Author: Ian Louis Harris

Holiday In La Manga, Spain, With Mum And Dad, 21 August To 4 September 1976

This turned out to be our last family summer holiday together. The following year dad was brassic (skint) so we just did some day trips and stuff, e.g. Greenwich:

Visits To Greenwich and Brighton With Mum and Dad, 29 to 31 August 1977

Then the year after that, I did BBYO camps while mum and dad went off and did their own thing early autumn.

I turned 14 on this La Manga holiday and I do remember feeling, even at that tender age, that I had sort of outgrown those family holidays. I sensed that mum and dad wanted some prime time together and I was no longer intrigued by going off and doing stuff with random youngsters who just happen to be on holiday with you.

We stayed in the Hotel Entremares – not the sort of place I might stay in now, but it is still there and looks OK. Mixed reviews now.

The hotel (and to some extent the resort) was brand new then and I suspect my dad picked up a late booking at low cost for a place that hadn’t yet gained a reputation.

Clearly we were treated like visiting celebrities:

There is a movie for this holiday which, believe it or not, actually did yield some “famous for 15 minutes material” many years later, when Visa rewarded me handsomely enough and used some clips in one of their adverts and vines. Here is the whole movie:

Here’s the Visa ad, which shows dad slapping on the tanning oil:

While here is a link to the Vine (remember those) of me and mum looking silly on a pedalo.

This blond girl features in the movie too. I wonder whether I had latched on to the blond girl or whether she had latched on to me. Rohan Candappa probably wants me to track her down and write a story about her.

In those days La Manga was positioning itself for tennis in particular…

…but latterly (he says writing in February 2019) it has superb cricket facilities by all accounts – at least Middlesex CCC bowlers have just toddled off there to train.

In fact it was reading about Middlesex training in La Manga that made me reach for the 1976 file and Ogblog this holiday.

1976 was the cricketing year the the West indies thrashed England in every conceivable way. I missed the ODI thrashings by being in La Manga.

It also looks as though I missed a thrilling London derby at The Oval too – click here for the scorecard. I do like a match with a happy ending…

…and a season with a happy ending too – see the 1976 final table. So hopefully La Manga will be auspicious for Middlesex again in 2019.

Here is the full stack of photos from our 1976 family jaunt:

1976 La Manga 001

Guest Piece by David Wellbrook: The Long Hot Summer Of ’76 – Recollections Of A 14-Year-Old With Special Appearance By A Lunatic Frenchman, c1 July 1976

With many thanks to David Wellbrook for this “guest piece”, lifted (with David’s permission) from his posting in the Alleyn’s 1970s Facebook Group – worth a visit if you are able for the comments – click here.

The Alleyn’s School water polo boys on a more appropriate pool mission

THE LONG HOT SUMMER OF ’76 – RECOLLECTIONS OF A 14-YEAR-OLD WITH SPECIAL APPEARANCE BY A LUNATIC FRENCHMAN

It was a stormy Thursday afternoon (are there any others?). Me, myself, and three others who shall remain nameless (Chris Grant, Ben Clayson and Kevin Blythe), were chortling over Paul Hayes’ Freudian slip from earlier. He had inadvertently called Miss Lynch “Mum” and we were marvelling at how well they had kept their relationship secret and for so long. All six of us were amazed at the audacity of the lad and thoughts were now turning to the identity of the father. Bob Skelly, Percy Kingman and Mrs. Barden were put forward for consideration but we were unable to agree. Each candidate received five votes and so we were at stalemate. After much deliberation, we opted for the time-honoured tie-breaker of rock, paper, scissors and as you might have expected, it landed on tails. (Doesn’t it always?) So, decision made, Dave Stretton it was then. Let’s face it, he must have inherited his cool from somewhere.

But I digest. To our gullible Frenchman: It was around this time that Chris used to import young French boys for his amusement and this particular lost soul went by the name of Gotier. He had, I believe, been imported once before, so having met us now on more than one occasion, really ought to have known better. However, we all found ourselves down at the swimming pool. It was a natural hangout for those of us who liked to swim and play water polo and seemed even more appropriate on what was quite possibly a very hot day. Gotier was sweating profusely. I think he knew what Chris had planned for later. He kept muttering strange French words under his breath. “Baguette” was a particular favourite of his I seem to recall. Anyhow, one of us happened upon the anarchic idea of enticing Gotier to jump into the swimming pool fully clothed, and on the strict understanding that he then had to travel home with us to Beckenham et les environs completement mouille.

