Soul Britannia

Did you know that Julie Driscoll sold more records in the Sixties than Aretha Franklin? Well done you if you did, I must confess that I didn't and that despite being a fan of both singers.

Seeing Julie Driscoll on the BBC4 series Soul Britannia took me back nearly thirty years to the only time in my life that I've dated an older woman and two-timed somebody that I was going out with - there is a connection here I promise.

When I first started in accountancy I worked for a small firm that quickly became part of an international accountancy firm, what was great however was the social life. All the staff below management level were around the same age group 17-25 and we used to go out en masse as I have said before in my postings.

One person who wasn't part of this group was a 28 year old secretary called Liz, she didn't join in the Friday night wine bar/disco trawl through Bournemouth because she had a very possessive boyfriend who to be honest thought anybody who used a pen rather than a screwdriver to earn a living was a bit, how shall I put it, gay. Anyway Liz's boyfriend Harry, was what my grandmother would have called a bad lot and when he was refused a drink after hours at a pub in Boscombe, the greasy spoon end of Bournemouth, he returned a few hours later and tried to burn the pub down. With Harry away, at one of Her Majesty's finest, Liz could come out to play.

Now I was just 18 and I'd never even thought about dating anybody older than me, Erica my fiance (I wrote about her last autumn for regulars) was 16, but Liz and I were attracted to each other straightaway - it wasn't anything subtle it was just sex. If I had imagined what it was like going out with an older woman before I actually did I don't think I could have imagined it as good as it was without the aid of drugs. She was attractive without a doubt, I found out during the course of the summer of 1978 that she had been a model for 'adult' magazines, she was bisexual, had her own flat and didn't want me for my 8 O levels - I was living every teenage boys fantasy - no strings attached jungle sex.

The only problem was Erica, the only way I could get out of the house without her wanting to come with me was if I went to football practice - boy was I fit by the start of the 1978-79 season!

By the way the connection between Liz and Julie Driscoll? Well Liz ahd worked in the record industry after leaving school at the end of the sixties, she went to all the parties and met all the big names of the day - she ended up in bed with both Julie Driscoll and Brain Auger at one of those parties. See, the trouble with youth is that it's wasted on the young.