Harried St Louis banker Roger Hobbs (James Stewart) wants to spend his vacation alone with his wife, Peggy (Maureen O’Hara) as a romantic getaway, but she insists on a month-long family reunion vacation at a friend’s California beach house that…
1 9 8 0 (UK) 6 x 50 minute episodes When showman Arnie Cole (Bob Hoskins) first meets well-to-do spinster Maud (Frances de la Tour), she seems a total snob. But she is devastated to find herself pregnant and the father…
This three-hour film follows in the footsteps of a squad of young American soldiers from the early days of the Battle of Britain through the fierce fighting in Italy and France to the uneasy peace in the divided city of…
A group of college kids with raging hormones head to the desert resort of Palm Springs in California for the Easter weekend, looking for fun with members of the opposite sex. Among those heading to Palm Springs are a college…
Laurel (Hayley Mills) is a willful, stubborn, and bratty 16-year-old living in a house on the chalk cliffs of Sussex in southern England with her imperious class-conscious grandmother, Mrs St. Maugham (Dame Edith Evans). The selfish grandmother has separated Laurel…
1 9 7 8 (UK) 6 x 60 minute episodes As the title suggested, the ITV series Scorpion Tales – produced by ATV – was a group of six single plays which shared nothing but the quality of having a…
According to a legend of the ninth century, a nun called Joan disguised herself as a monk to escape the ravishing attentions of the Saxon marauders. She hung on to her mannish habits, was elected Pope and presided over her…
Set in a rolling stretch of English countryside during World War II, a young woman called Alice (Glenda Jackson) takes a young soldier called Barton (Brian Deacon) for her lover while her husband is a prisoner of war In the…
1 9 8 8 (UK) 26 x 30 minute episodes Bearded, bespectacled and overweight English teacher Trevor Beasley (Richard Griffiths) and his long-suffering and loving wife, Carol (Frances de la Tour in her first comedy series since Rising Damp) reluctantly move…
1 9 8 8 (UK) 13 x 15 minute episodes An alien named N-3 (voiced by Jeremy Hardy) arrived from the planet Holgon on a mission to study the people and places of Earth. However, his superiors from his home planet…
1 9 8 8 (UK) 6 x 60 minute episodes Barry (later Finbar) Lynch starred as Persse McGarrigle, a naive young postgraduate student who embarks on a globetrotting romantic pursuit of his elusive contemporary Angela, set against a background of eccentric…
1 9 8 8 (UK) 6 x 15 minute episodes Debbie Gates – the creator of Tales From Fat Tulip’s Garden – co-wrote this series of six stories for children with Ben Keaton, who also narrated and voiced all the characters…
1 9 7 0 (UK) 6 x 54 minute episodes This drama series from London Weekend Television was based on true-life cases of women who made the headlines of Victorian newspapers. The six episodes aired as part of Saturday Night Theatre (1969…
1 9 5 2 – 1 9 5 4 (UK) 120 x 15 minute episodes Wednesday’s Watch With Mother featured the twin pot-dwellers Bill and Ben. The adventures of this pair of strange, stringed puppet creatures living in flowerpots at the bottom…
1 9 7 7 – 1 9 8 1 (UK) 22 x 30 minute episodes Following his success as support to Ronnie Barker in the BBC’s Open All Hours, and just before taking off as Del Boy in Only Fools and Horses, David Jason starred…
1 9 8 1 – 1 9 8 3 (UK) 13 x 25 minute episodes Astronauts was the first post-Goodies sitcom written by Graeme Garden and Bill Oddie. It was script-edited by UK comedy greats Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais…
Socialite Ann Bryant (Anna Palk) goes on a whirlwind tour of London’s nightclubs with Billy Universe (bequiffed British rock & roller Billy Fury) and his rock & roll band The Satellites, who attempt to reunite her with Larry Granger (Maurice Kaufmann),…
Though short-lived, The Specials Mk I were punk’s multi-racial idealism made flesh. The group came together almost by osmosis, gathering together the remnants of several Coventry punk, soul and reggae outfits. Chief instigator, songwriter, designer and founder of the 2…
1 9 6 8 – 1 9 7 0 (UK) 48 x 30 minute episodes The first BBC2 pop series, Colour Me Pop aired between 1968 and 1970 and featured acts including Manfred Mann, the Small Faces, The Eclection, Fleetwood Mac, The…
The Disc Jockey widely believed to have first coined the phrase “rock ‘n’ roll” began life as a jazz trombonist with a band called Sultans Of Swing (it may have been them that Dire Straits were singing about many years later). Born…
Witchfynde were formed in Derbyshire, England in 1974, by bass guitarist and vocalist Neil Harvey. They discovered “Montalo” (real name Trevor Taylor) in a band called Atiofel. The band released their first single, Give ‘Em Hell in 1979 and their…
Tygers of Pan Tang formed in 1978 in Whitley Bay on Tyneside and became a significant player in the NWOBHM (New Wave Of British Heavy Metal) movement. They released their own independent EP, Don’t Touch Me There (1980) via Wallsend’s Neat Records…
