Saturday 28 June – Worked hard today – went to Levinsons briefly – [squiggle] etc. Mainly work.
Sunday 29 June – Did exam in morning – went to G [Grandma] Jenny in afternoon – watched cup final early evening – went for drink with Andrew after – met Mary etc.
I was working hard at that time, doing my accountancy exams (presumably that Sunday morning thing was a self-administered mock) while working full time and helping to bring dad’s business (he had sold the shop in Feburary) to a graceful closure with the tax authorities.
This was still less than a year after I left Keele; my diaries suggest that I almost exclusively spent my spare time with old friends from Keele apart from my work crowd and some of my old BBYO crowd.
This reference to spending time with Andrew Levinson is the first reference to an old friend from the street or school in 1986 (unless I’ve missed saomething on the skim).
“Mary etc.” I think must be a lovely young woman I knew at Keele named Mary who kept popping up wherever I happened to be in that first year after I left Keele. I remember bumping into her when I was doing accountancy courses in Latimer Road and also that she ended up in Streatham for a while.
I dread to think where Andrew and I went for that drink and therefore where Mary etc. were also hanging out back then – our end of Streatham was not great for pubs and I doubt if we wandered far. Horse and Groom most likely – it’s had a makeover fairly recently (he writes in 2020) but was well grimey back then.
…the diary suggests that I spent a couple of weeks seeing friends, buying records and making tapes – the perfect preparation for the 1983/84 academic year that would be my P3 year (i.e. fourth year at Keele, third and final year of undergraduate studies).
It seems I was enjoying myself so much I even got my days mixed up in the diary:
Wednesday 28 September 1983 – …went out for dinner with Jilly – came back here [Woodfield Avenue] after – late night
Thursday 29 September 1983 – Went to Brixton with Jilly in morning – lazyish afternoon – Andrew [Andy Levinson] came over late afternoon – dinner – wine bar
Frankly I wouldn’t have remembered that Streatham Hill had such a thing as a wine bar in those days. Perhaps it was new and we wanted to try it. I vaguely remember one in the 1980s on Sternhold Avenue – perhaps that was the one.
Saturday 1 October 1983 – went to visit Marianne [Gilmour] – pleasant lazy evening
Sunday 2 October 1983 – went to Makro with Dad in morning. Wendy [Robbins] came over in afternoon
My “business ” at Makro on that occasion was probably limited to a few record albums at discounted prices (see link to my October 1983 album purchase list) and some stationery for the forthcoming academic year. Goodness only knows what Dad wanted there.
Monday 3 October 1983 …went up West & to R&T today…
R&T meant “Record & Tape Exchange” as it was then named.
I bought lots of albums on that visit – the use of a different colour of ink listing them on my log tells me exactly which ones, so I have listed them in a separate article – click here or below.
6 October 1983 – went to shop with Dad in morning – went to office – met Caroline for lunch
I suspect I helped Dad prepare his books that morning, hence stopping at the office (Newman Harris) on my way to lunch. Efficient, I was, even back then.
7 October 1983 – …went to G Jenny’s in afternoon. Paul came over in evening.
8 October 1983 – Busy day packing etc. taping too – getting ready to come back to keele
9 October 1983 – Left early – came to Keele lunched at Post House – unpacked some – went to Union – quite dull
I can only imagine that this meant that Dad drove me up on this occasion, as I cannot imagine why else I’d have eaten at a roadside convenience place such as The Post House. Of course nothing much up at Keele would have been open on a Sunday. In the circumstances, The Sneyd would not have been a diplomatic choice.
I love my comment that the Union was quite dull – yet again, in my enthusiasm, I had come back to Keele ahead of the excitement. But there was plenty of fun, as well as hard work, to come in that Autumn 1983 term. watch this space.
Keele Students’ Union – only dull when there is no-one around.