“How much shall we offer him?” asked Clayson. “How much do we have on us?” asked Blythe. “Are you sure this is a good idea?” enquired Grant, forever and to this day our moral compass. He perhaps felt that if there was any dampness involved it should be of his making and no other. “Yes, it’s a cracking idea,” I chipped in. “And let’s make him cry Vive la France as he goes under.”

We gathered our resources and came up with the tidy sum of £4 and a few pence. We approached the hapless Gotier with our proposal and having explained to him that with exchange rates being as they were at the time, that £4 and a few pence was uncommonly generous, he agreed.

And so the stage was set. I was elected to distract Harry Whale and Alan Berry, who at that precise moment were taking it in turns to slipper a 12-year-old, whilst the others were assigned the arduous task of pacing out Gotier’s run up. And then the moment arrived. With a Gallic scream of “Un, deux, trois, allez…!” Gotier was off, legging it poolwards as if he had not a care in the world. He leapt, he might even have somersaulted I honestly can’t remember, and there was a mighty splash followed by the gurgled incantation of “Vive la France, Vive la France.” Let’s give the boy his due. He did not let us down. Good for him. Only honourable Frenchman I’ve ever met.

Gotier was duly rewarded with his £4 and a few pence which he kindly used to buy us Maynards wine gums and Coca Cola down by Herne Hill station.

To this day, that incident (which is 100% true by the way), is my most vivid recollection of the Summer of ’76. That and being arrested for shoplifting in Millets.

Another day perhaps…

 

When Fellow Pupil Sandy Rowswell Challenged Our Alleyn’s Schoolmaster Stephen “Mr Murder” Jenkins On The Veracity Of His Tales Of Visiting Tibet, Possibly Spring 1976

Stephen Jenkins was an Alleyn’s schoolmaster whose reputation preceded him. By the time my cohort entered his orbit, in the mid 1970s, he had a reputation for telling long-winded tales of psychic happenings, visits to far-flung places, UFOs, extra-sensory perception, ley lines…

…his 1977 book, The Undiscovered Country, can still be obtained from sellers of rare second hand books for under £100 at the time of writing (February 2020), a snip at the price I’m sure but I shall personally pass on that one. I’ve scraped one of the product descriptions to here in case the above link ceases to work…

…in short, he’d talk in lessons about pretty much anything other than the subject he was meant to be teaching.

“During the war…have I told you this anecdote before?…anyway…”

So why in the name of all that is good and pure was this fellow allocated to my third year class, 3BJ, to abstain from teaching us not just one but two key subjects; English and history?

Strangely and despite Stephen Jenkins contrary efforts, many of us managed to bounce back up to the A-stream after 3BJ. In my case, I ended up with Jenkins again, I think for history ‘O’Level (perhaps it was English – it really is impossible to recall what Jenkins was supposed to be teaching us) when I was in 4AT/5AT, so this anecdote about Sandy Rowswell might have happened a year or two later than I am guessing.

I should add, to avoid confusion, that the Alleyn’s Stephen Jenkins died some years ago and has nothing to do with the impressive LSE Professor of Social Policy who inadvertently shares his name.

Anyway, I clearly recall an incident in class when the Alleyn’s Stephen Jenkins was waxing lyrical about his latest trip to Tibet.

The incident has been brought back to my mind lately, because I have been Ogblogging the rather wonderful though gruelling trip that Janie and I made to Tibet in 2002 – click here or below for a sample page – feel free to read, look at the eye candy pictures and divert yourself from whatever you are supposed to be doing – it’s what Stephen Jenkins would have wanted:

Nepal, Tibet & Kerala Day Eight: Gyantse To Shigatse, 14 April 2002

In truth, I always liked Mr Jenkins’s tales of far-flung travel the best. I found the psychic and UFO stories hard to believe, I found the idea of ley-lines intriguing but unconvincing, but I did enjoy the tales from his travels. They were believable, enviable even…and I felt I was learning something useful…even if it wasn’t particularly useful for the purposes of progressing to O-level English or history.

