Those golden days
Pete over at CodeHappy has been getting all nostalgic recently because it’s 25 years since the Commodore 64 was launched on the world. Reading his post got me thinking about my forays into the world of computing.
The first computer I ever used – and then the first computer I ever owned – was the Sinclair ZX81. A massive 1KB of memory, a ridiculously low resolution (was it 32 x 32? Something silly like that), a ‘keyboard’ that you really had to fight with and, of course, Sinclair Basic. And it was wonderful.
Magazines like Sinclair User and Sinclair Programs used to publish listings of code that you could program into your machine and play (they were usually games). You couldn’t save them unless you also had a tape machine connected to the ZX but that didn’t matter – you were a programmer. And back then we all were; if you wanted the machine to do anything you had to program it. If, like Pete, you knew what you were doing you programmed in machine code but the rest of us just used Basic and – by continually not working as it should have done – it taught us to be structured and lean with our code.
You could, if you were one of the monied generation, buy an expansion pack that gave you a whopping 16KB of memory. The two most popular ones came from Sinclair and Panda. The Panda, as well as being slightly cheaper, was slightly curvier (“shaped to the contours of your ZX81″) but that made it no more stable; all the bashing that you had to do on that keyboard often made the expansion pack move and break its connection to the machine – instant re-set and the loss of the last two hours programming.
Then came the launch of the ZX Spectrum, and this was a major advance in computing power. Colour, sound, higher resolution (up into the 100’s now I think) and ‘proper’ rubber keys, with a choice of 16KB and a massive 48KB memory. Gaming started to really become possible with graphical adventure games like Atic Atac, Manic Miner and Jet Set Willy appearing from companies like Imagine and Ultimate Play The Game (who hailed from the exotic sounding Ashby de la Zouch).
It was around this time that Pete’s beloved Commodore 64 appeared on the scene and gave all us Sinclair users a bit of a shock; it had a proper keyboard, it had better colour, better resolution and better sound. Not that we were prepared to admit that, though, and so began the sort of war that is played out today between Mac and PC users – but for us it was fought in the school playground and was much more brutal!
Sinclair tried to respond with the Spectrum Plus (almost a real keyboard) and add-ons like the Micro Drive and updates to their awful thermal printer; they even launched the QL, which was supposed to be a business machine but which was always demonstrated with a 3D chess game. None of it worked; Commodore – with the 64 in homes and the PET in schools – had Sinclair beaten hands down. Eventually Sir Clive sold out to Alan Sugar at Amstrad but it wasn’t long after that that the Sinclair name disappeared altogether from the computing world.
But I still fondly remember those heady days of being on the cutting-edge of affordable personal computing with the ZX range (80, 81 and Spectrum), the Commodore’s, TRS-80’s, VIC-20’s and Oracles with their array of languages – Sinclair Basic, Commodore Basic, Cobol, Pascal and Fortran. And properly written programs.
"And your boyfriend’s name is Evel, and he lives up in the sky”
Growing up in the 70’s, I was spoilt for choice when it came to heroes. But the one that stood head and shoulders above all the rest for me was the man in the star-spangled jumpsuit who liked to jump his motorbike over things.
I think the appeal of Evel Knievel was he would attempt these amazing-sounding and terrifying-looking stunts, apparently just for the hell of it. It was always a lottery as to whether he’d make it or not but that didn’t matter; you knew he wasn’t going to die performing a stunt and you knew that he’d be back bigger and better next time.
As you grow older, your heroes get tarnished as you learn that they weren’t such nice people in everyday life, or that the reason they crashed all the time was because they didn’t prepare properly and these charges have been levelled at Evel. But for me, that never changed anything. What mattered for me – and still does today as I’ve been re-watching some of the old footage – is that this man could reach out of the TV, grab your hand and take you on a rollercoaster ride that you were never going to forget.
He was the great showman of my childhood and I don’t think anyone who saw him at his heyday will ever forget him.
I can remember when…
Having just been ripped off (again) at the petrol pumps, where I’m now paying the ridiculous price of £1.03 per litre, I got to thinking about the price that petrol used to be. And that, in turn, got me remembering other things as well. So I thought I’d put together a list (you gotta love a nostalgic list, eh?). Some are humorous (hopefully), some are serious and some are just in-between. Some may not make sense to you if you didn’t grow up in the 70’s and 80’s, but some are timeless.
