Monday December 31st
A TYPICAL NEW YEAR
New Year’s Eve. Every year the same. While Christmas Eve would usually be
spent in the company of my Mum’s side of the family, we always spent New
Year with my Dad’s - more specifically, with my grandparents Mary and Jack
Shepherd, who held a New Year’s Eve party every year at their bungalow in
Durkar.
This basically meant a gathering of all Dad’s side of the family - like Mary’s
brother Ernest and his wife Rita (although they might not have been there
that year thanks to a massive bust-up Ernest had with his sisters over the
arrangements for their Mum’s funeral. Seriously. I’ve no idea what happened
but they never spoke again for the rest of their lives); Mary’s sister, also
called Rita, her husband Les (who absolutely terrified me, even though he
was lovely - maybe because he smoked a pipe and had big thick dark bushy
eyebrows) and their teenage daughter Kim.
Then Jack’s brothers and sisters - Nan and her husband Jim; their son Paddy
and his wife Amanda; Vin and his wife Maureen (who I once upset by having
a wild tantrum round their house when I wasn’t allowed to watch Play
School); Dad’s cousin Martin and his wife Angela (of whom more another
time). Loads of them. So many I’ve probably forgotten half of them.
It was always so quiet in Durkar - quite disconcerting for a town lad like me.
Even a sleepy village like Fairburn had a motorway running through the
middle of it. So Durkar unnerved me a bit. But New Year was different - loud
and colourful. Music and dancing. Joe Loss. Brown Girl in the Ring. Plenty of
alcohol (which obviously I didn’t drink, unless maybe someone treated me to
a Babycham). And the conga. Before the end of the night, everyone did the
conga, all around the bungalow.
There are a few photos on the left, of Jack’s - stuff I inherited when he died.
Difficult to be sure about the dates - it’s harder than you think trying to put
things like that in chronological order - but I don’t think any of them are from
this particular night in 1979. I reckon the first two are from 1977 and the
second pair from 1978. They’re mainly from before the parties started, so
they don’t do my memories justice. But I do miss those days. Everything was
so much simpler. Nothing had gone wrong yet. Everything was, temporarily,
absolutely fine.
Meanwhile, in the rest of the world…
10.30pm, BBC 1: Late News
•
Main news: Soviet Invasion of Afghanistan
•
Thatcher foresees a difficult year for Britain’s economy
•
Steel strike imminent
•
Rhodesia ceasefire happening, but very slowly
•
Children march through London in support of the International Year of
the Child, which ends today
BBC 2: Old Grey Whistle Test: Blondie in Concert
Adam and the Ants live at the Electric Ballroom, Camden - the last gig they
did in their original formation, before spectacularly splitting up:
•
better quality, shorter
•
worse quality, longer
11pm, ITV: Kenny Everett Special, ITV: The “Will Kenny Everett Make It To
1980?” Show - featuring:
•
Roxy Music
•
Boomtown Rats
•
Cliff Richard (in leather!)
•
David Bowie (with a bespoke re-recording of Space Oddity, filmed on the
same set he used for Ashes to Ashes)
•
Thin Lizzy & Sex Pistols (singing a Christmas medley)
•
plus of course Hot Gossip (dancing to Sleazy and Brown Sugar)
HAPPY NEW YEAR!!
