D C Thomson free gifts - the 1960's

[philcom55]

Hope you don't mind me jumping the gun a little by showing my scans of the first two issues of Bimbo Kashgar.

[Kashgar]

Not at all Phil. It's great to have the illustrations.

[alanultron5]

After 1960, neither Dandy or Beano gave gifts till spring 1971!

[Kashgar]

Absolutely true Alan. So now we can say that with only two free gifts each given away across the whole decade we can name the Dandy and the Beano as joint bottom of the D C Thomson 1960's free gift giving table.

[Kashgar]

In 1961 three of Thomson's twelve juvenile titles issued no free gifts at all. Dandy and Beano as has already been noted with the third being Adventure which only lasted for the first two weeks in January as a separate entity before its merger with Rover.

[Kashgar]

The 1961 free gifts were distributed as follows

The Topper

No 419(11/2/61) The Roaring Romper
No 420(18/2/61) The Merry Thriller
These being the first free gifts given away with the Topper in eight years.

[philcom55]

For me Topper and Beezer were Thomson's luxury brand -their Rolls Royce and Bentley - whereas Dandy and Beano were like their cheap and cheerful Minis. Presumably the relative lack of optional extras in the latter reflected the importance of keeping the price as low as possible!

[Kashgar]

The Beezer

No 284(24/6/61) Crack in the Box
No 285(1/7/61) Beezer Wheezer

Rover & Adventure

(21/1/61)-(11/2/61) ABC Chart of Football Colours 1-4 and stickyback sheets
(23/9/61) Sport's Star Spotter
(30/9/61) The Big Show Picture Album - Famous Fighting Planes of WW II

Wizard

No 1837(29/4/61) I Am a Loco Spotter - This is my Log Book/Loco Spotter's Badge/stickyback pictures
No 1838(6/5/61)-1842(3/6/61) More stickyback pictures for album

[Kashgar]

Bunty

No 190(2/9/61) Black Doggie Charm
No 191(9/9/61) White Doggie Charm

New Hotspur

No 86(10/6/61) The Pot-Shot Pistol
No 87(17/6/61) Book of War Pictures

Judy

No 56(4/2/61) Bluebird Ring
No 57(11/2/61) 3 Butterfly Hair Charms

[ISPYSHHHGUY]

Those BIMBO covers are the very epitome of 1960s innocence!

Many thanks for letting us see these, Phil.

[Kashgar]

Victor

No 1(25/2/61) Super Squirt Ring
No 2(4/3/61) Sportsmen's Wallet + 3 glossy photo cards
No 3(11/3/61)-5(25/3/61) 3x3 glossy photo cards for wallet
No 29(9/9/61) The Victor Sports Wallet + 6 photos
No 30(16/9/61)-33(7/10/61) 4x4 photos for wallet

[Kashgar]

Bimbo ( Thanks Phil for the images)

No 1(18/3/61) Long Long Whistle Balloon
No 2(25/3/61) The Tom Thumb Picture Album of Birds and Animals
No 3(1/4/61)-6(22/4/61) 4x4 coloured animal pictures for album
No 24(26/8/61) The Tom Thumb Picture Album of Wild Animals
No 25(2/9/61)-28(23/9/61) 4x4 coloured wild animal picture cards for album

[philcom55]

Oddly enough I just got a copy of Beezer no.284 (which also contained the first episode of Ron Smith's classic strip 'The Heroes of Paradise Road'). I have to say though that, going by the cover illustration, that issue's free 'Crack In The Box' looks slightly less innocent than the gifts given away in Bimbo! (Especially when you think of it in terms of modern drug terminology!)

[colcool007]

Not to mention modern sensibilities!

[Digifiend]

Yeah, it's a gollywog! People consider them to be racist nowadays.

Another thing that wouldn't fly nowadays is that chemistry set called Chemo. The name nowadays is shorthand for cancer treatment.