ON THIS DAY – 23 November 1970Cat Stevens – Tea for the Tillerman Fifty-five years ago today, Cat Stevens released Tea for the Tillerman. I was seven months old at the time, so my biggest achievement that year was probably not being sick on anyone. Meanwhile, Cat quietly put out one of the most enduring albums of the… Read More »
By the end of the eighties the football comic was on its last legs. Gary Lineker’s Hot Shot was meant to be the rescue act. Big name on the cover, slicker paper, a bit of shine. But this was issue 14 of what ended up being just 28 before it quietly merged into Roy of the Rovers. I… Read More »
Nine pence. That’s what Saturday cost.A walk to the paper shop, breath in the air that smelt like chip fat and damp leaves, and there it was – Roy of the Rovers. Thirty-odd pages of glory, mud and moral certainty. Cover – “Racey’s Rocket!” Roy in full flight, red shirt flashing, a blur of hair and optimism. Racey’s… Read More »
IPC Magazines Ltd | 3 1/2p | Edited by Wilf Prigmore Not one I read back in the day — I was only three! But chances are my sister had a few copies of Tammy or Sandie scattered around, and maybe I flicked through one between climbing furniture and watching Rainbow. Reading it now, more than fifty years… Read More »
D.C. Thomson & Co. Ltd | 24p | Edited by Bill Graham I’ll start with a confession — Warlord was never one of mine.By 1985, my weekly haul was more likely Tiger, Roy of the Rovers or any other sporty comic. But Warlord? Not really. Even at fifteen, I wasn’t drawn to tales that made war sound like… Read More »
IIPC Magazines Ltd | 14p | Edited by Barrie Tomlinson Back in November 1980, this issue of Tiger and Speed hit the shelves — and I was ten years old, sprinting (well, walking fast) to the paper shop between TISWAS and the start of Grandstand. Forty-odd years later, it’s part of my ever-growing digital archive — one of… Read More »
Released on this day – 30th October 1995 By the autumn of 1995, Pulp had gone from being Sheffield’s best-kept secret to the band that defined British life in the mid-90s. Jarvis Cocker — gangly, awkward, funny, and a little bit filthy — was suddenly a national icon. He’d conquered Glastonbury, confused the tabloids, and made being the… Read More »
October 29th 1990 By 1990, Paul Heaton had perfected the art of sounding chipper while quietly reminding us that life is largely disappointing. Choke, their second album, is a masterclass in middle-England melancholy — cheerful brass, bitter lyrics, and the sort of charm only found in pubs with sticky carpets and functioning jukeboxes. It’s the record that gave… Read More »