The pop music of the time would mostly reach my ears through the Union disco and/or the juke box in the main bar of the Students’ Union. I didn’t listen to much pop radio in those days – Radio One didn’t please me much at that time – nor was there much alternative back then outside London.
My habit was to tape from the radio at my parents house onto reel-to-reel…
…then make a cassette copy to play at Keele on my trusty Philips Spatial Stereo Ghettoblaster/Boombox:
Image “borrowed” from a defunct catawiki listing on fair use basis for identification
Here’s the track listing of the spool I made during that Easter break – the first dozen during that Easter break – which I took back to Keele on cassette – the rest on my next visit to my parents:
Blue Eyes, Elton John
Party Fears Two, The Associates
The Damned Don’t Cry, Visage
More Than This, Roxy Music
Ghosts, Japan
Ever So Lonely, Monsoon
Give Me Back My Heart, Dollar
Just An Illusion, Imagination
Fantastic Day, Haircut 100
Six Months in a Leaky Boat, Split Enzz
Black Coffee in Bed, Squeeze
Really Saying Something, Bananarama & The Funboy Three
Papa’s Got a Brand New Pig Bag, Pig Bag
I Can Make You Feel Good, Shalamar
Night Birds, Shakatak
Is It a Dream, Classix Nouveaux
Ball and Chain, XTC
Perfumed Garden, The Rah Band
It’s an eclectic list. As usual when I revisit these tapes, some of the choices make me cringe, while others please me and might even become ear worms again, forty years after their first wriggle inside my head.
By the time you get to this article, some of the links below might have gone, but you should be able to hear and see most of the items from the list if you wish.
Some stand the test of time far better than others. But oh, the synthesisers…oh, the hair styles.
Before I talk about the festering and fomenting, I’d like to share a few thoughts on the sounds that were the soundtrack of my time at Keele that spring.
I was listening to some popular music of the time, naturally, but also I had started collecting and listening to albums spanning the late 1960s to that time.
I acquired Astral Weeks by Van Morrison around that time and listened to that wonderful album a lot. Here is the title track:
I was listening to several more recent albums too. Dare by The Human League and Wilder by The Teardrop Explodes are two examples of albums I almost played to death back then. A lot of us did.
As for the contemporary hit music of the time, I was playing the following mix tape a lot in the run up to and over the Easter Break:
Thursday 15 April 1982 – Easyish sort of day – festered quite a lot. Went to the Union in the evening.
Friday 16 April 1982 – wrote motion today etc. – showing it around quite a bit – went to Union in the evening – OK.
Saturday 17 April 1982 – Went into Newcastle during day – lazy afternoon. Went to Union in evening. Sally & Liz came back for coffee after.
Sunday 18 April 1982 – Rose rather late – did some work today – festered in the evening.
Trying to get my head around the fomenting involved in “writing a motion and showing it around”, I had a Zoom the other day (forty years on – April 2022) with Jon Gorvett and Simon Jacobs, both of whom I recall were involved in that fomentation (or whatever one calls it). I am delighted to inform readers that their recall is as hazy or hazier than mine. We managed the following vague recollections:
Sally & Liz were friends of Mark Bartholomew and we suspected that Mark was the Machiavellian figure behind this attempted grassroots student pressure on the committee.
Liz was skinny (I can sort-of recall her face even) whereas Sally was not;
That motion (whatever it was – something to do with “the cuts” – the exact content is long since forgotten) didn’t succeed in the summer term of 1982, but we learnt from it and fomented differently and more successfully the following term (autumn 1982) – I recall the second fomentation more clearly and you’ll read about it “forty years on” in the unlikely event that you are still a reader by then;
Monday 19 April 1982 – worked reasonably hard today – lounged around somewhat as well. Went to Union in evening – Liz came back for coffee.
Tuesday 20 April 1982 – Did some work today – went to Union – quite crowded – left quite early.
Wednesday 21 April 1982 – Did some work today and went to town. Easy evening in. Simon & Jon came round quite late.
Thursday 22 April 1982 – Easyish day – loads of people back etc. Went to Union in eve – lack to Rana’s [Sen] after for coffee etc.
Friday 23 April 1982 – Easyish sort of day – saw quite a lot of people. Union in eve – Jon, Liz & Sally came back after disco.
