The Children's Newspaper was delivered to the house, in an attempt to interest me in matters of the day. It was well intended as a publication but appeared condescending. I preferred the Wizard, passed on to me by Uncle Fred. Erudite explanations about the Ground Nut Scheme in Africa failed to excite me when compared with the Incredible Wilson, Limp along Leslie, and V for Vengeance. Very few pictures, the publishers assumed that clients could read. [This was the 50s] Then the Eagle happened. This was a paper approved of by parents and schools, yet it carried street credibility. Printed in colour, on shiny paper. The centrefold (no, it wasn't) took the form of a large three-dimensional detailed drawing of an aircraft, ship, or locomotive; allowing the reader to imaginatively wander through the construction. It must have been the first and last comic to be pinned on walls of classrooms throughout the country. The highlight was Colonel Dan Dare and his Venusian battles with the Treens (bad), supported by the Therons (good). The leader of the evil Treens was the Mekon, a small green dome-headed creature who moved around on a hovering soup plate. With an odd backwards reference to service etiquette, Colonel Dan was accompanied everywhere by his batman, Albert Digby. It is a shock to realise that the time-scale for this story of interplanetary warfare was the period 1990 to 2000. I'm living in the far distant future. My sister's reading all seemed to involve girls at boarding school. Hockey sticks and midnight feasts in the dormitory were a huge step away from reality for anyone I knew. Later there was a companion comic to the Eagle, for girls, imaginatively titled ‘Girl’. The lead story was Wendy & Jinx, and yes, they were at boarding school. Another popular story (even with the boys) was Day of the Triffids. No cosmetic tips, no fashion features, and no personal agony column. Strangely, it still sold. Then American comics began to filter in. These were obviously more attractive, because Authority confiscated them at every opportunity. Previously, comics had contained every-day characters in unusual situations which they had to resolve. In these comics, amazing characters would appear to solve the problem. This generation was taught to expect external help in any difficulty. Smokey Checked by Norton 2004 before transmission with Mozilla Thunderbird