1960's Pop Stars The Beatles Dusty Springfield Billy Fury Kathy Kirby Mister Softee Ice Cream Trading Cards

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Mister Softee , who ran an ice cream van fleet, issued a number of pop star trading card sets from the 1960’s -1970’s. This 1965 card set was issued in association with the Record Mirror, which was a popular music newspaper of the time. There are details of a competition on the back and it states that the “prize winners will be announced from Mister Softee ice cream vans”. This card set features a diverse range of talented singers from the “British Invasion” era.

The Beatles

The USA had dominated popular music for decades. The Beatles managed challenge this with their own unique take on Rock-n-Roll. Once established, they had the creative freedom to experiment with multiple music genres whilst maintaining their mass appeal.

Sandie Shaw

The barefooted pop princess had a long string of hits in the 1960’s and was the UK’s first singer to win the Eurovision Song Contest with the song “Puppet on a String”.

Roy Orbison

Elvis Presley described him as the greatest singer, a perfect accolade for a singer. His distinctive voice and haunting ballads secured him a place in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Manfred Mann

Were regular chart toppers in the 1960s and were the first south-of-England band to top the US charts during the British Invasion era.

Dusty Springfield

This British icon scored numerous hits in the 1960’s and made a huge impression the American market.

Georgie Fame

This talented singer /song writer scored big 1960’s hits with “The Ballad of Bonnie and Clyde” and “Yeah, Yeah”. His much in demand musicianship has meant that he is still active today, collaborating with many music veterans .

Adam Faith

He scored numerous hits in the 1960’s, the first seven of which were in the top 5. Unlike many of his peers, Adam Faith was a shrewd investor, securing him a position as a financial journalist in the 1980s.

Kathy Kirby

This Blonde Bombshell, whose voice was considered good enough for opera, scored 5 hits from 1963 to 1965. Her last hit was I Belong, which was the song she sang at the Eurovision Song Contest. In an interview, Kirby explained that her career declined after a 6 month affair with Bruce Forsyth. Her manager, who she was romantically involved with, was insanely jealous and destroyed Kirby’s chances of becoming a Hollywood star.

Cilla Black

After achieving worldwide fame as a 1960’s singer, she went on to become the best paid female presenter in British television history.

Cliff Richard

Sir Cliff Richard has sold 260 million records worldwide and is the only singer to have had a number one single in the UK in six consecutive decades.

Billy Fury

He went from a Liverpool dockworker to an internationally successful English singer, but sadly died young.

The Bachelors

Heralding from Ireland, this group had a monster hit with the song “Diane” .

Mister Softee, Top Ten ("Win a Big Prize") (12 cards)

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Gun Money 17th Century 1690 James II Irish Jacobite War Half Crown Coin 28mm Diameter May Williamite War

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James II, the deposed Catholic British king, attempted to take back his kingdom from William of Orange. With strong support in Ireland, he decided to raise an army there first. “Gun money” was the name given to coins that were minted in base metals and were designed to be redeemed for silver coins following a victory by James II. Since James was not victorious, the exchange never took place, although the base metal coins were allowed to circulate at much lower values.

The coins were called “gun money” because some of them were minted from melted down guns. In fact , many other objects were used, such as church bells.

The effects of the Williamite War would be felt for many centuries, deepening divisions between the Catholic and Protestant communities. The British and Protestants systematically excluded the Irish majority Catholic population from land and power. The Williamite war is even commemorated by the Protestant Unionists today.

Gun Money, James II Half-Crown (28mm diameter), May 1690

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WW2 Weapons High Altitude Flying Heavy Artillery Fighter Planes Bren Machine Gun Tanks Cigarette Cards

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It’s eerie how so many military card sets were issued in the years leading up to WW2. This particular set of cards was released just before WW2 started. Cigarette cards ceased being produced during the War, due to severe paper rationing. Rationing continued right through until the 1950s. Carreras’ Turf brand managed to get round this by ingeniously printing their cards on the sliding section of the packets, inspiring cereal companies to produce a number of packet card issues, such as Sugar Puff’s Nation Motor Museum, 1974. Turf’s monochrome blue ink picture cards were not as well received as their multi-coloured counterparts.

Returning to the subject of this WW2 card set, these cards show how Britain’s defences had changed since WW1: “during the Great War a soldier laden with his pack could travel about fifteen miles per day, now he can be moved a hundred miles or more..” , thanks to improvements in military vehicles such as the tank, which is featured on card no. 34. Recently, I reviewed a card set of WW1 Military Motors. I wonder how significant these vehicles were in The Great War or whether they were more experimental than practical. Perhaps the set was an elaborate bluff, over emphasising the allies’ mobility capability to scare the Germans into submission.

Military aircraft were first used in the Great War but it was not until WW2 that they played a decisive role : “planes are being built in thousands, whereas they used to be counted by tens”, it states on the back of one card. Aviation had advanced so much that one card is devoted to high altitude flying and speculates about space warfare in the not too distant future. The Germans did not resort to gas warfare on the battlefield in WW2 but the allies still had be prepared and several cards show soldiers wearing gas masks. The famous light Bren machine gun was quite new when this set of cards was issued but is featured on no. 27. Card no. 14 shows several naval personnel escaping from a submerged submarine, although I don’t think they would be smiling as much as they are if it were really happening.

Carreras, Britains Defences, 1938 (50 cards)

Includes:Britain's First Defence Line,HMS Hood 4 in Anti-aircraft Gun,How Blows the Wind?,Home To See the Family,The Daily Round,Quarters Clean Guns,Pay Day in the Navy,The Dinner Hour,Signalling in the Royal Navy,They're in the Navy Now,Signalling at Sea,Anything About?,Loading Torpedoes,Davis Escape Apparatus,After a Gas Attack,With The RNVR,Defence Not Defiance,Coastal Defence Artillery,Medium Artillery,Field Artillery,An Anti-Tank Gun,The King's Own Soldiers,The Royal Scots,Our Mechanised Army,Infantry Mortar, Mechanised Transport,The Bren Light Automatic Gun,Anti-Tank Rifles,Anti-Aircraft Gun,A Listening Post,A Searchlight Projector,Anti-Aircraft Guns,Air Barricades,With The Tank Corps,All Aboard,Flying Training,Preparing For a Hop,High Altitude Flying,Air Duels,Loading Bombs,Landing Troops From The Air,Torpedoing From The Air,Ground Range Practice,Gas Training in the RAF,Fighting Aircraft Fires,Catapulting an Aeroplane,Gloster Gauntlet Fighter,Hawker Hector Biplanes,Hawker Hurricane Fighter,Vicker Wellesley Monoplane

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1970's Star Wars & Pin-Up Girls Vintage Erotica on Dandy Gum Trading Cards

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These saucy cards appeared in gum wrappers in the same year that Star Wars first graced our cinema screens, 1977. I bet Dandy gum was nicknamed “Randy Gum” after they issued this set of cards. This set features 1970’s pin-up girls in scanty bikinis with beautiful sea swept backgrounds. The playing card insets mean that you can easily use this set for card games. Although I wouldn’t recommend this, since I believe this set is quite rare. A full set of these does not appear in any of the major British card catalogues and I’ve never come across them myself.

Dandy Gum, Pin-up Girls, 1977 (playing card inset) (52 cards)

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