We had joy we had fun we had seasons in the sun! 1976, It was the year when the sun didn’t stop shining all summer, the driest summer since 1772. There were Water restrictions in place for months and there was drought followed by flooding.
It was the year of my “O” level exams. The year that I left school. The year that I first “noticed” Simon!1976 may have been a sunny year, but as the sun shone, the economy was crumbling along with the dried-up riverbeds. The seeds of “the winter of discontent” were sown.
It was the year when the party really was over.
It was the year of the endless summer, when we danced to Abba, could walk the streets in safety, and have a good night out for a fiver and still have change. They were happy times, as confirmed by the New Economics Foundation which has named the year as the best for quality of life, based on indicators such as crime rate, pollution levels and public sector investment. I knew there must have been some reason that it was a happy time for me!
It's the weather that stands out most in my memory though. There was day after day of temperatures in the 90s, and we hitched up our skirts or rolled up our flared tartan trousers to sunbathe at lunch time on the school field listening to our tiny pocket radios.
The downside, of course, was that the drought meant lots of people were dependent on standpipes for their water supply. These were fitted at the end of the streets and you fetched water in buckets. There was even a Minister of Drought, Denis Howell, who within days of his appointment became Minister of Floods, as the heavens opened.
1976 was, a year of low crime, people were less suspicious of others, and "traffic flowed freely and, by and large, British Rail ran on time! But 1976 was also a year of strikes and raging inflation. The full scale of the economic failure the country was facing became evident, as Britain was forced into the humiliating position of asking international bankers to bail it out to the tune of billions of pounds.
The many Strikes in public services were just something we all had to deal with. The standard rate of tax stood at 35 pence in the pound. Inflation raged at around 17%.
The industrial unrest and economic crisis led within a few years to “the winter of discontent” and then the Thatcher revolution.
In terms of individual wealth, we were certainly poorer. The average wage was around £72 a week. Only half of us had phones - landlines, that is. My own parents didn’t have a phone installed until 1977! We had a traditional red phone box on the corner of our street, approximately 25 yards from our house. My friends used to ring me at appointed times and I would wait outside for it to ring! Simon phoned me on that telephone box after getting the number from my friend Debbie. That is when he asked me out!( December 1977) No-one had a computer. Far fewer people owned their own homes and it was much more difficult to get a mortgage. I’m not sure when my parents purchased their house but I think it was a few years prior.
It was also the year that, for many, the music died, with Abba and Elton John being elbowed aside by the rude young men of pop, including the Sex Pistols and the Clash. The punk generation was born! I of course was still an Osmonds fan!
Fears of a younger generation with a safety pin through its nose stalked society; what punk might do to the country was a serious concern for many - not least the punks themselves. In the heat of the summer, riots broke out at the Notting Hill carnival. 100 police officers were taken to hospital after they tried to break up rioters armed only with dustbin lids and milk crates.
Music was a big thing for me in 1976. I was still an Osmonds fan, but I liked most of the “pop” stuff that was around at the time. I liked the Bay City Rollers songs but wasn’t keen on them as people. Same for David Cassidy. I also liked Abba and 1976 was a good year for them with 3 number ones.
UK Number One Singles and Artist - (Weeks at Number One)
"Bohemian Rhapsody" - Queen (5 weeks 1975 + 4 weeks 1976)
"Mamma Mia" - Abba (2)
"Forever and Ever" - Slik (1)
"December, 1963 (Oh what a night)" - The Four Seasons (2)
"I love to love (But My Baby Just Loves To Dance)" - Tina Charles (3)
"Save Your Kisses for Me" - Brotherhood of Man (6), best seller of the year
"Fernando" - Abba (4)
"No Charge" - J.J. Barrie (1)
"The Combine Harvester (Brand New Key)" - The Wurzels (2)
"You To Me Are Everything" - The Real Thing (3)
"Forever And Ever" - Demis Roussos (1)
"Don't Go Breaking My Heart" - Elton John & Kiki Dee (6)
"Dancing Queen" - Abba (6)
"When A Child Is Born (Soleado)" - Johnny Mathis (1 week 1976 + 2 weeks 1977)
Events in the UK - 1976
26th March - Queen Elizabeth II
sends the first royal e-mail.
3rd April - England wins!! The 21st Eurovision Song Contest is won by Brotherhood of Man, representing with their song “save your kisses for me”. They won with 167 points.
5th April - James Callaghan becomes Prime Minister
1st May. - The FA Cup Final, Wembley, Southampton 1-0 Manchester United
1st June - The UK and Iceland end the Cod War.
3rd July - The great heat wave in the UK, reaches its peak.
27th July - The UK breaks diplomatic relations with Uganda.
5th August - The Great Clock of Westminster (or Big Ben) suffers internal damage and stops running for over 9 months.
Deaths exceeded live births in England & Wales for first time since records began in 1837
World events - 1976The US celebrates its bicentennial, marking the 200th anniversary of its independence. Gerald Ford is President.The Viking II sets down on Mars' Utopia Plains
Promising, "I will never lie to you," Jimmy Carter is elected president of the United States
The Concorde begins flights from New York to Europe
George W. Bush is arrested and fined for driving under the influence of alcohol
Cray-1, the first commercially developed supercomputer, is invented by Seymour Cray
Rocky is the top grossing film
Filming begins on George Lucas' Star Wars
The Eagles Their Greatest Hits compilation becomes the first album in history to be certified platinum
The Roman Catholic Church condemns sex outside of marriage and states that homosexuality can never be condoned
Palestinian extremists hijacked an Air France plane in Greece with 246 passengers and 12 crew. They eventually took it to Entebbe, Uganda, where a daring raid by Israeli commandos stormed it on July 4.
North and South Vietnam were reunited as one country with Hanoi as the capital. Saigon is renamed Ho Chi Minh City21st modern Olympic games opens in Montreal
World Motor Racing Champion Niki Lauda suffers serious burns in the German Grand prix
Drought Act 1976 comes into force
10,000 Protestant and Catholic women demonstrate for peace in Northern Ireland. The Peace Movement is founded but soon disintegrates into rivalries and bitterness. Meanwhile the violence carrys on
Mao Tse Tung dies
The main thing about 1976?
We were all so much younger then!
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