ONE FOR SORROW, TWO FOR JOY - THREE FOR A 'FULL' SET...

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One thing I've noticed as I've grown older is that things that didn't particularly mean anything to me when I was younger have now taken on a significance that I couldn't possibly have foreseen.  For example, the kids TV show MAGPIE was one that I watched occasionally (probably to drool over SUSAN STRANKS and, later JENNY HANLEY), but I'd hardly describe it as classic television.  The BBC's BLUE PETER on the other hand, sometimes could be, and with the likes of a full-size, real-life ACTION MAN in the form of JOHN NOAKES risking life and limb for our entertainment, it was certainly superior to its THAMES TV rival, which was naught but a pale imitation.

So I surprised myself when I saw a Magpie Annual several years back and promptly bought it.  It was the second Annual in the series, and as the years passed, I found myself wanting to obtain the first and third to sort of complete the 'trilogy'.  Not that there were only three (11, I think), but I have this habit of wanting at least the first three of a series, even when I know I'm not going to continue with it.  It's an offshoot to me of the first three issues of a new comic traditionally being free gift issues (which I'd always buy), and I've tended to apply that to Annuals too - even though they're usually 'giftless'.  (There have been exceptions in recent years.)

Anyway, at the beginning of the week I bought the first and third Magpie Annuals from ebay, which arrived yesterday (Saturday morning) so my collection of them is now complete as I doubt I'll purchase any further ones.  One of the later presenters was a fellow called MICK ROBERTSON, and I note that he's listed as a researcher in Books 2 & 3, which at least meant he had a foot in the door when a new presenter was required.  Reminds me a bit of ALIAS SMITH & JONES in that, when actor PETE DUEL committed suicide, ROGER DAVIS, who voiced the show's intro, replaced him in the role of HANNIBAL HEYES.

Anyway, if you'd like to see what sort of contents these Annuals contained, click here, and you'll be taken to "one I made earlier" (to nick one of rival BP's 'catchphrases'), but in the meantime, you'll have to content yourselves with the first three covers.  Even though I was never a regular viewer of Magpie, I now derive a poignant pleasure in owning these books, as they remind me of (and connect me to) a far earlier, more carefree time in my life.  Is it the same for you?

Posted in: Cartoons