You Won't Find Another Fool Like Me
There's a great start to the year as You Won't Find Another Fool Like Me (Polydor 2058 421) rises to the top of the UK singles chart and becomes the first number 1 record of the year. It's the New Seekers' second and last chart-topper (their third if you read the NME charts). It is also the second of their singles to win an Ivor Novello Award.
Despite this success, Lyn is adamant that she wants to leave and in February it is officially announced that the New Seekers are splitting up. As she told a radio interviewer years later:
"They wanted to try and keep the boys and me together but having decided that I'd 'ummed and 'arred for too long, I thought: 'No, I'm going!."
Sheet music for
the New Seekers' hit single
You Won't Find Another Fool Like Me.
Pictured (left to right): Lyn Paul and Eve Graham (standing),
Peter Oliver, Marty Kristian and Paul Layton (front).
 
On Sunday, 24th February Lyn Paul and Marty Kristian are guests on My Top 12, a radio show hosted by Brian Matthew, who asks his celebrity guests to compile an imaginary album of their twelve favourite songs. Lyn introduces the group's first choice: the Four Tops' Reach Out I'll Be There, a song that she and Eve Graham had performed in the '60s as members of the Nocturnes. Lyn's other choices are: Petula Clark, Downtown; Beach Boys, God Only Knows; Unit Four Plus Two, Concrete and Clay; Diana Ross, Touch Me In The Morning; and Roy Wood, Forever.
In conversation Lyn admits:
"Things definitely go wrong for me. I'm terribly accident prone ... My underskirt came down in one of the shows. We were on stage in Yarmouth and ... I turned to Eve and said: 'My underskirt's coming down!' and she said: 'No, no, not on here. It can't!' ... It did, didn't it?"
Marty relates another incident:
"There was another occasion also ... She was doing a bit of a tap dance routine and she kicked her leg up and her shoe came off ... whirled round in the air and went into the orchestra pit and hit the guy on the cymbal."
A second single featuring Lyn on lead vocal is released at the beginning of March. I Get A Little Sentimental Over You (Polydor 2058 439) enters the UK singles chart on 9th March and climbs to number 5 while the New Seekers are appearing for three weeks at the Talk of The Town. It is the New Seekers' last Top 20 hit.
An album, ironically entitled Together (Polydor 2383 264) is also released in March. Entering the UK album charts on 30th March, it reaches number 12 and becomes the New Seekers second most successful album. Featuring their last two singles, Together also includes a third track with Lyn on lead vocal - the Lennon and McCartney classic Here, There And Everywhere. The New Seekers had recorded this song once before on the album Keith Potger and the New Seekers. That earlier version used an arrangement similar to the Beatles' original and featured Keith Potger on the lead vocal. Lyn Paul and Eve Graham had also recorded the song while they were members of the Nocturnes.
The New Seekers set off on a Farewell Tour of the UK (33 venues in all). Whilst on the road (shortly after Manchester United had lost 1-0 to Stoke City in their last match of the Season) the group is attacked by football hooligans. As their luxury orange and white tour bus heads for the M6 motorway, two of the windows are shattered by bricks. Lyn later tells the press: "It was a nightmare. At first I thought a bomb had gone off."
Having completed the tour and two final weeks of cabaret in Wakefield (6th-11th May) and Liverpool (12th-18th May), the members of the group go their separate ways. Marty Kristian and Paul Layton team up with Danny Finn to form Marty, Paul and Danny. Peter Oliver, Eve Graham and Lyn Paul embark on solo careers.
Lyn is the first to make her mark. Her first solo single, Sail The Summer Winds (Polydor 2058 472), is the John Barry theme song from Gregory Peck's film The Dove. Later nominated for a Golden Globe Award, the song receives a lot of radio airplay and hovers just outside the Top 50. The Dove has its Royal Charity Premiere in London on 22nd May; the single is released two days later. The film, based on a true story, depicts a young man's coming of age as he sails around the world in a small boat. The theme song and the rest of the score, which was not released in the UK, capture the mood of the film perfectly.