Monday December 31st, 1979
TERM 1: New Year’s Eve
TERM 1 (Sept - Dec 1979)
Week 0 (Aug 25 - Sep 2, 1979)
Week 1 (Sep 3 - Sep 9, 1979)
Week 2 (Sep 10 - Sep 16, 1979)
Week 3 (Sep 17 - Sep 23, 1979)
Week 4 (Sep 24 - Sep 30, 1979)
Week 5 (Oct 1 - Oct 7, 1979)
Week 6 (Oct 8 - Oct 14, 1979)
Week 7 (Oct 15 - Oct 21, 1979)
Half Term (Oct 22 - Oct 28, 1979)
Week 8 (Oct 29 - Nov 4, 1979)
Week 9 (Nov 5 - Nov 11, 1979)
Week 10 (Nov 12 - Nov 18, 1979)
Week 11 (Nov 19 - Nov 25, 1979)
Week 12 (Nov 26 - Dec 2, 1979)
Week 13 (Dec 3 - Dec 9, 1979)
Week 14 (Dec 10 - Dec 16, 1979)
Week 15 (Dec 17 - Dec 23, 1979)
Christmas (Dec 24 - Dec 30, 1979)
New Year’s Eve (Dec 31, 1979)
TERM 1 IN LINK FORM
Cars
Gary Numan
ITV Returns
Oct 24,1979
to be continued…
Monday December 31st
A TYPICAL NEW YEAR
New Year’s Eve. Every year the same. While Christmas Eve would
usually be spent in the company of my Mum’s side of the family,
we always spent New Year with my Dad’s - more specifically, with
my grandparents Mary and Jack Shepherd, who held a New
Year’s Eve party every year at their bungalow in Durkar.
to be continued…
Monday December 31st, 1979
TERM 1: New Year
HAPPY NEW YEAR!!
11pm, ITV: Kenny Everett Special, ITV: The “Will Kenny Everett
Make It To 1980?” Show - featuring:
•
Roxy Music
•
Boomtown Rats
•
Cliff Richard (in leather!)
•
David Bowie (with a bespoke re-recording of Space Oddity,
filmed on the same set he used for Ashes to Ashes)
•
Thin Lizzy & Sex Pistols (singing a Christmas medley)
•
plus of course Hot Gossip (dancing to Sleazy and Brown Sugar)
Meanwhile, in the rest of the world…
10.30pm, BBC 1: Late News
•
Main news: Soviet Invasion of
Afghanistan
•
Thatcher foresees a difficult year for
Britain’s economy
•
Steel strike imminent
•
Rhodesia ceasefire happening, but
very slowly
•
Children march through London in
support of the International Year of
the Child, which ends today
BBC 2: Old Grey Whistle Test: Blondie in
Concert
Adam and the Ants live at the Electric
Ballroom, Camden - the last gig they did in
their original formation, before
spectacularly splitting up:
•
better quality, shorter
•
worse quality, longer
It was always so quiet in Durkar - quite disconcerting for a town
lad like me. Even a sleepy village like Fairburn had a motorway
running through the middle of it. So Durkar unnerved me a bit.
But New Year was different - loud and colourful. Music and
dancing. Joe Loss. Brown Girl in the Ring. Plenty of alcohol (which
obviously I didn’t drink, unless maybe someone treated me to a
Babycham). And the conga. Before the end of the night, everyone
did the conga, all around the bungalow.
There are a few photos on the left, of Jack’s - stuff I inherited
when he died. Difficult to be sure about the dates - it’s harder
than you think trying to put things like that in chronological order
- but I don’t think any of them are from this particular night in
1979. I reckon the first two are from 1977 and the second pair
from 1978. They’re mainly from before the parties started, so
they don’t do my memories justice. But I do miss those days.
Everything was so much simpler. Nothing had gone wrong yet.
Everything was, temporarily, absolutely fine.
This basically meant a gathering of all
Dad’s side of the family - like Mary’s
brother Ernest and his wife Rita
(although they might not have been
there that year thanks to a massive bust-
up Ernest had with his sisters over the
arrangements for their Mum’s funeral.
Seriously. I’ve no idea what happened
but they never spoke again for the rest of
their lives); Mary’s sister, also called Rita,
her husband Les (who absolutely
terrified me, even though he was lovely -
maybe because he smoked a pipe and
had big thick dark bushy eyebrows) and
their teenage daughter Kim.
Then Jack’s brothers and sisters - Nan
and her husband Jim; their son Paddy
and his wife Amanda; Vin and his wife
Maureen (who I once upset by having a
wild tantrum round their house when I
wasn’t allowed to watch Play School);
Dad’s cousin Martin and his wife Angela
(of whom more another time). Loads of
them. So many I’ve probably forgotten
half of them.
TERM 1 IN LINK FORM
Cars
Gary Numan
ITV Returns
Oct 24,1979
