Hi Lister-friends, I have been sitting on my hands, as they were itching to add to the current topics; and can stand it no longer! I hope that you will bear with me!!! I am not only going to reminise about comics and other reading matter, but also add a bit to what Joe has mentioned. My memories go back to the thirties and I am not sure whether I read Radio Fun and Film Fun in the late 30s or early 40s. Laurel and Hardy featured, as did Ethel Revnell and Gracie West. Then in the war years Tommy Handley and the spy Funf ( sorry haven't got around to finding the umlaut, yet!). I loved the latter in his enveloping cloak and hat and only eyes showing, saying "I go---------I come back!" There was some good dialogue both on the radio and in the comic. Now as to the long Ethel and her short dumpy sidekick, Gracie. Years later, in the mid 50s when I taught in a British Army School in Tampin, Malaya, I was asked if an army cot could be put into my small bach, (attached to the mess), as Tessie O'Shea needed to be accommodated after the show that was coming to entertain the troops. I was happy to fall in with this, but said that I would take the camp bed myself and the guest could have my more spacious one. Well, Tessie O'Shea cancelled and in her place came Ethel Revnell, a tall, quiet, cultured lady with no hint of Show Bizz about her. I'm glad that I had the camp bed, though, as it did have a characteristic sort of fusty army equipment smell, especially when the mosquito net was in place! Her itinery didn't allow time for more than passing pleasanteries. I was a veritable bookworm, and having the Foleshill branch of the Public Library nearby, after the Blitz of 1940, I usually visited there daily. Everything was "grist to my mill" and I devoured boys' books with equal enthusiasm, too. I never entered the sacred portals of the Coventry Central Library, Joe, as far as I can remember, as the branch and school ones met my needs. However I do remember the card system and date stamp---and above all the sacred hush, when even a whisper raised a frown from the LIbrarians! How different it is now, even in the smaller libraries. Usually an area with a playpen and toys for the toddlers, and in the children's section bright posters, beanbag seating and cosy corners. Earlier this year when visiting such a one in Picton, Emma. my gt-granddaughter was happily in the playpen whilst her mother and I browsed. Emma grew restive and so was given some books that they were to take home. She had recently turned 2years old, but was a fluent chatterbox! I hushed her, but the librarian smiled and said she was OK. As she looked through a B & W picture book about babies she came to one of a naked baby peering through its legs. "Baby, put your knickers on" she said, in bell-like tones that were clearly audible throughout the room! It is an area of many retirees, and it raised many smiles. She loves her books and the relaxed library atmosphere will encourage her "reading" habit. When we moved to Webster Street the previous tenant gave us a huge pile of Arthur Mee's Children' s Newspapers. I was in my seventh heaven as I worked my way through it. I give this publication the credit for my good general knowledge rather than from my education within the school system! It was a bit "Ra ra" and over-emphasised national pride in our country and empire, but so did the Scouting and Guiding movements prewar. I also remember Empire Day was celebrated in schools and we also observed the 2 minute silence and had special assemblies on Remembrance Day. So I read these papers with enjoyment and disregarded what I didn't particularly like----still have that habit! It was almost mandatory for you to receive an annual in your Christmas stocking, in my younger days. Rupert Bear was one such, that you might receive, but I never sensed any undercurrents within its story lines. Perhaps I was too thick? In the 40s and 50s I took a great interest in the cartoons that appeared in some newspapers. My interest was in the cartoonists' technique rather than content, though. I think that it was in the Daily Sketch that Mopsy appeared, a ditzy lady, drawn in a very free American manner. Was it the Mirror that had Jane? She was drawn superbly and had enviable "charms". The names Chick Young and Dagwood come to mind, but I am hazy about it---did the former create the latter? I can remember Dagwood having to lift his feet whilst Blondie vacuumed under them. I was entranced with the way her curls were drawn---as little corkscrews in the nape of her neck! Outside the newspaper format we had famous cartoonists like Searle with his inspired and quirkily drawn "inventions". And don't forget Giles, who was on the scene for so long. I think that I must resemble his "Grandma" character, short, unlovely and often grumpy! At school, as fledgling teachers we used to hold our classes spellbound with the adventures of "Little Black Sambo", and the silliness of Epaminondas. But then political correctness came on the scene and they were forbidden! However, with the re-instatement of Noddy and others, I see that a new version of "Little Black Sambo is now allowed, with the naming and phraseology altered a little. Good! It was a story that lent itself to inspired artwork by the listeners. I am returning to comics, again. The Eagle with Dan Dare's adventures against the Treens and the squat ugly little Mekon popping up inconveniently and hovering nearby, came into my life after my childhood had passed. It came because my brother was 7 years younger than me. Naturally he wanted Dan Dare comics, but he was making "heavy weather" of reading at that juncture. Mum said that he could have it, but was required to read a bit to her every day, before we completed the telling. An unusual Primer, but it worked! At the time we thought that the Treens were "way out" but what would we have made of the odd and wierd characters that people the comics of today? I have a favourite, though---it is Yugi of Yu-Gi-Oh ! My 9 year old grandson can just sit down and re-create him, with nothing to copy from. I am lost in admiration of this feat and he has lent me his scrapbook so that I can practise, one day. Such magnetic eyes and zig-zag blonde hair! I must try!!! People moaned that television and films was creating a nation of none-reading children. But, " what goes round, comes round", and Harry Potter and more recently "Lord of the Rings" films have made children avid to read the books. My own eldest granddaughter was led to reading good fiction through seeing a television version of "Pride and Prejudice". She read that and carried on, also found more than one video version, and decided that the newer one was more faithful to the book; and I agreed. More keeps coming to mind, but it is high time that I finished my narrative. Regards, Muriel.