I was reminded of this 1977 impromptu summer holidays outing at a recent (November 2017) gathering of the old school clan – click here or the link below:
Not only did both Andrew and Fiona Levinson come up in the conversation that evening, but I realised, when the 1977 Billingsgate visit popped into my head, that the venue, The Rajasthan Restaurant, is just across the road from the old Billingsgate Fish Market. Weirdorama.
Here is the relevant page of my diary. Not much going on at that stage of the summer…
This was the first year I didn’t go away with my parents during the summer school holidays since I was a toddler. I don’t think dad had the money for a holiday that year – business was not good.
That 1p will have contributed handsomely towards my bus fares and stuff.
On the Friday, the diary notes that I:
went out with Andrew, Fiona and Valerie (pen friend from France). No 23 in evening.
No 23 was my grandmother (of kalooki fame)’s flat. There was a three line whip for the family to gather and no kalooki on a Friday night. Don’t be ridiculous. On the sabbath? No, no, no. Kalooki was a Sunday thing.
What Andrew, Fiona, Valerie and I did on that Friday is lost in the bowels of my mind, so unless one of the others reads this and knows (please chime in if you do) the nature of the Friday activity will be lost for ever in the mists of time.
The Saturday diary entry is more explicit:
went to Billingsgate first thing with Andrew, Fiona and Valerie.
I do recall making a very early start of it and venturing out to Billingsgate with my camera in hand.
Old Billingsgate, dapper head gear
Left to right: two fishmongers, Andrew, Fiona, Valerie
Andrew pondering the price of fish as we leave Billingsgate
Who would have thought back then that I would end up writing a book on commerce, The Price Of Fish, using a multitude of fishy examples, some of which were spawned all the way back then at Billingsgate – click here or below:
But I digress…
…let us return to the 20 August outing. We clearly did a little more sightseeing before we went home – click the link below for the whole photo roll, which is available for all to see on Flickr – click here or below:
As a footnote, I’d like to make it clear that our behaviour with Fiona’s pen friend from France was exemplary, showing her the sights, sounds and smells of Old London Town and generally being hospitable.
Actually, I wrote up the centre piece of the party – the limbo dancing – some five years ago (he says, writing now in December 2025) – click here or below:
But there was more to this party than just the limbo dancing. Oh yes.
There was a meal, for a start. A meal that is bound to have been baked salmon, although I really don’t remember the meal. But in a non-kosher venue with some observant people present, fish would have been the order of the day for sure. Then you could also have some creamy deserts and stuff like that.
Then speeches. The camera only caught the important ones – me as the star of the show and Andy Levinson as my warm up or warm down act, I cannot remember which way round we spoke.
I certainly win the award for the more skew-iffy tie.
There was also regular dancing for regular people, as well as limbo dancing.
Cousin Angela and John KesslerNext door neighbours Rose & Bill BeechMum with Norman Levinson – Dr Edwina Green looks disapproving, perhaps because mum’s new hip was only three months old at the time
Mum had put enormous effort into rehab after her hip replacement in May, motivated by a desire to dance at my Bar Mitzvah party, which she sure did. My perspective on this has shifted in the past year, having been through the hip replacement and hard yards for rapid rehab myself in 2025.
Mum, Denise Lytton and Rose Beech, as Marjorie and Fiona Levinson look on. Don’t overdo it, mum and whatever you do, don’t fall over……and don’t try to emulate cousin Colin Jacobs.
Of course, these events are family affairs and most of the family was there:
Grandma Jenny & Me above, Me & Grandma Anne belowPam & Michael front, Auntie Francis standing, flanked I think by Lieba and Sam Aarons…Mum liked this picture.
You can see all of the photos from both days of the Bar Mitzvah weekend through this Flickr link, here or below:
This event came to me as a memory flash while in e-conversation with Rohan Candappa in December 2020 on the topic of that “limbo period” between Christmas and New Year. Rohan pointed out:
Limbo is a strangely schizophrenic word. It’s either a time when nothing is going on, or the most extreme dance you can imagine.
