Month: August 1979

The Week That Was – 26th August 1979

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Record of the week: ELO – Don’t Bring Me Down
Highest entry: Buzzcocks – Spiral Scratch

27th Sept 2021 – Double checking this, I don’t believe the Buzzcocks were the highest entry but I was developing early signs of favouritism and believing what I wanted to believe.

13th June 2022 – It’s also odd now to me as Spiral Scratch originally came out in 1977. I see it was re-issued in 1979, perhaps because so few of the original were pressed at the time but that was quite an achievement to chart on the repress.

26th August 1979
Pistols Split
2p 2p 149p*

13th June 2022 – In hindsight, the Pistols had obviously split long before now but perhaps this was the end of the ongoing Great Rock N Roll Swindle and the flogging of the dead horse. The timing seems to coincide roughly with the reformation of the Professionals so this kinda makes sense.

27th August 1979
Gonna watch My Way Manhattan Murdered
2p 147p*

13th June 2022 – Can’t find anything about this now but guess it was some TV doco about Sid and Nancy. I was going all-in with this punk rock thing though still not really understanding what it was.

28th August 1979
Went to Beaulieu
Saw an Aston Martin Lagonda
2p 221p*

13th June 2022 – Not quite finished with the childhood fascination with cars, Beaulieu was always an exciting visit for a pre-teen boy. Though, funnily enough, I mostly remember the monorail and the palace house as well as the surrounding forest and gardens.

29th August 1979
Gotta old Sex Pistols posters
League Cup 1st Leg 2nd Rd
Ipswich 0-1 Coventry
2p 2p 219p*

30th August 1979
1. Cliff Richard
2. Boomtown Rats
3. B.A. Robertson
4. Roxy Music
5. EWF
6. Specials AKA
7. Darts
8. Flying Lizards
9. Ian Dury
10. Gibson Bros
2p 2p 215p*

31st August 1979
Notta lot
2p 213p*

1st September 1979
Ipswich 2-1 Stoke
2p 211p*

The Week That Was – 19th August 1979

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Record of the week: Cutouts – D.I.Y.
Highest entry: Crusaders – Street Life

6th Jun 2022 – The Cutouts D.I.Y. is a great quirky tune, of its time, much in line with early Devo, XTC and Cardiac Arrest (pre-Cardiacs) though not quite as manic. There’s a tune on the guitar practice app I use (Yousician) that reminds me of this too. It’s fun to play and takes me exactly to 1979! Street Life has some cool funky elements but production values were already changing in this pop genre to what would become very familiar in the 80s.

19th August 1979
Nothing memorable today.
Saturday bought a book of cars and a special 12″ limited edition of Hersham Boys
2p 167p*

20th August 1979
Carnival in Aldeburgh
Bought some things
2p 165p*

6th Jun 2022 – No recollection of Aldeburgh so I had a look on the map. I believe Eileen and Dick lived in Saxmundham, at least, that name rings a bell and Aldeburgh is not far away. Finding photos of Aldeburgh too, upsets me a little that I don’t remember anything about it.

What I love about doing this investigation is seeing all these Olde English names again on the map. After watching The Last Kingdom over the last 12 months it’s interesting to see how names have changed or been influenced over time.

I’m a little bit more interested in English history than I was in school where things like the cavaliers and roundheads got boring very quickly. None of that stuff was given any context (that I remember anyway). Being a teacher now makes me think about the tough job my teachers had with me and my classes. How to make a class interesting for everyone?

21st August 1979
TBX B MBNCPSHIJOJ VSSBDP T
SAW A LAMBORGHINI URRACO S
2p 163p*

6th Jun 2022 – Perhaps inspired by old war movies I started working on secret codes, though this one is pretty straightforward – no need for a Turing machine.

