LSE Diaries
What was it like to be a student in the 1970’s?
I have no idea how I found the time but I managed to keep a diary. So if you want to know the price of beer or bread, what time I got up in the morning or what bands were on – read on!
LSE Diary posts
Posts from my 1975-79 diaries, mostly related to university but some about trips home to Devon.
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The Leyton Buzzards: Saturday Night Beneath the Plastic Palm Trees.
The Leyton Buzzards were a minor punk/new wave band but they did some good stuff – and they headlined a Rock Against Racism gig at the LSE.
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Two days in London and my physical & mental health improve immensely
A trip to London to meet up with friends, many of whom I had not seen since the late 1970s, ended up being a tonic for mind and soul.
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Vintage France – Avoriaz ski resort and the French Alps in 1978
Tourism Geography for the wealthy. This was a very pleasant location and the whole resort was well designed and laid out, with impressive multi-storey timber buildings everywhere.
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Vintage Switzerland – Geneva: city and modern housing developments in 1978
Geneva and a giant Swiss housing development in the style of Le Corbusier. And a picture of me at the top of Europe!
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Vintage France: Lyon, St.Etienne/Chambles & Injoux-Genissiat
1978: a bunch of geography students descend on France & Switzerland but this is no ordinary trip – we were visiting some pretty obscure places, ostensibly to learn… A trip in 4 parts.
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AC/DC, Gordon Giltrap, Wishbone Ash, Colosseum II, Split Enz, Stretch… great gigs in 1976; how many do you remember?
From the London college scene to large venues and small clubs – I was at a lot of gigs in ’76. Eric Clapton and Curved Air at Torquay Town Hall; Genesis and Caravan in London; John Martyn and Kevin Coyne at the London School of Economics.
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1977: a day in the life of a student – and I signed up for Leeds!
An account of a day in the life of a student. Not a typical one – I actually attended lectures on this day! I also signed up for Leeds…
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John Otway, sans Wild Willy?! Just John at the Torquay gig; Willy had testicular accident…
21 Dec 77: an evening at the 400 Club in Torquay to enjoy John Otway, beer & friends. But where was Wild Willy Barrett?
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Dave Edmunds’ Rockpile headlining; so who were these men in black bin bags called Ultravox?
26 Feb 77: Dave Edmunds’ Rockpile headlining – and very good – but many were for an answer to the question: who are Ultravox?
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From Caravan to AC/DC in one day
12 May 76: listening to Caravan in the morning and down to the Marquee in the evening for a completely unknown band called AC/DC…
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National Health @ LSE – prog rock, jazz fusion & the Canterbury Scene
I sometimes forget that jazz fusion was big in the 70’s, with Brand X (Phil Collin’s band) being my favourite at the time (and now!)
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Steel Pulse, Graham Parker, The Damned… & the Crazy World of Arthur Brown – live in 1977
Second year at Uni and I was engrossed in Ents (entertainments), beer, music and gigs. No wonder I only scraped through exams!
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It was late; we were huddled in a student flat in London and had no idea we were about to witness The Birth of Punk
In a bedsit in Fitzrovia, London, it was almost midnight and a revolution in music was about to take place…
Diaries 1975-78 – King’s College & the London School of Economics
I kept a diary for some of the time at university. I have no idea how I found the time – I was in the bar, in the Ents room, listening to music, going to gigs and commuting to college. I was even able to attend the occasional lecture!
My diaries have travelled with me in removals vans and boxes since the late 1970’s, and until Covid I never found the time to search them out, read them and transcribe them. They made often interesting, and sometimes embarrassing reading.
A lot of names are mentioned, some of whom I can remember well, others vaguely, and some not at all. Some are people that I was clearly close to and fond of, but who I have not seen or heard from since 1978. If anyone recognises a name I would love to hear from you.
I was in the Joint School of Geography and joined Kings College London (KCL) in 1975. The school was shared between KCL and the London School of Economics (LSE), one to the north of the Aldwych and the other to the south.
It may have been a joint school but each college was very different in character. It did not take long for me to learn that my temperament was better suited the LSE, so I transferred to that institution in 1976 for my second and third years.
I started this page in February 2021 and there is a lot more to come, so keep coming back!
Colin Anderson 