please empty your brain below
(39)Discovery in fact was on the Thames till 1986. Well worth visiting in Dundee by the way.

James Condliffe | 18.05.20 - 7:15 a.m. | #

A quick search suggests that your edition is a 1955 one.

sid | 18.05.20 - 7:23 a.m. | #

sid: how come?

J. | 18.05.20 - 7:34 a.m. | #

Do you remember Big Chief’s secret code?

If not you may be able to crack it: odhu ntinggo

Keitth | 18.05.20 - 7:42 a.m. | #

I have memories of walking the young DG around Trafalgar Square looking for, and finding, the Standard Measures of Length

DGD | 18.05.20 - 7:48 a.m. | #

The book is about the same vintage as me, and I miss the sooty, dirty, anachronistic London of the 60s. Particularly Covent Garden & the market - my grandfather had a commercial artist's studio in King St and I used to visit. It's all a bit too clean now, like a theme-park facsimilie.

(It's only nostalgia, I much prefer my city not to be a museum piece preserved in aspic - but I do miss it).

Steve | 18.05.20 - 8:00 a.m. | #

The bungalow illustrated as I Spy's HQ in the books is in Deal in Kent, near the seafront.

Half a Physicist | 18.05.20 - 8:03 a.m. | #

Charles I statue in Trafalgar Square. The sword was stolen in 1844 and was replaced in 1947 when the statue was re-erected after spending the years 1941-47 in Mentmore Park in Buckinghamshire.

Sara | 18.05.20 - 8:13 a.m. | #

You can absolutely go to Central London right now as you are allowed to walk as far as you like to exercise, Just maintain your distance from people.

Andrew | 18.05.20 - 8:42 a.m. | #

We did not venture south of the river. It was blacker even than the city, and had chimneys, and was probably dangerous. Although South Bank power station later emitted white smoke, the whole building was a bulwark against area investigation and the new Festival buildings were too expensive to visit. We stayed on the tram in the north and enjoyed the dive underneath, to pop up near Holborn. iSpy books were great, this morning’s post is a super-duper delight DG.

Herbof | 18.05.20 - 8:48 a.m. | #

(26) I can remember standing outside 10 Downing Street with my Mum sometime in the late 60s hoping to spot any top politicians and indeed we did see Lord George Brown who was Foreign Secretary at the time.

David | 18.05.20 - 8:48 a.m. | #

The Porters Rest got stolen as well. The one there now is a replica.

MO | 18.05.20 - 8:53 a.m. | #

The weird things we remember, such as Big Chief I-Spy's address: Wigwam-by-the-Water, 4 Upper Thames Street, London EC4. The last time I used that must be well over 50 years ago!

Tim W | 18.05.20 - 9:08 a.m. | #

I still have mine! My parents would take my sister and me from Northampton to London for a day once a year, and one time we took the book and did the whole route.
It contains my mother's handwriting where she filled in the answers.
I'll look it up later, but reading it now always makes me cry.
I was born 1952.

Joho | Homepage | 18.05.20 - 9:46 a.m. | #

Superb post DG. Good Hunting!

Stuart | 18.05.20 - 9:52 a.m. | #

I remember counting windows in a police box on the corner of Trafalgar Square - I can remember there were nine!

Paul H | 18.05.20 - 10:06 a.m. | #

26) nowadays we'd be asked to spot the useLESS article standing INside the front door!

Cornish Cockney | 18.05.20 - 10:59 a.m. | #

Such a book would still be valid today. Yes, these days children could cheat online or use a phone/tablet instead of a paper book, but the basic idea of challenging children to explore and look up obscure details is still a good one

I imagine the biggest issue is the level of independence young children now have when compared to 60 years ago to actually explore by themselves?

Mikey C | 18.05.20 - 11:13 a.m. | #

Quite surprised how hard your questions were, no still not got 5.

davews | 18.05.20 - 11:50 a.m. | #

I think the answer to No 31 is that 4 o'clock is shown as IV. The more conventional use of IIII found on most clocks is said to make the face more symmetrical with the VIII.

timbo | 18.05.20 - 12:59 p.m. | #

At least one of the faces of Big Ben have been clear of scaffolding for some time now.

Surbitonian | 18.05.20 - 1:52 p.m. | #

I found my book, and in the front my mum wrote "Visit to London Thurs August 8th 1957
and August 16th 1957"
That might help date your book.

So I was 4 1/2.
Turns out we didn't do the whole route, from Big Ben we walked to the embankment for packed picnic lunch, then got a boat to Greenwich and saw the Cutty Sark.
On the map mum has ticked all the places we either visited or saw from the boat. She wrote we went under London Bridge.
I do remember some of it.
Thanks for the memory jog.
And, yes, I do have a little tear in my eye. A nice one though.

Joho | Homepage | 18.05.20 - 6:32 p.m. | #

A trip down Memory Lane DG, as it took me back to family trips up to London during school holidays in the 1950’s/1960’s, using LT's "Bus-About" and "Red Rover" tickets, crossing off entries as we saw them.

They were a good series and a great way of engaging interest on journeys and days out. As I grew up near the Royal Group of Docks, my “I Spy Book of Ships” was well used, where I think it was 10 points for spotting the Plimsoll Line.

IanD | 18.05.20 - 7:55 p.m. | #

I can't find a picture online of the News Chronicle Time Band and I feel like my life won't be complete without seeing it.

R | 18.05.20 - 8:24 p.m. | #

Ah, the image of horse guard in splendid isolation, unencumbered by gaggles of selfie takers and tourists - much like when I last went past one afternoon in Match, in fact.

NickW | 18.05.20 - 11:44 p.m. | #

I have now found several I-Spy books, including another one of London with a green cover and a different picture.
It had a different list of sights.
In it several of them have my pencilled writing of 17 Sep 1960, so I was 1 month short of 8 years old.
Oddly I don't remember that trip.
I do remember that we bought these books mostly at the (Northampton) station when about to set off to London or on holiday.

Thanks for the memory trigger DG.

It's making me happy and sad at the same time.

Joho | Homepage | 19.05.20 - 11:02 a.m. | #

I think the book is from around 1955 or 1956. I base that on the fact that I have a photo of myself when I was 11 or 12 in Trafalgar Square, and I had just been to the BBC building where you had to write down the time in another country using clocks in their foyer. I am wearing a raincoat a second hand one my mum had found for me. When I came out through the revolving door of the BBC building I caught my hand in the door, scraped it badly and for the rest of the outing kept my hand in the pocket of my raincoat. I was born in 1944, 1955 would make me 11, in the photo I'm either 11 or 12. On rare outings in to London we would (mum and I) do an ISPY London challenge.

Jean | 09.10.21 - 2:09 p.m. | #











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