Concorde, the Channel Tunnel, Mr Pastry and Princess Anne - a look back at Kent in 1970
|
Updated: 16:43, 07 February 2021
For some of us 1970 seems like yesterday but for many people reading this it will be a foreign land existing long before they were born.
So what was life like in Kent back then, more than 50 years ago?
The front cover of the March 1970 edition of Kent Life depicted the Kingsferry Bridge over The Swale at Sheppey, which had opened 10 years before
We can find out by delving into back copies of Kent Life, a monthly magazine produced by the Kent Messenger Group.
Though his stock was dwindling slightly, Kenneth still ranked as the third and fourth most popular international star (in 1961 and 1962 respectively).
The latter of these years saw the actor return to television. Heart to Heart - written by the aforementioned Sir Terrence Rattigan - marked that comeback, with his performance as journalist David Mann the subject of sizeable acclaim.
Though riveted by his return to television, Kenneth was delighted to have a small cameo in The Longest Day - a film about the D-Day landings - the next year.
His final leading film role came in 1964, where Kenneth gave a masterful performance in the adaptation of Douglas Hayes novel The Comedy Man.
Though his stock was dwindling slightly, Kenneth still ranked as the third and fourth most popular international star (in 1961 and 1962 respectively).
The latter of these years saw the actor return to television. Heart to Heart - written by the aforementioned Sir Terrence Rattigan - marked that comeback, with his performance as journalist David Mann the subject of sizeable acclaim.
Though riveted by his return to television, Kenneth was delighted to have a small cameo in The Longest Day - a film about the D-Day landings - the next year.
His final leading film role came in 1964, where Kenneth gave a masterful performance in the adaptation of Douglas Hayes novel The Comedy Man.
by Nick Pourgourides (Amazon £7.99, 133pp)
One OF the joys of lockdown for me has been watching all the old classic Kenneth More films on Talking Pictures TV.
These include the Doctor farces, with More ebullient alongside Dirk Bogarde and James Robertson Justice, and North West Frontier, where More shares a railway carriage with Lauren Bacall, clanking across remote outposts of the Empire.
More was the type of Englishman who was always jovial and competent and courageous. He’s the chap you’d want at your side if the ship is sinking, the plane is in flames, or the steam train is under attack from angry locals. He was never snooty or coldly ironic, never irascible or eccentric.
This was compounded by the premature death of his father Bertie in 1931. By this point Kenneth had already attempted to become a civil engineer s apprentice in Shrewsbury after finishing school.
He also pursued careers in the RAF and at Sainsbury s, but neither was a fit. It was only after an ill-fated trip to Canada (which saw Kenneth unable to enter the country due to not having the correct paperwork) that life began to have true direction.
At 20, his star was born. A chance decision saw Kenneth ask for a job at the Windmill Theatre, Shaftesbury Avenue. The audacious request was granted – on the now-ironic promise that he never become an actor – and the rest is history.