So in 1964 I was introduced to the wonderful world of the 'Black & white' 'Television Set' which was installed in our home under a rental agreement and had a Coin meter on the rear of the cabinet to feed in the money, this wonderful box of magic was to become a part of my life forever!
One thing I do remember from those far off days were the many and varied productions of American TV Westerns (which my Dad always watched) so Children's TV was confined to daytime viewing, and as we only had 3 channels back the it was also limited viewing, but I do remember my first ever Gerry Anderson Series, which was a re-run of 'Fireball XL5' originally aired back in 1962, and straight away, I was hooked on the show, this was then followed by GA's Stingray, Thunderbirds, Captain Scarlett and Joe 90 which unknown to myself at the time were all produced in colour, it was only later with re-runs and our acquisition of a colour TV in 1971 that I was able to watch these shows in all there glory, the sad thing about this (especially as I was now in my teens) is that I could now see the strings on the marionettes, which was something I had never noticed first time round, but I guess that's life looking through the eyes of a child!
Like any popular TV show both 'then & now' they come with spin off merchandise, and back in the day it was fairly limited to Comic books, Annuals, Die-cast & plastic Models of the shows transport and characters, and also on the odd occasion 'clothing' of which I had a 'Thunderbird Pilot' outfit now gone forever...
Having previously collected and played with my matchbox toys, I now moved on to TV series merchandise which back in the day of course would only be available at 'Birthdays & Christmas' and I do remember over a period of time having a plastic Stingray, Thunderbird 1, 2 and 3 all motorized and 'push-along' again 'gone forever' though at that time in the 60's all the popular 'Film & TV shows' were releasing Die-cast models of the shows star vehicles, mainly from the companies 'Dinky Meccano and Corgi' which were at that time quite expensive (I have a boxed 'Green Hornet' with the price tag of 12 Shillings 6d!) and over a number of years I collected quite a number of the Dinky & Corgi toys, which as previously with my Matchbox collection were played with, and may I add 'A Little More Care Taken' that said, most of the original boxes disappeared over time, but I do still have a few in fair to good condition with some more than others needing a bit of TLC.
I decided to split my collection into 2, so have a Gerry Anderson Collection: https://www.memorabilia-emporium.com/vintage-tv-gerry-anderson
and a Vintage Corgi & Dinky Toy Collection:
Next time: My life turns back to 'music' and a Cousin returning from Australia in 1970 introduces me to his Beatles Vinyl L.P. Collection.
