Give The Old Western Format A Tweak And You Get "Grasshopper"!

From the Sun, November 15, 1973:

"Kung Fu" and its star, David Carradine, have already proved a big hit with TV viewers - showing there is life in the old Western format if you give it an Eastern twist.

"Ah, Grasshopper!" we rasped in playgrounds across the land.

Unusual Ways Of Trying To Make Money Part 1

From the Sun, 1973. The '70s were a cash strapped time. My family had never been wealthy but in the '70s we really felt the pinch. And it wasn't that we were selfless, loving individuals - no, we dismissed all that hippie stuff spouted about the '70s nowadays as "'60s trash" back then, and even in the '60s you needed dosh to drop out. In the '70s, we wanted money, we lusted after money. But we never had any.

The ad above is one of my favourite '70s artificates. "Hair rental. You Know It Makes Sense". You could have comprehensive regular service, no costly repair bills and a free replacement service. Rent your hair! Wot a spiffing gimmick.

Wonder if "Ambassador" made money on it? Doubt it. Still, nice to see some people were trying...

"I Know What I Like And I Like What I Know..."

"I know what I like and I like what I know..."

Was that phrase originally coined by Genesis on their 1973 album Selling England By The Pound?

No.

My old Uncle Ern used to come out with it on a regular basis way before the '70s to defend his "stick-in-the-mud" ways to my go-ahead Auntie Vera and soap characters like Amos Brearly in Emmerdale Farm (not exactly a pop person) were sometimes heard to utter it.

And a mate of mine had a granny who regularly used it to describe "stick-in-the-mud" types she encountered.

It seems to have been in fairly widespread circulation.

Why has this come up? Well, basically, me and a few of the lads were talking about it last night in the pub...

Moving on, and in a packed post tonight we'll take a look at Rex King's Teletopics from the Weekly News, October 19, 1974...

Too many birthdays on the Golden Shot, Hughie Green on the Morecombe & Wise Show, the wonderful Sykes (the Bogsea episode was another brilliant retelling of a story from the original 1960s run of the series), Warship and a brand new series, Sweeney, being filmed in London. But would it challenge Kojak?

Meanwhile, big change for afternoon telly, with Marked Personal being replaced by new serial Rooms...

I remember both, particularly Marked Personal, which featured Stephanie Beacham. MP revolved around a company called "The BYA". But does anybody remember what those initials stood for? And what the company actually did? If so, please drop me a line!

I'd certainly sleep a lot easier...

Beryl's Lot

From Yorkshire Television came this London-based comedy drama (it was NOT a sitcom!), which ran from 1973-1977.

Remember that theme tune?

"La-la-la-la-la-la..."

Beryl Humphries (Carmel McSharry), a Battersea milkman's wife, mother-of-three grown-up children, and char, woke up to the prospect of her 40th birthday and decided to broaden her horizons at evening classes.

Husband Tom (Mark Kingston) was happy with his milkround (oh nostalgia - in episode one, an advertisement on his milk float read "It's All At The Co-op" - remember the TV ad jingle: "It's All At The Co-op NOW!") and the odd tip from local bookie Wacky Waters, but accepted Beryl's wish to get educated.

Tom and Beryl's lodger, and soon to be son-in-law Fred (Robin Askwith), worked for Wacky Waters. Fred rode off into the sunset with the Humphries' daughter Rosie at the end of series two, and cinema-goers saw a lot more of Robin Askwith (literally) in the Confessions films.

Trev (Tony Caunter, later Roy of EastEnders) and Vi (Barbara Mitchell) Tonks were the Humphries' neighbours. Trev kept a low profile, whilst gossipy Vi galumphed around the neighbourhood, putting her foot in it. Vi became quite affected by Beryl's efforts to better herself and, following Beryl's lead, began to read books. However, doomwatch literature of the time and her difficulty in keeping things in perspective drove Vi to contemplate suicide. She had a nervous breakdown and was admitted to a psychiatric hospital.

Fortunately, Beryl's desire to broaden her horizons did not always have such a negative effect on her friends and neighbours, but it did cause something of a stir!

