But right from the start I gave you my heart

A sunshiny view up my back passage. [click to embiggen]

"Summer afternoon, summer afternoon; to me those have always been the two most beautiful words in the English language." - Henry James

It has been bloody hot these past few days - the hottest ever start to Wimbledon Fortnight, apparently - with a peak yesterday of 34.7C/94.4F in St James' Park. Not sure how dear Henry would have felt about sitting in some glorious British country garden if he had been as bathed in sweat as we've been...

Needless to say, anything defined as a "heatwave" here in the UK, particularly this early in the year, immediately brings nostalgic memories of that Long Hot Summer of 1976! That was the glorious year (for me in particular, turning "teenage", but also for a generation of kids) that the whole of the school summer holidays (in fact all of June, July and August) was non-stop sunshine, with parks, outdoor lidos, beaches and any other swimming spots packed to the brim, scantily-clad people everywhere, water rationing, stand-pipes in the streets, a "plague" of ladybirds, and...

...it was the year of Disco, the Raleigh Chopper bike, I, Claudius, the first Space Shuttle, Dancing Queen, Demis Roussos, Pol Pot, the "Cod War", photos from Mars, Jimmy Carter, Brotherhood of Man, Nadia Comaneci, The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin, John Curry, Jim Callaghan, The Muppet Show, Wings, Patty Hearst, Emperor Bokassa, 10CC, Concorde, the "Son of Sam", The Wurzels, Taxi Driver, Peter Frampton, Punk, The New Avengers, Tina Charles, Niki Lauda, The Omen, James Hunt, Jeremy Thorpe, Soweto riots, the IRA and the US Bicentennial. It was also the year that Benedict Cumberbatch, Emma Bunton, "H" from Steps, Ryan Reynolds, Apple, Colin Farrell, Ellen MacArthur, The Body Shop, Stephen Gately, the National Theatre, Anna Friel, the CN Tower, Keeley Hawes, Cillian Murphy, Reese Witherspoon, Sean Maguire, Martine McCutcheon, Rob James-Collier, the InterCity 125, the Ford Fiesta and the Seychelles were all born; and the year Rosalind Russell, Sal Mineo, Sir Benjamin Britten, Dame Edith Evans, Busby Berkeley, Dame Agatha Christie, Sid James, Fritz Lang, Dame Sybil Thorndike, Florence Ballard, Sir Mortimer Wheeler, Tom Driberg, Carol Reed, Margaret Leighton, Man Ray, Howard Hughes, Lily Pons, Ulrike Meinhof, Alastair Sim, Paul Robeson, Luchino Visconti, Sir Stanley Baker, Percy Faith, Chairman Mao, LS Lowry, Field Marshal Montgomery and South Vietnam all died.

In the headlines in early July 1976? 102 hostages on a plane hijacked by terrorists and diverted to Entebbe in Uganda were dramatically freed in a daring Israeli rescue mission; multiple murderer Donald Neilson, known as the "Black Panther" was sentenced to life imprisonment; and of course the tabloids were full of heatwave-related screaming headlines ("Hotter than Honolulu!", "Phewnominal!", "PHEW! WHAT A SCORCHER!", and so on). In our cinemas: The Outlaw Josey Wales; Bugsy Malone; Aces High. On telly: The Bionic Woman, Starsky and Hutch and Mike Yarwood in Persons.

And in our charts this week 49 years ago? Embedded at the top was The Real Thing and You To Me Are Everything, and making up the rest of the Top Ten were an assortment of artists including the aforementioned Wurzels, and the aforementioned Wings, Rod Stewart [yup, the star of Glastonbury 2025's "Legends" slot has been going that long...], Candi Staton, Bryan Ferry, Thin Lizzy, Gallagher and Lyle, The Shangri-Las(!) and Our Kid. However, just arrived in the lower echelons of the chart was the song that would sweep away everything before it, staying at the top for six weeks - and become forever associated with that legendary, happy summer!

Elton John and Kiki Dee - Don't Go Breaking My Heart

An absolute classic!

Ah, memories...

Mivvi, anyone?

Some people cope with the heat in unusual ways.

Hurrah! The UK's in the middle of a heatwave (at last)! It hit 30C yesterday and (even though it's a bit hazy) we've probably hit 32C today [TBC by the Met Office]

A heatwave, you say? Another excuse, I say, to revisit 1976 - the year of the most famous heatwave of the lot!

OK, this time 47 years ago it had actually already broken, and the UK had some (much-needed, after three months of drought) rain, but...

