THE SEVENTIES - A RETROSPECTIVE

1973

Ah yes this was a great year for me. I was in love for the first time with a beautiful young girl called Lynne. What did this have to do with the wider perspective? Very little I suspect but I was having fun.

The ultimate "cool" sport of snowboarding was born.

The gas workers went on strike in February.

Women were allowed onto the floor of the Stock Exchange in London for the first time on the 1st of February.

The car to die for was the Austin Allegro, preferably in brown, with velour trim and square "quartic" steering wheel.

Would be Evel Knievels desired a Chopper pushbike, complete with fake exhaust pipe.

The Wombles emerged from their Wimbledon Common burrow for the first time to help keep Britain tidy.

The Exorcist terrorised cinema audiences' worldwide.

Uri Geller terrorised cutlery all around the world.

Princess Anne married Lieutenant Mark Philips.

The Bic disposable lighter was born.

The UK experienced a 3-day week.

Golden Wonder introduced Ringos to an unsuspecting public.

LITTLE OBJECTS OF DESIRE THE CHOPPER The Raleigh Chopper was the coolest bike to be seen on. It was the first designer bike for kids loosely styled on the dragster, with a long seat and larger back wheels. It was released in 1970 but its popularity echoed that of motorcycle stuntman Evel Kneivel who was every boy's hero in 1973. Raleigh even released a Kneivel bike - complete with fake exhaust pipe. It was a triumph of style over practicality covered in knobs and levers that didn’t really do anything, except the gear lever that made you fall off when changing gear! Despite this by 1973 it had become the country’s best selling bike and is now an icon of the Seventies. MASTERMIND This was the most popular game in 1973 and it sold by the truckload. Nearly every household in Britain had one of these. I bet it's still gathering dust in your attic or lying at the bottom of a cupboard somewhere. Remember the picture of the sexy girl and the James Last look-alike on the box? This infuriating puzzle had nothing to do with the TV show of the same name, The object of the game was to ‘crack the code’ by matching four different coloured plastic pins set in a plastic board.

FILMS OF THE YEAR LIVE AND LET DIE This was Roger Moore’s first tour of duty as James Bond and what a cracker. The film is packed with high-speed action and gadgetry. Bond is dispatched to the States to stem the activities of Mr. Big who plans to take over the Western Hemisphere by converting everyone into heroin addicts. On the way he encounters Solitaire an enigmatic interpreter of tarot cards played by Jane Seymour in her movie debut. Many people doubted whether Moore would be successful as Bond but his dry wit and self-deprecating charm firmly established the role as his. THE EXORCIST This is arguably the best horror movie of all time. 14 year old Regan (played by Linda Blair) is possessed by demons and eventually gets completely out of hand. Her mother calls in the local priest who soon realises it’s too big a job for him to handle and calls in another priest who specialises in exorcism (Max von Sydow). But it’s no ordinary demon and both the priest and Regan suffer countless horrors during their struggle. The film soundtrack helped establish Richard Branson's Virgin Empire as Mike Oldfield’s "Tubular Bells" was heavily featured throughout the film

TELEVISION

ITV became the IBA in 1973 as the first independent radio stations were launched. Oracle, The IBA's teletext service was demonstrated for the first time this year. In 1973 the Smash Martians and The Tetley teafolk also made their debut. BBC 1 introduced 'That's Life!' Esther Rantzen presided over a wide range of consumer problems and social issues. Not forgetting the lighter side of life including Talent contests, Funny Old People and rude looking vegetables,

'Are You Being Served?' This long running farce was set in the clothing department of Grace Brothers, a somewhat old-fashioned department store. The plots were thin but the jokes kept coming. On the men’s side of the department was the camp Mr. Humphries (John Inman) who declared ‘I’m free’ whenever a customer needed attention. He worked alongside grouchy Mr. Grainger and the department junior Mr. Lucas. In charge of the ladies’ department was Mrs. Slocombe (Mollie Sugden) whose constant references to her 'pussy' caused much hilarity. Her assistant Miss Brahms was played by Wendy Richards who is better known now as Pauline Fowler in EastEnders.

John Finch the creator of 'A Family at War' was responsible for another drama offering. 'Sam' concerned a boy growing up in the impoverished thirties and was an immediate success.

The following is a typical BBC programme line-up taken from The Radio Times dated Monday 24th September 1973.

MUSIC

In 1972 glam rockers Sweet, Gary Glitter, T-Rex, David Bowie and Slade vied with American superstars The Osmonds and David Cassidy for the affection of Britain’s teenyboppers. In the end it was Slade’s year, with the Birmingham rockers scoring three number ones including ‘Cum on feel the Noize’ and Christmas classic, ‘Merry Xmas Everybody’. Dawn’s ‘Tie a Yellow Ribbon’ clung on at Number One for four weeks, Gary Glitter was ‘Leader of the Gang’, and Sweet’s ‘Blockbuster’ was number one for five weeks. Charity event of the year was 'The Concert for Bangladesh' which featured performances from George Harrison, Ravi Shankar, Bob Dylan, Leon Russell, Ringo Starr, Billy Preston, Eric Clapton and Klaus Voorman.

