THE SEVENTIES

As a 13 year old I had only a vague interest in the years main events. I bought my first record in 1971 and my fledgling interest in music really began to take flight. This was the year that sport began to take a back seat in my life. I gradually replaced the Football posters on my bedroom wall with pictures of Sally Carr, the lead singer of Middle of the Road.

In the news: Jan 2^nd sees 66 football fans killed when crowd barriers collapse at Ibrox, Glasgow.

In January Charles Manson and three of his followers are found guilty of the Helter Skelter murders.

It was goodbye to shillings and hello to pence as decimalisation came into force.

London Bridge is dismantled and sold to an American consortium who re-erect it at Lake Havasu, Arizona. They thought they were buying Tower Bridge.

Chelsea FC beat Luxemburg's Jeunesse Hautcharage 21-0, on aggregate, in round 1 of the European Cup Winners’ Cup, an all time record.

Dr Christian Barnard carried out the first heart/lung transplant in South Africa.

Who's the cat who won't cop out when there is danger all about? Richard Roundtree starred as Shaft an urban ghetto James Bond

Eric Clapton beat Jimi Hendrix to the Greatest All Time Guitarist award in NME.

In December the IRA launched a Christmas bombing campaign in Northern Ireland.

NUMBER ONE HITS OF 1971

Grandad - Clive Dunn
My Sweet Lord - George Harrison
Baby Jump - Mungo Jerry
Hot Love - T Rex
Double Barrel - Dave & Ansil Collins
Knock Three Times - Dawn
Chirpy Chirpy Cheep Cheep - Middle of the Road
Get it On - T Rex
I’m Still Waiting - Diana Ross
Hey Girl Don’t Bother me - The Tams
Maggie May - Rod Stewart
Coz I Luv You - Slade
Ernie - Benny Hill

FILMS OF THE YEAR

GET CARTER

This film is now regarded as a landmark in UK film-making because of its gritty portrayal of England's underworld. Michael Caine plays a gangster who returns from London to Newcastle - upon -Tyne, He aims to ruthlessly take on the city’s underworld, to avenge the death of his brother. Incidentally the guy who gets thrown off the top of a multi-storey car park at the climax is actor Bryan Mosley who recovered well enough to portray greengrocer Alf Roberts in Coronation Street.

SHAFT

The film that gave birth to the blaxploitation genre. Richard Roundtree is private detective John Shaft strutting and swaggering through New York's underworld to the music of Isaac Hayes.

Roundtree’s ‘ghetto James Bond’ spawned a string of sequels with bigger guns and bigger budgets - but for me this first picture remains the best and the musical soundtrack was really excellent.

WILLY WONKA AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY

This was a musical fantasy based on Roald Dahl’s book Charlie And The Chocolate Factory. Gene Wilder is Willy Wonka who invites children to tour his infamous confectionery factory but he has an ulterior motive to teach naughty children a lesson. The naughty children end up falling into a river of chocolate; blowing up like a blueberry and getting trapped inside a TV. However the Oompa Loompas always come to the rescue and bring them back to life whilst singing a song. Charlie of course is the winner as he is the goody goody of all the kids on the tour.

MUSIC

Although it produced some classic singles - T. Rex’s Get It On, Rod Stewart’s Maggie May, and The Rolling Stones’ Brown Sugar - 1971 would become known as the year of the naff Number One.

Clive Dunn topped the chart with Grandad, Middle of the Road grabbed the top spot with Chirpy Chirpy Cheep Cheep, and Ernie gave comedian Benny Hill a Christmas and New Year chart topper.

The Eurovision Song Contest was won by Monaco’s Severine, with Un Banc, Un Arbre, Une Rue.

