Whatever Happened to the Bosworth Boys?

Four members of the Bosworth Boys in 1981:

Lee Flavell and Greg Mason stand in front of Neil Attree and myself

 

'Oh, what happened to you? / Whatever happened to me?

What became of the people we used to be?'

 Highly Likely (1973)

 

I.

 

Possibly because I've been watching Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads? [1] five nights a week on That's TV  (Freeview 56) - the home of iconic television from the last fifty years - I've been constantly humming the theme song [2] and feeling even more nostalgic than usual for the 1970s and old friendships formed at school ...

 

 

II. 

 

It will probably not surprise readers of this blog to discover that I did not go to an elite school as a child. 

 

That's not to say, however, that the institutions I attended - or the teachers who worked in them - were useless, or that I felt in any way deprived of opportunity (although to be unaware of what one is lacking or missing out on is, of course, a sign of deprivation; what the Marxists call false consciousness).     

 

Just that they had limited facilities and mostly looked to supply Ford Dagenham rather than Oxbridge.  

 

 

III. 

 

I began my educational journey at Bosworth Infant School in the late 1960s, before progressing to Bosworth Junior School (conveniently located right next door) in the early '70s. 

 

Both these schools on Charlbury Crescent, Harold Hill, were opened in 1951. And both were closed (and eventually demolished) in 1974, the year I left to begin senior school, because of fears of imminent collapse due to the use of high alumina cement in their construction [3].

 

My senior school was Bedfords Park Comprehensive; formed in 1973 by the amalgamation of Harold Hill Grammar School and Broxhill Secondary Modern School (or Boothill, as it was known locally) [4]. 

 

 

IV. 

 

It was at Bedfords Park that my friends and I were identified as the Bosworth Boys ...

 

Before that, we had no notion of ourselves as constituting a distinct group or gang. We were just boys of the same age who lived on the same estate, played football together, and were in the same class at school.

But at Bedfords Park we were the Bosworth Boys: me (the funny one); Andy Greenfield (the special one); Lee Flavell (the sporty one); Neil Attree (the short one); Mark Chandler (the tall one); and Greg Mason (the good-looking one). 

 

Whilst we were all mates, we were actually three pairs of close friends, rather than a unified group of six. 

Sadly, whilst Andy and I have remained friends and occasionally meet up for a pie and pint, I almost immediately lost touch with the others after leaving school in 1981 and I do wonder from time to time - though not very often, to be honest - whatever happened to the Bosworth Boys ...?

 

 

Notes

 

[1] Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads? is a British sitcom first broadcast on BBC1 between 9 January 1973 and 9 April 1974. It was a sequel to the mid-1960s series The Likely Lads. 

      Both were devised and written by Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais and both starred Rodney Bewes, as Bob Ferris, and James Bolam as his long-time best friend Terry Collier. However, they were very different shows; not only was Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads? in colour, it was smarter, funnier, and more touching (the comedy often including elements of pathos).   

      Overall, there were 26 episodes across two series, plus a 45-minute Christmas special in December 1974. The show (rightly) won a BAFTA TV Award for Best Situation Comedy in 1974.  

 

[2] The show's theme song, 'Whatever Happened to You', was written by Mike Hugg and Ian La Frenais and performed by a session band with singer Tony Rivers supplying the lead vocals. Recorded and released as a single on BBC Records (under the name Highly Likely), it reached number 35 in the UK Singles Chart in 1973: click here. Or for those who wish to know more, here's a short interview with Mike Hugg discussing the song: click here.

      Finally, Thom Bonneville will be amused to discover that a punk version was released by the British band Snuff as a Christmas single in 1995; it can be found on the album Potatoes and Melons Wholesale Prices Straight from the Lock Up (Fat Wreck Chords, 1997): click here. 

 

[3] Strangely - and rather disconcertingly - this phenomenon of buildings, businesses, and institutions that I have been associated with closing and then having all physical traces of their existence destroyed, has continued throughout my lifetime.

  

[4] Bedfords Park School in Harold Hill, Romford, Essex was closed in 2010. It is now the site of a thousand new homes and the Noak Hill Sports Complex (see note 3 above).