Crisis? What Crisis?

by Alwyn Turner

  here hate the IRA – Denim, ‘The Osmonds’ (Lawrence, Boys Own Recordings, 1992); you are tremendous – Wings, ‘Give Ireland Back to the Irish’ (McCartney Music Ltd/ATV Music Ltd, 1972); propaganda – Times 1 December 1971

  here values – Schlesinger, Murdock & Elliott, Televising ‘Terrorism’ p. 122; two communities – Quicke, Tomorrow’s Television p. 194; Two UDA men – Guardian 1 March 1975; getting boring – Williams, Big Morning Blues p. 133

  here it is known – Daily Mirror 20 June 1970; must not compromise – Sun 20 June 1970; RTB – Leslie, The Extremists p. 10; concern myself – Freeborn, Good Luck Mister Cain p. 86; I don’t know – ibid. p. 102; sudden anger – Lord, The Spider and the Fly p. 33

  here political implications – Evening Standard 29 January 1972; very good novel – Burgess, 1985 p. 91

  here Buckinghamshire – Uncut 35, April 2000; rape scene – Motion Picture Guild Encyclopedia review, cited on DVD (2004)

  here penchant – On Location documentary, included on DVD (2004)

  5: Unions

  here one thing – Gormley, Battered Cherub p. 140; Union Leader – Shipway, The Chilian Club, paperback blurb; Russian gold – Chappell, Rising Damp, ‘Stand Up and Be Counted’ 1974; coal strike – Hain, Political Strikes p. 12; Shrewsbury – Mark, In the Office of Constable p. 160

  here very embarrassed – Ross, The Carry On Companion p. 99; The Classic Carry On Film Collection 6 p. 12

  here unexpurgated copy – Gormley op. cit. p. 81; 300,000 – Milligan, The New Barons p. 82; Heath’s misguided view – Norman Tebbit (pc)

  here trade unionist – Childs, Britain Since 1945 p. 224; Tolpuddle – Milligan op. cit. p. 72; electricity – Dennis Skinner (pc); protests – Heffer, Never A Yes Man p. 141

  here Barons aren’t elected – Tony Benn (pc); most popular – Muir, A Kentish Lad p. 266; below the surface – Ferris, The New Militants p. 20

  here funeral – Daily Mail 8 November 1971; Billy White – Alan Price, ‘The Jarrow Song’ (Jarrow Music, 1974); working man – John Ford & Richard Hudson, ‘Part of the Union’ (1973)

  here Kinnock – Drower, Neil Kinnock p. 34; no records – Don Smith (pc); MU guy – Chris Redburn (pc)

  here You weren’t even – Visconti, Bowie, Bolan and the Brooklyn Boy p. 120; Vanessa Redgrave – McCann, Morecambe & Wise p. 249; protective practices – Dash, Good Morning, Brothers! p. 143; outrageously high – Chippindale & Horrie, Stick It Up Your Punter! p. 52

  here Wilson himself – see Leigh, The Wilson Plot; communist menace – Crozier (ed.), ‘We Will Bury You’ p. 141; change society – Stewart, Protest or Power? p. 60

  here Tiny in numbers – Daily Express 8 February 1974; his country – Clarke, The Shadow of a Nation p. 168; three drugs – ibid. p. 174; no good compromising – Routledge, Scargill p. 261; In 1953 – Socialist Labour Party website

  here a Lenin – Freeman, The Benn Heresy p. 43; £3.3 million – Milligan op. cit. p. 13; Eight workers – Benn, Conflicts of Interest p. 19

  here overt violence – McKittrick & McVea, Making Sense of the Troubles p. 103; the first time – Reed, Ireland p. 207; spend their lives – McKittrick & McVea op. cit. p. 105

  here strong government – Campbell, Edward Heath p. 595; 4 million workers – Sun 7 February 1974; outbreak of war – Evening Standard 6 February 1974; four-day week – Sun 18 January 1974; two-day week – Money, Margaret Thatcher p. 13

  Part Two: Golden Years: 1974–1976

  here While everything – Lessing, The Memoirs of a Survivor pp. 19–20; this country – Clement & Le Frenais, Porridge, ‘Disturbing The Peace’ 1975; Goodbye – Sun 1 May 1975