In our charts this week in '76, Abba's Dancing Queen held the top slot, and the likes of Wings, Elton John and Kiki Dee, Rod Stewart, Dr Hook, Johnny Wakelin, Chi-Lites, David Dundas and even Billie Jo Spears were all present and correct. However it is to an old favourite who was also in the Top Ten, the ultimate "Lounge Lizard", we turn to provide today's soundtrack. Here's Mr Bryan Ferry - for it is he - (not even breaking into a sweat, even in searing temperatures, and ably assisted in the video by his then-girlfriend, the pouting Jerry Hall) and The Price Of Love:

Bryan Ferry – The Price of Love

I could do with an ice cold cocktail now... Or maybe a Mivvi!

Cos here I go again

It's Midsummer's Day/the Summer Solstice today and inevitably - although it's nowhere near as good weather at the moment - whenever summer is mentioned in this country the collective thoughts of an entire generation turn back to this week forty-seven years ago (gulp!), when the fabled "Heatwave of 1976" began. The hottest summer for more than 350 years, coinciding nicely with the school holidays, the UK experienced fifteen consecutive days over 32C (89.6F) and nary a cloud, let alone any rain, for more than three months! Bliss.

I have of course blogged about it many times before and, in the interests of recycling (again), here's one I made earlier:

Here are some facts about the Summer of '76:

• Many householders in Wales and the west of England were left without tap water for much of the day when temperatures were frequently over 80F; stand-pipes were installed in the streets as the pavements cracked or melted around them.
• The National Water Council made repeat appeals to people to save and recycle water, with one advert explaining jobs are more important than flower beds; and hosepipe use was banned.
• People across the country were told to put bricks or plastic bags full of water in their toilet cisterns and to use washing-up water to pour down the toilet instead of flushing.

• The rivers Don, Sheaf, Shire Brook and Meers Brook in Sheffield all ran completely dry, as did the reservoirs in Wales.
• In addition to appointing a Minister for Drought, James Callaghan’s Labour government actually drafted emergency plans to bring water by tanker from Norway.
• Nationally £500 million of crops were destroyed and food prices soared by 12%.
• Brewery Shepherd Neame, however, reported beer sales up by 8% on the previous year and at their highest since the war - the company had not been troubled by the weather as it had its own well, which was still plentiful.

It was indeed a long, long summer, with a lot of happy memories - and lots of memorable choons to accompany them...

...not least the Top Ten of this very week in 1976, which included The Boys Are Back In Town by Thin Lizzy, Jolene by Dolly Parton, Heart On My Sleeve by Gallagher And Lyle, Let's Stick Together by Bryan Ferry, Young Hearts Run Free by Candi Staton, Tonight's The Night by Rod Stewart and You Just Might See Me Cry by Our Kid. You To Me Are Everything by the Real Thing was at Number 1, and at Number 2 the (very silly) Combine Harvester by The Wurzels.

Which just leaves one song. Now, I am no Paul McCartney fan by any stretch of the imagination - but, whenever I hear Silly Love Songs by Wings, I am instantaneously transported back to those heady, hot days...

Wings – Silly Love Songs

"What's wrong with that?
I'd like to know."

You're in the mood for a dance, and when you get the chance...

As our last Bank Holiday weekend is upon us, and the weather looks fine and warm for our "Grand Picnic" this afternoon [although a darn sight cooler than the searing heat we had for months this year], it's worth taking one last visit in our TARDIS to that other "long, hot summer" - 1976!

In a spookily similar way to the UK in 2022, 46 years ago we were struggling with not just a massive drought and hosepipe bans [which broke, with storms and floods this very week in '76], but also a lengthy contest for the position of Prime Minister after the departure of the incumbent [back then it was Harold Wilson who resigned], strikes, raging inflation [retail price inflation reached 27% per year in August 1976], economic meltdown thanks to a fuel crisis [although that one had actually begun three years earlier in 1973], cuts in public expenditure, riots and civil disobedience. All that's missing these days is the bloody IRA!

Even ABBA are back - albeit in "ABBAtar" form - but they were at their zenith this week in 1976, with this one at #1 [where it would remain until October]!

Abba – Dancing Queen

As I said on a previous occasion when I featured this song: "What queen, to this day, cannot sing every word to this one?"

Oh, it's been such a long, long time

As London and much of the UK is braced for what might well turn out to be the hottest day on record, so our thoughts [as ever on such occasions when we actually get a summer, and then the tabloids and other assorted doom-mongers start talking about "an apocalypse"] turn to that every-fondly-remembered Long Hot Summer of 1976...