Like every other self-respecting musical movement in the early 70s, Pub Rock had its own ‘supergroup’ in the shape of Kokomo. Named after an Aretha Franklin song (First Snow in Kokomo) the band consisted of guitarist Neil Hubbard and bassist Alan Spenner from Joe Cocker’s…
Charlie Is My Darling follows two days in the life of The Rolling Stones during their tour of Ireland in 1965 Three months before shooting the tour, director Peter Whitehead captured a strange union of stillness and chaos in Beat poet documentary Wholly Communion. His…
The title of the film refers to the small yellow teddy bears worn by some of the girls at the all-girls Peterbridge New Town Grammar School on their uniform to symbolise their loss of virginity. Their ringleader, 16-year-old Linda (Annette…
Charwoman Mrs Cragg (Peggy Mount) retrieves a discarded cigar from the wastepaper basket of city tycoon James Ryder (Harry H Corbett) and presents it wrapped in a crumpled telegram to Colonel Whitworth (Robert Morley), a retired army officer living in…
A psychological thriller about an overweight paranoid schizophrenic hospital lab technician (Victor Buono) with low self-esteem brought on by his dominant invalid mother, who becomes a serial killer of female nurses in New York City – following them home and…
Alan “Dickie” Bird (Bill Paterson) is an early-morning radio DJ on Metrosound 261 in Glasgow. It’s nearly Christmas and his kleptomaniac sweetheart of many years, Maddy (Eleanor David) has just walked out on him, taking all his possessions with her.…
For half-witted barbers apprentice, Wilbur Hoolick (Jerry Lewis) life is a continual series of mishaps. But the biggest mishap of all is when Noonan (Raymond Burr) – a wanted killer – plants a stolen diamond in his pocket while on…
When Sergeant Bilko was demobbed, Phil Silvers came to England to play Sergeant Nocker of the Foreign Legion in this high-spirited satire of adventure epics. Unjustly accused of being a cheat and turned down by Lady Jane Ponsonby (Angela Douglas),…
A widowed writer (Hardy Kruger) brings his young, glamorous new bride, Elise (Britt Ekland) to his bleak, isolated home in rural Spain. She soon becomes obsessed with her 12-year-old stepson, Marcus (Mark Lester of Oliver! fame), who she learns has…
This warm and witty comedy tells the story of lovable rogue Denry Machin (Alec Guinness) – the poor son of a washerwoman who sees opportunity around every corner – as he progresses from a student at Hambridge College to a…
It was 14 June 1962 when The Boston Strangler first struck. Over the next 18 months, Boston was gripped by fear. Eleven women were strangled – and some sexually assaulted – by a killer who usually left a gruesome signature:…
Launched in 1958 by Minimodels, Scalextric promised to “bring the excitement of motor racing right into your home where children and adults alike can enjoy the thrill of the race”. The advertisements also claimed that “the cars travel at a…
Trading stamps originated in the United States as far back as 1896 and were sold to retailers who then issued them to their customers. The stamps were stuck in savings books and exchanged for merchandise. Retailers built customer loyalty and…
Mathematically fascinating (not to mention a mite confusing) in that these dark chocolate bars had five fruit-flavoured creme centres (orange, lemon, lime, raspberry and pineapple) but seven segments per bar. You could work out which segments would have two flavours…
The Fighting Fantasy series were books based on role-playing games such as Dungeons & Dragons. The idea of books such as The Warlock of Firetop Mountain was that the hero was YOU. YOU made the decisions as YOU raided the warlock’s dungeon…
Until the 70s, interior design was simply a DIY pursuit. Once the seventies hit, it was a lifestyle statement. The dominant colours were Puce, Red, Yellow, Blue, Green (sorry, Avocado), Purple, Gold and Brown. If it moved, it had to…
In 1888, Sir Frank Bowden’s doctor told him that cycling could improve his health. He bought an interest in a small bicycle company in Raleigh Street, Nottingham, where 12 men were making three bicycles a week. By 1896 Raleigh owned a…
The Black Panthers wanted to be the vanguard of a revolution that would create economic, social and political equality across gender and colour lines. Since the nonviolent campaign of Martin Luther King had ended in that brave man’s death and little improvement…
January 01 – A new law comes into effect in California, prohibiting people from smoking in bars and restaurants. 05 – Sonny Bono (of Sonny & Cher fame) dies in a skiing accident at South Lake Tahoe’s Heavenly Ski Resort…
January 01 – 11 European countries replace their national currencies with the newly created ‘Euro’, a single European currency. Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Holland, Belgium, Austria, Portugal, Finland, Ireland and Luxembourg all make the switch. The actual circulation of Euro…
