Sunday 30th and Monday 31st January 1977.

Today’s update from the diary my seven year old self wrote during the 1977 Festival of Black arts and culture in Lagos, Nigeria.


Sunday 30th January 1977

We went up the creek in a motor boat. We saw a pig digging a hole. We saw birds that dived for fish. There was a big surf. We saw some people that had fishing nets round their shoulders.

Monday 31st January 1977

We went to look at the craft shops at Tafawa Balewa square.
In the afternoon we saw some guns and a man demonstrating how to throw a boomerang. In the evening we went to see dancers from Barbados and Trinidad and Tobago. It was good.

Desert Island Discs

Today “Desert Island Discs” marked its 70th anniversary.

I have to say its one of my favourite programs and I listen avidly each week. I love the range of guests, and am constantly surprised by how much more interesting the “non-celebrities” are such as the scientists, writers and such like. It’s clearly not just me is hooked for when back in June the BCC produced the peoples “Desert Island Discs” more than 25,000 people submitted their
favourite eight tracks to the BBC and the top 8 were revealed in the show. It was a fantastic glimpse into the nations psyche (or at least the small section of it that listens to radio 4). So this anniversary led me to thinking.... what would my desert island choices be?

Well – This is the current choice, ask me tomorrow and I may well say something different , but in keeping with the spirit of the programme I have picked tracks that have real meaning for me at different points of my life

1) Gabriel’s theme from film “The Mission”
I picked this not just because it is a beautiful piece of music but also because it has the strongest memories of childhood for me. My dad, ever an early adopter of technology, bought a CD player when they very first came out. We only had a few discs and one of those was the soundtrack to the film “the Mission”. One summer when I was about 15 I played it over and over again, I was just enchanted by it (my mother less so with it being on constant repeat!) . Even now when I hear it I can close my eyes and be instantly back in our living room in Hong Kong and feel the warmth of the sun, hear the buzz of the air-conditioner and remember really happy times

2 )We Are the Champions , Queen.
Oh the arrogance of youth! I remember dancing to this at the school disco, surrounded by friends
and thinking we owned the world. Our futures lay ahead of us and we were going to make such a huge impact.... I look back and have a wry smile at how naive we were, but also look back a little enviously at the confidence we had then.

3) Beethoven’s 9th Symphony. BBC Philharmonic conducted by Gianandrea Noseda
Apparently this has been the most picked track by castaways over the last 70 years so I am in good company. I was really fortunate that my parents introduced me at a young age to classical music and my dad has a fantastic collection of discs that I frequently raid. This piece is just magical and never fails to get my heart pumping

4) J.S. Bach: Cello Suite #1 In G, Yo-Yo Ma
My next classical piece works on so many levels... The Cello is my favourite instrument to listen to, I think Yo-Yo ma is a genius and it’s just the most gorgeous piece. It was also played by Yo-Yo Ma in one of the best episodes of the “West Wing” which I still think is some of the best television ever made. As I said this works on so many levels...

5)Mancunian way by Take That
What can I say, there had to be a Manchester link in there... Though I have lived down south now for 24 years, Manchester still is, and always will be, home.

6) Whenever God Shines His Light - Van Morrison with Cliff Richard
Ok, so maybe not the most hip of choices, in fact positively cheesy really, but I love this song.. Its got a great beat, meaningful lyrics, and was how I learnt the nuances of Christine Doctrine thanks to its use in the inspired teaching of Jeremey Begbie at Ridley Hall.

7) Miserere Mei - Allegri
- What more can be said about this track, thats not been said. Its pure beauty and to me expresses the sheer transcendence and ethereal nature of God. It makes me feel alive in every fibre of my being.

8) Someone like you. - Adel
Last, but by no means least.... This song is sublime, you feel every note, every word and for anyone that’s ever had their heart broken, me included, it says it all...

