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AYLESBURY LIFE IN THE 70s
No doubt the fact that everyone seemed to have cars in South Bucks led to its usage dropping, but today thoughts have changed, as we will see. It was a pretty, scenic route as well, cutting across fields behind Stratford Drive in Wooburn, skirting Flackwell Heath Golf Course and under what is now the M40 at Wycombe Marsh to High Wycombe railway station. For some commuters and schoolchildren heading to Wycombe or Maidenhead it had been an obvious choice, but from 1970 they had to take to buses or get in cars themselves
10 Facts About the 70’s
- VCR’s were released to the public. Now television viewers could record their favorite shows and watch them later.
- The first MRI image was published in 1973.
- Economically, “stagflation” was a new reality. Unemployment and inflation increased at the same time, and the result was a stagnant economy.
- In 1973 Johnny Carson joked that there was a toilet paper shortage. As a result stores were emptied causing a shortage that lasted for weeks.
- Rock stars Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix and Jim Morrison all died in the 1970’s at the age of 27. Also lost was crooner Bing Crosby and rock legend Elvis Presley.
- The World Trade Center towers in New York City were built, and became some of the worlds tallest buildings.
- The Vietnam War came to an end in 1975.
Things Invented in the 70’s
70’s Fads
Disco:
Disco music was an interesting musical mix influenced by funk, soul and latin styles. If you were headed to the club in the 70’s you would be listening to disco and you would probably dance like John Travolta in Saturday Night Fever.
Pet Rocks:
Would you like a pet that doesn’t eat, doesn’t mess up the house or do much of anything? In 1975 you were in luck! For a short period of time, millions of “pet rocks” were sold to people around America. T
he pet rock was the brainchild of advertising executive Gary Dahl.
CB Radios:
Citizen Band radio came into popularity in the late 1970’s. CB’s were used by truckers to save on gas during the fuel shortages of the 70’s and they also helped avoid speed traps. Many movies and TV shows featured CB radios and it caught on. Even the first lady otherwise known in CB radio-land as “First Mama” Betty Ford was using a CB radio.
Fashion
Leisure Suits:
Even though these suits were invented about 40 years before they were at their height in popularity, the leisure suit was a suit that you could wear out for a night on the town, and still be comfortable. They fell out of style toward the end of the decade.
Feathered Hair:
Feathered hair became very popular in the 70’s, as the beautiful movie star Farrah Fawcett wore the style. Many women followed suit, and feathered their hair.
70’s Movies
The economic slowdown of the 70’s
No serious economist claims to know the answer to this mystery. Indeed, there is a Nobel Prize waiting for the first economist who does. Anyone who claims to have the secret to restoring growth is someone you can dismiss with perfect confidence — especially if the claim comes from a non-economist, and even more so if it comes from a politician campaigning for office.
Several theories have been forwarded, but all have their problems. The first and most obvious was that the 1973 Arab Oil Embargo adversely affected the American economy. But rising oil prices were an even more severe problem in Japan, whose economy enjoyed explosive growth in the 70s. And the bottom fell out of world oil prices around 1980, with no restoration of American growth. For these and other reasons, economists eventually came to reject this theory.