Christmas Shopping | Selfridges |1970's

Christmas toy shopping 1970's style - our 'Good Afternoon' presenter Tony Bastable takes his turn in the toy section in the iconic London Department store of 'Selfridges' Will he survive the rush... First transmitted on the 20th of December 1973
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[@ric5019]

Good lord, how we’ve changed. Not all for the better.

[@Phil-Sands]

Those were the days when everything was wrapped :-)

[@elcaballoblanco9627]

Tony's a legend, RIP mate!

[@caroljones4511]

I use to work for Selfridges in the 1980s and we always closed 5.30pm week days except for late nights on thursday at 7pm now they close at 9pm if I am correct and during sales period and xmas close at 10pm. Also you really need to have a genuine interest in meeting people and providing excellent service otherwise your are not going to last very long. It's a very competitive place to work your under constant pressure to perform and provide excellent service which is fine.

[@cratercritter]

That was probably the year I got the Escape from Colditz board game. Was always a hassle trying to find someone to be the Germans.

[@vincehusband5570]

Same here! LOL

[@splodge561]

Ahh nostalgia, its not like it used to be.

[@caroljones4511]

Selfridges closing at 6pm goodness how things have changed they closing 10pm.

[@marclaw4511]

When England was great and people were nice.We are all spoilt now.

[@tw9977]

Marc Law England’s still a great country but yeah we are all spoiled nowadays, just like every other country.

[@mattiemclean9882]

@@tw9977 wtf are you talking about spoiled????

[@tw9977]

@@mattiemclean9882 we have spoiled uneducated little brats who aren’t patriotic anymore. The only time we’re patriotic is when the football or rugbys on… if you hang an England flag outside your house your classed as a ‘chav’ and ‘white supremacist’

[@fieldsofgreen8857]

I used to work for Selfridges in the seventies, up in the offices above the store, if we had a ladder in our tights we were not allowed on the shop floor during lunch break you had to be imaculate to go down there.

[@colshythecomedian]

That's the geezer that presented Magpie.

[@jameswillett7186]

It seem like an Upper middle class crowd at Selfridges in the 1970's.

[@thomasmckeever1944]

I had striker aaaahhh the memories 😫

[@playgirlc]

omg i remember that presenter

[@tinamartin4133]

Alan Partridge lol

[@Keithbarber]

£25 a week in 1973 (with overtime) A railway worker doing a 45 hour 6 day week would earn about £22 (no over time)

[@a.anderson_1]

Real England

[@moominmay]

A. Anderson yup that wrapping was something else 😂

[@TrueBrit1]

Can you imagine what Tony would have been like if he really worked there? Customer: "Oh hello, I want to return this for a refund as my son didn't like it".Tony: "Oh I'm sorry madam. If you take it to the desk over there you may find somebody who gives a shlt, but I doubt it".

[@chap666ish]

1:30 I had one of those - a Cartesian Diver. Probably bought the same year this clip was filmed!

[@Dustydreams930]

That absolutely bonkers system of taking a receipt to the cash desk and then getting a green one with which to collect your item. I wonder how often the customer got a parcel Home and when unwrapped found it was the wrong one? The last place I remember doing this was Foyles bookshop - that system was still in place in the early 1990s.

[@undercoverhamster2549]

I like the way he smiles through gritted teeth at the end and then there's a close-up of the Nazi flag- what's that about then?!

[@tonemc6047]

Escape from Colditz was a big board game back then I remember it in the 80s it was based on the Second World War .

[@sober14999]

Yes I spotted the swastika too 😳

[@oldedinburgh6014]

I think it's some sort of visual metaphor to suggest working there, one might feel the need to escape. Looks incongruous these days to see the Swastika in shot.

[@nigelmckinley9595]

Great times see our parka coats then in the 70s I have them still exact same ones

[@sutherlandA1]

3:15 oh my fuhrer

[@manofweed1]

Who remembers 'Gamages' toy department in Holborn ?

[@ArtJourneyUK]

My mum used to work there!

[@Ozymandias1]

Mr. Humphries are you free?

[@Keithbarber]

He was never free but he never gave me a price list

[@gabriellaj.o.6180]

@@Keithbarber lol

[@ivanahavitoff7308]

Ive come to Selfridges.....dont look too fucking happy about it dear will you!

[@fraserkatie]

Having a feeling hes too over sarcastic here!!!!!

[@stephenspence295]

Robin Williams standing at the back at 1. 25.

[@lemonbade]

Is that the Mike Sammes singers in the background?!

[@nevermindthebollocks1171]

Skelmersdale United 👍

[@agfagaevart]

On The Buses Game? That would've been something! A small Jack figure sexually harrassing female clippy figures. :-0

[@marclaw4511]

£211 wages in todays money,well below wages now.

[@jefflim7020]

Marc Law have u factored in inflation?

[@Keithbarber]

About 48p per hour - 72p overtime

[@tcpnetworks]

The customer is never right.

[@AlabamaShrimp]

What a crap system of paying.

[@claddaghclare22]

I thought that ... Forerunner of what Argos do now.

[@ArtJourneyUK]

It’s only how the demonstrators took sales. There was no till on the demo desks.