It was 1980 and I had reached my 30th year I had two wonderful children, Dawn was doing extremely well at school, Howard was having a hard time, and couldn't adjust too well, but what adorable children.
I was working at a large electrical wholesalers in Dagenham, not far from Dagenham FC, and was earning a fair sum of money. My musical taste was keeping abreast with the music of the time, there was the music of the New Romantics Bands like 'Duran Duran', 'Ultravox' 'Spandau Ballet' and 'ABC' were churning out the hits and me, well I was smiling and taking very avant garde photographs like this one.
In December 1980 one of the founder members of the Beatles was brutely shot just outside his New York apartment the great John Lennondied in a pool of blood, a truly great musician and song writer, sadly missed.
Another great man also died that year, the great Peter Sellers, founder member of the Goons, as mentioned earlier in my pages. His versatility in the portraying 3 people Capt. Lionel Mandrake, President Merkin Muffley and Dr. Strangelove in the fully titled 'Dr Strangelove or how I Stopped Worrying and Love the Bomb' was superb, Another great also sadly missed.
Tottenham Hotspur were relegated in 1977 to the old Division 2, but regained their rightful position in the top flight at the first attempt, their new manager Keith Burkinshaw a quietly spoken Yorkshireman bought two Argentinains, Osvaldo Ardilles and Ricardo Villa, after the Argentine team secured the World Cup in 1978.
The 1980/81 season was a great season for Tottenham culminating in a Cup Final win, but only after a replay, and that replay brought about what is undoubtably 'best' Cup Final goal ever Ricky Villa took a pass from I think Garth Brooks and dribbled round three Manchester City defenders and slotting the ball in the back of the net. WHAT A GOAL!!!
Tottenham won the FA Cup the following year but were unable to field their Argentinians due to Britian being at war with Argentina over a bit of land called the Falkland Islands. It was a drab affair we beat QPR (Queens Park Rangers) 1-0 a penalty from Glen Hoddle.
Well I was in my early 30's I was working hard, two fine children, when to my surprise I found that I was to have another child, well I had to lie down, this was so tiring, three kids.
Coral was born December 10 1982, the same day as my Uncle Bert was buried, doesn't that say something about fate. I was not as close to my Uncle Bert as I was to my Uncle Dennis, but he too was a very kind man, he would do anything for anyone.
In 1984 there was a documentary on the plight of the starving in Ethiopia, Bob Geldof was so moved by this, that him and Midge Ure set about doing something about it, a single called "Do They Know It's Christmas" was a number 1 Christmas single of 1984 and in 1985 was followed by a live concert at Wembley Stadium with simultaneous concert at Philadelphia's JFK stadium, featuring a Who's Who of pop/rock talent. Millions were raised and distributed to the African poor. Geldof was nominated for a Nobel Prize and knighted, and his autobiography Is That All? became a U.K. best-seller. Phil Collins played in both London and Philadelphia by flying Concorde.
It was about 1985 when I had my first attack, I was on the phone when it happened, I couldn't move or talk, my jaw locked, I couldn't unclasp myself from the phone. I was immediately rushed to the nearest hospital in Romford.
I was diagnosed incorrectly as having an epileptic fit, my condition worsened, I lost my job, I was wasting away, I had incredibly bad tremors. I was then sent to the National Hospital for Nervous Diseases, where after extensive tests I was diagnosed as having Wilsons Disease, an hereditary condition, caused by excessive amounts of copper in the body. I could have died, but luckily I didn't as I wouldn't be writing this now, but I realised after this, how frail we are, and how precious life is. I got closer to my family, and my family were my life, and during all this struggle for life I had yet another child, another girl, Jessica.
After a course of two different medications and with the help of acupuncture, I was able to face the world again - well sort of, I became a Civil Servant in her Majesty's Government, an Admin Assistant in the Home Office, I hear you all saying "What him a long haired once upon a time hippy, a civil servant Yikes!! what has the world come to".
David the civil servant, well I try to be civil and I also eat my greens, my first day was October 2nd 1988, a new chapter was opening up in the life of David Groome, my family was complete 4 children, all of whom have influenced me, and most of all, all of whom I love.
I was reading a lot of horror stories, James Herbert was one of my personal favorites, although I read almost anything horror. I also come across Terry Brooks late in the 80's his Shannara series of books are superb, I have now read all of Terry Brooks books.
There was some good music coming from the States and that was 'rap' and there were some mighty fine exponents of it, possibly one of the first and probably one of the most well known were 'Public Enemy. Public Enemy rewrote the rules of hip-hop, becoming the most influential and controversial rap group of the late '80s and, for many, the definitive rap group of all time.
The only TV series that stood out in the 80's was 'Only Fools and Horses'Hugely successful British comedy about of two streetwise London brothers: Del (Derek) and Rodney Trotter. In early years they shared their council flat with 'Grandad' (until the death of actor 'Lennard Pierce' ) later to be replaced by 'Uncle Albert', a WWII Navy veteran with an anecdote for any occasion. Del and Rodney are best described as lovable and harmless black market traders; they buy and (try to) sell almost anything and many an episode is based around some faulty/stolen stock bought by Del. As with other comedies from writer John Sullivan, the humour is devilishly engineered so as not to telegraph the jokes before the punchlines and there's always a strong cast of support characters. The series has won countless awards and ratings battles.
Well the 80's were coming to an end, another decade was coming upon me, I was losing my hair, but I still kept fit, well I tried to.
Well I would soon be 40, what has happenend to my life, it's flown, and I still haven't been to the States---well lets see what happens in the next decade.