For my book I was tempted to ask for a Greek grammar along with the bible in Greek... but who am I kidding... even stuck on a deserted island I am still not going to have the ability to learn Biblical Greek – so instead I shall go practical and ask for “Scouting for Boys” by Lord Baden-Powell. I figure with such sage advice on hand I could cope with anything the island would
throw at me

My luxury – I was tempted to follow David Tenants lead and ask for a DVD player and box set of “The West Wing” – Its eminently watchable, even on repeat as its some of the most intelligent TV ever written and, having watched it several times, I feel like I know the characters so well it would be like I had friends on the island) but in the end I have decided that I would need a good nights sleep and so I would ask for my bed (with an endless supply of freshly laundered, crisp bed linen of course) so I could sink into to comfort after a long hard day surviving.

And finally, if I could only take one disc what would it be?
It was an incredibly hard choice between Miserere Mei and - Gabriel’s theme from film “The Mission, but in the end I plumped for the mission because of the wonderfully evocative memories it holds for me.

So there we go, my desert Island Discs.... What would yours be?

Friday 28th and Saturday 29th January 1977

Today’s update from the diary my seven year old self wrote during the 1977 Festival of Black arts and culture in Lagos, Nigeria.

Friday 28th January 1977.

We went shopping. We went to U.T.C and Kingsway. We had a visitor called Mrs Cook. After dinner mummy and daddy had a visitor to play cards.

Saturday 29th January 1977.

We had sports day. I got into the Semi-finals of the obstacle race. I got a pencil case. My brother came 4th twice and 2nd once.

And here is said sports day....

Today’s update from the diary my seven year old self wrote during the 1977 Festival of Black arts and culture in Lagos, Nigeria.

Thursday 27th January 1977

We went to the Ikoyi club, mummy and I played tennis. We went for a swim. Then we had lunch. We went to fish on the mule in the afternoon. My silly brother caught a bush.

Wednesday 26th January 1977

Today’s update from the diary my seven year old self wrote during the 1977 Festival of Black arts and culture in Lagos, Nigeria.

Wednesday 26th January 1977.

We went to the regatta but came home after a bit. We got some 7up from Bashan’s. We went to see the steel band.

Tuesday 25th January 1977

Today’s update from the diary my seven year old self wrote during the 1977 Festival of Black arts and culture in Lagos, Nigeria.

Tuesday 25th January 1977.

We went to the regatta it was good. We saw decorated boats, warriors with guns. One man on stilts he came right up behind me. I went to brownies.

I am amazed I was so matter of fact about going to Brownies as it was the highlight of my week. I was desperate to join Brownies when we went to Nigeria but I was only six and had to wait (very impatiently it has to be said!) till my seventh birthday when I was finally able to join. I was in firefly six of the 4th Ikoyi pack and very proud I was of it to!

Monday 24th January 1977

Today’s update from the diary my seven year old self wrote during the 1977 Festival of Black arts and culture in Lagos, Nigeria.

Monday 24th January 1977
We went to the museum. We had a very nice time. I bought a fluffy ring and mummy bought a leather foot cushion. We bought a coke and drank it in a grass hut. We heard the drums at the Embassy of Chad.

Sunday 23rd January 1977

Today’s update from the diary my seven year old self wrote
during the 1977 Festival of Black arts and culture in Lagos, Nigeria.

Sunday 23rd January 1977

We got up late. We went to see how the regatta was getting on. We saw lots of painted boats on Queens Drive. We went to the Ikoyi Club for the afternoon and saw some friends.

Saturday 22nd January 1977

Today’s update from the diary my seven year old self wrote during the 1977 Festival of Black arts and culture in Lagos, Nigeria.

Saturday 22nd January 1977

We went to the National Museum to see it opened by General Obasnjo. We saw lots of people. We went to the ikoyi club. The electricity went of at night. Mummy has started to teach me to do corkwork.

Thursday 20th and Friday 21st January 1977

Thursday 20th January 1977

Mummy went to play tennis in the morning. I did some of my model village. We went to the ikoyi club for lunch and a swim.

Friday 21st January 1977

We picked up a friend and went to Lagos. After lunch a lot of us went to the beach. We saw a school of dolphins everybody came out of the sea quick in case it was a sharks.


Clearly the influence of the movie Jaws could not be underestimated.....

