alex remember the wigan casino when it was the place to go to jive at you must know the monaco ballroom i played there not long ago , the clue to who i am on when performing is ALWAYS ON MY MIND , or ARE YOU LONESOME TONIGHT , this thread has so many happy times for all concerned LEE
Listening to Alan Freeman host "Pick Of The Pops" on Sunday afternoons.
The times when everyone knew what was number one (who will ever locatethis week by "the week when "Real To Me" by Bryan McFadden was number one"? What a laugh!
When cassette tapes first came in. Everyone thought that they would soon replace vinyl records, and the record shop chain Harlequin Records changed its name in anticipation of this to "Tape Revolution". However, after a few years of vinyl holding its own, they changed their name again to "Our Price Records".
I remember when the very first Virgin record shop opened, in Oxford Street in London, near the Tottenham Court Road end, near where there is now a Virgin Megastore. This place was rather different, however - you had to go through a small clothing boutique, and up a flight of stairs to a small shop on the first floor with lots of cushions around where you could lol (LOL) around listening to the latest "sounds"!
I even go back as far as when you used to have to turn the light off to be able to see the (black and white) TV picture clearly!
Mike.
Anyone remember a programme called 'The flashing blade' it was on every saturday morning for years. It was one of those badly dubbed spanish/french things.....seemed to go on and on and on.....I seem to recall that the music was quite catchy.
Then there was 'Marine Boy.' How fab was that!!! I wanted one of those underwater boomerang things....
OOOOH and the 'tomorrow people' loved that! They did that "jaunt" thing.....bloody amazing!
Best ever cartoon gotta be 'top cat' FanFlippingTastic!
Thanks everyone for sharing their memories!!!
KinkyLizard
Alex, you are so right! I am from the same era (born in 53) We did have a lot to be thankful for didn’t we, we had so much to connect to through the 60’s – 70’s. They were bloody good times.
In previous posts, I have skirted on the edge of telling things about my past on a number of occasions, and sort of skipped over things, by saying I was a pro musician for 20+ years, etc… Only because I don’t want to appear as a name dropper or such like……
But, well, sod it…. People you can read the rest of this if you want, or skip to the next reply……. ‘Twas my life and Nostalgia has the better of me at the moment! So here is an abridged version, if anyone is vaguely interested let me know and I’ll elaborate.
At the tender age of 16, I joined a semi pro band and for the next 2 years developed my trade on the south coast (Sussex way). At 18, as a bass player / front-man / vocalist, I joined another band and progressed to playing UK wide clubs, and occasional Europe USAF bases etc. By luck more than skill, the band had a bit of a break and got in with a London Agent who booked us to do support with a chart band on an Austral – Asia tour (remember this was in the days prior to video’s – when a band had a hit they used to send them on tour to promote their record).
Over the next 5 to 10 years or so, being a member of different bands, I toured the world and supported and played with names that people from my era would recognise, The Hollies, The Searchers, Brian Pool and the Tremolos, Showaddywaddy, Herman’s Hermits, Edison Lighthouse, Joe Brown & The Bruv’s, Freddie & The Dreamers etc….
On one trip, we decided to jump ship (so to speak) and ended playing in a nightclub under the Hilton Hotel in Singapore for a year, we then played at a number of prestigious venues in Kuala Lumpa (Malaya) for 6 months – had a number 5 hit in the Malayan charts, and then on to Penang and Thailand…. Ending up in Australia for a year….
We finally came back to the UK and did more years in and around Europe…. Blah, Blah, Blah….. stopped playing professionally about 12 years back.
This is rambling on a bit, so I will draw it to a close by trying to pre-empt a question I get asked a lot, “What was the best gig you ever did or the best memory you have type thingâ€â€¦.
Well, I have two highlights that out shine all others, I will not go into in great detail now ( as I am mindful I maybe boring you all - if anyone is interested then I will expand later)…. Number 1, is that I played with the man himself Eric C, (now that is a story and a thread all on it’s own), and Number 2, (a strange one this) I am proud to be one of a very few people that played a concert in the Maze Prison….
