Giles and the Mackinnons - May 2nd 1977

Few things are more delightful to read than a Giles annual. At the time of posting this blog, I've just finished reading the Giles annual 1956 (bought yesterday in Exeter for just £2.50, and one I've not seen before now). They're uniquely evocative of their time, Giles framing the state of the world through his particular comic lens, and take the reader instantly back in time. So it's very interesting to see the cartoon above, clipped straight out of that day's Daily Express (Mum & Dad claimed they started getting it so Nana could do the crossword, then kept getting it through force of habit, not dropping it until well into the 1980s).

I've splashed some watercolour on it, which has survived the passing years better than the newspaper itself, combined as it has with whatever glue I used to turn it to a brittle brown mess. I wasn't planning ahead was I?

As always, I've illustrated the TV I watched, and well done anyone who can remember whatever The Mackinnons was. IMDB records that it was a BBC Scotland series starring Bill Simpson, and the BFI says it was a medical drama, but more than that I can't find.

Some intriguing Records For The Day here. The Bay City Rollers cover of It's A Game, which remains listenable to this day, then a Belgian Eurovision entry (give it a listen, it's cracking), and The Calendar Song by The Trinidad Oil Company. I might not have had the best musical taste, but I was eclectic in my selection of rubbish.