Despite the break up of The Beatles, individual members were still doing well. Ringo Starr had his first solo hit with It Don’t Come Easy and George Harrison’s triple LP All Things Must Pass topped the American charts, with single My Sweet Lord becoming a transatlantic number 1. The song, however, wasn't without it's controversy. He was accused of copying the Chiffons 1963 song 'He's So Fine' and became embroiled in a court battle which he eventually lost when the judge ruled that he had been guilty of some plagiarism. John Lennon brought out another protest singalong entitled 'Power To The People'

On Jan 16^th, a dance floor favourite of mine entered the chart and eventually climbed to number 3. The song was titled 'Resurrection Shuffle', and the group were UK artistes Aston, Gardner and Dyke. Also in this year Michael Jackson had his first major solo hit with Got to be There

The first brand-new number one of the year belonged to Clive Dunn with 'Grandad'. It topped the chart on 9^th Jan and sat there for 3 weeks. Elton John's unforgettable 'Your Song', entered the charts around this time and attained a respectable position at number 3.

US country singer Lynn Anderson charted with the classic 'Rose Garden' . It took her to number 3 and remained on the chart for 20 weeks. A week later, Australian group New World also had a hit with the same song. into the charts and up to an eventual number 15.

Mungo Jerry returned to the top slot with 'Baby Jump' The record had a harder edge than their previous hit and only lasted at number one for a fortnight. They were replaced by a song that heralded the beginning of the glam-rock era. Marc Bolan and T. Rex hit pay dirt with 'Hot Love'.

Sally Carr - Be still my beating heart!

Double Barrel' by Dave Barker & Ansil Collins was a huge reggae hit in the disco's around that time and spent a respectable two-weeks on top from 1^st May onwards. Tony Orlando's group Dawn followed up their hugely successful record 'Candida' with the classic 'Knock Three Times'. It was number one for 5 weeks and stayed on the chart for 27 weeks. 'Chirpy Chirpy Cheep Cheep' by Middle of the Road replaced Dawn atop the chart. The band was fronted by the hot-pant-cladded Sally Carr who I had a schoolboy crush on.

In April Tamla Motown artiste R. Dean Taylor charted at number 2 with the brilliant "Indiana Wants Me". 1971 was a great year for South African artiste John Kongos. May saw the first of two great songs from him zoom to the top of the chart. 'He's Gonna Step On You Again' and later, 'Tokoloshie Man' both peaked at number 4. June saw the UK chart debut of Wolverhampton favourites Slade with 'Get Down and Get With It'.

On 24^th July, T.Rex returned to the top with 'Get It On', for a 4 weeks. The song was taken from the bands highly successful 'Electric Warrior' LP. It was toppled by 'I'm still waiting' which was Diana Ross's first number one as a solo artiste. A Northern Soul favourite 'Hey Girl Don't Bother Me' by the Tams then replaced it at the top of the pile.

US jazz musician Louis Armstrong died on July 6^th aged 71. August 1^st sees George Harrison lead a star-studded charity concert at Madison Square Gardens to raise cash for Bangladesh.

Rod the Mod

n October the classic 'Maggie May' by Rod Stewart hit the top spot. The song had originally been on the B-side of 'Reason To Believe' but was promoted after an outcry from his fans. Rod was also in the charts along with the Faces 'Stay With Me' which reached number 6 in December.

October also saw the Doors classic "Riders on the Storm" chart. It peaked at a disappointing number 22. The song was to fare better when it was re-issued 5 years later.

On the 13^th of November, Noddy and the boys were back as Slade hit the top for the first time with the first of their mis-spelt hits titled 'Coz I Luv You'. The year's Christmas number one was provided by TV funnyman Benny Hill. The surprise hit was called 'Ernie (The Fastest Milkman in the West).

FASHION

I've mentioned elsewhere on this page my undying love and devotion to Sally Carr the lead singer of Middle of the Road. She used to wear hot pants and kinky boots and this look was very popular in 1971.

Hot pants were popular throughout the year, so much so that even Royal Ascot, horse racing’s fashion show of the year, had to relax its dress rules. However, it was stated that "ladies in hot pants should only be allowed to enter the Royal Enclosure at Ascot if the ‘general effect’ was satisfactory".

Micro skirts were extremely popular towards the end of the year, while the ‘Sizzle’ dress - a short button down dress with matching elasticated short pants underneath - was also coming into its own.

Men started wearing belts over their elaborately patterned and striped shirts, and were slipping into ever tighter bell-bottomed jeans. The Afro haircut was boosted by the release of blaxploitation movie Shaft.

