Paddington (1975) The Bear Facts

The BBC television series Paddington, produced by Michael Bond and London-based animation company Film Fair, was first broadcast in 1975. This series had an extremely distinctive appearance: Paddington was a stop-motion puppet moving in a three dimensional space in front of two-dimensional backgrounds (which were frequently sparse black-and-white line drawings), while all other characters were 2D drawings — in one scene, a character hands Paddington a jar of marmalade that becomes 3D when Paddington touches it. Animator Ivor Wood also worked on The Magic Roundabout and Postman Pat. The series was narrated by Michael Hordern. In the United States, episodes aired on PBS, on the syndicated series Romper Room, on Nickelodeon as a segment on the programme Pinwheel and on USA Network as a segment on the program Calliope in the late 1970s and early 1980s, as well as in between preschool programming on the Disney Channel throughout the 1990s. The series also aired on HBO in between features, usually when they were airing children's programmes. The series won a silver medal at the New York Film and Television Festival in 1979 — the first British animated series to do so.

A second television series, produced by Hanna - Barbera, debuted in 1989 as part of The funtastic world of Hanna - Barbera. This series was traditional two-dimensional animation and featured veteran voice actor Charlie Adler as Paddington and Tikm Curry as Mr. Curry. The character of an American boy named David, Jonathan and Judy Brown's cousin who arrived in London on the same day as Paddington, was added to the stories in the 1989 cartoon.

The most recent series, produced by Cinar Films, was first broadcast in 1997 and consisted of traditional two-dimensional colour animation. The show was called The Adventures of Paddington Bear.

Paddington Bear also appeared in The Official BBC Children In Need Medley with Peter Kay along with several other animated characters. In the video, Paddington makes a grand appearance by winking at the cameramen when they take photos of him; Kay tries to put a cloak on Paddington, but it keeps sliding off. He also joins the rest of the group for the final act. In the second season Christmas episode of Community Prof. Duncan talks about his tenth Christmas. He states that his mom always gave him Paddington books for Christmas.

Message in a Bottle (1979)

"Message in a Bottle" by The Police was from their second album, Reggatta De Blanc.

The song is ostensibly about a story of a castaway on an island, who sends out a Message in a Bottle to seek love. A year later, he has not received any sort of response, and despairs, thinking he is destined to be alone. The next day, he sees "a hundred billion bottles" on the shore, finding out that there are more people like him out there. The Police debuted the song on a live television show called "Rock N' Roll Goes to School", filmed at Hatfield Polytechnic School in Hertfordshire, England. The Police donated all money earned from the show to the school.

The single was The Police's first number one hit in the United Kingdom but only reached No74 in the United States. An alternate "Classic Rock" mix is available on Every Breath You Take: The Classics. This is Sting's favorite song as confessed to Jools Holland of BBC fame.

The Police performed at Live Earth, a 2007 charity concert to raise awareness of global warming and other environmental hazards and performed "Message in a Bottle" as the US finale, with John Mayer playing guitar with Andy Summers (who described the track as a personal favorite in his book One Train Later) and Wayne West performing a rap verse over the chorus of the song.

"Message in a Bottle"
Single by The Police
from the album Reggatta de Blanc
B-Side	Landlord
Released	September, 1979
Format	7" Single
Recorded	1979
Genre	Rock, New Wave
Length	3:50 (7" single edit) 4:50 (Full-length album version)
Label	A & M - AMS 7474
Writer (s)	Sting
Producer	Nigel Gray Stewart Copeland Sting Andy Summers
Certification	Gold (BPI)
The Police singles chronology
"So Lonely" (1978) "Message in a Bottle" (1979) "Walking on the Moon" (1979)

Joe 90 Top Secret (No 5)

This edition was published on 15th February 1969. Inside the features were, Quiz 90, Joe's Hobbies (The Story of X-15, Champions of Sport - David Hemery, World Intelligence Network (Information and Jokes) A competition to win 100 Corgi Ghia Mangustas and Top Ten Racing Cars No 5 - Ferrari.

Randall & Hopkirk (Deceased) - Episode Fourteen: Who Killed Cock Robin?

Who Killed Cock Robin? was the fourteenth episode of the classic ITC Television series, Randall & Hopkirk (Deceased) that starred Mike Pratt, Kenneth Cope and Annette Andre. The episode was first broadcast on December 21, 1969 on ITV.

In this murder mystery, Jeff Randall is hired by a large estate manager to investigate a series of bird shootings in the manor aviary. While keeping guard of the valuable birds. Each member of the family of the manor is killed off gradually narrowing down the suspects leaving Jeff with the surprising culprit. Randall is nearly killed in an intricate trap, but Marty Hopkirk once again saves the day — very interestingly this time by affecting a paranormal game of letters to spell a cryptic message to Jeannie Hopkirk at a party.

"Life on Mars" Calendar 2008

This excellent collectible official calendar from 2008 which has 12 fantastic pictures, 1 per month, of scenes and characters from the popular "Life on Mars" tv series.

