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:
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.
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.
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.
Operations? Leaflets? It could only be Mr Jenkins.
I’m hoping that some of my Alleyn’s schoolmates can disambiguate the handful of words in this four week period that might refer to interesting stuff going on at school. Frankly, I’m flummoxed.
Here’s the transcript of my multi-coloured scribbles, mostly documenting my TV viewing, but the passing comments on goings on at school might trigger some memories.
Sunday, 28 September 1975 – Dined at Feld’s. TV Upstairs Downstairs.
Monday 29 September 1975 – all OK. TV Goodies, Angels, Waltons.
Tuesday, 30 September 1975 – went swimming. Got cold. TV Tarzan.
Wednesday 1 October 1975 – uneventful day. CCF.
Thursday, 2 October 1975 – did operation leaflet. TV Two Ronnies, Man About The House, Morecombe & Wise.
Friday, 3 October 1975 – uneventful. TV Invisible Man, Dad’s Army, Liver Birds.
Saturday, 4 October 1975 – Exeat. TV Generation Game, Dick Emery, Kojak.
Sunday, 5 October 1975 – went to classes. In top class.
Monday, 6 October 1975 – OK. TV Goodies, My Son Reuben, Waltons.
Tuesday, 7 October 1975 – swimming good. TV Tarzan.
Wednesday, 8 October 1975 – CCF terrible. -> Callow?. It’s A Knockout best day.
Thursday, 9 October 1975 – drama good. TV Two Ronnie, Man About The House, Morecombe and Wise.
Friday, 10 October 1975 – all OK. TV Tom and Jerry, Invisible Man, Dad’s Army, Liver Birds, Fawlty Towers.
Saturday, 11 October 1975 all OK. TV big film / Bad Day At Black Rock, Dick Emery.
Sunday, 12 October 1975.– Went to Angela and John’s for tea.
Monday, 13 October 1975 – had more slides from Jenkins. TV Goodies, Reuben, Waltons.
Tuesday, 14 October 1975 – uneventful. Swimming good.
Wednesday, 15 October 1975 – OK. Corps very good. TV It’s a Knockout Final – we came fifth.
Thursday, 16 October 1975 – OK. Delivered leaflets. TV Two Ronnies, Get Some In and Morcombe & Wise.
Friday, 17 October 1975 – speech day, half day. TV Invisible Man, Liver Birds, PC Penrose.
Saturday, 18 October 1975 – OK. TV [Secret Of The] Incas, Dick Emery, Kojak.
Sunday, 19 October 1975 – classes. TV Upstairs Downstairs.
Monday, 20 October 1975 – TV Goodies, Waltons, Controversy.
Tuesday, 21 October 1975 – swimming good. TV Tarzan and the Fountain of Youth.
Wednesday, 22 October 1975 – CCF good. TV Carry On Doctor, Rule Britannia, Tommy Cooper & Face The Music.
Thursday, 23 October 1975 – drama good, TV Two Ronnies (last in series), Get Some In, Morecombe & Wise.
Friday, 24 October 1975 – field day (CCF) TV Tom and Jerry, Invisible Man, Sykes, Porridge, Fawlty Towers
Saturday 25 October 1975 Half term. TV Basil Brush, Doctor Who, Bruce Forsyth, Film [Judith], Dick Emery, Kojak, No Honestly.
Here’s my list of questions:
what do I mean by “operation leaflet” on 2 October, “had more slides from Jenkins” on 13 October and “delivered leaflets” on 16 October?;
who was “Callow” – who seems to be the source of my feeling terrible about CCF that day? Parenthetically, I sense that CCF was not for me, but my dad will have told me to “man up” about it, which resulted in me trying to make the most of it after that.
As for Controversy, I remember those programmes. They were compulsory viewing in our household. Here’s a link to an explainer. I have embedded the clip below.
The thing I remember more than anything else about this Controversy programme was my mother’s obsessive hatred of anyone pronouncing that word “contro-versy” rather than, as she asserted, the proper pronunciation, “controver-sy”. I still wouldn’t dare pronounce it the “wrong” way, even to this day – that would be too controversial by far.
