Inspired by Dalliance's X-Ray Specs, what did you buy from those tiny box ads on the back of the comics.
My list:
Black face soap: 1/10 No one was taken in by a bar of soap a quarter inch thick, with a massive paper label concealing a thimble full of powder paint.
Sea Monkeys: 5/10 Massive initial disappointment on realising they were the same brine shrimp we were feeding to our tropical fish, but cost more than twice as much. However I did study them more carefully than before, and though I never saw them wave or smile at me — like the ad suggested — there was some minor educational benefit.
Itching Powder: 7/10 A ridiculously small amount, but sprinkled judiciously on my sister's hairbrush a satisfactory effect.
Cigarette chokers: 8/10 Tiny sticks of menthol(?) The idea was that you stuffed them in the end of a ciggie, so when someone inhaled they'd start coughing and wheezing. I used the lot on a pack of my Mum's Rothmans. Worked like a treat. She was seriously pissed-off though, and the blow-back was significant.
Crystal set: 10/10 My first radio. A tiny plastic dish with a cat's whisker, a pair of headphones, and an aerial I attached to the curtain rail in my bedroom. I could listen to the BBC Home Service. In bed! Alone! It was spectacular, for the first time I had control over when (if not what) I could listen to.
My list:
Black face soap: 1/10 No one was taken in by a bar of soap a quarter inch thick, with a massive paper label concealing a thimble full of powder paint.
Sea Monkeys: 5/10 Massive initial disappointment on realising they were the same brine shrimp we were feeding to our tropical fish, but cost more than twice as much. However I did study them more carefully than before, and though I never saw them wave or smile at me — like the ad suggested — there was some minor educational benefit.
Itching Powder: 7/10 A ridiculously small amount, but sprinkled judiciously on my sister's hairbrush a satisfactory effect.
Cigarette chokers: 8/10 Tiny sticks of menthol(?) The idea was that you stuffed them in the end of a ciggie, so when someone inhaled they'd start coughing and wheezing. I used the lot on a pack of my Mum's Rothmans. Worked like a treat. She was seriously pissed-off though, and the blow-back was significant.
Crystal set: 10/10 My first radio. A tiny plastic dish with a cat's whisker, a pair of headphones, and an aerial I attached to the curtain rail in my bedroom. I could listen to the BBC Home Service. In bed! Alone! It was spectacular, for the first time I had control over when (if not what) I could listen to.
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