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Don Amott: a king amongst men. And caravans. Part 1.

It’s Saturday lunchtime in 1981. I’m at my my nan’s. We’ve just been to Kingstanding Circle, where we bought crusty cobs from a cylindrical bin in the Co-Op. Tongs? No, put your hand in there, and grab them. I know you haven’t washed your hands. No-one has.
After the Co-Op, we buy ham. Not the packaged, air-sealed, watery, artificial product that passes for ham now, that which, on opening, assaults the nose with a repellant, gaseous fart. No, the kind of ham only available to purchase in those days; pink, but not too pink, with a white, sometimes yellow rind. Thickly cut, bought from the butcher by your nan, and only by your nan. 

Different times.

Good ham. 

Nan ham.


In the wider world, a sense of shock is still being felt following the assassination of John Lennon. I’d heard the news on the radio as I was getting out of the family Mk 5 Cortina outside Doe Bank Primary School on a dreary December day. 

A reevaluation of Lennon’s music is under way. Imagine is in the charts once again, 10 years after its original release. Beautiful. Out of respect, no-one mentions that Just Like Starting Over sounds like something which Russ Abbot would have demoted to a B-side, at best.

At nan’s, we eat the ham cobs, buttered and mustarded. I go into the coat cupboard and get the Corona. In those days, having the Corona meant nothing more harmful than drinking sugary liquid from knobbly glass bottles, delivered from a truck every week. 

The wrestling is on ITV. My nan loved the wrestling. All nans did.

Different times.

During the commercial break, I find myself being captivated by a melody which, 40 years later, often presents itself as an ear worm; not just to me, but to many people from that era who lived in the Central TV region. Alongside the melody, powerful imagery: A lion, cartoonish, yet noble, magnificent; offering the seductive promises of freedom, and the excellent value made possible by the revolutionary bulk buying business model which Don Amott pioneered, all from a mysterious land, somewhere “between Burton and Derby”.

 See Don Amott TV ads here

Comments

  1. LizzieFebruary 18, 2022 at 11:52 AM

    Please continue! Left me hanging....need to know the rest..

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Craig PullenFebruary 18, 2022 at 12:31 PM

      Incoming. I’m researching the holiday park acquisition. Glad you liked it.

      Delete

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