Everyone's height rose by two inches as men and women tottered about on platform shoes. Originally about an inch or so high, they quickly grew until hospital emergency rooms were routinely treating people for twisted or broken ankles caused by these monstrosities.

Trainers were welcome relief from the uncomfortable platform soles of fashion shoes, and were an instant hit with schoolchildren who no longer had to keep their patent leather uppers clean. The Nike ‘swoosh’ design was created in 1971, though the first ‘waffle-base’ shoes bearing the logo didn't appear until 1972. The ‘swoosh’ was supposed to represent a wing and the waffle sole was created by accident when the inventor left a rubber plimsoll on a hot waffle iron.

LITTLE OBJECTS OF DESIRE

SPACE HOPPER

These useless things served no purpose whatsoever as far as I could see. They didn’t allow you to go faster, bounce higher, or run further than you could on foot. But you had to have one. Space Hoppers bounced into the UK during the summer of ’71. For much of the early 1970s children spent hours bouncing up and down busy roads until they either fell off and grazed their knees, or burst their Hopper - not an easy task unless it was cunningly over-inflated.

KLACKERS

Klackers consisted of a pair of hard plastic balls tied to a ring by two pieces of string. The aim of the game was to swing them together and make a hugely annoying racket. Children loved them but doctors weren’t so impressed. Accident and emergency departments were deluged with people suffering badly bruised arms and bloodshot eyes. They were swiftly withdrawn from sale.

TELEVISION

In 1971 a black and white Television licence fee cost £7 while a colour one would knock you back a whopping £12. Grampian Television started regular colour transmissions to mark their 10th Anniversary. 1971 saw Shirley Bassey star as a guest on the Christmas edition of the Morecambe and Wise show. ITV's Christmas highlight was the 'All-Star Comedy Carnival', a four-hour feast of special sketches from sitcoms like 'Father, dear father' and 'The Fenn Street Gang'

Grampian Logo - See Ident Page

One of the big hits of the year was Upstairs Downstairs, which told the dramatic story of the Bellamy family and their servants in the Edwardian era. The show ran for five years and collected many awards.

Former pop singer Adam Faith turned his talents to acting and took the title role in Budgie. The series followed the exploits of an unsuccessful crook in seedy Soho.

On ITV at 6.45 p.m. on Mondays Magician David Nixon hosted his Magic Box with Anita Harris as his regular assistant. The Generation Game was devised by a Dutch housewife and it went on to become the number one game show in Britain. The first host was Bruce Forsyth who guided four couples from four different families through different challenges. The game came in two parts: quizzes involving guessing film themes, spotting disguised personalities etc and practical challenges where the contestant had to copy an expert demonstrating their skill (plate spinning, icing a cake, making pots etc). Every episode ended with a memory game involving a conveyor belt and the obligatory cuddly toy.

Comedies continued to be successful. Sid James appeared in Bless this House and Wendy Craig starred in And Mother Makes Three. Please Sir continued to be popular while its spin-off series The Fenn Street Gang traced the exploits of Form 5C's pupils in post-school life. The Liver Birds charted the ups and downs, romance and family problems of two young female friends, Beryl and Sandra played by Polly James and Nerys Hughes. The show was one of the first written by Carla Lane. 'Dear Mother… Love Albert starring Rodney Bewes was also one of the sitcoms of the era that millions tuned in for.

After many years in supporting roles the Two Ronnie's finally landed their own television series in 1971. Ronnie Corbett and Ronnie Barker slipped into a huge variety of different guises and personalities. Each show followed a regular format consisting of a mock news item, silly sketches, Corbett's meandering monologues and astounding pronunciation by Barker. A regular feature was the spoof serials like The Phantom Raspberry Blower of Old London Town which was written by Spike Milligan.

Tony Curtis and Roger Moore teamed up as millionaire playboy sleuths in The Persuaders a slick action series which was a huge worldwide success.

Man at the Top was a series reflecting the permissiveness of the time through the amorous exploits of Joe Lampton. The series expanded on the character created by John Braine and was portrayed by Kenneth Haig.

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