MENZIESHILL WRESTLING AD - 1972

If karate wasn't your thing, then you could always give wrestling a go.

Not sure who would have been involved at this event up at Menzieshill Community Centre - seems an odd place to have an "all-star" billing especially when the Caird Hall presented wresting quite regularly.

Anyway, not just all-star but all ticket for this do in '72.

HOPE FOR DUDS POSTER - 1981

[The success of Destruction/Creation led to two more live events in Laing’s – Open Sandwich and Hope For Dud’s – the latter being a multi-media happening with music by Boo Hooray, Aaga & Erasmic Super Foam, projections by Neil Watson, Sid Ozalid’s stand-up poetry, plus an action by the Principal Player highlighting the politics of the fishing industry in Scotland.]

This is the poster for the "Hope For Duds" event that took place on 20th June 1981, as described above.
Below is another track by The Principal Players called "This Principal Player Has A Dog" - recorded live in a flat in Hawkhill by Pete Horobin and Erasmic Super Foam member, John Butler, whose hacking staccato guitar technique energetically chisels out a pretty funky backdrop!

Courtesy of The Attic Archive.

DESTRUCTION / CREATION - PART 1 - 1981

[The first public performance by the Prinicipal Player – and in fact the first work of performance art in Dundee – took place in February 1981 at Laing’s in Roseangle, which at the time served as the art college union. Horobin’s Destruction/Creation resulted in the destruction of all the inadequate and unnecessary paraphernalia of his painting course, including the tearing up of his diploma, pieces of which were then distributed among the audience. The action emphasised the inadequacy of a visual artist to communicate when compared to a rock band, symbolised in this instance by Boo Hooray.]

The top image is the poster for the Destruction / Creation event at Laings in Feb '81.
It was also used as the cover of a journal that documented the event in its various stages, featuring Pete in action along with Boo Hooray on stage and an engrossed group of art students!

Courtesy of The Attic Archive.

BRIDGE DAY - THE CROWD - 1966

Down at the scene where all the action was taking place on 18th August 1966, here's the crowd scattered all around the bridge area, waiting patiently for the grand opening.

The top image has quite a lot of folk gathered around the Dock Street bridge approach section, and you can make out the masses away in the distance over at the enclosure where the official ceremony was going on.

The middle picture catches the moment the Queen Mother's car drives up onto the the bridge, with plenty of flag waving as she passes.

The last snapshot shows the initial excitement over with some of the spectators choosing to depart, while most of the others hang on to watch the royal wheels return.

I can remember being driven across the bridge on this very day, only in the evening - along with thousands of others who decided to cross it on opening day!

Photos from Gordon C.

BRIDGE DAY - ANGUS HOTEL - 1966

Here's a couple of photos from completely different vantage points, but both captured at around the same time.
The Royal entourage were in town for the opening of the Tay Road Bridge in August 1966 and stopped off at the Angus Hotel, inevitably drawing a large inquisitive crowd.
Although the photographer in the crowd was suffering from a touch of camera shake, you can see the 3 cars are in the same position as the image above it.
Quite a coincidence that these are the only photos I have of this moment, and the two of them appear to have been taken almost simultaneously!
In addition, I have film footage of the moment the Queen Mother departs the Angus Hotel and gets into a waiting car.
The "doorway crowd" footage is very wobbly, but you can make out what's happening.

BRIDGE DAY - CITY SQUARE - 1966

They brought out the Royal banners in order to tart up the city square, the day the celebrations for the official opening of the Tay Road Bridge were taking place - so these photos were taken on 18th August 1966.

The top image is from the city square looking over at the old Overgate. Quite rare to see photos of the original Overgate in colour. The construction of the 2nd version of the Overgate (the concrete one) was well underway in '66, but you can't see any of the building work that's taking place, in shot.

In case you're wondering, the ad on the side of the red van is for Fish Fingers.

The middle picture is a similar view, but from slightly further down the square.

A nice array of classic 60's cars on display, as well as a wee reminder of the VG van.

The bottom image shows more banners, this time from the other side of the square - and judging from the eye catching black car in the foreground, it looks like they invited Batman!

Click onto the photos to enlarge if you want to have a look around.

Photos from Gordon C.

WRESTLING IN THE PARK - 70'S

I've heard of all-in wrestling before but here's an example of all out wrestling!

Not got any info on this photo at all but a couple of guesses has me thinking it may be Baxter Park in the early 70's. Baxter's used to put on events like this during the summer weeks, and I've gone for the 72/73 period based on a boy in the crowd wearing what could be the Dundee FC "penguin" strip (near the bottom left corner standing to the right of the girl with the patterned coat). Also, the car in the background could be an early 70's Vauxhall Viva.

I'm not 100% certain on any of these statements, but that's the best I could come up with using what possible clues there are available in the picture.

The other obvious alternative is Camperdown Park.

If you fancy a stab at it, drop it in the comments.

RADIO TIMES - 18 AUGUST 1966 #3

Some of the other shows on that night were, Top of The Pops with Pete Murray. One of the rare episodes I missed out on. I can tell you though that The Beatles were at #1 at the time with their double A-side single "Eleanor Rigby/Yellow Submarine".
I remember I used to watch Adam Adamant Lives, the Victorian swordsman living in 60's swinging London! It has since gone on to achieve the "Cult TV" tag.
Dusty Springfield had the Dudley Moore Trio on her show, a jazz act with a touch of humour I recall.
The Radio Times back then only covered BBC programmes in the magazine so I've no idea what ITV had on offer.
Click image to read large version.

RADIO TIMES - 18 AUGUST 1966 #1

Somebody mentioned in yesterdays comments that they remember watching the Tay Bridge opening ceremony on tv. Well it was indeed televised and as you can see the event made the front cover of the Scottish edition of Radio Times.

DUNDEE'S FIRST MARATHON - 1983

Over 1300 runners turned out for the first marathon held in Dundee on 24th April 1983.
I didn't take part in it but I did go to the city centre to give the competitors some encouragement. I had a flat in the centre of town at the time and remember catching the build up to the start of the race. I then nipped home for 2 hours and went back into the city centre to see the runners finish.
Radio Tay were broadcasting from the city square as part of the marathon's entertainment and I recall they played the theme tune to "Chariots of Fire" by Vangelis as the runners went by.!!
Later that afternoon, the central pubs were crammed with locals wrapped in silver foil..!!

THE OPENING OF RICHARD SHOPS - 1961

This sequence of photos, taken on 6th October 1961, captures the official opening of Richard Shops in the Murraygate.

The top image shows the big crowd that had gathered around to witness the event.

The middle picture features the moment the grand opening occurred, which was at 11:30 am to be exact!

Incidentally, this is Lady Isobel Barnett doing the ribbon cutting honours, and being a high profile media celeb at the time, helped attract the large turnout.

The third photo is a general shot of the store after the days commotion had settled down and was now open for business.

The shop would have looked very modern too back in '61, especially compared to its surroundings.

Big thanks to Richard.

LIZ McCOLGAN PARADE - 1986

This is Liz McColgan ( although she was still Liz Lynch at this stage in her career ) and her Team mates being paraded down Reform Street in an open top bus in 1986. This was to celebrate her winning 2 gold medals at the Commonwealth Games that year.