To get to the house where Clough was born I had to walk a little way out of the centre of town. As I got near the house I crossed a railway bridge. To my right beyond some allotments were, what I think, are gas and chemical plants and beyond that was the Transporter Bridge. To my right, under a slate grey sky, were, the very bleak and brooding looking Cleveland Hills.
Hard. Industrial and Northern. Exactly the sort of place I imagined Clough to come from. Except once I crossed the bridge I could no longer see the hills and the chemical plants. The houses in the streets grew a bit more genteel; some were semi detached, most had front gardens
Clough’s birthplace is a nice sized house in a pleasant side street in what seems a nice part of town.
Near Clough’s house there is the very pleasant park named Albert Park. It’s a typical municipal park, the sort that sprang up in hundreds of Victorian towns.
When he was young and played for Boro’ Clough would cut through this park to Ayersome Park. In the park they’ve built a statue of the young Clough, carrying his boots rushing to the match.
Random fact about the town of Middlesbrough. Number 1.
In the early C19th Middlesbrough didn’t really exist. It was just a hamlet of 4 cottages. Then a local Quaker named Joseph Pease saw that the area could be developed as a port for North Eastern coal so he bought the hamlet.
Nowhere in England grew as fast as Middlesbrough did in the C19th. Out of virtually nothing it became a massive industrial town with it’s own identity and a hell of legacy for making stuff.
It’s a kind of creativity that now seems unimaginable.
I’m not naive about the contradictions. The creativity came at a price and the exploitation was almost as destructive as capital and industry’s creativity.
But still it seems a different world.
You can see traces of that Victorian optimism and confidence in a few of the old buildings that still stand amongst the shopping centres and ring roads. Here’s a few photos. They’re from my iPhone so the quality isn’t all that.
I’m going through some back issues of the NME.
As part of going through the issue dated 26-5-84 I’ve listed some of the other things that were going on in that particular week in May 1984 (If you want to see & hear the Top 50 singles from this week click here)
Thursday 24th May 1984
The Top Of The Pops line up ran thus:
Presenters:
Janice Long, Mike Smith
Playlist:
Alvin Stardust – I Feel Like Buddy Holly
Duran Duran – The Re-Flex (video)
Evelyn Thomas – High Energy
Howard Jones – Pearl In The Shell (video)
Status Quo – Going Down Town Tonight
Style Council – You’re The Best Thing (video)
Wham – Wake Me Up Before You Go Go
I reckon that- You’re The Best Thing by The Style Council was the best thing in that episode.
I’ve gone through the NME Live list from that week’s edition to see who was playing live that night (24-05-1984) and here are the gigs that caught my eye:
Black Flag and Husker Du at Peter Piper’s in Folkestone (just thinking about that had put the biggest grin on my face)
The Lotus Eaters at Huddersfield Poly
Steve Marriott’s Racket Packet at the Half Moon in Herne Hill
The Psychedelic Furs (Passion Puppets support) at the Manchester Apollo
Budgie at Clouds in Preston
Angel Witch at the Verulam Arms in Watford.
2. Friday 25th May 1984
Echo and the Bunnymen played a gig in Madrid
According to the person who uploaded this clip- this gig by Echo and the Bunnymen took place in Madrid on Friday 25th May 1984. I’ve chosen the song Crocodiles but the whole gig is on Youtube if you fancy seeing it all. (In 1984 I was 16 and too young to go the pub – so in the evenings I mostly just sat in my bedroom backcombing my hair so it would look like McCulloch’s)
As well as Echo and the Bunnymen in Madrid other gig options for 25-5-84 included:
Bronski beat at Snobs in Birmingham.
Alexi Sayle at Fairfield hall in Croydon
Dumpy’s Rust Nuts at Ewell Tech. College
Gregory Issacs at the Brixton Academy
Felt at Manchester University Union
3. Saturday 26th May 1984.
Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom was released this week.
Instead of going to the cinema you could have gone to the following gigs on the evening of 26-5-84:
King at the Fantasy Club in Birmingham
Hoorah! Boys Hoorah! at the City Limits in Cambridge.
Billy Bragg at Cheltenham Town Centre.
New Model Army/Animal Farm at the Town Hall Crypt in Middlesborough.
Jive Alive at Angie’s in Wokingham.
Sunday 27th May 1984
Adverts and continuity announcements from Yorkshire TV from the evening of 27th May 1984.
Someone has kept the adverts from before, between and after the ITV news and Spitting Image from the night of the 27th May 1984. A little slice of 1984 ephemera.
If you’d been in the Yorkshire region on the evening of 27/5/1984 you could have gone to these gigs:
The Flying Pickets at the Crucible in Sheffield.
Eek-A-Mouse at the the Leadmill in Sheffield.
