Cutting - Michael Rennie dies (1971)

11th June 1971

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Michael Rennie was an English born film actor who, after a short career in films on this side of the pond, moved to Hollywood in the early 1950’s where he appeared in about 80 roles in films and on TV. He also appeared on Broadway. His mother-in-law was found murdered in 1954. See this post.

Advert - Triumph Dolomite (1970's)

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A 1970's Triumph Dolomite from Henley's of Bournemouth, what more could you want?

Cutting - Audie Murphy obituary (1971)

1st July 1971

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Audie Murphy was one of 12 children in a poor tenant farmer family in rural Texas. His father came and went from their life and finally left for good. When Murphy was 16 his mother died and at 17 soon after Pearl Harbour and America's entry into World War II, he joined the US Army by lying about his age. By the end of the War he had been awarded just about every medal for bravery in combat available including the Congressional Medal of Honour. After the War he turned to film acting and appeared in about 50 film and TV roles including playing himself in the film of his autobiography 'To Hell and Back'. 

Advert - Nolan's Furniture store (1970's)

1970's advert for Nolan's Furniture store in Southbourne. 'All stock at bargain prices' just like those never ending sales at DFS etc.

Cutting - Mines kill BBC man (1974)

9th August 1974

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After a long history of Greek and Turkish clashes over the running of Cyprus, England became involved in 1878. With the demise of the Ottoman Empire in 1918 Cyprus became a British Colony and the wrangling continued between the Greeks and Turks but now they also had a common enemy. They both wanted Britain off their island. Tri-partite talks resulted in an Independent Cyprus in 1960 but Britain still controlled two military zones. The extremists on both sides were unhappy and the violence continued.

In early 1974 the comparatively moderate Greek Archbishop Makarios was deposed by a Greek hard-line coup-d'etat and as a result Turkey invaded the island on 20th July. This eventually led to the partition of Cyprus into Greek, Turkish, British Military and U. N. Buffer zones.

Ted Stoddart was killed on 8th August while covering the troubles with a BBC News team.

Advert - NUR Ballot (1972)

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The 1970's have become synonymous with industrial unrest and this 1972 National Union of Railwaymen advert is a reminder.

Cutting - Batman is Banned (1979)

September 1979

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Australia in the 1970's and they are blaming children's bad behaviour on their desire to copy superheroes like Batman and Superman. Miss Jee is quite happy for them to play at being the foreign invaders who committed near genocide on the Native American population, sorry, I mean Cowboys and Indians.

Advert - Prison Service jobs (1970's)

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If you fancied yourself as Mr Mackay or Mr Barrowclough from Porridge then the Prison Service was the job for you, if the postal strike ever ended and you could send off your application. No e-mail or online contact in those dark days.

Cutting - I'm Not Bank Raid Mr Big (1977)

June 1977

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The Bank of America in Mayfair, London was robbed of £8million in 1976. After the inside man turned informant 7 of the gang were jailed but the mastermind Frank Maple fled abroad. He was later sentenced to 9 years in Austria for a hotel robbery. 

Random Cutting - Death of Harold Lloyd (1971)

10th March 1971

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I think I became aware of the silent film comedian Harold Lloyd when I saw the compilation film 'Harold Lloyd's World of Comedy' in 1962. Originally a 'poor man's Charlie Chaplin', Lloyd soon found his own character, bespectacled accident-prone optimist, and made a fortune. His films often featured seemingly dangerous stunts which Lloyd participated in with the help of stuntman Harvey Parry. He died on the 8th March 1971.

Random Ad - 3D Film (1973)

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If you thought 3D films were something new then you obviously hadn't seen 'Supersonic Super Girls' back in New York in 1973. Google this title and you find a story in the Austin (Texas) Chronicle that it was amongst a pile of 'lost' trash films found in a warehouse in 2001, so you may get to see it yet. 

Random Cutting - Mick Jagger (1979)

4th May 1979

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The Rolling Stones' singer, Mick Jagger had married Nicaraguan born Bianca Pérez-Mora Macias in 1971, but she filed for divorce in 1978 when she accused him of adultery with model Jerry Hall whom he married in 1990. The $1 million settlement was peanuts compared to the one when he split from Jerry Hall in 1999. 

Random Cutting - Margaret Rutherford dies (1972)

May 22nd 1972

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Margaret Rutherford had a stage acting career starting in 1925 at the Old Vic Theatre and ending in 1966 when she played Mrs Malaprop in The Rivals at the Haymarket Theatre, alongside Sir Ralph Richardson, and a film career spanning 1936 to 1967. She is probably best remembered on film as Agatha Christie's amateur sleuth Miss Marple. 

Soyuz 11 Disaster (1971)

Daily Mail dated July 1st 1971

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Click to Read

The three man crew of Soyuz 11 were returning Earth after spending 22 days on the Salyut 1 Space Station, when a valve opened and depressurised the craft killing the crew within seconds. Cosmonauts  Vladislav Volkov, Georgi Dobrovolski, and Viktor Patsayev died. Salyut 1 was deliberately destroyed after 6 months in orbit.

Random Cutting - Georgi Markov affair (1978)

30th September 1978

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Georgi Markov was a Bulgarian novelist, playright and disident who defected to the West in 1969 and subsequently worked for the BBC. He was attacked at a bus-stop near Waterloo Bridge on the 7th September 1978 and died in hospital on the 11th of ricin poisoning. The killer, believed by British Security to have been working for the Bulgarian Security Forces, has never been identified.

Random Ad - Triumph Dolomite (1970's)

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The Triumph Dolomite range was introduced in 1972 but mention of the Sprint dates this advert to at least 1973.

Nixon to be Impeached (1974)

Sunday Mirror dated Sunday June 28th 1974

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The House Judiciary Committee opened impeachment hearings against President on May 9th 1974, which returned a majority vote for impeachment for obstruction of justice during the Watergate Scandal and its subsequent cover-up. Impeachment would mean a trial by the Senate and rather than face that, Nixon resigned on August 9th 1974.

Maggie at Number 10 (1979)

Daily Express dated Friday May 4th 1979 

and Daily Mail dated Saturday May 5th 1979

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Click to Read

The 1979 General Election was called by Labour Prime Minister James Callaghan after he lost the last of his small majority in the House of Commons when the Scottish Nationalists withdrew their support. It was a 2 horse race with the Conservatives under Margaret Thatcher gaining an extra 62 seats (339) and Labour losing 54 (269). The Liberals lost 2 ending up with 11. As usual with General Elections more people voted against the winning Party than for it - in this case 3.8 million people.

Thatcher went on to rule Britain for 10.5 years and was either a saviour or the Devil incarnate depending on your point of view.

I can't work out what the numbers in the grid on the front of the Daily Express are meant to be. They don't seem to bare any resemblance to the results.

Random Ad - Jobs in Iran (1974)

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Come and teach young Iranians 'the maintenance and repair of current British Armoured Fighting Vehicles' in 1974 Iran so that in 1979 they can overthrow the Shah and setup an Islamic Republic and keep those same vehicles in fighting order.

Random Cutting - IRA Letter Bombs (1976)

26th May 1976

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26th May 1976

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Lord Justice Sebag Shaw was an IRA target because in 1973 he had sentenced 8 IRA members to life imprisonment for car bombings. Back in 1955 he had been part of the defence for Ruth Ellis the last woman to be hanged in England.