January 01 – The dictator of Cuba, Fulgencio Batista, is overthrown by Fidel Castro’s guerrillas and flees to the Dominican Republic. 02 – Fidel Castro proclaims a new government in Cuba. 02 – The USSR launches lunar rocket Luna 1…
January 05 – Winston Churchill arrives in Washington for talks with Truman. 07 – General Dwight D Eisenhower says he will run for US President. 12 – The prototype Vickers Valiant, Britain’s only long-range jet for carrying the atomic bomb, crashes. 13 – The Iranian government…
French Indochina was captured by the Japanese during WWII. After 1945 the French tried unsuccessfully to restore their rule in Vietnam, and in 1954 they were defeated by the Vietnamese (led by the Communist Ho Chi Minh) and had to…
The Greek cruise ship TSMS Lakonia left Southampton on 19 December 1963 for an 11-day Christmas cruise of the Canary Islands. She carried 646 passengers and 376 crew: a total of 1,022 people. The ship’s first scheduled stop was to…
During the summer of 1967, The Beatles’ Sgt Peppers Lonely Hearts Club album had shot straight to the top of the UK and US album charts. A few weeks later, All You Need Is Love topped the singles charts around the world. Still…
1 9 5 3 (UK) The British nation came to a standstill on 2 June 1953. Thousands lined the streets of London, while in homes and offices the length and breadth of Britain, colleagues, neighbours and relatives huddled in corners, all…
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Featured Blog Posts
Members of The Beatles’ fan club were rewarded with a special seasonal gift each Christmas between 1963 and 1969 – their very own 7″ Beatles Christmas records delivered to their…
Coined by British filmmaker Gerry Anderson and his wife, Sylvia, while making the series Supercar in 1960, “Supermarionation” was the name given to a technique through which marionettes (string puppets)…
The Ramones & Toto This is just one of those lineups that makes less and less sense the more you think about it, but The Ramones supported Toto, who were…
In 2020, with COVID-19 raging and much of the world locked down, working from home and communicating via Zoom and other online video conferencing platforms, the BBC released over 100…
The problem with hippies was that they were all a bit soft. All of that putting flowers in rifle barrels wasn’t going to stop people from getting hurt, was it? Glam…
The intermission lights were dimming and scattered chatter was turning into a cacophony of high-pitched squeals and titters. OL’55 and TMG had carried off the first half admirably, fuelling the…
Melody Maker, 17 February 1979 We are dancing, Chrissie Hynde and I, to a Sex Pistols single, the exact title of which has been blurred by time and a good deal of…
In late 1973, mum and dad asked my sister and me a rather unusual question: “Would you like to go to Australia?” I mean, it’s not really in the same…
Featured Aussie Posts
“In Australia when an Aborigine man-child reaches sixteen, he is sent out into the land. For months he must live from it. Sleep on it. Eat of its fruit and…
1 9 8 5 – 1 9 8 6 (UK) 8 x 50 minute episodes On his last day as the Professor of English at Birmingham University, Edward Brett (Peter…
1 9 8 6 (Australia) 10 x 60 minute episodes This saga of the lives of a working-class Irish-Australian family begins in 1892 with Australia in the grip of a…
This Australian family film told the story of a young country girl called Jenny Grey (played by 18-year-old Cathryn Harrison, daughter of actor/singer Noel and granddaughter of Rex) who falls…
1 9 7 7 – 1 9 8 0 (Australia) 26 x 60 minute episodes Tired of city life, young Australian veterinarian Peter Ramsay (John Hargreaves) moves from Sydney to the…
1 9 8 5 – 1 9 8 6 (Australia) 24 x 50 minute episodes 1 9 8 7 (Australia) 24 x 50 minute episodes Orphaned Melbourne teens Steve Henderson (Paul Smith)…
Featured Canadian Posts
1 9 6 8 – 1 9 6 9 (Canada) 30/60 minute episodes This Canadian music series was broadcast on CBC from 30 September 1968 to 23 June 1969. Episodes featured…
1 9 9 8 – 2 0 0 5 (Canada) 98 x 60 minute episodes The Canadian drama series Cold Squad – a conventional police drama about unconventional police detectives…
1 9 8 7 – 1 9 8 9 (Canada) 42 x 30 minute episodes The trials and triumphs of students at an urban junior high school were explored in this…
1 9 9 7 – 1 9 9 8 (Canada) 23 x 60 minute episodes Movie director John Woo brought his trademark martial-arts violence, explosions and tongue-in-cheek humour to TV in…
1 9 7 0 (Canada) 130 x 30 minute episodes This infamously awful low-budget sitcom was shot in Toronto (but set in New York) and loosely based on a 1940s radio…
1 9 5 6 (Canada/USA) 39 x 30 minute episodes Salt spray, insults and action marked this expensively-produced comedy about rival tugboat captains in the Pacific Northwest of America. Foghorn-voiced widow…
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Nostalgia Central covers the period 1950 to 1999 and contains some words and references which reflect the attitudes of those times and which may be considered culturally sensitive, offensive or inappropriate today.