On 23rd May Lyn is a guest on David 'Kid' Jensen's pop show Rock on with 45 (Granada Television). Fellow guests are Allan Clarke (Hollies), 'Emperor' Rosko, Sparks and Ronnie Lane & Slim Chance. Lyn also appears on another episode on 3rd October alongside Clifford T. Ward.
Lyn takes a well-earned break in June, renting a large villa in Portocinno for three weeks. "It was a riot" she tells Record Mirror, "13 of us including Peter Oliver and all my family." Lyn spends the next few weeks preparing her new stage act and débuts at the Stockton Fiesta on 28th July. Freed from the constraints of performing as part of a group, Lyn takes this opportunity to show audiences that "there is more to Lyn Paul than just singing." Lyn's solo stage performances mix songs with dance and comedy and prove her to be a great all-round entertainer. As she was later to explain in a radio interview: "I'm very much a solo performer and I wanted to get out there and just do my own thing." A review of her first show at the Fiesta hails it as "the start of what promises to be a crowd-pulling solo career."
"Lyn, though dogged by first night technical gremlins, proved her star potential by making all the hang-ups look like a joke and part of her act ...
The act was a combination of Cilla Black type comedy and the sexy subtleness of an Eartha Kitt, with a dash of the Lionel Blair's thrown in for good measure ... the finest part was her twenty minute extravaganza in which she did a send-up of the dance crazes from the Thirties to the present day."
Lyn's dance extravaganza involves six on-stage costume changes. As Lyn told Roy Hill from Record Mirror: "People come to see a show ... to see a bit of glamour like beautiful clothes that you can't buy from C&A."
On 19th July Lyn appears on Les Dawson's television variety show Sez Les, singing Sail The Summer Winds. The show features Roy Barraclough, John Cleese and Frank Thornton playing a variety of characters in comedy sketches.
At the end of the month (30th July) Lyn also appears as the special guest on The Jimmy Tarbuck Show.
In August Polydor Records release a New Seekers' Farewell Album (Polydor 2383 293). Lyn shares the lead vocal with Eve on one of the album tracks, All Pull Together Kind Of World, and has the lead all to herself on five others: All I Wanna Do, Oh My Joe, Old Fashioned Song, Paul Williams' beautiful ballad Perfect Love and Keith Potger's and Tony Macaulay's Sing Hallelujah (Polydor 2058 484), The latter is selected for release as a single, but without the group to promote them, neither the single nor the album make the charts. Lyn, meanwhile, is busy trying to establish herself as a solo act. Dates are lined-up for her to appear at the Manchester Broadway Club (week commencing 25th August), the Sheffield Fiesta (week commencing 1st September) and Leicester Bailey's (the week of 15th September).
Lyn's second single is released in September. It is a cover of the Connie Francis hit Who's Sorry Now (Polydor 2058 514). Lyn promotes the single with an appearance on the It's Cliff Richard show (BBC1) on 31st August. In addition to performing Who's Sorry Now, Lyn also sings You Made The Pants Too Long (a duet with Pearly Gates), Lipstick On Your Collar (another Connie Francis song) and Personality (the finale to the show sung with Cliff and Pearly). In 1994 a recording of the show taken from the master tapes is issued on CD (Quality Music Inc.).
Lyn also appears on an episode of The Golden Shot on 29th September. The show is hosted by Bob Monkhouse and features the 'Golden Girls' Anne Aston and Wei Wei Wong. Other guests are the 1970 Eurovisiion Song Contest winner, Dana, and news reader Gordon Honeycombe.
Lyn was scheduled to appear with Johnny Mathis on his 25-date concert tour of the UK in the Autumn but is forced to withdraw when she comes down with laryngitis. Lyn is replaced by Sunny, who had a UK hit in May with Doctors Orders
On 11th November Lyn appears on an afternoon TV show Jim's World (Southern Television). Lyn also records an appearance on Val Meets The VIPs. The programme is broadcast on Friday, 6th December (BBC 1, 5.10pm). It includes a film taken by Nigel Finch of Lyn on the road and at home with her family, and a studio interview hosted by Blue Peter presenter Valerie Singleton.
