FAO David G, Thracian et al....

[Munzie]

I just remembered I bought my first car early 70's lie all cars a total rust bucket with no heater, seat belts, wing mirrors, I bought a mirror that clipped on the door window which didn't even have winders never mind electric, there was a piece of glass stuck to the inside which you had to grip with your finger nails and as for a radio

Cars were totally unreliable, expensive, minimalistic in terms of functionality, heavy as fook, inefficient, in short supply due to strikes etc. You had to go to County Hall to get your tax renewed every March and there was always a queue a mile long.

On the plus side they were relatively easy to maintain/repair yourself although today's cars hardly need any maintenance. You used to have to top the radiator virtually every week, no sealed system and it went through oil nearly as quick as petrol which was of course full of lead.

We still had a coal fire and coal was available from the back of a truck which came round every week or so.

Even though we were fortunate to move into a new house in Birstall it had no heating, a cupboard and a sink in the kitchen, mud and rubble for a garden at the front and back, windows that rotted within 5 years.

You could always tell who had a car as when they were out using it, a great big oil slick was left on the drive or on the road just outside the front door.

I can't remember the amount of times, as a kid playing out, that I'd run through one and go flying!

Drink driving was the done thing in those days as well. I remember that my mum would let me and my sister stay up late on a Friday and wait for my dad to return home from the pub with a takeaway chinese or Kentucky Fried Chicken. My dad would drive home completely p*ssed and use the garage door as a gauge as to when he was far enough on the drive to stop!

[Raj]

my older brother who is 49 still goes on about the day when they had their own bathroom with an ACTUAL bath!!!

Imagine an ACTUAL REAL BATH!!!

(i think you need to watch East is East to understand that ie My Bro and Sister used to have baths in a metal tub...not together like!!!!)

[Tabou]

my older brother who is 49 still goes on about the day when they had their own bathroom with an ACTUAL bath!!!

Imagine an ACTUAL REAL BATH!!!

(i think you need to watch East is East to understand that ie My Bro and Sister used to have baths in a metal tub...not together like!!!!)

People in Groby still do this.

[Guest]

I remember the NF march thro town(sure it was the late 70's!)

I was only a nipper!!

Bloody immigrants!!!

I remember that too. Not sure if it was the 70s.

I keep asking my parents about this, as it sticks in my mind, but they won't talk about it.

I swear they went down Melton Road. I can remember something, and I can recall the most bizarre atmosphere, and being shoved into the house, and not understanding anything. I can remember being given some Union Jack socks, and then my parents taking them off me, and me eventually finding them hidden somewhere. I was so young, I thought of the Union Jack being a football thing, and that being the reason, but then later finding out about the NF stuff. I didn't have a clue. I saw no difference between me and my mates. We used to joke that about cooking. I was undercooked and raw, one of our mates (afro-carribean) was overcooked and burnt, but the asian kids (the vast majority) were perfectly cooked and golden brown! How bizarre is that!! It was all a joke to us.

Blimey! I forgot about the coin and free mug. They must be worth some money now?

I was milk monitor at school I had to fetch the crates and hand out the cartons that used to leak and smell really bad!

I was in the nursery class for the Jubilee. I remember making a flag with paper and a straw as the pole. We had an assembly, and we waved our flags.

Later, I was a milk monitor. I loved it. We got the spare milk. I loved the cream. Then, all of a sudden, I had no milk, and I consequently lost my role. Gutted.

John Craven's Newsround never really explained why.

[Daggers]

Scotland Wales stuffing England at wembley in 77.

That's better...

My Dad would cost out our holidays to the last penny before we went away, work out the menus and everything we ate came from a tin...shite mince, bullet peas and Smash. Every day, bless his cotton socks.

Crap hair, parka jackets, parma violets and segs. That was the 70's.

[Head Honcho]

I think your right about them marching up Melton Road.

If my memory serves me right they didn't quite make it past Sainsbury's before it all kicked off by the flyover.

[Guest]

That's better...

My Dad would cost out our holidays to the last penny before we went away, work out the menus and everything we ate came from a tin...shite mince, bullet peas and Smash. Every day, bless his cotton socks.

Crap hair, parka jackets, parma violets and segs. That was the 70's.

Parma violets!!!!!!!!!!

I think your right about them marching up Melton Road.

If my memory serves me right they didn't quite make it past Sainsbury's before it all kicked off by the flyover.

Thank you. I'm sure I wasn't making it up!!

[Master Fox]

Parma violets!!!!!!!!!!