...the year of Punk, Disco, the Raleigh Chopper bike, I, Claudius, the first Space Shuttle, Dancing Queen, Pol Pot, the Cod War, photos from Mars, Jimmy Carter, Brotherhood of Man, Nadia Comaneci, Entebbe, The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin, John Curry, Jim Callaghan, The Muppet Show, Patty Hearst, Emperor Bokassa, 10CC, Concorde, The Wurzels, Peter Frampton, The New Avengers, The Omen, James Hunt, the IRA and the US bicentennial; the births of Benedict Cumberbatch, Emma Bunton, "H" from Steps, Ryan Reynolds, Apple, Colin Farrell, Ellen MacArthur, The Body Shop, Stephen Gately, the National Theatre, Anna Friel, the CN Tower, Keeley Hawes, Cillian Murphy, Reese Witherspoon, Sean Maguire, Martine McCutcheon, Rob James-Collier, the InterCity 125, the Ford Fiesta and the Seychelles; and the year Rosalind Russell, Sal Mineo, Sir Benjamin Britten, Dame Edith Evans, Busby Berkeley, Dame Agatha Christie, Sid James, Fritz Lang, Dame Sybil Thorndike, Florence Ballard, Margaret Leighton, Howard Hughes, Ulrike Meinhof, Alastair Sim, Paul Robeson, Luchino Visconti, Sir Stanley Baker, Chairman Mao, L. S. Lowry and Field Marshal Montgomery all died.

In the headlines in July 46 years ago? Obviously that year's heatwave (which peaked at 35.9C/96.6F, but went on for months), the Montreal Olympics (and the impressive groinage of champion swimmer David Wilkie), the election of David Steel as leader of the Liberal Party in the wake of the Jeremy Thorpe scandal, the execution of British mercenaries in Angola, the murder by the IRA of the UK amabassador to Ireland, and a fire that destroyed the pierhead of Southend Pier. In our cinemas: The Outlaw Josey Wales; Bugsy Malone; Aces High. On telly: The Bionic Woman, Starsky and Hutch and Mike Yarwood in Persons.

And what of our charts this week in that long, glorious summer? The song that came to dominate the heatwave, Elton John and Kiki Dee's Don't Go Breaking My Heart had just toppled Demis Roussos from the top slot (and would remain there for six weeks while we sweltered). Also present and correct in the Top Ten were Doctor Hook, Candi Staton, The Manhattans, The Real Thing, Queen, 100 Tons and a Feather (aka Jonathan King) and Bryan Ferry - and this slice of soul perfection!

Dorothy Moore - Misty Blue

Scary though it is to note, the heatwave of 1976 is closer in time to the rise of Oswald Mosley and the opening of BBC Broadcasting House than it is to us today...

Aaargh!

So don't be persistent; please keep your distance

It has been a scorcher today in the extensive gardens here at Dolores Delargo Towers. As the BBC confirms, we couldn't have asked for better weather to be in lockdown:

The UK has experienced its sunniest spring since records began in 1929, the Met Office has said.

It is also set to be the driest May on record for some parts of UK, including the driest in England for 124 years.

Of course, this gives me the perfect excuse [as I do every time we have anything resembling hot weather here in the UK] to hark back forty-four years ago to that idyllic long, hot summer of '76...

The heatwave hadn't even started yet in May 1976 - we had another month to go before the UK began to bake. The fashions veered towards gypsy skirts and maxi-dresses for women, corduroys and high-buttoned flared denims for men (before all that was cast off for the rest of the summer in favour of swimming costumes, of course). In the headlines were "Gentleman" Jim Callaghan, our new Prime Minister, already facing falling Labour Party ratings; his predecessor Harold Wilson's controversial Resignation Honours list ("the Lavender List") was published, with a number of dodgy businessmen given peerages; we were celebrating the inaugural flight of Concorde to New York; former "millionaire's playground" the Lebanon was in flames in a bloody civil war; all eyes were on British tennis champion Sue Barker; and "Elsie Tanner" (Pat Phoenix) returned to Coronation Street after three years.

And in our charts this week? Abba's Fernando was at #1, and JJ Barrie, The Wurzels, Andrea True Connection, Sutherland Brothers & Quiver, Wings, Rolling Stones, Bellamy Brothers and Miss Ross were all present and correct...

...as was this little oddity:

Robin Sarstedt - My Resistance Is Low

Can you imagine anyone having a hit with a song written by Hoagy Carmichael today?

Yeah, I wonder if I'm dreaming

Heavens! The heartthrob of the mid-Seventies NME generation Mr Peter Frampton is 70 years old today....


I wish...





As I said a decade ago on the occasion of his 60th:

It's not very often that I feature rock guitarists - "legendary" or not - here at Dolores Delargo Towers. However, I sometimes make allowances for the pin-up fantasies of our youth. And in this case, a certain Peter Frampton certainly fitted that bill for some of us (he was apparently one of Madam Arcati's early wank fantasies).

It meant little to me at the time - I barely remember the furore that his Frampton Comes Alive album caused during the long hot summer of 1976, being far more into Noosha Fox and 10CC (I was only just a teenager after all)...