Saturday 24 April 1982 – Went to town. Andrea [Collins, now Woodhouse], Mary [Keevil] and Karen came over in afternoon. Went to Union in evening – OK. Jon came back after.
Sunday 25 April 1982 – Rose late – did a fair bit of work today. Went over to Rana’s for a while – worked quite hard.
Monday 26 April 1982 – Not bad day. First day of lectures. Lindsay in afternoon. Went to bar. Simon, Jon & Liz came back for coffee etc.
Saturday’s “Paul came round in the evening” will be Paul Deacon. Some notion of music/tape swapping or at least an exchange of views on the topic of ,usic will have been high on the agenda.
“Bushey for the day” on the Sunday will have been multiple stone-settings at the Jewish cemetery to mark the end of mourning for Uncle Manny’s death…
I vaguely recall the family taking refuge between ceremonies in a ghastly hostelry on the side of the A41 near to the Bushey Cemetery. “Yuk” indeed.
Spending some time with Wendy (Robbins) that evening will have been respite for sure, although my sense of humour that evening probably didn’t extend to the events of the day.
Tuesday evening with Anil Biltoo at The Fox On the Hill and an overnight stay at the Biltoo house will also have been fun.
The word “lazy” appears a lot in my diary for that Easter break.
Wednesday 7 April 1982 …Seder in evening with Louis & Marie [Barst], G[randma] Jenny & [Lionel & Dinah] Aarons.
Seder is the traditional Passover feast and ceremony. In truth I don’t recall that particular Seder well. Dad will have tried to “speed trial” his way through the prayers and story-telling bits. We would have taken our time over the singing, however, not least because Marie was a proper singer (who taught and sang with the BBC Choir) which made the singing worth hearing when she was around. We latterly went to communal Seders in Kingston with Louis, Marie and Grandma Jenny – more on those in subsequent pieces I’m sure.
I should have some latter pictures of Louis and Marie but the one below of Louis at Jenny & Grandpa Lew’s wedding will have to do for now.
Taking full advantage of my new status as a Barnes flat resident, I decided to stay up at Keele for most of the Easter holidays in 1982. The idea was to get ahead with my studies.
Unfortunately, it seems that the weather had other plans for me. While the Christmas holidays that preceded this break had been snow bound at Keele, it appears that late March had surprisingly good weather that year, which seems at least partly responsible for my limited diligence.
Monday 22 March 1982 – Got up very late. Spent an idle sort of day wearily recovering from the weekend’s activities.
Tuesday 23 March 1982 – Lazyish day lounging in sun etc. – did a little work – took it easy on the whole.
Wednesday 24 March 1982 – Did quite a bit of work today – in afternoon lazed around in the sun a lot – worked in the evening.
Thursday 25 March 1982 – Signed on today – did some work (not a great deal). Went for nice long walk to ??? etc. Quiet evening in.
There’s a pattern here, folks and it is not one of heavy industry…nor one of playing hard, to be frank.
Friday 26 March 1982 – Did little today. Went to library for a while. Went to Union in evening -> flat for coffee after.
The narrative suggests that people came back to the flat with me, but names are omitted – quite possibly some of the people named in later diary entries about that particular spring break.
Saturday 27 March 1982 – Went to Newcastle in afternoon – did some work. Went to union in evening -> Chalky’s via Lindsay.
I wrote about Neil “Chalky” White in a piece about the Christmas holidays – here and below is a link to that piece – which makes me realise that my friendship with Neil was mostly based on being around in the holidays – I tended to see little of him during term time:
Sunday 28 March 1982 – Late start but did some work in afternoon and evening – OK.
Monday 29 March 1982 – Quite busy doing some work today – did not go out in evening even.
By gosh, the industry quotient is going up. Did I possibly sustain this fierce level?
Tuesday 30 March 1982 – Quite busy running around getting things done today. Went to uncrowded union in eve for a while.
Wednesday 31 March 1982 – Easyish day. Did a little reading. Went to Union in evening – quite uneventful.
Thursday 1 April 1982 – Last day at Keele – did little. Went to Union in the evening. Ok. Packed after.
Friday 2 April 1982 – Left Keele quite early. Had a relaxing afternoon and evening in London.
Quite right, relaxing in London for the rest of that day. I’d been at it “full tilt” at Keele for best part of a fortnight…at least that’s probably what I told mum and dad.
