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Post by ripper on Jul 14, 2021 21:29:49 GMT
Thought I'd give this thread a gentle nudge...
1976
Well, my memories of this year include:
Oh, my goodness it was hot, just a long, hot Summer, with water shortages. Some places had stop-taps in the streets, the ground was hard as rock, reservoirs were at record lows, and there was a minister appointed for drought...ironically a few days after his appointment it poured down. He also advised people to share baths--saucy!
The economy was in dire straits with the UK having to ask for a loan from the IMF.
The Son of Sam murders in New York, which inspired the film 'Maniac' a few years later.
The hijacking of an Air France Airbus and its landing at Entebbe, Uganda by Palestinian and BM terrorists, seemingly with the collusion of Ugandan dictator Idi Amin. After threatening to kill the passengers, Israeli commandos stormed the airport, killed the terrorists and freed the hostages.
American bicentenary of Revolution and centenary of Battle of Little Big Horn--Custer's Last Stand.
Jimmy Carter elected President.
First commercial Concorde flight--Heathrow to Bahrain.
Jim Callaghan becomes PM after Harold Wilson's resignation.
Films/TV
The Omen with Gregory Peck and Lee Remick
Taxi Driver with Robert De Niro.
King Kong with Jessica Lange.
All the President's Men with Redford and Hoffman
Rocky with Sly Stallone
Charlie's Angels. Very popular and maybe the start of jiggle TV.
Rentaghost
Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin
The Feathered Serpent
Bionic Woman
Nigel Kneale's Beasts
The New Avengers
Books
Action comic began publication, was withdrawn after tabloid outrage due to its violence, then came back much toned down. The Sun called it the Seven Penny Nightmare, which meant that I immediately started buying it. It was certainly very violent and gory, but after it was nuted I didn't bother buying it.
Night of the Crabs by Guy N. Smith.
The Survivor by James Herbert
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Post by šrincess šµuvstarr on Jul 14, 2021 22:22:26 GMT
I see 1976 had Kizzy. A TV adaptation of Rumer Godden's children's novel The Diddakoi, which I've read. It's about a Romani girl called Kizzy, who becomes orphaned after her grandmother, who looked after her dies. A diddakoi is a mixed blood Romani.
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Post by helrunar on Jul 15, 2021 0:39:11 GMT
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Post by ripper on Jul 15, 2021 8:34:38 GMT
I have a vague recollection of Kizzy, but don't think I was a regular viewer.
A few more...
Montreal Olympics--are they still paying for it? Didn't watch much of it as far as I remember.
The UK won Eurovision with Brotherhood of Man singing Save your Kisses for Me. Yes, I watched this one.
Start of Multi-Coloured Swop Shop. Saw it occasionally, but I was a dedicated Tiswas fan.
I, Claudius. Saw some episodes, now considered a classic.
Ghosts of Motley Hall. ITV's riposte to Rentaghost.
Sid James died after suffering a heart attack on stage. Very sad and it shocked me.
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Post by Shrink Proof on Jul 15, 2021 8:49:41 GMT
I remember the endless blistering heat of the summer of 1976. Had a student job working through the summer in an engineering factory (yes, back when Britain was about making things rather than about selling things...). The machine I worked was under a sealed skylight so it was like being in a greenhouse, but oily. Outside the heat stimulated aphids to breed. This in turn caused a plague of ladybirds who ate them. When they ran out, the ladybirds starved to death all across the country - in their millions. I'd forgotten this episode until recently reminded of it by the always fascinating David Bramwell and his band Oddfellow's Casino...
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Post by ripper on Jul 15, 2021 11:32:24 GMT
I was at secondary school and there were lots of ladybirds on the fields. We were housed in one of the 'temporary' mobile classrooms and it was hot in there in the summer, but in 1976 it was oppressive. It had its compensations, though, as the younger female teachers wore some rather splendid outfits. I think it was 1976 when thin 'cheesecloth' blouses were a fashion fad for the ladies.