However, I digress. Here is his most famous song - which in many people's memories is an anthem of the scorching heatwave Britain experienced [gulp!] 44 years ago:

Peter Frampton – Show Me The Way

I wonder how you're feeling
There's ringing in my ears
And no one to relate to 'cept the sea
Who can I believe in?
I'm kneeling on the floor
There has to be a force
Who do I phone?
The stars are out and shining
But all I really want to know

Oh won't you show me the way, every day
I want you to show me the way, yeah

Well, I can see no reason
You're living on your nerves
When someone drops a cup and I submerge
I'm swimming in a circle
I feel I'm going down
There has to be a fool to play my part
Someone thought of healing
But all I really want to know

Oh won't you show me the way, every day
I want you to show me the way, oh
I want you day after day, yeah

Yeah, I wonder if I'm dreaming
I feel so unashamed
I can't believe this is happening to me
I watch you when you're sleeping
And then I want to take your love

Oh won't you show me the way, every day
I want you to show me the way, one more time
I want you day after day, yeah
I want you day after day, hey

I want you to show me the way, every day
I want you to show me the way, night and day
I want you day after day

Oh, yes! Summer...

Many happy returns, Peter Kenneth Frampton (born 22nd April 1950)

For you I'd get down on my knees

Yes. People did look like this in the 70s.

The stiflingly unpleasant heat today [I can cope with 38C/100.4F temperatures if the sun is out and the air is moving, but it's been overcast and humid-as-hell - even the thunderstorm just now fizzled out after barely dampening the leaves in the garden] takes us back - as all heatwaves in this normally moist island inevitably do - to the great Summer of 1976.

And so, appropriately, we have a mini-timeslip-moment...

In July forty-three years ago, apart from melting pavements and stand-pipes in the streets (London had fifteen days over 80F, and five consecutive days over 90F), there was also in the news: the raid on Entebbe airport, Nadia Comăneci's seven "perfect 10s" at the Montreal Olympics (and our own gold-medal-winning swimmer David Wilkie in his skimpies setting many a teen-queen's loins-a-tingle), the first photos from Mars taken by the Viking 1 lander, the murder by the IRA of British ambassador to the Irish Republic Christopher Ewart-Biggs, an earthquake in China that killed 242,769 people, three British (and one American) mercenaries shot by firing squad in Angola, and the US Bicentennial celebrations. In our cinemas: The Omen, Bugsy Malone. On telly: The Bionic Woman, The Sky at Night and the Olympics.

And what of our charts that memorable high summer - this week in 1976? The Top 3 remained firmly in place - Elton & Kiki at #1, Dr Hook at #2 and Demis Roussos at #3. Also present and correct were The Manhattans, Tavares, Candi Staton, Dorothy Moore, Jonathan King (masquerading as 100 Ton and a Feather), David Dundas and Queen. But just outside the Top Ten, waiting its turn, was this one [here, in a very strange set indeed]...

Liverpool Express - You Are My Love

It's supposed to be cooler tomorrow. Fingers crossed.

I got money in my pocket, got a tiger in my tank

I, Claudius. Raleigh Chopper bikes. The Rolling Stones at Knebworth. The Muppet Show. Scholl sandals. The CN Tower. Björn Borg. Dancing Queen. Double-denim. Multi-Coloured Swap Shop. The Grunwick strike. Brotherhood of Man winning Eurovision. The National Theatre. Elsie Tanner. Noah and Nelly. Porn cinemas. The Ford Fiesta. John Curry. The Bionic Woman. Cod Wars. The InterCity 125. Fry’s Turkish Delight. Corduroy. James Hunt. Jeremy Thorpe. Photos from Mars. The EEC. The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin. Notting Hill riots. Jimmy Carter. Concorde. The New Avengers. Jim Callaghan. The maxi dress. Nadia Comaneci. The International Monetary Fund. Plagues of Ladybirds. The IRA. Punk. The Good Life. Space Hoppers. The Omen. Elton John and Kiki Dee...

...and, of course - the beautiful, brilliant, seemingly never-ending heatwave!

Usually, every time the long, hot Summer of 1976 is featured here at Dolores Delargo Towers, it's because the tabloids are making a meal out of a couple of hot days back-to-back (inevitably followed by a deluge - a typical British summer). But this year's summer is actually heading to be a rival to that fabled year. Give or take a few localised and very fleeting thunderstorms (that hardly wet the floor, despite their - ahem - thunderousness), our bit of London has had no real rain since around Eurovision! To top that, throughout most of June and the whole of July, temperatures have hardly settled below the mid-20s C (and at the moment, the mid-30s) - which is good for flowers, but not so good for sleeping.

Nevertheless, we will continue to hark back in our pursuit of suitable "heatwave choons" - and here, from July forty-two years ago - is another one of 'em:

David Dundas – Jeans on

I can't hear that song without thinking of summer...

Everybody's going to the party

It's our last timeslip moment of 2016...

