A Comical Trip Back in Time

Anno domini 1977. Neither today nor yesterday, true, but a lot of memorable things occurred that year and here are just a few: The Sex Pistols released Never Mind the Bollocks, The Clash released The Clash, Fleetwood Mac released Rumours. Star Wars came out, so did Saturday Night Fever, so did the Commodore PET, the 'first personal all-in-one computer'. Roots was on the telly. Red Rum won a record third Grand National. United won the Cup, Liverpool won the league, Virginia Wade won Wimbledon. Dublin won the All-Ireland. Elvis, Groucho and Marc Bolan all passed on that year. So too did Steve Biko. But not for nothing. All that and more in the space of one short year in time.

It was a lot for a ten year-old to take in. But, being ten, I most likely didn't take too much notice of too many of these seismic happenings back then. Probably because I was too busy waiting for my old man, God rest him, to come home of a Friday with my favourite comic, Tiger and Scorcher, under his arm - an issue of which he never once forgot - and an air of anticipation that its arrival never once failed to arouse. Hardly a surprise when I had the pressing exploits of Billy Dane, Nipper Lawrence, Skid Solo, Hamish Balfour and Johnny Cougar to attend to. A few years back when we were clearing out the old house, clearing all the memories away, so to speak, I found a long forgotten bag that had been lying in the corner of the old attic since God knows when. I was nearly going to throw it in the skip along with all the other junk but instead I stuck my head inside and got the most pleasant of all surprises. So stay with me a bit while I fire up the ole TARDIS and go backwards in time to 1977- a comic reminder to your own good self as much as to me that it was nearly all good back then!

Memory lane!