Elvis in court on assault charges (October 19th 1956)

On October 19th 1956 Elvis Presley, along with Edd Hopper and Aubrey Brown appeared in a Memphis Court on assault and battery charges. It was alleged that all three had had a fight the previous night when Elvis had pulled into a Station at Gayoso and Second for repairs and was swamped by fans. Edd Hopper the Station Manager demamded that Presley leave and an altercation then ensued.

Elvis, Hopper and Brown were all arrested for assault and battery and disorderly conduct. Charges against Elvis were later dismissed. Hopper and Brown both ended up having to pay fines!

Life Magazine - John Lindsay (1965)

This edition of Life Magazine dates back to 1965 and features US Congress man John Lindsay as he prepares to run for the post of Mayor of New York.

One for sorrow, Two for joy! Remembering Magpie

I don't know about you guys, but I always preferred Thames Tv's cool Magpie to the stuffy, staid, patronising BBC crap that was Blue Peter. I found Magpie to be more hip and with it, and I found its presenters spoke to kids in an uncondescending way.

The programme, made by Thames Television, was first transmitted on 30 July 1968, which was Thames Television's first day of broadcasting. It was shown once a week for the first year, but from then until it ended in 1980 went out twice a week. The first presenters were the former BBC Radio One Disc Jockey Pete Brady, Susan Stranks, and Tony Bastable. Brady left the show in 1969 to be replaced by Douglas Rae, and Bastable left in 1972 when he was replaced by Mick Robertson. Jenny Hanley replaced Susan Stranks in 1974. This lineup remained until 1977, when Tommy Boyd replaced Rae.

Approximately 1000 episodes were made, each of a duration of 25 minutes.

Like Blue Peter, Magpie featured appeals for various causes and charities. Notably however, it asked for cash donations rather than stamps or secondhand goods, familiar on Blue Peter. The cash totaliser was a long strip of paper which ran out of the studio and along the adjacent corridor walls. The Mascot was a Magpie called Murgatroyd.

The theme tune was played by the Spencer Davis Group under the alias of The Murgatroyd Band, and written by their guitarist Ray Fenwick. The main lyric was cribbed from an old children's Nursery Rhyme:

One for sorrow

Two for joy

Three for a girl

Four for a boy

Five for silver

Six for gold

Seven for a story never to be told

Eight for Heaven

Nine for Hell

Ten for the Devil himself

When we were Etching & Sketching

Hands up. Who can remember Etch a Sketch? Of course you can!

Etch-a-Sketch was originally invented in Paris by garage mechanic Arthur Granjean who called it 'L'Ecran Magique', (the Magic Screen). It had the great advantage of being a drawing toy which did not need loose parts or batteries. He took it to the International Toy Fair in Nuremberg in 1959. At first it aroused little interest but eventually The Ohio Art Company took it on and started to manufacture it. Originally made by hand, mass production began in July 1960, and with television advertising, sales soared.

Etch-a-Sketch works using a coating of aluminium powder and plastic beads on the reverse side of the screen. Knobs on the left and right of the screen allow you to scrape this coating up and down and from side to side using a pointed instrument known as a stylus, which is mounted on rails inside the toy. This creates the lines you can see where the coating has been temporarily removed. Shaking the toy restores the coating, ready for a new drawing.

Etch-a-Sketch is still made in exactly the same way today, the only things that have changed over time are the colours and sizes.

Classic Mags - Mirabelle (26th August 1967)

Mirabelle was a girls mag from days long passed. This particular cover dates back to August 1967 and features as its cover, The Monkees.

Randall & Hopkirk (Deceased) - Episode One: My Late Lamented Friend & Partner

Apololgies if this seems repetitive but I enjoyed putting together my recent Post concerning Randall & Hopkirk (Deceased) So much so that I have decided to publish detailed Posts of all 26 episodes in this fantastic and wonderful series.

My Late Lamented Friend & Partner was the pilot episode for Randall & Hopkirk (Deceased) and was first broadcast on 21st September 1969 on the ITV Network. It starred, Mike Pratt, Kenneth Cope & Annette Andre. The episode was directed by Cyril Frankel.

Jeff Randall (Mike Pratt) is on a divorce case for a Fay Sorrensen (Anne Sharp), and presents her with many photographs of her husband in intimate situations with other women. Mrs. Sorrensen, who is apparently suffering from heart problems, plans to divorce her husband Mr. Sorensen (Frank Windsor), knowing that he won't be able to keep hold of his business assets in the steel company where he works, as her father founded the company and she is a major shareholder.

