Ten Most Memorable Times At The Movies

This MEME originally did the rounds way back when but I thought it'd be nice to revisit it.

"This is not about the best movies you've ever seen. Describe ten experiences watching a movie that stick in your mind as being particularly memorable - for whatever reason."

Star Wars
Still my favourite film of all time, I saw this when it first came out in the UK in early 1978, when I was 9.  As I've written about before (which you can read here), I was very aware of the film and very eager to see it.  We'd already tried to get into one showing but it was  full, so Dad took me and my friend Claire back to Rothwell.  We headed off down the Rec. to play - it was cold and there was a lot of fog - and only realised the time when we could hear Dad calling us, to go to the next showing.  My main memory from that day is watching the Star Destroyer come over the camera in almost the first shot and I knew I’d never seen anything like it before in my life.

I was lucky enough to see it in the cinema a few more times - a double-bill with The Empire Strikes Back and then a triple-bill (what a marathon that was) with both Empire and Return Of The Jedi - and I also caught the special editions at the cinema too.

Even better, I got to watch the films again with Dude and it was wonderful to re-experience them through his eyes!

Dead Ringers
My friend Craig & I went to the cinema a lot in the late 80s/early 90s, alternating between the Kettering, Burton Latimer and Corby ‘theatres’.  Can’t do that now, can we, Mr Odeon?  I’d loved David Cronenberg’s films since watching Videodrome (which I wrote about here) and Scanners in the mid-80s, so rushed along to see this.  It wasn’t a popularly held view - including me and Craig, there were only 6 people in the cinema.  It’s the quietest I’ve ever heard an audience file out - all of us looked shocked and white faced - but what a brilliant film it is.

Basic Instinct
Not the greatest film ever, I know but Alison & I went out as mates on a cinema trip to The Point in Milton Keynes.  We booked a double bill, watched Waynes World first and then went to get something to eat.  Midway through I asked her to go out with me so therefore our first film as a couple was Verhoven’s sleazy thriller.  Well, it could be worse…

The Land Before Time
Back in the late 80s, I often took my kid sister Sarah to the cinema during school holidays (video was starting to get a real grip, but we didn’t have a player, so the only place to see big Disney films was at the flicks).  I picked this particular film out of the many because it vividly reminds me, every time I think of it, of the difference between kids and adults (I would have been in my late teens, Sarah around 5 or 6).  One of the dinosaurs’ mothers dies, right near to the start and the kids in the audience went mental (it was quite a spectacular death if I remember rightly), laughing and shouting.  I thought it was very sad and looked around, trying to see if I was alone in that and wiping away a stray tear.  Turns out I wasn’t - whilst most of the kids were thoroughly enjoying themselves, most of the adults seemed to have “something in their eye”.

Whore
I went to see this at The Point, in Milton Keynes, with a friend of mine called Julie.  It was my suggestion - I'd enjoyed the Ken Russell films I'd seen to that point and I liked Theresa Russell a lot.  The film started.  It was vile.  It got worse.  To date - and I’ve seen a lot of films at the cinema - this is only film I’ve ever walked out of.

Sinbad And The Eye Of The Tiger
1977 - my friends and I went on our own to a matinee showing of this (I assume none of our parents wanted to sit through it).  The cinema was chaotic, popcorn everywhere, a lot of noise and we 8 year olds were thrilled to be there on our own.  The noise quietened down during the film and I remember I liked it - a feeling no doubt helped because of the presence of Ms Lambs Navy Rum herself, Caroline Munro (who, many years later, I got to meet - as I wrote about here).  A friend of mine, who’d already seen the film, kept telling me about this huge seal that came out of the ice to attack the goodies and I was, quite frankly, terrified.  Then I saw it and, for the first time, realised that my imagination, on occasion, could be far more powerful than what film-makers could get on the screen.

Fatal Attraction
For our first date (I do pick them, don’t I?), I took my new girlfriend Sara to see this at the Northampton ABC - a beautiful old Art Deco theatre, complete with a balcony and organ that came out of the stage, which is now a Jesus Army Centre (thanks for that, Mr Out-Of-Town Multiplex).  I enjoyed the film and, as soon as it appeared that Glenn Close was dead in the bath, I knew what was going to happen.  This is why, when she leapt out of the water only to be shot by Ann Archer, I was watching the rest of the cinema-goers rather than the screen.  And I swear it was as if everyone moved into the seat directly behind them, a living, screaming ripple effect.  I’ve never seen anything like it since.

