Leeds United!

In 1970 30,000 clothing workers in Leeds, as well as parts of Yorkshire and the North East, went on unofficial strike for five weeks for a shilling (twelve pence in pre-decimal currency) pay rise and equal pay.
This 1974 Play For Today telling of the story was written by Colin Welland and filmed in black and white giving the play a stark quality that makes it reminiscent of German films of the 1930s, Saturday Night and Sunday Morning, or even like Coronation Street meeting Eraserhead.
Conditions in the factories are revealed to have not evolved much since those of the 19th century, with one worker describing having to wipe 'rat shit' off her bench in the morning before starting at her machine.
The strike ultimately fails in its ends because the shop stewards undermine the workers they represent by reaching a deal with 'the masters' to go back to work for lower offer and the promise of talks.

MIchael Powell South Bank Show

Above - From an early short film 'Travelaughs' 1927 which depicts Powell transforming into Pan in a dream.





This is a documentary made in 1986 to coincide with the release of Powell's autobiography 'A Life in Movies'.
The film begins with Powell talking in detail about 'Peeping Tom' before we hear the critics, represented as mouths through cut-out holes in newspapers, tearing the film to pieces, resulting in its withdrawal and Powell's virtual disappearance from the industry.
Then Powell takes us back to the beginning and precedes to wander through recreations of sets from his films, telling the story of his life up until the making of 'The Red Shoes.

REQUIEM FOR A VILLAGE

Requiem for a Village (1975)

Armchair Thriller

Alan Garner

House of Hammer 13

I'm not sure what the reason is for my lifelong fascination with this series of magazines from the 1970s. Perhaps it's due to the fact the lady in the newsagents shop asked if my mum and dad knew I was buying this when I picked up this copy whilst on holiday aged about 8.
HoH ran for about 20 or so issues, changing its name to Halls of Horror, although later issues were poor in comparison with the earlier ones.
The magazine featured a comic strip adaptation of a Hammer film in each issue, a 'Van Helsing's Terror Tale' as well as articles on horror films in general, including Hammer, Universal and contemporary oddities.
Issues 2 - 6 were always impossible to get hold of, even back then; the reason, apparently, was that the whole lot of back issues for those editions were sent to Australia. Issue 6, with its Dracula Prince of Darkness cover, was particularly in demand and fetches around £20 to £30 on eBay.

Happy Days

This is the paperback adaptation of "Children of the Stones" published in 1977 by a division of Transworld Publishing and written by Jeremy Burnham & Trevor Ray.
Each chapter is headed with a small illustration which looked to have been drawn from the series in a naively charming manner.