Anyway, during a long Stephen Jenkins anecdote about his recent visit to Tibet, Sandy Rowswell chimed in by saying words to the effect of,

“sir, I don’t believe you. I don’t believe that you have ever been to Tibet.”

There was a hush in the classroom. One glance at Stephen Jenkins’s face and the self-styled sobriquet “Mr Murder” now looked very apt. Sandy Rowswell was ejected from the class and told in no uncertain terms that his punishment would be swift and merciless afterwards.

It seemed such a daft challenge to me. Of all the things Mr Jenkins waffled on about, the travels element was the only manifestly plausible aspect.

I don’t think Sandy Rowswell really got the idea of overseas travel…nor the idea of tempering one’s remarks about a subject whether one “gets it” or not.

My only other recollection of him was for another ill-considered remark, in 1979, soon after we confirmed that I was to join Anil Biltoo and his family in Mauritius that summer – a wonderful, life-changing experience for me that cemented a love of travel:

Confirmed Mauritius, The Overcrowded Barracoon, 10 April 1979

  I recall Sandy Rowswell approaching me and saying,

I hear you are going to Mauritius with Biltoo this summer?

When I confirmed that fact, Sandy Rowswell replied,

You wouldn’t catch me going to a place like that, having to stay in mud huts.

I laughed and shrugged it off, but word of this exchange must have reached Anil Biltoo from other sources, because Anil sheepishly raised the matter with me, pointing out that his family did not live in mud huts. I recall telling Anil that I really didn’t mind what sort of accommodation we’d be having.

There is a rumour that Sandy Rowswell went into the diplomatic service after leaving Alleyn’s. OK, the source of that rumour is the preceding sentence of this article, but a rumour is a rumour.

Returning to the Tibet veracity incident, I have no real reason to assume it took place on 18 May 1976, but while skimming my diary for clues, I did enjoy the entry for that day.

Great tennis won 6-4 6-4 with Driscoll.

Does that mean I beat Paul Driscoll 6-4 6-4 at singles, or does it mean that, partnering with Paul Driscoll, we beat some unfortunate others 6-4, 6-4? There is only one person in the entire world who might possibly remember the event (because I sure as hell cannot) – so I’m shouting out to Paul who will no doubt confirm a similar blank on this one. He probably doesn’t even remember that there was no water polo the next day, despite water polo having been far more his thing than mine..

But I am now digressing more than a typical Stephen Jenkins lesson. Click the link below for a chance to buy Stephen Jenkins book – you know you want to.

Nogagate: Whatever Happened To…And Then Didn’t Happen To…Laurence Noga Of 3BJ? Mid January 1976

Laurence Noga – Goalie Extraordinaire.

The events of January 1976 happened so soon after the Watergate Scandal had unfolded, I don’t suppose it had yet become standard journalistic practice to attach the suffix “-gate” to any scandal. I don’t care – I’m calling this one “Nogagate”.

My diary note of Thursday 15 January 1976 starts with the phrase:

Noga leaving form.

Then, on Monday 19 January 1976, I open my diary note with:

Wrong about Noga. All OK.

How very contra reverse ferret of me. Professional journalism would not have been for me.

So what happened…I mean, something must have happened and then unwound. Was Noga believed to have been promoted or relegated, but actually staying in our division all along? Was Noga initially perceived to have scored an own goal but actually adjudicated to have made a great “on the line” save? Was Noga initially adjudged to have committed a sending-off offence foul but then reprieved by VAR (Various Alleyn’s Representations)? Was I the victim of a “false rumour/class prank”?

I didn’t mention people lightly in my diary, so in my mind, for a few days, this must have been THE big deal. Yet, I’m sorry folks, I now remember absolutely nothing about this.

Someone out there must remember roughly what went on. Mike Jones, for example, was the form master. David Wellbrook and/or Nick Wahla – you two were never far away from the mischief side of 3BJ life. Laurence Noga himself might vaguely recall this matter, of course. If indeed it ever was a real matter.

Here are the diary notes:

For those who like to refresh their memories with earworms from that time, here are three tracks (other than Bohemian Rhapsody, which was surely spent in our consciousness by then even if it was still Number One) from the top 10:

…and for the completists (probably just me and the 1970s TV savages) – here are the full extracts from those diary pages.