Bucks Fizz at Warrington’s Spectrum Arena
Xero at the Manhatten Club, Bradford.
or you could have driven down to Lincoln to see Gene Pitney
Monday 28th May 1984.
Coronation Street
This was a Whit Monday and apparently 11,969,000 people stayed in to watch Corrie St. that night. Never a huge fan but I’ve always liked the title sequence.
(This not from the exact night but I think it’s the right title sequence for the period)
Gigs that night included:
Leo Sayer at the Brighton Centre
Status Quo at the Ipswich Gaumont (start of a 2 night residency no less. Go Quo)
The Cramps, The Specimen and Sexbeat at the Hammersmith Palais.
Restless at the Pindar Of Wakefield in London’s Kings X
Hawkwind at Ramsgate Marina Park
Goats Don’t Shave (No. Me neither) at The Swan With Two Necks in Worcester.
Tuesday 29th May 1984
BBC News report from the evening of May 29th 1984.
In May 1984 the Miner’s Strike was moving into it’s most confrontational period. In the last week of May this is how the BBC were reporting what was happening at Orgreave.
The “Battle of Orgreave” would follow a couple of weeks later.
If you were caught up in Yorkshire on that particular day, and you had the spare time you could have gone to see:
The Inca Babies and Red Lorry Yellow Lorry at Sheffield’s The Leadmill
(The abysmally named) Toby LeRone & The Acid Drops in Leeds at the Central Station Hotel
If you fancied a bit of drive you could have seen Peggy Lee in the Wolverhampton Grand Theatre.
Wednesday 30th May 1984 Part One
Liverpool Won the Cup
On this day Liverpool beat Roma in 1984 European Cup final. This game went to penalties and was probably best remembered for Bruce Grobbelaar’s wobbly knee antics in the penalty shoot out.
Wednesday 30th May 1984 Part Two
The Joy of Regional Telly
This clip is of local presenter Susan Osmon announcing the next day’s TV schedule and weather on HTV West just before closing. There is a poetry about what she says here – she mentions the band the Strawbs, the weather forecast for Lundy and Irish Sea, she congratulates Liverpool fans and she wishes us goodnight. It is just lovely.
If you lived in the HTV West region and fancied going to a gig that night then this was your choice:
UK Subs were playing at the Level 3 in Swindon,
A band called Nervous Breakdown were playing at the Cardiff Chapter Arts Centre.
The Chieftains were playing at the Exeter Festival.
You could have driven over to Reading to see Dave Swarbrick’s Whippersnapper.
(I’ve seen both the Chieftains and Dave Swarbrick folk junkie that I am)
SOME OTHER THINGS THAT HAPPENED IN MAY 1984
Prince Charles called a proposed addition to the National Gallery, London, a “monstrous carbuncle on the face of a much-loved and elegant friend”
I was doing my CSEs. I got a grade 3 in Physics and a grade 4 in Woodwork.
The Russians had announced they were boycotting the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics.
The Guardian Media Section was launched.
Earlier in May 1984 this won the Eurovision. It’s bloody awful
These other magazines were published in May 1984
Finally
I don’t know if Rockpalast is a German venue or a German TV show but the Smiths were on it/in it in May 1984. (This video is the first part of 9 if you fancy seeing the whole gig)
The sunset over Carrow Road is really rather beautiful this evening.
This part was blogged live from Carrow Road.
The game started well but the quality of Kenwyne Jones and Andy Reid is way too much for Norwich. It’s now 2-0 to Sunderland. First time I’ve seen Reid live and he is a talented player; the goal he scored was the best I’ve seen at a match for a while.
The scoreline has killed what was a good atmosphere but the large contingent of Sunderland fans are happy. (Monday night, League Cup game, so good for them).
As I’m writing this Reid has scored again. So 3-0. The fans around me are getting agitated and they are right to, if Norwich don’t start closing down on Reid this could be 6 or 7.
And there you have it. My first live blog from a football match.
And this bit was blogged post match.
It ended 4-1 to Sunderland and should have been more, (they hit the bar twice).
Good game for me, being neutral. Reid was fantastic, a real joy to watch especially as he did most of his best work in the first half right in front of where I was sitting. Carrow Rd is a nice stadium, the people who worked in the rather fancy ticket office were pleasant and treated me like a paying customer, which is not always the way football works. The fans were fun and the last 10 minutes were pretty entertaining.
The game ended with Norwich down to 9 men, and with an outfield player having to be in goal. The game was long dead by then – but the farcical ending seemed to bring the stadium to life and oles and cheers were ringing out as the match fizzled out into comedy. Good stuff really and I’m glad I went.
Quite like this series of short films on the history of football managers by Barney Ronay that the Guardian are running. The first is here from YouTube and is about Herbert Chapman and Arsene Wenger (and the links were filmed in London’s Transport Museum where I once worked).
You’ll need to go to the Guardian site for the rest of the videos I think.
