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Sinead O’Connor still has fire in her belly with letter to Miley Cyrus!!

October 4th, 2013 simon

Sinead O’Connor has written an open letter to Miley Cyrus urging her not to let the music business “make a prostitute of you”.

Sinead O@Connor wrote to Miley Cyrus after she cited Sinead O’Connor’s video Nothing Compares 2 U as an inspiration for her explicit Wrecking Ball video. In her open letter, Sinead wrote: “Nothing but harm will come in the long run, from allowing yourself to be exploited……..Please, in future, say no when you are asked to prostitute yourself”.

Miley Cyrus cries in the promotional clip for the Wrecking Ball video, imitating the theme of Sinead O’Connor’s video for her song Nothing Compares 2 U . However Miley Cyrus’ video deviates from Sinead O’Connor’s video with Myley licking a sledgehammer and swinging naked on a metal demolition ball.

It is great to see that Sinead O’Connor still has that trademark passion and fire in her belly, because these qualities allowed her to create one of the Record Press author’s favourite ballads and in my opinion one of the greatest love songs of all time……..

………And no I’m not talking about “Nothing Compares 2 U”………..I’m referring to her very first single released in 1987 – “Troy”……..and in my humble opinion, no other love song compares to it!! If you are not familiar with this incredibly powerful love song, here’s a link to “Troy” on You Tube….. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0c4v7fp5GC8   It should carry a health warning – it will blow your mind and soul with its emotional rawness!!

Of course Sinead O’Connor has released other great singles as highlighted in this Record Press Top 5 Best Sinead O’Connor Songs –

Top 5 Best Sinead O’Connor Songs

 

1) Troy ( No48 1987 )

2) Nothing Compares 2 U ( No1 1990 )

3) The Emperor’s New Clothes ( No31 ’90 )

4) Mandinka ( No17 1987 )

5) Silent Night ( No60 1991 )

 

Celebrate the music of Sinead O’Connor in your home or office, by ordering your favourite Sinead O’Connor song in a vinyl or CD format; single, album or album cover; framed and mounted as a picture disc souvenir. You can also personalise it with an inscribed / engraved plaque……   ORDER NOW…….. www.myfirstrecord.co.uk/

Framed vinyl records, framed CDs and framed DVDs with a personalised plaque, make unique presents or original gifts for a special celebration  / special occasion ie a Wedding ( Wedding First Dance Song ), an Engagement Party ( Our Song ), a House Warming Party ( New Home ), a 21st, 30th, 40th, 50th, 60th Birthday ( How about the No1 song on the day of birth? ), a Silver, Ruby or Golden Wedding Anniversary, Father’s or Mother’s Day or Valentine’s Day!!  THE PERFECT PERSONALISED PRESENT!!

For further information, plus other merchandise or memorabilia, go to the Sinead O’Connor website……. www.sineadoconnor.com/

 

Posted in Framed Vinyl & CDs, Music, Nostalgia, Retro Toys, Vinyl Records No Comments »

Monopoly fans decide Iron has to “Go to Jail” to serve a life sentence

February 7th, 2013 simon

Following an online poll, the Monopoly board game manufacturers Hasbro have announced that the cat has got the cream in terms of becoming a player token on the board. The cat was voted as the most popular option for a new Monopoly piece ahead of a robot, helicopter, diamond ring and a guitar. The new cat design took 31% of the total vote and will be added to the existing tokens which include a race car, thimble, top hat and battleship.

It is the first time Monopoly fans have been invited to vote on which of the eight tokens to keep and which to lose. The Scottie dog was the clear favourite securing 29% of the vote, with fans from more than 120 countries taking part in the poll to decide which token should be saved. In the best traditions of Monopoly, the race went to the wire, with the shoe, wheelbarrow and iron fighting for survival in the final hours of voting. Ultimately the iron passed “Go” last, finishing with just 8% of the vote and will now “Go to Jail” to serve a life sentence, with no chance of parole!!

The iron was one of the original game tokens when Monopoly was launched by the Parker Brothers in 1935. The Scottie dog and wheelbarrow were added in the early 1950s.This is not the first time Monopoly pieces / tokens have been cast aside and thrown off the Monopoly board – and I am not talking about tipping up the Monopoly board in a pique of anger as a sore loser!! Previous tokens retired in the 1950s included a lantern, a purse and a rocking horse.

If you had an opportunity, would you change player tokens in other board games? For instance, would you change or replace Colonel Mustard or Professor Plum in Cluedo? Let us know in the Reply Box below

 

Posted in Retro Games, Retro Toys No Comments »

Etch A Sketch inventor dies having etched his influence on a generation

February 5th, 2013 simon

Andre Cassagnes, the French inventor of the Etch A Sketch has died at the age of 86. His death was announced by the Ohio Art Company, which has been making the Etch a Sketch since 1960. For those of a certain vintage growing up in the 1960s and 1970s, The Etch A Sketch was commonplace in the toy box.

