Founded in 1939, Ben Cooper Inc. was the manufacturer of choice for children who demanded the very latest in Halloween fashion. So dazzling and far-ranging were their choice of costumes and masks that it blinded not just children but parents into accepting incredibly flammable, unrealistic plastic junk into being worn year in, year out for […]
The Rubettes – The Singles 1974-1977 (Cherry Red Records) As of mid-2023, The Rubettes have had a total of 32 band members, putting them on a par with the funk conveyer belt, Funkadelic. To make sense of their lineage would be an article in itself and would be a miserable experience for all involved, not […]
John Eckhardt, Jr., known as Johnny Eck, was born in Baltimore, Maryland at 622 North Milton Avenue in 1911. One of twins, unlike his brother, Robert (and their elder sister by fourteen years, Caroline), was born with only half a body due to a condition called sacral agenesis, a rare birth defect affecting the development […]
Little evokes as eye-watering a Proustian rush as images of Waddington’s Horror Top Trumps. Despite my best efforts, I have not been able to ascertain the artist of the two packs of cards released in the 1970s, their felt-tip pen work now sadly attributed to ‘anonymous’. It was a German company, Dubreq, who first devised […]
Since the late 1960s, zombies have become one of the most referenced monsters in popular culture, whether it be film, literature or art. It makes sense – creatures that are essentially ‘us’ as the greatest threat to our survival, killing and consuming us for no reason other than an inherent, primal desire are going to […]
All God’s Children – Songs From The British Jesus Rock Revolution 1967-1974 I’m hoping it wouldn’t be terribly unreasonable to express surprise that there was a Jesus rock revolution – at any point! At least, that was my first thought. 1967-1974 is an odd period to highlight as one to probe for answers, given that it […]
There will be a great number of people in the world who think Brian May, the guitarist from Queen, wrote the music for the film ‘Mad Max’. This is perfectly understandable to a point – the dates work out and he has a history of working on films (‘Flash Gordon’ and ‘Highlander’ most obviously, but […]