22nd August 1979
Arsenal 0-2 Ipswich
TBX B NBUSB TJNDB CBHIFSSB
SAW A MATRA SIMCA BAGHEERA
2p 161p*

23rd August 1979
1. Cliffie
2. Boomtown Rats
3. BA Robertson
4. Ian Dury
5. EWF
6. Darts
7. Sham 69
8. Specials
9. Abba
10. ELO
2p 159p*

24th August 1979
Come back from East Anglia
My room’s fucking bloody mess because of a puff
2p 157p*

6th Jun 2022 – Whilst we were away, Lorna and Jim would have stayed over and my cousin Elise would stay in my room. On this occasion, I had pinned string across various parts of the room to make it difficult to move around. Of course, she would’ve immediately taken it all down and thought I was an idiot!

But I was annoyed that she had done this and resorted to the common insult of calling her a puff, without knowing what it even meant. Probably we all called each other that at school.

I wonder if anyone that I went to school with was gay or not? There’s definitely no one that stands out. Being gay was still often derided then and coming out was a real big deal. Here, in the classrooms of Thailand, it is very obvious who is gay and no one cares. There may still be some in the closet but being an extravagant extrovert gay-as teenager is very common here. Girls too, have no problem, talking about liking girls. It is refreshing.

25th August 1979
Wolves 3-0 Ipswich
2p 2p 153p*

The Week That Was – 12th August 1979

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Record of the week: The Dickies – Walk Like An Egg
Highest entry: Angelic Upstarts – Teenage Warning

25th May 2022 – My ‘record’ of the week seems to be just different songs from the Dickies album. Well, it is that good, I suppose. Angelic Upstarts – fantastic youth anthem, Teenage Warning – classic. I wonder if I could play it on guitar? Definitely not the guitar solo though!

12th August 1979
Might be watching the match on Saturday vs Forest

25th May 2022 – I think this would be the first of two times I saw Ipswich play. The other was in Bristol, vs Bristol City, though I’ve no idea what mum and I were doing in Bristol. Maybe just visiting Bath?

13th August 1979
I’m writing this on Thursday and I can’t remember what happened today
2p 93p* 86p* 179p*

14th August 1979
Went to Sharon and Ken’s
2p

25th May 2022 – Before moving to Dorset to live with my grandparents, we lived in Devon. I also don’t really know why we moved to Devon from Cumbria, though I would guess it would have something to do with my mum’s then-boyfriend committing himself to more than one girlfriend at a time. I never really saw my mum with another guy after that. Anyway, in Devon, my cousins, Sharon and Ken lived about 3 miles away from where we did. After leaving Devon at the end of 1976, Sharon and Ken moved too, also to Dorset, about 10 miles away from us. I used to enjoy Ken’s sense of humour and playfulness. Also by this time, they must have had a least one of their two children, Mungo followed by Kim. I was deemed to be close enough in age to play with them and get out of my mum’s hair for a while.

15th August 1979
Came back from Sharon and Ken’s
2p

16th August 1979
1. Boomtown Rats
2. Cliff Richard
3. Ian Dury
4. EWF
5. Abba
6. Hersham Boys
7. Police
8. Dooleys
9. Darts
10. ELO
2p 173p*

17th August 1979
Go on holiday to East Anglia
Not Dead
2p 171p*

25th May 2022 – Hehe – I’m not sure why I wrote ‘not dead’. I suppose it was a long drive. I was excited to be in the county of my team and to be going to see them play the following day. Here, we stayed with my Auntie Eileen and Uncle Dick, after them having stayed with us last week or so.

18th August 1979
Up until now because I’ll be giving Ipswich’s scores
Ipswich 0-1 Forest – Boo
Watched the match live.
2p 169p*

25th May 2022 – In East Anglia I remember being allowed to drink Cinzano, which was Eileen and Dick’s favourite tipple.

I also managed to convince my mum to buy the Sham 69 Hersham Boys 12″ which no one else was very impressed with but didn’t stop me from playing it. Especially showing these ‘old people’ how angry and mature I was by enjoying the beeped-out swearing on the live tunes.

We also went for a walk across a heath with lots of brackens and their old dog trailing behind. But the football match that I was so excited about I don’t remember a thing, except perhaps, being disappointed at losing.