Suddenly it all came flooding back to me. The dinner & dance the day after my Barmitzvah. The Peacock Club in Streatham. The limbo dancer my parents arranged as entertainment for said evening. My limbo dancing “career”, not just remembered but I knew for sure that I have photographs.
Why the choice of limbo dancer for a Barmitzvah party? The answer to that question is truly lost in the mists of time. Some would suggest that it was a very “South London” choice. Others that it was an inappropriate choice steeped in cultural appropriation.
My guess is that someone dad knew through his photographic shop business was connected with the charming young lady in question.
Dorothy.
I know that she is/was named Dorothy because the pictures in my parent’s memory book / photo album have clearly been labelled “Dorothy”.
[Infantile readers may insert their own version of the joke revolving around the idea that “Ian was a friend of Dorothy when he was thirteen years old” here.]
Dorothy [Thinks]: What a funny little boy he is. Ian [Thinks]: I could be in here…whatever “being in” might be.
Dorothy showed us how it should be done.
Steve Lytton was one of several people who had a go. Unfortunately for him, his photo survived and has lived peacefully in my parent’s memory book for 45 years and counting:
Friends from the neighbourhood and school might recognise Andy Levinson in the background of the above and following picture. He’s hiding behind is mum. It seems he didn’t have a go at limbo dancing.
My technique showing real promise there. If only I had persevered with the practice, I could have been a contender.
Then Dorothy started to show off.
I mean, really, was that completely necessary?
Seriously, I do remember Dorothy being sweet with me and making the whole event feel special. She was clearly very talented at limbo dancing.
One day I’ll write up other aspects of my Barmitzvah. Sadly, for lovers of music and theology, there is a recording of me singing my rite of passage passage and I’ll feel Ogblog-honour bound to upload it, if only for the sake of completeness.
Anyway, the limbo dancing was great fun. Dad clearly felt that he had pulled off a blinder by booking Dorothy…
…while mum did far more dancing than was good for her, just three months after having a hip replacement:
Update/Footnote Post Publication
I managed to track down and get in touch with Steve Lytton after publishing this piece – it seemed only polite to let him know that his youthful limbo dancing efforts were now in the public domain.
It was really nice to catch up with Steve and e-chat after so many years.
One thing that Steve said solved at least part of the “why a limbo dancer at my Barmitzvah party” mystery:
…what a coincidence. We had a limbo dancer at MY Barmitzvah party…
…said Steve. The penny dropped. We had a limbo dancer at my celebration because I/we had so much enjoyed the limbo dancer at his, a year or so earlier. So the question now really should be, “why did Steve have a limbo dancer at his Barmitzvah party?” Or maybe it was simply the fashion for such parties at that time.
It seems that I got out a bit more in the days running up to the day of my Bar Mitzvah. Just as well, as it was a heatwave week apparently. It seems that the Levinson family had been away for a couple of weeks and had now returned.
Sunday, 3 August 1975 – Uneventful. More presents, dined at Chippy. Grandma Anne and Andrew [Levinson] came home today.
Monday, 4 August 1975 – played with Andy [Levinson]. Dentist – no trouble. TV Star Trek, My Honourable Mrs, Hiroshima.
Tuesday, 5 August 1975 – Andy morning, afternoon uneventful. Test draw. TV Test and Inspector Clouseau.
Wednesday, 6 August 1975 – went to Brixton and Grandma Jenny. TV The Shadow, The Rough and the Smooth. Four pressies.
I have no recollection of the sitcom The Rough and the Smooth. That might be a telling fact about it.
Thursday, 7 August 1975 – went to Box Hill, private swimming pool etc. Ida trouble. TV All in the Family.
I have a very vague memory of being taken out by Uncle Manny & Auntie Ida that day. I think the “trouble” resulted because they didn’t drop me back to our house but expected me to walk home from their place, about 15-20 minutes walk, which resulted in my mum having a bit of a hissy about that.
