Yes, we are doing this again, but it’s likely the last time for a while, because yesterday’s episode of the BBC’s 1960s Nuns ‘n’ Nurses drama Call the Midwife was the series finale. There’ll be another episode on Christmas day, I’m betting, but that’s over four months away so I’m not worried about it at the moment.
In this episode, ostensibly set around Bonfire Night in 1969 (Bonfire Night is an annual festival in the United Kingdom in which they celebrate the classic comic V for Vendetta), everyone’s favourite newsagent Fred Buckle gently reprimands his son Reggie for neglecting the comics. Now, much as I love Reggie, he really has been slacking lately.
Still, for a change there’s a relatively good selection of comics on display (still only a tiny fraction of the number of comics that really would have been available in any decent newsagent’s in 1969). Here’s the first bunch…
Teddy Bear (Fleetway/IPC) ran from 21 Sep 1963 to 15 Sep 1973 for 520 issues before it was absorbed into Jack and Jill. The issue on the shelves is cover-dated 7 September…
Given that Bonfire Night is in early November, that issue is two months out of date! Shocking, yes? Well, prepare to be even shockeder… because the issue is actually dated 7th September 1968. It’s two months and a year out of date! Disgraceful!
Next up, the first appearance in Buckles’ newsagents of an absolute classic British comic. Smash! (Odhams / IPC) ran from 5 Feb 1966 to 3 May 1971 for 265 issues, absorbing Pow! and Fantastic along the way before falling to Valiant (see the Eagle Timeline for more details).
This issue of Smash! (incorporating Fantastic) is #159, cover-dated 15 Feb 1969. You’re eight months behind on that one, Reggie! Tch.
Next up it’s a familiar face… Tiger (Amalgamated Press / Fleetway / IPC), 1554 issues from 11 Sep 1954 to 30 Mar 1985, absorbing The Champion (1922), Comet (1952), Hurricane, Jag, Scorcher, and Speed before it was consumed by the 1980s version of Eagle (again, see the Eagle Timeline).
As I say, it’s a familiar face. Very familiar, in fact. This exact same issue — #760, dated 17 May 1969 — appeared in episode two of the current season, in mid-January.
But that’s not all… as the scene opens, Fred is holding a different issue of Tiger. We don’t get a very clear look at it…
… but it turns out to be easy enough to identify because we’ve seen this one before, too, in episode five of the current series: issue #749, cover-dated 01 Mar 1969.
We can also see copies of Princess Tina on the lower shelf. Princess Tina (IPC) ran from 23 Sep 1967 to 29 Dec 1973 for 227 issues. It was an amalgamation/relaunch of both Tina and Princess, and absorbed Lady Penelope before being consumed by Pink: more info on the My Guy Timeline.
With only the top part of the cover it’ll be hard to pin down, but luckily a subsequent shot gives us a different angle, this time only the right half of the cover, and with the image very washed out:
This is where a little detective work comes in… Princess Tina‘s logo changed to this style on 2 Mar 1969, and retained it until at least Feb 1972, so that narrows the search a bit. We can just about see that the cover has a very light background and features a blonde girl looking to the right, with some text to the right of her head, and the comic’s date on the left, under the “Princess” part of the logo: many issues of the era put the date on the right. So identifying the cover is a matter of searching for issues that match those criteria. And I found only one that fits everything, the issue cover-dated 14 Jun 1969:
But we’re still not done, for the newsagent has two more goodies for us today…
Sadly, that issue of The Dandy is going to have to remain a mystery: there just aren’t enough unique identifiers visible. It’s likely one of the issues we’ve seen before.
But the next one is a doddle… Bobo Bunny ran from 22 Mar 1969 to 27 Jan 1973 for 201 issues, absorbing Esmeralda along the way, before being absorbed Hey Diddle Diddle.
That’s issue #2, cover-dated 29 Mar 1969, and I didn’t even have to go hunting for it because we’ve seen that issue before, back in episode two.
And that’s it for the current series of Rusty’s Midwife Crisis Call the Midwife! Good fun all around, and my favourite character is still Nurse Nancy even though she didn’t really get a proper storyline this series. I’d like to thank the show’s awesome set-dressers for providing me with lots of hunt-the-comic fun! (If by chance the set-dressers are reading this, perhaps they might like to get in touch — I’d love to interview them!)
Rusty Staples 