About Me

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No Fixed Abode, Home Counties, United Kingdom
I’m a 60-year-old Aspergic gardening CAD-Monkey. Sardonic, cynical and with the political leanings of a social reformer, I’m also a toy and model figure collector, particularly interested in the history of plastics and plastic toys. Other interests are history, current affairs, modern art, and architecture, gardening and natural history. I love plain chocolate, fireworks and trees, but I don’t hug them, I do hug kittens. I hate ignorance, when it can be avoided, so I hate the 'educational' establishment and pity the millions they’ve failed with teaching-to-test and rote 'learning' and I hate the short-sighted stupidity of the entire ruling/industrial elite, with their planet destroying fascism and added “buy-one-get-one-free”. Likewise, I also have no time for fools and little time for the false crap we're all supposed to pretend we haven't noticed, or the games we're supposed to play. I will 'bite the hand that feeds', to remind it why it feeds.

Sunday, June 20, 2010

Z is for Zoo Animal Premiums - Update

A quick update on the Zoo Animal premiums post ( Here ) of a few weeks ago, thanks to the Philosophic Toad for sending this image in of the 1972 issue of Zoo Animals;

This shows the 8 Animals as issued in 1972 (the date I couldn't tie down in the previous article?), but raises the questions of where Ratcliffe gets his list of 16 animals if there were only another 8? Why if this date is correct (it appeared in TV Comic and Look-In Sep/Oct '71 in one of two layouts) did they carry a set of 8 animals the same as the 1971 set, but remoulded, only to re-issue them again as a set of 16 later in the decade? And/or; Were the set of 16 taken from some of the smaller animals issued in Europe as Bubble-gum premiums as I suggested last time, or not issued by Kellogg's at all?

Note that this issue is related to/promoted by Puffa Puffa Rice and Coco Krispies, while the '71 set included two other brands; Sugar Smacks & Sugar Stars.

I suspect the set of 16 were not Kellogg's Frosties at all, but one of the other mentioned products, or an as yet unmentioned (in connection with these) brand...such as Peak Freans, who you'll remember had got involved with the equally internecine 'Soldiers of the World'. Leaving The two sets of 54mm'ish animals for Kellogg's, both coming from whoever (Tudor*Rose?), the second set being uprated and added-to for bagged rack-toys or a second customer such as Cadbury?

It's still not very clear and yet again I've got three web-pages open and two files next to me (at least I haven't had to cover the sofa this time!) but still seem to be confusing myself, let alone the reader! So I will try to redo both articles into one and delete the two older ones soon, in the meantime you'll have to jump between the two to try and make sense of the nonsense!

Also turning up in the last few weeks are this lot of vaguely HO/OO copies of Britains 54mm Zoo Animals, they are marked with a faint HONGKONG and probably came in Christmas Crackers of the 'Budget' variety.

Also Arlin Tawzer got in touch with an image of a set of animals which while similar to the (already similar) Dunkin and Kellogg's/not now Kellogg's (?) small scales contains some very different animals, I can't get hold of the Copyright holder so can't show it here, but the set is identifiable by a Water-Buffalo and an African Elephant with a very pointed back along with a small scale version of the above Rhino (not the blobby, cartoonish one of the other sets), also colours are different with dark greens and dark blues. If anyone has an un-copyrighted image of this set - complete - we'd love to see it here!

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

This is completely irrelevant to the origins of the animals, but there is a scene in one of the three episodes of Tony Hancock's Australian television series in which he takes a giraffe from a packet of cereals. I'm not sure that I know where my copy is, so I can't confirm it, but I recall the animal did look rather like it could have been one of these.

Echoing a much earlier gaga about the Kellogg's/Crescent Guards Band, he says:

"Oh no, I've got the giraffe again, I've got three of these, why can't I get the packet with the hippopotamus?"

Anonymous said...

And that was of course supposed to be "gag", not "gaga" - too much Lady Gaga on my mind ^_^


Why don't these things have edit tools????

Hugh Walter said...

Which in turn reminds me of a scene in - I think - Dad's Army, where one of them gets a toy soldier set, and one of the others is ribbing him about grown men playing with toy soldiers, one of the others then asks what's in it then?

He replies something like this, reading off the lid; Ten Dead, 6 wounded, four sitting injured, 2 surrendering, 8 drivers, 4 stretchers, 8 stretcher bearers and a German prisoner!

The joke being that none of them are 'usefull' poses, to a collector though, it sounds like a really interesting set!!!

Anonymous said...

If you find out which episode that scene is from, please post the title. I'd love to see it.

Hugh Walter said...

I have a feeling it may be at the beginning of one of the Film length 'Movie' versions?

It may not be DA at all though, for some reason now you've mentioned him I'm thinking Hancock, or even 'The Likely Lads'!!? Doh! Doh! and Double DoH!