I can remember when…
… there was a big uproar because petrol had gone over 50p a gallon
… you always had to have a good supply of candles for lighting as you couldn’t rely on the electricity seven days a week
… school dinners were free and didn’t consist of chips with everything
… if you didn’t wear tartan, you had to wear glitter
… there was a big uproar because beer had gone over £1 a pint
… you could get enough sweets for the weekend for 10p
… TV was only three channels, which weren’t on all through the day and which all shut down overnight
… it was safe to let your kids roam the streets after dark
… it was safe to let you wife roam the streets after dark
… people respected people in positions of authority, like police officers, teachers and politicians
… all this was fields
What would you add to this list? Let’s get a few more on here!
A child of our time
I got sent this by email today; I have no idea where it originated – whether it is one person’s work or a collaborative effort – but it struck a chord with me. Rather than just email it round to everyone I knew, I thought I’d give it a post all of its own.
If any of this resonates with you, then look out – you’re getting old.
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For those born before 1986…
According to today’s regulators and bureaucrats, those of us who were kids in the 60’s 70’s and early 80’s should not have survived because our cots were covered with brightly coloured lead based paint which was promptly chewed and licked.
We had no childproof lids on medicine bottles, or latches on doors or cabinets and it was fine to play with pans.
When we rode our bikes, we wore no helmets, just flip flops and fluorescent “spokey dokeys” on our wheels.
As children, we would ride in cars with no seat belts or airbags, and riding in the passenger seat was a treat.
We drank water from the garden hose and not from a bottle and it tasted the same.
We ate chips, bread and butter pudding and drank fizzy pop with sugar in it, but we were never overweight because we were always outside playing.
We shared one drink with four friends, from one bottle or can and no one actually died from this.
We would spend hours building go carts out of scrap and then went top speed down the hill, only to find out we forgot the brakes. After running into stinging nettles a few times, we learned to solve the problem.
We would leave home in the morning and could play all day, as long as we were back before it got dark. No one was able to reach us and no one minded.
We did not have Playstations or Xboxes, no video games at all. No 99 channels on TV, no videotape movies, no surround sound, no mobile phones, no personal computers, no DVDs, no internet chat rooms. WE had friends – we went outside and found them.
We played elastics and rounders, and sometimes that ball really hurt! We fell out of trees, got cut, and broke bones but there were no lawsuits.
We had full-on fist-fights but no prosecution followed from other parents. We played Knock-down Ginger and were actually afraid of the house owners catching us.
We walked to friend’s homes.
We made up games with sticks and tennis balls. We rode bikes in packs of seven and wore our coats by only the hood.
The idea of our parents bailing us out if we broke the law was unheard of; they actually sided with the law.
This generation has produced some of the best risk-takers, problem-solvers and inventors ever. The past 50 years have been an explosion of innovation and new ideas. We had freedom, failure, success and responsibility, and we learned how to deal with it all.
Pass this on to others who have had the luck to grow up as real kids, before the lawyers and government regulated our lives, for our own good. For those of you who aren’t old enough, thought you might like to read about us.
This my friends, is surprisingly frightening but it might put a smile on your face;
The youth of today have never heard of “We Are The World” and they think “Uptown Girl” is by Westlife!
They have never heard of Rick Astley, Bananarama, or Belinda Carlisle.
To them, there has only ever been one Germany and one Vietnam.
They don’t remember a time before AIDS. They don’t remember a time before CDs.
To them John Travolta has always been round in shape and they can’t imagine how this fat guy was once God of the dancefloor.
They believe that “Charlies Angels” and “Mission Impossible” are films from the last few years. They can never imagine life before computers.
They’ll never have pretended to be the A Team, the Red Hand Gang or the Famous Five. They’ll never have applied for Jim’ll Fix It or Why Don’t You.
They can’t believe a black and white TV ever existed and they will never understand how we could have ever left the house without a mobile phone.
That my friends is how it was…
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So, what else is there? What makes YOU a child of the 60’s, 70’s or early 80’s?
Wolfs Helpers