Intriguingly, it seems I spent that intervening weekend of Nogagate going through my ‘O’ Level choices with my parents. I have a feeling that the word “perspex” is a malapropism (perhaps deliberate) for “perplexed”. Did they really expect me to persevere with biology, geography and/or Latin? I could get all that at home.

Tuesday, 13 January 1976. Back at school. TV Are You Being Served? Ellery Queen, Pro-celebrity Golf, 48 hours.

Wednesday, 14 January 1976- All OK. TV film -Stewart Granger [Swordsmen Of Siena].

Thursday, 15 January 1976 Noga leaving form. TV World At War, When The Boat Comes In.

Friday, 16 January 1976 – Mum and Dad O-level choices, OK. Uncle Cyril [Barnett] marsala [which means that I went with Cyril and Marion Barnett in the back of their van to their Chalk Farm shmutter premises and they treated me to Marsala ice cream at Marine Ices afterwards].

Saturday, 17 January 1976 – Perspex parents. TV film, New Faces, Sale Of the Century, S.W.A.T. Squad, Upstairs Downstairs.

Sunday, 18 January 1976, classes is good. Paper could be published.! Auntie Doris [Marcus]. TV ?

Monday, 19 January 1976, Wrong re Noga. All OK. TV Ask The Family, Hello Cheeky, Walton’s.

Please folks, let’s solve the mystery of Nogagate collaboratively.

Me As An Engine: Twixtmas & The January Remainder Of School Holidays 1975/1976

Heinz Wolff’s 1975 Royal Institution Christmas Lectures (image used for identification) – click here to see all the lectures

I loved those Christmas lectures as a kid and I especially remember enjoying Heinz Wolff’s series that Christmas.

The only other noteworthy points from my diaries for that period are references to writing and finishing “paper” with Lloyd Green. This was probably my first independent writing (and in this case also publishing) initiative. I’ll write more about that in a couple of episodes time, when the initiative took off in mid January 1976. I should really liaise with Lloyd prior to writing it up, to see if he has any specific memories or even relics to throw into the memory pot.

For the completists among my readership (probably just me and 1970s TV addicts) here is the diary extract for that 17 day period before school started up again.

Sunday, 28 December 1975 – dined at Felds. Grandma Anne in the afternoon. Played Kalooki. Thoroughly Modern Millie.

Monday, 29 December 1975 – all OK. TV lecture. Played Mastermind Royale with Uncle George [May, across the road].

Tuesday, 30 December 1975 – shopping. Played with Andy [Levinson] in afternoon after lecture. Played bridge with Uncle Cyril {Barnet, next door].

Wednesday, 31 December 1975 – got new shoes. TV lecture, Three Men in a Boat, Trapeze, Happy Birthday Columbia. Saw In New Year!

Thursday, 1 January 1976 – Dined at La Pistola. TV, Carry On Again Doctor, The Picnic, Supermind.

Friday 2 January 1976 – played with Andy in morning – Mastermind Royale *evening. TV The Good Life.

Saturday 3 January 1976 – Finished first paper. TV Mask of Sheba, Best Of Upstairs Downstairs.

Sunday, 4 January 1976 – classes good. TV MASH, Romeo and Juliet.

Monday, 5 January 1976 – Andy morn, snooker afternoon. TV, Ask the Family, Z Cars, Disappearing World.

Tuesday, 6 January 1976 – had haircut. TV, Are You Being Served?, Ellery Queen, Fawlty Towers.

Wednesday, 7 January 1976 – Meeting morn. Lloyd Green afternoon. [Presumably both to do with the paper] TV And Mother Makes Five, Morecambe and Wise, Tomkinson’s Schooldays.

Thursday, 8 January 1976 – went to Brixton. TV When The Boat Comes In.

Friday, 9 January 1976 – Went to Alan’s [Cooke] – great. TV England Games? Walt Disney, It Ain’t Half Hot Mum, The Good Life.

Saturday 10 January 1976, played with Andy. TV Caprice, Upstairs Downstairs.

Sunday, 11 January 1976 – classes good. Dined at Felds. Kalooki 7p. TV MASH.

