UK Singles Chart (1972)

W/E	Artist	Song	Weeks at No.1	Comments
8th Jan	New Seekers	I'd Like To Teach The World To Sing (In Perfect Harmony)	4	First UK No 1 for this band, formed by a member of the Seekers with a song that started as a Coca Cola TV advert.
5th Feb	T Rex	Telegram Sam	2	3rd UK No. 1 and their first hit for the glam rockers' new record company, from their album "Slider".
19th Feb	Chicory Tip	Son Of My Father	3	Written by Giorgio Moroder. This was the first No 1 to feature a Moog Synthesiser.
11th Mar	Nilsson	Without You	5	Suicide inspired song written by two members of Badfinger, who both later committed suicide.
15th Apr	The Pipes & Drums & Military Band of The Royal Scots Dragoon Guards	Amazing Grace	5	The old favourite traditional hymn as played by this Scottish military bagpipe band. It was the best-selling single of the year but remained their only UK No 1.
20th May	T Rex	Metal Guru	4	A 4th and final No 1 for Marc Bolan who continued to chart regularly over the next couple of years.
17th Jun	Don McLean	Vincent	2	First UK No 1 with this song about Dutch painter Vincent Van Gogh. McLean's best known song, the classic, "American Pie" only ever reached No 2 for him.
1st Jul	Slade	Take Me Back 'ome	1	2nd UK No 1 for the Midlands glam rockers featuring Noddy Holder on vocals.
8th Jul	Donny Osmond	Puppy Love	5	First UK No 1 for a member of the squeaky clean family act from Utah with a song written by Paul Anka.
12th Aug	Alice Cooper	School's Out	3	Only ever UK No 1 for shock rocker Alice Cooper with this School Disco classic.
2nd Sep	Rod Stewart	You Wear It Well	1	2nd UK No 1 for "Rod the Mod" with this old favourite.
9th Sep	Slade	Mama were all crazee now	3	A 3rd UK No 1 for the Wolverhampton boys who were on a roll of chart successes.
30th Sep	David Cassidy	How Can I Be Sure	2	First UK No 1 for this star of US TV series the Partridge Family. His solo career was more successful in the UK than at home.
14th Oct	Lieutenant Pigeon	Mouldy Old Dough	4	Only ever UK No 1 for this Coventry based group which included a mother and son in the line up.
11th Nov	Gilbert O'Sullivan	Clair	2	First UK No 1 for this Irishman who dressed as a 1920s worker in flat cap, braces and baggy trousers.
25th Nov	Chuck Berry	My Ding-A-Ling	4	Respected pioneer of R&B and rock 'n' roll, whose only UK No 1 was this live, innuendo-laden novelty song.
23rd Dec	Little Jimmy Osmond	Long Haired Lover From Liverpool	5	Osmond family member with an Xmas novelty song, and who at the age of 9 became the youngest chart topper ever.

The Beatles - Help!

THE BEATLES Help! This rare original 1969 Parlophone/on EMI box logo 14-track stereo LP. Most of the vinyl & all of the sleeves that make up this legendary item were manufactured in Holland but very few copies of the vinyl were pressed in Sweden - this is one of those few!. This LP with it's alternate picture sleeve was only ever issued to Shell employees and was never available to purchase in the shops.

1. Help!
2. The Night Before
3. You've Got To Hide Your Love Away
4. I Need You
5. Another Girl
6. You're Going To Lose that Girl
7. Ticket To Ride
8. Act Naturally
9. It's Only Love
10. You Like Me Too Much
11. Tell Me What You See
12. I've Just Seen A Face
13. Yesterday
14. Dizzy Miss Lizzy

Joe 90 Top Secret (No 8)

This was Joe 90 Top Secret (No 8) and was first published on March 8th 1969. The magazine comprised of 20 pages with the following features; features on W.I.N. Agents in Action (readers sending in pictures of themselves on 'missions') Joe's Hobbies (The Story of Space Travel Told in Stamps No.8) Isle of Man TT, The B.I.G. R.A.T. Tells the story of Luxury Lifeboats, World Intelligence Network (Information and jokes) A competition to win 100 Corgi 'E' Type Jaguars and Top Ten Racing Cars No.8 - McLaren.

1919 Kelloggs' Cornflakes

This classic Kelloggs' Corn Flakes ad from Canada dates back to 1919. Illustrated in vivid clolour featuring the production plant in London, Ontario.

