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[Eric]

My 17 year old Woody and I are off to England & Scotland on Friday for the better part of two weeks.  Does anyone of any "top" sites, museums, clubs in the UK?

[the Earl of Whirl]

I'm interested in what others have to say about this.  Personally, I found England to not be too "top friendly".  I was in London two years ago and didn't find people that interested in tops or top spinning.

[ta0]

A spintop expedition requires more planning   Well, there must be something top related.

If I went to London I would try to visit Tim Rowett from www.grand-illusions.com. He has some very interesting spintops but he may have difficulty finding them among his collection of 18 thousand unusual toys
http://physicsworld.com/cws/article/print/37161

[jim in paris]

salut eric !

(............)

in london

go to the large department store specialized in toys (5floors)
it's called Hamleys

there is the Pollock toy museum in london worth visiting

and also one in brighton 

besides that
try and contact "iceblade" or "aza" the yoyo players
ask them about the spintop scene if any
through them you could try to get in touch with guy heathcotte(juggler and skill toys player)

that's all i can think of

have a top trip !

jim

[ta0]

Ok, Jim, you were right. So I transferred the Barcelona stuff to the relevant thread; lets keep this one for England and Scotland.

I think I recall something about a museum with tops somewhere over there on one of La Baldufa magazines; I will look for it. But may have been in Ireland, I am not sure.

[jim in paris]

hello again eric
oh  and  to remind you of your past life
(i have several issues of SKQ)
go to the kite store in neal street 
in the still trendy " covent garden" district in london
 they sell kites and juggling stuff, may be you can get some info there
if you go up north have a "newcastle brown" on me
it has this special taste ...

in any case , don't forget your 'brolly 

jim

[Eric]

Jim,
Thanks for the input!
Hamley's was already on the list, I go there every time I'm in London.  About 8 or 9 years ago I found an entire rack of the Yohans special edition Pro-Yos (the ones with Hans picture on the pogs of white Pro-yos) for 1£ each.......I bought 10 of them.
We'll look for the Pollock Toy Museum, and Ritchie Windsor of "Splitting the Atom" and http://www.yoyoz.co.uk fame is a friend.  So, I've got the yo-yo thing covered, it's "top" contacts I'm interested in.
As to The Kite Store on Neal St. in Covent Garden, Andy and Mark (the owners) are dear old friends. Dorothy and I first went there in 1983, when we first got into sportkites.  Sadly, when I was in London last, about a year and a half ago, the store had closed; 26 years in the same location.......
I will indeed have a "Newky Brown" and toast in your honor!

Jorge',
You're absolutely right..."A spintop expedition requires more planning".......However, my son is far more interested in things medieval. so the trip is focussed on castles, abbeys, Druid ruins and the like.....


I will do the obligatory taking of top throwing and yoyoing pictures at famous places.   

Cheers

[ta0]

Found the article that I remembered. It seems the Museum of Childhood in Edinburgh, Scotland, has a very nice collection of toys and it is located in an "extraordinary old house in the famous Royal Mile." If I understand correctly the Catalan, it has 5 stories and on the 5th there is a reproduction of a school from the 1930's. The article has a picture of a display with about 20 tops, a few diabolos and yo-yos, but nothing to be too excited about. Anyway, if you go to Edinburgh you may want to check it out.

Have a good trip! I am looking forward to a good top picture!

[Eric]

Thanks!!!

[the Earl of Whirl]

I vividly remember Hamley's and all those floors.  Wow, there were a lot of toys there but not much top action.  If I have the right place in mind, the Pollock Toy Museum was kind of a smaller place and when I got there they were closed.  I think my favorite toy memories of London were in Harrods.  They had a large space for people to try out their toys and I played for quite some time up there while the females in my party were looking at clothes.

[silvertop]

You could try tracking down my old friend Eric Horne.  He lives in Topsham - yes he really does!, and makes various great stuff including spin tops.  I don't see any tops on his current web page, but you might want to call or e-mail him... mention Don Olney.  http://www.erichorne.co.uk/index.htm

Another English toy maker friend is Roger Copple.  http://www.rogercopple.co.uk Again, I don't see any tops on his current web page, but he used to make very cool tops.

Both of these gentlemen made me special custom made tops with my image on them!

[Eric]

Thanks Don !!!
Roger's skittles sets are amazing, I'll have to try to get one.  As to Eric, he's out in Devon about 200+ miles away from where we are, and we're headed of to Scotland tomorrow (a day early - we're going to a Scottish castle to take a course in Falconry.....no kidding!).  Woddy did snap this picture of me yesterday in front of Big Ben/Parliment:

[the Earl of Whirl]

Wow!!!

[ta0]

Nice!

London is known to be the city with more security cameras in the world. That day they got to see something they don't see every day.

[poptop]

I wonder if the Beefeater guards have ever seen a spin top?