Listmania 12 : Childhood Favourites

It has been a very hard week of parenting here on the ranch and I am running on fumes. My list will have to be short and sweet but I don't want to miss out!

Books

As a young child I really liked assorted Little Golden Books, The Lion in the Meadow by Margaret Mahy and a book called Put Me in the Zoo which came in the same format as the Dr Seuss books. There was also a little picture book called Daniel and the Coconut Cakes which was a big favourite. I found a copy in a school library a few years ago and all the memories came running back.
As I got older I devoured all the Enid Blyton series including the Famous Five, Secret Seven and all the boarding school series. I was also a big fan of the Nancy Drew mysteries. I still love mysteries and thrillers so I blame this addiction on Caroline Keene.

TV

When I was young I remember watching the New Zealand versions of Play School and Romper Room. I was actually on Romper Room as it was made in Christchurch where I spent a big chunk of my childhood. When we moved to Singapore we hardly watched an TV as most of the popular programmes were on after my bed time (not that different to the schedule here now to be honest) and there was not a huge amount of programming in English in the early 80s. We read a lot and listened to a lot of music and the BBC World Service on the radio.

Some of the stars of Play School

Music

I got most of my music off the World Service when I became aware of pop music. As a result I love the sounds of the early 80's - Depeche Mode, OMD, Erasure, Pet Shop Boys. If it was electronic and British, chances are I liked it. I never had many American bands that I really liked. I used to read Smash Hits and got a lot of my tastes from there. As I got older my tastes expanded to include bands like The Smiths. 

Toys

I was never allowed Barbies growing up as my mother felt very strongly that they were a bad role model toy. I scrimped and saved for months to get the bottom of the line model and I loved her. When I was younger I was a fan of weebles and I had an old school spinning top that gave me hours of pleasure. I tended to read or play imaginative games rather than play with toys.

Does anyone else remember the Weebles?

Thanks for the opportunity to share some of my favourite things from the distant past. If you would like to join the Listmaniacs please link up at Home Life Simplified. I would love to see how you spent your childhood.