The oddest thing I can remember being into - and one of the earliest - was 'King Richard vs. King Arthur'. My friend Richard was always King Richard (natch) and I was King Arthur. What we actually did, I cannot remember, but I know it involved lots of striding about and shouting at each other, and talking in stout, kingly voices. We would argue endlessly about it which was the better king. It was such an important part of our friendship, in fact, that when I picture my little pal in my mind now, I see him as a 6 yr old with a thick, blonde moustache. [aside: I remember our friendship never being quite the same after I told him that I loved him - well, I did, he was my best friend. He came in to school the next day and said 'I told my mummy and daddy what you said and they said you're "funny".' I don't think either of us knew what that meant exactly, but we both knew it wasn't supposed to be a good thing. Bastards!]
Re: television
I must have started school in '73 or '74 and even then our play was heavily influenced by the telly. From what I can remember, it usually meant taking yer basic chase game and adding an element of acting or mimicry to it, and this would often become more important than the actual chase - for example, kids would informally compete to see who could most faithfully replicate a TV character's move. [Hmmm, there must be a thesis in there, somewhere - TV's influence over play... mimicry... satire... the piss-take generation....]
Anyway, Doctor Who was an early favourite; this usually involved boys pretending to be daleks (continuous screams of 'EXTERMINATE!', stiff right arm representing the gun thingy) chasing girls pretending to be Dr Who's assistant (continuous screams and falling down dead). Every now and then one of us would do the dalek-spinning-out-of-control-and exploding routine. I don't think anyone bothered to be Dr Who himself. Later, we played Speed Cat and Motor Mouse, which was a cheap, funky, 'Tom and Jerry on motorbikes' cartoon by Hannah Barbera. This was another simple chase game that had us zooming up and down the playground, pretending to be on easy rider bikes (loads of wheelies and skids). I remember The 6 Million Dollar Man being massively popular; we'd re-enact the fights, with all the Steve Austin moves being done in slow motion with that flickery eh'eh'eh'eh' noise to denote bionic action coming into effect.
The other big thing back then was WAR. Everybody loved WW2, it filled the toy shops and the TV screen. For some reason we only really played war at home, never at school. Hundreds of hand grenades lobbed over privett bushes, Spitfires chasing Messershmitts (the precise model clearly stated, of course) down suburban avenues. Eee, I'm wandering off into 'jumpers for goal posts' territory now.... |
What was the other really violent game, pretty sure it was blue murder and it involved getting beaten up for your teams secret code word.
Actually, I think todays culture doesn't allow children the freedom we once had - going out on your bike all day without your Mum knowing where you are just wouldn't be acceptable (or wise) nowadays. It's not that I think there are necessarily more people who want to attack children now, it's just that maybe because of the media we are far more aware of it. 