1974 was a bad time to be alive

[Humph Warden Bennett]

Ian Hunter tries to make people who were alive in 1974 nostalgic for an era of bomb sites and food rationing.

And he got away with it.

I am so happy that 1974 keeps getting further away.

https://youtu.be/4MyJHh451Y4

[Roses]

Our middle daughter was born in 1974.

[SteveH]

If you mean WW2 bomb sites, I think they'd all been redeveloped by 1974. I remember as a kid c.1960 going into Manchester with my parents, and being told that derelict sites were bomb sites from the war, but I think in the mid-60s there was a big push to finally get rid of the last remaining ones.
I lived in Liverpool in 1973/4. There was a Victorian office building near the docks which was intact and in use, but it had some quite large chunks missing from its brickwork, which I assumed was caused by shrapnel from a nearby bomb during the war.

[Gordon]

I got married in 1974.

[Robbie]

Surely there wasn't food rationing in 1974*, I'm sure I'd have remembered. PM was Edward Heath. I know there were power cuts around that time & 'The Troubles'.

For most young people at school it was business as usual, long school holidays, cycling, riding, swimming in the sea.

*There was a sugar shortage (I just looked that up) resulting in some stores rationing the amount of sugar they sold to each customer.

[Nearly Sane]

Surely there wasn't food rationing in 1974*, I'm sure I'd have remembered. PM was Edward Heath. I know there were power cuts around that time & 'The Troubles'.

For most young people at school it was business as usual, long school holidays, cycling, riding, swimming in the sea.

*There was a sugar shortage (I just looked that up) resulting in some stores rationing the amount of sugar they sold to each customer.

The OP doesn't say there was food rationing

[Robbie]

I got the impression from this:- Ian Hunter tries to make people who were alive in 1974 nostalgic for an era of bomb sites and food rationing.

In that case he probably meant something different to how I took it - so I don't understand  .

On clicking the Youtube link I got T Rex.

Ah well, doesn't matter really  .

[Harrowby Hall]

He is saying that in 1974 people were nostalgic for rationing and bomb sites.

In 1974 I graduated with a 2(1) as a mature student. I had entered university with no "A" levels and was "kept" by my wife. It was also the year that Nixon resigned, the only US president to retire in office ... so far ...

[Anchorman]

I was fourteen. 1974 was the year of two elections: 1973 was the three day week and power cuts. I remember the food kitchens set up by the miners' union, and shops giving free food to the families of striking miners - a fortaste of things to come when Thatcher tried to starve them intosubmisssion and beat them....scarring the families mantally and physically in the process.

[Humph Warden Bennett]

Possibly having to speak another language for six months has fuddled my English

My point was that in 1974 Ian was trying to make people nostalgic for the late nineteen fifties-the rock and roll era-which did have food rationing, and WWII bomb sites!

[Humph Warden Bennett]

If you mean WW2 bomb sites, I think they'd all been redeveloped by 1974. I remember as a kid c.1960 going into Manchester with my parents, and being told that derelict sites were bomb sites from the war, but I think in the mid-60s there was a big push to finally get rid of the last remaining ones.
I lived in Liverpool in 1973/4. There was a Victorian office building near the docks which was intact and in use, but it had some quite large chunks missing from its brickwork, which I assumed was caused by shrapnel from a nearby bomb during the war.

As I remember, Snow Hill in London was not redeveloped until the early eighties.

[Harrowby Hall]

My point was that in 1974 Ian was trying to make people nostalgic for the late nineteen fifties-the rock and roll era-which did have food rationing, and WWII bomb sites!

Food rationing ended in July 1954 - hardly the late nineteen fifties.

[Rhiannon]

I was three. I vaguely remember flares.

[Humph Warden Bennett]

Food rationing ended in July 1954 - hardly the late nineteen fifties.

In 1981 I was told by my drinking buddy (born 1948) that rationing ended finally in 1958.

But my main theme was not the late fifties, but how bluddy awful was 1974.

[jeremyp]

In 1981 I was told by my drinking buddy (born 1948) that rationing ended finally in 1958.

But my main theme was not the late fifties, but how bluddy awful was 1974.

I was eight in 1974. I remember it mainly for Labour winning the general election (or two). Before that I remember power cuts caused by the NUM blackmailing the country, but for a child of my age, these things were all exciting rather than bad.

Even The Winter of Discontent in 1979 was good rather than bad for me because it meant I might not have to go to school.

[Robbie]

I turned fourteen in April 1974 and for me, personally, the year was good but I was aware of what went on in the rest of the country as outlined by Anchorman.

However I don't understand how anyone would've looked back nostalgically at rationing and bomb sites. 1974 wasn't that bad for most of us.

[Shaker]

1974 wasn't that bad for most of us.

Pfft. Those nappies can chafe around the vitals, I am telling you.

[Robbie]

  maybe round the ankles if you were unlucky!

I was three. I vaguely remember flares.

Shaft jeans had moderate flares, remember having three pairs of those in brushed denim, they looked lovely with cheesecloth shirts and flowing tops.

[SteveH]

In 1981 I was told by my drinking buddy (born 1948) that rationing ended finally in 1958.

But my main theme was not the late fifties, but how bluddy awful was 1974.

Petrol was rationed in 1958, because of the Suez crisis. Maybe that's what you're thinking of.

[Harrowby Hall]

maybe round the ankles if you were unlucky!
  Shaft jeans had moderate flares, remember having three pairs of those in brushed denim, they looked lovely with cheesecloth shirts and flowing tops.

Girls looked quite good in them, too ...   

[Harrowby Hall]

But my main theme was not the late fifties, but how bluddy awful was 1974.

As I said before, I graduated as a mature student in 1974. I had just completed the most most productive and inspiring three years of my life. 1974 saw the culmination of the process by which I discovered myself.

There were a few of my fellow students who were "mature" and there was some agreement among us about the value of being undergraduates with more varied life experiences than just being a sixth form swot.

[Humph Warden Bennett]

Girls looked quite good in them, too ...   

My memory is that the fashions of 1974 were hideous. The hippy look of the early seventies was long gone, and the fun of glam rock was over, Ariel Bender's thigh boots, and cap (with a name like Luther Grosvenor one wonders why he needed a silly stage name) already looked dated. The introduction of men's hair sprays led to a bewildering assortment of strange and terrifying looks(check out the two saxophone players in the clip).

As for ladies fashions, look at the  singers in the clip. (Cardigans & a T shirt).

[jeremyp]

Petrol was rationed in 1958, because of the Suez crisis. Maybe that's what you're thinking of.

There was going to be petrol rationing in 1973/4 but it never happened in the end. I do remember my mother getting pulled over by the rozzers for breaking the 50mph speed limit on the motorway.

[Walt Zingmatilder]

Ah 1974, the year I transitioned from being a teenage dirtbag, The headmaster wasn't going to let me back in the sixth form even if I got all my O Levels. I did and he relented.

[Humph Warden Bennett]

Ah 1974, the year I transitioned from being a teenage dirtbag, The headmaster wasn't going to let me back in the sixth form even if I got all my O Levels. I did and he relented.

You wanted to be allowed back into school?

I cannot think of anybody who had the slightest regret about leaving school, or anybody who has ever wanted to go back.