Wednesday 19th January 1977

Today’s update from the diary my seven year old self wrote during
the 1977 Festival of Black arts and culture in Lagos, Nigeria.


Wednesday 19th January 1977

On Wednesday we went to my friends swimming pool and we had a nice time. We jumped off the diving board. We had a drink. When we got home Mrs Nolan came from Pakistan. Our plants started to grow.


And for amusement value - here's the swimming....

Tuesday 18th January 1977

Today’s update from the diary my seven year old self wrote during
the 1977 Festival of Black arts and culture in Lagos, Nigeria.

Tuesday 18th January 1977

We had a visitor today called Mrs Power and the electricity went off for six hours. We went to the National Stadium to see dancing from Ghana. I liked it very much. There was an English lady she danced good. When a man danced on the stage his trousers came down. On the way home we nearly hit the Head of States car.


This is probably one of my favourite entries from the diary.
I love the fact that I report everything so matter of factly and events of several different magnitudes are treated equally.... whilst I am sure a man losing his trousers on stage would have been highly amusing, colliding with the presidents car would have been anything but! It also shows one of the ever present realities of our life in Nigeria, frequent power cuts. Fetching the candles and eating strange meals from whatever was defrosting in the freezer were regular occurrences, as was keeping a supply of water on hand for when we lost the water supply as well. Given that my parents had never been further than Yugoslavia and my mother had only been abroad a handful of times I remain amazed and in awe by how well they coped in such an alien environment. No wonder the liquor cabinet was so well stocked!

And so we begin....

As mentioned in my previous post I am blogging my daily diary, If I can call the few short lines I wrote each day that, written by my seven year old self, during the 1977 Festival of Black arts and culture in Lagos, Nigeria... Here are the first two days...

Sunday 16th January 1977

On Sunday we went to the stadium in Tafawa Balewa Square to watch the Afro National Band from Sierra Leone. It was good.

Monday 17th January 1977

On Monday we went to the art shop. The man showed me around the shop. We went to the Old Niger House. There was a good art and craft exhibition. We went to the U.T.C Tea room, we could see Apapa.

Way back when...

One of my new year’s resolutions this year was to resurrect this blog. However given its the 17th January and this is my first post you can see it’s a resolution that’s going about as well as the "eating more healthy" one. However I have a bit of a cheat to get me back into regular blogging over the next month.

Back in January 1977 I was a 7 year old, skinny, straggly haired kid living with my parents and older brother in Lagos, Nigeria. Life was a simple round of school, playing with friends, going to the Ikoyi club and trying to earn badges at Brownies. However in mid January we had, what was for us kids, a welcome break from this routine as we were given a month off school. I have happy memories of me and my brother building cities of cardboard boxes in the garage, trying to learn to sew and going to see all sorts of music and dance performances. Why am I telling you this?

Well at the tail end of last year my parents were searching through boxes in the attic and they found a diary I had written during this month. The month off seemed to be less of a welcome break for the school and our parents and so we were set lots of work to do at home. Seems that the cardboard box city and the sewing were actually homework set by the school as was to write a daily diary of what we were doing.
It’s hardly high class journalism and I only wrote a few lines each day, but I suppose that is only to be expected given my age. That said I found it an astounding insight into the life we were leading back then and the way I viewed it. It re-awakened many old memories and really made me appreciate, once again, the remarkable journey that my parents took us on when they made the decision to move overseas. So I have decided to share that diary with you, day by day,
here on this blog. You too can have a look back at what was on the mind of my seven year old self.....

As a way of introduction I feel I should say that the school, St Saviours, Ikoyi, didn’t just randomly give us a month of school. All the schools in Lagos were closed to celebrate FESTAC 77 – the Second World Black and African Festival of Arts and Culture. For a month several venues in Lagos hosted daily performances, there were street festivals, regattas and all manner of celebrations – some of which I mention in my diary. According to various website I have come across there was also a two week scholarly colloquium which had five strands Arts and Pedagogy, Language and Literature, Philosophy and Religion, Historical awareness and Science and Technology... quite the ambitious program.

So if I have captured your attention do move on to the next post were we find the first two days of my diary....