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MESSAGES FROM BEYOND
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Hi there Allan, Because of these really difficult times, and the fact is I am still self-isolating from Covid (as I am highly vulnerable) I was fortunate enough to pick up issue 44 of Infinity magazine lately, and it is good to know that it is still going on. Issue 44 was really interesting, and thank you very much for showing a picture of the Dinky Toys Armoured Command Car in your Messages from Beyond section. Back in 1977, I had purchased one of these from a now sadly defunct shop in Tewkesbury, called Toycraft (ah well, those were the days). And unfortunately, it became lost in later years, because, without my permission someone I used to know took it to his home and whilst this was happening without my knowledge, somebody attacked him and it was badly damaged. I will never forgive him for that (it was one of my nicest toys) and I hope that he is reading this and remembers it too!
I certainly enjoyed reading about the Subbuteo table football game, Allan, and I have to admit that I would have liked one of those too -but it never happened. Then again, those were the days before the arrival of the home microcomputer during the 1980s. I also liked the article about Billy Bunter and honestly did not know that the BBC had done a series about him during the 50s and early 60s.
Your articles about One Million Years BC and the War of the Worlds musical were great too, but can I please just address a few quibbles in those? To start with, the real live footage of lizards that appeared in When Dinosaurs Ruled The Earth (beautifully photographed by the unfortunately named Dick Bush) actually came from Irwin Allen’s The Lost World (1960), courtesy of LB Abbot and Emil Kosa Jnr (although dear old Willis O’Brien is also credited in that film as Effects Technician). Additionally, towards the end, a small amount of footage from George Pal’s When Worlds Collide (1951), is included. I know because I have seen both of those films and recognised the footage. What’s more, the dinosaur that (bizarrely!) fosters former Playboy magazine veteran Victoria Vetri is not a Megalosaurus. In fact, I don’t think it resembles any known species of dinosaur but is just a made up one, like the Rhedosaurus from The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms (1953).