Mike Jones ponders our imminent arrival in his class – thanks Mike for the photo
I’ve been finding it difficult to start writing up my third year at Alleyn’s; 1975/1976. My diary for the 1974/1975 academic year was full of juicy details of my activities.
But it seems, after all the excitement of my 1975 summer, I returned to school in September 1975 in a different mood – at least in the matter of keeping my diary. I’m needing to rely more on my fading memory for this period of my life and hope for some informed comment from readers.
For example, whereas I wrote down the “cast list” for my 1S and 2AK years, I had “grown out of” doing that by the 3BJ era – which is a blithering shame.
Also, I think I was under the parental…by which I mean maternal…cosh, having made a mess of my year end exams that summer and finding myself in a B stream class. “Get the back up to the A stream,” was the familial message, with some new rules at home to encourage homework and discourage loafing.
You wouldn’t have messed with my mum either. Cruel spectacles.
I’m not convinced that sparse diarising was entirely necessary in my mission to do better at school that year. But the diarising was more sparse and the school results were better.
Here are the first three weeks of September:
I realise that most of that is beyond legibility and/or interpretation, so here goes with my best efforts.
Sunday, 7 September 1975 – Rosh Hashanah [Jewish New Year, day two in this instance].
Monday, 8 September 1975 – uneventful day.
Tuesday, 9 September 1975 – last day [of school holidays. Not the end of the world.] Stuart and Andy [both from our street – Stuart Harris was not a relation and was a Whitgiftian, Andy Levinson was a fellow Alleyn’s pupil].
Wednesday, 10 September 1975 – first day [of school]. 3BJ. Mr Jones.
Thursday, 11 September 1975–1st proper day at school.
Friday, 12 September 1975 – school good. TV Dad’s Army, Liver Birds.
Saturday, 13 September 1975 – school morn. After library. TV Gambit, Dick Emery, Kojak.
Sunday, 14 September 1975 – Kol Nidre [evening prayers to herald the Day of Atonement] in evening.
Monday, 15 September 1975 – Yom Kippur [Day of Atonement].
Tuesday, 16 September 1975 – catching up only today.
Wednesday, 17 September 1975 – uneventful day. Good results school.
Thursday, 18 September 1975 – more good results. TV $6 million man, Two Ronnies, Man About The House.
Friday, 19 September 1975 – uneventful day. TV Dad’s Army, Liver Birds, Stanley Baxter III.
Saturday, 20 September 1975 – school morning. TV Generation Game.
Sunday, 21 September 1975 – no classes. Dined at Feld’s. TV Upstairs Downstairs.
Monday, 22 September 1975 – school OK. TV Goodies, Angels, Waltons etc.
Tuesday, 23 September 1975 – did swimming good. Telepathy. TV Pink Panther
Wednesday, 24 September 1975 – swimming. Went to Aviv meeting [one of mum’s charities. I cannot imagine why I went with her, unless dad had something on that evening and mum didn’t want to fork out for a sitter!].
Thursday, 25 September 1975. Got CCF [Combined Cadet Force] kit. TV Two Ronnies, Man About The House, Morecombe & Wise.
Friday 26 September 1975 – uneventful. TV Invisible Man, Dad’s Army, Liver Birds, Fosters Tower [sic – that can only be Fawlty Towers]
Saturday, 27 September 1975 – school morning. TV Dick Emery, Kojak.
Hard to believe that I didn’t even register the name Fawlty Towers correctly when I first saw it.
It was the episode about The Builders and I remember it tickling me no end. My parents didn’t like it much. Dad found Basil Fawlty irritating, reminding him of some of the twerps he had to deal with in running his business. You can decide for yourselves, if you hadn’t made up your minds already – see embed below.
I’m 98% sure that the umpire on the TV screen is Tom Spencer and I’m 100% sure that the wicket-keeper was Rod Marsh, who kept all day that Monday.
