In the late 1950s, my parents bought a record player. Then, ten years later, they bought a proper stereo system. I inherited the old record player, which I had in my bedroom. It was a pretty primitive thing really, it was just mono. Even so, I thought it wonderful that I could actually sit in my room and choose what I listened to. I got a Saturday job after that, mainly so that I could afford to buy records. Simon and Garfunkel, James Taylor, Joni Mitchell; my friends used to come round and we would just sit there in my room listening to our favourite singers and talking. This was the biggest part of our social lives in the seventies, just sitting in each other’s bedrooms and listening to old record players. << less