Lyn spends Christmas with her family, then returns to the cabaret circuit on 30th December with a week at the Golden Garter club in Manchester.
Incidentally...
In March the popular television sitcom Are You Being Served? returns for a second series. In the first episode, The Clock, the staff of Grace Brothers organise a birthday celebration for the longest-serving member of the team, Mr. Granger. The entertainment for the evening turns out not be the New Seekers.
Captain Peacock: The group are coming up in the other lift.
Miss Brahms: Oh good! Who've we got - the New Seekers?
Mr. Lucas [as the group enters]: I don't think it's the New Seekers, love. More like the Old Knockers!
Are You Being Served?
Series 2, Episode 1: The Clock
Written by: Jeremy Lloyd and David Croft.
First broadcast: Thursday, 14th March 1974, 8.00pm (BBC 1).
The songwriting team behind the New Seekers' hit I'd Like To Teach The World To Sing (and the Coca-Cola commercial from which it originated) take another Coke jingle into the UK charts. Hello Summertime (United Artists UP35705) starts out as the jingle "Ice cold Coke on the back of my throat, singing hello Summertime" and becomes a number 14 hit for Bobby Goldsboro in August.
| In the News - 1974 |
| |
|
| Jan |
Lord Carrington is appointed Secretary of State in a new Department of Energy.
The UK Parliament is recalled for an emergency debate on 9th January on the fuel crisis and the three-day week.
Israel and Egypt sign an agreement on 18th January separating their armed forces along the Suez Canal.
More than 8,000 people are made homeless by severe flooding in Queensland, Australia.
|
| Feb |
Patty Hearst is kidnapped by the Symbionese Liberation Front.
On 5th February the National Union of Mineworkers calls a national coal strike, beginning at midnight on 9th February.
The Prime Minister, Edward Heath, calls a general election. The NUM Executive rejects his appeal to call off the miners' strike during the election campaign.
On 8th February American Skylab astronauts splash down in the Pacific after a record 84 days in space.
Architect John Poulsen and civil servant George Pottinger are found guilty on corruption charges and sentenced to five years in prison.
Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn is exiled from Soviet Union.
Songwriter Harry Ruby, who co-wrote hits such as Nevertheless and Who's Sorry Now, dies on 23rd February.
Band-leader Cyril Stapleton dies on 25th February, aged 60.
Cher files for divorce from Sonny Bono on 27th February.
|
| Mar |
The Labour Party wins the UK general election but does not have a majority in Parliament. 14 Liberal MPs reject Edward Heath's offer to form a Conservative-Liberal coalition. Harold Wilson is asked by the Queen to form a government.
346 passengers and crew are killed in the world's worst air disaster when a Turkish Airlines DC10 bound for London crashes shortly after taking off from Orly Airport, Paris.
British coal miners get a 35% pay rise and end their month-long strike.
The three-day week comes to an end at midnight on 8th March.
On 20th March Princess Anne and her husband Captain Mark Phillips escape unhurt after a failed attempt to kidnap them in Pall Mall.
|
| Apr |
New local government country boundaries come into effect in England and Wales on 1st April. Four English counties disappear completely: Cumberland, Huntingdonshire, Rutland and Westmorland.
On 2nd April, as David Niven introduces Elizabeth Taylor to present the award for best picture, the 46th Academy Awards ceremony is interrupted by a streaker, Robert Opel.
The French President, Georges Pompidou, dies on the same day, aged 62.
Tornadoes sweep through Alabama, Georgia and the mid-western states of the USA, killing more than 330 people.
Patty Hearst is pictured taking part in a bank robbery.
