22 things you'll remember if you grew up in the 1970s

22 June 2018, 15:33

The 1970s was the decade of glam, dodgy hair and plenty of brown. All the brown.

These are the moments, items and stars who would have been part of your world if you grew up in the 1970s...

1. Trying to get used to new money

In 1971, the UK and Ireland decimalised their currencies. Overnight, everything changed!

It's all second nature now, but if you were a kid back then it was rather tricky to work out how many pence and shillings fit into what. Crazy times.

2. Glam, glam, glam

There were so many new pop genres in the 1970s: punk, new wave, disco etc.

But we'd argue if there was one genre that summed up the decade most, it was GLAM. Slade, T Rex and Sweet ruled the roost for what felt like forever, when in reality it was probably a couple of years at most.

3. Making Clangers noises

And pretending they were saying something rude.

4. Getting overly excited at the Silver Jubilee

She's had about 315 different jubilees since then, but this felt like a HUGE deal at the time.

Think what hype this year's Royal Wedding had, and multiply it by 20. Street parties galore, and union jack flags as far as the eye could see.

5. Everything was brown and orange

It's hard to imagine this ever feeling stylish, but it was.

6. Yawning with Bagpuss

Old fat furry cat-puss.

7. Playing Pong for hours

OK, it's not exactly Uncharted, but this felt genuinely realistic and incredible at the time.

Those sweet Atari sounds will live on forever.

8. Worshipping ABBA

The Beatles split up in 1970, we lost Elvis in 1977, but the decade did at least introduce us to four Swedish icons.

9. Pretending we were The Fonz

We still go 'aaaaayyy' whenever we look in the mirror.

10. Picking a teen heartthrob

Were you Team Osmonds, Team Rollers, Team Cassidy or Team Jacksons?

11. Feeling like champion of the world when you won at Connect Four

To this day, there's nothing sweeter than when your opponent didn't spot that diagonal tactic.

12. Seeing this girl on the telly

We still have nightmares about that clown.

13. Not being totally sure what was going on in The Magic Roundabout

But we loved it regardless.

14. The best adverts ever

The Smash aliens, Henry Cooper selling Brut, the PG Tips monkeys, the R Whites bloke...

15. Never having any safety procedures in place

What are seat belts, again? (We're not saying this was a good thing, by the way!).

16. Learning about life in Jackie magazine

And not just for the David Cassidy posters.

17. Being scared witless by public service films

The Green Cross Code Man and Charley Says were OK, but...

Most of these films just made us want to stay in at all times, let along even think about trying to climb an power line to retrieve our football.

18. Having the sunniest summers ever

Remember 1976?

We'll just pretend the coal strikes didn't happen.

19. Collecting all the Star Wars toys

Even generic Stormtrooper number #5.

20. Spending hours on a Subbuteo pitch

Before FIFA, you had this. And it was amazing. Honestly.

21. Realising it was physically impossible to avoid The Wombles

They were even the most successful pop group of 1974!

22. Wishing we were Danny or Sandy in Grease

And imagining what high school life was going to be like.

Answer: not like Grease.