Tit For Tat!
1970 marks a watershed in the music industry, with some of the most successful groups of the '60s calling it a day. In January Diana Ross abandons the Supremes to embark on her solo career. In the Summer of 1970 Simon and Garfunkel give their last concert together and in September the Beatles split up. For some it is the end of an era. For others, including Lyn Paul and the New Seekers, 1970 is a new beginning ...
In January 1970 the New Seekers release their first album, predictably titled The New Seekers (Philips SBL 7920). The sleeve notes by Keith Potger outline his vision of "providing an 'Encore' to the Seekers":
"No amount of persuasion could bring the original members together again, so a fresh new group was the only answer."
Advertisement for the New Seekers' début album.
 
The New Seekers gain their early experience with a trip to Australia and club dates in Germany and the north of England. In April and May they appear at the Savoy Hotel in London and play a season at the London Palladium supporting Max Bygraves (1st-30th May).
Although intended to recreate the style and sound of the Seekers, the group begins instead to develop its own identity. Unhappy with the shift away from folk to a more contemporary sound, Laurie Heath, Chris Barrington and Sally Graham (no relation to Eve Graham) all leave the New Seekers. At Eve's suggestion, Lyn auditions for the group and soon finds herself reunited with her friend and colleague from the Nocturnes. In a radio interview with David Jensen in 2006 Lyn recalled going for the audition at Keith Potger's flat in Maida Vale:"I went to his flat and he asked me to sing a couple of songs" (From The Bottom To The Top, Capital Radio). The previous year Eve had auditioned for the New Seekers at Lyn's suggestion. As Lyn put it to John Dunn: "It was sort of tit for tat. We got it for each other, which was nice." (John Dunn Show, BBC Radio 2). Lyn drops the name Tanzy and takes instead the name by which she has been known ever since - Lyn Paul.
Paul Layton and Peter Doyle also join the New Seekers at this time, so establishing the line-up that would soon "teach the world the sing": Lyn Paul, Eve Graham, Marty Kristian, Paul Layton and Peter Doyle.
The new line-up is determined to move in a new direction. As Lyn put it:
"None of us really were that bothered about folk music ... It's very nice but we didn't want to sing it ... Gradually we began to pull our own way and ... then ... the real New Seekers were born."
(John Dunn Show, BBC Radio 2).
Holiday Startime
(programme).
On Friday, 19th June the group begins a twelve-week Summer Season at the ABC, Great Yarmouth as principal supporting attraction to Herman's Hermits in Holiday Startime. This is followed by three weeks of cabaret dates in the north of England plus a week in Wales.
- 20th September, Batley Variety Club
- 28th September, Talk of the North, Manchester
- 5th October, Tito's, Cardiff
- 12th October, Stockton Fiesta
A week after they had started their Summer Season the New Seekers released their second single, What Have They Done To My Song, Ma (Philips 6006 027). The single is not an immediate (nor a very big) hit in the UK, but it does well enough to get the group its first appearance on Top Of The Pops (30th July) and eventually makes it into singles chart at the end of October, peaking at number 44.
In the United States, however, it is a different story. The single (Elektra EK 45699) enters the Billboard Hot 100 on 5th September and climbs to number 14. Encouraged by this success, the New Seekers take a trip to the United States to record some television appearances, including two on The Ed Sullivan Show. The guests on the first show (CBS, Sunday, 25th October, 8.00pm - 9.00pm) include the Brazilian singer Astrud Gilberto and the sitarist Ravi Shankar; the New Seekers sing 'What Have They Done To My Song, Ma'. On the second show (CBS, Sunday, 13th December, 8.00pm - 9.00pm) the guests include the singer Bobby Sherman, the opera baritone Robert Merrill and the impressionist Marilyn Michaels; the New Seekers sing a medley of songs, 'What Have They Done To My Song, Ma', 'Your Song', 'Baby Face' and 'Beautiful People'.
Recalling this time in an interview in 2005, Lyn said:
"I was a northern girl from a Council estate in Manchester so you can imagine what it was like getting on a plane and arriving in America. It was unbelievable!" (Flashback, BBC Radio Leeds, 14th August 2005)
In November an album featuring What Have They Done To My Song, Ma is released entitled Keith Potger & the New Seekers (Philips 6308 030). In December a follow-up single, When There's No Love Left (Philips 6006 072), is released but it does not make the charts.
Incidentally ...
