"It's like something out of a horror film," said Nicola Scicluna-Warren, while Marise Swanson likened the doll's mobile plastic features to those of Clive Anderson. You are not supposed to squeeze the face "due to the complex mechanical nature of the doll", but with its squashy cheeks this was precisely what all the children wanted to do (and did).Chelsea (7) had already seen television adverts for the Baby Expressions doll, and insisted that "the boy doll looks better". Even after rejecting the girl doll as "horrible" with "a disgusting tongue", Chelsea was still looking forward to receiving the boy doll for Christmas, proving the impact that advertising can have.At the nursery, Andrew (4) was observed trying to comfort the crying Baby Expressions as he played at keeping post office. "This baby isn't very happy," he told a teacher "Why do you think that is?" she asked "I don't know, I just don't know," he replied. After much more stroking and soothing the doll was still crying; he started to shake it and make a fist, but saw an adult watching and stopped.

In fact the only positive comments about this doll resulted from a misunderstanding: "Aah," said Olivia (8), as she turned the doll upside down (a thing the instructions forbid as causing malfunction), "when you stroke its back, it stops crying!"****BABY BORNpounds 33.99Baby Born was voted British Association of Toy Retailers Baby Doll of the Year last year, and it certainly offers a lot for your money, working entirely without batteries to drink, wet its nappy, shed "real" (sic) tears, eat special doll food, squeak and "soil its potty". It also comes with a plethora of accessories, from bottle, plate, spoon, dummy, doll- food, potty, nappy and dress, to several booklets, one of which describes the development of a foetus in child-friendly terms. The doll's features are "very well observed", according to Fiona Stocker, even if Marise Swanson identified Harry Connick Jnr in Baby Born's jowly face. "The plastic feels more like skin than the other dolls," said Nicola Scicluna-Warren, adding, "It's such a nice doll, the functions almost spoil it."Given that Baby Born is not electric, activating its functions can be strenuous, not to say aggressive. After drinking, you have to "squeeze its right arm hard to cause large tears to roll down its cheeks." Squeezing its left arm makes it squeak, and to make it "soil its potty" you must squeeze its legs together while pushing down on its head, "not something I would like the children to see," said Rebecca Coles.

"Imagine the fears we might instil in children coming up to potty training." Yet the children at home (not to mention the adults) wanted to witness doll defecation, wondering if the cereal mix provided as doll-food would somehow change colour The results (a little watery) were disappointing. Chelsea (7), who already had a Baby Born from last Christmas, also told us that, "I got fed up with it because it only ever did little wees." The mothers looked askance at the directions to wash Baby Born through with detergent to prevent the food in its stomach from going mouldy. "It's rather like your child having a pet," said Fiona Stocker. "They feed it; but you have to clear up its pooh and wash it down."*****THERE, THERE BABYpounds 14.99If you think watching a doll breathe is about as interesting as watching paint dry, think again: There, There Baby has sleeping eyes, a breathing chest and cries "for attention", uttering the words "Mummy, mummy" in between sobs It is soothed when a dummy is put into its mouth. The instructions exhorting children to "Hear her cry if you take her dummy away" and "You can even see her breathing as she cries!" struck the adults as slightly sadistic, but this was exactly what enthralled the children.The dummy and bottle that came with There, There Baby have long, plastic spikes rather like an insect's proboscis which activates the breathing motor, but their inauthenticity wasn't noticed. "It's sweet!" said Olivia who spoke for all the children in the home group, all of whom desperately wanted to take this doll away with them. For their part, the mothers sighed with relief at the "magic" feeding bottle which didn't have to be continually replenished with water and Becca Coles confirmed that this doll was "definitely the most popular.

It's just a pity that, because it has batteries, you couldn't actually put it in the bath."***TINY TEARS BATH PLAYTIME SETpounds 36.99My First Tiny Tears is a more babyish looking doll, being bald with a bonnet, than the classic Tiny Tears - supplied to us in a splendid Bath Playtime Set - which comes with long, blonde-hair, for which the grooming possibilities seemed to be more interesting to the children than the doll's drinking, wetting and crying functions "She's lovely," sighed Isobel (3). "She looks just like Doris Day, which always helps" said Marise Swanson. Rachel (3), who has a twin brother, wished the doll were Timmy Tears, but the other children were satisfied with Tiny Tears' endless accessories: bathrobe, sailor-style dress, bottle, nappy, comb, soap, soap box, flannel and baby wipes Becca Coles noted that the flimsy nappy "tore immediately". The most used accessories, she said, were the bottle, spoon and plate and that the bathrobe was easier to get on and off than most dolls' clothes. But from a parent's point of view, Nicola Scicluna-Warren felt that the accessories "just add to the mountain of plastic flotsam which you have to clear off the floor every day."STOCKISTSFor details of stockists for: There, There Baby call Peterkin, 0116 2543645; Baby Expressions call Famosa, 0115 9642004; Tiny Tears call Playmates, 0116 2823500; Baby Born call Max Zapf, 01536 710 120; Baby Bye-Bye call Hasbro UK, 0181 569 1234 Most dolls featured are stocked by Hamleys, London Chad Valley from branches of Woolworths nationwide !.

Thirty years ago, Erno Goldfinger, an architect whose work some still consider as brutal as his villainous namesake's, set out on an unusual domestic mission. Abandoning the showcase home he'd designed overlooking Hampstead Heath, Goldfinger set up house in the top floor of the Balfron Tower, the concrete council block he'd just completed in Poplar. Three months later, he returned home having, as he saw it, proved his point. High-rise living Goldfinger-style was, in his view, thoroughly satisfactory and by no means the nightmare his critics said it was. Goldfinger was a notoriously arrogant man, but were he alive today you doubt that even he would be foolish enough to try the stunt or the self- endorsement that followed The tabloids would murder him. After all, try as they might, "those bloody architects" still can't shake off their reputation as a favourite national Aunt Sally.