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The stories that made the headlines in 1974
A year of turmoil in politics, yet more changes to the face of Derby and a debate about a permanent gipsy site in the town were all making the headlines in 1974, writes Nicola Rippon.
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Pagans attack ancient church
The Evening Telegraph alarmed readers by declaring that a “Witchcraft Cult” was active in the town.
This “strange Derby cult” was actually practising Wicca – the modern version of a pre-Christian British religion. In an interview with the paper, members of the group had admitted responsibility for letting off smoke canisters in the church after a disagreement with the parish vicar, the Rev Crosswaite.
According to the Evening Telegraph, the cult lived and worshipped on Newland Street “in a semi-derelict terraced house with congealed dirt on broken windows and secured behind a battered front door”.
Reporters described speaking to “a man bearing an inverted crucifix round his neck and sharpening a bayonet”.
The man said that the group knew the vicar very well but that he had “shirked” his responsibilities because he had refused to perform an exorcism at their house, which they believed to be haunted by a manifestation they called Jason.
One of the women in the cult stated that, although she no longer believed in a Christian god, she continued to attend St Werburgh’s for the Rev Crosswaite’s entertaining sermons.
Eventually, the cult had been banned from the church and, on the previous Sunday, had been made to leave the premises. In retaliation, they had smoke-bombed St Werburgh’s and “placed a curse” on it.
Cult members denied they were Satanists or devil worshippers and said they had no interest in converting Christians to their beliefs.
Five months later, after a police investigation into the incident, two of the men, now named as Robert Northedge and Malcolm Cowling, were brought before Derby magistrates.
The prosecution told the court that the Rev Crosswaite had realised they “were practising black magic” and asked them to leave. The two “boys” had returned and thrown smoke canisters into the congregation.
Northedge said that he was concerned the magistrates would be biased, as they were “representing the Queen who is the head of the Church of England”. He denied being involved in black magic and claimed that he had been “trying to get back into Christianity” at the time of the incident.
Gipsy site protest
Earlier in 1974, residents of Sinfin began a protest at plans to build a permanent gipsy site on Sinfin Moor, in Goodsmoor Road.
Local Labour MP Walter Johnson was jeered by more than 500 angry Sinfin residents during a public meeting about the proposals.
Mr Johnson told the protesters that local authorities were required to provide accommodation for 15 gipsy caravans but he tried to sooth residents’ ire by telling them the decision was by no means final and they would be involved in the entire process.
Residents remained unconvinced and Mr Johnson was bombarded with questions about whether there would be additional police protection in the area to prevent what residents were sure would be increased crime rates and what would be done about dirt and rats.
Householders complained that their homes would become worthless once the site was opened and that Sinfin was “now a dirty word”.
An advertisement was placed in the Evening Telegraph about the proposed site, reminding those opposed to it that they had only until the middle of the month to register their objection with the Town Clerk.
Historic bridge saved
The town’s famous and much-loved Jacobean House, in the Wardwick, which had been undergoing renovation, was finally opened for business.
Builders working on behalf of the Royal National Pension Fund for Nurses had converted the old house, once the home of the Gell family, into offices.
An additional modern office block, named Burdett House after the founder of the pension fund, Sir Henry Burdett, had also been built on Becket Street, behind the Jacobean House.
Although the town clearly needed more office accommodation, the design of the new block was considered very plain.
There was hope, too, for another old Derby landmark. The lovely Friar Gate Bridge, which had been threatened by demolition to make way for the Inner Ring Road, was listed as of “historical and architectural interest”.
Kenneth Toombes, secretary of Friar Gate Bridge Action Group, welcomed the official listing: “It’s a fine structure, unique to Derby and should never be allowed to go.”
In September, two years’ work on a major diversion of the culverted Markeaton Brook was finally completed. As part of the development, Derby’s second multi-storey car park, at Bold Lane, had also opened and there were more plans to modernise the other side of the town centre. By the end of the year, the council had unveiled a scheme to pedestrianise part of East Street. A one-way system on the rest of East Street and in Exchange Street was also planned.
Derby's "watergate scandal"
In the run-up to the election, the offices of the local Conservative party, at the Beaconsfield Club, in Green Lane, were broken into.
Fears of Derby’s own Watergate scandal abounded when it was revealed that, while nothing had been stolen, the burglar had rifled through constituency papers.
The break-in came just days before the two Conservative candidates, David Penfold and Ronald Clements, welcomed Prime Minister Edward Heath to the town.
In September, Conservative MP and former Home Secretary Reginald Maudling visited Derby for a meeting with party supporters.
He had just been the recipient of a death threat containing a live bullet. It was one of several letters that had been sent to prominent politicians and candidates in the forthcoming second General Election of the year.
Several of the threats were believed to have come from members or supporters of the IRA. Scotland Yard detectives surprised Derbeians by announcing that the letter bore a Derby postmark. The police stated that they were taking “suitable but discreet precautions” to ensure the safety of all candidates.
There was uncertainty in local politics, too. On April 1, Britain introduced its much-heralded new two-tier system of local government. There were now metropolitan counties, like Merseyside and the West Midlands, which were divided into metropolitan districts, and non-metropolitan counties, of which Derbyshire was one. Within that, Derby became a county borough. The new system divided up responsibility for services to the different levels of local government. Rates and housing, for example, were administered at a local level, while highways and education were managed at county level.
Sitcom success and cinema controversy
The series was about the exploits of a Royal Artillery concert party in India during the Second World War. Knowles played the effete Captain Ashworth who, along with his superior Colonel Reynolds, more or less ceded command of the unit to bullying Sergeant Major Williams (Windsor Davies).
A former pupil of Gerard Street School, John Dexter had become one of the most renowned theatre and film directors in the world.
In 1974, he began what would prove to be a highly successful, if somewhat troublesome, 10-year reign as director of New York’s Metropolitan Opera House.
Cinema bosses in Derby caused uproar in February when they announced that the controversial horror film The Exorcist would be shown at the ABC cinema, in East Street, from April.
The film, about a 12-year-old girl possessed by evil spirits, had been subject to a special screening before the watch committee in neighbouring Nottingham.
Derby, however, no longer had such an organisation and Councillor Peter Hanks, chairman of the new Derby Borough Council general purposes committee, said he did not think the council would do anything to stop the screenings.
The cinema’s manager, Mike Smith, reassured cinema-goers that the cinema was well supplied with smelling salts and that members of the St John Ambulance would be in attendance if it proved necessary.
As one of the region’s top entertainment venues, the Talk of the Midlands, in Mill Street, continued to offer top-notch acts for Derbeians.
In 1974, Al Read, The Bachelors, Val Doonican, The Walker Brothers, Max Bygraves, Gene Pitney, Cliff Richard, Judith Durham and the Black and White Minstrels all appeared.
Peters and Lee, the pop-singing duo who had won Opportunity Knocks, and rock ’n’ roll legend Billy Haley and the Comets, filled out the year.
But the Talk of the Midlands was not the only venue offering terrific entertainment. Cleopatra’s, the former Clouds, in London Road, offered one show in November featuring soul legends Barry White and Al Green.
In November, rock band Thin Lizzy, yet to break into the mainstream, appeared at the Great Hall, in Kedleston Road.
For those who fancied a change of scenery, the Viking Bus Company offered tours to London and a trip to see Slade in concert in Coventry.
The year also saw the last-ever pantomime to be staged at the old Playhouse, in Sacheverel Street.
It was Cinderella and the cast reminded theatre-goers that the end was almost nigh by asking them to “raise the roof” in their applause because they “didn’t need it any longer”.
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