In the 2010s we had a decade of centenaries marking key events in Irish history such as the War of Independence, the Home Rule debacle, the Easter Rising, and the 1918 elections – followed in the 2020s by a decade of half centenaries more specifically focused on the North.
As the current decade approached, we commemorated half a century since the conflict, euphemistically known as “the troubles,” began.
But as 2024 draws to a close, the events of 1974 spring to mind.
I was six years old when the 1970s came to an end, so I have only vague memories of the tail end of that particular decade. Some may say I was lucky. Others may say I missed out. But at the same time I have a fascination for that particular period of time.
We are of course in a decade of fiftieth anniversaries of atrocities and events in our squalid local conflict.
When you can remember things that happened half a century ago, you probably feel old.
I thought I was getting old when the time came that I could remember things that happened over 40 years ago – the hunger strikes, the miners’ strikes, the rise of Thatcher and Reagan, Northern Ireland’s famous win over hosts Spain in the 1982 World Cup, the Band Aid “Do They Know it’s Christmas” single getting to number one , the death of Richard Burton in 1984 who ironically at the time had just finished filming the big screen adaptation of George Orwell’s 1984, Tom Baker falling from a radio telescope and morphing into Peter Davison, Peter Davison getting poisoned by a cave-dwelling fungus and subsequently morphing into Colin Baker, etc.
I’m not quite old enough to remember 1974, but from an early age I became aware of many of the events of that year due to their epochal status in the annals of late twentieth century political, social and cultural history.
The 1970s was a time when you had no choice on a cold winter night but to watch whatever happened to be on TV at the time. Not even video cassette recorders or DVDs let alone Netflix, no catch-up services, no Amazon Prime. We now live in a world which has changed beyond recognition – in good ways, bad ways and indifferent ways.
As we near the end of 2024, we can look back at the events of 1974, 50 years ago. In many ways it was a bleak time. There were the terrorist atrocities in Birmingham, Guildford, Dublin and Monaghan – in addition to the countless other murders and bombings which would continue for another 20 years.
There were the strikes which eventually brought down the Sunningdale institutions.
That other island with a north-south divide – Cyprus – was partitioned following rising tensions between Greek and Turkish communities.
Three of best known figures in the field of popular entertainment were Gary Glitter, Jimmy Savile and Rolf Harris. If only we knew now what we’d known back then… But the real tragedy is that many people did know…
Few people will miss the power cuts, flared trousers, platform shoes, long pointed shirt collars, and vomit-patterned wallpaper. It was a decade when disillusionment had set in, and the youthful idealism of the 1960s gave way to a harsher reality.
But in the wider world, encompassing world politics, popular culture, and sport, there were events that would become enshrined in folklore*.
- The Ali-Foreman world heavyweight title fight hosted by the country formerly known as Zaire – originally marketed as “From the slave ship to the championship”, but soon changed to “Rumble in the Jungle” when the former label was deemed too controversial
- The theft of Old Master paintings from Russborough House by an IRA gang that included posh English heiress Rose Dugdale – of which a film was made quite recently
- The resignation of President Richard Nixon in the wake of the infamous Watergate scandal
- The disappearance of Lord Lucan
- The departure of Peter Gabriel as lead vocalist with Genesis in the wake of internal band tensions following the release of their groundbreaking concept album The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway, a Jodorowsky-esque tale of a surreal subterranean world beneath the streets of New York. Progressive rock purists would argue this marked the beginning of the end of the band’s credibility – others will claim that it was actually the departure of guitarist Steve Hackett a couple of years later which marked the real turning point – when they ditched the 20 minute long songs about giant killer plants, unscrupulous property developers and Greek mythology with complex instrumentals, sudden key changes, elaborate stage costumes – in favour of a stripped down, more mainstream radio-friendly approach – and their drummer became the new lead singer.
- Roger Moore’s first outing as James Bond in the blaxploitation-inspired Live And Let Die
- Abba winning the Eurovision Song Contest with Waterloo
- The first broadcasts of classic TV shows (give or take a year or two for the benefit of the pedants) including Fawlty Towers, Porridge, The Sweeney and The Six Million Dollar Man
- Manchester United’s relegation from the top tier of English football
- The regeneration of Dr Who from Jon Pertwee into Tom Baker, who would go on to become arguably the greatest actor ever to take on the iconic role
People voted to leave the EU for many different reasons – which I won’t go into. This OP is not about Brexit! But it’s probably fair to say that quite a few out of the older generation of leave voters who remembered life before the EU did so out of a false misplaced sense of nostalgia – harking back to a time when life was simpler – when people weren’t addicted to their phones, when children climbed trees and played football in the park rather than playing Minecraft in their bedrooms, when couples met in real life rather than through dating apps, etc, ad nauseam…
Life was probably simpler back then (and not always in a bad way), but it wasn’t necessarily better overall.
Time goes on and takes with it memories, both good and bad.
*OK, so some of these events may have happened in 1973 or 1975 rather than 1974, but let’s not get pedantic about it!
Ciaran Ward is from Co. Tyrone and is now based in London where he works in the data protection/cybersecurity field. His latest book “On Square Routes”, a collection of memoirs, travel writing, short stories and poetry has just been published and is now available from Amazon.
He very occasionally blogs and tweets at https://dreamingarm.wordpress.com/ and @CiaranWard73
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