Randall & Hopkirk (Deceased) - Episode Seventeen - Somebody Just Walked Over My Grave!

Somebody Just Walked Over My Grave was the seventeenth episode of the classic 1969 ITC British television series, Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased) starring Mike Pratt, Kenneth Cope and Annette Andre. The episode was first broadcast on 9 January 1970 on ITV and was Directed by Cyril Frankel.

Marty finds somebody digging around his grave. He sends Jeff to investigate the cemetery and in doing so is knocked unconscious several times by a masked 18th century axe wielder. Telling Jeannie of his experiences and visiting a doctor (Cyril Shaps) to treat his wounds concerned it may have affected his judgement, Jeff unintentionally manages to convince the doctor he is a madman and contacts the Police as he escapes. Lying low and suspecting the gardener at the cemetery anyway, Jeff accepts a job with Mandrake, the wealthy owner in the nearby mansion, and stumbles on an intricate plot to steal his insane agoraphobic son through an underground tunnel pretending to hold him to ransom. It is all part of a plot to inherit his father's fortune but when he marries his young housekeeper the plan is demised.

In this episode Marty also departs Jeff and travels to Germany to watch a football match between Germany and England. Watching from inside the commentary box (also housing the commentator, Fawlty Towers' Andrew Sachs) he learns that he is able to control the game and blows a ball over the cross bar and a German player shoots at an open goal. Mandrake's mad hippie son Harry also brings up some issues, parodying cannabis smoking of the era and suffering from agoraphobia. His extreme hair and his obsession for indoor paint throwing is also of amusing note.

Chorlton and The Wheelies

Chorlton and the Wheelies was an animated children's television series that ran from September 1976 until June 1979 on British Television Channel ITV. It followed the adventures of Chorlton, a fictional happiness dragon, in Wheelie World.

Chorlton and the Wheelies was created by Cosgrove Hall for the ITV station Thames Television, and the eponymous lead character gets his name from the suburb of Manchester in which the Cosgrove Hall studio was based: the legend "Made in Chorlton Com-Hardy" is found written on the inside of the egg from which he hatches in the very first episode of the series.

The series takes place in "Wheelie World", which is inhabited principally by the "wheelies", a race of anthropomorphic creatures who locomote by means of wheels. They have three wheels each: two large ones at the front, and a smaller centred one at the back. The wheels are replaceable, and suitable wheels grow on vegetation found in Wheelie World.

The wheelie society is in conflict with Fenella the Kettle Witch, who lives in Wheelie World but separately from the wheelies, in Spout Hall, an oversized kettle. She has magical capabilities, including a form of teleportation which is her main mode of transport, and enchanted assistants including a talking book (called 'Claptrap Von Spilldebeans') and Reilly the Telescope, which advise her on magic spells. Minions include spikers (sinister looking objects like conker shells with baleful eyes, which roll everywhere) and toadies (pointed toadstools with similar eyes, which travel by bobbing through the ground as though it were water and who speak with a Chinese accent). Fenella hates happiness, and uses her powers primarily to make the wheelies unhappy. She also has a very strong Welsh accent.

The wheelies have adopted into their society a "happiness dragon", Chorlton, who appears in Wheelie World at the very beginning of the series, hatching out of an egg. Chorlton is perpetually good-natured and perpetually clueless. For example, he fails to perceive Fenella as a villain, and affectionately refers to her as a "little old lady". Nevertheless, his presence negates the unhappiness magic, so the wheelies treat him as a hero. Despite being "Made in Chorlton-cum-Hardy" (Lancashire) he has a strong Yorkshire accent, although this is probably due to the voice talents of Joe Lynch more than any planning by Cosgrove Hall.

Plots are extremely simple, mainly revolve around Fenella's schemes to make the wheelies unhappy and Chorlton's accidental rectification of everything that goes wrong. Around these events, the characters' simple and exaggerated personalities are on show.

The idea of 'wheelies' came about after the difficulties of moving many different characters using stop-frame animation. Characters on wheels were easier to manipulate than those with limbs that needed fractionally moving many times for each second of filming. Similarly choosing teleportation as Fenella's principal means of transportation means that usually Chorlton is the only character whose walking needs to be animated.

