[Tall Guy]

When I was still at school I had a Saturday job in the record (LP) department of WHSmith in Newcastle. For context, it was the year of the boiling hot Summer and ABBA’s Greatest Hits – 1976.

The permanent staff were able to choose which LP to play over the shop floor PA system, and inevitably it would be pop or easy listening. I got to choose exactly twice in the year or so I worked there; the first time I chose The Moody Blues’s “To Our Children’s Children’s Children”, but put the wrong side on, the side which starts with a huge explosion of noise which made everyone in that part of the shop jump a mile.

I was kept away from it for several weeks after that, but late on one quiet Saturday I sneaked into the back and played “Aces High” (The Luftwaffe March) from Battle of Britain. I got a few looks from the other staff, but an old boy, very posh and military-looking, went to the counter, asked what the music was and bought the LP.

In your face, Charlie the department manager!