An Australian stockbroker named Michael O'Brien sprints across the field naked during the England vs. France rugby match at Twickenham Stadium on 20th April, so securing his place in history as the first known streaker at a major sporting event.
The army seizes power in Portugal on Thursday, 25th April, ending nearly 50 years of dictatorial rule. President Tomas and the Prime Minister, Marcello Caetano, are exiled to Madeira.
|
| May |
The Carpenters perform at the White House on 1st May, at the request of President Nixon.
Willy Brandt resigns as Chancellor of West Germany, following the arrest in April of his personal assistant, Gunter Guilliame, on charges of spying for East Germany.
British Airways cabin staff go on a 15-day unofficial strike over their pay and conditions of work. All overseas flights are cancelled.
A big earthquake hits China on 11th May.
On 17th May an IRA car bomb explodes in Dublin during the rush hour. 23 people are killed.
On 18th May India explodes a nuclear device in the Rajasthan Desert.
In the French Presidential elections Valery Giscard d'Estaing narrowly defeats François Mitterand.
Duke Ellington dies on 25th May.
On 30th May, four days after attending a David Cassidy concert at White City Stadium in London, a 14-year-old fan, Bernadette Whelan, dies of heart failure. 1,000 other fans at the concert had been given first aid treatment as a result of the pandemonium in the audience.
|
| Jun |
An explosion at the Nypro chemical plant in Flixborough kills 29 people on 1st June.
On 4th June Yitzhak Rabin succeeds Golda Meir as Prime Minister of Israel.
11 people are injured on 17th June when an IRA bomb explodes in Westminster Hall.
The first product barcode (on a pack of Wrigley's chewing gum) is scanned at a supermarket on 26th June (at the checkout of the Marsh Supermarket in Troy, Ohio).
The UK government and the TUC agree a "social contract" on 26th June to restrain pay rises.
|
| Jul |
President Juan Perón of Argentina dies on 1st July and is succeeded by his wife, Maria Estela Perón.
Bill Shankly announces his resignation as manager of Liverpool Football Club on Friday, 12th July, after nearly 15 years in the job.
On Monday, 15th July Archbishop Makarios is deposed as President of Cyprus in a coup led by Greek officers of the Cyprus National Guard. Turkish armed forces invade Cyprus on 20th July. A case fire is agreed two days later and an interim peace agreement is signed in Geneva on 30th July.
On Wednesday, 17th July a bomb explodes in the Mortar Room at the Tower of London. One person is killed. 41 more are injured, including eight children.
President Nixon is ordered by the US Supreme Court to hand over the 64 Watergate tapes subpoenaed by Judge John Sirica. On Saturday, 27th July the US House Judiciary Committee approves a first article of impeachment, charging Nixon with obstruction of justice.
Cass Elliott of the Mamas and the Papas dies in London on 29th July, aged 33.
|
| Aug |
On 7th August Philippe Petit walks on a high wire between the World Trade Center towers.
Faced with impeachment over the Watergate affair, Richard Nixon announces his resignation as US President on Thursday, 8th August. The Vice-President, Gerald Ford, is sworn in as the 38th President the next day. He is the first man not to have been elected by ballot to the Vice-Presidency or the Presidency. Ford himself commented: "I guess it proves that in America anyone can be President."
The Cyprus peace talks in Geneva break down. Turkish troops launch an attack on Nicosia and take over the northern half of the island.
British holidaymakers are stranded abroad when two holiday companies (Horizon Holidays and Clarksons) go bankrupt.
On 20th August President Ford nominates the former Governor of New York, Nelson Rockefeller, to serve as Vice-President.
Charles Lindbergh, who made the first solo flight across the Atlantic in 1927, dies on 26th August, aged 72.
The Prime Minister of New Zealand, Norman Kirk, dies unexpectedly on 31st August, aged 51.
|
| Sep |
President Ford grants a full pardon to Richard Nixon for any offences he might have committed while in office.
Emperor Haile Selassie of Ethiopia is deposed on 12th September.
