When I Were A Lad...

Product Description

* The sleeper hit of Christmas 2009
- more than 4 000 copies sold through Bookscan. * A book to send shivers down the spine of any parent who has spent years protecting their children from the slightest bump & bash. * A glorious romp though some of the most reckless photos from the 1930s 40s 50s & 60s tagged with side-splitting captions. Ah the past. A time when children could play in the snow without a helmet crampons & a risk assessment report. When footballs were made from rhino hide & cricket was played with one pad if you were lucky. When I Were a Lad...looks at the glorious-yet-risky childhoods of yesteryear before the Health & Safety officers told us we couldn't do everything because it was too dangerous. It reflects on a time when children were allowed in with the animals at London Zoo; a time before the car seatbelt was invented (let alone used); a time when you were allowed to dress up endangered species in goalkeeping kit & take penalties against them. The authors have trawled through the major historic archives to find some glorious photo opportunities where the safety angle of the participants was the last thing anyone thought of. Children perch happily on lethal limb-mangling machinery stand all-smiles on live crocodiles feed brown bears with their hands & get scooped from the street by passing tram conductors! These truly were the days that Health & Safety forgot back when I were a lad...