The syrup was widely sold both in the UK and the United States. It wasn't until 1911, when the American Medical Association published a book, naming and shaming quack remedies and snake-oils. In a section called "Baby Killers", Mrs. Winslow and her syrup were rightly named and shamed. However, the syrup remained on sale in the UK until 1930. Which means that the parents were still spoon feeding this laudanum for kids, to their children, long after the dangers of opium and alcohol being mixed, were considered dangerous for adults.

The Reverend Floyd T. Shaffer, is a clown for Christ, as part of the Clown Ministry. One of the best known "religious clowns" in the United States, Floyd started clowning in 1969, at the height of the counter-culture movement. He was a Lutheran minister when he first took to clowning, and has actively encouraged others to do the same, with books like his Clown Ministry. He founded Faith and Fantasy, nondenominational clown ministry, which taught students how to choose their clown names and characters, put on make-up and perform. There are students like John Garrett and his wife, who become "Frank and Sense," a sad clown, and his wife becomes "Ariana Springtime" a happy clown.

Apparently the Clown Ministry and Fath and Fantasy, lasted well into the 90s. It must have produced dozens of creepy clowns for Christ over the years.  Where they are? Who knows! But there is my favourite clowns for Christ, I came across, not because of Rubbish clown names, or their quite frankly scary make-up (even for clowns). No for their gimmick, or Skipper, the only gospel monkey known.  There are levels of wrong, in all of that, to weird to comprehend.

Produced sometime around 1967/68, this Batman and Robin knock-off comic showed that American superhero culture was alive and well during the intensity of the war. This particular comic book, has continued to be popular among young Vietnamese. It stands in contrast to home grown comic books from the country, with its campy "comic book" violence. Many comic books from Vietnam and other countries in South East Asia often feature extreme and brutal violence. 

During the height of the 1950s Cold War period, the American government produced a hugs amount of information/propaganda literature. Probably the most well known is the "Duck and Cover" literature and PSA, which was aimed at children. The government also produced a series of pamphlets for adults, to inform them about what to do in the event of a nuclear attack from Soviet Russia.

One such pamphlets was the wonderfully illustrated "Facts About Fallout Protection" originally from 1958. It was part of a series of specialised information pamphlets designed for mass distribution. Others included "Rural Family Defence" from 1956, and "The Family Fallout Shelter" in 1959. During the late 50s and early 1960s, the building of public and private fallout shelters intensified across America, as they prepared for what many considered an inevitable war. 

According to this one-shot, give-away comic book, learning the accordion will make you the most popular kid in class. You'll get around, and attract the attention of all the cool kids. There's no fun, like playing the accordion. Interested in learning this wonderful instrument? Want to join a 6 piece accordion band? Well at the back of the comic book there's a "No cost" ... "No strings" ... "No obligation"... Voucher. Entitling you to a free trail accordion lesson. How could you not resist? Sign me up now! In Tune With Fun, is a wonderful piece of 50s marketing through a one-shot comic book. Evocative of that "more innocent age", that the media and marketing 'mad men' of the time wanted to project.

This curiously bizarre invention is from way back in 1925. It was introduced to the world by Hugo Gernsback a member of “The American Physical Society,” and one of the pioneers of science fiction. It was featured in that July issue of Science and Invention magazine, and involved something akin to a large bulbous diving helmet with an oxygen tank. It was supposed to encourage users to be able to focus and concentrate by rendering the wearer deaf, piping them full of oxygen, and limiting their vision to a tiny portholes.

Hugo Gernsback was an inventor, writer, editor, and magazine publisher, best known for publications including the first ever science fiction magazine. He began the modern genre of science fiction in 1926 by founding the first magazine dedicated to it, Amazing Stories. 

Hugo Gernsback's place in science fiction is recognised each and every year with the Hugo Awards (the Hugos), named after him, that recognise the best in science fiction and fantasy writing. First awarded in 1953, they were called  Science Fiction Achievement Awards until 1992. Renamed the Hugo Awards, in recognition of the great work he did to promote the genre.

The Tit and the Moon (La Teta y la luna) is a film from 1994. A Spanish/French co-production, directed by Bigas Luna. It stars Mathilda May (the naked vampire alien in Lifeforce from the 1984 Tobe Hopper directed sci-fi horror film) as a Portuguese dancer. A young boy, who resents the arrival of his baby brother, asks moon for a tit that only he can feed from. His obsession with breasts results in him finding Mathilda's character, but she holds the attention of many men in the town. Will the young lad achieve his wish, and have her tits for his own?

The Tit And The Moon is a beautifully told comic story of love and obsession, that carefully finds a balance between comedy, sexual obsession, and the dreams of childhood. Through surreal fantasy sequences, it delicately and irreverently handles its subject matter, creating a gem of a movie that is warm and endearing while playing with eroticism and sexual fantasy. 

The film is considered as the final part of Bigas Luna's "Iberian Trilogy" of films, which also include Jamón, Jamón (1992) and Huevos de oro (1993).

Italian horror from director Andrea Bianchi, who also directed the 1981 horror Burial Ground: The Nights of Terror, among many other Italian horrors. It tells the story of a movie director who hires a medium to hold a seance as part of a movie he's making. Unbeknownst to the cast and crew the medium unleashes the evil spirit of Jack the Ripper, who takes possession of one of the cast. Who then starts going on a gory killing spree.

Produced by Italian horror legend Lucio Fulci, the movie is padded out with kill scenes from Fulci's own past and future movies, including A Cat In The Brain, which was made around the same time as Massacre. This is low-budget schlock Italian horror at its border-line best/worst. Actually, it may be best to just go watch A Cat In The Brain, and see the same kill scenes wrapped in a better movie. But then again for obscure cult Italian horror, why not stick with the "source" material. Purely based on this one coming out first out of the two movies. Though it is likely that footage used was filmed for the latter movie.

The first, and probably one of the only board games designed to be played in the dark. Tag-lined as,  "The Exciting Game of Mystery that Glows in the Dark." Players worked their way through a 3-D ghost town that sat on a board supported by stilts, with trapdoors in the playing board.

The game was made by Transogram. mass-produced the game in 1965, then sold its toy interests to Marx Toys in 1970. The game became very popular, and original versions are highly collectible. In 1997 Marx Toys produced a 30th Anniversary edition of the game.