Knowing this, Mr. Sorrensen contacts a firm specialising on contract killings on the number 0676750. With Jeff away on business, Marty (Kenneth Cope) travels to the Sorrensen's the next day, with the intention of speaking to Mrs. Sorrensen's Solicitor with her present. However, before he can get to do so, Fay is electrocuted in her bath upstairs, by a cable threaded through a hole in the wall from a van outside masquerading as an electricity van, operated by Dave Carter.

Later, Marty speaks to four children on the street, who tell him about the cable leading up into the house - an activity seen from above by Mr. Sorrensen. Attempting to blame her death on her weak heart, Sorrensen then tries to cover his tracks by arranging to have Marty killed.

A beatnik known as Mr. Hendy hitches a ride with a local club singer known as Happy Lee, then, when she grows tired of his conversation and drops him off half-way, he tries to hitch another lift with Marty outside his house. As Marty turns down any offer of giving the beatnik a lift, Hendy becomes witness to Marty's murder as he is driven down by a black saloon car. The beatnik leaps into the vehicle and wrestles a gun out of the killer's hand, extorting £500 from him in order to keep quiet to the Police.

After attending Marty's funeral, Jeff tries to get some sleep, only to be woken at midnight by Marty calling him repeatedly on the telephone. After alternately believing it to be a hoax and his imagination, Jeff manages to sleep until he awakes in a trance at 4am under Marty's influence, and drives down to the cemetary to meet him. There Marty tells Jeff he was murdered, and urges him to continue investigating. Jeff does so, speaking to Sorrensen, Happy Lee and the Beatnik. Finally he tracks down the fake electrician and driver portrayed by actor Dave Carter and he is found murdered by carbon monoxide gas poisoning in his home at 2B Tower House, Fulham Road.

Jeff and Marty decide that the only thing to do is to force Sorrensen to play his hand, so Jeff pays him a visit and Jeff pretends that Marty left him a note informing him of his suspicions of Sorrenson before he was killed, and demands £25,000 otherwise he'll go to the police with non-existent statement from Marty. Sorrensen goes straight to his accomplices to arrange Jeff's murder, whereby Marty blows a newspaper on their car windscreen, crashing the car, and leaving them surrounded by pre-arranged policemen. Unfortunately for Marty, he's stayed on the case for so long that daylight has broken, forcing him to walk the Earth for a hundred years, with only Jeff able to see or hear him.

Valley of the Dinosaurs (1974)

Valley of the Dinosaurs was an animated TV Series from Hanna - Barbera that ran for 16 half-hour installments on CBS Saturday Morning from September 7, 1974 to December 21, 1974.

American science teacher John Butler along with his wife Kim, their two children Katie and Greg, and their dog Digger are on a rafting trip on the Amazon River. As they are going down the river, their boat hits a rock and capsizes.

The family then gets caught in a whirlpool. When they surface upon going through an underground cavern, they find themselves in a prehistoric valley where they meet caveman Gorok, his wife Gara and their two children Lok and Tana. The two families soon become friends and Gorok and his family help the Butlers in their many attempts to find a way to return home while trying to survive in the valley.

Below is a list of the Episode Titles, the original air date and the Production code.

#	Title	Original airdate	Prod Code
1	"Forbidden Fruit"	07/09/1974	78-1
Maligue is attracted to a tree of sweet fruits and Greg takes a basketful of it, leading the beast to the caves and causing a chain of disasters.
2	"What Goes Up"	14/09/1974	78-2
3	"A Turned Turtle"	21/09/1974	78-3
4	"The Volcano"	28/09/1974	78-4
5	"Smoke Screen"	05/10/1974	78-5
6	"Pteranodon"	12/10/1974	78-6
7	"The Saber-Tooth Kids"	19/10/1974	78-7
8	"After Shock"	26/10/1974	78-8
9	"Top Cave, Please"	02/11/1974	78-9
10	"S.O.S."	09/11/1974	78-10
11	"Fire"	16/11/1974	78-11
12	"Rain Of Meteors"	23/11/1974	78-12
13	"To Fly a Kite"	30/11/1974	78-13
14	"Test Flight"	07/12/1974	78-14
15	"The Big Toothache"	14/12/1974	78-15
16	"Torch"	21/12/1974	78-16

The Beach Boys (1978)

The Beach Boys. This excellent triple vinyl box set was released back in 1978 and featured the groups hits between 1963 and 1967.

Tracks/Listings

Good Vibrations

I Can Hear Music

Sloop John B

Heroes & Villains

I Get Around

Barbara Ann

Do You Wanna Dance

Summertime Blues

I Was Made To Love Her

Dance, Dance, Dance

Wouldn't It Be Nice

Do It Again

Surfer Girl

All Summer Long

Little Honda

Help Me Rhonda

Do You Remember?

Surf Jam

In My Room

The Girl From New York City

California Girls

Drive In

Surfer's Rule