Grange Hill (40th Anniversary)

Some 40th Anniversary stuff has been popping up on my social media feeds.

Brings back loads of old school memories.

It was banned in our house for the first few years, so I only started watching at the Zammo ‘Just say no’ storyline which was actually pretty hard-hitting.

The cast just after that was pretty influential at school – most of the cast names were used as people’s nicknames.

I remember being gobsmacked when Mr Bronson appeared in The Empire Strikes Back!

Playing footie in Risca Park one day and a kid comes along swearing he had just seen Gripper Stebson, he had apparently the actor was dating a girl and had gone to meet her parents.

Growing up in the valleys Benny was the first black kid I was exposed to, he was so cool.

Flippin ‘eck Tucker!

I remember being gobsmacked when Mr Bronson appeared in The Empire Strikes Back!

He never suffered from being type-cast or anything 🙂

Gonch went to my Uni

Bring back corporal punishment!!

I used to work in the same company as Danny (was it Danny? The one who was bullied by Mr. Bronson and ended up with a brain tumor). This was VNU – United Dutch Publishing where he worked as a journalist.

Ironically, Zammo worked for the key cutters in St Anne’s Court in Soho, London which was two minutes walk from the office.

Danny Kendall. Ledge.

Geetee yeah I used to see Danny Kendall about at the trade shows, think he worked on Computer Weekly? I worked at ZD, back when print was still going 😉

I remember being gobsmacked when Mr Bronson appeared in The Empire Strikes Back!

Nearly as surprising as Johnny Briggs’s dad appearing in Star Wars!

PS – OP I presume you’ve seen this? https://grangehillgold.wordpress.com/

By chance I spent a good hour or so on it the other day – like the old days of the internets when you would go do a search and turn up loads of Geocities-esque fan sites 🙂

No I hadn’t seen that munkster – It’s nice to reminisce a bit (although making it a full-blown hobby seems extreme!)

Geetee yeah I used to see Danny Kendall about at the trade shows, think he worked on Computer Weekly? I worked at ZD, back when print was still going 😉

It was ‘Computing’ – Computer Weekly was the big rival published by Reed. He might well have gone to work there from VNU though.

As an aside, the newly appointed Deputy Chairman of the Conservative Party, James Cleverley, was also a colleague at VNU. It’s reassuring that you can start out your career selling recruitment advertising space in a bunch of B2B IT and consulting trade journals and still rise to being a member of parliament. There’s hope yet!

i used to have a massive crush on Claire, she’s aged better than me!

I used to love Grange Hill, I remember most of the cast mumbling along to ‘Just Say No’ on Top of the Pops. Terrible campaign.

One of the girls at my School was pretty heavy set and ginger, she got called ‘Trev’ after Trevor Clever. She hated it, lord knows why.

“Where’s your boots, Green?”

I went to school with one of the cast’s brothers, and slow danced with her at a party once.

Laura Reagan, FWIW, her mum was the PE teacher.

Jackie in fishnet stockings?! So wrong… 😆

Looking at their careers, it looks like there was a common pattern of Grange Hill > Eastenders > Then a fork to either The Bill or Casualty!

Third from left Rocketdog, cant remember her name but when I was 11, she was my dream girl 🙂 (looks a bit too much like Carol Smiley now though)

Too much like Carol Smiley? That’s a bad thing?

Haha trailwagger, already been there 😉

Laura Reagan / Fiona Mogridge

Danny Lives.

KENDALLLLLLLLL!

Did someone die at the bottom of a swimming pool or did I imagine it? This would have been pre ziggy and gonch but post tucker.

Some one sunk to the botoom but Mr Baxter? rescued them.

Did RktDg put that montage/collage together himself?

Looking at their careers, it looks like there was a common pattern of Grange Hill > Eastenders

Walford is in the catchment area for Grange Hill, obvs

> Then a fork to either The Bill or Casualty!

anyone who’s ever acted has either or even both of those and their CV mind. And Crimewatch.  🙂

Jeremy (who I vaguely recall was someone’s cousin @ Rodney Bennett or Brookdale) sank to the bottom of the pool and carked it.

Don’t recall any successful pool lifesaving.

Must have been just before ziggy, gonch and the girl who took her pets to school.

The coach trip to France was one of the eps I remember most.

And the guy that fell off a multistorey.

Seems he did die.

https://www.google.co.uk/search?source=hp&ei=Pt2BWu2iD4agUYLxnYAO&q=grange+hill+drowning&oq=grange+hill+dro&gs_l=mobile-gws-hp.1.0.0j0i22i30k1.1935.7552.0.8604.16.16.0.9.9.0.166.1576.8j7.16.0….0…1c.1.64.mobile-gws-hp..0.16.950.3..41j46j0i131k1j0i46k1.101.ehPVKl9DtF4

Didn’t Claire get her bikini top ripped off in a film sometime after GH. 🙂

By a dolphin ?

http://movie-dude.co.uk/Michael%20Sheard.htm

Caught up with bitbof force 10 from navarone last night on the box and he was again a nazi!

that link neglects to mention his Dr Who appearance

Claim to almost fame; Mrs K went to the same Drama school as Michelle Gayle, who played Hattie (Rol-and!).  A bit later they both auditioned for Eastenders and Michelle got the part instead of Mrs K.

Phew 😉

Didn’t Claire get her bikini top ripped off in a film sometime after GH. 🙂

Got that on VHS somewhere 😎

Row-Land was Janet St. Clair / Simone Nylander ?

Barbara Speake’s? Did she meet Phil Collins’s mum?

And randomly, did she ever have anything to do with dollhouses?

My word Rocketdog, so many school boy crushes, so much quality me time.