1974

Top Selling Singles

1. David Essex – Gonna Make You A Star
2. The Three Degrees – When Will I See You Again
3. Charles Aznavour – She
4. George McCrae Rock Your Baby
5. Terry Jacks – Seasons In The Sun
6. Paper Lace – Billy, Don’t Be A Hero
7. Mud – Tiger Feet
8. The Rubettes – Sugar Baby Love
9. Ken Boothe – Everything I Own
10. Carl Douglas – Kung Fu Fighting

Christmas No.1: Mud “Lonely This Christmas”

Top Selling Albums

1. The Carpenters – The Singles: 1969–1973 The Carpenters
2. Paul McCartney and Wings – Band on the Run
3. Mike Oldfield – Tubular Bells
4. Elvis Presley – 40 Greatest Hits
5. Pink Floyd – The Dark Side of the Moon
6. David Bowie – Diamond Dogs
7. Elton John – Goodbye Yellow Brick Road
8. Perry Como – And I Love You So
9. Simon & Garfunkel – Greatest Hits
10. Elton John – Greatest Hits

At the Box Office

1. The Towering Inferno – Paul Newman Steve McQueen
2. The Exorcist
3. The Man with the Golden Gun – Roger Moore Christopher Lee
4. Emmanuelle
5. Earthquake – Charlton Heston Ava Gardner
6. Airport 1975 (1974) – Charlton Heston, Karen Black
7. Murder on the Orient Express
8. Papillon – Steve McQueen Dustin Hoffman
9. Stardust – David Essex, Adam Faith, Larry Hagman
10. The Island at the Top of the World

Cost of Living

Average house price	£9,000
Average salary	£48/week for men – £27/week for women
Average car price	Mini £1,000
Petrol	50p / gallon (or 11p a litre!!!)
Pint of beer	22p
Packet of 20 Cigarettes	38p
Pint of milk	4p

In the News

• UK Prime Ministers were Edward Heath then Harold Wilson (Two General Elections)
• The ‘3 Day week’ was introduced by the Conservative Government as a measure to conserve electricity during the period of industrial action by coal miners.
• Due to the ongoing (1973 ) oil crisis, the government ordered both the BBC and ITV to closedown early each night at 10:30pm to save electricity.
• The US was being rocked by the Watergate scandal which ended with President Richard Nixon resigning this year and Gerald Ford becoming the new President.
• New Year’s Day is celebrated as a public holiday for the first time.
• Ian Ball fails in his attempt to kidnap HRH Princess Anne and her husband Captain Mark Phillips in The Mall, outside Buckingham Palace.
• Lord Lucan disappears after the murder of his children’s nanny.
• Former government minister John Stonehouse is found living in Australia having faked his own death. He is quickly arrested by Australian police, who initially believe that he is Lord Lucan
• Turkey invaded Cyprus and took the northern half of the island
• McDonald’s open their first UK restaurant in Woolwich, South East London
• New speed limits are introduced on Britain’s roads in an attempt to save fuel at a time of Arab fuel embargoes following the Yom Kippur War
• Inflation soars to a 34-year high of 17.2%
• China gives two giant pandas, Ching-Ching and Chia-Chia, to Britain
• Under the Local Government Act this year, the county boundaries were revised with East Grinstead and Haywards Heath being transferred from East to West Sussex, along with the Gatwick area that historically has been part of Surrey.
• Bognor Regis saw the worst fire disaster of the century when nearly 200 firefighters fought the inferno in Woolworths, as they battled to save the rest of London Road from going up in flames. Every available firefighter across 50 miles of southern England was called in to help. As well as Bognor, they came from Horsham, Billingshurst, Partridge Green, Havant and Petersfield.
• Laura Ashley opened her first shop in San Francisco.
• Sears Tower in Chicago became the tallest building in the world.
• The 6,000 strong Terracotta army was discovered in a tomb in China.
• Jimmy Connors won the men’s title at Wimbledon and Chris Evert taking the women’s title.
• Muhammed Ali beat George Foreman in the “Rumble in the Jungle” in Zaire.
• Red Rum won his second Grand National.

On the Telly

• BBC1 first broadcasts the children’s television series Bagpuss
• Jon Pertwee leaves Doctor Who in the final episode of Planet of the Spiders. He was replaced by Tom Baker.
• Ceefax is started by the BBC
• The final episode of Monty Python’s Flying Circus, is broadcast on BBC2.
• BBC1 shows the first episode of It Ain’t Half Hot Mum starring Windsor Davies.
• Debut of Saturday mornings Tiswas, hosted by Chris Tarrant.
• BBC1 begins broadcasting the US police series Kojak with Telly Savalas.
• ITV launched the sitcom Rising Damp starring Leonard Rossiter and Richard Beckinsale.
• ITV shows the feature length pilot episode of The Six Million Dollar Man, starring Lee Majors as the half-man, half-cyborg action hero Steve Austin.
• BBC1 airs the first episode of the children’s animated series Roobarb & Custard, featuring Roobarb the green dog and Custard the pink cat. [theme]
• Kids were watching Play School, Mr Benn, Camberwick Green, Jackanory, Magic Roundabout and Andy Pandy
• Daytime ITV would have included General Hospital, Houseparty and Crown Court [theme]

In Music

• The 19th Eurovision Song Contest is held at the Dome in Brighton, Sweden wins the contest with the song “Waterloo”, performed by ABBA, who became the first group to win the Contest. The UK Jury awarded the Swedish band Nil point
• The Wombles went to number 1 on the album chart.

Top Selling Christmas Toys 1974

• Rock ‘Em Sock ‘Em Robots – £3.46 (£35.03)
• Dungeons & Dragons – £3.69 (£40.22)
• Magic 8 Ball – £0.77 (£7.84)
• Spirograph – £1.27 (£12.88)
• Twister – £1.35 (£13.71)

Gadgets

• The pocket calculator appears in shops for the first time.