Toys came and went with frequent regularity in my teenage
years.
There were many great toys
And a few phenomenal ones
Clackers were
without doubt a playground phenomenon.
Anyone around
in the mid 1970’s would recall clackers.
They were the
rage, the must have toy,
If only for a
short space of time,
Before they
were quickly and ruthlessly banned.
Clackers were a lot of fun and they hurt
There was something satisfying about clanging two hard balls
of acrylic plastic marbles together.
It was a skill and an art
And they were strangely hypnotic and addictive,
As you tried to out do and out last all your friends.
Needless to say I was not very good; there was always some
sporty kid that was better at clackers than me
However clacking yourself with a hard whack was painful
There was an outcry as splinters of plastic flew up and injured
children
Together with badly bruised arms and bloodshot eyes
So eventually they were banned
And the Clackers phenomeum that swept the nation went as
quickly as it came.
But for a few short months Clackers were the talk of every
playground and back-yard in Britain .
And here is what all the excitement was about: -
