Free A 1950s Childhood by Paul Feeney Page A

lolly sticks. The lolly sticks were held a few inches above the ground and dropped into a heap. You then picked up all of the sticks that weren’t touching any of the others and used one of these to move or flick each stick off the pile without moving any of the others. If you moved another stick while flicking then one of the other players started a new game. The winner was the player who had picked up the most sticks during their turn.
    The Beano and The Dandy were the two best-known and most popular ‘must-read’ comics for both girls and boys – all those fabulous comic strip characters, like Dennis the Menace, The Bash Street Kids, and Desperate Dan – just to mention a few.
    Marbles: There were many different versions of Marbles and usually the rules were agreed before the game started. In its simplest form, players took turns to roll or flicktheir marbles at their opponents’ marbles, and if they hit one then that marble became theirs. Sometimes the game was played within an agreed area or circle, in which case you had to flick your marbles from the edge of the circle without encroaching. The aim was to either hit one of your opponents’ marbles that had already been placed near the centre of the circle at the start of the game, or to knock one of their marbles out of the circle. If you were successful then your ‘shooter’ marble remained where it had stopped and you could shoot again from that spot. If you were unsuccessful then the next player began his or her go from outside the circle. Loads of different versions and rules!
    Roller Skating: In the 1950s, children’s roller skates were still quite primitive. They were simply four ball-bearing metal wheels attached to a foot-shaped flat piece of metal. You put your foot onto the flat metal plate, with your heel pressed against a small ridge at the back. There was a leather strap attached to the back of the skates, which you would wrap around your instep to hold the skates on. At the front, there was an adjustable metal grip on each side, and you tightened these against your shoe to hold the front of your shoe in place. They were absolutely useless! Impossible to keep attached for more than a few minutes at a time. You would often see a lone skate hurtling down the road having escaped its wearer, and sometimes the skate would still have a shoe attached to it! Lots of twisted ankles and grazed knees, but you always went back to have another go!
    Run Outs: The person that was ‘it’ would close his or her eyes and count to an agreed number, usually between ten and one hundred, while the players ran and hid. ‘It’ wouldthen go in search of the players and each one he found would join him to search for the remaining hidden players. The players could change their hiding place during the game as long as they weren’t seen by any of the searchers. The last player to be found would be the winner. Seekers would often call out the names of hidden players in the hope that they would answer, and sometimes they did!
    Scissors, Paper, Stone: A simple game that was usually played to determine who was to go first in a game, or who was ‘it’, or who should do a dare. Best played with up to three people, but when played with more than two people there were lots of drawn games, which meant playing again. Being a very fast game, you sometimes played best of three. The players would form a circle and each player would hold out their arm and make a loose fist. You would then shake your fist up and down counting ‘one-two-three’ and on the downward stroke of ‘three’ you would open your fist to reveal either a ‘scissors’ – two fingers open, ‘paper’ – flat open hand, or ‘stone’-clenched fist. The winner would be determined as follows:
    Scissors cuts Paper – Scissors wins
    Paper wraps Stone – Paper wins
    Stone blunts Scissors – Stone wins
    Skipping (with rope): Very popular, mainly played by girls and usually done in time to a skipping rhyme. A