Do you remember Tallon pens? My husband remembers them from 60 years ago when he was at school. His parents bought him cheap pens because he constantly lost them but poor though they were, they never stooped so low as to force a Tallon pen upon him. Tallons were the utter pits.

A conversation a few days ago got me thinking about Tallon. I wrote about them once before, and not in the most complimentary of terms. I thought it was time to look at them again and searched online. Lo and behold, there’s a new Tallon! Out of curiosity I invested £1.29 in a Tallon fountain pen and ballpoint pen set with four cartridges. This is even cheaper than the Chinese. They may well be Chinese now for all I know, though they have a Coventry address. They sell a wide range of stationery.

What can I say about the pens? They’re sold in the usual no-frills bubble. The fountain pen works well but the ballpoint is rather feeble though it may improve with encouragement. Both pens close with a positive snap though this may not last, the platic being what it is. The supplied bright blue ink for the fountain pen is very good though it may well fade as many cheap inks do. The pens themselves are in the traditional flat top style, in the cheapest blue plastic. They’re not repulsive. The fountain pen has a Western fine nib, a little scratchy but it doesn’t skip and it always starts at once.

What more can I say? As pen sets go it’s not the most desirable. In fact it isn’t desirable at all but it works perfectly well. So that’s Tallon, a blast from the past and one of the great consistent survivors, almost as bad now as it was in 1960.