Let's race back one final time to that most memorable of years - the year of Pol Pot, Nadia Comaneci, Entebbe, the great British heatwave, the "Gang of Four", The Omen, the US bicentennial, Brotherhood of Man, the "Son of Sam", and the final end of the Vietnam War (as North and South Vietnam were merged) - 1976, for another bout of nostalgia.

In the news forty years ago in December 1976: the US of A was celebrating the arrival of its fresh new President Jimmy Carter; the Sex Pistols shocked uptight Britain by saying the word "fuck" on live television; in the ascendant were Northern Ireland peace campaigners Betty Williams and Mairead Corrigan (who won the Nobel Peace Prize), and The Eagles (who released Hotel California), but Bob Marley narrowly survived an assassination attempt; and the UK Labour government's disastrous economic mismanagement was exposed when Chancellor Denis Healey secured a loan from the International Monetary Fund to prop up a huge deficit. On our big screens were The Pink Panther Strikes Again, Survive! and Picnic at Hanging Rock. On telly: The New Avengers (with Joanna Lumley), Multi-Coloured Swap Shop and The Two Ronnies.

And in our charts this week in 1976? Johnny Mathis held the #1 slot with When A Child is Born, and following close behind were Showaddywaddy, Abba, Queen, Mike Oldfield, ELO, Yvonne Elliman, Tina Charles and Smokie. But leaping upwards was this eternal party favourite - it's the lovely Mr Paul Nicholas and Grandma's Party!

Paul Nicholas - Grandma's Party

Oh dear. I still remember it all too well.

'Till my body flows with energy

Timeslip moment time, again.

With the current hot weather [the hottest since 1911, apparently] that is unexpectedly crossing the UK, inevitably it is to the final throes of the Long Hot Summer of '76 we turn once more [possibly for the last time this year - at least not with thoughts of cracking pavements in mind!]. In many ways it was a year of change, as Harold Wilson resigned and the doomed Prime Minister-ship of Jim Callaghan began, with Maggie Thatcher just waiting in the wings; music veered from the familiar era of MOR, Glam Rock and Funk towards the much more ground-breaking Disco and Punk "movements" that were to follow; and technology appeared to be providing us all a view of a Brave New World, with the arrival of super-computers, re-usable space vehicles and photographs of Mars...

In the news in September 1976: the UK's great drought continued, and housewives in Surrey forced a nearby golf club to turn off its water sprinklers by keeping a constant vigil and harassing the groundsmen; a British Airways Trident and a Yugoslav DC-9 collided near Zagreb, killing all 176 aboard; the Argentine dictatorship began its hideous programme of human rights abuses, repression and "disappeared" opponents; in the ascendant were Egyptian president Anwar Sadat (who was re-elected), the first Space Shuttle "Enterprise", and Punk (with tickets on sale for the legendary "100 Club Punk Special", which launched the Sex Pistols, the Clash, The Damned and Siouxsie Sioux on an unsuspecting world), but Portsmouth FC were on the brink of filing for bankruptcy; and Patty Hearst was sentenced to seven years in prison for her part in that notorious bank robbery after she had allegedly been kidnapped. In our cinemas: Taxi Driver, All the President's Men and Gator. On telly: George and Mildred ; The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin; and The Muppet Show arrived - thanks to British ATV impresario Lew Grade, who commissioned it (and nothing was quite the same again).

As for the UK charts this week forty years ago: at the top was Abba's almighty Dancing Queen (of course), and also jostling for position in the line-up were Rod Stewart, Wings, Georghe Zamfir, Bee Gees, Stylistics, Lou Rawls and Billie Jo Spears... but zooming their way into the upper echelons were the rather fab Chi-Lites and You Don't Have to Go [complete with oddly-matched accompanying vintage cartoon]:

Chi-Lites – You Don't Have to Go

Well, you don't have to go
You just wanna see me
Go through changes
Oh don't you baby?

'Cos you bring out
What's deep in me
'Till my body flows with energy
Now well, well

My mind gets so weak
You make me pout
Just like a child
Oh don't you baby?

The height of my masculinity
Begins to get the best of me

Indeed.

Leave them burning and then you're gone

With Britain's newspapers in some kind of frenzy - again - about the prospect that two hot days together somehow constitute a "heatwave", so our thoughts once again go hurtling back forty years, to the "greatest of all heatwaves", the long hot summer of 1976. In this month, the UK was on full red alert as the drought and glorious sunshine continued - many parts of the country went 45 days with no rain, and water rationing was endemic. [The best school holidays, ever, as most of us who were kids then would recall :-)]

