Now Yearbook 1971

The period in the early 70's when music was taking a big chunk of my interests as a seven year old in Infants still listening on 247 and 208 metres Medium Wave on my handed down portable radio and the family stereogram in an era when pop music was AM only and I plug the Sharp portable tape recorder in the back to copy stuff I liked.

Really this era wasn't much compiled missing 1972's tv advertised sets on Ronco and K Tel so it was re-recording on Music For Pleasure's Hot Hit's and Hallmark's Top of the Pops series each with a "dolly bird" on the cover and eleven or twelve songs and much later on in some "Glam Rock sets" so it's great to have this although there's no Ringo, George and Rolling Stones in this 80 song set.

Disc One opens with Elton John’s signature song ‘Your Song’, followed by Paul McCartney’s debut solo single ‘Another Day’, and Rod Stewart with his first chart-topper ‘Maggie May’ alongside the second #1 for T.Rex with ‘Get It On’. 

U.S. classics also feature such as Neil Diamond’s ‘Sweet Caroline’ is as popular today as it was in ’71, as is John Denver’s ‘Take Me Home Country Roads’  that I liked plus country-pop hits for Lynn Anderson and Olivia Newton-John come ahead of singer-songwriter gold from Cat Stevens and Carly Simon.

Diana Ross hit #1 with ‘I’m Still Waiting’ which wasn't an A side in America and the Jackson 5 hit the top in the U.S. with one of their most beloved tracks, ‘I’ll Be There’ all followed by peerless soul ballads from The Delfonics and Al Green along with big pop hits for R. Dean Taylor, Blue Mink, The Fortunes, Sweet and The Kinks before Tom Jones completes the first disc with ‘She’s A Lady’. 

Disc Two opens with Judy Collins’ version of ‘Amazing Grace’ was massive hit and would end up spending an incredible 67 weeks on the UK charts followed by Peter Noone enjoying a big hit covering David Bowie’s ‘Oh You Pretty Things’  from Honky Dory and Cilla Black was back in the Top 3 with ‘Something Tells Me…’.’Gypsys, Tramps & Thieves’ gave Cher a U.S. #1 and comes ahead of a run of pure-pop gems from Clodagh Rodgers (with 1971’s UK Eurovision entry), The Mixtures, Jackie Lee, Lobo and ‘Knock Three Times’, the first #1 for Tony Orlando & Dawn. 

Easy Listening gold up next from Andy Williams, Perry Como, Elvis Presley, Tom Jones and Tony Christie, plus more of the years’ pop hits from Bay City Rollers their first ever #9 hit , Gilbert O’Sullivan, Marmalade, New World, Hurricane Smith and to close the disc a Top 10 hit, ‘I Believe (In Love)’ for Hot Chocolate. 

Disc Three celebrates 1971’s groundbreaking soul, rock and singer-songwriter classics, opening with Marvin Gaye’s landmark masterpiece ‘What’s Going On’, although this wasn't a UK hit single in truth  before the Oscar-winning ‘Theme From "Shaft"’ from Isaac Hayes. Ike & Tina Turner’s electrifying ‘Proud Mary’ is followed by the sublime ‘Spanish Harlem’ from Aretha Franklin, while Diana Ross and Gladys Knight & The Pips deliver two of the year’s finest Motown ballads with ‘Remember Me’ and ‘If I Were Your Woman’. 

The second half of the discs see a superb run of rock classics, from Titanic’s international smash ‘Sultana’ and Deep Purple’s ‘Strange Kind Of Woman’ to Badfinger’s ‘No Matter What’, before one of the defining anthems of the era, The Who’s epic ‘Won’t Get Fooled Again’. 

Three Dog Night’s U.S. #1 ‘Joy To The World’ leads into further highlights from Curved Air, Family, C.C.S. and Atomic Rooster, while Redbone’s ‘The Witch Queen Of New Orleans’ and Free’s ‘My Brother Jake’ showcase two more unforgettable rock-oriented chart hits. 

This peerless collection closes with three timeless recordings: Buffy Sainte-Marie’s powerful ‘Soldier Blue’, Joan Baez’s interpretation of ‘The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down’, and finally Janis Joplin’s posthumous hit – the classic ‘Me And Bobby McGee’. 

Disc 4 opens with another run of unforgettable chart smashes and #1s from Rod Stewart with ‘Reason To Believe’ and T. Rex with ‘Hot Love’ one three that year , plus early glam-pop favourites from Sweet and Slade. 

Mungo Jerry keep the #1s coming before Dave & Ansel Collins' groundbreaking chart-topper ‘Double Barrel’ became the second ever reggae single to hit the UK #1 spot – and another #1 for The Tams with the re-released Northern Soul classic ‘Hey Girl Don’t Bother Me’. 