Thank you. I'm sure I wasn't making it up!!

Lisa,

I'm sweaty. Do you still not like me?

[Guest]

Lisa,

I'm sweaty. Do you still not like me?

Spray on some Lynx, and we'll see how it goes.

[Daggers]

Hi-Karate, surely?

[Webbo]

I think your right about them marching up Melton Road.

If my memory serves me right they didn't quite make it past Sainsbury's before it all kicked off by the flyover.

Sainsburys' wasn't built until well into the 80s.

1 thing about the 70s was that there were only 3 TV channels. Once ITV went on strike for about 3/6 months, it was fooking dreadful.

[Daggers]

Sainsburys' wasn't built until well into the 80s.

1 thing about the 70s was that there were only 3 TV channels. Once ITV went on strike for about 3/6 months, it was fooking dreadful.

Daytime TV - the show set in the court.

That's it.

[Guest]

Daytime TV - the show set in the court.

That's it.

Crown Court. It was my favourite. I thought it was real until very recently when I saw the repeats, and the actors involved.

I was devastated.

I used to do re-enactions. My favourite teddy was always the judge, and Tiny Tears a prostitute. Psychiatrists would have a field day with that one.

[Daggers]

Crown Court. It was my favourite. I thought it was real until very recently when I saw the repeats, and the actors involved.

I was devastated.

I used to do re-enactions. My favourite teddy was always the judge, and Tiny Tears a prostitute. Psychiatrists would have a field day with that one.

As will anyone drinking at the table in the Swan tomorrow

[Guest]

As will anyone drinking at the table in the Swan tomorrow

[Kent Fox]

Oh, DavieG - great memories, well done! Got me thinking..

I remember going on school trips where no-one was killed.

I remember John Thaw being in anything that was good, namely 'The Sweeney'.

I remember, oh I can't keep this up.. There was:-

You could make dens out of hay bales and not suffocate. And you could light stems of hay and pretend to smoke INSIDE the hay den..!!

You could go out and not be molested or stabbed.

You had respect for your elders - and the Police.

You had the like od Slade, GG (can i mention him??) The Sweet and Queen on one hand - The Carpenters and Gilbert O'Sullivan on the other. But the music was classic! Dig out 70's music - I'll name as many as you want..

Loads of other stuff has already been mentioned already. I just have happy memories of growing up in my grandad's Newsagents in Kirby Muxloe. Xmas was great. He'd hide my (not many) presents all over the house so it took all day to find them. When you found them, you played with them and didn't really notice you had only got 3 presents. Best Prezzie - my Johnnie 7 gun. I swallowed a bullet.

I did "bob-a-job" and lived to tell the tale - helping others was still a big deal then. As were good manners. And getting my left-handedness knocked out of me as it was "wrong".

I did the Boy's Brigade thing too! All Good and Marching really but still a fun thing to do. As was Sunday School and the school holiday stuff they used to run on the park.

Everyone caught the bus or walked. We holidayed in Sutton-On-Sea. or Mablethorpe. We sang Yellow Submarine for bloody years and on every trip as it was the only song my Grandad knew!!

My mum & dad got divorced. I used to ride my bike like Barry Sheene. I fell off like Barry Sheene. I don't have steel pins.

I used to watch Van Der Valk and spent far too long humming the tune - I think that was still 70's...??

My childhood memories are all good though. I was 8 to 18 in the 70's. There's probably more but my mind needs stimulating. Ask a question - I'll answer. And I'll throw in some randon stuff as I recall it.

[leicester ghost]

late 70s.

music revolution........sham 69,the clash,uk subs,angelic upstarts,the exploited,stiff little fingers,cockney rejects,and many more,

behind the goal at football grounds up and down the country,

the youngsters were copying the lyrics from these bands,

and coming up with classic terrace chants.

bottle green army trousers from millets in the haymarket were a must,

along with the harrington jacket.

doctor martin boots for some,brogues for others.

when you think about it,

no wonder englands youth turned casual.

[Thracian]

Here's an insight:

http://www.retrowow.co.uk/70s.html

For me the 70s were wonderful but here are a few points at random.

Like DavieG I started the era in Paget Avenue, Birstall, a house I bought off a Leicester Mercury director for £5,000 because it had a garden big enough to play some football in. To this day I wish I'd never sold it.

I had a white Consul convertible and worked as a sports editor for a bloke who, when he knew I wanted the car, just gave me the money and said "pay me back when you can". Your word was your bond.