Monday, 12 January 1976 – shopping in the morning. Andy afternoon. TV Ask The Family, Z Cars, The Waltons.

Who Knows What I Was Up To Over Christmas 1975?

While technology can enable us to read the Herculaneum Scrolls, despite their c2000 years of antiquity and the fact that they were burnt to a crisp…some elements of my juvenile diaries are beyond redemption.

No idea what sort of cheap pencil I was using at the end of 1975, but very little of it survived on the page. The headline picture is the best that photoshop can do with it – the image below is what it really looks like.

Fortunately, judging by the readable entries around it, we can surmise that I was enjoying Christmas at home with my parents very much and watching lots of TV.

Trawling the TV listings for Christmas Day, I’m pretty sure I will have watched:

On Boxing Day, dad and I would have gone for a walk together after lunch, but not before I’d watched Let It Be in the morning. Almost certainly I’d have watched Disney Time in the afternoon and we’d all have watched the Mike Yarwood Christmas Show together in the evening. Almost compulsory, was the Mike Yarwood Christmas Show.

The following day I think I can make out the words “Played With Andy”, which means I probably went to the Levinson’s house. I can also just about decipher (Carry On) “Don’t Lose Your Head” as the TV viewing that evening.

I’m Camembert! I’m the big cheese!…

…as Kenneth William’s character, Citizen Camembert, put it. Well the jokes most certainly were cheesy.

Is This The Real Life? Is This Just Fantasy? – The End Of Christmas Term 1975/76 At Alleyn’s, Including The Demise Of Headmaster John Fanner

I have only an impressionistic memory of the shock that ran through Alleyn’s School on that day in mid December 1975, when we were told, I’m pretty sure it was in Assembly, that our headmaster, John Fanner, had died. It was sudden and unexpected – he had gone into hospital for a seemingly routine operation.

My diary entry for that day is a little strange. Written in ink at a time when I was mostly writing the diary in pencil. A couple of question marks as well:

Tuesday, 16 December 1975 Mr Fanner died yesterday. TV Invisible Man, Are You Being Served? Gym?

Are You Being Served? – with a question mark – is the correct title for that programme. But “Gym?” for the International Gymnastics that followed it feels like a discombobulated diary entry, perhaps not really remembering the extent to which I watched those programmes.

I didn’t know Mr Fanner well. In fact, my only other diary mentions of him are in the first month of my “career” as a diarist, January 1974, when I was relieved of my travel money by a local rough (probably a Billy Biro) on the way to school and was sent to the Headmaster to report and obtain temporary financial relief – see 14 & 15 January entries in the piece linked here:

The First Couple Of Weeks Of My Second Term At Alleyn’s School, 6 to 22 January 1974

I suspect that my January 1974 episode was my only interaction with John Fanner, apart from, perhaps, an occasional “nodding acquaintance” gesture in the corridor.

I sensed that he was a kind man and realised, even at the time, that this was far more of a shock for the teachers than it was for most of the pupils. It was the day before we broke up for the school holidays and I don’t remember dwelling on the matter once school was out.

Others with whom I am in touch 50 years later might have more insightful memories of this event. Mike Jones, for example. Simon Barton for another.

The rest of my diary in the run up to Christmas is unsuitably mundane:

Wednesday, 17 December 1975 broke up. Good report. TV Superstars, Benny Hill.

Thursday, 18 December 1975 played with Andy [Levinson]. Went to library. TV $6 Million Man, Likely Lads, Mastermind, Carry on Christmas.

Friday, 19 December 1975 – Lloyd’s [Green] in morning. TV Pot Black, The Good Life.

Saturday 20 December 1975 all ok. Andy afternoon. TV film German something or other? [Mosquito Squadron]

Sunday, 21 December 1975 – no classes. TV last Upstairs Downstairs, Al Capone.

Monday 22 December 1975 Andy all day. TV Invisible Man, Are You Being Served? Mastermind.

Tuesday, 23 December 1975 – meeting today. Andy afternoon. TV Carry On film [Carry On Up the Khyber], Liver Birds.

Wednesday, 24 December 1975 lovely Christmas eve, Andy all day TV Oliver Twist, Jim’ll Fix It, something something [Dick Emery Christmas Show] and Porridge

Not much insight there.

