Willo The Wisp Annual 1985

Willo the Wisp Annual 1985, IPC Magazines © DN and PM Spargo 1982. Originally priced at £2.95. It’s completely clean but there is a single-sheet insert missing.

Willo the Wisp is a fantastic cartoon series, voiced by Kenneth Williams, that first aired in 1981. It features the denizens of Doyley Woods – including Willo the Wisp (the narrator), Mavis Cruet, the blue-haired fairy, Arthur the caterpillar and the wicked witch, Evil Edna. Go look for it on YouTube if you’ve never seen it – it’s a treat!

The incomparable Evil Edna

Astrognats game

Cut out models – there is a background scene later in the book

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Robin Annual 1973

Robin Annual 1973 – A Fleetway Annual, published by IPC Magazines Ltd.I believe Robin was a children’s comic in the UK.

June and School Friend Book of Heroines 1970

I picked this up yesterday for £2. Published by IPC Magazines in 1969. The price is still in at 10’6. June and School Friend were girls’ comics.

Joan of Arc is the main story – told in comic-strip form and taking up 24 pages spread through the book.

There are loads of inspiring stories of female derring do, self sacrifice and adventure. Including Edith Cavell, Queen Zenobia, Anna Leonowens (she of The King and I), Grace Bussell (Australian shipwreck rescuer), Gertrude Bell, Flora MacDonald and many others.

Here’s Violette Szabo – another long comic strip.

 

Gladys Aylward. This is the story the film The Inn of the Sixth Happiness, starring Ingrid Bergman is based on.

 

This is Grace Darling.

 

Suffragettes.

 

And someone I hadn’t heard of – Louise Sutherland – who cycled around the world solo in the 1950s.

Disneyland Annual 1974

Today I picked up the 1974 Disneyland Annual in the Oxfam Bookshop in Welwyn Garden City.

Disneyland Annual 1974

Published in 1973 by IPC Magazines Ltd. Copyright © Walt Disney Productions.
It was originally 80p (About £7 in today’s money). As annuals are dated for the year to come, this would have been on sale exactly 40 years ago.

As well as short stories and comic strips based on characters from Peter Pan, Winnie the Pooh and the Aristocats, etc, the whole Disney Alice story is reproduced in comic strip over sixteen pages.

Alice and the Caterpillar

From The Lost Kitten – featuring Thomas O’Malley and Duchess

And there are the usual activities, jokes and puzzles. Even activities using washing-up liquid bottles from ‘Mummy’s’ kitchen.

Draw Donald Duck

Catweazle Annual 1972

Found in David’s Bookshop, Letchworth Garden City for 80p.

cover image

Catweazle was a children’s  TV series that ran for two series in the early 1970s. This is a 1972 annual published by World Distributors, Manchester.  As is often the way with annuals, there are no images from the TV series in the book. It’s in good nick, except that the pages are starting to come unglued. There are no on-the-page activities or colouring pages, so it’s not been defaced as many old annuals are.

The first spread is the story of how Catweazle ended up in the 20th Century. Love the heading font – so of its time.

The story of Catweazle

This is a three-page feature on palmistry.

A feature on palmistry

A did-you-know feature. I notice the one about pirates not walking the plank was around then. We’re still using that as a did-you-know in books we produce today – funny how it persists…

Puzzle and Did you know pages

Catweazle called electricity ‘electrickery’.

Story entitled Electrickery at the fair.

Another trivia page.

A clowder of cats feature

If you want to know more about Catweazle there is a UK fan site here