Work was fun and relaxed. In fact we did lineage for other newspapers for two hours of every day - with our own editor's encouragement! He even shared the "take" as a much-anticipated Friday ritual.

Newspapers were produced using linotype machines instead of computors, photographs had to be sized and processed and sub-editing was all done by hand with folios of paper everywhere and the finished copy being despatched through a maze of pipes to the composing room.

It was nothing to play three football matches in a weekend - Saturday afternoon and twice on Sundays. If you were limping they'd play you on the wing instead of midfield. Scouts could watch games incognito. There was no feeling that anyone on the sideline might be a threat. I doubt that most people would have known what the word paedophile meant.

Oliver Cromwell had hauled the British Rail passenger steam in 1968 and we were all into the soulless diesels and electric locos we see today. The Great Central Line finally closed just as the 70's started leaving only bridges, sheds and suchlike as testimony to what had been a captivating part of many people's lives.

Leicester's High Street right down to Lewis's was a jam of buses and cars instead of the peaceful pedestrianisation you have now.

I moved to Peterborough in the 70s and was thrilled to drive a mini as an office car. Expenses were never seriously vetted and it was not that unusual for staff to be the worse for wear after lunch.

On many a summer afternoon I used to go skinny dipping in the still being excavated lakes that formed the massive Thorpe Major development - there'd be 100 laws against it now - and my bosses accepted that I'd make up the workload in my own time.

Then came the EMAP strike. I was in the Union but didn't agree with the strike and knew that while we might get a better rise we'd lose all our perks by way of clawback, as so it proved.

They wanted me on the picket lines but I refused saying I had better things to do with my time. I agreed not to cross the lines and they agreed to leave me alone. Off I went to play squash instead and so started a new professional career. Squash was mega at the time with clubs springing up everywhere and thousands of people involved.

Jobs then were offered because people liked what you did and wanted you to join them. It wasn't all about endless pieces of paper.

Someone at, say, Oundle School would ask if you wanted to coach there. You'd agree the terms and that was that. Sadly it was an all-too-brief boom and the decline since has been dramatic.

There were hardly any foreigners about in the 70s, black, asian, eastern European whatever. I can't remember any at work and there was only one coloured guy in all the football teams I ever played for. Taxi drivers were ethnically English.

Being PC about anything hadn't been thought of. England was still a predominantly Christian country. I don't think I'd ever seen a mosque other than on photographs.

There were no speed cameras nor any feeling that you were being filmed by surveillance cameras wherever you went. Nor did the blame culture exist or the need for everything to be organised with the insurance companies and threat of being sued in mind.

I agree with DavieG about cars. There were no MOT tests. Batteries would go flat, plugs would need changing, checking oil and water was a regular occurence and many vehicles were rot boxes anyway. Cars have come on a lot even if the government tries so hard to take the fun out of driving em now.

[leicester ghost]

as already mentioned,

long hot summers,especially spent over at grace road.

filling out the scorecards ball by ball,

watching bryan davidson hit 184 i think it was,against the aussies,

after the game,joining a massive queue waiting for autographs,

being surprised as the fearsome fast bowling duo of dennis lillee and jeff thompson,

patiently signed one after another autograph,and looked so normal.

10,000 at some games,sitting on the grass just beyond the boundry rope,

beating hampshire in the benson and hedges even though they had andy roberts,

shaking hands with clive lloyd.

success in the championship and benson and hedges,

sitting near the greatest flag ever displayed at the cricket,

leicestershire,cricket kings.

[Guest]

Like DavieG I started the era in Paget Avenue, Birstall, a house I bought off a Leicester Mercury director for £5,000 because it had a garden big enough to play some football in. To this day I wish I'd never sold it.

When did you sell it? Whatever it was, it wasn't me!

[Katy]

Daytime TV - the show set in the court.

That's it.

Ahhh I was convinced she was my sister, they looked very alike.

Thanks ever so much people, I have some fantastic stuff to use

[Daggers]

music revolution........sham 69,the clash,uk subs,angelic upstarts,the exploited,stiff little fingers,cockney rejects,and many more,

1980 surely?

The rest are on the money though

[Thracian]

When did you sell it? Whatever it was, it wasn't me!

Way before you were born. It was the house at the far end of the road in the right-hand corner.

[leicester ghost]

i'll check on the band exploited tomorrow at work.

apparently they are still going.

[Guest]

Way before you were born. It was the house at the far end of the road in the right-hand corner.

The jitty end, or the post office end? If the latter, my mate used to live in that corner!