Star Trek III: The Search For Spock

Never the biggest Star Trek fan, I don't think I'd even see Wrath Of Khan (probably my favourite of them all) when this was released but one of the tabloids offered free tickets if you queued at the nearest relevant cinema and that seemed like a good idea.  The closest one to us was the Northampton ABC so me, my friend Steve and his sister spent a happy few hours in the queue, chatting to our fellow would-be patrons.  We got the tickets, I enjoyed the film and later wrote an essay about the day, which won an English prize that year at school.

Raiders Of The Lost Ark
Nick (who I've known since 1976 and is still my best friend) and I had a falling out during the summer of 1981.  Not being friends wasn’t at all pleasant but, typically for pre-teens, as horrible as it was neither of us was going to back down (and I can’t even remember what caused us to fall out).  It just so happened that, at the same time, Raiders Of The Lost Ark arrived at the cinema and nobody I knew wanted to see it - they either didn’t like spiders or snakes or ghosts.  Quite by chance, our mum’s met in the high street and, whilst talking, discovered both of us wanted to see the film but didn't have anyone to go and see it with.  I can’t remember now who made the first move but we made up, went to see the film and haven’t fallen out since.  The irony is that now I like horror films and Nick doesn’t, yet it was me at the time who covered his eyes when the first ‘angel’ turns into a ghoul at the climax!  It's a fact Nick has never let me forget.

A brilliant, stirring film, Raiders remains one of my all-time favourites.

An American Werewolf In London

I've long been a fan of the film (I wrote a retrospective on it here) and adore it but had only ever seen it at home or with friends, first on murky VHS, then on gorgeous DVD (where I finally realised the figure steaming in the night air was the original werewolf and not Jack, as I'd always thought).  When a company called Luna Flix began showing open air films at Stanwick Lakes, my friend David & I jumped at the chance to go and see this, the evening of the showing coinciding with a full moon, which was terrific.  The film looked gorgeous, it was great to see it under the stars and on a big screen and the whole experience was great fun (I wrote about it here).

I could also discuss the Live & Let Die/The Spy Who Loved Me double-bill my Dad took me to see, in 1978 - the first Bond films I’d ever seen at the cinema (but I already did, in-depth, at this blog post).


So what are your memorable moments?

An 80s Newspaper Clipping

A few weeks ago, I was flicking through my copy of Skeleton Crew and found this newspaper clipping.  I can only assume I ripped it out of the Kettering Evening Telegraph (dated 20th September 1986 - 36 years ago!) to take into work so my friends & I could plan what we were going to see at the cinema.  We went a lot in those days.

Just look at that terrific selection of films!    While Cobra was the first 18 certificate I got into (as I wrote about here, though according to my diary I saw it in Corby), I managed to see The Evil Dead, Rocky IV and Karate Kid 2 at one of the venues shown, at those astonishing prices (I remember a double-bill would cost £2.50 except, I presume, on Mondays and Thursdays).

I loved these places and they held a lot of history for me.  Dad took me to see my first James Bond film at Corby cinema (as I wrote about here), I saw a lot of great films at Kettering (Dad took me and Claire to Star Wars, Nick & I saw Raiders Of The Lost Ark, which I wrote about in What Gets Left Behind, Dad & I saw ET, the list goes on) and when Bentley’s opened it quickly became a favourite.

Attendance must have been falling (probably not helped by the fleapit nature of these cinemas, well past their prime) but the independents were clearly knackered and on their last legs when the multiplexes arrived and did away with them.  Sixfields in Northampton dealt the first blow and the Odeon in Kettering finished the job.  I'm not a big fan of the multiplex (I still go to them, obviously) because to me they feel like heartless, sterile places, more interested in selling food and drinks than anything else.  Yes, Kettering Ohio had holes in the ceiling and seats were missing and it was often better to sit down in the dark so you couldn’t see the state of your seat, but it felt real, like a proper cinema, where everyone there cared about the films.

On the bright side, independent cinemas have made something of a comeback and we often go to the Northampton Filmhouse (which was originally called the Errol Flynn), where Jon & I saw a brace of Hitchcock, Alison & I watched the INXS Live Baby Live film and I took Dad to see Dunkirk where the soundtrack almost rattled the speakers off the wall - it's small and comfortable, well run and shows an eclectic range of films.

