I know, I’ve not updated in awhile! Been real busy with work recently…and of course, April means birthday month! Many celebrations, precious time spent with loved ones, and oodles of food, glorious food!

April started with a trip to the MINT museum of toys with the girls, as part one of my birthday celebrations. My favourite part of our visit was the sheer nostalgia it evoked.

I used to be a huge fan of the Noddy series, and would spend hours immersed in Toyland as I devoured book after book, with Big Ears, Mr Plod and friends, and the lovable, bumbling Noddy coming to the rescue at the last minute every time.

If you didn’t read Noddy, maybe you used to read The Adventures of Tintin?

Or watched Popeye fight off Bluto to protect Olive?

 

I’m a huge Beatles fan, so was pleased to find  memorabilia of the Fab Four on display!

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There was a whole section dedicated to golliwogs, and I found it all rather disturbing because of the racist connotations long associated with the doll. Golliwogs are dolls with eyes rimmed in white, very dark, often black skin, red clown-like lips, and frizzy hair, and have been described as “the least known of the major anti-black caricatures in the United States”. Apparently, from the 1950s onward, use of the actual word, “golliwog”, been used as a term of racial abuse directed at black people. Did you know that Enid Blyton replaced Mr Golly (of Noddy fame) with Mr Sparks?

Do you remember “Darkie” toothpaste? This too was renamed “Darlie”, with a new, more “neutral” icon replacing the more controversial original.

Another bit of trivia. Did you know that Bonzo was the very first famous cartoon character?

He was however, soon overshadowed by another cat.

Born and loved in the silent film era, both Bonzo and Felix’s success faded with the arrival of sound cartoons. With Felix’s producers unwilling to move to sound production, Felix was soon rendered  outdated. A new mouse was on the scene, and he took it by storm.

Some more of my old childhood favourites.

All in all, I had the most fun time!

Thanks, girls!

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