British nurses get a 58% pay rise.
The BBC launch CEEFAX, a teletext information service.
|
| Oct |
On 1st October McDonalds open their first fast-food restaurant in the UK.
On Saturday, 5th October bombs explode in two pubs in Guildford, killing five people and injuring another 65, many of them off-duty soldiers.
The UK general election held on 12th October leaves the Labour Party led by Harold Wilson with a narrow majority in Parliament of just three seats.
Television host Ed Sullivan dies on 13th October. He introduced many UK acts to American audiences for the first time, among them the New Seekers, who appeared on his Ed Sullivan Show in 1970.
A bomb explodes in central London on 22nd October, close to where the leader of the opposition, Edward Heath, is dining.
|
| Nov |
Covent Garden Market closes on Friday, 8th November. The market moves to a new 56-acre site in Vauxhall.
The UK Chancellor, Dennis Healey, increases the VAT on petrol from 8% to 25%.
On Thursday, 7th November police are called to the home of the Seventh Earl of Lucan in Lower Belgrave Street, London, where his children's nanny, Sandra Rivett, had been murdered and his wife attacked. Lord Lucan is nowhere to be found.
The IRA plant bombs in two Birmingham pubs on 21st November. 21 people are killed with 184 more injured. Three days later six men are charged with murder and conspiracy to cause explosions.
Folk singer Nick Drake is found dead in his bedroom on 25th November, having taken an overdose of the anti-depressant Tryptasol.
Doctors confirm that Richard Nixon is not well enough to give evidence at the Watergate trial.
|
| Dec |
Archbishop Makarios returns to Cyprus on 7th December.
Terrorists bomb the home of the former Prime Minister Edward Heath on 22nd December.
The British Labour MP and former government minister John Stonehouse, who had mysteriously disappeared a month previously while in Miami, is discovered alive and well in St. Kilda, Australia on Christmas Eve (Tuesday, 24th December), traveling with a fake passport.
The Australian city of Darwin is devastated by a hurricane on Christmas Day.
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| In the Charts |
| |
| UK Chart Debuts |
| |
- ABBA
- Commodores
- Doobie Brothers
- Gloria Gaynor
- KC and the Sunshine Band
- Mike Oldfield
- Queen
- Santana
- Showaddy waddy
- Three Degrees
- The Wombles
- Lena Zavaroni
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| UK Best-selling Singles |
|
- ABBA
Waterloo
[Eurovision Song Contest winner]
- Paul Anka featuring Odia Coates
(You're) Having My Baby
- Arrows
A Touch Too Much
- Charles Aznavour
She
- Bachman-Turner Overdrive
You Ain't Seen Nothing Yet
- Bay City Rollers
All Of Me Loves All Of You
- Bay City Rollers
Shang-A-Lang
- Bay City Rollers
Summerlove Sensation
- Ken Boothe
Everything I Own
- Johnny Bristol
Hang On In There Baby
- Carpenters
Jambalaya (On The Bayou) / Mr. Guder
- Chi-Lites
Homely Girl
- Chi-Lites
Too Good To Be Forgotten
- Eric Clapton
I Shot The Sheriff
- Cockney Rebel
Judy Teen
- Lynsey de Paul
No Honestly
- Stephanie de Sykes (with Rain)
Born With A Smile On My Face
- Kiki Dee Band
I Got The Music In Me
- John Denver
Annie's Song
- Disco Tex and the Sex-o-lettes
Get Dancin'
- Drifters
Kissin' In The Back Row Of The Movies
- Rupie Edwards
Ire Feelings (Skanga)
- David Essex
Gonna Make You A Star
- Gloria Gaynor
Never Can Say Goodbye
- Gary Glitter
Always Yours
- Gary Glitter
Remember Me This Way
- Glitter Band
Angel Face
- Glitter Band
Let's Get Together Again
- Hello
Tell Him
- Hollies
The Air That I Breathe
- Hot Chocolate
Emma
- Hues Corporation
Rock The Boat
- Terry Jacks
Seasons In The Sun
- Elton John
Candle In The Wind
- Robert Knight
Love On A Mountain Top
- Ronnie Lane accompanied by the band Slim Chance
How Come?