The irony of seeing a programme “All in the Family” after that is not wasted on me. I don’t think that sitcom found much favour in our household either.
Friday, 8 August 1975 – common in morning. Flowers to shule in afternoon / shule evening. Still a heatwave.
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?
I didn’t much use the B word (“boring”) in my teenage diaries, but that word does crop up more than once during the first three weeks of April 1975, deployed recklessly, as I shall point out later in this piece.
Tuesday, 1 April 1975 played on my own. TV Flintstones, Edward VII. Made model plane.
Wednesday 2 April 1975 – went to Andrew’s [Levinson] in afternoon. Played snooker etc. TV 20th Century Fox Presents, Fight Against Slavery.
Thursday, 3 April 1975 – played tennis and football in morning with Andy [Levinson] and Stuart [Harris]. TV man about the house, are you being served, Dave Allen.
Friday 4 April 1975 – played with Andy in afternoon. In morning got record missing from library [?].
Saturday 5 April 1975 – went to Spurs in afternoon. TV Pot Black, Canon.
I cannot fathom what I am trying to tell my diary about the record library. I do recall borrowing a lot of records from the library over the years, probably starting around then.
I can convincingly report through the power of memory that Stanley Benjamin took me to see that match. My memory (as enhanced by Google) can also report that a star-studded Spurs beat Luton Town 2-1 that day.
Sunday, 6 April 1975 – classes morning. Kalooki in afternoon and evening. All square!? Times seven.
Monday, 7 April 1975 – played with Andy. TV Likely Lads, Alias Smith and Jones, Goodies, Horizon.
Tuesday, 8 April 1975 – went shopping. Classes, grammar, whole book!! TV High Society, Edward The Seventh.
Wednesday, 9 April 1975 – Paul Deacon came over for day. Nice time.
Thursday, 10 April 1975 – classes! Andrew in the afternoon. TV Man About The House, Are You Being Served?
Friday, 11 April 1975 – another boring day! Tennis Stuart Harris. TV Caribe, The Good Life, Within These Walls, ? by 10!
I can only apologise to my friends whose names are juxtaposed with the word boring. I am quite sure I meant to say, “boring day apart from…” rather than suggest that my activities with friends were boring.
Saturday, 12 April 1975 – went to Chelsea V Man City. Lost 0–1. Good match though.
Sunday, 13 April 1975 – Kalooki 4p. Classes pretty boring as usual. Benjahair turned up! Mini squidge joined.
I cannot work out exactly where those nicknames came from, or even in the case of the first one whose nickname it was. Benjahair might have been Alison Benjamin‘s nickname at that time. Mini Squidge was Graham Laikin, younger brother of “Squidge” who was Richard Laikin. I’m sure these lovely people will be thrilled to have their teenage nicknames dug out of the archives for posterity. This is what happens when information treasure troves are opened under the fifty year rule. 🤪
Monday 14 April 1975 morning uneventful. Afternoon Andrew and Henry. TV Likely Lads, Alias Smith & Jones, Goodies – goody goody yum yum!
Tuesday, 15 April 1975 – Andrew afternoon snooker 7-6 to me after 5-1 to him. Molivers [Josh & Sadie] came in evening. Nice day!
Wednesday, 16 April 1975 – hospital mum in within three weeks. Taken by Marjorie and Wendy [Levinson]. Brixton haircut. TV Survivors, Fight Against Slavery.
Coincidentally, a few days after writing this piece, I spotted “Auntie Marjorie’s car” in Waitrose, Ealing. The proud owner, who had recently acquired the car, was delighted that I wanted to photograph it:
I cannot recall who Henry was. If it was someone from Alleyn’s School, Henry is a nickname which has slipped my memory. Apologies. Perhaps a friend of Andy’s from his previous school, Dulwich Prep. Sadie Moliver was mum’s cousin, although a generation older than mum in fact. Sadie was one of the few people on the planet who terrified my mum. It might have been on this occasion that I helped make the tea and mum demanded in a trembling voice that I ensure that Sadie’s cuppa was strong or else she would denounce it…
“this tea tastes like piss”.
