GORDON BATHGATE'S

SEVENTIES SLAMMER

FASHION The Mini skirt was replaced by the trendy Midi and Maxi. A group of disappointed lorry drivers was so outraged about the disappearance of the mini skirt that they led a campaign to save it that even made national television. Men responded with trendy togs of their own. Under the influence of the likes of Manchester United star George Best, the average bloke started strutting his stuff in skin-tight satin. Hippies wore shaggy Afghan coats, Indian cheesecloth shirts, South American ponchos and patchwork gypsy skirts.

LITTLE OBJECTS OF DESIRE THE STYLOPHONE One of the most bizarre inventions of all time - the Stylophone - brought electronic music to the masses in 1970. Rolf Harris was the public face for the unique instrument, which was invented by accident. It wasn’t just amateur musicians who warmed to the Stylophone; David Bowie wrote Space Oddity using one THE SINDY DOLL Sindy may have lacked the Hollywood glamour of her rival Barbie but she won the Toy of the Year award in 1970. She was given a trendy centre parting that was kept in place with a hair band. She also got joints for the first time. 'Walking' Sindy was sold with mini-skirts in yellow and green tweed and also gained a full range of kitchen furniture. Sindy's clothes reflected the styles that were being worn by the fashion conscious female! An enthusiast has even written a book charting her history.

MUSIC

As the new decade dawned, some 60's pop acts found it increasingly difficult to hold on to their chart supremacy. Cliff Richard only managed one hit 'Goodbye Sam, Hello Samantha'. Tom Jones and The Hollies did slightly better with two hits apiece but the Stones were absent from the top twenty during 1970. However there were plenty of new acts lining up to replace them. Marc Bolan, The Carpenters, Hot Chocolate and The Jackson Five all announced their arrival with sizeable hits.

The first number one of the decade was Rolf Harris and 'Two little boys' This novelty hit had been the top selling record over the Christmas period. The first brand new number one of the decade belonged to UK group Edison Lighthouse whose song 'Love Grows (Where My Rosemary Goes)' arrived at the top on January 31^st. The song remained at the top for 5 weeks.

The Western film 'Paint Your Wagon' was a huge success on the big screen in 1970. The film featured a song titled 'Wand'rin' Star', sung by the gravelled voice actor Lee Marvin. The record was released and became hugely popular here in the UK spending three weeks at number one. The Jackson 5 made their UK chart debut with 'I Want You Back' which got to number 2 in February. The Beatles single 'Let it be' only made it to number 2. The title proved to be highly appropriate as it was the last official Beatles release to chart on March 14, 1970. They formally disbanded on April 9^th.

Elsewhere Harry J. and The All Stars rode high with their catchy reggae instrumental 'The Liquidator'. The Marmalade continued a successful run of hits with 'Reflections of My Life'. Dutch rockers secured their only UK chart hit of the decade with the classic song 'Venus'. Other songs worthy of note were 'Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye' by Steam and 'My Baby Loves Lovin' by White Plains.

Dana won the Eurovision Song Contest with 'All kind's of everything' which also got to the top spot. The song that replaced it at number one was 'Spirit In The Sky' performed by Norman Greenbaum. Simon and Garfunkel released their classic albun 'Bridge over troubled water'. It soon became the most successful album of all time and proved to be the duo's swansong as they split shortly after its release.

Pickettywitch secured a top 10 hit in April with 'That Same Old Feeling'. Bob and Marcia provided another reggae hit with 'Young, Gifted and Black'. The Band emerged from Bob Dylan's shadow to score a worldwide smash with 'Rag Mama Rag'. The Moody Blues reached number 2 with the big production number 'Question'. Motown provided sizable hits for Marvin Gaye (Abraham, Martin & John), Jimmy Ruffin (Farewell Is A Lonely Sound) and 'I cant Help Myself' by The Four Tops. Meanwhile Mr. Bloe enjoyed a brief period in the spotlight with his harmonica instrumental 'Grooving With Mr Bloe'.

