Fifty years ago ~ life in 1973 ~ Part Two

Sophie Neville with the cast of Swallows
Sophie Neville, Suzanna Hamilton, Sten Grendon, Lesley Bennett, Kit Seymour, Simon West with Daphne Neville at a Puffin Club event for the new edition of ‘Swallows and Amazons’ organised by Kaye Webb in London  photo: Woman Magazine

When I look back on our lives as they were fifty years ago, I can’t help smiling. Whilst one is impacted by fashions that were too unfortunate to be revived – those collars we thought so groovy – other things haven’t changed at all. I don’t think sailing shoes or jean jackets have ever been out of circulation.

Claude Whatham on the shore of Coniston Water ~ photo: Daphne Neville
Every day clothes in 1973

In July 1973 Claude Whatham, pictured above in his Levis, had my sisters and I in a series of three Weetabix commercials that depicted life in 1933, forty years before, when the Great British breakfast cereal was first launched on the market.

Meanwhile, my mother was presenting her afternoon television programme for HTV West called ‘Women Only’ – dressed in her Donny Osmond hat.

Daphne Neville in 1973

I would happily wear her suede coat today and can often be seen in the hat. The lace-up boots looked good recently with a Wonder Woman fancy dress outfit but were terribly uncomfortable. My sister still hasn’t forgiven me for giving them away.

Daphne Neville in her Donny Osmond hat
Daphne Neville on location in Jersey while presenting ‘Women Only’ in 1973

As always, well made things of quality have endured, and those faithful goods from Land Rovers to Levi jeans, Puffin Books and Weetabix are, thankfully, still being produced.

for more photographs of making the Weetabix commercial click here

We collected Greenshield stamps, saving up zilions to buy a Super 8 movie camera. The results were wobbly but they give a glimpse into the way we were:

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Author: Sophie Neville

Writer and charity fundraiser

One thought on “Fifty years ago ~ life in 1973 ~ Part Two”

  1. I remember corn stocks (or stewks, as they were named to me) as a little boy, just! Huge agricultural machinery had yet to come then, in the early 1950s.

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