What was it like to be a student in the 1970’s?
Luckily I kept a diary – although how I found the time amongst all the gigs, bars and occasional lectures baffles me!
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My Groovy 45’s No.5: Stagger Lee by Wilson Pickett
Stagger Lee by Wilson Pickett: this should be a movie: a man takes another man’s stetson hat and is shot dead. True story from 1895 and a great song recorded so many times by artists from Taj Mahal to Neil Diamond. I own 5 versions that I know of!
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Told my story in court; sympathetic Judge wanted action; brief optimism
Homeless in London part 5: 26th. April 1976. Today I felt temporary relief as I was finally able to tell my story to a judge, who made a clear decision to find our landlord and bring her before the court. However, things did not go entirely according to plan.
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My Groovy 45’s No.4: Sly & the Family Stone
#4 in my series of Groovy 45’s from what remains of my DJ singles collection from the 1970s and early 1980s. This would get them on the dance floor!
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Five days of hell: no home, no possessions, courts, police, heavies at the door – and a car chase
Homeless in London part 4: 24th. April 1976. Five days without a change of clothes, roaming the street for much of the day, visiting umpteen people and organisations that seemed powerless to help – and a car chase around Stoke Newington. Being homeless is painful, tiring, squalid and I felt very much alone.
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My groovy 45’s: ‘What’ by Judy Street
Very few singles from my days as ‘Funky Genghis’ survive, but some did – and still sound great today! This is ‘What’ by Judy Street, which will be known to most for the 1982 synth version by Soft Cell.
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After a great Easter – and a landmark Johnnie Walker radio show – I was locked out of my home
Homeless in London part 3: 16th. to 19th. April 1976. After a great Easter weekend I arrived home to find all my possessions on the wrong side of a locked door. The realisation that I was homeless dawned on my only slowly, and all I had were the clothes I stood up in.
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Last day at work, no pay cheque, Easter weekend – & homelessness – approaching
Homeless in London part 2: 15th. April 1976. My last day at City & Guilds; drinks with work colleagues; home to a growing sense of fear… how long would I have a place to live?
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The first week of April 1976 – finding a temp job, buying a Gentle Giant ticket, a Eurovision win for Britain and an interview with Michael Foot
The first week of April 1976 saw me arriving back in London from Swansea and setting off first thing for a temp agency to find work. It ended with buying a Gentle Giant ticket, a Eurovision win for Britain and a TV interview with Michael Foot MP.
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Swansea field trip: the final days fading away into beer and a failed attempt to get home
The fag-end of the geography field trip seems to have just faded away. I was wandering around trying to find potential tourist attractions – for a forthcoming essay – and failing to hitch back to London. Back at home I learned that sadly my flatmates had lost Tigger in Market Rasen.
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Who decides what is an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty?
Two days on the Gower Peninsula evaluating the landscape. How can you apply a score to hills, valleys, lakes and rivers? I had no idea, but that is what we had to do.
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Geography field trip: late nights, parties, cooked breakfasts, mystery tours – and lot’s of Welsh beer!
Swansea days 1 & 2: fast train from Paddington, numerous beers, late night parties, cooked breakfasts, Old Grey Whistle Test. Oh, and a bit of geography too.
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Four long days of temp work and evenings of study. And then I bought a ticket to Swansea…
Week ending 21st. March was very tiring, and my first experience of work through a temp agency. Long days of learning a new job and long evenings of study. But joy was on the horizon – a residential geography field trip to Swansea!
Colin Anderson 