The unmistakable stoopy stance of Umpire Spencer on the TV screen.
But who batting? Yes, me, obviously, in front of the screen. I mean on the screen. I have narrowed it down to being John Snow or Barry Wood and I think the answer is John Snow. Cricket lovers – chime in with your thoughts.
It was an unusual match, as they had put aside six days for that Oval test match, used all six but still ended up with a draw.
I sense that even I lost interest after a burst of watching (and having my photo taken), probably quite early on the Monday.
Anyone know what game this is/was?
As an only child, one of my favourite pastimes was working out how to play solitaire versions of the board games in my collection. I have no idea what this game was, let alone how I had worked out a solitaire version of it. My favourite solitaire game was my very own version of Cluedo – the conceit of the solitaire version is long-since forgotten but I remember being fascinated by it for some while.
I suspect that the test match was on the TV while I was indulging in this additional activity. In that respect, I don’t suppose I have changed much, although the additional activity has changed.
As for the TV viewing – I don’t remember the TV drama Angels about student nurses at all. But I certainly remember The High Chaparral. My dad was very keen on it too. Do you fancy getting the theme tune stuck in your head – only click the YouTube embed if you do.
On rehearing The High Chaparral theme, it sounds very much like Joe Meek’s extraordinary instrumental Telstar (famously performed by the Tornados), in the style of Elmer Bernstein’s wonderful theme music for The Magnificent Seven.
I learn, on doing a little further research, that the resemblance between The High Chaparral theme and Telstar has been discussed at length over the decades. One surprising thing, to me, is that I didn’t notice the similarity when Paul Deacon first played me Telstar, which must have been around or very soon after my High Chaparral watching era.
Ironically and tragically, Joe Meek never saw the royalties for Telstar, as a French composer, Jean Ledrut, sued Meek for plagiarism – without success but to some extent understandably – on account of La Marche d’Austerlitz.
Meek died just three weeks before that law suit was found in his favour. Thus he never got a chance to test his own claim against David Rose, who composed The High Chaparral theme, if indeed Meek would have chosen to try such a claim.
Thoughts on these matters will, as always, be much appreciated, whether from my contemporaries or indeed from anyone who stumbles across this page and has a view on any of these topics.
So much happened in that week, which was the last of my second year at Alleyn’s. Here’s the diary page.
Naturally, readers are already writing in to complain that they cannot read my scribble, even though I haven’t even finished writing up this piece yet. Here’s a transcript:
Sunday, 6 July 1975 – Went to classes. Grandma Anne gave me £100. Great.
Monday, 7 July 1975 – more relaxing. Fives good. TV Sportstown, Star Trek, Waltons, Horizon.
Tuesday, 8 July 1975 – classes good. No bar mitzvah class. Uneventful.
Wednesday, 9 July 1975 – we won cricket. I got a hat-trick and eight runs. TV The Ascent of Man.
Thursday, 10 July 1975 – classes good. Picking up mix-up. TV Jacques Cousteau, Comedy of Marriage.
Friday, 11 July 1975 – broke up from school hurrah. TV Walt Disney, Celebrity Knockout. England flop in first test.
Saturday 12 July 1975 – shule in the morning, Andrew in the afternoon. Aussies dish out more punishment. Susan’s wedding.
£100 was a princely sum in those days. This was my bar mitzvah present. Of course I was allowed nowhere near it – straight into a savings account where it probably ended up making a small but significant contribution to the first deposit I made on a flat nearly a quarter-of-a-century later.
I have also previously written up my hat trick taking heroics in the cricket at Alleyn’s school. A relatively common topic of my conversation, even 50 years later, when talking about my own cricket playing “career”…because there’s not much else of note to talk about.
The phrase, “broke up from school hurrah” sounds like something out of a Billy Bunter book and doesn’t read like me – but it does indicate my enthusiasm for that Alleyn’s school year to have ended – an annus mirabilis (by my standards) in sport but annus horribilis academically.
