Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Minister put on spot over homes plan
HOUSING Secretary Robert Jenrick faced MPS yesterday amid a row over a property development involving a Tory donor.
He approved the Westferry Printworks homes scheme in East London against a planning inspector’s recommendation.
The decision was reversed after legal action.
Labour’s Steve Reed accused Mr Jenrick of being caught in a “cash for favours” row after it emerged he shared a table with developer Richard Desmond at a Tory dinner.
There is no suggestion of wrongdoing on Mr Desmond’s part.
Mr Reed urged Mr Jenrick to publish all correspondence on the matter.
The minister insisted “all the rules were followed”.
The oldest
Dr Doodle and
Granny Doodle were among the very first toys created by Fisherprice. Granny was a wooden pull-along duck who waddled, bobbed her head and quacked. She originally sold for one dollar in the US, but it wasn’t until
1933 that
Harrods became the first store outside
America to stock Fisher-price toys.
The first cult toy
In 1938 the firm created Snoopy Sniffer which became the toy sensation of the year. When pulled along the wooden dog moved all four feet, had a spring tail and made a woof-woof sound. He remained one of the firm’s most popular toys for 44 years, selling more than five million.
First toy to use plastic
In 1950 Fisher-price started using plastic for the first time with Queen Buzzy Bee which had a plastic wing. The introduction of plastic revolutionised the toy industry, allowing the use of more shapes and colours.
Chatty babies
The Chatter Telephone was originally named the Talk Back Telephone but its name was changed after parents said they didn’t like the idea of their kids “talking back” to them.
This classic is still on sale but has been updated over the years.
Designers added push buttons – but both adults and kids said they preferred the old-fashioned telephone dial so it was changed
back.
Future DJS
In 1979 the company introduced electronics for kids with the first Fisher-price record player. The following year it introduced a tape recorder. In 2015 Beatbo was launched which allowed parents and kids to record their favourite phrase and remix it into a song.
A fortune in your loft?
If you can’t bear to part with your favourite childhood Fisher-price toys, you could be sitting on a goldmine. Last year a Push Car Pete toy from 1936, which originally cost just 50 cents, sold for £2,500. A Little Family Playhouse sold for around £160, and a mint condition Little People Nifty Station Wagon, below – still in its original box – sold for almost £4,000.