Back to the Seventies Once Again

Let`s get into our time machine and go back to the `70s once again !


Yes, it was a groovy time to be young and fab in London`s West End, particularly if you happened to work for Purnell, who you may recall brought us Top Pop Scene (this blog, 16 December 2010).

Rather less long-lived was sister publication Girl ! Girl ! Girl ! , which brought it`s young readership "Fabulous Features on Fashion, Pop Stars, Astrology, Boutiques, Beauty and Boys" plus much, much more.

As with Top Pop Scene, one detects a slight Reithian streak, a determination that it`s young readers should be encouraged to be more culturally adventurous, however much they themselves may have wanted to immerse themselves in a world of fickle fashion.

Thus, while our budding `70s girls are asked to address themselves to a number of semi-rhetorical questions ("So You Want to be Model ?" ,  "Are you Ready to go Steady ?") and to respond in some way to a variety of exhortations characterised by the over-use of exclamation marks ("Boys ! Boys ! Boys !", "Swing into Style !", "It`s Fun to Run a Party !"), they are also advised to consider the musical accomplishments of Bob Dylan, Jethro Tull`s Ian Anderson and others. Perhaps the publishers took themselves a bit seriously, but it`s quite endearing really.

I was not female in the `70s, or at any other time, so the finer points of this splendid seventies publication may be lost on me, but it  does make a fascinating period piece. I would be  interested to know whether the Derek Long who contributed two short stories to this august publication is the freelance writer who wrote `The Mystery of the Italian Ruins` for Amalgamated / Fleetway some years earlier, though I suppose it`s unlikely.

As far as I know, this was the first Girl ! Girl ! Girl ! annual. Others appeared for a few years and after that it apparently ceased to be produced. 

This peerless piece of popular culture can be found at  3770 in our listings.