 And yes, I know I sound like a dinosaur.

Another clipping I kept, this one from 1982
If we fancied a change, we'd sometimes go to the ABC Northampton (now a Jesus Army Centre) or the Palace Wellingborough (now a pub called The Cutting Room).  Later, when we had our own cars, we'd go to the midnight movie at The Point in Milton Keynes (the only multiplex I ever had any fondness for, it now stands by the MK shopping centre looking knackered and forlorn).

I took this picture in 2005, knowing that the building
would eventually be knocked down and wanting to
have a record of it...

Kettering Ohio started life as the Savoy Cinema, opened as a dual purpose cinema and theatre on 21st May 1938 with Spencer Tracey in The Big City plus a variety show on stage. It was built over the remains of the Coliseum Theatre which had opened in 1910 but burned down in 1937.

The Savoy had 1,150 seats in the stalls and circle as well as a full stage (the Northampton Repertory Company performed regular seasons between 1949 and 1951) and was taken over by Clifton Cinemas on 25th August 1944.  In 1968 the circle was split off to make a smaller (485 seat) cinema called the Studio, with a bingo hall taking over the stalls and stage area.  In 1973 the screen was split into two (known as Studio 1 & 2, seating 160 and 140 respectively).  After briefly closing in 1986, it re-opened as the independent Ohio and finally closed in 1997 when the Odeon opened.

The Ohio is a key location in my novel In The Rain With The Dead (Magellan, the baddie, makes his base there) and I wrote about the cinema as it was being demolished in 2014.



Bentley’s of Burton Latimer was originally The Electric Palace, which opened in August 1914 with an auditorium that seated 500.  It became a Watts Cinema in 1938 but closed in 1960.  In 1985, Ashley Wyatt bought the building, renovated it and opened Bentley’s as a 182-seat cinema in January 1986 though it closed the following year.  It was re-opened in 1994 by Brian McFarlane (who owned the Ohio) but closed soon after.  The venue is now an Italian restaurant.

You can just see the wording "cinema" on the back of the auditoriums.
Photograph from the late 80s.

The Forum Cinema opened on 7th April 1973 as a Jerry Lewis Cinema (part of the US based Network Cinema Corporation), featuring two screens (each seating 325) as part of a new shopping centre being built in Corby.  It was almost immediately bought out by the Walker chain, re-named Oscar cinema and then, in 1980, Focus cinema before Ashley Wyatt took it over in September 1983 and renamed it Forum Cinema.  The number one screen was eventually twinned, with number two becoming a laser quest games centre and the cinema closed (to become an over-25’s nightclub called Talkies) on 24th September 1992.  The Forum Cinema site was demolished in the summer of 2005 when the shopping centre was rebuilt.

I like to think I sound like a wistfully melancholic dinosaur now...

sources:
Cinematreasures.org - Savoy, Kettering
Cinematreasures.org - Forum, Corby
Cinematreasures.org - Bentleys, Burton Latimer

Live Baby Live: INXS on the big screen!

Last week, Alison & I were lucky enough to revisit the excellent INXS concert film Live Baby Live at the cinema, when it showed ‘for one night only’.

Live Baby Live is the film of the iconic 1991 Wembley Concert (the gig itself was called Summer XS and I wrote extensively about it here).  As Tim Peacock on udiscovermusic put it, “Six years to the day after Live Aid, London’s famous Wembley Stadium played host to a second concert [that] would go down in history. On 13 July 1991, Aussie superstars INXS delivered the show of their lives at Wembley, with their career-defining gig captured in all its widescreen glory by a spin-off concert film and live album – both of which were titled Live Baby Live.”
Having thoroughly enjoyed the concert - I became a firm fan of the band before we were halfway through the gig - I snapped up the album when it was released in November 1991.  David Mallet’s film version, shot with sixteen 35mm cameras (including one in a helicopter), was released the same day and I duly picked up the VHS, watching it over and over again.  When a special edition DVD was released in 2003, I bought that and Alison & I have watched it at least once a year since (it includes an excellent behind-the-scenes documentary, if you’re interested).  Both the VHS and DVD editions were cropped to 1.33:1 aspect ratio to fit the then TV standard 4:3 size (because, of course, back then TV screens were almost square) and I never thought anything about it.

For the cinema release, Chris Murphy - the band’s long-time manager - spent a decade looking for the original 35mm elements, according to Andrew Trendell of the nme and managed to find most of it in Australia.

