Did your toys influence your choice of career?
Or did your inherent love of what was to become your future career influence your choice of toys? I think it was that way round for me.
As a small child, I always loved drawing and painting, and nothing pleased me more than to go up to Woolworths in Preston Road, Harrow, and buy myself some felt-tips.
In junior school, I started a (short-lived) class magazine, Thursday Special, but my greatest feelings of joy were when I got out my John Bull printing set.
Younger readers, let me explain: the set consisted of little strips of rubber letters which you cut up, then placed back-to-front in a little ridges on a ‘stamp’. They were very fiddly, and you needed tweezers to do this. You then inked-up the stamp from a black or red sponge and hey-presto, you could print letterpress-style! We were easily pleased in those days.
What was your favourite toy? if you are a journalist, was it a typewriter? Did you love Meccano and go on to be an engineer? I’d love to hear.
Woolworths photo by Christine Matthews [CC-BY-SA-2.0], via Wikimedia Commons
