So here we have a card of quite an unusual size, and it turns out to be an unusual story as well. This set is just one of the "Noddy" tie-ins from Como, see at the very end of this section, but I have been unable to find out what the connection was between the two.
Our original British Trade Index part two simply describes it as "Md. 64 x 64. Nd. (50)" However in between this volume of 1969 and part four in 1997 there has been a discovery. Suddenly our set, and some of the others, have also been recorded in different formats; as well as the backs in red, there are backs in blue or black, and of different sizes to the red originals, being 46 x 46 m/m. So all the listings are revised. In addition the original size of our card has been altered to 63 x 60, which I do not think can be correct, as this card is definitely square - to my eyes anyway.
By the time of our updated British Trade Index our set is now described as
1. 1959. 63 x 60. Nd. (50) red back
2. 1970. 46 x 46. Back in (a) black (b) blue
So here is a quick note of the changes:
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Noddy and His Playmates (50) 1962 - reprinted 1967
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Noddy`s Adventures first series (25) 1968 - reprinted 1970
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Noddy`s Adventures second series (25 - 26/50) 1968 - reprinted 1970
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Noddy`s "Budgie" & Feathered Friends first series (25) 1959 - never reprinted
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Noddy`s "Budgie" & Feathered Friends second series (25 - 26/50) 1959 - never reprinted
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Noddy`s Friends Abroad (50) 1959 - reprinted 1970
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Noddy`s Nursery Rhyme Friends (50) 1959 - reprinted 1970
So your task is to find out the connection between Noddy and Como - also to find out why all these sets were suddenly reprinted in 1970. My thought is maybe that they saw what Brooke Bond were doing and did the same, but I have not hunted yet. Also, what happened with the Budgie set(s) ?
As far as the subject of the card, here is Mother Goose, a popular character, but a total mystery, though she is and probably always will be eternally associated with fairy tales. All we know, and all we may ever know, is that Charles Perrault combined some of his retold fairy tales in a book called "Histoires ou contes du temps passe: contes de ma mere l’Oie" - in other words "Histories and tales of times past : tales of My mother, the goose"...