Phoenix's Future Plans

[Phoenix]

Derek you forgot that the chimney smoke is blowing in the opposite direction to the wind.

No it isn't.

[Phoenix]

Just as an update, I completed the listing of the serials in Nikki last night. I am about to start on a check of those in Spellbound. When I finish that task at some point this afternoon I will have accurate lists for Judy, Mandy, Emma, Diana, Suzy, Nikki, M&J and Spellbound. Just Debbie (partially listed some years ago, as was Spellbound, so I'll start that again too just to be on the safe side), Tracy, and Bunty to go. At that point I will be in a position to make an informed choice of the 3000 serials that will be summarised in three lines each in my next book. I feel comfortable with my progress so far. Steady as she goes! No point in rushing, it'll be done when it's done.

Today's update. The list of serials in Spellbound was completed last night. Today I am getting to grips with Debbie. I've reached issue 27 so far, so just another 491 to go. I've got virtually all the issues from issue 1 in 1973 to the end of 1979. After that I will mainly be relying on notes taken during some of my many sessions in the British Library. I also have all the necessary notes on the 13 issues of Tracy that I don't own and the 150 issues of Bunty, none of which in either case are in a significant run. So, onward and upward, enjoying the task, still chillin'.

[big bad bri]

Just as an update, I completed the listing of the serials in Nikki last night. I am about to start on a check of those in Spellbound. When I finish that task at some point this afternoon I will have accurate lists for Judy, Mandy, Emma, Diana, Suzy, Nikki, M&J and Spellbound. Just Debbie (partially listed some years ago, as was Spellbound, so I'll start that again too just to be on the safe side), Tracy, and Bunty to go. At that point I will be in a position to make an informed choice of the 3000 serials that will be summarised in three lines each in my next book. I feel comfortable with my progress so far. Steady as she goes! No point in rushing, it'll be done when it's done.

Take your time Derek you provide a great service,though i'm sure i will want all those comics too after reading about them

[Phoenix]

i'm sure i will want all those comics too after reading about them

Well you had better start saving up now, Bri, unless you've got a spare arm and a spare leg to pay with. I've bought my collection of girls' papers over the last seventeen years, often paying out a king's ransom in the process, but sometimes, admittedly rarely, I have bought collections fairly cheaply on eBay. To be honest, most are in very decent condition but about three years ago I bought a very long run of early, but well read, issues of Judy from a lady in Southport who had no idea what they were worth. I don't take advantage of people and my offer amazed her so much that she had to sit down.

[big bad bri]

i'm sure i will want all those comics too after reading about them

Well you had better start saving up now, Bri, unless you've got a spare arm and a spare leg to pay with. I've bought my collection of girls' papers over the last seventeen years, often paying out a king's ransom in the process, but sometimes, admittedly rarely, I have bought collections fairly cheaply on eBay. To be honest, most are in very decent condition but about three years ago I bought a very long run of early, but well read, issues of Judy from a lady in Southport who had no idea what they were worth. I don't take advantage of people and my offer amazed her so much that she had to sit down.

i miss the days when you could buy runs of comics fairly cheap on ebay as now everyone hopes for miracles on there.i know ill never afford the comics i want never mind starting on the girls comics though i did get the entire run of misty minus iss 2 last year for a fairly reasonable price. my main aim is to finish the run of buster in that i only need about 331 issues with the promise of 35 next week funds permitting and then 86 whizzer and chips.but buster will never come to fruition i think.

[Phoenix]

i miss the days when you could buy runs of comics fairly cheap

You are right, of course, Bri. I never really felt that 'I'm getting ripped off here' feeling when buying comics from David Moore in Crosby, Border Bookshop in Todmorden, or Norman Shaw's place in Belvedere Road in Crystal Palace. On the other hand I felt it keenly in the Vintage Magazine Shop in Brewer Street in Soho. My son Andrew once bought me a copy of issue 42 of The Hotspur there when he was in London on business. It cost him £6 when Norman would have charged £2.50, £3 tops. As far as I can recall, I've not read much of it, but I value it enormously.