  6: The Wilson Years

  here Labour government – Lord, The Spider and the Fly p. 178; tired – Bryers, Hollow Target pp. 105–6; Democracy – Sunday Telegraph 5 May 1974; Hurrah! – Sunday Times 3 March 1974; Sick Man – ibid.

  here south of England – Leys, Politics in Britain p. 204; the government – McIntosh, Challenge to Democracy p. 23; political dispute – Gormley, Battered Cherub p. 141; brought himself down – ibid. p. 144; ungovernable – Hain, Political Strikes p. 115; William Hill – Sun 15 January 1974; Joe Coral – Daily Express 9 February 1974; VOTE LABOUR – Daily Mirror 28 February 1974; support Heath – Sun 27 February 1974

  here must point out – Daily Mirror 1 March 1974; someone else – Auden, ‘Musée des Beaux Arts’, Selected Poems p. 28; great shock – Benn, Against the Tide p. 75; I QUIT – Sun 8 February 1974

  here Judas was paid – Shepherd, Enoch Powell p. 405; in the loo – Pimlott, Harold Wilson p. 611; national swing – Shepherd op. cit. p. 449; little doubt – Johnson & Schoen, ‘The “Powell effect”’ p. 170

  here put him in – Shepherd op. cit. p. 499; one’s children – Michie & Hoggart, The Pact p. 43; off the fence – Smith, Big Cyril p. 150

  here unsatisfactory – Williams, Diaries p. 468; every position – Pimlott op. cit. p. 617; score the goals – Donoughue, Downing Street Diary p. 100

  here bloody job – Corbett, England Expects pp. 291–2; the dirtiest – Clough, The Autobiography p. 139; real bastard – Corbett op. cit. p. 312; trying to bribe – see Stott, Dogs and Lampposts pp. 173–81; opinion poll – Daily Express 25 February 1974

  here Augean stables – Healey, The Time of My Life p. 392; howls of anguish – ibid. p. 396; didn’t vote – Clark, Diaries p. 38

  here national will – Holden, Of Presidents, Prime Ministers & Princes pp. 158–9; authoritarian government – McIntosh op. cit. p. 172; 17 per cent – Bullock Report figures in 1975; electricity board – Times 4 April 1975

  here £1,500 a year – Hall, Diaries p. 209; Wedgie’s nightclub – Steven Thomas (pc); a tape – Strong, Diaries p. 140; hallowed Mecca – Melody Maker 11 October 1975

  here glam party – Mick Rock (pc); desperate hope – Daily Mirror 11 January 1975; the pools – ibid. 13 January 1975; 6 million – Sun 3 February 1977; Alcohol – Daily Mail 9 September 1977

  here cataclysm – ibid. 14 March 1975; Crisis Deepens – Sunday Times 8 September 1974; bewailed – Hall op. cit. p. 188; All over – Drabble, The Ice Age p. 65; sliding, sinking – ibid. p. 97

  here most damaging – Radice, Friends & Rivals p. 193; a miserable sight – Donoughue, op. cit. p. 503; party’s over – Crosland, Tony Crosland p. 295

  here cultivate our gardens – Donoughue op. cit. p. 503; my defeat – Daily Mirror 20 June 1970

  here It wasn’t – Hall op. cit. p. 434; Labour to win – ibid. p. 123; emasculated – Heffer, Labour’s Future p. 12

  here outside left – Sampson, The Changing Anatomy of Britain p. 79; maiden aunt – Mikardo, Back-Bencher p. 198; The laws – Shipway, The Chilian Club p. 86; rule industry – ibid. p. 27

  here It worked – King (ed.), Why Is Britain Becoming Harder to Govern? p. 76; cricket pitch – ibid. p. 79; £60,000 – Freeman, The Benn Heresy p. 70; Lord Watkinson – Sun 8 May 1975; refuse – Freeman op. cit. p. 64

  here go to prison – McIntosh op. cit. p. 201; We regret – Benn op. cit. p. 378; SACK BENN! – Sun 9 May 1975; BYE BYE – Sunday Mirror 11 May 1975; It is obvious – Benn op. cit. p. 375; you are doing – ibid. p. 394; undemocratic situation – Mikardo op. cit. pp. 195–6; needed a man – Jones, Union Man p. 281

  here bringing peace – Benn op. cit. p. 536; sharp shysters – ibid. p. 571; defeated – Hennessy, The Prime Minister p. 359; old boxer – Donoughue op. cit. p. 700; No regrets – ibid. p. 719; saw Harold – Benn op. cit. p. 557