I have used the opening line from Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen as the headline for this piece. That record was part of the soundtrack of our lives that late autumn and Christmas.

But my earworm that season was the other record that did astonishingly well. Actually, not just an earworm – loads of us in the Alleyn’s School playground (and other playgrounds all over the country) tried to emulate its nonsense:

Perhaps you had to be there.

For those who are desperate to hear/see Bohemian Rhapsody again and don’t know how to use a search engine:

Two Weeks Towards The End Of The First Term Of My Third Year At Alleyn’s, Including THAT Football Match 9 December 1975

Not A Matter Of Life & Death – Far More Important Than That! We had some fine footballers in my year at Alleyn’s – I was not among them.

Sunday, 30 November 1975 – performed play. Very good. Mug taken good. TV Upstairs Downstairs.

I have no idea what the play was, nor why my mug shot was taken. Presumably something at cheder. Any mug shot from that performance is (probably mercifully) lost in the mists of time.

Monday 1 December 1975 all OK. Goodies & Waltons.

Tuesday 2 December 1975 – swimming good. TV Invisible Man, Musical Time Machine.

Wednesday, 3 November 1975 CCF Picture Lecture. TV Superstar, Our Man Flint.

I have no idea whether the picture lecture was something to do with CCF (Combined Cadet Force) or unconnected.

Thursday, 4 December 1975 – drama cancelled, came home early. TV $6 million man, Mastermind.

Friday 5 December 1975 – all OK, TV Tom & Jerry, Pot Black, The Good Life.

Saturday, 6 December 1975 – school morn. Finished play fitting. TV sinking film The Last Voyage.

Sunday, 7 December 1975.– Classes good, lost 7P [at kalooki] boo-hoo, all OK.

Monday, 8 December 1975 – Auntie Alice died last night. Grandma Jenny came to stay.

Alice in the 1950s

Auntie Alice was Grandma Jenny’s sister. Alice had lived with Grandma Jenny for as long as I could remember – indeed quite possibly since before I was born. Alice suffered from hyperkyphosis, which in those days we referred to as hunchback, to such an extent that it caused her respiratory issues. In truth I only really remember her ever sitting in her armchair doing very little. But she was a sweet lady.

Tuesday, 9 December 1975 – goalkeeping – great achievement, TV Superstars, Time Machine.

Yes, I have found it. The sole reference in my diaries to my football playing “career”. My epic goalkeeping performance in an end of term house match. If memory serves, it was my house, Cribbs, v Duttons. My house was playing merely for pride (which might explain how I ended up in the team at all), whereas our opponents needed the win for top of the table glory.

My goalkeeping will not have looked anything like this

Presumably Cribbs had injury/absence issues which resulted in my being selected at all. Presumably Paddy Gray (our Cribbs skipper) knew enough about my two left feet to conclude that I could do the least harm, or even vaguely be of use, by having a go in goal.

As football stalwart Nigel Boatswain would tell you:

some idiot was playing in goal for Cribbs. He didn’t have the faintest idea what he was doing in goal, yet somehow he managed to keep saving the ball and we couldn’t get the ball past that idiot.

I know that Nigel would put it in language of that kind, because that’s pretty much what he said to Johnny Eltham, on one occasion in the 2010s, when we were all gathered for dinner. Johnny replied,

yes I remember and yes I remember who the goalkeeper was…he’s sitting next to you.

Nigel recalls that his team won, so is convinced that they got past me eventually. My recollection is that Paddy Gray decided, towards the very end of the match, that our best chance of keeping a clean sheet was for him to swap in a more competent goalie for the last few minutes…it might even have been himself. It was during those last few minutes, while I was grazing in the long grass trying to stay out of trouble, that the winning goal was scored.

This is a bit like the story at the end of Tom Brown’s Schooldays, when Tom Brown captains his team to a glorious narrow defeat at the hands of the MCC, yet is carried aloft by his teammates because of the narrowness and glory of the defeat.

I’m glad to have found this small yet oft-remembered moment in my diary and I’m glad to see that it occurred in 1975, which was my annus mirabilis sports-wise, what with my quarter-final victory at fives…

An Uneventful Day Playing Fives, 9 June 1975

…it’s a minor miracle that Johnny Eltham still talks to me, now I come to think of it…

…and my hat trick bowling for 2AK, as part of our tournament-winning performance at cricket that summer:

The Day I Took A Hat Trick At Cricket, Alleyn’s School, 9 July 1975

But enough about my single year of sporting glory.

