All characters portrayed in the following are eighteen or older.
No doubt many British men of a certain age will relate to this story, with or without their mums. There must be many women too, who had similar experiences to my mum. Maybe with their brother or their dad. For those yet to be born, or living outside the UK in the sixties, this is a glimpse of something that may have happened on Thursday evenings.
* * *
Surrey, England, 1964.
Some would point to Bill Haley and Elvis, but for me, the early sixties was when it really kicked in. The pop explosion. Black and white exploding pop; James Bond and the Avengers. It was a great time to be a teenager. Got lucky there.
Dad worked most evenings, so it was usually just me and Mum. A nice big sofa in a little room, cosy with a real fire. Lights off and the telly in the corner. I remember thinking Mum looked tiny on the big sofa.
We always watched Top Of The Pops. Mum liked it too. She liked Cliff. Cliff and the Shads.
Around November 1964 TOTP started having professional dancers. I remember two girls dancing: the Go-Jo's. They had long straight hair, just two girls gogo dancing.
I heard later that they'd use the dancers to
fill-in
when a group couldn't be there for the filming. When it happened last minute, they just did gogo dancing. The Go-Jo's were on more and more, and they usually wore miniskirts. They had a low-angled camera that filmed up the girls' skirts. Sometimes they did close-ups of the girls' knickers while they were dancing.
They must have known they were showing their knickers. They probably saw themselves on telly.
Our telly was in the corner near Mum's end of the sofa. My end was in front of the fire, and we had the lights off.
I saw my mum looking over at me while I was watching the dancers.
Sometimes they wore bell-bottom trousers, but that week they had short skirts on.
And Mum knew something. She knew I liked it when the dancers wore miniskirts, and she was looking at me.
I didn't know what to do, so I looked straight ahead at the telly. The gogo girls were showing their knickers and Mum knew I was looking.
* * *
In the sixties and early seventies, Top Of The Pops was sexy. They'd always film up the girls' skirts when they were gogo dancing. Even the girls in the audience showed their knickers. If you don't believe me, look it up on YouTube. Regrettably, precious little sixties footage survived the great wipe.
I wish we'd had a video recorder.
Artists tend to create their best work when finding themselves riding the crest of a new wave; the sixties was one of those times. The music got better and better as the decade went on. And Top Of The Pops got Pans People. 'Six sexy girls' (Flick).
I won't name them all, but I could.
* * *
1967-68.
Mum and me always had our own ends of the sofa. She balanced her ashtray on the big arm. I can still picture her little elfish face illuminated by the light from the telly. She was a young mum, and she looked cool with her dark brown hair cut in a Mary Quant 'bob' style. Sometimes she wore heavy eye make-up, and she looked really
sixties
. The mouldy floral wallpaper was peeling next to the window, but this is way before B&Q. More like three flying ducks and a larva lamp.
The small terraced house was damp and cold in the winter, and the lino in my bedroom was freezing on my bare feet, but Mum always had the living room toasty hot; we had a big three-bar electric fire that smelled of burning dust. She lit her fags on it, leaving little black burn marks on the elements. We always watched the telly with the lights off, and the swirling fire-glow effect made the room shadowy orange.
I usually had a bath before Top Of The Pops. It was an excuse, really. An excuse to wear my pyjamas on the sofa with my mum.
Pans People wore miniskirts a lot. Great for viewing ratings. The TOTP producer later admitted that sometimes he got them to wear short pleated 'gymslips'. (True.)
For ages they'd wear miniskirts on alternate weeks. I nearly always knew when they'd have skirts on.
I started sort-of daring myself. That's when I did my first naughty thing.
The telly's at Mums end, so she faces away from me. I watched Mum, and when she wasn't looking, I moved my cock in my pyjamas. If she'd been looking, she would have seen my cock moving.
I did it quite a few times, and she knew.
Mums know, don't they. They know what you're doing, even if they're not looking. Sometimes I showed my cock through the slit in my pyjama trousers. Watching the telly and relaxing, I let my cock show in front of my mum. Not for too long though.
One time was dirty.
The first British girlband 'The Paper Dolls' were on - three dollybirds in short white crocheted dresses, dancing and showing their knickers. The room was hot and orangey-dark, and the slit in my pyjama trousers was wide open. I had a full erection and it was showing, and it felt scary rude.
Mum looked over at me and I froze.
I focused-in on the Paper Dolls' legs, and Mum looked at my cock. I knew she was looking at it, and it seemed like for ages.
I was really horny, and my cock moved up and down -- I couldn't help it.
Mum turned her face back to the telly, but she leaned back in her seat, and I saw her peeping.
Near the end of the song, my erect cock was fully out of my pyjamas, and she was looking at it.
She never said anything.
* * *
1969-70.
One winter evening, Mum brought out some blankets. I had my pyjamas on, so it was easy to play with my cock under the covers. I did it gently so that Mum wouldn't know. I'd done it before, under the blanket.
I touched myself from the start of Top Of The Pops. Most of the girls in the audience wore miniskirts and so did girl singers. Being careful not to shake the sofa, I jiggled my foreskin when they showed girls dancing in short skirts. Some were real show-offs.
"...The Beatles, Get B-A-CK!"
A warm thrill pervaded my groin, its tingling fingers creeping deliciously up into my stomach. Dressed in white blouses with dark pleated miniskirts, Pans People danced
gogo
style along the edge of a theatre stage. With a camera in the orchestra pit.
I noticed my mum glance at me when she saw Pans People. They were doing a throwback gogo routine, standing in a line, shaking their hips. Their short pleated skirts and white knickers made them look like schoolgirls.
I always felt naughty masturbating under my blanket, with my mum in the room.
Every week I hoped Pans would be sexy, and that night they were dressed like schoolgirls, in pleated minis. I started really wanking - like I do when I'm on my own. I knew I was shaking the sofa.
I did what I'd always done -- stared at the telly. At Pans People on the telly, gogo dancing in short pleated school skirts.