1970

[floppybootstomp]

I've called this thread '1970' as I seem to have taken a lot of pix in that year. In 1970 I was working as a photojournalist, hell knows how I got away with it cos I was pretty rubbish at taking pix back then. I did, however, get a lot of pix published, not many people can mess up taking a pic of the Mayor presenting some non-entity with a reward for road safety or whatever.

I don't know what cameras I possessed then, can't remember, but I do know one was an SLR and the other was very likely a Rolleiflex DLR taking 120mm film.

You wouldn't think so, however, from quality of these pix

Ok, first pic. Whilst I was scanning negs, came across this. I have not a clue what it was all about, looks like a town hall somehwere and the girls seem to be beauty contest winners with sashes proclaiming Miss Redbridge and Miss Wandsworth adorning their bodies.

Looking at them females, gawd knows how they won anything only 2 vaguely attractive to me are 1st and 3rd from right but hey, personal preferences, ok?

That photo did actually make me laugh. I notice main man (Possibly Eric Morley, organiser of Miss World contest?) is holding a big cake. The lady next to him (possibly his wife?) is grinning. I pictured the man slapping cake straight in her boat race and for some reason it just gave me the giggles. Splat! Yes, lol

EDIT: Who is that perv on the left of pic smoking a cigarette? He look like a psycho to me, lol

ok, race pix (more pix to come):

Well look at that, a Mustang. Dang.

 

[TriplexDread]

They actually very good mate.

I was born in August 1970..How time has flown lol

 

[Anon_F]

Nice car photos.

"Who is that perv on the left of pic smoking a cigarette? He look like a psycho to me, lol"
Could that me a young FBS?

 

[floppybootstomp]

Nice car photos.

"Who is that perv on the left of pic smoking a cigarette? He look like a psycho to me, lol"
Could that me a young FBS?

There seemed to be a lot of actors appearing in films around that time who looked like that fella, mostly playing psychotic characters. A bit like a cross between Ian Bannen and Oliver Reed. Kinda. A bit. Maybe.

 

[Ian]

Cracking pics Flops! Always enjoying seeing your photos from the past .

 

[Quadophile]

Very nostalgic indeed! I loved the pics on this thread, the photos are done very nicely, love the tone.

 

[floppybootstomp]

Another set, poor quality pix but I think they capture the spirit, Brands Hatch Race Circuit (Kent UK) Banger Derby, 1970:

 

[nivrip]

Some great old cars there, Flops.

And I'm very impressed with the 'Elf and Safety measures.

 

[floppybootstomp]

A few more snapshots. All of these were taken in 1970 by me. Most have been scanned from negatives so many are scratched or damaged.

First up, a view of New Cross, the A2 out of central London facing south. Why I took the pic how I came to be so high up I have not a clue. Possibly related to a newspaper story.

Next, a pic from the same strip of negatives so presumably this is New Cross railway station though I really don’t know.

This is a guy named Phil Hurrell standing in front of Roy’s Ford Corsair outside his parent’s home. Just to the right of the pic is where the Hither Green train crash happened in 1967. Phil and his parents were up all night making tea and sandwiches for the rescuers and survivors.

Most of the train turned turtle after derailing at 70mph and the sides of two coaches were ripped off. A photographer I know who attended the crash scene said he had nightmares about what he saw and can’t shake the memory of workers picking up small parts of human bodies with litter spikes and putting them in sacks.

Two pics of Roy’s Ford Anglia race car. Raced at Brands Hatch a few times but didn’t win any races.

This is Billy Tarrant and his two daughters outside his pub, The Southwark Park Tavern where me and Roy and Bob played Heavy Rock and progressive music for about ten months. Billy was welterweight boxing champion of Rotherhithe and Bermondsey for a while. He was hard, he knew villains and he liked us. I had a lot of time for Billy.

Phil Hurrell started DJ-ing before me. He played this club named Diplocks in Eastbourne sometimes. Here’s a coupla pix of two of the girlies who went there.

This is Colin McDonald and a couple of young ladies he met in Hastings at a club called the Cobweb. This was afterwards and we were all inebriated, must have been about 1.30am. Note the female dress sense alluding to trailer park status and the religious nature of the water fountain monument they’re leaning against.

In 1970 I had a basement flat in Ladywell. Here’s a pic of me in it partaking of an ‘erbal cigarette. I was working on a newspaper and had to review films. The press offices of the film companies sent me lots of big glossy B & W stills from the films so I made a montage from some of them.

How many do you recognise? (That’s if you can make any out from this reduced size pic)

My younger brother John, aged five, Guy Fawkes night.

A petrol tanker, Forest Hill. The sign on the left says ‘Green Shield Stamps’.

Me, aged 19.

Now, if there’s any young folk out there feeling insecure about their looks and their perceived inability to pull female take a look at this guy and feel lucky. And to top it all off his name was Doug. Doug joined the army and the boot polish used for camouflage gave him acne. Poor Doug.