“When you’re working on a project for so long, there’s the fear ‘What’s everyone going to think?’ That turns into astonishment,” said Murphy. “Watching it back, Michael is better than even I thought he was - how he managed the stage. His voice became more powerful as the gig went along. It was extraordinary to watch - the crowd and band were as one.”

The concert has been fully restored from the original print with a new widescreen 4K Ultra HD version created in 1.78:1 ratio (which’ll fit nicely on 16:9 televisions!).  It also includes the full version of Lately - a previously unseen ‘lost’ track, included as an audio-only extra on the DVD - marking the first time the concert has been released with the full original setlist.

A brand new Dolby Atmos audio mix was prepared by Giles Martin and Sam Okell at Abbey Road Studios and released as a triple vinyl album (which sounds fantastic, I bought it the day it came out) and double CD.

The UK showing was set for Wednesday 27th November.  We saw it at the Northampton Filmhouse and Alison & I turned up in our INXS t-shirts (I wore the one I got from Wembley back in 1991), having listened to the CD on the drive there.  From the opening, as the band rushes the stage to Jon Farriss’ drum beat to Michael Hutchence doing his victory salute at the end, the experience was incredible.  The film quality is superb, the image pin sharp for the stage scenes (not so clear for the helicopter shots), to the extent you can read the guitar plectrums easily and the widescreen presentation adds in a lot of detail.  The sound, also, was thunderous and that was just what it needed.

left - in 1991 with my then girlfriend Liz, who I attended the gig with and - right - at home in 2019

“The whole band was on fire that night”, writes Garry Gary Beers in the liner notes.  “Michael was so good, he sang his heart out and gave every person in the crowd a night to remember for all time. He truly had that amazing ability to make the biggest shows as intimate as the pubs we grew up in musically.”

“We were just six blokes from Australia that treated Wembley Stadium like just another pub gig,” Tim Farriss wrote in the liner notes.  “We went in with a PA and a few lights and played our asses off. No ego ramps, no back-up singers, no props, no grand pianos, just the six of us – and the audience went nuts! That’s all we needed!”

Music producer Giles Martin said of the gig that the crowd had just witnessed “one of the biggest global sensations at the height of their powers” and on the strength of this and my memories, he’s absolutely spot on.

This is a definite Blu ray purchase.  Thanks for the memory, INXS!

Choose Life

It was almost five years ago, on the 4th August 2014, when I suffered my heart attack, a life-changing event in a lot of ways.  Although I'd already started to lose weight (as I wrote about here), it focused my attention and I decided my "Fall Guy" summer (which I wrote about here) was a chance to make some changes as I realised what was important to me.

Me & Dude, July 2019

At my heaviest, I weighed 18st 6.75lbs (258.75lbs or just over 117kgs) and at 5ft 11 my BMI was 35.9 putting me well into the “obese” end of things.  Within a year, having cut the crap out of my diet and walked a LOT, my weight was down to 13st 11.5lbs (193.5lbs - a total loss of 65.25lbs) and my BMI was 27, slightly off the midway of overweight.

Five years on and I'm maintaining that weight loss (as of today, I'm 13st 10lbs).  I'm still walking between 20-30 miles a week and I've also recently become a convert to Park Run, introduced by Alison and our friend David, hitting a good pace regularly (my pb's 27m 46s).  I feel better, I'm as fit as I've ever been and I'm definitely embracing life which, although it was a tough way to figure it out, is the lesson I took from the incident.

Life's too short, people, embrace it!

Me & Dude, on the patio, June 2014 - part of the batch of photographs that made me realise I needed to do something about my weight...

David & I at the Kettering Park Run, May 2019, picture by John Woods

Happy Birthday Nick

On the 21st, my oldest and best friend Nick became a fellow member of the Half-Century Club.

Nick, Alison, me and Dude, January 2019

I wrote about Nick in 2014 (you can read the post here) and everything in it still holds true.  We first met in September 1976, the first day of junior school - I was new to Rothwell and didn't know anyone else in the class - and the teacher sat us next to each other.  We became firm friends that day and, wonderfully, we still are.

detail of school photograph, Rothwell Juniors, 1977, with Nick on the left

Over the years, we've had some great times (and some down times), we've run the world, put on plays, saw Jarre at the Docklands, holidayed, laughed and had terrific adventures together.  My brother-from-another-mother (as kids we spent so much time in each others houses you got fed by whichever Mum was in your orbit), I was his Best Man, he was mine and he's Dude's godfather.

