Lancashire nostalgia in 1978: Fire at T Ball; John Travolta in St Annes; and the Strip-off Factor

Here's a look at some of the stories that were making the headlines back in 1978:
Thick black smoke can be seen billowing from the huge fire at T. Ball Shoe ShopThick black smoke can be seen billowing from the huge fire at T. Ball Shoe Shop
Thick black smoke can be seen billowing from the huge fire at T. Ball Shoe Shop

Heartbreak inferno at town centre shop

A massive £250,000 blaze wrecked a Preston town centre hotel and destroyed a shoe shop in a teatime inferno.

Guests and staff from the Victoria Hotel in Fishergate were led to safety as more than 30 firemen in 11 tenders fought for two hours to bring the flames under control.

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One resident, Mr Frank Wall, 66, from London, told how he lay in the bath unaware of the drama until fireman warned him to leave.

And outside T. Ball’s shoe shop, boss Mr Terry Ball watched white faced and close to tears as the building crumbled.

Hundreds of onlookers lined the pavement as huge clouds of thick black smoke poured out high above the town’s main shopping street.

One of the first to spot the emergency was painter and decorator Mr Jack Lambert, 32, of Shaftsbury Avenue, Penwortham.

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He said he saw smoke coming from the shoe shop when suddenly the front window exploded and glass showered all over the road.

Another witness, Mr Alan Howarth, 19, said: “All of a sudden there was terrible bang and the roof of the shoe shop went up.”

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Look back at a selection of pictures from 1978 here

Lancs life fever of ‘shy’ Travolta

The rich living of Los Angeles’ exotic night-life leaves John Travolta cold - it’s the homely taste of Lancashire life he craves for.

Superstar John, the man with the world at his famous feet, likes nothing better than to stretch out in front of the television with his “adopted” Lancashire family.

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So says Mrs Joan Edwards, the St Annes woman who has been his personal aide for two years,

When the pressure gets too much it’s Joan and her 23-year-old actress daughter Kate that John turns to for some old-fashioned Northern common sense and sanity.

“We all spent Christmas together,” said Joan.

“I take care of him making sure he keeps all his appointments and generally keeping the pressure off him as much as possible.”

Strip-off Factor

Wanted: Beautiful Lancashire lasses.

Must be willing to bare their souls - and everything else come to that - on the giant silvery screen. Blonde, brunette, redheads, ravenheads, they’re all welcome.

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That’s the plea from the producers of the Great British Striptease Festival who have so far failed to uncover more than a handful of Northern girls willing to reveal their charms as part of a saucy new film.

The name of the game is the Strip-off Factor - and the girl who “takes off” best in the frolic-filled film stand to win a £500 first prize.

The strip festival, which stars comedian Bernard Manning, is to be filmed by a top camera team in front of a live audience at Blackpool’s Norbreck Castle Hotel.

Twenty strippers are scheduled to bump and grind the night away in what promises to be festival of fun and flesh.

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The general idea is that the girls will take part in an American style striptease competition compered by Manning. Each girl will have two minutes to woo a sex-crazed computer acting as judge.

The makers of the £100,000 movie, Amaranth Productions, are quite open about what they are making.

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