I had been eagerly anticipating the opportunity to follow England in the 1975 Ashes. I had not fully engaged with cricket aged 9/10 when Australia had previously visited, in 1972. By 1975, I was a proper cricket-mad youngster.
I suspect that I spent more time than was good for me watching that cricketing road crash unfold in slow motion. 50 years later, I realise that my habits, in that regard, have not changed much.
I didn’t much follow popular music back then, but I do recall that Van McCoy’s The Hustle was riding high in the charts that summer and was my earworm around the time we broke up from school.
Can you listen to and watch the following vid without trying some of the moves and getting the whole tune stuck in your head as an earworm? Of course you can’t.
Triumph on the cricket pitch meets disaster in the exam hall
By my mediocre standards as a sportsperson, my second year at Alleyn’s was an annus mirabilis. Actually, the success all seems to have come in a rush in the final term, so it was possibly no more than a terminus mirabilis.
Tony King: “Even yer Latin was pretty shite, Harris!”
No week better sums up the peaks and troughs of that particular period of my school life than the one depicted and described here.
I know, the words need transcribing. Here goes:
Sunday 29 June 1975 – Went to classes sports. Got certificate for second place in the 4 x 80 m relay – very enjoyable time.
Monday 30 June 1975 – the swimming gala. We came ↓ [bottom, presumably]. Getting some [exam] results, some not too good. TV Star Trek, Waltons, Horizon, Anaesthesia.
Tuesday 1 July 1975 – classes good TV
Wednesday, 2 July 1975 – We’ve [2AK] won the cricket league by beating to 2BM 86-80. TV The Ascent of Man
Thursday, 3 July 1975 – uneventful day. Preparation for concert. TV Jacques Cousteau, Comedy of Marriage.
Friday, 4 July 1975 – Day of concert. All went well. On to Grandma Anne. Don [Donald Knipe] kicked up a fuss. 24th in class.
Saturday, 5 July 1975 – had an exeat. Mum in peeve all day. TV Canon, That’s Life.
I cannot believe it. That certificate for coming second in the 4 x 80m relay failed to avoid my mother’s cull of my juvenilia and memorabilia. I do recall it had pride of place with my pile of near-irrelevant certificates for many years.
As for the swimming gala – the “we” in that comment was presumably 2AK. Our year had some cracking good swimmers in it, but, looking at my 2AK names list, we lacked most of not all of our year’s swimming and water polo heroes. Swimming was not one of my strong suits.
I had far less excuse for my dismal performance in class. Suffice it to say that my myriad extra curricula activities that year, combined with my mother’s diminished influence while in hospital/rehabilitating much of the time, had drawn my attention away from the business of learning stuff that gets results in school exams.
Two words: not good.
But who cares? 2AK won the league in the interclass cricket that year, no doubt strongly influenced by my voice-captaincy.
Parenthetically, I still have no recollection of any duties performed by the vice-captain in such circumstances, nor do I recall who our captain was. I’ll guess that the captain was Ian Feeley or Dave French. It’s hard to tell who was deemed to be captaincy material back then. I mean, we ALL went to the right sort of school, didn’t we?
Jumbo Jennings did not play cricket for us that season, I am 99% sure, because when he broke through in house cricket the following year, he surprised everybody…including himself probably, as I don’t think he much liked cricket.
I have copious, near-illegible notes about performance scribbled at the back of my diary. Perhaps THAT is what a vice-captain is supposed to do. The stats. I might scan those and add them as a appendix here for my completist readers and for cricket historians of the future.
I’m pretty sure that I had been elbowed out of the lower school orchestra by the end of the year, by dint of being so very, very awful at playing the violin. My mother never really got over that, coming from a family of virtuoso violinists and multi-instrumentalists…
…how come Andy Levinson, from a family of medics, was making so much better a fist of the violin than mum’s little darling? Jovito Athaide is also mentioned in that concert write up and I do remember him as being a musical talent. It was so sad to learn that his life was cut tragically short through heart failure.
I do vaguely remember the Tom Sawyer dramatization, which is also mentioned. I don’t suppose my deep south accent cut the mustard then, any more than it would now, so I’ll guess that my role in that concert was to be a gopher/fixer for the teachers.