1970 is notable for the number of American acts making their UK chart débuts, among them groups such as Bread, the Carpenters, the Jackson 5 and Three Dog Night.
Three Dog Night have a particular influence on the New Seekers. The trio had already had three Top 10 singles in the USA by the time they released Mama Told Me Not To Come, which became their only Top 10 hit in the UK in the Summer of 1970. Although Three Dog Night avoided becoming "one hit wonders" by having a second (and smaller) UK hit in 1971, the trio did not match its success in the States, where it notched up an impressive 18 Top 20 hit singles, including One, An Old Fashioned Love Song and Shambala.
The New Seekers record cover versions of all three of these songs. One appears on their 1971 album Beautiful People, An Old Fashioned Love Song comes out a year later on the album We'd Like To Teach The World To Sing and features Lyn Paul on lead vocal. Shambala is recorded after Lyn Paul has left the group.
Also making their first mark on the UK charts in 1970 are US singer-songwriters Neil Diamond, Melanie and James Taylor. The New Seekers record two songs by Neil Diamond (Song Sung Blue and Brother Love's Travelling Salvation Show), two by James Taylor and three by Melanie, the best-known of which is the hit single What Have They Done To My Song, Ma.
Melanie's version of the song is first released in the UK as the B-side of her début hit Ruby Tuesday (Buddah 2011 038). The single enters the UK charts on 26th September and climbs to number 9. Following the New Seekers' success the single is re-issued with What Have They Done To My Song, Ma as the A-side. The result is another brief appearance in the UK singles chart in January the following year. This time the single spends just one week on the chart and peaks at number 39.
On 21st November James Taylor's second album Sweet Baby James spends the first of fifty-three weeks on the UK album chart. One of the best-known tracks from the album, Fire and Rain, enters the UK singles chart on the same day. The New Seekers, who first record one of Taylor's songs (Something In The Way He Moves) for their 1971 album New Colours, also record Fire and Rain, using it as the basis for a Fire & Rain Medley on the 1974 album Together.
| In the News - 1970 |
| |
|
| Jan |
The Family Law Reform Act comes into force in the UK on 1st January, lowering the age of legal majority from 21 to 18.
The 31-month long civil war in Nigeria comes to an end on 12th January when the Ibo people of eastern Nigeria concede defeat and abandon their attempt to establish an independent state of Biafra.
On 14th January Diana Ross makes her last appearance with the Supremes at the Frontier Hotel, Las Vegas.
On Friday, 16th January, four months after deposing King Idris in a bloodless coup, Colonel Muammar Gadaffi proclaims himself Prime Minister or Libya.
Germaine Greer's book The Female Eunuch is published.
The jumbo jet takes off on its first scheduled flight.
|
| Feb |
Philosopher and writer, Bertrand Russell, dies on 2nd February.
Dr. Timothy Leary, an outspoken advocate of LSD who was standing for election as Governor of California, is given a 10-year jail sentence for possession of marijuana.
On 26th February, following a night of student riots, the Governor of California, Ronald Reagan, declares a state of emergency in Santa Barbara.
|
| Mar |
Rhodesia becomes a republic on 2nd March.
On 11th March Iraq recognises the autonomy of the Kurdish people, bringing to an end over eight years of warfare.
The Bridgewater by-election - the first to be held in the UK since the lowering of the voting age to 18 - is won by the Conservative candidate, Tom King, on Friday, 13th March.
Columbia Eagle, a US freighter bound for Thailand, is hijacked by two crew members on 14th March and forced to sail into Cambodian waters. The Cambodians release the ship on 8th April.
Tammi Terrell, famous for her duets with Marvin Gaye, dies on 16th March. Terrell collapsed in Gaye's arms during a 1967 show and was subsequently diagnosed as suffering from a brain tumour.
The Open University is launched in the UK.
On Thursday, 19th March the West German Chancellor, Willy Brandt, and his East German counterpart, Prime Minister Willi Stoph, hold talks on improving East-West relations in the East German town of Erfurt. It is the first time that the leaders of East and West Germany have met since the country was divided in 1949.
To counteract the threat from rabies, the quarantine period for animals being brought into the UK is extended to a year.
|
| Apr |
Canon manufacture their first pocket calculators.
The dead body of Count Karl von Spreti, the German Ambassador in Guatemala who had been kidnapped six days earlier, is discovered on 5th April in an empty shack 10 miles to the north of the country's capital, Guatemala City.