The show was sold to numerous countries around the world. However it was never sold to Israel after a graphic artist mistakenly drew a Star of David instead of a Pentagram on the front of the talking spellbook, which spoke with a Germanic accent, causing accusations of antisemitism towards the show's creators.

The characters include, amongst others:

• Chorlton the Happiness Dragon - where he goes happiness follows.
• Fenella Fellorick the Kettle Witch - who does not like anyone to enjoy themselves.
• Zoomer - a wheelie, notable for his speed of locomotion.
• Jenny - a wheelie girl with blonde hair who fancies Chorlton.
• King Otto and Queen Doris - The monarchy of Wheelieworld.
• The Minister of wheel estate - the political wheelie, who bears a striking resemblance to Harold Wilson, who had recently been Prime Minister of the UK.
• Claptrap von Spilldebeans - A German spellbook who often speaks in rhyme and comes up with Fenella's schemes.
• O'Reilly the one eyed telescope - An Irish telescope that Fenella stole from the end of Dun Laoghaire East pier.
• Clifford - Fenella's giant son, who is so tall the only part of him that ever is in shot is his leg.
• Pablo Perdito - A world famous Latin American dancing duck.
• Floyd - The only toady to have pink spots rather than green (first called by name in the series two episode "Toady Trouble" - possible hidden reference to the band Pink Floyd).

The David Cassidy Magazine - No 2: July 1972

The David Cassidy Magazine was one of numerous fan magazines printed throughout the 1970s due to the star's growing popularity. The star was a singer and actor most notably appearing in, "The Partridge Family." Below is the Second edition of, The David Cassidy Magazine.

Elvis' Christmas Album

This rare Elvis Presley Christmas Album dates back to 1985. This is a rare 12-track RCA Victor '50th Anniversary issue GREEN VINYL LP which included an integral 5 page booklet.

1. Santa Claus Is Back In Town
2. White Christmas
3. Here Comes Santa Claus (Right Down Santa Claus Lane)
4. I'll Be Home For Christmas
5. Blue Christmas - Elvis Presley
6. Santa Bring My Baby Back (To Me)
7. O Little Town Of Bethlehem
8. Silent Night
9. Peace In The Valley
10. I Believe
11. Take My Hand, Precious Lord
12. It Is No Secret (What God Can Do)

Follyfoot & Look-in

The classic 1970's kids TV series Follyfoot often featured in the classic comic, Look-in. This particular edition dates back to June 1971. I hope it brings back as many memories for yourselves as it does for me!

Joe 90: Episode One - The Most Special Agent

"You are trying to tell me that a nine year old boy climbed in to the cockpit

of the world's most advanced aircraft and flew it away?"

A remarkable invention turns a nine year old boy named Joe

into a Secret Agent and plunges him into a sensational career.

Joe McClaine, the adopted nine year old son of electronics expert Professor McClaine is a normal, healthy games-loving youngster with a sense of adventure, but little guessing the the Professor's latest invention is going to plunge him in to the sort of excitement packed life every boy dreams about. The Invention is called BIG RAT - which stands for, Brain Impulse Galvanoscope Record and Transfer. It enables a recorded brain pattern to be transferred from one person to another. When it is shown to Shane Weston, Deputy Head of the World Intelligence Network, the Professor realises that Weston sees a way of using Joe as an Agent for WIN.

Weston explains how this could be done by outlining a story of the Russian development of the fastest and most heavily armed aircraft in the work, known as the MIG 242. It has upset the balance of World air power and the West has no weapons capable of stopping it. If Joe cold steal a MIG 242, Weston explains, its secrets would be revealed and the balance of world power restored.

A Russian Pilot who has flown this plane has visited London and BIG RAT has been used to record his brain pattern. This is later transferred to Joe, who has to wear a pair of glasses with built in electrodes enabling the transfer to work. With these glasses he will have all the knowledge and experience of the expert whose brain pattern he has received. The Professor and Joe travel to Russia for a special viewing of the MIG 242. Joe puts on his glasses and disappears. His absence is noticed, however, no one believes the Professor when he says his son is about to steal the new plane - but this is excatly what he is doing! Ho outmanoeuvres the jets which try to intercept him and reaches England. And no one of course, is going to believe that a nine year old boy is responsible!

The Professor is appalled at the idea of Joe carrying out such dangerous missions, but Weston has shown how it could be done and Mac finally has to agree that there are enormous possibilities for Joe as WIN's most Special Agent.