Christmas hits for toy boys and game girls
popular items on children’s wish lists over the last century
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Remember the time you woke on Christmas morning to find Santa had brought you that shiny new Hornby train set you had been dreaming about all year?
Or the Duncan yo-yo nestled at the bottom of your stocking?
Or the Barbie doll you played with until her hair fell out?
Careful then – your age is showing.
It is 90 years since the Hornby train set first became the must-have toy for British boys in 1919. The yo-yo, created by American entrepreneur Donald Duncan, soared to the top of parents’ Christmas shopping lists 10 years later and went on to become one of the most popular toys of the 20th century.
And teen fashion idol Barbie was introduced in 1959, selling 350,000 dolls in the first year of production alone.
Now the old favourites have been dusted down for a list of the most popular British toys of the last century, drawn up by Woolworths to mark the brand’s 100th anniversary this month.
Although Woolworths’ last high-street store closed at the beginning of this year following the chain’s collapse, the name lives on in cyberspace as Woolworths.co.uk
Other highlights from the brand’s century of toys include the Kewpie dolls of 1909, which were based on the comic strip illustrations from the Ladies’ Home Journal and were the first mass-produced dolls in the UK toy market.
In 1939 the world went mad for Monopoly. A decade later it was Lego and in 1969 no schoolboy’s Christmas list was complete without a mention for Corgi’s James Bond Aston Martin model car.
Ten years later families were clearing the Christmas pudding plates away so they could bicker over their new Trivial Pursuit board game.
In 1989 the Rubik’s Cube was at the height of its popularity – a status that never really went away with 350million puzzles now sold worldwide.
And in 1999 Pokemon trading cards were sparking fevered negotiations in playgrounds across the land.
Parents hoping for a silent night this Christmas are in for a rude awakening, however.
According to Woolworths, the most sought-after toy is the X Factor karaoke party machine, complete with illuminated mirror ball, microphones and 30-track CD.
Its popularity illustrates a notable trend, says Woolworths, with today’s children obsessed with toys inspired by TV or films – such as Star Wars, Transformers, Peppa Pig and In The Night Garden.
Steve Fulford, from Toys Of Yesteryear Museum, said the list showed how far Britain had come from the days when children were seen and not heard.
He said: “The most popular toys have changed hugely since the beginning of the 20th century when it was less about noisy interactive games and more about games with which children could entertain themselves quietly.”
One Woolworths branch was given a new lease of life in September when former staff of the Stornoway store relaunched the business as WeeW – stocking all the familiar lines.
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