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Did anybody grow up in the 70s?

264 replies

floraloctopus · 07/07/2019 20:53

The 50s and 80s threads are fascinating. Can anybody shed light on the 70s please?

OP posts:
AdaColeman · 07/07/2019 21:39

Mull of Kintyre being played endlessly!

BikeRunSki · 07/07/2019 21:40

Lying down in the back of our friend’s dad’s van to fit more people in!
NHS specs!!
Dinner money envelopes

elephantoverthehill · 07/07/2019 21:41

Buying a freezer from Bejams. Growing quite a lot of fruit and veg, Aunt and Dm buying a pig and sheep each (slaughtered) then halving them and butchering them into joints, chops etc.

OKBobble · 07/07/2019 21:41

Corona fizzy drink man with money back on bottles.

MyFokMarelize · 07/07/2019 21:44

So many wrong things!

Gary Glitter
Rolf Harris
Lots of smoking and underage drinking
Hitchhiking
Oxford Bags

Good things

Biba
Glam Rock (excl Gary Glitter!)
Phone boxes
Platform shoes
Glitter nail polish
Disco 45
Jackie magazine - esp for Dear Cathy and Claire
The smell of Bonfire Night

BikeRunSki · 07/07/2019 21:46

Deposits on glass bottles

elephantoverthehill · 07/07/2019 21:47

Cathy and Claire

Troels · 07/07/2019 21:48

I grew up in the 70's. I remember.
Lots of power outages. We had a gas cooker and boiled a kettle for the neighbours in the mornings by candle light.
We had one gas fire in the front room that was the heating for the whole house. Ice formed on the inside of the windows in winter.
We didn't have a TV for most of the 70's so I missed a lot of that unless I was at a friends or grans house at the weekend.
Spent most summers out and about from dawn to dusk riding ponies all over.
We bathed once a week, I must have stunk like a horse.
I remember the new big Asda opening one town over, but with no car we couldn't do a big shop, but went by bus and enjoyed looking.
We went to closest town once a week to bring home the shopping the rest came from the paper shop in the village that sold sweets, fruit veg cheese etc.
Milk man came daily and delivered milk, juice, bread, potatoes (we only ever got milk and cream from him).
We could walk up to local farms for fresh eggs and veg that was seasonal.
Teachers could hit you in school.
The rent man came around once a week to collect and stamp your rent book.
Then Mum learned to drive and the world opened up.

Ceara · 07/07/2019 21:49

Paper bags for fruit and veg in the grocers or (tiny by today;s standards) supermarket.
Slam door trains, and running along the platform with my mum trying to find the non-smoking carriage.
Cotton summer dresses made by my Grandma and sent up in a parcel once a year.
Having the candles ready for power cuts.
No freezer at home til the 80s, just the tiny compartment in the fridge.
A brown and orange sitting room.
Bomb scares.
My dad making us watch the news the day Thatcher was elected PM [he wasn't a fan].
Greenpeace and CND pin badges.
I was trying to explain to DS the other day that children's TV when I was little was "children's hour" and there was no recording programmes to watch later, or catch-up or on-demand services - he thought I'd lost the plot.

Ceara · 07/07/2019 21:53

And adults squeezing unfeasible numbers of children in to the back seat of their cars for trips out - "one sit forward, one sit back, one sit forward - squeeze up everyone".

DeathyMcDeathStarFace · 07/07/2019 21:53

Got a satsuma and nuts in their shells in our Christmas stocking.

Only 3 channels on the television and they stopped overnight. It took ages to warm up the cathode ray tube so had to put the tv on five minutes before your program started, you had to get up to change the channels, either by twiddling a knob to retune or press in massive buttons which made a loud ker-chunk noise. (Quieter ker sound as you pressed it in, a click then a louder chunk noise when you let loose and it came out at speed.) Only having about an hour of kids programs shortly after school ended.

Little portable black and white tv with the circular indoor aerial you had to twiddle about to get a decent picture, then had to stand holding said aerial to watch as when you let loose the picture started going.