I saw two quotes which I think sum Nick & I up perfectly.  The first is more sentimental...

A good friend knows all your best stories, a Best Friend has lived them with you

The second made me laugh and would have the same effect on him...

I want to be the reason you look down at your phone and smile.  Then walk into a pole.

Happy birthday Nick and here's to many more!

1979, Mum attempts to skateboard.  I'm holding onto her, Nick's in front of me

1986, last day of school (Sixth Form trip to Great Yarmouth) - from left; James MacDonald, Steve Corton, me, Phil Cross, Nick (he wore that top hat for years...)

1987, off on a bike ride

1988, on Corton beach with Tracy and Sarah

1988, high above Bath in the back of a Hercules (Nick was in the RAF at the time)

1990, on the way to his wedding, his mum's car broke down.  Not the best start, it has to be said...

1998, our wedding day

2009, pulling faces with Dude in Taddiport

2013, in Market Harborough

2015, post heart attack and weight loss (both mine)

I Thought He Was Older...

This past weekend, I celebrated a milestone birthday and hit my half-century.  I wasn't particularly worried about it (except I now fall into that age-bracket where the adverts assume I'm falling apart and will need sheltered accommodation and funeral plans) - I was more concerned with turning 30, to be honest - and I'll carry on as normal (since I'm still somewhere in my late twenties in my head anyway).

Out for a family meal on Saturday, with Mum & Dad and my sister Sarah and her family

The celebrations kicked off a few weeks ago with my oldest friend Nick sending me a book, charting our shared friendship together (we've known one another for 43 years now).  I love photographs, I love Nick, I loved the gift.

The weekend before last, I organised a Crusty Exterior pre-birthday gathering in Leicester and it was great fun.  We chatted, laughed (a lot), scoured second hand book shops, walked and ate.  And Linda Nagle made a wonderful Star Wars themed cake she presented me with in Carluccio's (our waiter led the sing-a-long).

outside Leicester Museum - from left: John Travis, Sue Moorcroft, me, Steve Harris, Linda Nagle, David Roberts, James Everington & Steve Bacon

Last week, the Golden Wonder Oldies held one of our semi-regular dinners at the Sondes Arms in Corby to help me celebrate.  Having known most of them since the 80s, it was a lovely evening in the company of old friends, filled with a lot of laughing and some good food.

The Golden Wonder Oldies between courses

There's a lot to be thankful for and I really am - I have a wonderful family (I've known Alison for more than half my life, which is a startling thought) and terrific friends, two of the key components to a happy life, I feel.  I'm fit, I'm active, there's a ton of books I need to read, I have stories to write, films to see, adventures to have with Dude.

As my friend Cindy wrote in her card, the "half century club isn't as exciting as the Mile High Club but it's just as awesome!"

me in May 1969 (pic by Dad) and me in February 2019 (pic by Sue) - only the hairline remains the same...

Age is just a number, it's true - and I'm perfectly happy with mine.

Cinema Listing (blast from the past)

A few weeks ago, while browsing through my copy of Skeleton Crew (for a forthcoming blog post), I found this.  I can only assume I’d ripped it out of the Kettering Evening Telegraph (dated 20th September 1986) to take into work so my friends & I could plan what we were going to see at the cinema.  We went a lot in those days.

I posted this on Facebook where it got a wonderful reaction (Phil Sloman wrote “what a time to have lived” while Gary McMahon wrote “Ah… those were the days”).  The slate of films seems like a terrific cross-section (Cobra was the first 18 certificate I got into (as I wrote about here, though according to my diary I saw it in Corby) and I saw The Evil Dead, Rocky IV and Karate Kid 2 all at one of the venues shown), the prices are astonishing (I remember a double-bill would cost £2.50 except, I presume, on Mondays and Thursdays) and local friends shared memories of specific venues.

I loved these places and they held a lot of history for me.  Dad took me to see my first James Bond film at Corby cinema (as I wrote about here), I saw a lot of great films at Kettering (Dad took me and Claire to Star Wars, Nick & I saw Raiders Of The Lost Ark, which I wrote about in What Gets Left Behind, Dad & I saw ET, the list goes on) and when Bentley’s opened it quickly became a favourite.