Sadie when much younger. Thanks to Sidney Pizan for the picture.
Thursday 17 April 1975. I’ve – went to Alan’s [Cooke] for day. Lovely time. Went to classes. TV Love Thy Neighbour, Are You Being Served.
Friday, 18 April 1975 – had diarrhoea! Went shopping. In afternoon saw film on TV: The Village, Husband of the Year, The Good Life.
I’m sure that many of my readers are appreciating this level of detail in my juvenile diary, especially the many readers who like to use Ogblog as mealtime reading. [Please insert your own joke along the lines of “verbal diarrhoea diary” here]
Saturday, 19 April 1975 went to see Chelsea V Spurs. Fighting on terraces. Lost 0-2. Boo. TV Pot Black final, G[raham] Miles won. Canon.
Regarding THAT football match, I remember the occasion quite clearly. Again I was with Stanley Benjamin & some other members of the Benjamin family in their season ticket seats. The scrappiness of the football can be seen in this “classic match” video:
The match, the violence and the long tail of resentment between the two sides is captured in this article – click here -one of many I could have chosen.
I didn’t feel any sense of danger, as my hosts knew (or at least held themselves out to be knowing) how and when to leave the ground to avoid trouble.
My parents, however, were unnerved by the fact that I was on my way home from a football match while they were seeing scenes of violence from the ground on the news.
It might have been that occasion, more than anything else, that made my parents a little more reluctant to let me go off to football matches, while being quite relaxed about me toddling off to see county cricket at The Oval.
Friends who have shown concern about my football allegiances at that time (Perry Harley – you might be one of many) will spot the clarity of my express emotions in the April 1975 diary – my heart at that time was with Chelsea. Whereas I can now honestly say that my heart is not with (or against) any football team.
For those who find snooker more to their taste than football, I have found that Pot Black final on YouTube too:
You might sense that I was becoming a little skittish for the last two days of that school holiday. Dig the final two holiday entries:
Sunday, 20 April 1975 – found snail (Sydney). Kalooki, won 22p. Nice day in all!
Monday, 21 April 1975 – went to Tooting. Played around. TV Likely Lads, Alias Smith and Jones, Goodies – a goody goody yum Yum.
What I did in Tooting and with whom I played around on that last day of the holidays is lost in the mists of time. Andy Levinson and/or Stuart Harris most likely.
The ultra violence of those London derby football matches was clearly starting to have an effect on us youngsters! 🤪
I stumbled across this page of my juvenile diary in July 2018, while searching for something completely different.
For those viewers of this page with reading difficulties – which, in the context of my handwriting, means “everyone, even to some extent me” – the Saturday entry reads:
went to first soccer match – Chelsea v Midsbro concert mum & dad Trial by Jury
I’ll write a seperate piece about that little concert series quite soon, but the only element of the concert business that affects this blog post is the strange juxtaposition of spending Saturday afternoon at Stamford Bridge, then traversing London to play in an Alleyn’s School concert early that evening.
I’m struggling to recall what happened, but my only memories of going to Stamford Bridge include Andy Levinson, who was keen on Chelsea (at least he was at that time). I do have a memory of going up to Stamford Bridge with Andy on the bus and watching a match, but I think that must have been some time after this first one.
I do recall that Andy was also involved in that lower school concert. More on that anon.
But in any case, I find it hard – almost impossible – to believe that our parents would have allowed us find our own way to a football match and then make our own way from Stamford Bridge to Alleyn’s School to play in that concert. I have a funny feeling that Norman Levinson (Andy’s dad) might have taken us to that first football match and chauffeured us from Chelsea to Dulwich after the match, while my parents probably took Marjory (Andy’s mum) from Woodfield Avenue to the concert.
