It's now over half a century since 1970, and I'm starting to wonder if we should bring back its concept of gracious modern living...
You see we've grown so used to Swedish-style modernism that we've sort of forgotten that maximalism, rather than minimalism, was once the sign of a cultured abode.
The 1970s in many ways reached back to the rich ideas of Victorian decor: heavy, autumnal and cluttered. Home was meant to be a baroque and sensual experience, rather than a 'machine for living in.'
Gaudy was certainly in by 1970: colour choices for interior design were rich and varied, with every room becoming a boutique of signature design.
Experimentation and adventurism were also coming to the fore: now we had landed on the Moon surely we should start to live like astronauts on Earth.
Conspicuous consumption was reaching one of its periodic zeniths in 1970. Unlike today where we flaunt our home technology, in 1970 it was decor rather than data that we craved in abundance.
Our choice of colours also reflected the mood of the new decade: warmer, heavier and more nostalgic. Every surface of every room needed to bear the imprimatur of the age.
The oil shock of the early 1970s soon put a stop to our maximalist dreams of rich design: soon the aesthetic became more homely, more protective, smaller. Our homes now resembled a refuge from uncertainty.
Looking back, 1970 seemed like the last gasp of an idea of modernity that we have somewhat lost: an idea that home is a place that we welcome other people into, a place where we are entertained by entertaining others.
I'm not suggesting we can tackle the loneliness epidemic of the 2020s by going back to 1970, but I will leave you with this thought: what is a home for? Is it just shelter and protection, or is it also for hospitality and generosity?

Maybe 1970 got something right after all...

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More from @PulpLibrarian

13 Feb
Would you like to live in a UFO? Well in 1968 you could, thanks to Finnish architect Matti Suuronen. He created the Futuro House and for a while it was a worldwide sensation!

Let's take a look around...
The Futuro was a round prefabricated house initially designed as a ski chalet. Quick to build and easy to heat it reflected the optimism of the times.
Inside the spacious Futuro were all the 1960s mod cons: a central cooker/heater, reclining chairs, funky furniture and cool, crisp lines. Did it have shagpile carpets? Of course it did!
Read 9 tweets
13 Feb
In the shadowy corners of the shortwave spectrum lurk the Numbers Stations: strange radio broadcasts of mysterious blocks of numbers in creepy monotone voices!

It's actually an old form of spycraft which is still in use today. And as it's #WorldRadioDay let's take a listen...
A Numbers Station is a type of one-way voice link for sending information to spies in foreign countries.

Operating on Short Wave radio bands they transmit a secret code of spoken numbers. Use of Numbers Stations peaked during the Cold War, but some are still operating today.
Numbers Stations are operated by various national intelligence agencies. At set times on a pre-arranged frequency a musical tone is played, followed by a speech synthesised voice reading out blocks of numbers. To most listeners it sounds both creepy and meaningless.
Read 12 tweets
12 Feb
I'm very sorry to hear that Rowena Morrill has passed away. Her art graced many wonderful book covers over a long career, gaining her a legion of fans worldwide. She was a huge part of the SF&F publishing landscape and her talents will be sorely missed.
Rowena Morrill's original cover art for Darkspell, by Katharine Kerr. Del Rey, 1987.
Rowena Morrill's original cover art for Master of the Five Magics, by Lyndon Hardy. Del Rey, 1980.
Read 8 tweets
11 Feb
Today is #WomenInSTEM day, and I want to look back at a group of courageous working class women whose battle against fake 'science' and industry malpractice led to us all having a right to a safer workplace.

This is the story of the Radium Girls...
Radium, in the form of radium chloride, was discovered by Marie and Pierre Curie in 1898 and isolated in its metallic state in 1911. Radium amazed people: it seemed to contradict the principle of the conservation of energy. 'Radioactivty' soon became a new buzzword.
It wasn't long before radium products began appearing. The WWl Trench Watch used self-luminous radium paint to make the watch dial and hands visible in the dark, but not so visible that enemy snipers could identify the wearer. It soon became standard kit for Officers.
Read 15 tweets
5 Feb
"Tired of reality? Escape into the world of role-playing games." In particular one whose corporate history is a wild mix of battle, quests and the fickleness of fortune.

Today in pulp... the story of Dungeons & Dragons!
The history of Dungeons & Dragons and its parent company TSR is complex, like the game. It's full of feuds, schisms, colourful characters, chance happenings and fabulous riches. Again, like the game. So where to begin?
Pulp fiction - especially Robert E Howard, Michael Moorcock and Fritz Lieber - was a huge influence on Dungeons & Dragons: monsters, spells, magic armour and complex class systems all feature in it, derived from the ultimate ur-text - Lord of the Rings.
Read 21 tweets
4 Feb
The War on Drugs had at least one success. What it defeated was a compound that was a sleep aid, a party pill and a chemical warfare agent. A drug that showed that substance abuse and medicine could sometimes go hand in hand.

This is the story of Quaaludes...
The name 'Quaalude' is a pun, a marketing play on the phrase 'quiet interlude'. Developed in the US by Rorer and then by Lemmon as a sleep aid for the stressed, by 1983 production was stopped "due to the increasingly adverse legislative climate surrounding the product."
Quaalude itself is simply a brand name for Methaqualone. In the UK and elsewhere it was called Mandrax. And it was certainly popular: by 1965 it was Britain's most-prescribed sedative.

As the saying went "'Ludes and Mandies, prescribed like candies."
Read 15 tweets

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