For the author the Etch A Sketch was high tech in the early 1970s. It allowed you to draw without the use and aid of a pencil, crayons or felt tips. The grey screen surrounded by a red frame, allowed children to draw a picture using a stylus and then erase it with the turn of two buttons. Such was it’s popularity that in the last 50 years it has sold in excess of a 100 million units around the world.  Etch A Sketch figures in the Recordpress Top 10 of this Top 25 Best Loved Toys & Games from the 1960s & 1970s

 

Top 20 Best Loved Toys & Games from the 1960s & 1970s

1) Lego

2) Barbie

3) Action Man

4) Corgi James Bond Aston Martin

5) Scalextric

6) Etch-A-sketch

7) Rub on Transfers

8) Tiny Tears

9) Subbuteo

10) Frisbee

11) Kerplunk

12) Yahtzee

13) Tiddlywinks

14) Play-Doh

15) Mr Potato Head

16) Mousetrap

17) Monopoly

18) Masterpiece

19) Bionic Man

20) Smurfs

 

Which were your favourite toys and games? Let us know in the Reply Box below.

Posted in Retro Toys No Comments »

As original Batmobile sells at auction, here’s a Top10 Corgi Toy Cars

January 21st, 2013 simon

The Batmobile from the original TV series of Batman has sold for $4.2m (£2.6m) at an auction in the USA. The Batmobile was bought by Rick Champagne, a logistics company owner from Phoenix, Arizona. With a name like that, I’m sure Mr Champagne will be celebrating being the first owner of the Batmobile since Batman!!

The Batmobile design was based on a 1955 Lincoln Futura, a concept car built in Italy by the Ford Motor Company and became a central part of the 1960s surreal, camp cult TV series “Batman”, starring Adam West as Batman and Burt Ward as his sidekick “boy wonder” Robin.

 

It is the first occasion that car had come up for public sale since it was bought in 1965 by car-customiser George Barris, who converted it in two weeks, at the cost of $15,000 (£9,400), into the Batmobile. It had a V-8 engine, arguably one of the first in-car phones, and parachutes, which were used to help the Batmobile turn sharp corners.

The Batmobile also became a must have toy in the 1960s and 1970s, when Corgi Toys produced a die cast model in 1966. Infact it became one of the iconic toy cars of the era.

The Recordpress author would definitely place it firmly in a Top 10 Best Corgi Toy Cars  from Film & TV Series in the 1960s / 1970s –

Top 10 Best Corgi Toy Cars from Film & TV Series in the 1960s / 1970s

 

1 ) James Bond Aston Martin DB5 ( Goldfinger & Thunderball )

2) Lady Penelope Pink Rolls Royce ( Thunderbirds )

3) Chitty Chitty Bang Bang Flying Car

4) Batmobile

5) Simon Templar Volvo P1800 ( The Saint )

6) Emma Peel Lotus Elan ( The Avengers )

7) James Bond Toyota 2000GT ( You Only Live Twice )

8) ‘Dick Dastardly’s’ Car ( Wacky Races )

9) Starsky & Hutch Ford Gran Torino

10) James Bond Lotus Esprit ( The Spy Who Loved Me )

 

What were your favourite toys & favourite films and TV series when you were a kid? Let us know in the Reply Box below.

Preserve your favourite film or TV series for posterity, by ordering the DVD of your favourite film or TV series, framed with a personalised engraved plaque  ORDER NOW… www.myfirstrecord.co.uk/

Alternatively celebrate your favourite film or TV series theme song in your home or office, by ordering your favourite film or TV theme song in a vinyl or CD format; single, album or album cover; framed and mounted as a picture disc souvenir. You can also personalise it with an inscribed / engraved plaque…… 

ORDER NOW…….. www.myfirstrecord.co.uk/

 

Framed vinyl records, framed CDs and framed DVDs with a personalised plaque, make unique presents or original gifts for a special celebration  ie a Wedding ( Wedding First Dance Song ), an Engagement Party ( Our Song ), a House Warming Party ( New Home ), a 21st, 30th, 40th, 50th, 60th Birthday ( How about the No1 song on the day of birth? ), a Silver, Ruby or Golden Wedding Anniversary, Father’s or Mother’s Day or Valentine’s Day!!  THE PERFECT PERSONALISED PRESENT!!

 

Posted in Film, Framed DVDs, Framed Vinyl & CDs, Retro Toys, Retro TV No Comments »

Thunderbirds are Go but creator Gerry Anderson has Gone!!

December 27th, 2012 simon

Gerry Anderson, a name synonymous with kids TV entertainment from the 1960s onwards, has died. For those who are still none the wiser, Gerry Anderson was the creator of Thunderbirds (1965-66), Stingray (1964), Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons (1967-68) and Joe 90 ( 1968 ).

Gerry Anderson embarked on Thunderbirds in 1964, commissioned by ATV boss Lew Grade. Lew Grade as he demonstrated with TV series The Saint and later The Persuaders very much had an eye on the US export market. Hence Thunderbirds was very “Americanised” showcasing the Tracy brothers, with their mid Atlantic accents and first names mirroring US astronauts Scott Carpenter, Virgil Grissom, Alan Shepard, John Glenn and Gordon Cooper.

