FOUR dancers – Michelle Lane, Vicki Gardner, Sue Scott and Morag Frew – turned shoppers’ heads in the pedestrian precinct in Glasgow’s Buchanan Street in September 1973 when they put over a succinct message: Keep Britain Tidy. The quartet, reported the Evening Times, “danced to the latest record to put over a strong anti-pollution message”. Profits from the campaign were to be ploughed back into the charity's funds.
“This precinct,” said Douglas Wright, anti-litter campaign director for Scotland, “was provided for the use of the community, and that’s just what we’re doing – providing entertainment and putting over a real community spirit.”
At that time, the New Seekers, a popular chart group, had released a single, We’ve Got to Do It Now, and were photographed in Keep Britain Tidy t-shirts similar to ones worn by the dancers. “We’ve got to do it now, we can’t go on forever,” the song began. “Fouling up the streams, the rivers and the sea/ You know we’ve got the power if only we would use it/ But if we don’t, I see the end of you and me.”
A huge publicity campaign was launched to push the environmentally-aware song up the charts, but with profits going to Keep Britain Tidy campaign. The New Seekers can be seen performing the number – with glamorous stage-wear in place of T-shirts – on YouTube, in an edition of the Two Ronnies.
Read more: Herald Diary
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