Every year since the age of ten, I have received the ‘Oor Wullie’ and ‘Broons’ annuals from Santa Claus.
I should really be reading some classic literature over the festive period, but I will take great pleasure in reading the cartoon adventures of Wullie and the Broons with a glass of malt in hand.
A Scottish institution since 1927, the Broons are an extended working class family headed by the paterfamilias of Maw and Paw. Wullie is an urchin who sits on an upturned tin bucket and is often to be found extracting big boiled sweeties from a paper bag.
Published by the estimable D C Thompson, creators of the Beano, some of the earlier editions of these annuals are quite valuable. Unfortunately when I was younger I didn’t have the foresight to keep my copies.
That’s not as bad as my father. He had the first fifty editions of the ‘50’s sci fi comic ‘Dan Dare’ safely stashed in the attic. One day my grandmother decided to have a clear out and burnt the lot. They would be worth an absolute fortune these days. I don’t think my father ever forgave her.
My father has never had much luck collecting stuff. He used to have a stash of pre 1937 shillings that were made from solid silver. When I was eight I found them in the cupboard under the stairs and spent them on sweeties. I don’t think he’s ever forgiven me either.
13 comments:
Silly enough, we got in on the Beanie Babies craze here in the states. A few of them are valuable, but we gave them to the boy. Frankly, I don't think that I would have sold them anyway.
The problem is that you can rarely tell what will be valuable in thirty years time. Some of the first Star Wars stuff is worth a fortune toady.
Erm, you mean the Eagle dontchya?
Dan Dare featured in it, in much the same way Judge Dredd features in 2000AD.
As for spending your Dads collection - I hope you got a beating for that.
Yeah, that's the one.
I didn't get a beating, but was denied sweets for a month. That was much worse.
True, when you're a kid absolutely everything is about sweets - how can I get them, where are they, when do I get the next batch - how many sweets will I get at Christmas...etc
I once (when I was 6) gave away a diamond necklace that belonged to my granny.
I swapped it for a balloon from the rag-and-bone man.
I got a serious walloping for it too. Worth a fortune it was, apparently.
Oh well.
And I always preferred Oor Wullie. The Broons bored me. As did the Sunday Mail. Not that the Sunday Post was a quality paper or anything either.
I always wanted a pale (pail? - never known how to spell it).
You exchanged a diamond necklace for a baloon. I've heard some tales of precocious entrepeneurial ability but that takes the biscuit!
It takes the cake, too. ;-)
Personally, I'd have done more permanent damage.
"Oor Wullie"? I thought that was some sort of joke!
I had the dungarees, the spiky blonde hair, but never got the bucket.
Nothing pornographic about Oor Wullie I can assure you. Innocent fun in a never changing world sixty years ago.
same with my pop sending James, my brother, a copy every Christmas :O)
What ever happened to dear Oor Wullie ? :O)
p.s. I was a Beryl the Peril girl personally :O)
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