Sorry for the Ramble…. Put it down to age and Nostalga……..
Frogster
Bloody hell Agricola,
Used to love Jack Hargreaves. I well remember the rag and bone man coming round the streets. Pathfinder shoes with the compass inside them and animal prints on the soles, I reckon I could still recognise the tracks of a North American Beaver if I come across one in Herts, used to take the trusty 'Johny Seven' gun out with me just to try and hunt one down.
Your satchel may well have smelt nice initially but was soon overpowered by the unmistakable rubber smell of a new pair of plimsols, only smelt that the other week when the stores were full of them for the start of a new term, it really did remind me of days gone by.
No6 cigerettes an old favourite although very often it would be No10 if money was tight of even Park Drive brought individually. Sneaking into the pub yard and persuading someone to go in and buy a pint and bring it out.
The Sunday run, back to the corner shop to return the empty lemonade bottles and spend the refund on as many blackjacks as the money would buy, eight a penny and full of flavour, not like the crap they make now.
Saturday morning cinema for an old shilling, to cheer on the good guy and boo the bad as loud as you could.
Sunday school, nearly all the kids had to go, whilst Dad put his suit on ready to go for his Sunday dinner drink, earliest memories of him buffing his shoes to a high polish before even thinking of leaving the house.
Fond memories but as you say not necessarily the good old days.
Nostalgia
Yesterday seems closer, sweeter
As the golden grape warms my soul.
The faces seem much closer, dearer
And part of that which makes me whole.
Looking back seems right, good
And the world I knew seems near,
The friends I had are with me, real
Their eyes and voices oh so dear.
Surely is is right, now
To celebrate the past,
But knowing it is gone, borne
In golden amber, but will last
As long as my head lives, turns
To gaze on that which formed my being,
The miles walked with friends, loves
Eyes that met in saying, seeing
Beneath the dross that men, life
Require our spirits to aquire,
For a while we knew, shared
A spark from an eternal fire.
A.
(will copy to poetry thread)
i used to be a punk rocker, still love the music.
cant stand all this pop idol, crap!
im in a band now and ive played drums since i was a nipper still do and still get the best buzz out of playing music theres nothing beats it.
Sheesh
I just read one of Agricola's posts in Omar's thread!!!
More Childhood TV memories........
Champion the Wonderhorse
Mr Ed
My mother the car
I dream of Jeannie (JR Ewing as a nice guy!!! and the lovely Barbara Eden)
Bewitched (I still can't wiggle my nose)
My Favourite Martian (with Bill Bixby before he became the Incredible Hulk oand the magician)
Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased)
The Champions
Danger Man (Patrick McGooham - before he resigned from MI5(6?) and became No6)
The Saint (from the pre Roger Moore time - just can't remember the bloke's name)
My Friend Flicka
Skippy (Tut Tut Tut)
.... I think I'm losing it today......
Buggrit you lot will you stop it!! I can remember it all. But if you think I'm going to admit it in open forum you've got another ........... Shit! Senile as well!!
Nooo !! Mrs FC don't go eating Spaniels ...their ears will get stuck in your throat and choke you.........
Ooooooo! I can remember our first telly, and the first bbc2 transmission, watching the moon-landing in '69, and as it happened my 'actionman' was copying Neil Armstrongs steps-off the coffee table and onto the floor-( thats actionman, not Neil) (tho if you believe the conspiracy theories---) 
Jack Hargreaves on 'Out of Town; the 'old people' and 'people with difficulties' that still lived with families back then, in pre-nursing home days; crowds of children walking long distances to school; all the farm kids 'missing' from school at harvest time; the 'rag and bone ' man that drove his horse and cart around the villages with his resonant cry; frost on the inside of the windows in those colder and pre-central heating times; the last of the 'shire horses' that dozed in fields after being usurped by tractors-I remember them vividly, many of the old farmers couldn't bear to have them destroyed and they gazed out at us as we walked by, their big brown eyes mourning the passing of their vocation and a way of life that my father, grandfather, great grandfather and those before him had lived and breathed since their childhood-my greatest regret is that I never had the chance to 'follow the plough';....
)
ops: 