Don Knipe “kicking up a fuss” at Grandma Anne’s place is part of a long and very peculiar story. Edwina Green, Don’s wife, was our family doctor. They were great friends of my grandma and indeed the whole “Streatham branch” of our family. The story is set out in the following linked piece, if you like reading weird:
Moving on, I wonder whether I made the connection, back then, between “24th in Class” reported on the Friday and “Mum in a peeve all day” reported on the following day. That connection is certainly clear to me now.
The word “peeve” makes me think of Andy Levinson’s vocabulary more than my own. Do you still use that word, Andy? I certainly don’t…or at least didn’t. I might start using it again, now that the diary has brought it back to the front of my mind.
Trigger warning. My best placing was usually before the starting gun.
Oh dear! I was not enjoying the exam season at school that year. And for good reason too. I was having a flunky year.
Perhaps the problem was simply that the markers were struggling with my handwriting. If only it had been possible to transcribe scribble into typed text back then.
But it is possible to do that now, so let’s try and set the record (unlike my handwriting) straight:
Sunday, 22 June 1975 classes boring. Dined at Felds. Afternoon in sun. So errands. David Aarons sitting – played backgammon and chess.
Monday 23 June 1975 started exams. TV Star Trek, Waltons.
Tuesday, 24 June 1975 – worst day for exams. Uneventful day.
Wednesday 25 June 1975 – took two exams. Still hard. Inter-form athletics. I came fourth in 400m out of four. Calculator from Auntie Rose [Rose Beech]. Very good one.
I love the unwitting joke that I came fourth in the inter-form event. On first skim I thought that sounded pretty good, until I more carefully read, “out of four”. Oh dear.
That Rockwell calculator was a REALLY good one
4 divided by (out of) 4 = 1. Does that mean I came first in the 400m?
Thursday 26 June 1975 – still examining. Today physics and music. TV Jacques Cousteau & Play with a twist.
Friday 27 June 1975 still doing exams – only 2 to go. TV Walt Disney, It’s a Knockout and 10 from 20.
Saturday 28 June 1975 – finished exams, relaxed afternoon. Watched Wimbledon. Film: Greatest Show On Earth, ITV Boobed.
Sunday, 8 June 1975 – took first part of senior exam. Not too bad. Another sweltering day like the last two. Had a good time in garden. TV Doctor On The Go.
Monday, 9 June 1975 – uneventful day. Beat Eltham 11-5, 11-5 in quarter-finals. TV Star Trek, Likely Lads, Waltons, Rutland Weekend Television.
Tuesday, 10 June 1975– got to classes late because the bus. TV Edward VII.
Wednesday 11 June 1975 – we won cricket. I scored 7 and gave 5. TV Ascent of Man, Spike Milligan.
Thursday, 12 June 1975 – classes good – last one ever [i.e. last midweek Hebrew classes ever, not all types of class…obvs.] . TV Cousteau, All of the Family.
Friday 13 June 1975 – PE, cricket. TV Walt Disney, It’s a Knockout, 10 from 20s.
Saturday 14 June 1975 – scored under 13s, us 136 for one declared, [Wayne] Manhood 55 not out, [Perry] Harley 58, and them 96 all out – [Paddy/Sean] McGlone 4 wickets and a catch
My faint memory of scoring for the under 13s was pretty much solely of Wayne Manhood & Perry Harley batting. That 14 June 1975 report at least part explains why.
1975 was my sporting annus mirabilis – or perhaps I should say that Alleyn’s Trinity Term 1975 was my sporting tempus mirabilis – for several reasons. For example, I have previously (out of sequence) reported my fives quarter final success.
My most mirabilis hard ball (cricket ball, I hasten to point out) moment was also in June 1975, but I’ll keep readers in suspenders for that one at this stage.
Still, almost as astonishing was my selection for the cricket first eleven, on 3 May 1975, while I was still only 12. It’s there in the diary:
What do you mean, you can’t make out what that page says?
