– if you grew up in Britain in the Seventies you would surely remember the children’s sci-fi tv show The Tomorrow People. I watched episode 1 last night and happened upon these pair of cockney thugs who were chasing the teenage telepaths on BSA bikes. Nostalgia.
– Bear Grylls also tames Tigers. today is his 47th birthday.
– Everyone knows him as James Tiberius Kirk, born March 22, 2233 in Riverside Ohio, captain of the starship Enterprise NCC-1701.
But we also know him as the indefatigable William Shatner who turns 90 today. Here he’s trying to look cool on a BSA tootling around the back lot of the Star Trek sound stage in Hollywood.
– Warren Beatty looking cool as a cat in the ‘75 movie about a charismatic and womanizing Beverly Hills hairdresser. The farcical story sees George Roundy tearing around Rodeo Drive & Sunset Boulevard on a purebred Tiger.
Sid James (1913-1976) – hairdresser from Johannesburg, though he also claimed a boxer, diamond cutter and dance tutor, became one of the most recognized comedy actors in the UK with the double-entendred Carry-On film. Starring in 19 of them his dirty laugh became synonymous with seaside postcard humour. To celebrate his birthday I found this image of on a Honda Monkey CT-70 on Brighton Pier.
Speeder Bike – Moon of Endor
– the first time I saw this chase scene in the movie theater back in ‘83 I was blown away. You were flung through the forest at breakneck speed as if you were aboard with Luke & Leia.
– what better way to escape across the Bavarian countryside than on a rugged tyred Triumph TR6 in German wartime feldgrau. Of course Steve makes it look effortlessly cool.
Top Gear
– TV motoring host Richard Hammond is enjoying the Malvern Hills scenery using a sky blue classic Triumph.
– another photo of Ewan and his favorite marque. This is a caféd Moto Guzzi Nuovo Falcone. The famous bacon slicer flywheel obvious on the drive side. The green color scheme of the workshop furniture even matches the fuel tank.
– Jedi Knight and heroin addict Ewan McGregor is 50 today. Here’s an old photo of him as an aspiring actor living in Primrose Hill in the early nineties. His first bike for hoofing around the Big Smoke was a T3 Moto Guzzi dressed up to look like a Le Mans.
Bike Cop
– 1973 film The Limit was written, directed and starred Yaphet Kotto, who died yesterday. Known as the bad guy in Live & Let Die and chief engineer on the Nostromo in Alien.
IMDB: In Los Angeles, black motorcycle police officer Mark Johnson patrols gang-infested neighborhoods with his white partner and best friend, Jeff McMillan. One afternoon, Mark has a run-in with a gang known as The Virgins, whose leader, Big Donnie, is taken aback by the policeman’s understanding, dignified demeanor despite the gang’s constant derision. When Mark advises Donnie not to continue to allow his heavily pregnant girl friend, Judy, to ride a motorbike, the gang leader agrees. Later, after Donnie actively seeks Mark out for advice, the Virgins’ second-in-command, Kenny, reacts with outrage.
– Grand Prix racing was an adventurous spectacle when I was younger, no small part due to the excitement imbued by the high pitched commentary of Murray Walker. His father was a noted TT motorcycle road racer, which Murray took up briefly, before going into TV work and advertising. His races that were a shared experience with the couth color of James Hunt are legendary.
– Classic 70’s sitcom On The Buses sees one time ‘clippie’ Olive Rudge and her aloof husband George take a fully loaded combination to some seaside destination. George was the center of much derision from main ne’er do well characters, Stan and Jack, due to the decrepit appearance on the BSA.
BSA W35-8 Bluestar (1935)
– an unusual toy from the seventies popped up on the intraweb today. A repurposed 70’s Japanese model with olive drab loosely uniformed Hawkeye Piece figure is a fun toy from M*A*S*H. The lunatic existence of an army surgical unit in the Korean War.
– with a soft sonorous voice, actor John Le Mesurier played all rolls in a carefree effortless manner. His most noted part was that of Sgt. Arthur Wilson in the 70’s BBC comedy Dad’s Army. The ideal foil against Arthur Lowe’s pompous and blustering Captain Mainwaring.
Here’s a photo of him as a vicar on a BSA in the ‘78 drama “Flint”.