Wednesday 10 December 1975 – no CCF. Grandma Jenny stayed again. TV War Film [Ice Cold In Alex].

Thursday, 11 December 1975 – drama good. TV $6 Million Man, Water Rats, Mastermind, Q6

Friday, 12 December 1975 – all OK, TV Pot Black, The Good Life.

Saturday, 13 December 1975 – Party went well, good fun.

I have no recollection of this party. Possibly an end of term party at the school. I’d have thought I’d have named the friend whose house party it was, had it been a friend’s house party. Anyway, whatever it was, wherever it was, it went well and was good fun according to my diary, which I suspect is all that has survived as a written record about that particular party.

A Week At Alleyn’s School Featuring Sergeant Musgrave’s Dance by John Arden, 23 to 29 November 1975

Sergeant Musgrave’s Dance was the first Alleyn’s School play to feature its own girls. The school had just started to take sixth-form girls that year.

I am not writing up this “50 years ago” series with a view to running contemporary parallels, nor am I reading my juvenile diaries in advance of writing the next episode.

It therefore came as a pleasant surprise today (21 April 2026) to stumble across the Sergeant Musgrave’s Dance reference, as, just the other day, I spent time at Lord’s with John Fry – brother of Tom Fry, who played the eponymous lead in 1975.

John might choose to extract and share some memories and 50-years-ago reflections on that production from his brother Tom.

I’m delighted to be able to report that my two word diary review of the 1975 production was:

Excellent performances.

That indicates, as I remember it, that I thought more of the production than I did of the play. I am pretty sure that my parents profoundly disliked the play and wondered why it had been chosen.

I have subsequently read most of Arden’s plays and tried hard to get my head around them. My conclusion is that I like the idea of Arden’s plays and the ideas in them, far more than I like them as works of drama that I could imagine enjoying on the stage.

According to Michael Lempriere’s Scribblerus review, the original idea had been to produce Julius Caesar, but that was cancelled for technical reasons. Possibly the fear of Alleyn’s School kids inappropriately shouting from the audience, “infamy, infamy, they’ve all got it in for me” and such like, at key moments during the drama.

More seriously, and with far more balance than my two-word review, here is Michael Lempriere’s review in full:

As is the case for almost all of that term of school, the rest of my week is only sparsely covered in my diary:

Allow me to translate:

Sunday, 23 November 1975 – classes good. Feld’s row [This might have been an early rebellion by Grandma Anne in the matter of Mr Feld’s borscht tasting watery and her accusation that he was watering it down]. (Fortunately?) won 10p [at kalooki]. TV Upstairs Downstairs

Monday, 24 November 1975 – OK. TV Goodies, Waltons.

Tuesday, 25 November 1975 – all OK. Great film (mouse film) [The Mouse On the Moon], Musical Time Machine.

Wednesday, 26 November 1975 – all OK. CCF great. Went to Sergeant Musgrave’s Dance. Excellent performances. [The irony of CCF being great ahead of seeing Sergeant Musgrave’s Dance might have been wasted on me then but is not wasted on me now].

Thursday, 27 November 1975 – drama good. TV $6 Million Man, Get Some In, Q6

Friday, 28 November 1975 – all OK. TV Tom and Jerry, Invisible Man, Pot Black, Porridge

Saturday, 29 November 1975 – school OK. TV Jerry Lewis film, very good. [3 Ring] Circus.

Half Term, Then Three More Weeks At Alleyn’s With Little To Say About School, Late October To Late November 1975

Alleyn’s School in 1922- OK it wasn’t THAT long ago

I really was saying very little in my diaries at that time, apart from documenting my TV viewing, which perhaps hold some interest for some readers.

I was clearly still enjoying drama and tried to enjoy CCF, despite not really being the type. I vaguely recall being made to try a bit of rugby that year, which I absolutely hated and Alleyn’s was in fact ill equipped to play. I think it was an experiment based on the notion that, once the school went co-ed, its chances of shining at football would be much diminished.