Sunday, 27 April 1975 – classes good. Salt beef excellent. Kalooki from 15p down to 11p up. Nice day and all.
Monday 28 April 1975– fives good. TV The Likely Lads, The Waltons, The Goodies.
Tuesday 29 April 1975 – uneventful day. TV The Rockford files, Edward the Seventh.
Wednesday, 30 April 1975 – cricket 2AK won – Me 6–0 runs 1-9 bowling, one catch. [Family dentist Harry] Wachtel came. TV St Trinians, Survivors, Woodhouse Playhouse.
Thursday, 1 May 1975 – Mom’s birthday. Classes good. TV Are You Being Served?
Friday 2 May 1975 – went into Barnett’s [Cyril and Marion]. Went to Camden. TV The Main Chance.
Saturday, 3 May 1975 – scored for first 11. Us 150 for 7 declared them 130 for 6.
OK, so I didn’t PLAY for the first XI at the age of 12, I scored for them. Give me a break, readers, I was only 12. Still, this was I’m sure an unusual promotion for one so young. Colin Page looked after the first XI and must have spotted (or been tipped off to) one of my many superpowers while I was still very young.
I simply will not accept the argument that Colin Page must have been desperate in his search for a scorer for that match. Nor that his desperation might well have had something to do with the fact that the FA Cup Final was that day and a London derby to boot. That is an outrageous slur on my burgeoning talent, aged 12.
Colin Page utilised my enthusiasm for cricket a great deal over the years, as the diary will attest. Scoring, umpiring…pretty much anything other than taking to the field of play. Still, he repaid my enthusiasm in spades at the end of my Alleyn’s journey, by giving me a glowing reference for Keele University in 1980:
But that bit of the past was way in the future in 1975. Let’s press on with the next week:
Sunday 4 May 1975 – classes good. Played in afternoon. Nice day. TV War Film.
Monday, 5 May 1975 – fives good. TV The Likely Lads, The Waltons, The Goodies.
Tuesday, 6 May 1975 – classes good. 18 out of 20 maths, 19 out of 20 Latin. TV Edward The Seventh.
Wednesday, 7 May 1975 – cricket was off. Finished Treasure Island. TV cartoon film, Survivors, Woodhouse Playhouse.
Thursday, 8 May 1975 – went to Grandma Jenny. Classes good. TV Love Thy Neighbour, Are You Being Served? Goodies Special.
Friday, 9 May 1975 – event swimming. Little men [goodness only knows what this means?]. TV The Best Of Dick Emery, The Good Life.
Saturday, 10 May 1975 – school in morning. Uneventful. Afternoon TV Eastern?, Sale of the Century, Mike Yarwood, Cannon.
Sunday, 11 May 1975 – dined at “Dragon” [Golden?] – v good. Flew planes. Stick stretch [was that a type of model plane?] excellent. TV Waterloo Road, Waltons film.
Monday 12 May 1975 – fives v good. Mom went into hospital. Dined at Peach Blossom. TV RWT [Rutland Weekend Television].
Tuesday, 13 May 1975 – went to classes. Had a nice dinner. TV Edward The Seventh.
Wednesday, 14 May 1975 – won cricket 54 to 38. Went to Barnett’s for dinner. Went to Camden Town. Beat Uncle Cyril at chess. TV Wodehouse Playhouse.
Thursday, 15 May 1975 – went to see mom. All right after operation. Dined at Peach Blossom. TV All in the Family (no good).
Friday, 16 May 1975 – had chicken etc. Went to see mum. Went to Grandma Anne’s. Don [Knipe] in bloody swear mood.
Saturday 17 May 1975 – went to school in morning. Andrew [Andy Levinson] for the rest of the day. Won snooker competition.
I owe an apology to readers who are wondering why I am again reporting my mother’s hip replacement surgery having previously reported it in/as February 1975:
I now realise/remember that mum’s surgery in February was a preparatory operation for her scheduled hip replacement, as she had, some years earlier, had a plate inserted in an ultimately unsuccessful attempt at using femoral osteotomy to provide a long-term solution to her hip problem.