The other time I saw them, they lost too and that trend continued many a time I went to watch the Swans play in Sydney too. There was a very big difference in the atmosphere at matches between English football and Aussie Rules.

In England there was always a tension, a palpable possibility of violence, not even my mum could protect me from. In Australia, everyone is there to have a good time and enjoy watching the sport. Overzealous fans tend to be frowned upon. There is also no separation for supporters because it just isn’t necessary. Fans would poke gentle fun at each other, that was as violent as I ever saw at a game. Even opposition fans could make me laugh when one time, Collingwood scored their first point and shouted ‘You’re losing, Sydney!’

The Week That Was – 5th August 1979

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Record of the week: The Dickies – Eve of Destruction, Curb Job, Waterslide
Highest entry: Ian Dury – Reasons to be Cheerful (Part 3)

20th May 2022 – Ian Dury was a loveable character, with his limping walk and absurdist humour. Music icons seemed to have more depth than the manufactured stars of these times. I know I’m hardly in the target demographic for modern music but when I was young music was everywhere and if you didn’t like it you still knew who everyone was. Marc Bolan, David Bowie, Alvin Stardust, Suzi Quatro, Phil Lynott, John Lydon, Pete Townsend, Mick Jagger and on and on. With the diversity of entertainment on offer these days, people are famous within their niches and not on such a wide spectrum.

Do I sound like I’m desperately trying to avoid sounding like the old man saying ‘it was better in my day’!? I think most people appreciate the times of their teens and twenties, whatever decades they were across. I’m glad I’m not ‘growing up’ through these times.

5th August 1979
Part 11
Yesterday and today, I haven’t played it.
2p

20th May 2022 – It’s possible my record collection was now growing to a point where I couldn’t listen to everything in a single day. Starting to develop my fascination with finding the next new interesting thing.

6th August 1979
Eileen and Dick came.
Great Polo (car)
2p

20th May 2022 – Eileen was my granny’s sister I think, making her my great-aunt. I remember liking her and Dick(her husband) though in my mind they were just old people, like my granny. They were alive when Queen Victoria was alive! That made them Victorian! Despite some hangovers from empire days, my grandparents were quite liberal, I think.

Modern cars such as the Polo were always interesting as they were way out of our price league. At this time we still had an Austin Morris (I think it was the A30 by checking on old pictures). This had indicators on arms that popped out of the struts between the front and back windows. This car made me feel poor as modern cars had ‘proper’ indicators near the front and rear lights. Now, I think it’s cool and interesting but then I didn’t want people to think we were poor.

7th August 1979
Matthew came down
2p

8th August 1979
Eileen and Dick go.
Going out with Fred and Ann to Bridport
2p

20th May 2022 – Fred was my mum’s employer for knitting guernseys. He and Ann live in the Channel Islands, on Jersey. Now, they turned up in an Aston Martin and he had a habit of upgrading it every year. I was quite jealous of them, not really having any real understanding of how the world works yet.

9th August 1979
1. Boomtown Rats
2. Cliff Richard
3. Abba
4. Police
5. The Dooleys
6. Ian Dury
7. Hersham Boys
8. The Diary of H.W.
9. Girls Talk
10. Patrick Hernandez
Go to Tiv wif Matthew. We saw Superman.
2p

20th May 2022 – Being able to go to the movies was something very special in those days and Superman was all that kids were talking about. Hurray for the heroes. Finding a picture of the Tiv I’m reminded of the shop next door that sold knives and other farm tools such as rook scarers. This is where I nervously bought my first knife, a lock knife, as the flick knife I asked for I was told was actually illegal! I lied that I needed it for fishing.

10th August 1979
Going to ge’ ‘Ersham Boys and mebbe Reasons t’ Be Cheerful Part 3
2p 95p*

20th May 2022 – When I could still approximate an English accent. Now I’m very accentless, much to Amy’s disappointment.

11th August 1979
Still no news on Ray Wilkins X
He says he’s not going to join Ipswich