.

Why they produced a tea towel, I dont know?

Britain's New Decimal Currency Mug

Following on from last August's post, Im posting this interesting find from The Staffordshire Pottery. Like the information wheel it acts as an aid for getting to grips with Decimalisation. On February 15 1971 Britain's currency moved over from the old system of pounds, shillings and pence, to the new one, where there was 100 pence in the pound.

The photo above shows the mug from three sides. Its interesting that old money is represented by a stencil font, that in my mind seems more evocative of pop art and the sixties, than my notion of old money.

Im fascinated by these items that document, what at the time, must have seemed like radical change. It may take a while, but soon the changes are accepted, and the old system becomes history. These artifacts remain the only reminder of the fear, authorities had, that the public would not embrace the new system.

I have a tea towel that records a similar moment in the Seventies, when the British electrical wiring system changed. I promise to post it soon!

5" Barry Goldwater Plastic REMCO figure

Barry Goldwater (January 2, 1909– May 29, 1998) was an American politician. He was a U.S. Senator from Arizona, and the Republican Party's nominee for President in the 1964 election.

I picked up this 5" plastic figure at the last car boot of the year from a very muddy field in Elstree. He came with a rather nice electoral badge, that I'll post another time.

Planet of The Apes at Selfridges

Back in the day when there were only four TV channels, Fridays after school were special! Three of us, would catch the 142 bus, back to our friend Nainesh's house, to watch old Top of The Pops/ Whistle Test recordings on The Shah familys' state of the art, top loading video recorder.

The videos were the trailer for the main feature, that was Channel 4s, The Tube. If the thrill of seeing our favourite bands wasnt enough, it was accompanied by the joy of a small tin of Long Life lager , and if we were really lucky, Mrs Shahs, fantastic Aloo dosas. Halcyon days indeed.

But above the Telly, and the sleek black drinks cabinet were the family photos, one of which features above. There was Nainesh, his sister, Mrs Shah, but with Galen, Zako and Urku from the Planet of The Apes TV series!

The story goes, that back in the winter of 1975, a number of characters from Planet of The Apes made an appearance at Selfridges in London. It appears you queued to be photographed with some of the characters, a bit like Santas Grotto, but even more terrifying. There are a few more Selfridges pictures circulating online and apparently there was even a live show ( Think, Its a Knockout!) If you like the idea of these Store appearances photos, theres an unbelievable site, Plaid Stallions, that has many more!

Planet of The Apes has a special place in my heart. I remember fondly playing with the mego action figures and of course watching the TV series. Years later I read the Pierre Boulle book (that was bizarrely missing the last page!) and watched the original film, which I still enjoy, but why did Tim Burton feel the need to remake it?

Green speech mark toy

This delightful 4.5" figure turned up in the 1p box, in my favourite local charity shop, last week. With no makers mark, he remains something of a mystery!
He reminds me of some figures , that friends brought back from holidays in Germany in the 70s, but he may be later than that! Another thought was, he was one of Noddy's friends. His green body is made from a squeezable, lightweight plastic, while his head is more robust. His funny blue hat and super speech mark eyes are the icing on the cake.

If you have any more information, or thoughts Id be delighted to hear from you!

Loony Links- An Educational Construction toy from Kohner

A strange plastic construction toy to start the new year! It comes from the same company that brought us Pop -o-matic Bingo, Kohner. Brightly coloured, plastic limbs are snapped together to different torsos to give you several interesting characters!

Seasons Greetings from The Cellar

Seasons' Greetings to all readers and followers of Down to The Cellar. Thanks to everyone who contributed this year, either with comments, or help and even those who just stopped by. Hope you have a Happy Holiday, eat well and stay warm over the festive period!

Kohner Pop-O-Matic Bingo 1973

Two lovely plastic, push up Bingo cards from the Kohner Bros. Marked 1973. Apparently the dice for the game was enclosed in a sprung plastic dome, (just like the game Frustration) You popped the dome down, and the dice spun. Hence pop-o-matic!

The Kohner Bros Toy company started life in 1874 making wooden toys.They hit the big time when they obtained the rights from a Swiss inventor, Marty Meinard to the line of toys known as Push Button Toys.

Mark Boutavant’s Mouk

Mark Boutavant’s book Around the World with Mouk (pictured above) was a real high point of last year. Boutavant's brilliantly coloured pictures seem to have captured the spirit of Richard Scarry & Otto Seibold, and in doing so created his own beautiful world. How wonderful to see all the new exciting merchandise released by Djeco.

There are some brilliant wooden pull along toys for toddlers that we saw up in town yesterday, that are featured below. Thankfully the toys are available in the UK , but Roulapic the rabbit seems to have sold out everywhere already!










If the toys arent exciting enough, it appears Mouk is set to have his own TV show. You can view the pilot, here!