I recall trying to avoid house rugby as much as possible by playing fives whenever I could, but I had obviously resolved almost to stop writing about my sporting activities that term.

I wasn’t listening to much popular music that year, either. But the following song was an earworm then and can become an earworm again for you if you let it. It does remind me of that time and brings some of the vague memories back.

Listen while you skim my almost content-free diary entries. You’ll need something to stimulate the senses.

Sunday, 26 October 1975– Classes OK. Went to Felds. TV Carry On Laughing, Upstairs Downstairs.

Monday 27 October 1975 – nice day. TV Goodies, Waltons, Ghost Story.

Tuesday 28 October 1975 – OK, had haircut. Benny Hill great. Dr No!!! [This was the first time that film was shown on UK television, so it will have seemed like a big deal. Hence the exclamation marks!!!]

Wednesday, 29 October 1975 – went to Grandma Jenny. TV Carry On Cleo, Rule Britannia, Cooper, Face the music.

Thursday, 30 October 1975 – all OK. $6 million man, Get Some In, Morecombe & Wise.

Friday 31 October 1975 – mum went to hospital. Bonfire. TV Tom and Jerry, Invisible Man, Sykes, Porridge.

Saturday 1 November 1975 – all OK. Went with “Auntie” Winifred [neighbour] with dogs. TV Dick Emery, Kojak, No Honestly.

Sunday 2 November 1975 – classes OK, lunch at Felds, mum and dad went out.

Monday 3 November 1975 – went back to school. TV Goodies, Waltons.

Tuesday, 4 November 1975 – all OK TV Tarzan.

Wednesday 5 November 1975 – good speaker? TV Carry On Screaming, Cooper, Face The Music, Till Death Us Do Part.

Thursday, 6 November 1975 – OK. Drama good. TV $6 million man, Ken Dodd, Get Some In, Q6.

Friday, 7 November 1975 – OK. TV Tom and Jerry, Invisible Man, Sykes, Porridge.

Saturday 8 November 1975 – OK. TV Doctor Who, Basil Brush, Dick Emery, early night

Sunday, 9 November 1975 – classes play. TV Carry On Laughing, Upstairs Downstairs, FBI Story.

Monday 10 November 1975 – all OK TV, Angels, Waltons.

Tuesday, 11 November 1975 – swimming good. TV film good James Garner, Debbie Reynolds [How Sweet It Is (1968)].

Wednesday, 12 November 1975 – lecture. CCF good. TV Carry On Spying, Cooper, Rule Britannia, Face The Music.

Thursday 13 November 1975 – drama good. TV $6 million man and Get Some In Q6 is rotten.

Friday, 14 November 1975 – music good. TV Invisible Man, Pot Black, Porridge.

Saturday, 15 November 1975 – school. After Grandma Anne. TV Dick Emery, Kojak

Sunday, 16 November 1975 – went to Southend. Dined at El Cordola. TV Carry On Laughing, Upstairs Downstairs.

Monday, 17 November 1975 – all OK. TV Goodies, Odie v good, Waltons – a goodie goodie program.

Tuesday, 18 November 1975 – got cold. TV Big Film – platinum robbery [The Biggest Bundle Of Them All], Musical Time Machine.

Wednesday, 19 November 1975 – all OK. Mum and Dad went out. TV Superstars and Cooper, played Monopoly. [Unnamed babysitter will have been one of the Aarons youngsters, almost certainly].

Thursday, 20 November 1975 – OK. Drama good. TV $6 million man, Get Some In, Q6, Miss World, Fiddler onto recorder. [That will be Cyril Barnet’s recording of Fiddler On the Roof in Yiddish.]

Friday, 21 November 1975 evening rows. [Must have been a family gathering at Grandma Anne’s I think. Unless we had our own mini domestic. TV Tom and Jerry, Invisible Man, Pot Black, Sykes, Porridge.

Saturday 22 November 1975 – exeat. Morning table tennis [that must be at Andy Levinson’s place]. Evening saw Iolanthe. [Was this at school or was it at Sadler’s Wells? I can find no reference to it in Scriblerus, nor in a press search for autumn 1975 come to that].

I could use a bit of help with writing up this period. Any memories from people who were in my orbit at that time will be gratefully received.