Attendance must have been falling (probably not helped by the fleapit nature) but the independents were clearly knackered and on their last legs when the multiplexes arrived and did away with them.  Sixfields in Northampton dealt the first blow and the Odeon in Kettering finished the job.  I've never been a big fan of the multiplex, I’ll still go obviously but to me they're sterile places, more interested in selling food and drinks than anything else.  Yes, Kettering Ohio had holes in the ceiling and seats were missing and it was often better to sit down in the dark so you couldn’t see the state of your seat, but it felt real, like a proper cinema, where everyone there cared about the films.

What a time to have lived indeed...

On the bright side, independent cinemas now seem to be making a comeback and we often go to the Errol Flynn in Northampton (Jon & I saw a brace of Hitchcock there, Alison & I watched La La Land and I took Dad to see Dunkirk where the soundtrack almost rattled the speakers off the wall) which is small and comfortable, well run and shows an eclectic range of films.

 And yes, I know I sound like a dinosaur.

Another clipping I kept, this one from 1982
If we fancied a change, we'd sometimes go to the ABC Northampton (now a Jesus Army Centre) or the Palace Wellingborough (now a pub called The Cutting Room).  Later, when we had our own cars, we'd go to the midnight movie at The Point in Milton Keynes (the only multiplex I ever had any fondness for, it now stands by the MK shopping centre looking knackered and forlorn).

I took this picture in 2005, knowing that the building
would eventually be knocked down and wanting to
have a record of it...

Kettering Ohio started life as the Savoy Cinema, opened as a dual purpose cinema and theatre on 21st May 1938 with Spencer Tracey in The Big City plus a variety show on stage. It was built over the remains of the Coliseum Theatre which had opened in 1910 but burned down in 1937.

The Savoy had 1,150 seats in the stalls and circle as well as a full stage (the Northampton Repertory Company performed regular seasons between 1949 and 1951) and was taken over by Clifton Cinemas on 25th August 1944.  In 1968 the circle was split off to make a smaller (485 seat) cinema called the Studio, with a bingo hall taking over the stalls and stage area.  In 1973 the screen was split into two (known as Studio 1 & 2, seating 160 and 140 respectively).  After briefly closing in 1986, it re-opened as the independent Ohio and finally closed in 1997 when the Odeon opened.

The Ohio is a key location in my novel In The Rain With The Dead (Magellan, the baddie, makes his base there) and I wrote about the cinema as it was being demolished in 2014.



Bentley’s of Burton Latimer was originally The Electric Palace, which opened in August 1914 with an auditorium that seated 500.  It became a Watts Cinema in 1938 but closed in 1960.  In 1985, Ashley Wyatt bought the building, renovated it and opened Bentley’s as a 182-seat cinema in January 1986 though it closed the following year.  It was re-opened in 1994 by Brian McFarlane (who owned the Ohio) but closed soon after.  The venue is now an Italian restaurant.

You can just see the wording "cinema" on the back of the auditoriums.
Photograph from the late 80s.

The Forum Cinema opened on 7th April 1973 as a Jerry Lewis Cinema (part of the US based Network Cinema Corporation), featuring two screens (each seating 325) as part of a new shopping centre being built in Corby.  It was almost immediately bought out by the Walker chain, re-named Oscar cinema and then, in 1980, Focus cinema before Ashley Wyatt took it over in September 1983 and renamed it Forum Cinema.  The number one screen was eventually twinned, with number two becoming a laser quest games centre and the cinema closed (to become an over-25’s nightclub called Talkies) on 24th September 1992.  The Forum Cinema site was demolished in the summer of 2005 when the shopping centre was rebuilt.

I like to think I sound like a wistfully melancholic dinosaur now...

sources:
Cinematreasures.org - Savoy, Kettering
Cinematreasures.org - Forum, Corby
Cinematreasures.org - Bentleys, Burton Latimer

Joining The Vinyl Revival

Since Alison & I generally have what we want (in terms of books, music and clothes), buying for Christmas and birthdays is sometimes an issue.  This year, we made the decision to get our own presents then hand the gift over to the other - to that end, I ’bought’ her a Fitbit, she ‘bought’ me a Funko Hannibal Smith figure.  However, she also got me a surprise present - she saw it, decided I’d love it and bought it.  And she was absolutely right, I did love it.

Hannibal Smith looks on, putting together a plan of where I can put my new records in bookshelves that are already overflowing...

