Vinyl Revival: 50 More All-Time Children's Favourites by Wally Whyton

One Christmas my sister and I both received LPs from my parents. I was given "Thunderbirds and Captain Scarlet", featuring edited audio highlights of an episode of each television series, the former with additional storytelling from Scott Tracey himself, Shane Rimmer.



My sister was given 50-More-All-Time-Childrens-Favourites by Wally Whyton. As a fan of Gerry Anderson I felt I'd got the better deal, but it was Wally's folk style nursery rhymes which made a more lasting impression. With my own daughter approaching two years of age, I'm looking around at musical CDs for small children. These seem to come in two types: overly sickly Disney collections or R'n'B pop interpretations by over-earnest X-Factor losers.



Listening back to this album now, I'm surprised how much I recall. The assertive female of "Where Are You Going To My Pretty Maid" who rejects the advances of a gold-digging male is impressive. Wally's unaccompanied singing on "Rain, Rain Go Away" is less so, dropping as it does several semitones towards the end (presumably studio time was at a premium in those days.)

But the biggest shock caused me to nearly drop my tea: side 1, band 2, song 2: "Taffy Was A Welshman", an anti-Welsh song I don't recall hearing in the thirty-plus years since this album was last played. I think we'll have to leave that off the compilation I'm making for my daughter.

I've now found the first volume on eBay. Slightly worried about "Ten Little Indians"...

Spaced - series 1

I missed the first series of Spaced first time around, so it was through the DVD I got to know it. A simple idea - a man and a woman pretend to be a couple to rent a flat - done with style and filled with references to pop culture, great characters, well acted. How could it fail?

They did such a good job with the second series DVD, they went back and redid this one in the same style with all the same features, so I thought it was about time I replaced it - especially with Amazon having the double pack on sale.

Then Amazon put the price back up! Grrrr.

Spaced - Series 2

An almost-perfect second series which ended on a cliffhanger... then the makers got interested in other things and never returned to it. Perhaps there'll be a "ten years after" special like "Before Sunset" or "This Life".

The DVD has a great subtitle feature which constantly points out all the references which are constantly made to films, TV, games and music. I'm disposing of it merely to get hold of the double pack with the updated first disc.

Although... I'm not sure I really need that.

Blackadder: The Whole Damn Dynasty by Richard Curtis, Ben Elton and John Lloyd

I'm starting to realise how big a problem gifts cause me.

This is a great collection of scripts from the Blackadder television series. And I'm not going to read it. I've seen every programme - at least once - and they're probably available on-line somewhere if I ever need to refer to them.

(Note to self: don't offer any more hardback books to buyers in the USA!)

The Adventures of Robinson Crusoe Volume 1

This series captivated me as a four year-old when it was shown on early evening television in the 70s, so I jumped at the chance to pick up the video set when it was released.

When the rights were snarled up and a DVD reissue began to look a remote possiblity, the prices jumped, causing one friend to unload his set for £120! I didn't jump. And I'm now selling them for knock-down prices.

I bet Robinson wouldn't have hoarded them in his cave. He'd have lined his parrot's cage with them or something useful.

The Simpsons: Treehouse of Horror/Simpson and Delilah; Three Men and a Comic Book/Blood Feud

Two more Simpsons video cassettes leave the shelves and the house visibly exhales. Only four left!

The Simpsons Collection: Two Cars In Every Garage, Three Eyes On Every Fish/Brush With Greatness

I first saw The Simpsons in 1990 when a colleague named Simpson received a tape from friends in New York. A lot had been written about the show in the media, but it would be some time before the show arrived on Sky One. And I didn't know anyone with satellite.

The episodes included Simpson and Delilah, The Crepes Of Wrath and Krusty Gets Busted - which at the time looked like hilarious, ground-breaking animated comedy. Now they look poorly-sketched, badly animated, half-characterised run throughs. I never imagined it would improve so much over the next four years.

By this time, although the show was broadcast on Sky, I still didn't know anyone with satellite, so when the first batch of videos were release, I started picking them up from Woolworths. Two episodes per tape, £8.99 each. Series 1 had thirteen episodes. Series 2, 22. Now you can pick up a series for the cost of two of the tapes.

And tapes take up so much room.

So long, and thanks for all the laughs.

Notes From a Small Island

Opening this to assess the contents I found I'd never even unwrapped it... which means I certainly hadn't watched it! Too late now - perhaps one day I'll find a cheap DVD and three hours of spare time.


Picked up on a whim in Australia.

Police Squad

A friend spotted the first episode of this on late-night TV in the mid-80s. We managed to tape most of the rest of the series and watched the tapes repeatedly until the series was reshown in the early evenings on the release of The Naked Gun several years later and we finally had to share our secret with the world.

The DVD includes all six episodes, interviews, a "gag reel", and commentaries from Zucker, Zucker, Abrahams, Weiss and Wuhl.

Sadly, the packaging is poor. It employs clichés the series avoided (three references to doughnuts - or "donuts") and playing up the wackiness the series studiously avoided by always playing it straight. The Lord preserve us from marketing people.

Now I can free up more space by selling the tapes. Maybe.