Also in the news in August 1976: Betty Williams and Mairead Corrigan led the first demonstration by "Women for Peace" in Northern Ireland with 10,000 Protestant and Catholic women in attendance; the fall-out of the John Stonehouse scandal and trial continued to raise eyebrows (the former Postmaster General, on the run from fraud allegations, had pretended to have committed suicide on Brighton beach but was arrested in Australia and jailed for seven years); in the ascendant were the Viking 2 probe (which entered into orbit around Mars), the Ramones (who made their début at CBGBs club in New York) and Gerald Ford (who beat Ronald Reagan to become the Republican Presidential candidate), but Big Ben (the Great Clock of Westminster) was damaged and went silent for nine months; there was a coup in Uruguay; Jacques Chirac resigned as Prime Minister of France; and the first known outbreak of Ebola virus occurred in Zaire. On telly: Call My Bluff, Michael Rodd's Screen Test and the departure of Amy Turtle from the soap Crossroads. In cinemas: Harry and Walter Go to New York, Land of the Minotaur and Bugsy Malone.

In our charts this week four decades ago, the inexorable domination of Elton'n'Kiki and Don't Go Breaking My Heart continued, holding off all comers including Dr Hook, David Dundas, Johnny Wakelin, Wings, Tavares, Jimmy James, 5000 Volts, the Bee Gees and Cockney Rebel. But lurking in the wings, having just made its first appearance in the upper echelons of the Top 40, was the song that was going to knock it off its perch...

Here (of course) is Abba, with their timeless classic Dancing Queen [and what queen, to this day, cannot sing every word to this one?]:

Abba – Dancing Queen

You can dance, you can jive, having the time of your life
See that girl, watch that scene, digging the Dancing Queen

Friday night and the lights are low
Looking out for the place to go
Where they play the right music, getting in the swing
You come in to look for a king
Anybody could be that guy
Night is young and the music's high
With a bit of rock music, everything is fine
You're in the mood for a dance
And when you get the chance...

You are the Dancing Queen, young and sweet, only seventeen
Dancing Queen, feel the beat from the tambourine
You can dance, you can jive, having the time of your life
See that girl, watch that scene, digging the Dancing Queen

You're a teaser, you turn 'em on
Leave them burning and then you're gone
Looking out for another, anyone will do
You're in the mood for a dance
And when you get the chance...

You are the Dancing Queen, young and sweet, only seventeen
Dancing Queen, feel the beat from the tambourine
You can dance, you can jive, having the time of your life
See that girl, watch that scene, digging the Dancing Queen

"The time of your life", indeed.

We ought to realise

Crocosmia (montbretia) "Lucifer" in the garden here at Dolores Delargo Towers

Timeslip moment once more, folks - and yes, we're dropping in on the Long Hot Summer of '76 again! As UK temperatures this week are set to rise to 32C, forty years ago the peak had already been reached (with a record of 35.9°C (96.6°F) in Cheltenham on 3rd of the month), but the drought continued - and would do so for weeks yet...

In the news in mid-July 1976: The Montreal Olympics was well underway, somewhat marred by controversy over apartheid and a boycott by several African nations, and made stars of Nadia Comăneci, Bruce Jenner and Ed Moses; the Viking 1 lander successfully landed on Mars; the new leader of the Liberal Party David Steel, the new Ford Fiesta and Democratic Presidential nominee Jimmy Carter were in the ascendant, but the IRA campaign of murder continued with the assassination of British ambassador to the Irish Republic Christopher Ewart-Biggs; and in the aftermath of the Israeli Entebbe airport rescue, diplomatic relations between the UK and Amin's Uganda were about to be suspended. On the big screen: The Omen, Murder by Death and Robin and Marian. On telly: The Bionic Woman, The Old Grey Whistle Test and Tiswas.

In the charts, the coveted No 1 slot was held by the unlikeliest of sex symbols Demis Roussos with Forever and Ever, and just about to topple him was that summer's mega-hit Don't Go Breaking My Heart by Elton and Kiki at No 2. Also showing a strong presence were Dr Hook, Candi Staton, The Real Thing, Queen, Manhattans, Bryan Ferry and Dorothy Moore. But just arrived in the far reaches of the chart, and destined to become an anthem for those hot summer nights in the weeks to come - here's Jimmy James and his Vagabonds, and Now Is The Time:

Jimmy James & The Vagabonds – Now is the Time

(Now!) Now is the time to set things right
(Now!) Now is the time we should unite
We don't need revolutions
we just need to open our eyes
Revolution is no solution; we ought to realise.

Perfect sentiments for this summer...

'Cause here I go again

According to the Met Office: "On this day 40 years ago, June’s highest ever temperature of 35.6C was recorded in Southampton. It won't be that warm today."

Indeed.



Here are some facts about the Summer of '76:

• Many householders in Wales and the west of England were left without tap water for much of the day when temperatures were frequently over 80F; stand-pipes were installed in the streets as the pavements cracked or melted around them.
• The National Water Council made repeat appeals to people to save and recycle water, with one advert explaining jobs are more important than flower beds; and hosepipe use was banned.
• People across the country were told to put bricks or plastic bags full of water in their toilet cisterns and to use washing-up water to pour down the toilet instead of flushing.

