The Adventures of Mr Toad were running in the very early 60s (it was the first comic bought for me at about 3 years old), but Pixie Pip came from 'Jack and Jill'.

Other strips from those days were... i can't remember! well, not the titles anyway. there was a strip about 2 kids with a pet sheep; a colour strip about the adventures of a lion and a mouse; harry hamster (together with another strip about a very short-eared rabbit - both drawn by the artist who produced Harold Hare in Jack and Jill); I have a feeling that Sooty and Sweep were on the front cover, in colour, at that time. - Richard

Mimi and Marmy, the two mice; Tommy Trouble; Willow Wood and, best of all, Gulliver Guinea Pig; Gulliver Guinea Pig and the Summer Queen (the evil Jack Frost is trying to destroy all seasons but winter); Gulliver Guinea Pig and the Forest Folk (the animals of the forest band together under Gulliver's leadership to dry away the cruel station-master whose little boy captures animals and keeps them in cages); Gulliver Guinea Pig and the Rainbow Folk (all the colours of the world are locked away by an evil magician). The Gulliver stories were the most beautifully illustrated of an comic series at any time; Playhour at its best. - George Butler

I recollect that a publication called "Teddy Bear" was merged into "Playhour" before "Jack and Jill" was sometime in the 1960s. - Steve

Playhour was first published week ending 16th October 1954. Before appearing in Playhour Magic Roundabout, Pinky and Perky and other strips appeared in TV Toyland which ran for 46 issues from 28th March 1966 to 4th February 1967 before merging with Playhour. There was also a Magic Roundabout strip written by Eric Thompson and drawn by David Barnet which appeared in the Sun of all publications. A few years ago the London Toy and Model Museum did an exhibition of David Barnet's Magic Rounabout artwork which included illustrations for the book The Adventures of Dougal, the Magic Roundabout board game, and the packaging for the Magic Roundabout biscuits which gave away a plastic Magic Roundabout figure in every box. - Clive Huggett

I remember Playhour(and Robin)? from the early 1970s the strip with the boy and girl with the sheep mentioned before was Sonny and Sally (from happy valley). - John

I remember 'Mooney from the Moon', a jam loving bunny ­ can¹t remember what his name was and Sonny and Sally from Happy Valley and Pet (lamb) - Emma

How interesting to read comments on this publication. As a young lad about 16 I joined the Playhour staff as "office boy" in l955. While my main responsibilities were running errands and providing morning and afternoon tea, I was qiven the opportunity to contribute. I wrote my first script for the paper soon after joining and for which I received five pounds. Most scripts and captions were written by staff members and were payed for over and above salaries. Part of my early training was to respond to at least five readers' letters per day. These were written as if from Sonny and Sally whose adventures appeared in the paper each week. Editor of Playhour at that time was George Allen who was assisted by David Roberts.....the latter writing most of the rhyming captions for the various stories. In terms of circulation, Playhour played second fiddle to Jack and Jill (just down the hallway) so it was somewhat surprising to me, after I had moved on, to see that Jack and Jill was eventually merged into Playhour - Pendragonman

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