Apollo 13 returns safely to earth on Friday, 17th April, despite an explosion on board three days earlier.
On 16th April the USSR and the USA re-convene the Strategic Arms Limitations Talks (SALT) in Vienna.
Production of the Morris Minor comes to an end on 18th April.
On 21st and 22nd April ceremonies are held in Moscow to commemorate the 100th anniversary of Lenin's birth.
On 30th April US President, Richard Nixon, orders troops to attack Cambodia.
|
| May |
Four students are killed in an anti-war protest at Kent State University, Ohio on 4th May. Campus unrest spreads across the USA. By 10th May 448 universities and colleges are on strike or closed.
Two Cabinet Ministers charged with supplying arms to Catholics in Northern Ireland are dismissed from office on 5th May by the Irish Prime Minister John Lynch.
On 29th May Sirimavo Bandaranaike is sworn in as Prime Minister of Ceylon.
Northern Peru is shaken by a massive earthquake on 31st May.
|
| Jun |
Tonga gains its independence on 4th June.
On the same day El Salvador and Honduras establish a demilitarised zone along their border.
On 7th June The Who perform Tommy at the Metropolitan Opera House, New York - "like playing to an oil painting" quips Keith Moon.
The novelist E.M. Forster dies on 8th June.
The trial of Charles Manson begins in Los Angeles on 16th June.
In the UK the Conservatives win the general election. Edward Heath becomes Prime Minister on 19th June.
On 26th June Northern Ireland MP Bernadette Devlin begins a six month jail sentence for her part in the Londonderry riots of August 1969.
US ground troops complete their withdrawal from Cambodia on 29th June.
|
| Jul |
A Roman Catholic Bishop, James Walsh, arrives in Hong Kong on 10th July, having spent 12 years in prison in China on charges of spying.
The UK government declares a state of emergency on 16th July following the start of a nationwide dock strike.
Construction of the Aswan High Dam in Egypt is completed.
Radio 1 DJ Kenny Everett is sacked by the BBC on 21st July.
The House of Commons is evacuated on 23rd July when tear gas is thrown from the visitors' gallery.
António Salazar, the Portuguese Head of State for 40 years, dies in Lisbon on 27th July.
|
| Aug |
In Northern Ireland the British army begins using rubber bullets.
On 21st August the MP for West Belfast, Gerry Fitt, launches the Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP).
On 22nd August North Korea rejects a unification proposal from the South Korean President Park Chung Hee.
There is a radiation leak at the Winscale nuclear power plant on 24th August.
On 31st August black and white school children attend desegregated classes for the first time in over 200 school districts in the 'deep south' of the USA.
|
| Sep |
IBM develop the floppy disk.
On Sunday, 6th September Arab terrorists hijack four aircraft over Western Europe - a Swissair DC-8 and a Trans World Boeing 707 (both of which are forced to land in Jordan), a Pan Am Jumbo (which is blown up when it lands in Cairo) and an El Al 707 (which makes an emergency landing at Heathrow airport after one of the hijackers is shot). Three days later a BOAC flight from Bombay to London is also hijacked and forced to fly to the desert air strip in Jordan, where it joins the other hijacked planes.
The Beatles split up.
Jimi Hendrix dies on 18th September, less than a month after his appearance at the second Isle of Wight Festival.
The President of the United Arab Republic (UAR), Colonel Abdel Nasser, dies of a heart attack on 28th September, aged 52.
|
| Oct |
Janis Joplin dies of a drug overdose on 4th October.
On 5th October members of the Quebec Liberation Front kidnap James Cross, the British trade commissioner in Montreal. When their ransom demands are rejected, Pierre Leopard, the Quebec Minister of Labour and Immigration, is also kidnapped.
Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn is awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature on 8th October.
Cambodia is re-named the Khmer Republic on Friday, 9th October.
On 15th October a bridge being built over the Yarra river in Melbourne collapses. 34 building workers are killed.
Anwar al-Sadat is sworn in as UAR President on 17th October.
On Monday, 19th October British Petroleum (BP) announces that it had struck oil in the North Sea.
Two oil tankers collide off St. Catherine's Point, Isle of Wight on 23rd October. 13 seamen lose their lives.
On 30th October Jim Morrison of the Doors is fined $500 and sentenced to six months in prison for exposing himself at a concert in Miami.
|
| Nov |
The former French President, General Charles de Gaulle dies of a heart attack on Monday, 9th November, aged 79. The nest day President Pompidou declares that "France is a widow."
