Greatest toys of all time received for Christmas

[Alf W]

I've just set Sky+ to record Channel 4's '100 Greatest Toys' on Sunday at 18:00.

So, thinking back to my own childhood I'm going for the Evel Knieval Stunt Bike.



I remember some friends of my parents buying this for me one Christmas. We stayed in a hotel with them for New Year and me and their kids were playing with it at up and down the corridors about 6am on New Year's Day which meant we got shouted at. This thing created the most hellish noise and destroyed skirting boards and chipped radiator paint for fun.

One day I went looking for it and it seemed to have vanished into thin air. Every Christmas I dread the fact that my parents are going to dig it out of the loft and give it to my own son as a present. He's about the same age as I was when I had it.

The worst present was the "Peter Barnes Football Trainer". This consisted of a football connected to a length of bigged up elastic band with a clip on it that you could clip on your waist band. You could then hoof the ball in the direction of your Dad's greenhouse (when he was watching for maximum effect) before it sprung back and smacked you squarely in the balls. Eventually you learnt to dodge this until the fateful day that the elastic gave out and you got a good hiding for putting the ball through the greenhouse.

So, nominations for Best / Worst Christmas toys?

[Wodewick]

Best = Subuteo (sp) - when I was about 12

Worst = A Tonka Truck - when I was about 15, at 5 I would have loved it but 15!!!

[thunderlizard]

I remember being much more impressed than I should have been with Alligator (which I'd pestered my dad for something rotten.
Didn't play it much though, because it really did hurt your hand when it snapped shut.

[doodab]

Oooh. Best ones would be Lego, bikes and my first radio controlled car.

The worst, any one of hundreds of cheap pen and pencil sets from the pound shop. I used to get a new one every year, most if not all are still unused in a box somewhere.

My nan had a bit of class and got me a Parker Jotter though, I used that for most of my exams at school and uni and I still have it. I got very upset when Ms doodab put it in her handbag.

[Halo Jones]

Best / most played with would be the A-Team Van & Dolls - I decimated my sisters flower fairies / my little pony’s / Sylvanian families / barbie’s with them

Worst would be the necklace bead set

As you can see I was not a very girly kid.

[EternalOptimist]

I cried myself to sleep, because every other boy in the world had a Johnny seven, and I got a bit of lego instead

[AtW]

Phased plasma rifle in the 40 watt range.

[TestMangler]

A BSA Meteor Super Air Rifle in .22 calibre when i was 13 :-)

[OwlHoot]

Meccano 10 - My father used to tick me off for having the nuts on the outside. It seemed so much more practical, as they were easier to reach; but I can see his point.

I think they still make it in Poland, although I haven't seen any Meccano kits in UK shops in recent years.

[mudskipper]

When I was a kid, there was a book I loved - Little Plum, by Rumer Godden.
The story was based round a Japanese dolls house, which was described in great detail. Our library had a dolls house just like the one in the book. Every week I'd be in there for hours playing with it. I was devastated when it disappeared - the librarian told me they'd sold it.

Christmas morning, there it was. I really loved that dolls house - it was beautiful and exotic.

Happy memories!