  7: Opposition

  here day of the woman – Esmonde & Larbey, The Good Life, ‘The Happy Event’ 1976; Once upon a time – Mortimer & Cooke, George and Mildred, ‘The Right Way to Travel’ 1977; Keith Joseph – John Cooper Clarke, ‘Beasley Street’ (April Music Ltd/Split Beans, 1980); Ivy Williams – Daily Mirror 5 June 1970; 40 per cent – Social Trends figures for 1970, quoted in Daily Mail 1 December 1971; It only dawned – Wells, Jane p. 118

  here all cleavage – Strong, Diaries p. 103; Wimpy – Forum vol. 4 no. 11, Januar
y 1972; Female Eunuch – Spender, For the Record p. 50; it was women – Ashton, Red Rose Blues p. 133

  here every decent – Harman, W*I*T*C*H p. 122

  here naively assumed – Tebbit, Upwardly Mobile p. 94; We believe – Boyson (ed.), Right Turn p. 1; completed our work – ibid. p. 2; business-friendly – Daily Telegraph 16 December 1998

  here rethinking – Sunday Times 17 March 1974; In the eyes – Daily Express 6 January 1975; Mr Heath – Sunday Telegraph 5 May 1974; Inflation – Thatcher, The Path to Power p. 255; death-bed – Shepherd, Enoch Powell p. 460; never focused – Halcrow, Keith Joseph p. 67; Compare our position – ibid. p. 70

  here never goes abroad – Donoughue, Downing Street Diary p. 503; Your analysis – Baker, The Turbulent Years p. 42; path to Benn – Russel, The Tory Party p. 16; John the Baptist – Times 19 January 1976; small group – Benn, Office Without Power p. 345; a coalition – McIntosh, Challenge to Democracy p. 184

  here Different people – Times 1 January 2004; November 1976 – Smith, Big Cyril p. 223; last three years – ibid. p. 230

  here high and rising – Halcrow op. cit. p. 83; it is not those – Times 22 October 1974; The trouble was – Thatcher op. cit. pp. 262–3

  here It’s great fun – Halcrow op. cit. p. 85; Ever since – Thatcher op. cit. p. 266; votes Labour – Alvarado & Stewart, Made for Television p. 94; wealth-creating – Halcrow op. cit. pp. 99–100; someone who represents – Thatcher op. cit. p. 266

  here barriers – Williams, Diaries p. 417; rather pretentious – Sunday Telegraph 16 January 1972; her plummy voice – Daily Mirror 24 January 1975; those hats – Times 11 September 1974; middle-aged lady – Cosgrave, Margaret Thatcher p. 14; very pleased – Daily Mail 12 February 1975; male-dominated party – Castle, Diaries 1974–76 p. 309

  here opinion poll – Sun 18 January 1977; only man – Daily Mail 5 February 1975; Suddenly – Daily Mirror 5 February 1975; majority – Daily Mail 12 February 1975

  here man’s right – Times 11 October 1975; straightforward provincial – Sampson, The Changing Anatomy of Britain p. 41; It hurts – Steven Thomas (pc)

  here Crikey – Times 12 February 2006; the opposition – Pete Fowler, ‘Skins Rule’ in Gillett (ed.), Rock File p. 22; Italian bastards – Clough, The Autobiography p. 95

  here Regan is contemptuous – Alvarado & Stewart op. cit. pp. 62–3

  here I certainly do notice – Benn, Against the Tide p. 430; naked propaganda – Tynan, Diaries p. 68

  here volunteers – Times 7 April 1975; steady encroachment – Guardian August 1974, quoted Powell, Tony Benn p. 125; Two years ago – Sun 22 January 1977; anarchy – Nobbs, I Didn’t Get Where I Am Today pp. 293–4

  here puzzled – Tynan op. cit. p. 237; a calculated call – Times 13 October 1975; The economy – Thatcher op. cit. pp. 305–6; half the population – Sun 4 January 1977

