Going onto the Tootle site I hate to think about the rhyme about Binkie the Bicycle!

However, George in his jim jams is quite an alluring thought

Ye Gods, George! Even now the tectonic plates of Highgate are shifting! I had  completely forgotten about that little Ladybird logo modestly nestling amongst the wincyette PJs and girly patterned frocks. Help! I am being pulled into a time travel tunnel...

When I was young "ladybird" was a general name we used for all T-shirt type tops - presumably because some of them were Ladybird brand - or am I just dreaming all this?

Thanks for the memories!
.
A book not mentioned (I think) that I loved, was John Masefield's The Midnight Folk. The world in its pages was a place of limitless and magical possibilities which is how I wanted the world to be, and it both frightened and thrilled me. I actually can't remember the story very clearly now, just the feeling of it (but that for example you should be able to talk to the cat, seemed to me how the world should be). There was something very exciting too about the idea of having a whole other life (occurring pretty much in a constant wash of moonlight in my mind) that you led while your parents were asleep.

I'm another one for whom Tootles the Taxi has made his first appearance on this thread. Hello, Tootles!

(And hello to ahh too, who brought him along I think!  )

Ah yes! We had a couple of Ant and Bee alphabetical books too! My parents still have them...they've hung onto some of our books and I seem to have all the rest! We also had Edward Ardizzone's Tim books - they seem very old-fashioned now. Oh, that's funny, I've just looked him up to check name spellling and found that he illustrated the Stig of the Dump book I had:


Just remembered too that we loved Richard Scarry's books, especially Busy, Busy World. AFAIK they're still in print. They're great to read aloud and I love his illustrations. My dad, who's very knowledgable about boats as well as opera, was impressed by his very accurate drawings of ships and boats - they may exist in a fantasy animal world but every hull shape, sail and detail of rigging is lovingly and correctly drawn. Indeed, his drawings of other vehicles and famous buildings from around the world are always beautifully depicted.

Is there a Trevor the Tractor or Laurie the Lorry?

Ah yes - wonderful stuff, with fantastic illustrations.  Quite made up for the lack of Tootles.

Alfafa is a small seed always eaten in sprouting form.  In American sandwich bars, if they offer "sprouts" on your sandwich, they mean alfalfa sprouts.  To the British eye it looks similar to cress, but is actually more like a very fine variety of bean sprout - except that it tastes revolting, like a combination of soil and mildew.

No one's mentioned my favourite Dr Seuss book, Fox in Socks.  Tweedle beetle noodle poodle water bottle paddle battle!  Go on, pronounce the "t"s as "d"s, have a go as the author intended!