Street party at Fullerton Rd, Plymouth, for the Silver Jubilee, 1977.

A Brief Introduction To The 1970's

The 1970s formed a suitable hangover to the exuberance of the sixties, with the inevitable distortion and decline of the ideals created by the hippie movement, the economic gloom of massive inflation throughout many countries, in America the Watergate scandal and the Vietnam war all casting a gloom over proceedings; it sometime seemed like the only thing keeping us afloat were those ridiculously large flares!

In 1970, the Conservative Party was brought to power under the leadership of Edward Heath. Heath's term was plagued with a number of strikes by nearly every profession (in 1972 alone, nearly 24 million working days were lost due to strikes).

His plan to ration electricity for businesses and factories to three days in the week, starting in January 1974, proved unpopular. In February, miners, with the support of the rail and power unions, went out on strike. Heath called a general election to gauge support, which led to his narrow defeat in a hung parliament.

During Heath's administration, the UK had seen decimalisation of its currency finally take place (in February 1971) and an important change in economic relations begin with its entry to the European Economic Community ('Common Market') on 1 January 1973.

Edward Heath

Labour won most seats in the February election under Harold Wilson, who had been Prime Minister from 1964 to 1970, but lacked a majority. Wilson led a minority administration for seven months before calling (and winning) a second general election in October.

In early 1975 Heath was challenged, and unexpectedly defeated as leader, by Margaret Thatcher, who became the first female leader of the opposition. 1975 also saw the UK holding its only national referendum (to date) over its continued membership of the EEC; the result being a two-to-one 'yes' vote in favour of remaining a member.

During the Seventies, support for the British royal family was thought to have dwindled, but the Silver Jubilee year of 1977 assuaged the family's fears of being irrelevant in a more modern Britain. Elaborate parades and street parties were thrown in the Queen's honour, and the Queen met with millions of her subjects on a tour throughout the Commonwealth.

In spite of such widespread support, an emerging class of people voiced opposition to the monarchy, epitomised in the Sex Pistols' song "God Save the Queen".

Throughout the decade, the long-lasting Troubles in Northern Ireland were their most intense and violent, particularly in the first few years, and about two thousand people died as a result. The overwhelming majority of those killed were in Northern Ireland itself, but significant casualties (and heightened public concern) were also caused by an IRA campaign of pub bombings in Guildford, Aldershot and Birmingham on the British mainland.