  here lurching – Thatcher op. cit. p. 309

  8: Obscenity

  here moral standards – Clement & Le Frenais, Porridge, ‘Heartbreak Hotel’ 1975; Every night – Ramsay, The Rage p. 57; Last night I saw – Reg Presley, ‘Strange Movies’ (Pye Records, 1973); football hooligans – Daily Mail 7 September 1977

  here positions of influence – Thatcher, The Path to Power p. 160; ugly child – Times 22 April 1971; Powellite – Caulfield, Mary Whitehouse p. 18

  here irreverence – ibid. p. 112; played havoc – The Late Show, BBC2, 1994; Freedom dies – ibid.; The 1960s – Deedes, Dear Bill pp. 228–9

  here shocking film – Daily Mail 28 December 1973; dangerous woman – Times 2 December 1971; sheer noise – Caulfield op. cit. p. 127

  here likely to outrage – Carpenter, Dennis Potter p. 324; brilliant playwright – ibid. p. 371; Book of Daniel – Caulfield op. cit. p. 2; They’ve infiltrated – ibid. p. 140; the sympathies – Times 10 November 1971; polarization – Evening Standard 6 February 1974

  here first step – Carvel, Citizen Ken p. 53; the Council – Wistrich, ‘I Don’t Mind the Sex, It’s the Violence’ p. 58; People go – Times 22 April 1971; revolting film – Daily Mirror 28 December 1973; dashed off – Caulfield op. cit. p. 155

  here vicious spiral – Times 19 January 1975; cesspools of iniquity – Wistrich op. cit.

  here; Enid Wistrichs – Caulfield op. cit. p. 168; voted for abolition – Wistrich op. cit.

  here; It is as serious – Ferris, Sex and the British p. 234

  here I first read – Marcus, A Taste for Pain p. 207; Sorry, mate – Freeman, The Undergrowth of Literature p. 79

  here most profitable – Sweet, Shepperton Babylon p. 293; Taxi Driver – ibid. p. 307

  here Shirley Temple – Daily Mail 5 March 1975; Future historians – ibid. 10 March 1975; solemn and formal – ibid. 7 November 1973; means of tackling – Longford, Pornography p. 12; one in five – Sun 10 January 1977

  here Till Death – Caulfield op. cit. p. 99; never thought – Holden, Makers and Manners p. 214; young woman – Stanford, The Outcasts’ Outcast p. 324; pervasive and corrupting – Caulfield op. cit. p. 96; heated amateurism – Levin, Taking Sides p. 189; the prefects – Longford op. cit. p. 109; chamois leather – Tynan, Diaries p. 233

  here single issue – Forum vol. 3 no. 10, 1970; Observer – Cox, Shirley & Short, The Fall of Scotland Yard p. 160; I was offered – ibid. p. 165; real fear – Mark, In the Office of Constable p. 174

  here suitable guest – Cox, Shirley & Short op. cit. p. 175; going too far – Times 2 June 1977; sales of porn magazines – News of the World 11 September 1977; He realizes – Dexter, Last Bus to Woodstock p. 71

  here He’s sick – ibid. p. 188; What worries me – Michie & Hoggart, The Pact p. 89; shining example – Halcrow, Keith Joseph p. 82

  here the Cross – Caulfield op. cit. p. 98; There will always – Ferris op. cit. p. 250; birching – Thatcher op. cit. p. 116; men really pay – Strong, Diaries p. 169

  9: Nostalgia

  here opened in 1974 – Schuman, Rock Follies, ‘The Blitz’ 1976; simply want – Potter, Brimstone and Treacle; really learned – Bickerton/Waddington, ‘I Can Do It’ (Chelsea Music, 1975)

  here pound sterling – Women’s Wear Daily 15 December 1967; never get better – Hare, Teeth ’n’ Smiles p. 52

  here Brian Wilson – Tony Burrows (pc)

  here Good Old Days – Sun 24 February 1977; second-order emotion – Carpenter, Dennis Potter p. 353

  here daring originality – Mark Eastment, ‘Portmeirion Pottery’ in Turner (ed.), Portmeirion p. 144; shops find it – Daily Telegraph 6 January 1977; truly subversive – Tynan, Diaries p. 273; gnaw away – Times 11 October 1975

