Hello Mrs. Yollis and class,
The meaning of "fad", according to one of my dictionaries, is a temporary, usually irrational, pursuit, fashions, etc. (The Little Macquarie Dictionary, 1983). It made me think back to what might have been a fad when I went to school.
Did we play chasings with dinosaurs? No, I'm not quite that old.
Did we play computer games? No, they weren't available yet.
This means somewhere between the dinosaurs and computer games, I must have seen or been part of fads.
MARBLES
One of the first fads I can remember at school was marbles. Each recess and lunch break mostly boys would set up their marble games on the large dirt playground.
Game 1: They might call, "Four and your tor back!"
What this meant is if you could flick your marble along the ground and hit their marble at the end of maybe a three feet run, you were given your marble and four extras back. If you missed the marble was theirs.
Game 2: Another game was where each player would place some marbles in a large circles they had drawn in the dirt. They would take turns flicking their marbles into the circle. If they hit any marbles out of the circle, they could keep them. If their marble stayed in the circle, it was lost until someone could hit it out.
Game 3: This was played one on one. One player would challenge another. The challenger would flick his marble along the ground. The challenged would then flick his marble and try and hit the other. If he hit it, it was his. If he missed, the challenger would have a turn. This would go on until one of the players won.
Many years later I returned to my old school as a teacher. The dirt playground was covered with asphalt and marbles were no longer played. Some fads can go on for a long time while others fade away.
COLLECTOR CARDS
Cards with chewing gum first appeared when I was about your age. The idea had come from America and it caught on quickly. We would buy and trade cards to try and have the complete set. My favourites were...
Addams Family - This old US television shows was a big hit here. I once had all of the cards. If I still had them, they might now be worth quite a bit more than when I got them.
Combat - This was a TV show set during World War II. It followed a US Infantry Squad in Europe.
The Samurai - This show was made in Japan. It was a series of adventures with Shintaro, the samurai, and Tombe, his ninja friend. The would battle the evil dark ninja.
In those early TV days, there were Australian TV shows but I don't remember ever seeing cards for Australian shows.
HAIRSTYLES
This is a fad still working today as it has into the long past history. Hair has been worn in many different styles throughout the centuries.
While I was at school, The Beatles from England started to gain favour. Boys, often to the horror of the parents, started to grow their hair longer. The hippy era started. Long hair, peace and flowers became popular as was the 'new' music. Many of my friends grew their hair longer, dressed in jeans and old shirts and considered themselves trend setting and different. I kept my hair short so, in a way, I was the different one.
Here is a WIkipedia link on hairstyles...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hairstyle
TOYS
Model Railways - When I was your age, model railways were the rage. Many boys had train sets. They had been made in England by a company called Triang. They all looked British. At that time steam trains still pulled passenger and freight trains on the real railways and many boys dreamed of being engine drivers.
Railways is an interest I have kept since that time and have ridden behind steam train hauled trains when they were on the real railways and now on historical railways in Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom. Below is a photo of the first model train I owned. It's now around 50 years old but has had some upgrades so it can still run.
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