Buttons: July 2nd 1983
What's inside this vintage BBC comic?
Buttons was a BBC comic which launched in October 1981 and featured all manner of comic strips, games, puzzles and features relating to the BBC’s pre-schooler programmes. I’m not entirely sure how long it ran for, as any detailed information on its production is sadly lacking, but it appears it was still churning the issues out until 1989 at least.
Anyway, about 18 months ago, I picked up a tonne of Buttons comics off Ebay and, well, they’ve sat in a box under my bed ever since. Therefore, I decided it was time to start doing something with them, and my newly launched Substack seemed an ideal space to delve into them. So, every now and then, I’ll open one up and pick out some highlights to share with you on here. And, today, it’s time to look at the July 2nd 1983 issue.
Costing 24p, the July 2nd 1983 edition of Buttons - which also happened to be the 92nd issue - sports a cover featuring King Rollo enjoying a luxurious bath. The headline for the issue, and this should come as no surprise, is “King Rollo takes a bubble bath”. Also, indicated by the presence of actual buttons, is the promise of appearances from Gran and Pigeon Street.
Immediately, the first page delivers on the promise of the cover and brings us King Rollo and the Bubbles, a six-panel comic strip with text to provide narration. It takes all of 30 seconds to read, but it easily captures the charm of David McKee’s classic series with ease. Following this, in Button Hole, there’s a quick word from the editor who tells the reader about a recent visit they made to three schools in Stockport. Evidence of this excursion is provided by the inclusion of some paintings - one of which is an absolutely grotesque image of Postman Pat (apologies if it’s yours).
More comic strips follow this introduction, with The Flumps, Gran and Postman Pat all making appearances before a You and Me feature. Designed to get the old (or should that be young?) grey matter of the readers working, this feature finds Cosmo and Dibs looking at a scene featuring two men in a hot air balloon flying over farmland. There’s a little bit of learning on offer and some visual questions on offer, so it’s very much in keeping with the ethos of the BBC’s pre-schooler content.
Next up there’s a delight - for me at least - in the form of a Stop-Go comic strip. Stop-Go is a fiendishly difficult programme to track down footage of, mostly as it was shot on film, so it’s interesting to see it featured here. Taking the programme’s objective of exploring the world of vehicles, this particular strip looks at the life of a coastguard. As ever, if you have footage of Stop-Go on an old video tape then please get in touch.
Pigeon Street, Morph and Noah and Nelly provide the final set of comic strips before a fascinating insert provides details of pre-schooler programmes on that week. Highlights include, well, everything: Camberwick Green, Play School, Chock-a-Block, Bric-a-Brac, Bod, King Rollo, Bagpuss and Fingerbobs. What a time to be alive.
The final set of features are all activity/learning based, with Play School given three whole pages to learn about fruit, have fun with an orange and play perhaps the easiest maze game ever designed by man. The back cover is turned over to Chock-a-Block with Fred Harris hammering home the ‘ack’ sound through a four-panel comic strip featuring a cutesy cat.
An excellent little comic, it sums up the era’s programming for pre-schoolers perfectly with its combination of fun and learning. I genuinely don’t think I was ever bought an issue of Buttons as a child, and although my childhood didn’t suffer as a result, I do wish I’d had its presence in my life.