Eagle Annual 1969

One of the items that would still be cherished at this time of year back in our youths was the arrival of the Annuals under the Christmas tree, usually from relatives. The more old fashioned uncles and aunts would inevitably choose a more "worthy" item which would include not just the Eagle Annual but also the long forgotten Blue Peter Book.

The Eagle Annual 1969 was one such item that arrived in my house in the Christmas of 1968. Annuals were also given the year ahead as their dates in order to increase the shelf life of the book. I remembered this one because of the cover of a young lad indulging in rock climbing. Not my thing but one that would appeal to the purchaser (usually an adult) rather then the recipient (the child) who would more likely have been attracted by an illustration of Dan dare.

Dan Dare does indeed make an appearance in the is volume, in full colour but sadly just for four pages in a short story called The Moon Eaters. I wanted more frankly, but still.

Much of the material reflects the regular strips and features reviewed in the previous post and includes stories of The Guinea-Pig, two in fact, one of which sees bombs falling on some fictional nation in the Arctic Circle. Well this was the height of the cold war!

Along with The Iron Man, Mickey Merlin,, Blackbow and Grant, C.I.D there are educational features on the British Army, HMS Victoria and the US Navy plus text stories (which were never of interest to this young reader).

Oh and Chris Bonnington (remember him?) takes you rock climbing, hence the cover....

The first volume of Eagle Annuals ran for 24 editions between 1952 and 1975 outlasting the comic itself which merged with Lion in 1969.