Thirty years ago today

It's thirty years since Karen Carpenter died.

You Keep Me Hanging On: 1974 Revisited - the albums

While Wilson, Thorpe and Wilson struggled over whether the grand piano would remain in Downing Street, the album chart saw a monster battle being fought between The Carpenters, and a collection of singles, and Slade, with Old, New, Borrowed And Blue.

My Friend Stan, off the Slade album:



Ah, Top Of The Pops. How will bloggers of the future fling together a lookback at these strange days without a Top Of The Pops archive to dig into?

You never turn down the chance for a spot of the Carpenters:



Slade won out briefly, knocking Carpenter and Carpenter from the top slot, only for the compilation of singles to reasset itself at number one.

[Part of You Keep Me Hanging On: 1974 revisited

Raze the Carpenter's roof-beams

Things estate agents don't mention when you're looking for a house will include the possibility that the neighbours sit on their patio in their pants until four am singing Nizlopi songs, that the local kids use your street for drag-racing at weekends, and that Karen Carpenter collapsed there and, as a consequence, you'll get a stream of fans pouring up your driveway to have a bit of a nose ("to pay their respects").

It's the latter problem which is afflicting Manuel and Blanca Melendez Parra, who live in what was Richard and Karen Carpenter's childhood home. They can cope with birds suddenly appearing, but they're growing tired of tourists suddenly appearing every time they have breakfast.

They want to pull the house down and start again. This, of course, has upset the Carpenters fans; they're campaigning for the local council in Downey to make the house a historic site.

If we were the Parras, we'd rely on walking around naked. That should stop people peeking in through the drapes.