Card of the Day - 2022-05-16

This set is of major importance as these were the first bubblegum cards in the UK to feature the Thunderbirds. Read more about that at Thunderbirds Fandom.

Somportex do not appear in our original British Trade Index part one, issued in 1962. However part two, issued in 1969, contains several sets, and the information that the cards were issued with chewing gum, between 1960 and 1967.

Some of the Somportex sets were issued without the company name, these include the plain backed set of 36 “Weirdies” (1967), an odd set of 24 rub down, dry transfer sheets showing soldiers through the ages (still undated), film strips showing Sean Connery as James Bond in You Only Live Twice (1967), and a series of circular plastic buttons which turn out to be button badges, which were issued in wrappers giving the names of all the badges in the set, fifteen in all. However at the time of typing the British Trade Index part two, only one badge had been examined, this being “I Like the Batchelors”. The rest are The Animals, The Beatles, The Bluejeans, The Dave Clark 5, The Dreamers, The Fourmost, The Honeycombs, The Kinks, Manfred Mann, The Merseybeats, Peter & Gordon, The Searchers, The Shadows, The Stones.

In addition, in 1968 they also issued a set of seventy-two called "Adventures of Sexton Blake" which say "(C) Fleetway Publications" on the top border, and "Sexton Blake appears in VALIANT every week", Valiant being a magazine. However the wrapper, of which I have only found a front online definitely says it was issued with "Sexton Blake Bubble Gum". I presume therefore that the Somportex name appears on the unssen reverse of that wrapper, because it does not appear on the cards. Because this only mentioned Fleetway Publications Ltd, of London, it was listed under their name alone in our original British Trade Index part two, coded as FLC-1. However in our updated BritishTrade index it is listed twice, with Somportex as SOM-020 and with Fleetway as FLE-090.

Our original British Trade Index part two lists our set as part of a group, namely :

FILM SCENE SERIES. (A). Md. Black. Nd. ...SOP-3

1. Inscribed “A.P. Films Ltd. issued by Somportex London – A Series of 72 Pictures”. Size (a) 77 x 57 (b) 89 x 63. Sectional back in black. Scenes from the filming of “Thunderbird” (72)
2. Inscribed “No…. in a series of 60 – Issued by Somportex Ltd., London”. Size 78 x 58. Plain back. Scenes from [James Bond films] “Goldfinger”, “From Russia with Love”, “Dr. No”. (60)

Our original British Trade Index part three adds a little intrigue, as it says that Somportex were the UK agents for Dandy Gum, and we know this simply because the Dandy 100 card sets of “Wild Animals” (issued in 1968) and “Soldier Parade” (issued in 1969) included cards with instructions that the album was available “c/o Somportex Ltd., 30, St. John`s Lane, London, E.C.1” You had to send the coupon together with a shilling postal order, or stamps to the value of a shilling, plus twenty empty wrappers from whichever set you wanted the album for, and fill your name and address in on the lines on the card. But there are probably lots of Dandy sets, and anonymous sets, which were also issued by Somportex, but which may never be proved as so.

By the time of our updated British Trade Index this set had been altered, the James Bond set at SOP-3.2 is missing and I cannot find it, whilst ours is now recorded alone as :

THUNDERBIRDS. 1966. Three Series. ... SOM-140.

1. 83 x 58. Coloured. Nd. (73) and titled a) with b) without "Somportex" on back
2. BW. Nd. (72), untitled, back "A.P. Films, Ltd.- issued by Somportex, London - A Series of 72 Pictures". Sectional backs, a) 77 x 61 b) 89 x 63. Sections when assembled correctly, form an advert for a mini-album record of Thunderbirds, available for 7/8d. Scenes from the filming of "Thunderbird"

 

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