What’s happened with toys this Christmas? It seems the only thing we have to worry about is seeing junior gnawing off all the lead paint that the Chinese manufacturers coated them in.

There has been some wringing of hands over importing toys from China, but really, lead paint? How boring. Home-grown manufacturers used to do much better.

Apparently gone are the days when toys came with some sense of adventure, when a vigorous game of lawn darts could get one’s heart rate up just by watching the little iron arrows arc toward you. Then there was the cute chewing Cabbage Patch Doll that had the ability to nip off tiny finger tips.

For a trip down memory lane, radaronline has chronicled some of the more thrilling toys of recent history in what it calls its toybox from hell.