Holiday Star Trek, Dad's Army and a complete Doctor Who... from Christmas Day to New Year's Eve, 1975
The Christmas Day routine was always the same in our house. I was now aged fourteen, my brother two years younger, but there was still the same childlike rush to open our presents and my recollection is of opening them while it was still dark out, even as late as 1975. The click of the front room light switch on Christmas morning marked the moment when we saw the room transformed overnight with heaps of presents. Lunchtime meant either a visit to our Grandparents or their visiting us – the diary doesn’t say which. If it was us going to them, it meant leaving behind all our new toys and taking maybe one or two plus an annual with us. Christmas dinner was soup or smoked salmon to start (sometimes both), followed by the traditional turkey with all the ‘trimmings’. Point to note: back in 1975 nobody called sausages wrapped in bacon ‘pigs in blankets’. We certainly ate them, but that appellation lay way, way in the future (unless anyone can prove otherwise). Christmas puddings were invariably home made by my mum or grandmother (although shop bought examples were readily available), and there was often an alternative for those who didn’t care for the traditional pudding. Home made puddings invariably included a few items of small change, traditionally the old sixpenny coins which were still legal tender and would remain so until 1980. By the age of 14, I was allowed to drink wine with the meal, which meant either Mateus Rosé or Goldener Oktober. Our grandad once caused a bottle of Mateus to explode when trying to open it with a pump-action corkscrew (the ovoid shape of the bottle may have had something to do with it). Then came cheese, grapes, coffee and the obligatory After Eight Mints – or, conceivably, Matchmakers, which were just as popular back then. Not, I hasten to add, Ferrero Rocher: they weren’t invented until 1979.
After all that, there would invariably be a big tea around 6.30 or 7.00, with salads, cold meats, sandwiches, sausage rolls, pork pie, mince pies, trifle, blancmange, jelly, Christmas cake, you name it. Around 1980, our mum began to make a dessert that involved soaking Maryland cookies in sherry, then pressing them together with clotted cream to make a roll, which itself was covered with more clotted cream and chocolate sprinkles. Leave to chill, and be sure to have a defibrillator to hand…
Boxing Day: 'Watch Let it Be. Do typing of Supercar stories for annual. The Bennets [sic] come round in evening. Watch Mike Yarwood Xmas Show & Dad’s Army. Read Goodies Book of Criminal Records.'
The Bennetts were neighbours from across the road, a couple with two sons around the same age as myself and my brother, and their Boxing Day visitation was acquiring a kind of ritualistic status, an excuse to break out the sherry and deploy the bowls of crisps and nuts, along with anything left over from yesterday’s cold collation.
The Holiday Star Trek episodes had continued today, but I don’t appear to have been tuned in for The Paradise Syndrome (it’s still an episode I’d choose to avoid). The Beatles’ Let it Be received its British TV premiere at the slightly unimpressive hour of 10.55am. The film, as presented back then, was very grainy in appearance – my friend Tim Beddows later acquired the BBC’s old 16mm print. Today, of course, it looks shiny and new, assuming you can see it at all (you’ll need a Disney + subscription to do so).
Tonight’s Dad’s Army was the first broadcast of one of the series’ undisputed classics: My Brother and I saw Arthur Lowe playing a dual role as Captain Mainwaring and his dissolute sibling who turns up unexpectedly in Walmington on Sea, threatening to disrupt the platoon’s genteel sherry party. Surely this was Arthur Lowe’s finest hour: his performances as George and Barry Mainwaring are so different it’s like watching two individual actors.
Saturday 27th: 'Watch complete Dr. Who story Genesis of the Daleks at 3.00. Read Goodies Book of Criminal Records. Do typed letters to David. Go to Steven (Auntie Rita’s) 21st Birthday party till past midnight.'
By 1975, no Christmas was complete without a complete Dr. Who story – that’s complete in the sense of a whole serial condensed into a single episode, but edited accordingly. In many cases, this abridgement made for a much more satisfactory viewing experience, removing needless red herring cliff hangers, essential in any serial format narrative, and stripping away any padding (which could be excessive in a six-part serial, especially when Terry Nation was writing the script). That said, there’s no denying that Genesis of the Daleks has become one of the seminal moments in the series’ history. Personally, I’d have enjoyed it more with Jon Pertwee as the Doctor as I never really warmed to Tom Baker – the teeth, the pop-eyed looks, the scarf and hat were all distractions.
Staying up (and indeed out) until past midnight was still an event worthy of comment, as my diary entry makes clear. The occasion was the 21st birthday of a cousin, who was named after the feast day of St. Stephen. I remember absolutely nothing about it.
Sunday 28th: 'Watch Holiday Star Trek 'The Cloud Minders'. Do typing. Listen to Double Top Ten Show, Top 20. Do Supercar Annual.'
Monday 29th: 'Ring up David. Watch Laurel & Hardy in The Chimp. Holiday Star Trek Requiem for Methuselah. Also Kes (film) & R.U. Being Served.'
The rest of the Christmas holiday was occupied with more telly (mostly Star Trek and Laurel & Hardy), which we watched whilst consuming bags of Fun Size Mars Bars. Today, these items have become little more than individual chocolates, but back in 1975 they were substantially bigger. Smaller than a ‘full size’ Mars, I’ll grant you, but still of around the same proportions as a regular Milky Way. Shrinkflation: another word nobody had heard of in 1975.
Tuesday 30th: 'Go to David's. Go to Sutton. Get 'The Golden Age of Hollywood Comedy Laurel & Hardy' & The Sea Devils. Play Laurel & Hardy LP. Watch Batman & Norman Wisdom in Press for Time. L&H Murder Case.'
On Tuesday 30 December, I went into Birmingham with my friend David, and came back with an LP of soundtrack highlights from Laurel & Hardy films – a purchase which marked the beginning of my taking a closer interest in the comics and their career. The Sea Devils was another Target paperback.
Wednesday 31st: 'Watch Laurel & Hardy in Chickens Come Home and Star Trek in Day of the Dove. Watch Norman Wisdom film 'Just my Luck; about betting on horses. Do typing.'
The year ended with more L&H, yet another Star Trek, and the Norman Wisdom comedy Just My Luck, the title of which would later become the catchphrase of another teenage diarist – Adrian Mole. There's no mention of having stayed up to see in the New Year, to the accompaniment of The Old Grey Whistle Test, but I'm sure we did so. The 'tradition' lives on in the form of Jools Holland's annual 'Hootenanny' but the music will never be as good again.
From the 1975 diary, we bid you farewell and a Happy New Year!
Note: The Radio Times spread illustrating this piece was sourced from the facebook group Vintage Radio Times which is well worth following if you don't already: Facebook Vintage Radio Times
No comments:
Post a Comment