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]]>The sun shone beautifully through my moms’ living room window as I eagerly set up the radio to get full commentary of the game. The whole week was nothing but talk about it — who will Kenny Dalglish pick for his Liverpool team? I was thinking this as I perused the newspapers that week.
My adrenaline was always high in the lead up to games but this was special. Liverpool have the opportunity to clinch an FA cup final place if they can beat Brian Clough’s Nottingham Forest and go on to clinch a league and cup double in May.
The three o’clock kick off had finally arrived as Liverpool had there first chance to score. Suddenly a Liverpool supporter ran onto the pitch and then another. What was happening ? Was there crowd trouble ?
The section behind Bruce Grobellar (Liverpool goal keeper) had become over crowded to the point where supporters were starting to get crushed.
Bruce asked the police officer next to the pen, to “get the gate open” and was ignored until the officer was told by him in no uncertain terms to open it. By then it was too late as casualties began to mount up and advertising boards were used as stretchers until the paramedics arrived.
As the chaos mounted, both sets of players were ordered to leave the field until order was established. People that had come watch a football game were now perishing before the eyes of the nation. Those who survived the crush were embraced shocked and dazed by the events.
By 3.15 that afternoon 60 people had perished in the crush at the leppings lane end of the ground. No longer was I interested in football as numbness over took me. I just couldn’t speak that evening as I sat with my mother unable to comprehend the events of the afternoon.
Losing my father to a cardiac arrest when I was six was my first taste of bereavement. The shock and numbness was there that day in 1976 as well. Now as an 18 year old going on 19 it was there again only on a far far bigger scale.
The final death toll was 96. Bill Shankly former Liverpool manager once said “football’s a matter of life and death.” No it’s not. Human life is far more important and is a gift that needs to be protected and cherished always.
Losing my mother to cancer in 1994 only brings this message home further that life can never be taken for granted. For the 96 that perished may you all rest in peace and that none of you will ever walk alone.
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]]>Not so good times
The show was intended to be a good vehicle for Esther Rolle and John Amos. Both expected it to deal with serious topics in a comedic way while providing positive characters for viewers to identify with.
However, Jimmie Walker’s character, was an immediate hit with audiences and became the breakout character of the series. J.J.’s frequent use of the expression “Dy-no-mite!” became a popular and the producers insisted it was used in every episode. As a result of the character’s popularity, the writers focused more on J.J.’s comedic antics instead of serious issues.
Through seasons two and three, Rolle and Amos grew increasingly disillusioned with the direction of the show and especially with J.J.’s antics and stereotypically buffoonish behavior. Rolle was vocal about her hate of his character. In a 1975 interview with Ebony magazine she stated: “He’s 18 and he doesn’t work. He can’t read or write. He doesn’t think. The show didn’t start out to be that…Little by little—with the help of the artist, I suppose, because they couldn’t do that to me—they have made J.J. more stupid and enlarged the role. Negative images have been slipped in on us through the character of the oldest child.”
As season three approached, Amos’s anger was directed towards producer Norman Lear who felt that he was developing a negative stereotype of JJ, portraying him as a stupid black youth. “I wasn’t going to be part of a negative stereo-type,” Amos said. The friction between Amos and Lear finally came to ahead that season and John Amos made his final appearance in the last episode, The Rent Party.
Florida takes centre stage
With Amos written out of good times, it fell to Rolle to keep the series, and Evans family, afloat. The ratings continued to remain high with guest appearances in episodes such as, JJ and the Older Woman, staring Rosalind Cash. However, as with Amos, Jimmy Walker’s portrayal of JJ was wearing thin with Rolle, who left after the end of the fourth season.
While season five, in which the remaining Evans children live alone, included one of the show’s most talked about storylines, with Janet Jackson as abused child Penny, it did little to stop a drastic fall in ratings.
