IT WAS A SUMMER VERY LIKE THIS, in July 1990, when the 50th Anniversary of the Battle of Britain was commembrated on Higgins Point in Sussex with the unveiling of "The Few", a statue on the cliffhead featuring a twenty-foot Spitfire attached to a granite plinth. Around the base, in gold letters, are the moving words: "CHURCHILL ... ETC"
Melon
Now, in 2010, many of the young men and women who attended that original statue unveiling at the dawn of a new decade have returned to Higgins Point, now older and more infirm, to watch the unveiling of a second statue, designed to commemorate the twentieth anniversary of the fiftieth anniversary.
Titled "The Phew", it features a twenty-foot Bez from the Happy Mondays attached to a granite plinth. Around the base, in fractal-coloured lettering, are the moving words: "YOU'RE TWISTING MY MELON ... MAN"
The hair may be greyer, and the trousers may be tighter, but the men and women gathered to view this new statue are keen to impart their memories to the next generation.
Katy Perry
"What's that rubbish you're listening to?" Elaine Linkous, 38, says to her daughter, looking over her iPod in disgust.
"Did James release 'Come Home (Flood Mix)' in the glorious summer of 1990, just so you could listen to Katy Perry twenty years later?"
"It was Englandneworder's finest hour," adds her husband, Gary Linkhouse. "And I was also rather fond of the Mock Turtles".
Sacrifices
Emetrius Professor of Danceology at Downing College, Cambridge, Dr Johnny Cigarettes, says he is worried about today's children's lack of knowledge about previous generations' sacrifices.
Mandela
"We had people listening to My Bloody Valentine - for fun," he points out. "People can't imagine the horror of that now. And in one year, we saw the fall of the Berlin Wall, the release of Nelson Mandela, and the Stone Roses go completely down the tubes ... "
Cud
Local schools near Higgins Point are planning to instigate a "storyteller" programme after the summer holidays, where veterans will be allowed into classes to share their memories of 1990.
It is hoped by the end of the year most children in the area will be conversant with the back catalogue of Cud. And some may even be able to take on the torturous recording of the La's debut album.
Dundonian
September 3rd 2010 will see the unveiling of the next great public statue, in Parliament Square in London. Commemorating the third anniversary of the sixty-eighth anniversary of the outbreak of World War Two, it will be called "The View".
Featuring a twenty-foot Dundonian indie band attached to a granite plint, around the base, in text speak lettering, will be the moving words: "IVE HD THE SAME JEANS ON 4 4 DAYS NOW"