[suebutcher]

Well there seems to be a jacket made out of cigarette smoke, a tie that's too short, a motorbike with no footrests, and a guitar being played the wrong way round, but no discernible purpose to the whole. Surely it isn't just a trite message like 'Our cigarettes are different'. What am I missing, Sue?

Of course it's trite, it's Seventies cigarette advertising, but look at the slogan: "The Braddock Way Of Seeing Things." What kind of cigarettes make you see things? Also, it's not just an advert, it's a cover for a gloriously naff 45rpm disc of protest-folk advertising jingles, something else in its favour as far as Michael "Braddock" Fikaris was concerned.

[Phoenix]

What kind of cigarettes make you see things?

Well none from my personal experience of smoking, a habit I am delighted to have given up at midnight on March 22nd 1993. I had tried to stop the previous day, which was my younger son Russell's birthday, but I didn't manage it. I have now gone without for nearly a quarter of a century. A colleague at Maghull High School, where I was the head of the Spanish department, was putting a show together, all performers having to be pupils, teachers, parents or governors, and he approached me saying "You used to be a professional singer, didn't you? Will you do a spot for me? As a twenty-a-day man I wasn't keen but I got to thinking that if I was to commit myself there and then to singing in public thirty-eight days later I would certainly have to stop smoking immediately, so I said 'Yes'. I then went to ask one of the parent governors if I could borrow her twelve-year-old daughter to sing harmony with me in the show. She told me that she and her husband had sung in folk clubs back in the day, and promptly offered to sing with me herself, with both her daughters singing a harmony line in unison. It worked a treat. It was also the only time my son Andrew ever heard me sing live. I have a DVD of the whole show, for our section of which we settled on Buddy Holly's Heartbeat and It Doesn't Matter Anymore.

[philcom55]

Of course it's trite, it's Seventies cigarette advertising, but look at the slogan: "The Braddock Way Of Seeing Things." What kind of cigarettes make you see things?

I can certainly see how that 'Braddock Way of Seeing Things' cover would have inspired Michael Fikaris. As you say it somehow manages to be naff and iconic at the same time, encapsulating a whole era of cheap Seventies graphic design and its attendant social mores - and isn't that Doctor Who companion Katy Manning in the sleeveless jacket?

[suebutcher]

Although I smoked most of a packet of filter cigarettes on a boring interstate train journey in 1977, I never felt inclined to try them again. Which is lucky, really. Can't do without my six cups of tea though!

[stevezodiac]

Derek you forgot that the chimney smoke is blowing in the opposite direction to the wind.

No it isn't.

Hmm Perhaps I should have put a smiley face after my joke.

[Phoenix]

Hmm Perhaps I should have put a smiley face after my joke.

I did wonder, Steve, whether you were offering some sort of riff on Dylan's Blowing In The Wind but after a few moments of thought I decided that you weren't.

Can't do without my six cups of tea though!

I can't stand the taste or smell of tea. I may or may not have had a taste as a growing child, but the smell was, and still is, enough to put me off that beverage completely. I can recall the only time I ever drank tea as an adult was at a football match on a Christmas Day at Christie Park, Morecambe. It was so cold that day that I felt the need of some inner warmth. You had to queue up at just one window-type opening. I asked for coffee. "No". "Hot Chocolate?" "No, sorry." "Bovril?" Again, "sorry young man, just tea today." So I had to buy a cup, and with thumb and index finger closing my nose off I drank it. I do not intend to repeat the experience.

[philcom55]

...Hmmmm, sounds a bit like Douglas Adams' "Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul"!

[Phoenix]

...Hmmmm, sounds a bit like Douglas Adams' "Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul"!

I'm beginning to worry about my inability to understand comments on the Forum. This is the second in less than a week.

[philcom55]

The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul was the title Douglas Adams gave to one of his Dirk Gently novels - clearly parodying the concept of the 'Long Dark Night of the Soul' that was invented by St. John of the Cross (though I'm sure you knew that).