Me and Sue outside pub somewhere near East Grinstead on way to Brighton

And at same location Roy & Kathy.

 

[Taffycat]

Apart from the fashions of the time, there is nothing quite like traffic for stirring memories of an era... and no, I'm not being sarcastic. Seeing that photo you took from high up, really gives one a sense of the time.

I've never been much of a cinema-goer, so didn't manage to recognise many of the stills from your photo montage... other than one or two, such as Peter Sellers in one of the Pink Panther films; Olivia Hussey in Romeo and Juliet and Mia Farrow in Rosemary's Baby (I think?) So no prizes for me then!! Lol

That photo of your friend Doug... have you noticed the resemblance between him and Rupert Grint Ron Weasley, mate of Harry Potter? (Or am I the only one who thinks that?)

 

[nivrip]

Mini-skirts..............................................

 

[nivrip]

And as to the montage, I can see the ones TC mentioned plus a pic of John Lennon with Yoko and, I think, one of Midnight Cowboy.

Other than that I'm stumped.

 

[Becky]

Fantastic photos flops, I think these two are my faves:

It really captures the speed of the cars, and I can almost smell the fumes. Excellent shot - whenever I take photos of moving things they always look rubbish!

The other one I like is this one:

I think it's something to do with the ambiance captured - I think we all remember those cold nights, looking a bit wide-eyed by it all. That smokey smell on your clothes when you get home, and being told off my your mum for wanting to play with fire

 

[V_R]

Mini-skirts..............................................

Must admit i was thinking the same.


Cracking photos Flops, nice to see them as it was before i was born.

 

[Abarbarian]

Is that dixon of Dock Green in the bottom right in the montage ?

Becky's first choice is a fab pic flops.

 

[floppybootstomp]

Thanks for the comments everybody, ‘specially to Bex.

The pix in the montage, I don’t know them all myself but going from top as you’d read text I can recognise: Charles Bronson and Susan George in ‘Twinky’; A British rail SE Region electric train; A Blue Meanie from the Beatles film Yellow Submarine; Olivia Hussey and the geezer in Romeo & Juliet; John & Yoko, probably in Imagine; Raquel Welch, don’t know what film; Mick Jagger in Ned Kelly; Charles Bronson & possibly Jill Ireland in possibly one of the Death Wish films, but not sure; Olivia Hussey again, solo, from Romeo & Juliet; a scene from Women In Love with Alan Bates; possibly Alf Garnett; Christopher Lee as Dracula with two floozies; Midnight Cowboy; Judy Geeson (white T-Shirt) possibly from Here We Go Round The Mulberry Bush; Mia Farrow in Rosemary’s Baby; Mick Jagger again as Ned Kelly and another one of him just to the left of my ear in the picture, just before he’s hung in the film; and the very last picture is a police commissioner I took a picture of somewhere, possibly after an IRA bombing.

And that’s the best I can do.

 

[bootneck02]

If only we knew then what we do now

 

[bootneck02]

P.S. Great pictures Floppy brings back a lot of memories and also brings alive the past somehow, I think the spirit , the innocence, and how we were going to change the world

 

[floppybootstomp]

Welp, I was born in '51, I'm 60 years old now, I don't like being 60 years old but that's the way it is.

Looking back I honestly don't think I could have chosen a better year to be born in. Mine was the first generation not to be sent to war or forced into conscription. It was just six years after world war II and the economy started to grow. Rationing was still in place but soon to go but most importantly a certain optimism began to grow, the people saw a new time and an end to Nazi atrocities.

But most importantly the year I was born was the year rock and roll music wwas born and fused with American Delta blues has evolved into Tiny Tempah and Jessie J though they probably don't realise it.

My teens were spent in the so called swinging sixties and we threw off the yoke of being told what to do. Music changed year by year and so did movie making and journalism.

But most of all - the music. From Glenn Miller to The Beatles to Vampire Weekend, Bloc Party & Snow Patrol, a helluva ride.

Ironic, then, that we now find ourselves back in 1933 with means tests, poverty, unrest and a new addition - riots.

It is not all bad, I know this, but I look at things. And I wonder if I'm seeing things through an old person's eyes or I'm just seeing things as anybody would.

ASBO's for gang culture videos on Youtube encouraging knifings? A new one on me.

Still, whatever, I'm still alive, my daughters are well and I can still move about, lol - not so bad

 

[Becky]

It is not all bad, I know this, but I look at things. And I wonder if I'm seeing things through an old person's eyes or I'm just seeing things as anybody would.

ASBO's for gang culture videos on Youtube encouraging knifings? A new one on me.

A very good point. Though I sometimes wonder whether things have changed, or whether we just hear more about it through advances in media and technology.

You are very perceptive though, and I always enjoy your philosophical musings

P.S. I thought I saw Mick Jagger on your wall but had no idea he'd ever been in a film! Just found this article which was quite interesting