Looking through the Argos catalogue to choose Christmas presents to give mum an idea what we wanted. Gave her a list but knew we were only getting one of them. This went along with the aforementioned stocking which also included the usual socks, handkerchiefs (with flowers embroidered on the corner for me), chocolate and another couple of sweets.

Playing outside our house on the roads (not the main road) as there were not many cars. Playing kerbsie with my brother. Playing split the skipper with brother and his flick knife and no one was bothered that an eight year old and a five year old were playing with knives!

Having a regular fish and chips night once a fortnight on a Friday after mum got paid.

cstaff · 07/07/2019 21:55

@BikeRunSki I'm in Dublin, Ireland so we had your channels plus two of our own rte1 and rte2. About the only thing we were ahead of you on back then Grin

DeathyMcDeathStarFace · 07/07/2019 21:55

Oh, and getting a lift in a friend's car to a fireworks display. Had at least three adults and 6 children in. Me being the youngest travelled in the front passenger footwell and a couple of kids went in the boot.

WickedGoodDoge · 07/07/2019 21:58

We had a gas cooker that you had to use a taper candle to light. Used to scare the living daylights out of me.

BikeRunSki · 07/07/2019 22:03

@cstaff - awesome!

BikeRunSki · 07/07/2019 22:04

No baby monitors. DSis and I slept in the basement of a 4 storey house. Master bedroom was on the top floor.

Greenteandchives · 07/07/2019 22:15

Being stuck for hours on a train outside Birmingham on the night of the IRA bombings. I had no idea what was happening.
I got married in the year of the drought, 1976. It rained all day, then it didn’t rain again for three months. Hmm
Power shortages, TV shutting down after the news.
I was working in a shop as a Saturday girl for £1.00 a day when decimalisation happened. We had a lot of training but the general public hadn’t. It was chaos.

AndromedaPerseus · 07/07/2019 22:17

Racism being the accepted as the norm with immigrants being referred to and treated in derogatory terms in everyday life. Regular National Front rallies and immigrants being regularly attacked by skinheads.

FabulouslyFab · 07/07/2019 22:20

Nothing really to add to the above. Marvellous memories. I loved the 70s!!

HoobaHooba · 07/07/2019 22:21

Liptons
Christian aid perhaps - at school you bought a stamp for 2p and it made a picture after a few weeks (usually a starving child?)
Barclays Bank saving at school, blue bank book in a brown envelope
Brown and orange clothes
No seat belts

celtiethree · 07/07/2019 22:22

Chocolate brownie from Wimpy.
Cycling to the swimming baths < 10 no adult supervision
On the tube primary school - no adult supervision!
Dawn to dusk freedom
Peg trousers
No meals in a restaurant ever we had no money
Jumble sales for clothes - we still had no money
Home made school uniform
Cheap white wine
Bunches for hair styling
No one had a new car - no one!!!!
Space dust
Sweets by the quarter
Party line phone at my grans ( shared with the neighbours)
Taking bottles to the ice cream van to buy sweets
Never had tuna or pasta until the 80’s came around, first time I was offered tuna I though it was v exotic.
My dad was in the army until the later 1970s the wage was vvvvvv low - we often ran out of toilet paper and shampoo - washing up liquid and newspaper was substituted
2p lucky dip
Milk at break
Only food offered to vegetarians at school was grated cheese
When I attended school that was run by the forces all lunch had to be eaten no excuses - liver green beans and semolina still break me out into a sweat
Painting your bikes!
Fitting playing cards on your bike wheels to make them sound fast!!

celtiethree · 07/07/2019 22:24

Oh yes no TV until 1977. We listened to the radio and played vinyl stories - including the jungle book

HoobaHooba · 07/07/2019 22:26

Twinkle and bunty magazine/comic
Grattan catalogue
Jimmy Carter/James Callaghan
The night Margaret thatcher was elected
Children with callipers on their legs
Telly - black and white, buttons you had to press and turn over (usually one was sellotaped in)

BikeRunSki · 07/07/2019 22:27

School milk was free to everyone at primary school, but if you were getting bit on the heavy side, you were taken off milk (yes!) and puddings (boo!).

BikeRunSki · 07/07/2019 22:27

Happy Eater and Little Chef