Published in Scotland Magazine Issue 38 on 11/04/2008.

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They don't make 'em like they used to

Roddy Martine takes a walk down memory lane at The Museum of childhood, Edinburgh.

The Old Town of Edinburgh is not the obvious location for the first museum in the world to specialise in the history of childhood. Even more surprisingly, it was the inspiration of Patrick Murray, an Edinburgh Town councillor, who once claimed that children were “only tolerable after their baths and on the way to bed!” Since then, of course, much has changed, although the Museum of Childhood, located in Hyndland’s Close on the Royal Mile between Edinburgh Castle and the Palace of Holyrood, is still run by the City of Edinburgh Council. Today it is spread over five floors in five different galleries, and its themes cleverly relate to the history of childhood and children at play.

Exhibitions include toys, games space and displays involving health, education, clothing, traditions and upbringing. The toys in the collection embrace dolls and doll’s houses, some endearing teddy bears, both large and small, and train sets and tricycles, a very different world from today’s computer games and cyberspace diversions.

In the past, toys and games were very much more personal and individual, and may not have required as much intelligence as those of today, but they were certainly enormous fun.

Moreover, there were the comics – remember those childhood favourites, the Dandy and the Beano from D.C. Thomson of Dundee? Desperate Dan and Our Gang?

Generations were influenced by the antics of Bananaman, Korky the Cat and Beryl the Peril.

Also on show there are ‘penny arcade’ machines, and .....

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By Roddy Martine

Section : Scottish Music

Page number : 26