1970s Holidays | Isle of Wight | England | Wish you were here? | 1978

'Wish you were here?' presenter Judith Chalmers takes a trip to the island holiday hot spot of of the Isle of Wight.
First shown: 12/01/1978
If you would like to license a clip from this video please e mail:
[e-mail]
Quote: VT17301

[@OldMod67]

I spent a week or so on IOW in August 1978, with my parents. I turned 11 years old that month and was due to start senior school in September. I went back a few times afterwards, but it's interesting to see it in '78!

[@deelot1]

Reminds me of my childhood holidays. Thanks for uploading this

[@liscatcat8756]

Very lucky childhood ❤

[@mathewgreen4099]

Many thanks for posting these extracts of Wish You Were Here, it’s fascinating stuff. I just wish the boffins would come up with a workable time machine & then we could revisit these seemingly simpler times.

[@zebedep]

@2:26 here we find ourselves in 2020 watching Judith Chalmers eating a sandwich in 1978.

[@dezmondwhitney1208]

We stayed for a week in a B@B in Sandown in 1984. It was a fine holiday and The Isle Of Wight was a great place to be.

[@ftorres93]

Makes me want to go back to the 70s, what fun we had on the I.O.W

[@whufciironworkes]

Me too, pontins Little Canada

[@MrDavey2010]

They say that when arriving in IoW you have to adjust your watch. You put your clock back 50 years!

[@TheStevenWhiting]

Yep. This was also only filmed a few days ago ;o)

[@robsawalker]

If it was still like this, I’d be all over it! Very happy memories of being on holiday there with my parents in the 70s

[@mookyzook]

Unfortunately not any more, filled with the same boring town centres and shops as the rest of the country. You'd think that they would have tried to keep the Victorian theme going to attract the visitors but of course everyone started flying to Spain not long after this was made. Then the developers moved in with all the chain shops. When I left in 1981 there was still no major supermarkets on the Island. Now I travel all over the country for work and everywhere looks the same..

[@rainbowriverclarkbrown]

50 years back in time, how Wonderful, at least in many respects. ❤️

[@theSam91]

50 hours of instruction over 4 weeks of holidaying got you a full private pilots license in 1978?? I was born in the wrong decade it seems!

[@rainbowriverclarkbrown]

Another positive, also jobs where widely available, without hassle of all those documents, cvs, etc. ❤️

[@LuisGonzalez-pw7rl]

Beautiful land! Thanks THAMES TV for Share us this Moments!!

[@Tmuk2]

Look how steep that slide is! I remember a similar one in my town park. If you fell off you were basically dead.

[@LeighRichards27]

no health and safety in them days lol

[@bigdvinyl2012]

Love the classic thames TV ident gone but never forgotten

[@robertmarsh3588]

Always love visiting the IoW and do it frequently. Its a little changed from 42 years ago but still a wonderful place.

[@EmilePoelman]

It looks lovely. What are the main changes?

[@robertmarsh3588]

@@EmilePoelman mainly roads and some building around Newport, the main town. I'd love to go back in a time machine to before the mid 60s though as there was an extensive rail network across the island.

[@EmilePoelman]

Thanks @robertmarsh. Still sounds lovely! I really miss the simpeler pleasures of the 70s. Like good public transport, everything on a smaller scale, every trip, even close to home, an adventure. That shops werd different wherever you went. Of course there were other issues in the 70s (cold war, poverty, industrial troubles, etc) but traveling at least was more fun.

[@cryingonion2]

Classic, love it!

[@debrawhite751]

@ThamesTV - You mean Isle of Wight - even I know that, and I'm an American!

[@antman5474]

... surnamed White no less.

[@stevo728822]

Shanklin Pier got blown away in the 87 storm.

[@mulemanism]

That’s how the iow was and is in my mind from when I was a kid . Haven’t been to Robin hill since 87’

[@captainbuggernut9565]

I'm still here. I remember those tanks at Robin Hill. The Crab is pretty much the same too.

[@TheDarrenP]

My mum and Dad took me on my first holiday in the 80s to Shanklin when I was in nappys. The Chime is a nice plays to walk around especially at night

[@briansparks8528]

What a goddess Judith you are. Thanks

[@securityrobot]

Victorians loved Piers. I didn’t know he was that old.

[@doktoruzo]

That £63 per adult full board at the Sandringham is equivalent to £365 in today's money (2020)

[@normanmunns4743]

and the rest more like £500

[@doktoruzo]

@@normanmunns4743 . Used the Bank of England's inflation calculator...£365

[@stanogden4574]

As big as Judith charmers and thats absolutely bloody enormous

[@hughtierneytierney3585]

The Sandringham Hotel is doing a good job of representing soviet-style architecture in southern England, particularly the lobby. Well done to them!

