A whole bag of vintage Topsy and Tim books came into the Oxfam bookshop the other day. Originally published in the 1960s by Jean and Gareth Adamson, the twins went on to have more than 130 adventures, with the series being relaunched in 2003. There has also been two TV adaptations.

I didn’t look through all the books but the cover of Topsy and Tim Meet the Monsters grabbed my attention as I wondered, where could they be riding a dinosaur except in Crystal Palace? My suspicion proved correct, and though mum drives them to the park and takes them up to the dinosaurs, she leaves them in the hands of two artists and isn’t seen again. The artists row the twins over the lake to the dinosaurs where they proceed to paint them. The 1970s, right?

Previously on Barnflakes
Crystal Palace in infrared
Crystal Palace’s ‘rusty laptop’ gets booted up for music festival
Cinema in Crystal Palace finally to reopen
In the Crystal Palace subway
Top ten London creatures
Deep excavations
Random Film Review: The Pleasure Garden
London through its charity shops #25: Crystal Palace
The dinosaurs of Crystal Palace
Ant and Bee