When We Was Rad:
Skateboard History from UK Vintage Magazine

Category: Issue 67 September 1988

  • Jamie Blair, Livingston Skatepark, 1988

    Very rare to see a whole page devoted to pictures of one skater. But in the case of Jamie Blair at Livingston, it makes perfect sense. Along with Davie Philip, Jamie Blair was a huge influence at this time, both through his skating and through the pioneering “Skater Owned Shop”, Clan Skates in Glasgow. They…

  • But You Don’t Have to Skate It

    Quote of the Harrow Day for me was someone stopping me when I was getting all sorrowful about the loss of a classic skatepark (“the first Ollies in Britain were done here, as far as I know” etc etc). “But you don’t have to skate it, Tim.”

  • Livingston Fun Day September 1988

    I was talking about Livingston at the “goodbye to Harrow Day” last week. With Harrow and Southsea under threat we’re heading towards a situation where Livingston will be one of the oldest skateparks in Britain (I hope Rom’s still OK). At the time this story was written, though, I still thought of it as “new”…

  • Is there a story behind this Death Box advert

    This Death Box “Pete Dossett” advert looks like one which might have a story behind it. Although it seems fairly roughly put together, it uses two spot colours, which means that it would normally have been expensive. Death Box were still just starting out (in fact the company is called “Dee See Supplies” in this…

  • Calendar of Skateboard Events, September 1988

    You can tell a lot about the state of skateboarding in 1988 from this list. On the ‘big, organised’ front we have the AES competition series contests in Belgium and Prague. Coming up on the inside is ‘commerce discovers skateboarding’ in the form of the Rockit/Swatch Skate Tour in Narbarth and Newquay. But the ones…

  • Last Ever Harrow Day?

    If you can get to Harrow Skatepark, April 19th would be a good day to do so. It’s likely to be the last ever Harrow Day, unless the Council change their minds about demolishing the park. I was there on the day that Tony Alvan and Mark Baker officially opened the park, and Harrow is…

  • Hector the Hardcore Hippy

    The legendary Mac was responsible for pioneering freestyle/street/bank crossovers (540 on banks, anyone?), the original Death Box graphics, and the R.a.D cartoon for a while. I wonder where he is now? In 2007 Jeremy Fox was trying to track him down for the Death Box European reunion, but had a bit of a struggle. Mac,…

  • Skate and Annoy

    Now that I’ve got the ability to speak in the present tense and break out of the limitations of “another scanned page from the old magazine” theme, I have the chance to refer to things like the kind words about this thing (and Rollin’ Through the Decades) on Skate and Annoy recently. I really like…

  • Hot Wheels BMX and Skateboard Mail Order Advert 1988

    Hot Wheels were one of the most consistent advertisers in the magazine. They were fiercely dedicated to BMX and probably felt very sad at the direction R.a.D was taking. I have great sympathy for that position having survived for years in a world where skateboarding had been completely eclipsed by roller-skating (disco, to rub salt…

  • Paul Wright, Todd Swank and other Luminaries in the Limelight

    All manner of celebrities names are dropped in this glimpse of how things were when the notion of skaters as VIPs outside of the skate world was a novelty. Interesting to see that Nick Philip took some of the pictures. This must have been just before he left for California. John Chennels supplied the Sean…