Andy and I were pretty independent 12-year olds…but I don’t think we’d have been allowed to be quite THAT independent in March 1975. I hope Andy has better recollection of what happened than me. If Andy does chime in, naturally I’ll add his resultant thoughts to this piece.
Of course, the internet allows me to find out everything I could possibly want to know about the match in question and more besides.
I was delighted to discover that the Chelsea team that day included Ron “Chopper” Harris… click here to see Ron Harris...whose name (and association with mine) had coincidentally come up in conversation during the MCC v HAC tennis match only a few days before I made this diary discovery.
Other names that leap out of that team sheet page at me are John Hollins, Ray Wilkins, Jim Platt and Graeme Souness. But perhaps several others are hugely famous and I am simply showing my profound lack of football knowledge.
The result wouldn’t have pleased Andy; nor me I suppose, with Middlesbrough prevailing 2-1. Younger readers who might mistakenly think that “League Division One” is something quite lowly should rest assured that the division named thus in those days was the very top, crème de la crème, division.
Most of the football I saw at that age was at White Hart Lane, where Stanley Benjamin would sometimes take me (and Andy too on occasion) if some members of Stanley’s family were away and thus he had one or more season tickets to spare.
But this very first one…if Andy’s memory can’t help I suspect the rest of the story is lost for ever in the mists of time.
Postscript
Andy Levinson writes:
What a team they, Chelsea, were! I remember we sat yes in the posh seats. I don’t remember that specific match but I suspect you are absolutely right that we would have been chauffeured there by dad and on to Alleyn’s after as we were both involved in the concert!
I do remember that we were able to get autographs from the players as their only access from their gym pre match was via the public stairwells in the stand and our seats were not far from the gym. Sadly I think I threw away my autograph book that had any of the signatures of the Chelsea team of those “golden years”!
I’m glad that is resolved. I’m also glad that the “partial memory” I had invoked in myself of Norman Levinson sitting with us at the football, gently smoking his pipe while the match played out, must be a genuine one.
I don’t think I joined you in the getting of autographs though, Andy. I always remember somewhat recoiling from doing that and quite early in life resolving not to be an autograph hunter. But it is also possible that, on that occasion, my first, that I joined in and that my “collection” of autographs also failed to make it through time’s relentless journey.
Although sparse and almost illegible, the notes in my diary from that week bring back a flood of memories.
Here is the page for that week in its glorious technicolour sparseness and illegibility:
I was going through a “coloured tempo pen” phase at that time. I think the Saturday entry was written in invisible ink, which I then remedied with the “antidote” stuff that makes invisible ink visible. That is not conventional diarist method, I now realise, but that idea must have made sense to me at the time…probably because I had bought invisible ink from the joke shop that week.
Let me start deciphering diary entries:
Sunday, 15 December 1974 – Hanukkah party at classes. Dined at Feld’s. [Visited] Jacksons to teach backgammon. TV Planet of the Apes v good
Monday, 16 December 1974 – Played at Andrew’s all day. TV Likely Lads, Waltons and Carry On Christmas very good indeed.
Aficionados of Motown music will be disappointed to learn that I did not visit nor teach backgammon to The Jackson Five.
Just to be clear, I did not teach any of these people backgammon. Not Jackie, not Tito, not Jermaine, not Marlon and not Michael.
The Jacksons, in this instance, were Doreen Benjamin’s parents. Doreen’s mum, Jessie Jackson…yes, I know…was a very close friend of Grandma Jenny and Doreen was a very close friend of mum’s.
For the avoidance of doubt, I neither visited nor taught backgammon to the Reverend Jesse Jackson either
Tuesday, 17 December 1974 – Andrew and I went to “Bossils”? and Hamleys. Classes v good. Mum and dad went to [Angela and John’s] wedding. Fooled all with joke shop hot sweets.
