NOVEMBER 22, 1979. It was the day that I made the earth move, quite literally, for Scandi superstar Britt Ekland. 

The Swedish movie star was out on the road to promote saucy single Do It To Me (Once More With Feeling), a pop picture disc bearing a photo of Britt in her birthday suit.

So what better, she decided, than to head out to the Wolverhampton Wanderers FC training ground to have a kickaround with the players and some of the ELO stars?

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Brummie heroes ELO were at the time on the same record label as Britt. It was a photo opportunity any tabloid would snap up. Except the Birmingham Evening Mail, for whom I was working.

At the time, the Mail’s editor believed that no self-respecting Brummie would have any interest whatsoever in Wolverhampton. Accordingly, anything happening over the Black Country border was out of bounds. 

But this was beautiful Britt, a huge star. Almost on our patch. 

Today you could snap a picture then Photoshop it onto a more local background. Or you could let AI take care of business. But back in 1979 that was still the stuff of a picture editor’s dreams. 

I decided to take drastic action. With a photographer, I popped in to the Sandwell Council signwriting depot somewhere down Great Bridge way, on the road to Dudley.

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I explained our predicament. Did they have, I enquired, a spare West Bromwich sign that I might borrow for a few hours? The man on the desk was bemused but disappeared into a back room. 

He emerged brandishing a huge metal West Bromwich sign which he said was surplus to requirements. He’d be happy for us to have it. Clear a bit of space in the store-room.

We bundled it into the back of my Morris Marina estate car, then drove up to the leafy training ground where I collared Britt for an interview and asked if she’d pose for pictures. 

And, by the way, would she mind holding a giant metal sign I just happened to have with me in the car while she was at it? It could have been one of the great chat-up lines.

Ever the professional, Britt happily agreed and the next day’s Mail carried a front page picture under the headline ‘Britt visits Sandwell for kicks’ or some such. She autographed the sign for us too.

Fake news? No, not really. A chat with an A-lister who chose the West Midlands as the place to promote her record – just displaced by five miles or so. So yes,  I’d made the earth move for Britt, for those five miles at least.

Here’s the story that appeared inside that day’s Mail, complete with the reason for her being in Sandwell. Apparently her car briefly broke down on the way through the borough …

Lately, I’ve been revisiting some of the music memorabilia that had been stored in boxes in the loft, but enjoyed a new lease of life when I sorted through it all during Covid lockdown in 2020.

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I originally published some posts on my sadly neglected (by me, that is) blog Still Got The Fever under the banner ‘Treasures From The Attic’ but have recently given them another run here.

Love ’em or loathe ’em, there will be more. You have been warned!

* Images in this post courtesy of Jet Records and the Birmingham Post & Mail.

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