Dandy and Beano summer specials 2023 style

This week we are returning to an age old ritual routed in early childhood where the arrival of summer punctuated by Sports Day and the School Holidays meant we needed a little extra fun reading for when we were out playing for what seemed likes ages in July and August and to get through any rainy days while on our own Hols where going out wasn't going work.

Most of us had the Beano in its regular form and often had annuals for Christmas so the idea of a glossy special for the summer where all our favourite characters like us were on holidays having adventures appealed.

The Beano is the one regular comic that survived the wave of closures of the nineteen nineties and early part of this century and so the sixty eight page special with stickers returns with a common story theme of a Gnasher that's appears supersized, dwarfing the children although in reality it is they who have been shrunk in size.

Can they escape that fate?

The Dandy was one of those unlucky comics that went in paper form in 2012 but we do get a Summer Special ever since the 2013 edition proved very popular.

There have been a few comic strips started in recent years and a little more inclusivity than was the case but it mixes some reprints from the past with the new

This year the “Dandytown Scouts” strip drawn by Mychailo Kazybrid and inked by Bambos Georgiou has been added.

They attend their Scouts sessions on Friday evenings, are and do work on gaining their badges, having adventures and having.

Mychailo created the design for these characters and the characters feature can see on the cover. 

There should also be a couple of strips starring these characters in the Dandy Annual this year to keep that fresh and appealing to all ages.

These should be available from W H Smith -  the dandy only from WH Smiths-  and can be ordered via Amazon.uk.

Unlike previous years they don't appear to be available from D C Thompson's own web sites and indeed the whole thing around if and when they might is rather messy.

Given the rush to get them out while normally there's more of a build up for the May 17th publication suggests the ball was dropped a little and they're playing catch up.

However that happened, normal childhood rituals are restored this year.

Going back with the new

 After all the excitement of the last few weeks we return to more regular things on this rapidly improving blog.

The origins of this whole thing go back a long time, decades actually and that period was generally different to today as while challenges still exist for some, there is more toleration and acceptance of variant dressing than there was when I was growing up.

It also is the case it is easier to find and order things, literally a few keystrokes and mouse clicks away than back then too.

Early exploration as ever started with what was at hand and living on the big chest in Mum's room was a Royal Stewart longish kilt skirt that I rather took a shine to in those early days of dressing more feminine.

In a nod to last weeks post this is more in mini  as in Mini skirt territory.

Recently I bought this which was very similar which fits a treat that when matched with either white tights or girls socks looks so much like that child like me wearing for the first time a skirt!

It just feels fantastic to be back to then as a little sissy gurl in the innocence of that time after all the stuff I've faced this year.

Now yearbooks 1978

In September of last year this epic series of cd sets took a leap into the nineteen seventies with the 1979 edition and corresponding (on cd) Extras set which was welcome as comprehensive Year based sets covering the 70's tend to be the exception and it was noted sales were high for it.

1978 is a year that some of us remember well from the soccer World Cup in Argentina, Israel winning Eurovision and on the radio and big screen the year being dominated by Saturday Night Fever and Grease as we got older and more aware of things happening in the UK and abroad.

It was a very diverse music scene not least on the singles charts which was something I loved back then as now so we're taking a trip through the contents.

Opening disc 1 we start with ‘Mr. Blue Sky’ from Electric Light Orchestra, the timeless ‘Baker Street’ from Gerry Rafferty, and Rod Stewart’s chart topping ‘Da Ya Think I’m Sexy?’

 More chart toppers follow from ABBA with ‘Take A Chance On Me’ and 1978’s biggest selling single, ‘Rivers Of Babylon’ from Boney M. Pop-Reggae chart-toppers from 10cc and Althea and Donna are up next, before a run of dancefloor fillers including ‘I’m Every Woman’ from Chaka Khan, and Donna Summer’s incredible version of ‘Macarthur Park’, before a couple of Soul ballads from Rose Royce and 'Three Times A Lady’ from Commodores. The first disc draws to a close with a stack of Pop classics from Marshall Hain, Clout, Bonnie Tyler and Suzi Quatro and Wings with a personal favourite 'With A Little Luck'  before the peerless ‘The Man With The Child In His Eyes’ from Kate Bush.