Rolle return not enough
Before taping of season six began, CBS and the show’s producers decided that they had to do “something drastic” to increase viewership. According to Steve Mills, the then-vice president of CBS programming: “We had lost the essence of the show. Without parental guidance the show slipped. Everything told us that: our mail, our phone calls, our research. We felt we had to go back to basics.”
Rolle agreed to return under certain conditions, namely more money and better storylines.
In the season six premiere episode Florida’s Homecoming: Part 1, Florida returns from Arizona to attend Thelma’s upcoming wedding to professional football player Keith Anderson (Ben Powers, who joined the cast for the final season).
Ultimately Rolle’s return wasn’t enough and CBS cancelled the show during the 1978-79 season.
In the series finale, The End of the Rainbow, each character finally gets a happy ending. J.J. gets his big break as an artist for a comic book company with his newly created character, DynoWoman, which is based on Thelma (much to her surprise and delight), and is moving into an apartment with some lady friends. Michael attends college and moves into an on-campus dorm. Keith’s bad knee heals due to his exercise and own physical therapy, leading to the Chicago Bears offering him a contract to play football.
Keith announces that he and Thelma are moving into a luxury apartment in the city’s upscale Gold Coast district. Thelma also announces that she is pregnant with the couple’s first child. Keith offers Florida the chance to move in with them so she can help Thelma with the new baby.
So came to an end one of the most famous and talked about television series in broadcast history.
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]]>“There would be no one there except her rocking chair moving by itself.”
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]]>The post Tuesday, December 7th 1976 appeared first on RG Magazines.
]]>What a blast from the past.
In the news
Four hundred sandy’s residents and two opposition MPs have won their 12 month fight to keep a bridge on the scenic Somerset right of way at Harmony Bay. An investigation is underway into the collision between a police boat, Blue Heron and the Paget ferry Geirgia and A Canadian serviceman William Pearson, who was saved from drowning near Grotto Bay,was in satisfactory condition at the King Edward Hospital.
In the U.K. punk rock band, The Sex Pistols appear in Bill Grundy’s TV show promoting their new single ‘Anarchy in the UK’. Betty Williams and Mairead Corrigan win the Nobel peace prize while inflation stands at 16.5 percent.
In the U.S., ‘Hotel California’ is released by the Eagles. Richard J.Daley Mayor of Chicago for 21 years dies while in office and California’s sodomy law is repealed.
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]]>In the news
The United Bermuda Party will announce whether they will replace Dr. Vincent Bridgewater before tomorrow’s nomination deadline. Due to the nature of Dr. Brigewaters’ behavior in recent weeks, many in the UBP feel that’s it’s time for a replacement.
November has seen a record growth in tourism for the twentieth consecutive month, exceeding the same month last year. Figures released by the Department of Tourism show that 48,822 visitors came to Bermuda in October, up by 3.1 percent over the same month last year.
Mr.Julian Hall is to stand as the Progressive Labour Party’s candidate in Pembroke West against Premiere Hon. David Gibbons in the up coming general election.
In the U.S., Former Governor of California, Ronald Reagan defeats democratic President Jimmy Carter. The victory was a land slide for the new President.
The 7.3 Eureka earthquake shook the north coast of California causing six injuries and costing $2.75 million in damages. Meanwhile, millions of viewers tuned into finding out who shot J.R in the mega hit series, Dallas.
In the United Kingdom, Michael Foot is elected leader of the Labour Party and 16-year-old Theresa Sykes is wounded in an attack on her by the Yorkshire Ripper. With the economy now in recession, the government has announced there will be further cuts in spending with increased taxes in order to the tackle the country’s inflation rate.
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]]>In the news
Yesterday, in Bermuda, the Premier the Hon. Jack Sharpe stated that people’s individual problems cannot be solved just by having independence. He was guest speaker at a luncheon marking the opening of the Bermuda Bicenntenial conference at the Bermudiana hotel.
