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[Hawkeye]

Great Strang pics, thanks, and yes I hope to stick around for a while,

cheers

[philcom55]

...One thing I do remember from looking at all these great old covers is just how much I hated having to wear short trousers. Kids today don't know how lucky they are!

[Hawkeye]

I was always playing football and I used to love wearing short trousers.
However this came to an abrupt halt when I started 'the big school' at age 11. Me and John Beveridge were the only kids in the whole school wearing shorts on our first day, and the older kids made these paper darts out of drinking straws and pins and threw them at our legs the whole day. I've never worn them since.

[Phoenix]

Me and John Beveridge were the only kids in the whole school wearing shorts on our first day, and the older kids made these paper darts out of drinking straws and pins and threw them at our legs the whole day. I've never worn them since.

Given that it takes a certain amount of organisation and arrangement, first to persuade a parent to stump up immediately sufficient moolah for a pair of long trousers, and secondly to get them to go with you to the shop that very same evening to make sure that you choose a suitable pair, two things that just might not have been possible that day for whatever reason, could you tell us how many days French leave you took, and who wrote your absence note.

[Hawkeye]

I must have already had a pair of long trousers, because I remember wearing them the next day. Much to the disappointment of the other kids I might add.
They hid the countless sticking plasters that covered my legs.

[philcom55]

The odd thing is that in yesterday's sweltering heat I saw dozens of old blokes gleefully reverting to their childhood days as they paraded round town in knee-length shorts that Stanley Matthews would have been proud of!

[stevezodiac]

Hawkeye I presume you are aware of The Vanguard? Another Thomson's boy's paper from the 1920s. It was a short lived title and not included as one of the big five. I meant to check its start and finish dates but i'm sure someone here can provide that info. There are two covers on the gallery section - I have at least one issue and maybe two - very hard to find.

[Phoenix]

Hawkeye I presume you are aware of The Vanguard? Another Thomson's boy's paper from the 1920s. It was a short lived title and not included as one of the big five. I meant to check its start and finish dates but i'm sure someone here can provide that info.

The Vanguard ran from 1 (Oct. 13 1923) - 136 (May 15 1926), at which point it was discontinued. This was the only time when a serial in a Thomson story paper, The Highflier Kids, failed to reach its natural conclusion, which would have occurred the following week. At least the serial North To Ghost Light, due to start the following week, did get printed eventually in Adventure in the early months of 1928. I did include The Vanguard in my Free Gifts In The Big Five along with The Red Arrow and The Blue Bird, all three of which could stake a claim to having been a member of The Big Five at the appropriate point. Lew Stringer did a blog post on the book in Blimey! on 24 July 2012. I would post a link to it if I knew how to.

[stevezodiac]

I think this is the first time I have ever heard of The Red Arrow. I'd love to see a cover or two. And in my 50 years of collecting I have never come across a copy of a Blue Bird.

Igbnore that - i've just seen the two covers in the gallery. Nice.

[Hawkeye]

I must admit I hadn't heard of the Vanguard or the Blue Bird until I read Dereks book. I've searched everywhere I know and can't find any for sale.
I'll keep looking, I enjoy having a good search for rare comics.

[Phoenix]

And in my 50 years of collecting I have never come across a copy of a Blue Bird.

There were only a hundred issues, Steve. It ran from 1 (Oct. 28 1922) - 100 (Sep. 20 1924) at which point it was amalgamated into the women's magazine My Weekly. This means that technically The Blue Bird is the only Thomson story paper still alive. I took copious notes on them all when I was researching the title in the British Library more than a decade ago, but so far I haven't come up with an opportunity to use them.

[Phoenix]

I must admit I hadn't heard of the Vanguard or the Blue Bird until I read Derek's book. I've searched everywhere I know and can't find any for sale. I'll keep looking, I enjoy having a good search for rare comics.

Well good luck with that, Hawkeye, they rarely surface. I still need seventeen issues of The Vanguard, and I only have one issue of The Blue Bird, and that's the one I uploaded to Al's Gallery. On the plus side I do have every Red Arrow, many of which I bought a couple of years ago, along with a large number of issues of The Skipper in Near Mint condition when Kevin Boldero (bolderokelvin) was selling off his enormous comic collection on eBay.

[stevezodiac]

There is one early issue of Red Arrow on ebay right now for £18.50. It has a tear across the cover but I might get it just to have a copy of that title.

[paw broon]

Taking a break from pumping silicone into all the gaps around the bath and sink, I saw the mention of short trousers and was immediately taken back to starting secondary school in 1961. Turning up that 1st. morning, I quickly realised that I was one of only 3 wee boys still in short trousers. We got some stick for that. Worse, on the way home, lassies shouted at me. Never lived it down. Unlike Hawkeye, it was a week before I got a pair of long trousers.

[Hawkeye]

I've also got quite a few Skipper comics, from no 2 to no 11, and various others, some with the free gifts.
No 1 Skipper appeared on ebay a couple of months ago, with free gifts. With just a few seconds to go I was sure I had got it with a bid of £132, but ..............
Never mind........... Well I DO mind actually, it still annoys me.