Back home: All this was happening on South Tyneside as the World Cup unfolded in Mexico 1970
‘The best nightspot in South Shields, at the time, was the La Strada ‘
And if you were back home on South Tyneside while the tournament was on, you would probably remember all of this.
Today, we are sharing memories of life in the borough in 1970, the year when England’s next World Cup 2026 opponents Mexico hosted the biggest competition in the world.
Football was on the minds of South Tyneside people for another reason. The best nightspot in South Shields, at the time, was the La Strada in Commercial Road.
The venue was to prove an autograph hunter’s paradise. It was staging Sports Week’s Personality of the Year’ awards, with footballing guests including Len Shackleton, Frank Clark, Ian McFaul and Jimmy Montgomery.
One man decided to swap North America for a visit back home.
When Alfred Conner left South Shields at the age of 17, he had £200 to his credit. Two decades later in 1970, he had gone on to become assistant vice-president of the Bank of California, helping oversee assets of more than £20,000m.
On this day 45 years ago, he was back in his home town to visit his parents, Mrs and Mrs George Conner, of Beach Road.
If you wanted to dress in style during the tournament, Binns in South Shields was selling luxury suits for women in the first floor fashion department. They could be yours for £14-10-0 which was down from £18 to £20.
Nightclub audiences might remember a stage act called Johnny Caesar. Off the stage, he was known as South Shields comedian called John Brownless and he had quite the scare in 1970.
His so Ian brought home a rusted hand grenade after finding it near Temple Memorial Park, and dropped it into his dad’s lap.
Mr Brownless said at the time: “I thought it was a dummy at first, then I saw the pin which detonates the grenade was still in and snapped off.”
He carried the grenade at arm’s length to his garden, buried it in a bucket of sand, then telephoned the police.
Two months earlier, the comedian had narrowly escaped death when he collapsed after almost being electrocuted by a live microphone during his cabaret act.
If drama was your thing, there was plenty of it at the Gaumont cinema in South Shields where Legend Of The Witches was showing three times a day.
Tell us what you recall about Mexico 70 and life back home at the time. Get in touch by emailing [email protected]