The second disc pays tribute to the incredible line-up of artists in the charts of 1978 with their roots in Punk and the burgeoning New Wave movement, kicking off here with the stunning no.1 ‘Rat Trap’ from Ireland's The Boomtown Rats, the era-defining ‘Teenage Kicks’ from The Undertones, ‘Ever Fallen In Love…’ from Buzzcocks, and ‘Hanging On The Telephone’ from Blondie, alongside classic singles from Siouxsie And The Banshees, The Rezillos, The Clash, The Jam, Elvis Costello and The Attractions, and Ian Dury and The Blockheads plus America's Patti Smith and The Cars score huge hits. 

The remainder of Disc 2 features some of the year’s biggest Pop-Rock songs including hits from Billy Joel, The Who  with 'Who Are You?', Elton John, and Justin Hayward’s ‘Forever Autumn’ from the hugely successful Sci-Fi ‘Jeff Wayne’s Musical Version Of The War Of The Worlds’ album.

The third disc centres on disco in 1978 which was huge. A stunning run of disco gold, led by the sophisticated groove of ‘Le Freak’ from Chic, alongside ‘Boogie Oogie Oogie’, ‘Instant Replay’, ‘Let’s All Chant’ and ‘More Than A Woman’ by Tavares from the soundtrack of ‘Saturday Night Fever’. 

European created pop/disco from Baccara, Sheila and B Devotion, The Three Degrees, Eruption, and Voyage are included before a group of floor-fillers paying tribute to the sci-fi craze of the time: ‘I Lost My Heart To A Starship Trooper’, ‘Galaxy Of Love’, and ‘Automatic Lover’. More disco related hits from Hot Chocolate and Earth, Wind and Fire feature, before the disc closes with two of the year’s most beautiful ballads from Heatwave and the timeless ‘Love Don’t Live Here Anymore’ from Rose Royce.

Disc four closing this set is all about the pop smashes of the year – opening with ‘Denis’ the chart breakthrough remake of the Randy and The Rainbows 1964 hit from Blondie, and two huge hits from the soundtrack to ‘Grease’ from Olivia Newton-John and John Travolta. 

Darts paid tribute to 50s doo-wop, and Bill Withers and John Paul Young produced two of the most uplifting songs ever (‘Lovely Day’ and ‘Love Is In The Air’). They are followed by unique hits from Renaissance, Scott Fitzgerald and Yvonne Keeley, and Barry Manilow.

 Pop gems from Dollar, Andrew Gold, Boney M., a chart topper from Brotherhood Of Man, and the year’s UK Eurovision entry from Co-co follow, before a sublime run of Easy Listening Pop including ‘Lucky Stars’ from Dean Friedman, The Manhattan Transfer, Crystal Gayle, David Soul and Elkie Brooks. 

This rather topping collection closes with ‘Oh What A Circus’ a massive hit for David Essex, Brian and Michael’s no.1 ‘Matchstalk Men And Matchstalk Cats And Dogs’ before signing off with 1978’s no.2 peaking single – Father Abraham with the ‘Smurf Song’.

Part of that diversity came from having a wide age range of buyers from younger children who 'got' The Smurfs to older and more nostalgic adults who like the image of Matchstick Men and Clogs in a year that saw some of the highest ever sales figures while New Wave freshened up the charts with new and often highly talented artists.

June 9th sees the Extra volume to the main Yearbook issued in its card wrap around three disc form adding some 66 additional songs to this years collection.

The first disc kicks off with Queen’s classic ‘Bicycle Race from their Jazz album’ followed by New Wave hits from The Boomtown Rats with ‘Like Clockwork’, and Blondie with the first single from ‘Parallel Lines’, ‘Picture This’. 