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Post by samdawson on Jul 15, 2021 13:39:21 GMT
Thanks Ripper and Shrink Proof for evoking 1976 so well. It was a remarkable year, not just for the intensity of the heat, but its duration: 1975 had been a long, glorious summer, followed by an exceptionally mild, low-rainfall winter, so '76 began with a spring that felt like a harsh summer from the outset, and continued until the weeks of violent storms that finally finished the heatwave. There'd be riots now if it happened like that again. Rightly or wrongly I suspect that anyone who writes and was born in Britain in the early 60s or 50s will at some point write a fog story and a '76 story or book.
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Post by Swampirella on Jul 15, 2021 13:56:55 GMT
I have a vague recollection of Kizzy, but don't think I was a regular viewer. A few more... Montreal Olympics--are they still paying for it? Didn't watch much of it as far as I remember. "In mid-November 2006, the stadium's costs were finally paid in full, more than 30 years after it opened." |
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Post by ripper on Jul 16, 2021 8:22:34 GMT
Late in 1976 came the infamous Sex Pistols interview with Bill Grundy. Grundy was well-lubricated and goaded the Pistols, and made a suggestion to Siousie Sioux that they should meet up later, further annoying them. Unfortunately for Grundy, he was too sozzled to realise that they were taking the p*ss out of him. I didn't see the interview live as I don't live in London, but it was front page headlines and I saw it, censored for swearing, a day or so later.
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Post by šrincess šµuvstarr on Sept 14, 2021 14:43:36 GMT
Ello, me dearios (Kenneth Williams reference here),
This is a very interesting documentary about the Big Freeze of 1962/63.
The sea froze in places. At Herne Bay (which is very nice), for a mile out to sea.
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Post by ripper on Sept 14, 2021 19:50:09 GMT
Ello, me dearios (Kenneth Williams reference here), This is a very interesting documentary about the Big Freeze of 1962/63. The sea froze in places. At Herne Bay (which is very nice), for a mile out to sea. I saw that documentary some time ago, and very interesting it is. Given that today's tabloids become hysterical over a few millimetres of snow, and seem perpetually shocked that winter often does produce snow, how they would have coped with that awful winter I don't know. Now I can't swear that it was in the infamous winter of 1962/63, but one of my very earliest memories is walking along the path, holding my mum's hand, with huge piles of snow on each side. In fact, there was so much snow that all I could see when I looked up was a sliver of sky. My dad was around for the winter of 1947, which was another very bad one, and he said it was worse than that of the winter of 1962/63. Drifts were so high around here that it was possible to sit on the tops of telegraph poles. |
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Post by Shrink Proof on Sept 14, 2021 21:20:05 GMT
Drifts were so high around here that it was possible to sit on the tops of telegraph poles. I can recall stubbing my foot on something under the surface of a snowdrift. Scraping the snow away to investigate, I found that it was indeed the top of a telegraph pole.... British Railways (as was) had their own film unit for many years, British Transport Films, and it produced a string of well-regarded films. Unsurprising, really, as one of its leading lights was John Schlesinger, who later went to Hollywood and was best known for "Midnight Cowboy", for which he won the Best Director Oscar. But before that, the unit produced the short film "Snow", about the railways' battle with the white stuff in the epic winter of 1962/3. Very much an early 60s piece, it's worth a look. No hi-viz jackets or hard hats, just cloth caps, fags and tea. |
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Post by andydecker on Sept 15, 2021 8:13:12 GMT
This was news to me. Thanks, Ripper.
Frankly, after being bypassed by the flood this summer which destroyed a lot of existences in a matter of hours the idea of being confronted with this is more than horrible. Everything depends on electrical power in my vicinity, even heating. Even during Lockdown you could at least shop without problems. This on the other hand would make it impossible. Snow can be a killer if you are not fit enough. The idea that the freak weather of today could make a city impassable over night for the unforseen future is a grim thought.
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Post by andydecker on Sept 15, 2021 8:15:49 GMT
No hi-viz jackets or hard hats, just cloth caps, fags and tea. One wonders how they did survive this ...  |
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Post by samdawson on Sept 15, 2021 9:11:46 GMT
One wonders how they did survive this ... Fags and tea |
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