Scott, Virgil, Alan, John and Gordon were brothers and members of International Rescue, based on a Tracy Island, launched by their father Jeff Tracy with the slogan “Thunderbirds are Go!”. Two of the most memorable characters were blonde aristocrat Lady Penelope (voiced by and modelled on Gerry Anderson’s wife Sylvia Thamm) and Parker, the butler and chauffeur of Lady Penelope’s 21st-century Rolls-Royce, FAB 1 ( presumably Parker was voiced by and modelled on actor Michael Caine!! ).

 

The Thunderbirds puppets were state of the art in the mid to late 1960s, superceding TV puppets Muffin the Mule, Andy Pandy and Bill and Ben, the Flowerpot Men, who were not only in black and white but somewhat amateurish in comparison. Gerry Anderson built on the success of Thunderbirds with Stingray, Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons and then Joe 90. Infact the author was to fall victim to Joe 90 in the 1970s, when on account of my National Health spectacles, I was christened Joe 90, a nickname that stuck with me into early adulthood, when I finally insisted that my friends drop the pseudonym!!

Of course, going hand in hand with Gerry Anderson’s various TV series were the toys and merchandising. The must have toys in the 1960s and 1970s were the Thunderbird 2 craft and Lady Penelope’s pink Rolls Royce Fab 1, which were only matched by the iconic Corgi James Bond “Goldfinger” Aston Martin DB5. All the toys including Tracey Island were resurrected with the return of the Thunderbirds TV series in the 1990s…….

One of my favourite memories was seeing my nephew on his fourth birthday in 1992, wearing his brand new blue Thunderbirds outfit, blowing out the candles on his Thunderbird 2 birthday cake……..The Thunderbirds baton had been handed down to the younger generation!! And the enduring appeal of Gerry Anderson’s puppet programmes continues to this day.

Preserve your favourite TV programme or film for posterity, by ordering the DVD of your favourite TV show / film, framed with a personalised engraved plaque  ORDER NOW… www.myfirstrecord.co.uk/

Framed DVDs, framed vinyl records and framed CDs with a personalised plaque, make unique presents or original gifts for a special celebration  ie a Wedding ( Wedding First Dance Song ), an Engagement Party ( Our Song ), a House Warming Party ( New Home ), a 21st, 30th, 40th, 50th, 60th Birthday ( How about the No1 song on the day of birth? ), a Silver, Ruby or Golden Wedding Anniversary, Father’s or Mother’s Day or Valentine’s Day!!  THE PERFECT PERSONALISED PRESENT!!  ORDER NOW… www.myfirstrecord.co.uk/

 

Posted in Framed DVDs, Nostalgia, Retro Toys, Retro TV No Comments »

Will Sindy be getting plastic surgery for her 50th Birthday relaunch?!

July 9th, 2012 simon

Pedigree Toys, British manufacturer of the Sindy doll is about to relaunch the brand to celebrate her 50th birthday. Whether a re-launch at fifty for Sindy would involve plastic surgery and laser eye surgery, or just a wardrobe make over, remains to be seen!! It’s quite possible that Sindy at fifty has eye wrinkles, a double chin and “bingo wing” arms, not to mention reading glasses!!

When Sindy made her first appearance in the 1963, she sported a casual look with jeans, a stripey top, short blond hair and big blue eyes. However the “girl next door” look was quickly superseded by the swinging 60s Sindy, who wore the iconic high white platform boots and black and white block-patterned mini dresses.

Since the 2008 demise of Woolworths, which held the exclusive licence to sell the dolls, Sindy has not appeared as a mass-market brand on the high street and has faded into obscurity. Sales, which peaked at £64m in 1995, have dwindled to just £3m-£4m a year. At her peak, Sindy ruled supreme in the UK, European and Commonwealth markets, achieving a UK market share of more than 80% in the late 1970s and early 80s. In the 80s, She had puffballs and evening dresses created by the Emanuels, the husband and wife team who designed Princess Diana’s wedding dress. More than 150m Sindy dolls have been sold during the brand’s history, and she was repeatedly a bestselling toy, both in the UK and overseas.

So girls, did you have a Sindy doll or were you more a fan of the American Barbie? In some ways, she was infinitely more glamorous with her handsome, sun bronzed boyfriend Ken. One thing is for sure, the toys from our childhood maintain a resonance into our adulthood. Here’s a Top 25 Best Loved Toys and Games from the 1960s and 1970s…..

Top 25 Best Loved Toys & Games from the 1960s & 1970s

1) Lego

2) Barbie

3) Action Man

4) Corgi James Bond Aston Martin

5) Scalextric

6) Etch-A-sketch

7) Rub on Transfers

8 ) Tiny Tears

9) Subbuteo

10) Frisbee

11) Kerplunk

12) Yahtzee

13) Marbles

14) Weebles

15) Viewmaster

16) Tiddlywinks

17) Trolls

18) Six Million Dollar Man

19) Play-Doh

20) Mr Potato Head

21) Mousetrap

22) Monopoly

23) Masterpiece

24) Bionic Woman

25) Smurfs

 

Which were your favourite toys and games from your childhood in the 1960s and 1970s? Let us know in the Reply Box below?

 

Posted in Nostalgia, Retro Toys No Comments »