DAVID RIDDLE – The Poster Years

I was a member of the Goldsmiths’ College ‘Class’ of 1966-1970. 

From 1966-1969 I initially studied for a BSc General degree in Botany and Zoology (Chemistry to Part I). For at least the first year of that time, Goldsmiths’ was classified as an ‘External’ College of the University. All theory examinations were sat at Alexandra Palace, Wood Green, with practicals being held, usually as 6-hour continuous events, at the University of London’s Central Laboratories in Russell Square. By 1969, my Finals year, Goldsmiths’ had become a full ‘Internal’ College and theory exams were held in the College’s Great Hall with only science practical exams being conducted off-site because the College’s own laboratories in the Whitehead Building were considered inadequate for official examinations.

From 1969-1970 I was a Post-Graduate Teachers Certificate (PGTC) student. At the same time I had been elected as Social Secretary of the Student’s Union – only the President had a sabbatical year back in those days. Teaching practice was at Shooter’s Hill Grammar School, later to become Eaglesfield School when the ILEA introduced comprehensive schools four years later.

Apart from in my First Year I was heavily involved with the Student’s Union on the ‘Events’ side of things both technically with lighting and sound as well as a being a support DJ to Neil Brittain. I was jointly involved in building a couple of twin-turntable discotheque units made from very basic domestic Garrard SP25 Mk3 turntables mounted in a wooden plinth unit, and a couple of potentiometers to mix the feeds from the two decks. This was connected to a 100 watt amplifier obtained from Catford-based South East London Entertainments, and two home-made chipboard speaker cabinets covered with black leather-cloth bought from Deptford Market, each containing 4 x 15″ Tannoy speakers. This ‘big set’ was for regular College use, but we also built a second set with 2 x 15″ Tannoys each as a ‘mobile’ system that just about fitted in to my Ford Anglia 105e! This was hired out to the Halls of Residence for £10 a night or so plus a £1.50 DJ fee. The Halls all ran their own ‘Informal’ events every term together with an annual ‘Formal’. Since there were about a dozen Halls at that time, this kept all the kit, and us, fairly busy! This was all on top of a weekly College Disco held in the Small Hall, alias today’s Curzon Cinema, which often hosted live bands as well, as well as being the secondary venue for the major College events centred on the Great Hall. Publicity for these events, some 30 years before most people became aware of the Internet, was based around printed posters. As Social Secretary I was involved with commissioning publicity for Goldsmiths’ own events and was also in receipt of material promoting events at other Colleges in London and Universities elsewhere. I decided to hang on to these as attractive artworks and was fortunate enough to be able to exhibit them some 50 years later in April 2019 at an event run by the College called ‘Golddream – 50 Years On’.

Looking back on the range of bands that played Goldsmiths’ in those days, it is truly amazing how many are familiar names even today, and how it was possible that the ‘College Circuit’ as it was known at that time, permitted the booking of top acts by even relatively small Colleges. It was very rare to pay more than £1,000 for a chart-topping act, so an audience of 1000 or so (fire regulations at the time were 850 in the Great Hall) plus another 500 or so between the S.U. Bar (now Loafers Café) and the Small Hall (fire regs of 150!!) where all S.U. Events were held in those days, usually between 9pm and 2pm or later, could meet all costs with tickets of only £1 or so. Realistically I suppose, £1 was actually quite a lot of money then, as was £1,000 for a top band, but 2.5p (6 pence in old money) or even 5p (a shilling) as it was later increased to, much to the disgust from the punters, for just a Disco was considered excellent value. This raised at least £15-£20 a week which was enough to pay two DJs £1.50 each with the rest going towards records and equipment maintenance. Small Hall bands were typically about £15 a night with the ticket price going up a bit on those occasions. On one occasion when that £15 band failed to show up, and a stand-in called The Alby arrived instead, all the way from Plymouth, sporting a little man standing on one leg playing the flute, later to be known as Jethro Tull, the significance may become clear.

I think my poster collection actually probably started before the stint as Social Secretary. Posters for events at other Colleges were always arriving in the post and were rarely put up on the notice boards, if only because that would detract from Goldsmiths’ own range of Hall and College events. To these were added copies of the College event posters that were often designed by fellow students and then screen-printed by the Art School as it was known then. The collection is generally something of a homage to that art, with the vast majority produced by that means. They are, therefore, in relatively good condition, the more so since they have spent the past forty years inside an architect’s drawing table that Sandy Evans, another of the Union’s technical support staff, made as part of his Design Education course. He very kindly gave it to me for ‘safe keeping’ when he had no means to get it back home to Wales when he left College. The collection has never been exhibited since I have never considered it to be of particular interest to anyone else, but following the creation of a movie file of the 230 or so items for the 2008 Reunion of that ‘Class’ of 66-70, there has been a lot of interest in them.

The original video presentation of the individual posters left something to be desired since it was created from relatively low-resolution digital photographs of the posters blue-tacked to an office wall, but it nevertheless gave a flavour of the variety of poster styles. Additionally I had also acquired a number of album inserts, promotional posters and photographs as well as a unique signed ‘Compliments’ slip from London’s Norman Jackson Entertainment Agency that were used to hire bands. This item was to confirm the replacement booking of Georgie Fame for the 1969 Fresher’s Ball that was originally to have featured The Who. It also included a signed copy of his photograph. Two others of particular significance are a photo of Slade in the guise of their original incarnation, Ambrose Slade, and several of the U.S. West Coast band, Love, who I booked at Goldsmiths’ for their only UK. College gig. They are all part of my overall collection.

I also have a few signed 12” record albums including items by Love, The Liverpool Scene and Muddy Waters.

David Riddle