I was born in 1970 so only have random memories of the time: having a bath by candlelight during the miners' strike in the early 70's, getting a week off primary school during the fuel tanker drivers' strike in the late 70's, the Silver Jubilee and Red Rum winning his third National in 1977, Björn Borg winning every Wimbledon in the second half of the decade, Jim Callaghan losing a vote of confidence by one and Margaret Thatcher winning the subsequent election in 1979 (the same year Manchester United lost the "five minute" FA Cup Final to Arsenal).
The series The 70's claimed last night that package holidays to Spain started the boom in wine sales. I'm sure that's true but as a beer drinker I was slightly irritated by the "everyone drinks wine all the time now" assumption. I don't at all, apart from the odd glass of champagne at weddings and christenings. In White Heat, the pub in North London the friends drink in was an interesting barometer of social change. Starting out as a basic boozer selling keg beer and ending up a gastropub with cask beer, it reminded me of the transformation of this real pub not that far away.
Yes, it was simplistic. I was a student in the 1970s, and remember the era well - indeed with a lot of fondness, but I suspect the emphasis will suggest it was a decade of unrelenting misery. I'll still watch the rest though.
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