This is followed the Four Tops, The Temptations, Bill Withers, The Delfonics, Jackson 5 and The Supremes delivering a stunning run of timeless Soul classics, joined by the Northern Soul favourites ‘I'm Gonna Run Away From You’ from Tami Lynn, and ‘Heaven Must Have Sent You’ from The Elgins. 

Pop favourites from Middle Of The Road with their #1 ‘Chirpy Chirpy Cheep Cheep’whose moves I still remember, Tony Orlando & Dawn and The New Seekers lead into two of the year's most memorable #1s – both tv-personality led - that book-ended the year as Clive Dunn's ‘Grandad’ is followed by Benny Hill's ‘Ernie (The Fastest Milkman In The West)’ - the Xmas #1 for 1971 that many of remember from his tv show - to bring this spectacular Yearbook collection to a smile-inducing close. NOW Yearbook 1971 – a celebration of what was the best musically of a year I well remember in all it's diversity.

Now Yearbook 1999

A changed format for this edition but we've had a new edition to the 1995-1999 arc of the Now Yearbook series which marks the point where afterwards the series for the 2,000nds starts with a four cd set for two years.

It was the last year of the century the point by which I'd moved to buying mainly albums albeit on record, cd or the so 90's MiniDisc that appeared to toss good sound and portability with digital convenience in finding tracks.

I opted for the book version as I no longer have the magazines such as Blues and Soul I used to read during this era and well I don't feel like hunting the internet to check when something was a hit and how high in the chart it got.

All our late 90's favourites are present from Indie, Rock, Modern R&B and Pop like the much talked about B*Witched from Ireland.

In August the now obligatory Extras set with 61 more hits arrived in a card wraparound sleeve that really jars with the quality of the main set.

Electric Barbarella by Duran Duran included in their Decade compilation appears as do so entries by former Spice Girls while brilliant funksters Jamiroquai feature with Supersonic and beloved of furry dice Ford Escort owners Lighthouse Family show up with Postcard From Heaven.

This is a great way to say goodbye to this decade when Top Of The Pop's still was the show to watch even if we had MTV and VH1 for classic shows such as The Lick with Trevor Nelson.

Play as it was

 Despite learning to ape stereotypical "Ugh! you expect ME to like that?" comments complete with actions actually i loved cute stuffies and frilly linen on beds and tables

In era when saying that was likely to see you ostrasized if not assaulted, you learned not merely to keep your mouth shut  but even not show any physical expression of interest never mind actually liking them.

We did play games even if for some of the time you were on the "wrong" side of the playground and even if games were mixed you preferred to play the girls role.

Kiss chase is a traditional playground game similar to tag we played. One player or group is "it" and chases participants of the opposite sex. When a player is caught, they receive a kiss. The caught person then becomes the chaser.

How to Play. Choose Who is "It": One group (traditionally boys or girls) counts to ten while the other group runs away.The Chase: The chasers run to catch a member of the opposing group.

The Catch: Tagging someone requires a quick kiss (usually on the cheek) upon capture.Switching Roles: The person who got caught and kissed now joins the chasing team, or roles swap entirely after everyone is caught

We also played Kiss, cuddle or torture This was simply a game of chases involving boys and girls, usually in the school playground. When caught, the boy would offer the girl a choice: kiss, cuddle or torture. 

Boys frequently played war games that involved torture sometimes getting close to seeing the Headmaster given the intensity of them. Actual military interrogation would of only been marginally worse. 

I totally hated it.

This sort of more romance based play was more my thing.

Life was simpler then.

Changes, the heat and stuff

 This *could* be another heatwave week as I'm still having the odd sunburn related skin lifting experience so I'm having to be careful and not rub it .

There are a few things to mention one is connected around site memberships, I do have a Discord now "TammyGurl" and belong to some sissy discords for chat and the like although that won't affect blogging here as discord doesn't do lots of threads so things soon get lost in time.

The other slightly connected to that is Avatars as sites often have rules around what they consider to be acceptable and with Discord having the profiles not age restricted means what's on their including your avatar has to be safe for work.

It sometimes is the case at other sites you might of had an avatar for a while but it comes to light it's origin may not be entirely suitable so with that I have reset the Sissy Kiss avatar to something far more suited while still being frilled which I was rather more while away a few weeks back.

In this rather hot weather I have been wearing Babydolls with frilly very sissified silk panties which are wonderful.

She may have that look but I'm a fully formed Sissy Gurl  and she might have to get used to it.

Awayweek 2026

Away week 2026 style started last Friday with a detour by a friend enroute despite a silly motorist causing issues outside the house just as the car was being loaded and I was trying to get in the car all ladylike in my black skirt and white long socks as we took a series of A Roads to beat the traffic that causes delays using the motorway to get to our destination for six days of fun.