Elvis 1956 - The Year In Gold

Elvis action figure -- titled 1956, the Year in Gold -- features the King of Rock 'n' Roll in a classic pose and the gold lamé outfit he wore during a New York City appearance in 1956.

Accurately capturing Elvis' essence, this impeccably detailed figure includes a custom marquee base and mic stand.

Bootsie and Snudge (1964)

Bootsie and Snudge was a television situation comedy series written, in the early days, by Barry Took and Marty Feldman, later writers were John Antrobus, Jack Rosenthal, ventriloquist Ray Alan and Harry Driver. The show featured Clive Dunn, more famous as Corporal Jones in Dad's Army, as well as Alfie Bass and Bill Fraser. Series 1-3, 5 centred around a Gentlemans club called the Imperial Club, whilst the fourth series broadcast as "Foreign Affairs" centred around a British Embassy in Bosnik. 112 half-hour episodes were made, being broadcast from 1960 to 1964 and in 1974.

The traditional Gentleman's club in Britain has long been used for comedic purposes in films, usually because of the eccentric characters with whom it can be populated, and the arcane rules. The rule of absolute silence in the reading room, notwithstanding several old men snoring under copies of The Times, is a common feature of such comedy. Memorable moments include Kenneth Connor in the film Carry On Regardless, being forced to mime "Your flies are open" to one of the members.

In the Imperial Club Bootsie and Snudge resumed their roles of snivelling skiver and bullying sergeant, with contributions from the ancient and always-bumbling dogsbody, Johnson (Clive Dunn), all under the tyrannical eye of the "Hon. Sec.", the club secretary played by Robert Dorning. The Hon. Sec.'s way of dealing with arguments was to drown out the opposition with repetitions of "Tup! Tup!", rising in volume until the other party stopped trying. Thus Bootsie's name for the character was "Ol' Tuptup".

In the early 1960s, the show was adapted into a successful strip cartoon in the British comic TV Comic.

The 1974 series sees the men reunited in a reversal of roles ten years later. Bootsie, now unemployed and living alone, has just won £1,000,000.27 on the football pools under the pseudonym 'Yilseb', devised to preserve his anonymity. Snudge is now a travelling representative of the football pools company who brings the lucky winner his cheque. As Bootsie has been using the name 'Yilseb' (Bisley spelled backwards), Snudge has no idea that the winner he is about to visit is his old friend, Bootsie. On discovering the truth, Snudge immediately gives up his job with the football pools company and appoints himself as Bootsie's pompous but subservient financial adviser.

Adam Faith - UK Tour (1960)

Back in February 1960 Pop Idol Adam Faith toured the UK along with, Emile Ford, John Barry Seven, The Avons, Mike Preston, Little Tony (Occasional dates) The Checkmates.

06 - Sheffield City Hall
07 - York (Rialto)
08 - Worksop (Regal)
09 - Doncaster (Gaumont)
11 - Halifax (Odeon)
12 - Leeds (Odeon)
13 - Bradford (St George's Hall)
14 - Hull (Cecil)
15 - Harrogate (Royal)

16 - Scunthorpe (Pavilion)
17 - Burnley (Palace)
18 - Newcastle (City Hall)
19 - Manchester (Free Trade Hall)
20 - Nottingham (Albert Hall)
21 - Kingston (Granada)
22 - Maidstone (Granada)
23 - Dartford (Granada)
24 - Bedford (Granada)
25 - Aylesbury (Granada)
26 - Kettering (Granada)
27 - Rugby (Granada)
28 - Harrow (Granada)

Elvis in New York (1955)

It's Wednesday 30th November 1955 : Elvis and the Colonel fly to New York, where they register at the Hotel Victoria on Fifty--first Street. Elvis was in New York, December 1st 1955 to meet with the Colonel and RCA executives, including president Larry Kanaga and publicity director Anne Fulchino. A photo shoot has been arranged and pictures of Elvis and the Colonel, Elvis and Steve Sholes and Elvis and fellow RCA recording artists Eddy Arnold who happened to be in New York for a session. The photo's are taken in RCA's Twenty-fourth Street studio, along with posed action shots that will be used on the back of Elvis' first album.

Colonel Parker, Eddy Arnold, Elvis and Steve Sholes.

Colonel Parker, Eddy Arnold, Elvis and Steve Sholes.

Elvis Presley and Eddy Arnold.

Elvis Presley and Steve Scholes

Elvis Presley and Steve Scholes.

Elvis Presley : New York : December 1, 1955.

Elvis Presley : New York : December 1, 1955.

Elvis Presley : New York : December 1, 1955.

Elvis Presley : New York : December 1, 1955.

Elvis Presley : New York : December 1, 1955.

Elvis Presley : New York : December 1, 1955.

Emmerdale Farm Gift Set

Back to the good old days of Annie Sugden. This Lone Star "Emmerdale Farm" Gift Set comprised, a Ford 7610 Tractor with trailer plus various implements - finished in red, blue and white.