“Bermuda hotels lost nearly 10 million dollars in the last three years”, said the Bermuda Hotel Association, Vice President, Lyndon Clay. He went on to say that if the trend continues hotel closures will be coming very soon.
A HIP clerk appeared in Magiatrates Court yesterday being accused of stealing $18,000. The person cannot be named for legal reasons. Appearing before Senior Magiatrate Hon.Wor Richard Hector, the accused person admitted the theft and said it was done due to financial difficulties.
In the U.K, the seven robbers who stole $8,000,000 from the Bank of America in Mayfair are sentenced to a hundred years in jail.
Meanwhile in the United States, Jimmy Carter defeats President Gerald Ford — becoming the first candidate from the Deep South to win from the civil war. The musical group The Band holds its farewell tour in San Francisco titled The Waltz and Microsoft is officially registered with the Office of the State of New Mexico.
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]]>At least I had Soundstage to comfort my disappointment, as I bought the latest Heaven 17 album, ‘how men are’. I just couldn’t wait to crank this as I entered the number 7 bus to go home. As my mom got dressed for work and my siblings planned a night out at Disco 40, it was the A-Team for me and T.J. Hooker — ready for both to save the world yet again.
In the news
In Bermuda, maverick MP Harry Viera, blasted just about every MP in the house including Premier John Swan — calling him a “day dreamer” saying that his party “lacks imagination” along with “poor debating”. Senator Lllewllyn Peniston yesterday lashed out the Bermuda National Trust calling them hypocritical busy bodies for opposing plans to build new homes.
In the United Kingdom, 800 miners end their strip and return to work. Britain’s top musicians gather at Notting hill studios to record ‘Do they knows it’s Christmas’ as band aid to raise money for the Ethiopian famine crisis. British Telecom shares go on sale and the British and French governments seek private promotors to build the channel tunnel which is expected to be open by the early 1990s.
Meanwhile in the U.S., Ronald Reagan defeats Walter Mondale in the US Presidential election winning with 59 percent of the vote.Velma Barfield becomes the first woman to be executed by capital punishment since 1962 in Raleigh, California and the unemployment rate drops 7.2 percent — The same level it was when the recession began in June 1981.
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]]>A feeling of Christmas etched ever near wondering if I would ever get that Six Million dollar Man action figure as Steve Austin’s latest encounter with Bigfoot left me breathless in’Bigfoot V’. And of course not forgetting my debates with my friend on who was the strongest — The Incredible Hulk or Wonder Woman.
In the news
Mr. Roy Mucklow, manager of South Capers Cottage colony has appealed to the people of Bermuda to ask whether he should stay or go, after the Minister of Home Affairs, Hon. John Swan gave him 48 hours to leave the Island after an appeal to the cabinet was rejected.
City Hall highlighted Mental Health Week where the subject of alcoholism was discussed with various films shown about the dangers of excessive drinking.
UBP member Dr.Vincent Bridgewater stated that he will not resign from his cabinet position after being found guilty of assaulting a police officer.
In the United Kingdom, police are still searching for the notorious ‘Yorkshire Ripper’ murderer after his latest victim was found on October 10th.
The murder of school boy Carl Bridgewater is still under investigation in the greater Nottingham area.
Christmas cheer came early for many British Residents as Chancellor Denis Healey gave a tax rebate and a two per cent increase in wages across the Country.
Meanwhile, the United States circulated a proposal to the UN Security Council calling for a time delayed arms embargo on South Africa.
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]]>In the news
The Bermuda Hospitals Board are given 21 days by the Bermuda Industrial Union to avert a strike over pay for hospital employees.
An investigation by Government is continuing into a bus crash on Scotts Hill Road, Sandys, in which a bus flipped on to its side.
In the United Kingdom, Prime Minister Harold Wilson announces that the year’s second General Election will be held on October 10.
Meanwhile, in the United States, President Gerald Ford pardons former President Richard Nixon for any crimes Nixon committed while in office.
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