The main, hip replacement surgery was in May 1975 and what a marathon that was compared with today. Mum was in hospital for more than two weeks having her Stanmore inserted…
…whereas my own experience of a total hip replacement, fifty years later (sixteen weeks ago as I write) was to spend only two days in hospital and then acquainting myself with Pinky, my brand-new hip, at home.
The upshot for me and dad in May 1975 was a chance to try out several different Chinese restaurants and multiple invitations from friends and neighbours. What a kindly community we had back then.
My visits to Cyril and Marion Barnett next door had started before the hip business. They were in the schmutter (clothing) business and had a storeroom/showroom thing in Chalk Farm/Camden. It became one of their/our habits for them to feed me, take me for a ride in the back of their van to Camden, where I would help them move clobber around or whatever, then they would buy me (and themselves) ice cream at Marine Ices and then home. I loved Marine Ices Marsala wine flavoured ice cream best and can never taste Marsala or see a bottle of the stuff without thinking of those days.
You can keep your madeleines – my Proust phenomenon comes from Marsala wine.
I also mention, on the Friday, “Don [Knipe] in bloody swear mood”. I have told the tale of Don Knipe (our doctor, Edwina Green’s husband) in a previous article, which, as it happens, also involved the idea of involuntary memory.
Another bit of the past that was still way in the future in 1975. Let’s move swiftly on.
“Won snooker competition”, which I mention on the Saturday, was most likely a tournament comprising three or four of us: Andrew (Andy) Levinson for sure, me also for sure (as I won it, remember) and most likely Stuart Harris [no relation], with possibly other competitors such as Fiona Levinson and Gail Harris (Stuart’s sister). My annus/tempus mirabilis simply knew no bounds at that time.
Monday 19 May 19 75– Fives good. Beat Edwards 15-10 and Johnson 15-12. Saw mum.
Tuesday, 20 May 1975 – classes good. Had Langers again. TV Hughes[?] Rockford, Edward Seventh.
Wednesday 21 May 1975 – did all prep in chapel service. Cricket again got two catches. We won 52-46. Visited mum. OK.
Thursday, 22 May 1975 – field day very good. Scored 3 C[ricket matches?]. [Wayne] Manhood in best match. Grandma Jenny’s for tea. Classes Ok.
Friday, 23 May 1975 – went to Grandma Jenny for lunch and afternoon. Went to [dad’s] shop then visited mummy.
Saturday 24 May 1975 – Andy’s barmitzvah went well. Stayed with Benji’s [Stanley, Doreen, Jane & Lisa] for day. Saw mum in morning and evening.
Andy Levinson at my bar mitzvah some weeks later
Sunday 25 May 1975 – no classes. Dad at home of course.
Monday 26 May 1975 – dad home. Visited mummy. Mum’s walked. Went to see Earthquake (shake)
Tuesday 27th of May 1975 – went to Grandma Anne’s for lunch. Played with Andy. Classes good.
Wednesday, 28 May 1975 – we won cricket verses 2BM. I caught Andrew out. Saw mummy.
Thursday, 29 May 1975 – went to Grandma Jenny for tea. Classes good. TV Dad’s Army, Jacques Cousteau, All In The Family.
Friday, 30 May 1975 – went to visit mum. Getting better every minute – should be out soon. Went to Grandma Anne’s.
Saturday 31 May 1975 – scored for under 13s v Whitgift. Tied match. 83 all out each. Went to Richmond Rendezvous with Uncle Cyril [Barnett].
Earthquake – oh deary me. Those disaster movies were all the rage back then. Earthquake was in Sensurround, which made you feel as though you were experiencing the quakes in the cinema. Lovely.
I seem to recall that Grandma Anne was nevertheless able to sleep through the experience.
And talking of quakes, I wonder how my good friend Andy Levinson feels now about me reporting that he was caught out by me on the cricket pitch so soon after his bar mitzvah?
