[eaglework]

Alongside the usual activities with bits of old radios and TV sets there was the chemistry lab both at home and in school. My bedroom doubled as the home lab and I recall managing to strip all the paint off the window sill with ammonia. The smell took days to dissipate.
And then there was the whole range of explosive experiments ranging from homemade bangers (traditional gunpowder with various additives for colour), weedkiller and sugar in a punctured empty aerosol can buried in the ground - drop in a lit match and run away!
The school chemistry teacher (minus one finger which he attributed to nitrogen tri-iodide) always encouraged experimentation and introduced us to silver acetalyde. Similar to tri-iodide but easier to make and store if kept damp. Managed to blow a hole in my school blazer jacket pocket when a small amount wrapped in filter paper must have dried out! Had a bruise on my hip for a week from the from the blast!