Nostalgic Blog

Get ready to unleash your inner child as we delve into a mysteriously nostalgic realm of mischief, motorcycles, and mesmerizing bears - can you guess the classic cartoon that captured our hearts and minds?  I know... the title and image give the game away but I was so proud of that I just had to use it!

Are you a fan of the outrageous Hanna-Barbera cartoon 'Wacky Races'? If so, it's no surprise – since its debut in 1968, this classic show has captured the minds and hearts of over 25 million viewers worldwide! The zany world of Wacky Races is full of unforgettable characters like Peter Perfect, Penelope Pitstop and Muttley. Every week, these hilarious racers compete in wacky stunts to see who will take home first prize. Read on for a closer look at how Hanna-Barbera created one of the most beloved cartoons of all time! The premise behind 'Wacky Races' was simple yet effective: create an e..

1. A Sweet Introduction to Fruit Pastilles
2. The Origins of Fruit Pastilles
3. The Evolution of Fruit Pastilles
4. Enjoying Fruit Pastilles Today

A couple of weeks ago we made the annual trip to the garden centre to pick our Christmas tree. I had measured the height, floor to ceiling, in our lounge to ensure that the fir that we bought was sufficiently large.  I remember from when I was little how critical that factor is. Shallow I know...but I'm thinking back to when I was 7 or so. And I remember being disappointed on more than one occasion. All of the trees in our local garden centre are pre-netted and so there's no way of knowing which are shapely specimens and which not.  So I use my tried and tested tree-hugging t..

12 sleeps until Christmas (as I write this).  I know because I've just counted it out on my fingers! You'll never guess which topic from my blog posts has generated the biggest reaction. I've written about so many things that took me back... So nostalgic... I was there again...  Jumpers for goalposts... Scuffed shoes... Holes in my school trouser knees... Oh oh... But the topic that generated the most feedback by far... Was when I vented my contempt for pink wafers... They seem to be the marmite of the biscuit world... Or the Parma Violets if you p..

Only 19 sleeps to Christmas (as I write this)... It was a regular December memory that I recall from my childhood so it definitely qualifies for my little Christmas countdown... These days it has been sanitised somewhat... And for once I'm glad about that... Because, in retrospect, it was one of the most mind-bogglingly nuts ideas... And potentially horrendously dangerous too... Have you guessed what it is yet? It was an idea for a Christmas decoration... So far so good... With tinsel... Lovely... I like a bit of tinsel... Baubles... Even better... A wa..

This is when it started to get serious... Christmas really was coming. The first sign was the appearance of the advent calendars... Not that they were a massive surprise because they were the exactly the same ones as we'd had last year... When I say exactly the same... they WERE the advent calendars that we'd opened last year... only all of the doors has been closed again. We didn't have a load of money, as you can probably guess. Did it matter that they were the same old, familiar calendars returning? Not one jot! It was all part of the Christmas build-up ritual that we..

Remember Evel Knievel? He was huge when I was little. Definitely larger than life... He had 2 claims to fame from what I can remember. Jumping over stuff on his motorbike...  It was usually buses... and lots of them at once... I seem to remember that canyons were his other speciality for jumping over... Little ones I would think... but even so... He was THE daredevil... And very 70s in his Elvis style white leather outfits with stars and stripes on... source: https://www.history.com/news/evel-knievel-motorcycle-jump So cooooooooooooooooooooo..

A while back I wrote about the bands from back in the day which are still doing their thing... Human League, The Cure etc.  If you missed it you can read it here. And that got me a thinking... Who would you most like to see again if it was possible to pop them into a time travel machine and have them perform now exactly was they were then? And don't be boring and go for the obvious ones... get quirky (and ideally embarrassing!) Remember when the news used to feature hoards of screaming girls at Heathrow when their favourites arrived? The Osmonds... source: https://d..

Why is it we become completely and utterly obsessed with very specific brands at school? All it takes is one of the cool kids to wear something with flair and confidence, and then the masses follow like clueless sheep en masse! I am now a parent of modern-day teenagers who suffer from this terrible affliction and I forget that I was once just like them! In fact, thinking about my own 80s teens has reminded me that I maybe should cut them some slack. It’s just something teenagers do.   The first time I noticed this brand-worship phenomenon was around 1985 when people started wearing..

