Nick B

What I remember most abt TVs and even electric space heaters back then was the practice of paying as you go by inserting coins into the appliances. You'd be in the middle of a TV program and the set would go off. Everyone would rummage around to try and find a shilling. Same thing with the fire. If you were short of change, you might have to choose between watching the telly and staying warm. Is the coin operated system still used or when did it disappear? There's a company called buy as you view that do a pretty similar thing nowadays. We got a microwave and a fridge freezer from them as well.

Too many to mention here, but Goodfella's was brilliant; excellent support from Joe Pesci, Analyze this and it's sequel, Analyze That, Deerhunter, what I've seen of it anyway and Heat. His comical performances are very good as well. He has a brilliant supporting role in Stardust as a camp pirate and his performance as Renegade Heating Engineer Harry Tuttle was just super. The high point of the film in my humble opinion. I have yet to see Taxi Driver though.

The film that always nearly gets me going is Bicentennial Man, watching Andrew saying goodbye to Little Miss and finding that she has still kept the little wooden horse he had made for her nearly sixty years earlier.

I was told when I was a young boy, must have been twelve or thirteen at the time, that there was a control centre built under the Town Hall Extension for use in the event of a nuclear war. A friend of my Mum's claimed that he had been in there a few times and only saw a fraction of it. Could it still be there does anyone think? I also know from my time in the CND during the eighties that plans were in place to run the British Government from Sheffield should the communist in Moscow start tossing their nuclear toys our way. So it is not inconceivable.

By The Way, At The Earths Core, I would watch it so often, two or three times a day in fact, that the tape wore out. In retrospect, I am lucky that it wasn't the machine. My parents would have murdered me!

There are far too many to mention so I'll just go through the most usual discs in my machine. First, I have something of a christmas ritual. I like to watch Scrooge with Alastair Sim on Christmas Eve. Alastair's portrayal of Scrooge is absolutely spot on and I love the transition from grumbling old miser to clown meister. Second, I occasionally have a Lord of The Rings weekend. I watch all three fims on consecutive nights. I am also re-reading the novel for the fourth time. Heavy going, but beautifully written. Third, Every year, on May 25th, the date of it's original UK Cinema release, Star War IV A New Hope. A ground breaking film and a delight, especially for the nine year old kid who is still inside me. Finally, I don't have it on DVD any more but when I had it on video, I would watch At the Earths Core with Peter Cushing and Doug McClure. It was an awful film then and still is, but when you're eight...

Sorry to hark on about a familiar subject, but I remember many of the teachers spoken. So I was faintly surprised to find that I am not alone in thinking that Graham Seaton was an absolute arrogant bolshy w****r. He could turn on you in a second, smack you around the head for no apparent reason and then send you out of the class. He also once accused me of reading a note sent from another teacher and that I had to deliver. I got detention for that. And needless to say, his accusations were groundless. It doesn't surprise me to hear that he got sacked from teaching. The only surprise is that didn't happen ages ago!

I remember Mr Hurst very well. If I remember correctly, he had a sheep dog called Flag, drove on ex army land rove and wanted to be reincarnated as a petrol engine! Mad as a box of frogs, but a decent bloke and a good teacher.

I was there from 80-84. I ha a great time and found some great mates. Lost touch with some of them though. Do you remember Ian Bunting? I'm not Ian obviously, I'm Nick.

Oh god. I remember them. My Sister Rebecca used to be great friends with Claire and Tracy; I had quite a crush on the elder sister!I remember the Scotts as being the local bullies; though Lee was decent enough. And it was just a childhood thing. They all mellowed as they got older.

Miss Longbottom was my teacher! I have fond memories of that school. Miss Vickers never bothered me much but my sister was also scared of her. I remember Jam Jar Jamieson as well. He was great especially after the old disciplinarian who used to be headmaster. I lived on Overend way too, one of the houses.

I started to writing to alleviate the boredom of college when I was seventeen or eighteen. Now, over twenty years later, I am an avid writer of all sorts of things. Science Fiction and Fantasy being my preferred genre, but I am currently writing a novel about Death and a spy thriller based on the Len Deighton style. Would love to communicate with other writers of other genres.