Saturday 20 January 2024
Snow and faded Banda - Jan 19 & 20 1978
Friday 19 January 2024
6 Million Dollar Man & er that's it - Jan 19 & 20 1976
My, someone had a whole load of nothing much going on in his life when he was 14 years old. January 1976 and you'd be hard pressed to find a less interesting couple of days of diary. A nifty, if lop sided, attempt at drawing The Six Million Dollar Man by me, and it looks like Fawlty Towers was being given a re-run which would mean me seeing it for the first time.
My Records For The Day were the long-forgotten follow up to Motorbiking by Chris Spedding (who must have been meeting the Sex Pistols for the first time about now), and Sgt Pepper, which I think I had recently bought with my Christmas money.
Wednesday 17 January 2024
Me In A Spoon & Under A Shower - Jan 17 & 18 1975
Excitement of excitement, something actually happens in this diary, and I even try and draw it. This is from the early days of what I called my Picture Diary, when I honestly thought I was going to make a comic strip of my life. Sadly this was as eventful as it ever got: me being pushed under a shower fully clad at Scouts, then having to walk home, and me drawing myself in the back of a spoon.
My fascination with what I was watching on TV was clearly worth spending more time over, with episode four of Doctor Who in Robot getting the full treatment, along with cameos from Jennie Hanely, Ed Stewpot Stewart, and Black Beauty. And, for no obvious reason, The Lone Ranger.
My Records For The Day were a couple of classics from Stevie Wonder and the Bay City Rollers.
Wednesday 16 August 2023
Death of Elvis - 16th August 1977
Saturday 26 December 2020
Frank Ifield in Panto - Dec 26 & 27 1974
Some legendary TV on at the time, including On The Town (which we watched only a couple of weeks ago), MASH (which the Socks did a song about only last month) and Wait Till Your Father Gets Home (about which I was reminiscing very recently). And this must, I assume, be the first time I'd seen Help! It was definitely the first time, and possibly the last, I tried drawing The Beatles.
The Christmas Dayth - Dec 25 1974
The first Christmas captured by my Picture Diary (which began life towards the end of term in June 1974) concentrates on illustrating the goodies I've received. Which include the legendary Goodies Files, a book that crops up regularly in second hand bookshops at pocket money prices. Does no-one realise the sheer quality of that book? With its cutout pages, overlaps and folds, and of course top notch comedy writing and pictures it is rivalled only by another pressie I got that year, The Brand New Monty Python Papperbok.
I had in fact been bought the Papperbox the previous Christmas (well, the hardback Bok version) by Mum who then took a lot through it and decided I was too young for it. She wasn't wrong. There are gags in this book that I wasn't going to understand for a few years yet.
That trouser belt was one I treasured and wore for the next five years, into my student days. It may still exist somewhere, it was a solid piece of brass was that buckle. That Giles book may well have been the foundation stone of my collection, which now included all but half a dozen very early books. To be honest, some could use replacing with less tatty versions. I wonder if I'll remember that in time for next year's Christmas presents?
Friday 25 December 2020
"Post Christmas Ghost Town" - Dec 26 & 27 1975
The rest of post-Christmas 1975 looks much like it does today. Somewhere they'll be showing The Railway Children, Tom Thumb, and Dad's Army, and folks will be reminiscing about the time they saw Genesis Of The Daleks. In my case, it was at the bottom of page right.