• The rivers Don, Sheaf, Shire Brook and Meers Brook in Sheffield all ran completely dry, as did the reservoirs in Wales.
• In addition to appointing a Minister for Drought, James Callaghan’s Labour government actually drafted emergency plans to bring water by tanker from Norway.
• Nationally £500 million of crops were destroyed and food prices soared by 12%.
• Brewery Shepherd Neame, however, reported beer sales up by 8% on the previous year and at their highest since the war - the company had not been troubled by the weather as it had its own well, which was still plentiful.

It was indeed a long, long summer, with a lot of happy memories - and lots of memorable choons to accompany them...

...not least the Top Ten of this very week in 1976, which included The Boys Are Back In Town by Thin Lizzy, Jolene by Dolly Parton, Heart On My Sleeve by Gallagher And Lyle, Let's Stick Together by Bryan Ferry, Young Hearts Run Free by Candi Staton, Tonight's The Night by Rod Stewart and You Just Might See Me Cry by Our Kid. You To Me Are Everything by the Real Thing was at Number 1, and at Number 2 the (very silly) Combine Harvester by The Wurzels.

Which just leaves one song. Now, I am no Paul McCartney fan by any stretch of the imagination - but, whenever I hear Silly Love Songs by Wings, I am instantaneously transported back to those heady, hot days...

Wings – Silly Love Songs

"What's wrong with that?
I'd like to know."

Beautiful music, dangerous rhythm

Timeslip moment once more, and yes! We're heading back four decades again - on this chilliest of days - for a bit of a warm-up...

In early June 1976: the Lebanon, Uruguay, Angola and Palestine were all hot-beds of warring factions; Idi Amin, the "Black Panther" murderer Donald Neilson and PM Harold Wilson's "Lavender List" of Resignation Honours were in the headlines; the breakdown of Chinese-Soviet relations and strikes in Poland began to show the cracks in the Communist Bloc, while unrest in Soweto was beginning to do the same for apartheid in South Africa; and (of course) the notorious "long hot summer" in the UK had begun in earnest. On telly: Nationwide, Kojak and Survivors. In cinemas: The Omen, Bugsy Malone and To the Devil a Daughter.

In the charts this week forty years ago? Novelty songs abounded, with the godawful No Charge by JJ Barrie at No 1, The Wurzels at #2 and a cover version of the Hoagy Carmichael song My Resistance Is Low by Robin Sarstedt at #3; and also riding high were Abba, Wings, Rolling Stones, Bellamy Brothers and Gladys Knight and her faithful Pips. But hovering in the outskirts was another vintage cover - here, with the estimable terpsichorean talents of Ruby Flipper, is Maureen McGovern and The Continental:

Maureen McGovern – The Continental

Beautiful music, dangerous rhythm
It's something daring, the continental
A way of dancing, that's really ultra-new
It's very subtle, the continental
Because it does what you want it to do

It has a passion, the continental
An invitation to moonlight and romance
It's quite the fashion, the continental
Because you tell of your love while you dance

Your lips whisper so tenderly
Her eyes answer your song
Two bodies swing, the continental
And you are saying just what you're thinking of
So keep on dancing, the continental
For it's the song of romance and of love

You kiss while you're dancing
It's continental, it's continental
You sing while you're dancing
Your voice is gentle and sentimental

You'll know before the dance is through
That you're in love with her and she's in love with you
And you'll find while you're dancing
That there's a rhythm in your heart and soul
A certain rhythm that you can't control
And you will do the continental all the time

Beautiful music, dangerous rhythm
Beautiful music, dangerous rhythm

Counting down, in French

Can we possibly outdo ourselves with the outfits this year?

Continuing our theme of all things Eurovision (and also as a sort-of-continuation of Tuesday's timeslip moment to the "Long Hot Summer of '76" - a significant fortieth anniversary we will no doubt be returning to quite often here at Dolores Delargo Towers throughout the year)...

We all know it was the godawful Brotherhood of Man wot won it for good old Blighty that year, but what - I hear you ask - was the runner-up in the Eurovision Song Contest of 1976? It was France's highest-ever scoring entry, Mademoiselle Catherine Ferry (and her hand-clapping gays de sécurité) and Un, Deux, Trois!

Catherine Ferry - Un, Deux, Trois

Zut alors.

It should be Tacky Music Monday...

Though we never thought that we could lose, there's no regret

Timeslip moment again - and a most appropriate one, methinks.

Let us travel back forty years (gulp!) to what was about to become forever remembered as the "long, hot summer of '76" [a repeat of those glorious sixteen weeks of unbroken sunshine would be most welcome, thanks; but needless to say, our recent run of hot days here has been broken in a most British fashion, by rain.].