More than 40,000 people are killed when a cyclone and massive tidal waves hit the coast of East Pakistan.
On Tuesday, 17th November The Sun newspaper celebrates its first anniversary by publishing its first Page 3 pin-up, featuring pictures of the 20-year-old model Stephanie Rahn posing topless.
Ten shilling notes cease to be legal tender in the UK on 21st November.
The Gay Liberation Front holds its first public demonstration in the UK on 27th November.
|
| Dec |
On 2nd December the House of Commons votes to end British Standard Time and revert to Greenwich Mean Time in Winter 1971.
James Cross is released unharmed in Montreal on 3rd December.
Electricity workers in the UK begin a "work to rule" on 7th December.
Rising food prices in Poland lead to public demonstrations in Gdansk and other Baltic coast cities on 15th December. Hundreds of people are killed in the ensuing violence. The Communist Party First Secretary, Wladyslaw Gomulka, resigns on 20th December. He is replaced by Edward Gierek.
|
|
| In the Charts |
| |
| UK Chart Debuts |
| |
- Bread
- Brotherhood of Man
- Carpenters
- Neil Diamond
- Hot Chocolate
- Jackson 5
- Melanie
- Gilbert O'Sullivan
- Diana Ross
- James Taylor
- Three Dog Night
|
| UK Best-selling Singles |
| |
- Badfinger
Come And Get It
- Band
Rag Mama Rag
- Shirley Bassey
Something
- The Beatles
Let It Be
- Black Sabbath
Paranoid
- Bobby Bloom
Montego Bay
- Bob and Marcia
Young, Gifted and Black
- Bread
Make It With You
- Brotherhood of Man
United We Stand
- Canned Heat
Let's Work Together
- Carpenters
Close To You
- Chairmen of the Board
Give Me Just A Little More Time
- Chairmen of the Board
You've Got Me Dangling On A String
- Chicago
25 Or 6 To 4
- Christie
Yellow River
- Jimmy Cliff
Wild World
- Judy Collins
Both Sides Now
- Dana
All Kinds Of Everything
[Eurovision Song Contest winner]
- Deep Purple
Black Night
- Desmond Dekker
You Can Get It If You Really Want
- Neil Diamond
Cracklin' Rosie
- Edison Lighthouse
Love Grows (Where My Rosemary Goes)
- Dave Edmunds
I Hear You Knockin"
- England World Cup Squad
Back Home
- Don Fardon
Indian Reservation
- Four Tops
I Can't Help Myself
- Free
All Right Now
- Marvin Gaye
Abraham, Martin and John
- Jimi Hendrix Experience
Voodoo Chile
- Mary Hopkin
Knock, Knock Who's There
[Eurovision Song Contest:
UK entry]
- Mary Hopkin
Temma Harbour
- Hot Chocolate
Love Is Life
- Jackson 5
ABC
- Jackson 5
I Want You Back
- Kinks
Lola
- John Lennon and Yoko Ono with the Plastic Ono Band
Instant Karma
- McGuinness Flint
When I'm Dead and Gone
- Marmalade
Reflections Of My Life
- Melanie
Ruby Tuesday
- Joni Mitchell
Big Yellow Taxi
- Moody Blues
Question
- Mungo Jerry
In the Summertime
- Gilbert O'Sullivan
Nothing Rhymed
- Freda Payne
Band Of Gold
- Peter Paul and Mary
Leavin' On A Jet Plane
- Pickettywitch
That Same Old Feeling
- Elvis Presley
The Wonder Of You
- Cliff Richard
Goodbye Sam, Hello Samantha
- Smokey Robinson and the Miracles
Tears Of A Clown
- Diana Ross
Ain't No Mountain High Enough
- Jimmy Ruffin
Farewell Is A Lonely Sound
- Shocking Blue
Venus
- Simon and Garfunkel
Bridge Over Troubled Water
- Edwin Starr
War
- Status Quo
Down The Dustpipe
- Cat Stevens
Lady D'Arbanville
- Ray Stevens
Everything Is Beautiful
- Supremes
Up The Ladder To The Roof
- Temptations
Ball Of Confusion
- Three Dog Night
Mama Told Me Not To Come
- T Rex
Ride A White Swan
- Vanity Fare
Hitchin' A Ride
- White Plains
My Baby Loves Lovin'
- Andy Williams
Can't Help Falling In Love
- Stevie Wonder
Never Had A Dream Come True
- Stevie Wonder
Signed, Sealed, Delivered, I'm Yours
|
| One Hit Wonders |
| |
- Clarence Carter
Patches