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The fictional story of Beryl Humphries was inspired by the true story of Margaret Powell (née Langley), a milkman's wife and former domestic servant. Margaret originally wanted to be a teacher, but her parents could not afford for her to continue her education to gain the necessary qualifications.

She rose from the position of kitchen maid to cook during her time in service, before meeting and marrying Albert Powell.

Having three sons who had all won scholarships to grammar school, Margaret decided to brush up her education at evening classes so that she would be able to converse with them. She went on to take O and A levels.

She was discovered in the mid-1960s when Leigh Crutchley from the BBC took her from a discussion group and invited her to talk about her life. This led to her BBC debut.

Margaret, who had a charming personality, a great sense of humour and honesty, and a very infectious and distinctive giggle, became an authoress, writing several books about her life and travels, and TV and radio personality.

Appearing on everything from Woman's Hour and Blankety Blank to a Paxo stuffing advertisement, Margaret was greatly loved.

She died in 1984.

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In the 1970s and early-to-mid 1980s, just about every TV series/serial was accompanied by a series of novels. Video recorders were rare and expensive beasts (only 5% of UK households had them by 1980), so novels filled the gap later occupied by videos.

Beryl's Lot had three novels to accompany it, by Margaret Powell, "with" Lee McKenzie, who apparently wrote tough crime thrillers under another pseudonym!

The cover of the third and final Beryl's Lot book states that it is: "Based on a series originated by Kevin Laffan".

Mr Laffan was better known as the creator of Emmerdale Farm, which began in 1972.

From the "Sun", November 15, 1973. The late Barbara Mitchell was great as Vi Tonks - my favourite character, in a series which contained many favourites.

It's All At Your Co-op Now!

"It's all at your Co-op NOW!"

I heard that TV ad jingle (which actually began in the 1960s) so many times, it feels like part of me! This newspaper ad shows some of the brilliant bargains filling the Co-op shelves for Christmas 1973...

Things look amazingly cheap here - but don't be fooled - people earned a lot less, and decimalisation and inflation meant rapid price rises.

It really was an anxious time. My mother wore a worried frown on shopping trips, as she fumbled in her purse for enough money to cover the price increases since her last trip. With over a million unemployed, my stepfather sweated over his job security.

And belts were pulled in across the land. There were party decades and hangover decades, we were told - and, in this case, the "swinging" 60s had been the party and we were now suffering the hangover.

Good to see Ronnie Corbett in the ad here - he was my favourite of The Two Ronnies. As for the products on display, where do I begin?!

We never drank coffee. My cosmopolitan grandmother did, but my stick-in-the-mud mother didn't - she considered it "foreign" (tea isn't, of course!) and too expensive. And we were as poor as church mice, like a lot of people in the 1970s. Every penny counted.

The Sutherlands Beef Spread makes me smile. We used to have a lot of paste sandwiches when I was a kid - not Sutherlands, though - it was too "dear"!

"What's for lunch, Mum?!"

"Paste sandwiches!"

"What's for tea, Mum?!"

"Paste sandwiches!"

Remember this telly ad jingle?

"Crawfords Cheddars - round and tempting, rich and golden, cheddar cheesy, Crawfords Cheddars, more than thirty, you'll keep coming back for just one more..."

They were YUM!

Crisps were different then. Not as crisp and light, often brown or green hued, and not as delicately flavoured. And Jaffa Cakes! Right from being a tiny tot in the late 1960s, I was the Mad Jaffa Cake Eater of our household.

Funny to look back. My diet underwent a sudden change in the mid 1980s, when fancy foods and dressings suddenly loomed large at my local supermarket and there was a bit of money around, but in the 70s and early 80s we stuck to what we were used to.

And it was very nice.

Most of it.

Milk

A magazine advertisement from 1973.

Are you getting enough? (nudge, nudge, wink, wink, oower missis, etc, etc).

After the 60s sexual revolution, "amusing" double entendres were everywhere.

Saturday Cat

Here's dear old Saturday Cat advertising Real Dairy Cream in a December 1973 magazine advertisement. I remember his existence as being fairly brief. If anybody has any further information about him, I'd love to hear. Go to my profile for the e-mail address.