Despite their failure in the World Cup the England Football squad scored a number one with 'Back home'. Christie scored a 22 week chart run with 'Yellow River'. It hit the top spot for one week on the 6^th June. However it was swiftly replaced by a classic. Mungo Jerry scored a huge number one with 'In The Summertime' which remained on top for 7 weeks.

One hit wonder Gerry Monroe secured a hit with the old Gracie Fields standard 'Sally'. His song reached number 4 in July, due largely to his winning appearances on Television talent show Opportunity Knocks'. My favourite band The Kinks achieved a chart comeback with a number 2 hit 'Lola'. The Marmalade returned to grace the chart for a second time this year with 'Rainbow'.

There were plenty of other records worthy of note around at this time. Johnny Johnson and The Bandwagon achieved a top twenty placing with 'Sweet Inspiration'. Bobby Bloom experienced his solitary hit of the decade with 'Montego Bay'. Reggae experienced an excellent period of chart success this year and Nicky Thomas enjoyed a hit with 'Love Of The Common People'. Jimmy Cliff and Desmond Dekker kept the Jamaican Flag flying with 'Wild World' and 'You Can Get It If You Really Want' respectively.

Heavy metal music enjoyed a period of chart success with hits from Black Sabbath (Paranoid) and 'Black Night' by Deep Purple. Other songs worthy of a paragraph include Three Dog Night and 'Mama Told Me Not To Come', Don Fardon and 'Indian Reservation' and Bread with 'Make It With You'.

RADIO

TELEVISION

Television was gradually leaving the black and white era and moving over to colour programmes. Our household didn't get a colour Television set until the following year so I used to stare enviously at sets displaying the colour test card in electrical shop windows. Sad and pathetic really. 1970 was the year that the then unknown Jonathan Ross rode a bike in a commercial for Kellogg's Rice Krispies.

One of the more popular pre school television programmes on at this time included 'Mr Benn'. In this series of thirteen episodes our hero went to a fancy dress shop and experienced an adventure as a spaceman or a cowboy. The narrator was Ray Brooks, who went on to TV fame in the 1980's as Robbie Box in 'Big Deal'. The show was repeated on numerous occasions throughout the 1970's and 1980's, as were 'Camberwick Green', 'Trumpton' and 'Chigley'.

'Coronation Street' screened its 1000th episode on the 24th August. The top television personalities included Simon Dee and Alan Whicker.

The Adventures of Don Quick was a SciFi comedy drama series that nobody seems to remember apart from me. This was a series of 6 hour-long episodes featuring the misadventures of interfering intergalactic maintainance man Don Quick (Ian Hendry) and his second in command Sam Czopanzer (Ronald Lacey). 

Comedies were very popular in 1970. 'The Goodies' starred Bill Oddie, Graeme Garden and Tim Brooke-Taylor. The gleesome threesome played three odd job men who did anything, anytime, anywhere including launching a rocket to the moon, sailing to a lost island, and house-sitting a lighthouse. My favourite episode was the one where they set up a pirate radio station but they only had one record 'A walk in the black forest' by Horst Jankowski.

'The Lovers' was a sitcom written by Jack Rosenthal. This surprise hit featured Richard Beckinsale and Paula Wilcox as an attractive but gormless couple. Ronnie Corbett starred with Rosemary Leach in the third series of 'No - That's me over there!' David Frost was the executive producer. Patrick Cargill appeared in another popular sitcom 'Father, dear father'. Like many other series at this time (Doctor in the House) the show eventually moved to Australia.

One of the top ITV series was 'Manhunt', a WW2 serial about a French Resistance girl and an RAF pilot on the run through occupied France. The series starred Peter Barkworth, Alfred Lynch and the beautiful Cyd Hayman. Another WW2 series 'Family at War' made a big splash and remained extremely popular throughout its run. It was the longest, costliest ITV drama series made up to that point.

The following is a typical BBC programme line-up. This is from an edition of the Radio Times dated Thursday 30th April 1970.