 I’ve been a fan of music for a long time but, aside from my parents choices, my first real memories come from 1977/78 (when I’d have been 8 or 9) and falling in love with songs that still sound as vibrant and exciting today.  The first cassette album I bought (I only had a tape recorder) was The Best Of Blondie (you won’t be surprised to learn I still have it, just no means of playing it) while my first vinyl LP came in 1980 when my lovely parents not only bought me my first record player (I can’t find a picture of it anywhere but I’m convinced it would have been a Bush unit) and my first album - Eat To The Beat by Blondie.

After this, I became an avid listener and through the early 80s I bought plenty of singles and the occasional album too.  Back then, certainly locally, the market wasn’t cornered by the chain stores so I had plenty of choice for shops - Revolver Records in Kettering (as well as Our Price, a fair while before it was swallowed up by Virgin), Spinadisc in Northampton and Discovery Records in Corby and Market Harborough.  In the mid-80s, my friend Craig introduced me to Boogaloo Records in Leicester, a fantastic second-hand place from where I picked up no end of great late 70s/early 80s albums I couldn’t find anywhere else (most of my Donna Summer collection came from there).

Andy's Records (there was a Kettering shop, replaced in time by Our Price, itself replaced by HMV), Discovery Records, an Our Price sticker and Spinadisc

Bags of fun - Our Price and Woolies are long gone, while W H Smith and Boots don't sell records any more

By then, I’d upgraded my stereo to that must-have 80s item, the midi hi-fi system where I could tape albums to play on my Walkman, listen to the radio and fiddle about with the graphic equaliser, without properly understanding what it did.  CDs were already making inroads then but I resisted them for as long as possible - I had a big record collection and wasn’t keen on replacing it - but finally caved in the early 90s when the units were so ridiculously cheap (X, by INXS, was the first album I owned on both vinyl and disc).  I remained a huge fan of the LP but as the years went by and vinyl was phased out, I didn’t have a great deal of choice.  When we upgraded in the 00's, Alison & I bought a system that didn't have a turntable and, in a move I now despair of my mid-thirtysomething self doing, I gave away a lot of that vinyl.

What an idiot, is the first thing that springs to mind, as I look at my new record player.

As luck would have it, since Dude was born (and even though I had no way to play them), I’ve been picking up the odd album or single over the years (my original collection is buried in the understairs cupboard somewhere, untouched for over a decade and we’ll need to mount an expedition to find it)  so I had stuff to play on Christmas Day.  Most of it came from charity shops, albums I’d wanted back in the day but couldn’t find, stuff that caught my eye in the moment or, even, things I picked up because I’m a compulsive completist - “Yay, an INXS album!”.  I also discovered (on a post-Christmas trip to Leicester to spend our gift vouchers) that HMV now has a huge vinyl selection - I also discovered brand new vinyl has a huge price tag too but that's okay, I’m a collector and I don’t have a problem with second-hand.

The vinyl revival?  Oh yes, I’m definitely in - and here's part of the charm for those who've never experienced it...

Even better, while flicking around on ebay, I discovered these existed - I always knew soundtrack albums were a thing, obviously, but singles?  Did these theme tunes, from some of my favourite TV shows, really plan to mount a number one bid on the pop charts of the day?

Composed by Brian Dee & Irving Martin, this was produced by Martin and Funko was the b side track.  It was released by Pye Records on 22nd September 1978 and I really wish I'd known it existed, I love this theme tune.

And for those who don't remember, this is what it sounded like...

Broadcast during 1976 and 1977, I have very hazy memories of this (I was only seven when it started) but I do remember liking Purdey and thinking Mike Gambit was very cool.  I thought he was less cool when Gareth Hunt began advertising coffee on TV though.  The theme tune was composed and conducted by Laurie Johnson and released in 1976 on the Unicorn-Kanchana label.

I loved this show which, bearing in mind it's 9pm timeslot, wasn't particularly aimed at kids though Corgi did a nice line of toy cars of Bodie's Capri and Grandreams published 7 annuals.  The (excellent) theme tune was once again composed and conducted by Laurie Johnson and released in 1980 on the Unicorn-Kanchana label.

Happy listening, whatever your preferred medium...

sources:
British Record Shop Archive
Discogs - Return of The Saint single release information
Discogs - The New Avengers single release information
Discogs - The Professionals single release information