[@keithawhosoever5384]

Robin Hill has closed down . I don't know if it will reopen again as it is , or be developed into something else. 🤔 Islands Roads have diversion signs everywhere , very often for no reason . The IW council made over 4 million pounds last year on parking fines alone ❗ Parking charges are ever increasing. Pot holes galore, and some roads that haven't been resurfaced since I came to the Island back in 1998 . Aswell as some other grievances I won't bore anyone with , apart from the above , the Island still has retained some charm . 😊🏖️

[@davidpowell3691]

Still a beautiful island but a lot of dereliction and decay in Shanklin and Sandown - the grand hotel, tarvic2 hotel, St Moritz, Ocean hotel, channel view, savoy and royal cliff hotels all oddly consumed by fire or empty and decaying. Wight City has been demolished along with the Jolly Sailor pub and Colonel Bogey's nightclub, the Court Jester has gone too. It now costs 164 quid to use the car ferry - that is off season - and pretty much every time you want to park the car to soak up the atmos it's another fiver. There are hardly any amusement arcades left - the only one in Sandown is on the pier at Sandown, Shanklin's pier was destroyed in the storm of 1987. Zanies nightclub / Blue Lagoon arcade was demolished some years back, the land it stands on came up for sale at 900 grand but nobody wants it because all that can be built there is 5 small houses that would cost about 400 grand each with no land around them so expect that bit of land to be an eyesore for a few more years yet. There has been a lot of cash spent though, Premiere inn have a hotel on the front at Sandown, which looks nice from the outside, looks like the Trouville has been spruced up nicely too.

[@christopherhulse8385]

We all had a snake round our shoulders as a kid back then, the reptile man would pop round to school every year!

[@bellosardo84]

I want a crab sandwich too now, lol. I bet it was delicious.

[@alantorr4761]

Judith's reaction when the snake is placed around her neck is priceless. Maybe Durden Smith hasn't got much girth 🤔

[@myalfie]

Your right that’s why she mentioned sticking to donkeys 😳

[@antman5474]

😂

[@TheStevenWhiting]

Isle of Wight

[@seanwallace1972]

Is that flying tuition still going,I’d love to do it

[@vojtechgudyka4036]

Nothing has changed since 1978 😂 literally exactly the same. Only things that have changed are the prices

[@kazbaz8645]

Queens bedroom was not open to visitors this year. Still good.

[@garethbramley1]

Ventnor Botanic Gardens > Shanklin (Crab Inn /Chine) > Bonchurch > Bembridge Airport > Osborne House > Robin Hill Country Park.

[@eurouc]

We get the inflation factor but why are these hotels prices quoted by the week and not by the night ? Bummer if you only wanted a weekend away.

[@eurouc]

Hilarious. One always thinks of busses as the most relaxing way to travel . Is this entire story a spoof ?

[@woodyeckerslyke9676]

Lol The children's playground is safe from traffic. Was that not a prerequisite in the 70's?

[@bellosardo84]

I would have never boarded that little plane

[@Witheredgoogie]

Judith Chalmers and Sheila Fern founder members of The Yummy Mummys.

[@Keithbarber]

Bristol vr and re seen in service

[@cbak12sg]

That can't be Judith Chalmers. There's not a trace of red on her!

[@lovecountry6549]

At this time how much for a cheeseburger 🍔 in London England ??

[@TheStevenWhiting]

99p

[@eurouc]

Bungalows are carpeted 🤣 Just the environment vacationers want 🤣

[@dormantsuperhero]

Now its derelict and fast being turned into a giant housing estate you cant afford to escape from due to the ridiculous price of the ferrys! Avoid.

[@keithawhosoever5384]

That's an exaggeration to say the least . 🤔 🇬🇧🏖️

[@original.dwornboy]

White? Wow, it's Wight.

[@MrTantrums007]

IOW should have banned those idiots towing in caravans LOL!

[@normanmunns4743]

depressing looking weather who in their right mind would go there when it will probably rain or at least be cloudy for two weeks

[@EgoShredder]

I know what you mean but you go somewhere for the place first, the weather is secondary.

[@garmar8329]

Not today. Blue sky with the sun shining high in the sky.

[@mral13131313]

You are obviously not the outdoor type, probably from a city. Kite boarding, windsurfing, sailing , surfing, paragliding, walking, park runs, loads of nice pubs and restaurants, leisure centres, museums......and more concentrated so you don’t have to travel miles to do stuff. Loads of art festivals and top line music festivals. I’ve travelled all over the World and I wouldn’t live anywhere else.

[@christophersavill4785]

@@mral13131313 spot on. Been to the island every year since I was 8. My 50th visit this August. Beautiful island

[@mral13131313]

@@christophersavill4785 We’ve noticed houses are selling fast so I guess people want a better style of life. It’s not ideal here, you always have the idiots but generally it’s a good place to holiday, as you know. We had holiday flats for years in Sandown but it was tying up our summers too much as we got older. Now retired, we walk the dog along the beach to the Sundial cafe and have a coffee with friends who’ve made the move over from Isle of Wight North Island.....just the thing to start the day.