Gaping maw
Boy was I happy when I checked my blogsite and saw that all the links were showing. Thanks boffins!

Let's tie up some loose ends, shall we: I thought you wouldn't want to read about what I read about for too long. But I do just want to set the record straight as far as my childhood reading went:

1. I was able to read comic books before the great Marvel-ation of 1973;
2. My sister and I had our own subscriptions.

We started both getting Jack and Jill and then Playhour and Robin. Once it appeared we'd both outgrown sentient hot water bottles and the Magic Roundabout, Robin I think started getting Princess Tina and I waited expectantly each week for Lion and Thunder. I don't know why this was considered more acceptable than the American superhero books. Maybe it was because there was a mix of stories featuring soccer teams and funny strips like Mowser the Priceless Puss and his enemy James the Butler. In any case, I was allowed to start buying Marvel westerns before Dad relented and let in the 'cape and tights characters'.

At high school I spent my pocket money on choc milk and - continuing my Jeckyll/Hyde fascination - the Incredible Hulk, (among many others).

My fledgling obsession with music carried on into my late teens and my first sharehouse. Some guy we knew had a huge pile of NME's out on the verge for collection and I took as many as I could so that that was all I read for weeks on end.

Rolling Stone I pretty much only picked up for special editions but Q became a firm favourite.

And I read horror anthologies and discovered a wealth of late nineteenth century (out of copyright) horror writers. This coincided with an ongoing interest in the occult and metaphysics.

I'd kind of developed an interest in compendia of facts and almanacs and it was in the Whole Earth Catalogue that its founder Stewart Brand exposed me to the idea of being comprehensive in my reading. His thinking was that you should know the type of soil under your feet and the names of the clouds above your head. So I was actually mad enough to pursue this goal, more or less.
I probably haven't read that publication or report but I just might have too.