Theguardian iconTheguardianAug 16, 2026

‘My electric toaster is more than 100 years old’: readers on their ancient appliances

From a 50-year-old TV to a 75-year-old vacuum cleaner, here are the old faithfuls I have a 1974 Janex Batman and Robin wind-up talking alarm clock. It plays audio of Batman and Robin having a discussion on why should really get up and out of bed.

‘My electric toaster is more than 100 years old’: readers on their ancient appliances

Share this story

Send the public story page.

Useful takeaways from this story.

From a 50-year-old TV to a 75-year-old vacuum cleaner, here are the old faithfuls I have a 1974 Janex Batman and Robin wind-up talking alarm clock.

It plays audio of Batman and Robin having a discussion on why should really get up and out of bed.

Jason Connolly, 57, district nurse, Macandrew Bay, New Zealand Continue reading...

Building the complete brief

The page is ready to read now. The fuller skim-friendly version will appear here automatically.

The useful part

From a 50-year-old TV to a 75-year-old vacuum cleaner, here are the old faithfuls I have a 1974 Janex Batman and Robin wind-up talking alarm clock. It plays audio of Batman and Robin having a discussion on why should really get up and out of bed. Jason Connolly, 57, district nurse, Macandrew Bay, New Zealand Continue reading...

How it works

  • Amazingly, it still works even though it's more than 50 years old.

Keep reading in the app

Open the app view to save this story, compare related coverage, and continue from the same source.

Open in app