Blue Remembered Armpits

"Now then, who lives in a film like this....?"

On December 19th 1975 I went to my first RAG DAY. It was cold and rainy and I was a first year student at Bridgwater College. Dressing myself up as Morrissey , years before even Morrissey had the idea to dress up as himself, and nicking a bottle of whiskymac from my parents drinks cupboard then hiding it in my raincoat pocket to take secret swigs out of during the course of the day. But rag days in 1975 were very different to what they are today. In them days students dressed up like twats and got shitfaced. Today....well, moving swiftly on.

Bridgwater looked very different in them days and yet, very similar. As did all my friends. Many of who appear in a film of the event made by lead vocalist of my band the Dangerous Brothers, Rod Jones, and which has lain dormant (well, in his cupboard) for more than 40 years. But now through the miracle of him agreeing to it, we can have a glimpse back to those blue remembered bastards we used to call students. We can see a Bridgwater with a Marks and Spencers and a Tescos in Fore street, the Admiral Blake statue in it's old place on the Cornhill side of the road and we can identify the total bastards who actually managed to get off with some  girls in the debauchery pit known as the Blake street Annex, as they emerge looking very pleased with themselves while some of us had to resort to getting, well very pissed, by , say,10 am.

"Why, if it isn't horror writer Kim Newman..."

Look out for  Sheep Worrying legends Kim Newman - first seen selling bottled water and hot cakes on the Cornhill to see which would sell like, er, hot cakes, and Eugene Byrne, wearing a forage cap bought from the Army Navy shop in St Mary Street, and roaming around with a michrophone interviewing people. Plus rare appearances from early Dangerous Brothers stalwarts Fat Bald Dave (when he was Thin Long Haired Dave) and Cold Buffet Bill when he was, well, a bit on the barmy side.

The song I've put to it is 'Clever Students', which seemed appropriate. I wrote this after spending just a month at University, but it could equally apply to us all at College. The song was recorded in 1978 in the White Hart, Eastover and the musicians featured include film maker Rod Jones on lead vocal, backed by Kev 'Nervo' Freeman on drums and chorus vocal plus Simon 'Supermeat' Gibbs on guitar and chorus vocal. I'm playing the rather simple Floydesque bass line on my old Hofner violin bass, which was held together by araldite and which I twattishly sold to Shrunken Duncan for £20, while the clever bit of keyboard/synth work featured is played by Neal Heckford in his mid period Bowie role of  Cosmo DG Glissandoz.

"And here's Eugene Byrne and our schoolmate Liz Lee-

incidentally the first person to nominate me for Council in 1990.."

I was convinced that the Police were on to me that day and my best memory of the day is when they jumped out of a car in Blake street and Cold Buffet Bill said 'run' so I did. Bill, a mountaineer, leapt over the Blake street wall into Blake Gardens, which was twice as high on the opposite side. Agile fucker that he was, I managed to get my Morrissey coat caught on the brickwork at the top and found myself dangling over a rose bed until it ripped and I dropped into it....before escaping Steve McQueen-like into the Bridge café. Now who remembers the Bridge café....?