LOSE YOURSELF IN 1975

MOURNING AN F1 GREAT

On 29 November, a late evening newsflash told of a light aircraft crashing in fog on an Elstree golf course. Soon after, we learned it was piloted by double World Champion Graham Hill, who was killed – along with the core of his fledgling Embassy Hill Grand Prix team, including young driver Tony Brise who was tipped for great things in Formula 1.

The shock waves went far beyond the motor racing fraternity – Hill’s personality and wicked sense of humour had made him a star with a much wider audience. At the same time, his pernickety attention to detail had occasionally been known to cause dark mutterings among his mechanics – but you don’t win five Monaco Grands Prix (plus Le Mans and the Indy 500) just by turning up.

IS IT JUST FANTASY?

A record that seemed to top the charts for three decades, in reality Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody reached No.1 on 23 November and remained there until 24 January 1976, when it was displaced by Abba’s Mamma Mia. There was considerable cynicism in the music industry about the commercial prospects of a single that lasted five minutes 55 seconds, but sales were assisted by Kenny Everett extensively promoting the disc on Capital Radio, tantalising listeners by playing only excerpts of the song.

CULT CLASSIC

It’s not the best remembered of films now, but Three Days of the Condor did well at the box office as one of a raft of political thrillers that appeared in the wake of the Watergate scandal. If you need reminding, it teamed up Robert Redford and Faye Dunaway (above) in a CIA cat-and-mouse game. They fall for each other, naturally.