"Ladybird Books is celebrating its 100th anniversary. The books delighted children for decades, but what did they teach us and have their lessons stood the test of time?" - Mark H

"Some of the Ladybird books were "incredibly white", says Ms Day. "I've looked through to find out when the first black faces first appear and it's not until the 1960s," she says. "Despite an influx of immigrants welcomed to the UK to help rebuild Britain after the Second World War, there's no mention of that in Ladybird's world," says Prof Zeegan. However, he says the books started to become more representative in the early to mid 1970s. [...] Ms Day said subtle changes were made to the illustrations in later books, including airbrushing a golly from the window of a toy shop." - Mark H

"Ladybird's science books showed activities including stripping the casing from a battery with pliers, using a penknife to shape wood into a propeller and making fire with a magnifying glass. In his book, Prof Zeegan says "it is unthinkable that any children's book publisher today would consider promoting activities in the same way [...] I'm not sure there were any more accidents because of these books, probably not, but certainly nowadays children wouldn't be encouraged, they would probably be positively discouraged from the types of activities that Ladybird featured in this set of books."" - Mark H