I'm nervous... I came up with an idea last week and I'm not sure whether it will go down a storm... or die a horrible death through lack of interest. So I'm using the response to this email as a barometer as to whether to press on with the idea or not... so if you like this sort of thing please take part and leave a comment below. I know... that's a load of gibberish without knowing what I'm on about... so here goes. I saw the lineup for one of the jubilee concerts last week... and it featured Duran Duran. "Blimey... are they still going?" thought I. Must be. I wonder wh..

  Back in the day... I think it must have been the 80s... there was possibly one of the strangest things to be broadcast on the radio... and it used to happen every Sunday.  Anyone tuning in mid-stream must have been proper confused. It was on a London independent radio station... LBC.  They had a programme devoted to home computing (dominated by the Commodore 64 and ZX Spectrum from memory) and it was presented by Tommy Boyd... Remember him off Magpie?  He used to present that with that bloke called Mick who had wild hair... in my mind he's the identical twin of B..

  Hello I went to Wembley last Saturday to watch the League 1 playoff final (football!) where my beloved Wycombe Wanderers were playing Sunderland.   We lost 2-0 sadly... on the day it was a fair result... but that's part and parcel of supporting Wycombe...   and the defeats make the victories all the sweeter. So much has changed football-wise since watching The Big Match on Sunday afternoons in the 70's.  Much for the better but also, like with so many aspects of life these days, it was so much simpler back then. ... and where's the nostalgic fun i..

Hello David McKee sadly died about a month ago.  He was 87, which is a good innings in anybody's book. You're probably thinking... who? To tell the truth, I'd have been doing the same. If you'd mentioned the name "Michael Bond" to me I'd automatically have a mental picture of... "Paddington Bear". Oliver Postgate (good name!)... the Clangers and Bagpuss... oh and Noggin the Nog... and Ivor the Engine... and others (Mr Postgate was prolific!). Gordon Murray... Trumpton, Chigley, Camberwick Green (love 'em!) But David McKee?  I wouldn't have known which progr..

Almost 50 years later this still sends shivers down my spine... and not in a good way. It's in the same category as scraping fingers down the blackboard for many people (which strangely I don't mind that at all, do you?)... Honestly... I feel unforfortable writing this and bringing back the memories... The incredible power of triggers... Anyway... Back in the 70's we had a couple of regular holiday destinations... both of which involved tedious drives along A roads (motorways were a lot fewer and shorter back then)... Mostly single carriageway roads... Lots of the scourg..

As you can probably guess, it's not a bad job to be the person behind the virtual counter in an online sweetshop. Aside from being surrounded by sweets (ahhhh the smell!) and taste-testing a gazillion new ones to see which will make it onto AQuarterOf.co.uk, we also get to embark on the occasional fun project. And that's what we did a smidge over 12 years ago. It was approaching the end of March 2009 and we thought it would be a jolly weez to come up with an April Fools Joke in the spirit of the Panorama one of the 1960s... where they showed Swiss (!) people harvesting pasta off Spa..

As Vic Reeves would have said... "You wouldn't let it lie...". Brace yourself for a nostalgic rant... Don't you find it depressing how many reboots there are... They take something that worked in the past... And "bring it up to date". Uggghhh. It could be a film e.g. Mary Poppins... It could be a television programme e.g. Hawaii-Five-O... And almost without exception the remake is pants, with none of what made the original work. It shows a hideous lack of creativity as far as I'm concerned... and frequently it's an insult to the original. Why oh why? Anyway, ..

I took William, our 13 year old, shopping the other day to buy a new pair of trainers.   The old ones had lasted about 3 months until he grew out of them...  Pesky meddling adolescence! It was an experience... There is a brand... which I refuse to name but I bet you can probably guess which one it is... which makes very stylised trainers which cost a small fortune... To me they look revolting. To William they're cooooool... And they're also cooooool to all of his friends apparently because they all wear this hideous brand too... The power of brainwashin..

As I look out of the window here the sky is grey and it's raining. Back in the day, before there was 24 hour a day entertainment for children (on-demand television so you can watch whatever you like whenever you like, tablets etc etc), it was the sort of day that we'd mope around, bored. At the time being bored seemed to be the worst thing in the world... apart from going to the dentist... and school dinners... and blancmange... and (I'll stop now!). Cue the 1970s parents' regular refrain... "Find something to do!" Time to explore shelves and cupboards to rediscover things tha..