January saw another Northern Soul classic hit the mainstream charts. Roy C's 'Shotgun Wedding' shot up the charts and secured a respectable number 10 position. Lynsey De Paul sent up the exponents of Glam Rock mercilessly with 'Getting A Drag' and Roy Wood's Wizzard made their first appearance with 'Ball Park Incident'.

Also at this time Judge Dread experienced his second taste of chart success with 'Big Seven. As ever the master of 'rude reggae' received no radio airplay whatsoever. Another record banned by the BBC came from a surprising source. Paul McCartney's group Wings received the cold shoulder from Auntie Beeb who thought 'Hi Hi Hi' encouraged drug taking.

The next number one saw the return of Slade with a vengeance with 'Cum On Feel the Noize'. In those days it was extremely rare for a song to enter the chart at number one. However Slade managed this feat on more than one occasion. It lasted on top for a month before being replaced by an old Cliff Richard number, namely 'The Twelfth of Never', this time covered by teen idol Donny Osmond.

Jan 20 saw the UK chart debut of Thin Lizzy covering an old folk song titled 'Whiskey in the Jar'. It peaked at number 6. Also, the same week Dutch instrumental group Focus debuted with 'Hocus Pocus', and not contented with that they followed it up a week later with the superlative 'Sylvia'. On 27^th Jan, ELO returned minus Roy Wood with an old Rock 'n Roll number brought up to date entitled 'Roll Over Beethoven'.

Other records worthy of mention at this time included the Strawbs 'Part of the Union' and 'Superstition' by Stevie Wonder. Free were hanging around 'The Wishing Well', Alice Cooper was shouting 'Hello Hooray' and Jimmy Helms made us an offer we couldn't refuse.

Donny Osmond only lasted on top for a week before being ordered to 'Get Down' by Gilbert O' Sullivan. This song arrived on top on April 7^th and lasted there for two weeks. It was replaced at the top by one of the years top sellers 'Tie a Yellow Ribbon (around the old Oak Tree)' by Tony Orlando and Dawn. It remained on top for 4 weeks and on the chart for a massive 40 weeks in total. The song that replaced it was 'See My Baby Jive', sung by Roy Wood fronting his new band Wizzard. Heavily influenced by Phil Spector, it remained on top for another month.

On the last day of the month Slade bounced straight into the top slot for the second time in succession with 'Skweeze Me Pleeze Me'. On the 12^th May 'Albatross' by Fleetwood Mac began its second appearance on the charts and eventually got to number 2. Altogether, the guitar instrumental notched up an extremely healthy 35 weeks on the UK chart during 1968, 1969 and 1973.

More minor hits from around this time included the chart debut on 5^th of May for Dunfermline band Nazareth and 'Broken Down Angel'. It peaked at 11 but 'Bad Bad Boy' went one position higher in August. May also saw the chart debut of Stealers Wheel with 'Stuck in the middle with you'. On 7^th April Paul McCartney and Wings charted again with 'My Love'. Hot Chocolate returned with their third top ten hit 'Brother Louie'.

In June Albert Hammond and his 'Free Electric Band' hung around the chart for 11 weeks, whilst schoolteacher Clifford T Ward hit the big time with his classic song 'Gaye' entering the UK chart on the same day. The songs peaked at 19 number and 8 respectively. On 30^th June David Bowie entered the chart with his classic 'Life On Mars'.

Slade were removed from their throne after spending 3 weeks there by UK male/female duo Peters and Lee. The song was called 'Welcome Home' and remained on the chart for a very respectable 24 weeks, but at the top for only one of those. This was because Gary Glitter declared himself the 'Leader of the gang ' and led them all for 4 weeks until 25 August. Donny Osmond decided to challenge Gary's position with his third number one, this time covering the old Tab Hunter chart topper from 1957 titled 'Young Love'.

Four weeks later Wizzard returned to the top with their second and final number 1, 'Angel Fingers'. It only lasted for a week however. The TV series called Van der Valk had a piece of music as its theme tune entitled 'Eye Level' which was performed by the Simon Park Orchestra. The track stole the top spot from Roy and the boys on the 29^th September.

Also in August The Goons provided a moment of light relief with 'The Ying Tong Song'. Medicine Head reached number 11 with 'Rising Sun' and Roy Wood experienced his first solo success with 'Dear Elaine'. In September yet another Northern Soul record reached a wider audience. Guy Darrell and 'I've Been Hurt' eventually reached position 12.

In October Bryan Ferry experienced a huge hit with his solo version of Bob Dylan's 'A Hard Rain's a Gonna Fall'. Another cover version worthy of a mention was also hanging around the charts at this time. David Bowie's version of 'Sorrow' was taken from his best selling album 'Pinups'. Ringo Starr was showing his 'Photograph' to the other residents of the top 20 and Manfred Mann experienced a chart revival with 'Joybringer'.

This was certainly the era of teen heart throbs Just to drive the point home David Cassidy experienced his second number one, this time with the double A-sided 'Daydreamer/The Puppy Song'. Gary Glitter   replaced the record 3 weeks later. This time he sang 'I Love You Love Me Love' which went straight to number one stayed there for a month.

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