In the news in May 1976: a spookily familiar political landscape - as local council elections produced disappointing results for the Labour Party in the UK, and a right-wing senator was edging towards political success in American presidential primaries (in this case Ronald Reagan); the "Norman Scott affair" scandal led to the resignation of Jeremy Thorpe as leader of the Liberal Party; Italy was reeling after an earthquake in Friuli killed more than 900 people and made 100,000 homeless; civil war was raging in Lebanon, while the UK-Iceland "Cod War" was about to end; Concorde, China's "Gang of Four" and the Apple Computer Company were in the ascendant; and Frampton Comes Alive became one of the most successful rock albums in American chart history. In our cinemas: All the President's Men, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest and The Slipper and the Rose. On telly: Call My Bluff, The Six Million Dollar Man and Are You Being Served?; "Elsie Tanner" returned to Coronation Street after an absence of three years and "Minnie Caldwell" departed; and Dixon of Dock Green ended after 21 years on the BBC.

In the UK charts this week in that momentous year: the Disco boom had begun, courtesy of Silver Convention and Andrea True Connection; also present and correct were Hank Mizell, Noosha Fox, Sutherland Brothers and Quiver, Four Seasons, Stylistics and, inevitably in Eurovision season, that year's winners Brotherhood of Man.

However (and as I said earlier most appropriate, given their barn-storming success at Eurovision in 1974, and the fact we at Dolores Delargo Towers are excitedly counting down to the Eurovision Song Contest 2016 this Saturday), at the top was the most commercially successful song in a vastly successful career (6 million copies sold in 1976 alone) for ABBA - it's Fernando:

Abba - Fernando

Can you hear the drums Fernando?
I remember long ago another starry night like this
In the firelight Fernando
You were humming to yourself and softly strumming your guitar
I could hear the distant drums
And sounds of bugle calls were coming from afar

They were closer now Fernando
Every hour every minute seemed to last eternally
I was so afraid Fernando
We were young and full of life and none of us prepared to die
And I'm not ashamed to say
The roar of guns and cannons almost made me cry

There was something in the air that night
The stars were bright, Fernando
They were shining there for you and me
For liberty, Fernando
Though we never thought that we could lose
There's no regret
If I had to do the same again
I would, my friend, Fernando

Now we're old and grey Fernando
And since many years I haven't seen a rifle in your hand
Can you hear the drums Fernando?
Do you still recall the fateful night we crossed the Rio Grande?
I can see it in your eyes
How proud you were to fight for freedom in this land

There was something in the air that night
The stars were bright, Fernando
They were shining there for you and me
For liberty, Fernando
Though we never thought that we could lose
There's no regret
If I had to do the same again
I would, my friend, Fernando

Tear-jerking stuff, indeed.

Long and hot would be nice

My week's leave has started excellently, I would say - yesterday Hils, History Boy and I went on a guided tour around London's historic Charter House, followed by a not-so-guided tour of the pubs of Clerkenwell. Today, the sun is blazing, and the forecast for my birthday tomorrow is also excellent.

The sheer novelty of a hot day in the UK always brings back happy memories of the long, hot summer of 1976 - so, here, for your delectation is one of the greatest hits of that memorable year...

Entering the UK chart this very week thirty-nine years ago, here's Mr Bryan Ferry (not even breaking into a sweat, even in searing temperatures - ably assisted in the video by his then-girlfriend, the pouting Jerry Hall) and The Price Of Love:

Bryan Ferry – The Price of Love

I could do with an ice cold cocktail now... Or maybe a Mivvi!

Forever and ever?

Not quite.

Demis Roussos – Forever and Ever

RIP Demis Roussos, unlikely object of lust for a generation of women, and eternally remembered as providing the "soundtrack to the long hot summer of '76"...

You know you’ve got only one chance

As the long, warm summer continues here in London, it is worth remembering this is nothing compared to summers past.

In this week thirty-seven years ago, the UK experienced a phenomenon - the first rain fell in almost four months! The Summer of '76 has indeed become a bit of a legend. The average temperature over the whole summer (June, July, August) was 64F (17.77C), and for 15 consecutive days from 23rd June to 7th July inclusive, temperatures reached 90F (32.2C). As a child, I loved it! We ate more ice cream than I ever had in my life.

Another person who must have loved it was a certain Miss Tina Charles, who was one of the best-selling artists (and certainly the most successful UK female artist) of that year - two hit albums, a Number 1 single (I Love To Love) and two Top Ten hits; one of which was this one...

So let's pull on our very best frilly midi-dresses, flick our locks and wiggle along with Tina - and Dance Little Lady, Dance... Thank Disco It's Friday!

Tina Charles – Dance Little Lady, Dance

Tina Charles on Wikipedia