- Sacha Distel
Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head
- Fair Weather
Natural Sinner
- Norman Greenbaum
Spirit In The Sky
- Hotlegs
Neanderthal Man
- Lee Marvin
Wand'rin' Star
- Mathews' Southern Comfort
Woodstock
- Pipkins
Gimme Dat Ding
- Steam
Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye
- Nicky Thomas
Love Of The Common People
|
| Hit Albums |
|
- The Beatles
Let It Be
- The Carpenters
Close To You
- Bob Dylan
Self Portrait
- Bob Dylan
New Morning
- George Harrison
All Things Must Pass
- Elton John
Elton John
- Paul McCartney
McCartney
- Joni Mitchell
Ladies of the Canyon
- Moody Blues
A Question of Balance
- Rolling Stones
Get Yer Ya-Ya's Out
- Simon and Garfunkel
Bridge Over Troubled Water
- Cat Stevens
Tea for the Tillerman
- James Taylor
Sweet Baby James
|
|
|
| At the Movies |
| |
| |
- Airport
- Anne of the Thousand Days
- The Boys in the Band
- Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
- Cromwell
- L'Enfant Sauvage
- Kelly's Heroes
- Lawrence Of Arabia
- M*A*S*H
- Paint Your Wagon
- Performance
- The Railway Children
- Scrooge
- Tora! Tora! Tora!
- Walkabout
- Waterloo
- Woodstock
|
|
| On Television |
| |
| |
- The Banana Splits
- Catweazle
- Dad's Army
(Series 4)
- Doomwatch
- The Goodies
(Series 1)
- Hawaii Five-O
- It's Cliff Richard
- Mary Tyler Moore Show
(USA)
- Monty Python's Flying Circus
(Series 2)
- The Morecambe and Wise Show
(Series 3 and 4)
- On The Buses
(Series 3 and 4)
- The Partridge Family
(USA)
- The Pink Panther Show
- A Question Of Sport
(David Vine)
- Scooby Doo, Where Are You?
- The Six Wives of Henry VIII
- Steptoe and Son
(Series 5 and 6)
- Up Pompeii!
(Series 1 and 2)
|
|
| Sporting Heroes |
| |
|
BBC Sport
BBC
Sports Personality
of the Year:
Henry Cooper
|
|
Boxing: Joe Frazier becomes World Heavyweight Champion on 2nd February when he knocks out Jimmy Ellis in their title fight in New York.
On 24th March Henry Cooper beats Jack Bodell to regain the British Heavyweight title he first won in 1959. In November he regains the European Heavyweight title as well by beating José Manual Ibar.
Football: Brazil win the World Cup for the third time. The England team is knocked out at the quarter final stage by West Germany.
Manchester City win the European Cup Winners' Cup, beating Gornik Zabrze 2:1 in the final.
Snooker: Ray Reardon wins the World Snooker Championship for the first time.
Cricket: Under pressure from the UK Government, the MCC cancels the proposed South African cricket tour of England.
Golf: Following his success at the British Open the year before, Tony Jacklin wins the US Open by a margin of seven strokes.
Jack Nicklaus wins the British Open at St. Andrews - his first major title for three years.
Tennis: John Newcombe beats Ken Rosewall to become men's singles Champion at Wimbledon for the second time (5-7, 6-3, 6-2, 3-6, 6-1).
Billie Jean King appears in the women's singles final for the fifth year in a row but loses for the second year in a row, this time to Margaret Court (14-12, 11-9). Court has an outstanding year, winning the women's singles title at all four of the Grand Slams.
Horse Racing: Nijinsky wins the Derby in June but loses to Sassafras in the Arc de Triomphe in October.
Show Jumping: David Broome wins the World Championship riding Beethoven.
Motor Sport: Barry Sheene wins the British 750cc motor cycle title.
|
|
| Page-turners |
| |
Man Booker Prize
Winner:
Bernice Rubens
The Elected Member
On the shortlist:
A.L. Barker
John Brown's Body
Elizabeth Bowen
Eva Trout
Iris Murdoch
Bruno's Dream
William Trevor
Mrs. Eckdorf In O'Neill's Hotel
T.W. Wheeler
The Conjunction
|
|