- Lobo
I'd Love You To Want Me
- Lulu
The Man Who Sold The World
- Paul McCartney and Wings
Band On The Run
- Paul McCartney and Wings
Jet
- George McCrae
Rock Your Baby
- Mud
The Cat Crept In
- Mud
Lonely This Christmas
- Mud
Tiger Feet
- Olivia Newton-John
I Honestly Love You
- Olivia Newton-John
Long Live Love
[Eurovision Song Contest:
UK entry]
- Donny and Marie Osmond
I'm Leaving It (All) Up To You
- Osmonds
Love Me For A Reason
- Paper Lace
Billy Don't Be A Hero
- Paper Lace
The Night Chicago Died
- Cozy Powell
Dance With The Devil
- Elvis Presley
My Boy
- Alan Price
Jarrow Song
- Suzi Quatro
Devil Gate Drive
- Queen
Killer Queen
- Queen
Seven Seas Of Rhye
- Charlie Rich
The Most Beautiful Girl
- Diana Ross
All Of My Life
- Diana Ross and Marvin Gaye
You Are Everything
- Rubettes
Sugar Baby Love
- Leo Sayer
Long Tall Glasses
- Leo Sayer
The Show Must Go On
- Scaffold
Liverpool Lou
- Peter Shelley
Gee Baby
- Showaddy waddy
Hey Rock and Roll
- Slade
The Bangin' Man
- Slade
Everyday
- Slade
Far Far Away
- Sparks
This Town Ain't Big Enough for the Both of Us
- Alvin Stardust
Jealous Mind
- Freddie Starr
It's You
- Ringo Starr
You're Sixteen
- Ray Stevens
The Streak
- Stylistics
Rockin' Roll Baby
- Stylistics
You Make Me Feel Brand New
- Sweet Sensation
Sad Sweet Dreamer
- Sylvia
Y Viva Espana
- R. Dean Taylor
There's A Ghost In My House
- Three Degrees
When Will I See You Again
- Barry White
Can't Get Enough Of Your Love Babe
- Barry White
You're The First, The Last, My Everything
- Andy Williams
Solitaire
- The Wombles
Remember You're A Womble
- The Wombles
The Wombling Song
- Stevie Wonder
Living For The City
- Roy Wood
Forever
- Lena Zavaroni
Ma! (He's Making Eyes At Me)
|
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| One Hit Wonders |
| |
- Candlewick Green
Who Do You Think You Are?
- First Class
Beach Baby
- Golden Earring
Radar Love
- Eddie Holman
(Hey There) Lonely Girl
- John Holt
Help Me Make It Through The Night
- Andy Kim
Rock Me Gently
- Mouth and MacNeal
I See A Star
[Eurovision Song Contest:
Dutch entry]
- Ann Peebles
I Can't Stand The Rain
- Brian Protheroe
Pinball
- Ragtimers
The Sting
- Gary Shearston
I Get A Kick Out of You
- Splinter
Costafine Town
- Sunny
Doctor's Orders
- Sweet Dreams
Honey Honey
|
| Hit Albums |
|
- Bay City Rollers
Rollin'
- David Bowie
Diamond Dogs
- The Carpenters
The Singles 1969-1973
- John Denver
Back Home Again
- Bryan Ferry
Another Time, Another Place
- Elton John
Caribou
- Paul McCartney and Wings
Band On The Run
- Joni Mitchell
Court And Spark
- Olivia Newton-John
Long Live Love
- Queen
Sheer Heart Attack
- Slade
Old, New, Borrowed And Blue
- Slade
Slade In Flame
- Steely Dan
Pretzel Logic
- Cat Stevens
Buddah And The Chocolate Box
- Rod Stewart
Smiler
- Supertramp
Crime Of The Century
- 10cc
Sheet Music
- Rick Wakeman
Journey To The Centre Of The Earth
- Clifford T. Ward
Mantle Pieces
- The Wombles
Remember You're A Womble
- The Wombles
Wombling Songs
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|
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| At the Movies |
| |
| |
- Angst Essen Seele Auf (Fear Eats The Soul)
- Blazing Saddles
- Chinatown
- The Dove
- Earthquake
- Emanuelle
- Enter The Dragon
- The Exorcist
- Gold
- Mame
(Lucille Ball, Bea Arthur)
- Murder On The Orient Express
- The Odessa File
- Stardust
- The Sting
- Thunderbolt and Lightfoot
- The Way We Were
|
|
| On Television |
| |
| |
- And Mother Makes Five
- Are You Being Served?