With Hanukkah well before Christmas that year, I suspect that I had already received some seasonal gift money, as had Andy Levinson no doubt, so we were both in a position to treat ourselves on a big day out during the school holidays.
We probably knew where to go (e.g. Hamleys) because of a tradition we were lucky enough to be conjoined in when we were a bit smaller. Mrs Garrett, grandmother of our friend from the street, Bernard Garrett (no, not the Bernard Garrett depicted in the film The Banker), took us up to Hamleys with Bernard a couple of times in the early 1970s as a Christmas treat.
I’m not sure where the joke shop was – I recall visiting Davenports near The British Museum with Andy, but that must have been a different trip I think. I think the source of our joke shop sweets, stinkeroos and invisible ink was a joke shop at the Carnaby end of Soho.
“Fooled all with joke shop sweets” makes me think of the comics we used to read when we were little. I was allowed one a week; my comic of choice was Whizzer and Chips.
I’m sure the conceit that two comics had merged into one made me think I was getting as BOGOF by choosing Whizzer and Chips. Someone else in the street (possibly Andy Levinson) or maybe at Primary School (Alan Cooke?) was more the Beano type, so I would sometimes swap and get to see more than one comic in a week.
I think I had outgrown such comics by the age of 12, but I had clearly not completely outgrown the language I learnt from them. Yaroo!
Wednesday, 18 December 1974 – Dentist in the morning first thing. Essential filling. Andrew in afternoon. “Enhanced”? stinkeroo from the joke shop worked. Went to Fairfield Hall with Paul Deacon – very nice time there.
Mum and dad’s evening at Angela and John’s wedding feast had not been a total success, as I recall. Dad had rather overindulged and mum felt he had embarrassed her. This combination of mum berating and dad hungover was quite clear to me that next morning. Meanwhile I was suffering from my own collywobbles ahead of that trip to the dentist for an “essential filling”.
I have had very few fillings in my lifetime – this might have been my first one or possibly the second.
Our dentist was Harry Wachtel, a gentleman of n Austrian origin, who had been a refugee from the Nazis. He spoke with a thick Germanic accent and did not suffer fools gladly.
I didn’t think that Mr Wachtel had CCTV cameras in his surgery. Yet, a couple of years later, John Schlesinger recreated, in Marathon Man, the scene of that filling, with such exceptional accuracy…I’m now thinking that Harry Wachtel must have filmed that filling event and sent the rushes to John Schlesinger. There is no other possible explanation for the following movie scene:
I cannot remember what Paul Deacon and I went to see at The Fairfield Hall on 18 December 1974. Do you remember, Paul? In any case, many thanks to you, Paul, (or should I say, thanks to your folks) for treating me along with you. My diary suggests that we had a great time.
Thursday, 19 December 1974 – morning Andrews. Lunch at Andrews. Afternoon at home with Andrew -> Classes – TV Mastermind and Xmas Oneupmanship v good.
Friday, 20 December 1974 – Alan [Cooke] here all day – very nice indeed. TV Goodies and the Beanstalk very good. G Anne’s v good got lots of presents.
Saturday, 21 December 1974 – Made a start on model Auntie Pam gave me. TV “something clover v good”?
I’m going to guess that Cookie and I spent a fair part of that day playing the bespoke game we invented with my Hot Wheels car track and a rather motley collection of Timpo Wild West buildings, which we would half-heartedly construct at the end of the Hot Wheels run and then demolish with the Hot Wheels cars.
Maybe you had to be there…or maybe you had to be 10-12 to appreciate this activity, but Alan and I would spend hours at this activity. Hey, Alan – look at those e-bay links – it wouldn’t cost THAT much to recreate the scene. I’m sure Janie would understand and I’m sure we could make space here for yet more clutter.
Sadly, my terrible handwriting, together with the effluxion of time makes the TV element of my log illegible. Happily, BBC Genome comes to the rescue, enabling me to confirm that I rated Doctor In Clover “v good”.