We stopped off a few times for a break and stretch the legs before arriving and unloading in our respective rooms with me way up in the Gods in the attic room requiring two stairways to climb.

Given some business that by co-incidence was moving to a final determination just as I was away I really needed a break beyond just having more child-like totally innocent fun.

The overall theme of the get together was Movies and that was well weaved into things and out with individual event organizers. 

We did some arts drawing or painting miniatures based upon favourite children's movies we loved so I went for the St. Trinian's Great Train Robbery  where the girls made their way up the railway line.

There was decorating so inspired by a light I used pink icing and aniseed sprinkles to cover the sweet wafer carefully spreading the icing all over. 

I'll be honest and say cookery isn't my strong point but that worked out just fine actually.

Then in crafts we made paper airplanes from card, decorating  where they were judged for travel that was tested in the grounds, decoration and originality

A few jigsaws were made such as this Mr Men one  on a table by several of us.

There was a movie themed Treasure Hunt with clues and some singing of songs from The Sound of Music.

My friend organized some games with movie themes as did another a day later which I didn't do too badly at given my wobbly lower paws and damaged upper paws.

The All Purr-Puss Nekimimi Music Quiz was run by the resident catgurl which went well given the mice ate the wifi so unlike previous years this all had to done by pen rather print outs with some film related questions.

In addition a general knowledge quiz also with links to movies that went well while over three nights storytime happened which was super cool.

A variety of meals were prepared by the assembled although on days where there wasn't any organized activities people fixed their own on the Tuesday we went to a hotel that does meals open to non residents where I really enjoyed the Turkey and Leek pie  with chips and veg.

The cooking standard was one of the finest I've ever experienced.

Thanks to everyone who did something such as organize an event, prepare food, clean up and generally help out as it doesn't happen with everyone mucking in.

Thoughts while away

 Well we are away this week so no live posts having a more little time of it with friends for the fun of it, just like Summer Camps always were so we're really reflecting a bit on things here on the blog and in real life.

Whatever the dinosaurs say if I bloody well want to wear a skirt cos I feel myself in it I darn well will and that doesn't mean I stop being a gurl

I'm just a feminine sissy who is wired a bit different compared to most and I certainly don't want to be a girl or regular boy just the "sissy gurl" self I am.

If I want to wear more feminine  flowery shorts that so I can cos you're still that Sissy  and no boy would EVER want to be seen wearing them!

Although this blog and much of me is that more younger take on being sissy, perhaps reflecting the real life turbulence of those years it doesn't mean I can't present more as a young adult sissy gurl would, more kittenish than really provocative.

One doesn't negate the other however some peoples narratives and that run.

RE:Peter

While after next week where we are treated to a repeat of Joel's last challenge and see if he does get replaced, Blue Peter takes a break on CBBC for the summer returning in September.

Given the sheer number of Blue Peter related entries on this blog and the other I can't say for certain where exactly it is but there are a series of posts related to Blue Peter Books, issued in time for Christmas that very late in the day got titled as "annuals".

Annuals as any Brit knows are a massive thing and not just for Children although that was always the bigger market.

RE:Peter is about this borrowing the title given to re-runs of classic 70's esposides shown in the 1990's because we are stepping way back in time as the series I have runs from Book Four around 1967 to 1998.

I don't have personal memories of the earliest episodes although it would of been on for my older brother who around this period would of been six or seven years old but it was before what many see as the classic John,Peter and Val team came together.

While Val is on the left the man on the right is Christopher Trace, the first ever male presenter the show had who left at some point in the mid to late 1960's.

The first ever and harder to find Blue Peter book came out in 1964, a little late in the day and not as fully BBC controlled as later editions were to become but in an age without video recorders at home never mind the iPlayer it was a useful reminder of what you'd seen, a bit more about topics from the show  and things you can do.

This proved to be such a success that the second volume was issued in 1965 for 1966.

The then trade mark Blue Peter pets star on the cover while the contents are a resume of highlights from past shows, short stories and quizes.

By the time the third book came out in 1966 things were beginning to change, not least the set attire was more casual, no ties for men, Valerie can wear a dress showing her arms reflecting changes in british fashion and social ideals.

We also see on the far left a youthful John Noakes who had just joined and was to make a large inpact on the show as the years went by,

Programming while still very much scripted was a little less school Marmish and  overly educational  although factual content continued but represented to appeal to a more modern and less regimented child and as ever it featured pieces about much loved show episodes, stories, puzzles and makes to have a go at.

A common issue with the earliest books is the spines soon show damage to both the printed card  with the title on and the actual binding being handled not always with the care a book should as much as that child clearly loved having it.

Seeing these books gives me an idea of what my Brother saw back then and how the show was developing into what has become the longest running childrens tv show in the World.

For now this is the end of my collection annuals that means something to me