TOY STORIES1 December 1998 - 3 January 1999 This exhibition takes visitors on a sentimental journey around long-forgotten favourite toys and celebrates recent arrivals. It centres on a giant Advent calendar which counts down the years from Meccano to Nintendo, Trolls to Power Rangers, and reintroduces you to the 'hot toys' of Londoners past and present, hidden behind its doors. |
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The giving of toys on Christmas day is a relatively new tradition. Before the mid-19th century, children's gifts were given at New Year. In fact historic artefacts displayed in Toy Stories show that Londoners have given presents at New Year since Roman times. Father Christmas, the gift-giver, only took on his role in the Victorian period, arriving in Britain from North America. He had crossed the Atlantic with of Dutch migrants, who celebrated the festival of St. Nicholas, or Santa Claus, the patron saint of all children |
| Today, Londoners buy over three-quarters of their toys at Christmas time. Christmas has become a multi-million-pound profit bonanza for manufacturers and retailers, mainly due to the arrival of merchandise associated with films, music, television and leisure entertainment. The approach of Christmas sees an aggressive marketing war between multi-national entertainment corporations. Would you believe the average spend per child on Christmas toys is £ 141? |  |
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But where would we be without them? Toys present a miniature, or imagined, version of our world. Through play, toys help children live out idealised future lives. Many help children to come to terms with basic concepts such as good and evil; some play a part in confirming or denying gender and other stereotypes. Toy guns are still popular, despite being outlawed by some parents and shops; toys associated with parenthood and home also continue to thrive. Was your treasured toy a tinplate soldier, a hula hoop or a Barbie doll? Toy Stories tells the story of everyone's childhood Christmas. |
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