Can anyone tell me honestly that back in the 70s they didn't know.....

[Jux]

... that hitting your head badly could result in brain damage? And that hitting your head repeatedly, badly or not, could also result in brain damage?

I was 12 in 1970; it seemed self-evident that head bang could lead to brain damage. Like a punch the lower back could injure something inside (wasn't sure what, mind, v ignorant of biology at the time!).

In about 1978 I did payroll for a local branch of a fairly large company. the (little,frail abs elderly) boss took me to the bank to pick up the cash, and handcuffed the briefcase to each of us. Was maybe not handcuffs exactly, as there was a chain between them that went through the handles of the briefcase.

I'd then refer to the large tax journals to figure out what tax week it was and how much to take for each pay amount, then count out the cash into the little envelopes. My handwriting was terrible so i had to beg my colleague to do the work if I did the maths.

Our office door was locked during this process, and it was all quite clandestine.

We rented a tv in the 60s and 70s from somewhere like Radio Rentals, it was more affordable and we could update it if we wanted, we also never had a landline, we used the phone box down the road

Prior to 1986 you HAD to be paid in cash - it was set down in what were known as the Truck Acts which were laws dating right back to the 15th century and tried to outlaw so called 'truck' schemes whereby employers would pay you in tokens or other things of value such as clothes. As with all things employment, the power lies in the hands of the boss who, if left to their own devices, will always seek to abuse their position of power. Not surprisingly they would put excessive values on the items of clothing or tokens leading to debt slavery. The Truck Acts were abolished in 1986 allowing salaries to be paid by bank transfer. Until then it was a brown packet stuffed with cash and coins with a wage slip (less deductions). Sorry for the history lesson but this is the risk you run when you're married to a lawyer!

It was sensible to rent colour TVs and VCRs when they first came out, they were very expensive to buy and the technology was so new there were lots of issues. If your rented set went wrong the TV repairman would come out for free.

We rented a tiny black and white TV when we were first married. Jeeze, I feel old.

..And yes, the morning that decimalisation came in, all us kids crowded into the local shop in the way to school, to buy something so that we'd get 'new money' in change.

This thread detailed from the title

The Truck Acts only applied to certain categories of worker, such as manual labourers. Company directors weren’t getting cash in a brown envelope!

In response to a PP, credit cards did exist in the 70s.

That's true- I was here referring to workers. There's no way a company director would be paid in a small brown pay packet, it would be a large fat envelope! They of course have their own set of rules, always did and still do.

The first thing I did in May 1980 with my first Friday pay packet of £26 aged 15, was go into RR and hired a black and white portable TV for my bedroom. It came the following week and I (as you do at 15 🤣🤣🤣), had turned my bedroom into an area with a TV section (with an old batter poof from downstairs). I felt very grown up in my own space that night with a cup of tea watching Ted Rogers on 321.

@Bookishish @Cazbo55 we were paying by weekly cash until the late 1990s then moved to weekly BACS payments then in about 2005 monthly BACS. The fallout from staff was massive as suddenly they would have to budget themselves if we paid them monthly! When we were all paid cash, our directors got A Cheque!!

But to answer the OP original question - yes people did realise that a blow to the head was 'bad' , thats why they introduced the requirement for motorcyclists to wear helmets, but like many things including smoking, sugar, etc etc the full extent of the damage really wasn't considered. Don't forget that men in particular would still be dealing with the fall out from wartime injuries in the 70s so anything else could be attributed to that.

I started teaching in 1975, and my salary was paid by cheque.
My dad (a wages clerk) and my FIL (a miner) were still paid with cash.

I do remember people not wanting to be paid by cheque or bank transfer because they budgeted with cash..I remember having cash tins with multiple slots for different bills etc, that the weeks money would be allocated into.

The first thing my dad did when he came home on pay day was open his envelope and give my mum the housekeeping money.

Yes, you were paid in cash but tax/ni contributions would be taken off first juat like now. You had a pay slip too so could query anything you felt was wrong.

Ah yes I remember my parents renting stuff from Stepeks. Any Scottish posters should remember them.

People knew that hitting your head could cause brain damage.

They did not necessarily realize that lesser impacts could have effects, particularly that were not visible until later, and might have cumulative effects.

People also had a different attitude to risk.

This. Former Welsh rugby captain Ryan Jones has been diagnosed with early onset dementia. He is 41 years old. Tragic.

People knew something was up but didn’t have a diagnosis for the problem & the equipment wasn’t available to be able to put real scientific proof together with that knowledge.
Medical professionals certainly didn’t know about mental deficits happening because of sports activities footballers, boxers, rugby or American football players were involved in & ongoing issues that were occurring as they got older because there wasn’t a lot of knowledge about the conditions that many are now being diagnosed with.
With medical progress comes more medical knowledge, that medical knowledge leads to better diagnosis's & better safety precautions within activities to help prevent medical problems from bangs to the head.
One of my teachers in primary school & one of the kids in my class would do header competitions a few days a week where they would see how long they could header the ball from one to the other. Their longest run was an hour 😬
Thankfully the teacher hasn’t developed any medical issues but the kid is only 43yrs old so plenty of time for something to happen. Both played football semi professional too so lots more headers were done.
Personally I don’t know how people header balls at all cos it bloody hurts 😂