We then move into massive chart hits from Electric Light Orchestra and Smokie lead into Rock’n’roll revival Pop from Darts, Showaddywaddy and John Travolta with ‘Greased Lightnin’’ (from the year’s biggest movie ‘Grease’) before encountering beautiful ballads from Crystal Gayle, Anne Murray and Hot Chocolate before closing the disc with a fantastic run of Soul including hits from Raydio, Third World and The O’Jays, and some fabulous European Disco from Amanda Lear, Voyage, Patrick Juvet and Boney M.

 We move to U.S. Disco gold from Cheryl Lynn and Musique before Donna Summer’s Academy Award winning ‘Last Dance’ ends the disc.

Disc two opens with Meat Loaf’s ‘Two Out Of Three Ain’t Bad’ from ‘Bat Out Of Hell’ and is joined by timeless ballads from Billy Joel, Dean Friedman and Chris Rea, along with pure Pop from Lindisfarne and David Soul, plus a one-off non-album single ‘Ego’ from Elton John.

Rock from Status Quo and the epic ‘The Eve Of The War’ from Jeff Wayne & Justin Hayward leads into an amazing selection of Punk and New Wave including hits from The Clash, The Jam, Elvis Costello & The Attractions, Sham 69, Squeeze and Public Image Limited before the disc finishes with one-off’s from Yellow Dog, and Streetband with ‘Toast’ giving singer Paul Young his first hit.

Finally we come to disc three with more Pop gems from Blondie, Andrew Gold, Samantha Sang – with ‘Emotion’ – written by Barry and Robin Gibb of the Bee Gees, and the duet ‘Stumblin’ In’ between Chris Norman and Suzi Quatro – a Top 5 single in the US, Germany, Australia and Canada. 

Sophisticated Disco hits from Earth, Wind & Fire, Donna Summer and Evelyn “Champagne” King feature alongside 1978 Eurovision competitors Baccara and winner Izhar Cohen & Alpha Beta. 

We are then treated to sublime Easy-listening Pop hits from Barry Manilow, Elkie Brooks and Johnny Mathis duet with Deniece Williams follow, before more retro inspired Pop from Leo Sayer, Child and second appearances for Darts and Showaddywaddy. 

We sign off 1978’s ‘extra’ with the second Top 20 hit from Father Abraham (and The Smurfs),that unforgettable ‘A Taste Of Aggro’ by The Barron Knights  – a million seller which parodied three of 1978’s biggest singles and finally the last track was fittingly the last  number 1 of the year, and Christmas chart topper – ‘Mary’s Boy Child / Oh My Lord’ from Boney M.

1978 was one of pops most fantastic years and this yearbook set in two parts is a testament to it.

The Kings Coronation

This is a special edition for a number of reasons mainly being the subject, the Coronation on Saturday of our King apart from being our 1,038th post here reflecting what interests me as much as what personally I am about.

It was very much His day as it was his destiny born to be King,  and like his mother to have a centuries old coronation service but one where leaders of other faiths, a cross section of people by ethnic and other diversity that reflect modern Britain were in attendance, taking part.

These things usually take some planning such as the route to be taken, the nature of the procession and facilities for people who  have come to see it apart from security.

The Stage Coach wasn't used this time but a more modern much more comfortable one 

Westminster Abbey was the ultimate destination for the service and ceremony and here page boys assist keeping the train of his robe straight.

The Page Boys at ease.

A Coronation massed choir with members of boys, girls and women's choirs performed so very well.

After the service with the annotating and crowning of Charles our King but the crowning of Camilla our Queen,  they made there way back to Buckingham Palace where they went on to the balcony to wave to the public

Serving royals and children also joined as here they are looking at the fly past.

Sadly because of the rainfall the full flypast wasn't possible but a foreshortened one featuring the Red Arrows was possible as shown here.

It was a lovely service, well executed.

New Pj's!

 

We've been a bit silent of late around the whole question of sleepwear, might of been a good number of years since I wrote anything much but with being away recently what I had with me needed a good wash and between all of that you do need to sleep!

With that I decided to get these more girls but in for adult sized fleecy pajamas  which at least have a pocket for your tissue at night which helps given I'm prone to sneezing a fair bit

They're pretty warm too