(Series 2)
- Bagpuss
- Captain Pugwash
- Dad's Army
(Series 7)
- Frost's Weekly
- Happy Days
(USA)
- Happy Ever After
(Series 1)
- Harry O
- It Ain't Half Hot Mum
(Series 1)
- It's Cliff Richard
- The Little House on the Prairie
- The Liver Birds
(Series 4)
- Look - Mike Yarwood!
(Series 4)
- Love Thy Neighbour
(Series 4 and 5)
- The Magic Roundabout
- Man About The House
(Series 2 and 3)
- Monty Python's Flying Circus
(Series 4)
- The Morecambe and Wise Show
(Series 8)
- Porridge
(Series 1)
- Rhoda
(USA and UK)
- Rising Damp
(Series 1)
- Steptoe and Son
(Series 8)
- Till Death Us Do Part
(Series 5)
- TISWAS
- Whatever Happened To The Likely Lads?
(Series 2)
- The Wheeltappers' and Shunters' Social Club
- Within These Walls
- Z Cars
(500th episode)
- The Zoo Gang
|
|
| Sporting Heroes |
| |
BBC Sport
BBC
Sports Personality
of the Year:
Brendan Foster
|
|
Rugby: Willie John McBride gets his 56th international cap when he captains Ireland in a 26-21 victory over England at Twickenham.
Horse Racing: Red Rum wins the Grand National for the second year in a row.
Football: Leeds United end the Season as Champions of the English First Division. Manchester United are relegated to the Second Division.
Liverpool win the FA Cup final, beating Arsenal 3:0.
Bill Shankly, the Liverpool Manager, retires.
West Germany win the World Cup, beating Holland 2:1 in the final in Munich.
Sir Alf Ramsey is sacked as England Manager after the team fails to qualify for the World Cup Finals. He is replaced by Don Revie.
Snooker: Ray Reardon wins the World Snooker Championship for the second year in a row.
Tennis: Wimbledon has two new Champions - Jimmy Connors wins the men's singles final and Chris Evert wins the women's singles final. Connors beats Ken Rosewall in straight sets (6-1, 6-1, 6-4) while Evert has an equally comfortable win over Olga Morozova (6-0, 6-4).
In October the British women's team wins the Wightman Cup for the first time since 1968.
Boxing: John Conteh wins the World Light Heavyweight Championship - the first British boxer to hold the title for 25 years.
Muhammad Ali regains the World Heavyweight title, knocking out George Foreman in the eighth round of their Championship fight in Kinshasa, Zaire.
Golf: Peter Oosterhuis tops the Order of Merit for the fourth year in a row.
Gary Player wins the Open Championship at Royal Lytham. Having previously won at Muirfield in 1959 and at Carnoustie in 1968, he becomes only the third player in golfing history to win the British Open in three separate decades.
|
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| Page-turners |
| |
Man Booker Prize
Winners:
Nadine Gordimer
The Conservationist
Stanley Middleton
Holiday
On the shortlist:
Kingsley Amis
Ending Up
Beryl Bainbridge
The Bottle Factory Outing
C.P. Snow
In Their Wisdom
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