The 1961 Landscape

[Natalie Severn]

....yes Julie, Michael Gregsten, the first person to pay the ultimate price in this tragedy and the one so rarely mentioned ,another innocent victim who paid such a high price - in his case it would seem to have had at least some connection with his loving these two women at once ,a man who nevertheless appears to have been a devoted father to his two sons -also the innocent victims of this horrendous crime .
And then of course there was his colleague and other long term love, twenty two year old Valerie Storie and what happened to her was absolutely horrific and it is testimony to her remarkable courage and fortitude that she not only survived such a dreadful ordeal but has outstared the emptiness that her lifelong paralysis could have caused her, because what few glimpses we have had of her over the years since 1962 leaves the impression that she has gone on to live a reasonably rewarding,reasonably happy if restricted life.
Well done Julie to remember the other victims of this tragedy of the early 1960's with a song of such powerful lament.

[Limehouse]

This song was not around in 1961, but if only MG had been able to play it for VS.....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yv0ctUZhK98

[Sherlock Houses]

John Leyton............

Less than a couple of years later, in the summer of '63, he was to feature in the classic John Sturges movie "The Great Escape", playing the part of Willie "Tunnel King".

[Robert]

The John Leyton one was a Joe Meek production, wasn't it?

I think this was also one of his :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Foq5u1GsuSU

[Sherlock Houses]

Yes, another classic song, one that I'm very familiar with. It's one of those very atmospheric songs where you can almost feel the guy's sadness at being apart from his girl for a few months.
For some funny reason it feels to me like an autumnal song and that summer has just passed. I can't explain why though.

Another great atmospheric song was the previous year's John Leyton's eerily and hauntingly beautiful classic "Johnny Remember Me". Possibly the most atmospheric song I've ever heard, almost ethereal.

[Robert]

Nice song, SH, made more poignant by the circumstances.

I went to you tube to find the following song, and discovered it was exactly contemporaneous with the Kane one! I first heard this coming out of a juke box in 1962 when I was 7. Never forgotten it since :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xIkUiD8N81k

(try to ignore the farcical dancing)

[Sherlock Houses]

I love the music from the early 60's, so many great singers and unforgettable songs. I was in the third year of junior school when the trial and subsequent execution of James Hanratty took place.

Arguably the song I remember most during this time [Late January to early April 1962] was Eden Kane's "Forget me not" which got to number 2 or 3 in the music charts in the February. It's a great song. It had some poignancy and relevance for me, as during that particular month of February a young 7 or 8 year old boy in our school was knocked down and killed by a motor vehicle. Curiously enough he shared the same surname as the singer. The boy's name was Michael Kane.

Looking back with some hindsight, the title of that song might be an appropriate epitaph for James Hanratty. He is still remembered and the case is still alive and kicking more than half a century later while 90 odd per cent of other murders are soon forgotten and consigned to the pages of history.
There must be a good reason why this case just won't lie down and die.

Here's that great Eden Kane song......

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A94evtK0iz4

[Robert]

This site enables you to go through the pop year week by week :

http://www.officialcharts.com/archive-chart/_/1/1961/

[Limehouse]

I seem to remember that on one occasion he got more votes in what may have been a local election than the candidate of the snooty and deadly-serious SDP (which I also seem to remember was dissolved shortly afterwards).

We could do with a few more like S L Sutch - a bit of levity in modern politics wouldn't go amiss.

How much was Alice Cooper inspired by Sutch, I wonder?

Graham

Hi Graham,

Well, the last time I vented my current views on politicians they closed the thread down within ten minutes so I'd better keep quiet!

[Rosella]

Oh dear, I didnt know he'd killed himself. He suffered from depression for many years, apparently.

A friend of his, Alan Hope, became the first Loony Mayor at Ashburton in Devon.

[Graham]

I think that losing was the whole point, really. As Robert says, an interesting guy and much more to him that his surface lunacy.

I seem to remember that on one occasion he got more votes in what may have been a local election than the candidate of the snooty and deadly-serious SDP (which I also seem to remember was dissolved shortly afterwards).

We could do with a few more like S L Sutch - a bit of levity in modern politics wouldn't go amiss.

How much was Alice Cooper inspired by Sutch, I wonder?

Graham

[Limehouse]

Screaming Lord Sutch and his Official Monster Raving Loony Party, haven't heard of him for years! He stood at dozens of by-elections and lost each time!

I think that losing was the whole point, really. As Robert says, an interesting guy and much more to him that his surface lunacy.

[Robert]

Hi Rosella

I think the reason he's been out of the loop is because he committed suicide.
Interesting guy.

[Rosella]

Screaming Lord Sutch and his Official Monster Raving Loony Party, haven't heard of him for years! He stood at dozens of by-elections and lost each time!

[Graham]

G'day Graham

I don't think that is was just the entire nation that watched "The Cup" but just about the entre Western World, maybe excluding the USA.

My dad worked in the USA from time to time in the 1960's, and he said he saw a recording of an FA Cup Final on TV, but I can't remember which final he said it was.

I took a girl to see Screaming Lord Sutch & The Savages at what was once a small country house near Stourbridge, maybe about 1963-ish. They really laid it on, with lighting and special effects, and when old Sutch rose from a coffin there were screams from the audience, and not just from the women!
Scary - nearly as scary as The Crazy World Of Arthur Brown!

Graham