Charley Says

It wasn’t until the 1980s that it became illegal to not wear a seatbelt in the front seat of car. However, accidents still happened and to stop people from taking risks while it was still legal, public information films extolled the virtues of the seatbelt with the message: “Clunk Click Every Trip“. Here’s (oh God) Jimmy Savile and others to demonstrate, particularly to you ladies watching.

For a little change of pace, I’ll also give you this hardcore remix by Jam Hamster. It’s very catchy.

Apparently, the Green Cross Code, with its mantra of ‘Stop, look, listen, think’, was a bit too hard for 1970s kids to remember. Dolts. Oh hang on, I was one of those. 

So to help us dolts out, in 1976, the Green Cross Code recruited Jon Pertwee to teach us all the obviously far easier to remember mantra of ‘SPLINK’, which stood for (can you guess?) ‘Stop at the Pavement, Look and listen, and If traffic is coming, let it pass. When No traffic is near, cross the road, but Keep looking and listening.’

There. Simple hey?

Tufty, it turned out, might be cute but he was a bit of a mummy’s squirrel. What cool kid was going to do what Tufty did?

What the government realised was they needed someone a bit more muscular to get kids to cross the road properly. Enter the Green Cross man, played by Dave Prowse, who would just a couple of years later become the body (but not the voice) of Darth Vader himself.

The Green Cross man would intervene when kids were going to cross the road dangerously. He’d teleport to them from his monitoring station at Green Cross Control using his wristwatch then stop them running without looking or whatever it was they were planning on doing. He’d then teach the kids the Green Cross Code – stop, look, listen, think – and then conclude each advert with “I won’t be there when you cross the road, so always use the Green Cross Code.” 

And if the thought of a big, West Country bodybuilder in spandex popping up next to them wouldn’t scare kids into crossing the road properly, I don’t know what would. Maybe a robot.

It’s not something that people talk about much these days, but not all adults can read, even those who’ve been to school. But back in the 70s, adult literacy was a pressing concern for a government concerned about social mobility and the white heat of technology.

In 1975, in conjunction with a national government campaign, the BBC did its own little bit by creating a TV show, On The Move, that starred Bob Hoskins in one of his first TV roles. Written by Points of View presenter Barry Took, the series of 50, 10-minute episodes saw illiterate removal man Hoskins driving his van around and learning to read, in various combinations, while the likes of Nigel Stock and Patricia Hayes provided the viewer with various exercises. Along the way, various other future notables, including Martin Shaw, popped up to demonstrate the value of reading.

The show spawned two sequels, Your Move, and Right Away, but you can view some of the original Hoskins show below. The catchy theme was sung by The Dooleys, in case you’re wondering.

Here, the soothing tones of Robert Powell (aka Jesus) helped to traumatise parents who happened to own small puddles in their garden. Disturbing imagery? Not at all…