  here the last moment – Forster, Maurice p. 221; put the clock back – McIntosh, Challenge to Democracy p. 347

  here World War II – Daily Mail 3 September 1977

  here a ticket – Times 5 October 1977

  here has the feeling – McIntosh op. cit. p. 301; nostalgic vocabulary – Drower, Neil Kinnock p. 54; increasingly distant – Daily Telegraph 29 December 2005; talked ourselves – Halcrow, Keith Joseph p. 72

  here the ’30s – Benn, Against the Tide p. 512; The MacDonalds – Pimlott, Harold Wilson p. 663; keeping the party – Donoughue, Downing Street Diary p. 34

  here intelligentsia – Crosland, Tony Crosland p. 263; the conclusion – Benn, Conflicts of Interest p. 277; individual human spirit – Times 12 November 1976; time’s coming – Burgess, 1985 p. 117; all wage demands – ibid. p. 136

  here old-fashioned – ibid. p. 123; What’s happened – ibid. p. 129; weasel’s nerve – Moss, The Collapse of Democracy p. 26; drab Utopia – ibid. p. 34; trade union power – ibid. p. 97; We can expect – Times 28 October 1977; party political – Benn op. cit. p. 236 p. 159 sudden leaps – Summers, The Rag Parade p. 70; servile ideologist – Cardew, Stockhausen Serves Imperialism p. 79; no climaxes – Leeming, Wesker the Playwright p. 96; controversial figure – Dawson, A Card for the Clubs p. 85

  here No need – Sunday Herald 5 March 2006; long speech – Tynan op. cit. p. 160; wreckers – Dail
y Mail 19 October 1976; sadistic exhibitions – Daily Telegraph 19 October 1976; your penis – D’Arcy (ed.), Order! Order! p. 297

  here go to Ascot – Daily Telegraph 5 February 1977

  here what shock – ibid. 8 January 1977

  10: Europe

  here holidays abroad – Van Greenaway, The Man Who Held the Queen to Ransom

  here; We’re all friends – Cleese & Booth, Fawlty Towers, ‘The Germans’ 1975; socialist Britain – Clark, Diaries p. 64; disgusted – Ken Andrews (pc)

  here six million – quoted Daily Mail 1 December 1971; recently returned – Daily Mirror 1 June 1970; I appreciate – ibid. 5 June 1970; 9 million – Daily Mail 28 November 1973

  here excruciatingly poor – Lewisohn, Radio Times Guide to TV Comedy p. 203; from £45 – Daily Mirror 16 January 1975; football hooliganism – see Williams, Dunning & Murphy, Hooligans Abroad

  here What is it – Mullally, Split Scene p. 92; historical vulgarity – Tynan, Diaries

  here; SELL-OUT – Hill (ed.), Tribune 40 p. 182

  here strong support – Whitelaw, The Whitelaw Memoirs p. 74; Millions of people – Kellner & Hitchens, Callaghan p. 116; 40,000 words – Clark, The Tories p. 445

  here Douglas Hurd – Hennessy, The Prime Minister p. 354; Call that democracy! – Rose, Backbencher’s Dilemma p. 6; All the arguments – Benn, Office Without Power p. 346

  here the moment – Hattersley, Who Goes Home? p. 109; continuing weapon – Childs, Britain Since 1945 p. 234

  here elitist thinking – Benn op. cit. p. 425; drawing room – ibid. p. 449; bad by-election – Jenkins, A Life at the Centre p. 351

  here Dr Kissinger – Kellner & Hitchens op. cit. p. 154; This country – Daily Mirror 7 January 1975; dedicated federalist – Body, England for the English p. 118; Those who want – Elliott & Atkinson, The Age of Insecurity p. 181

  here all journalists – Donoughue, Downing Street Diary p. 392; the qualities – Sun 12 May 1975; Lord Stansgate – Powell, Tony Benn p. 154; increasingly difficult – ibid. p. 155; old people’s home – Campbell, Roy Jenkins p. 173; My wife and I – Mark, In the Office of Constable p. 234; ten per cent – Hattersley op. cit. p. 158