Cigarette promotion from the era.

Tomorrow, 35 years ago, British troops withdrew from Malta and the island ceased to be a British military base for the first time in 180 years.

Times of Malta of April 1, reported that at midnight, emotions were running high for the thousands who “crammed the square” at Vittoriosa or watched the ceremony on television.

Old photos show men kitted in three-piece suits, sporting moustaches, and women with Olivia Newton John-like hairstyles.

Away from politics and the ‘John Travolta’ look, what was life like in the last year of the 1970s?

In 1979, the digital era was still undreamt of. Newspapers were crammed with classified adverts for ‘type-writing lessons’ and for penfriends ‘from around the world’.

Telephones in households were still a novelty and the primitive Strowger system meant you could listen in to Martin from Rabat talking to his buddy Joe in Żabbar.

There was no such thing as Wikipedia. Every middle class household instead had the front room book shelves dedicated to encyclopaedias. You couldn’t even photocopy the information you found – but had to copy it by hand. V.J. Salamone ran advertisements in Times of Malta for 14kg Roneo Vickers ‘duplicators’.

Newspaper reports mention that thousands watched the Vittoriosa ceremony on television... black and white TV.

The minimum wage was €200 a month. Now it stands at just below €700 a month.

Appliances were still a far way off from the sleek machines we are used to today, in fact with advertisements for the latest ‘Galamatic’ twin tub washing machines selling for Lm130 (€300). Price wise, the average washing machine today costs pretty much the same.

The same cannot be said of house prices. A maisonette in Naxxar would set you back Lm6,000 (€13,800). A Kappara semi-detached villa with three bedrooms, bathroom, lounge, dining room, kitchen, garage, study, living room and garden cost Lm18,000 (€41,400) and a three-bedroom flat in Sliema would set the owner back some Lm12,000 (€27,600).

For the first time that year, there was a six-figure property – close to a quarter of a million euros – on sale. The advert in The Sunday Times of Malta of April 8, 1979, ran: “The only six-figure property ever to be offered for sale in Malta. A magnificent country house located in an extensive green belt, overlooking a picturesque bay. An exclusive residence incorporating an Olympic sized pool, 1.6 hectares of walled gardens offering privacy and security. Lm100,000.”

Lunching out on Sunday was still a relatively new phenomenon, but at Il Fortizza, in Sliema, you were sorted with a tenner. Buffets and ‘Maltese nights’ seemed to be the order of the day.

Wines were slightly limited. Marsovin prided itself with the three table wines: La Valette, Verdala and Special Reserve.

Most would have rounded up their meal with a cigarette – there were no bans and no health promotion campaigns urging people to quit.

Women seemed to be keen on blow-dried mullets, or curly hair, done by spending a full day wearing half-moon grips, to be released in cascading twirls for the evening mass.

Joe’s Salon in Manoel Dimech Street went one step further: he was the best at weaving and twisting the hair, so that hair is weaved in a veil. It took at least three hours for the masterpiece to be completed.

There was no clinic offering hair transplants in Malta, but the concern was always there. Throughout 1979, every Sunday the papers ran adverts for “capillary products” which promised to “effectively combat baldness, fight against hair deficiencies”.

Cinemas were very popular. New releases back then included classics such as Grease, Sandokan, Force Ten from Navarone, Sound of Music and Jesus of Nazareth Part 2.

At the Manoel Theatre, actors Tony Cassar Darien and Josette Ciappara starred in Tar-Rizzi Waqa’ l-Bahar – a comedy adapted for the Maltese stage by Joe Fenech.

Radios blasted out familiar hits on pop singles chart: YMCA by Village People, Da Ya Think I’m Sexy? by Rod Stewart, and My Sharona by Knack.

The year was characterised by the withdrawal of the British troops.

Leslie Warren Glen of Dundee, Scotland, was the last British serviceman to wed a Maltese girl – Rita Gallo of Sliema – before the troops left Malta.

On the stroke of midnight on March 31, according to news reports, thousands bid an emotional farewell to the Royal Navy with a “heavy heart”.

The front page of Times of Malta on April 1 sums the end of an era: “They waved, cheered and hooted horns as the 6,000-ton missiles destroyer HMS London sailed majestically out of the harbour.

“The people on the bastions, many with tears in their eyes, the men on board the London and the ramparts around the port told the story of the British forces’ 180-year connection with Malta.”

Political background

• Newspaper editorials spoke of ‘the end of an era’ and the uncertainty that brought with it: “Malta began a new life still uncertain insofar as its defence against potential attack is concerned,” said Times of Malta.

• Muammar Gaddafi, invited by the then-government of Malta to take part in the celebrations – a nod towards closer ties with the North African country – caused anxiety due to Libya’s international ongoings.

• That same day, Times of Malta reported a Libyan plane bombing Tanzania; Libya was boosting its frontier forces and Egypt’s armed forces had been placed on full alert because of the Libyan moves.

International events

Jan 1, June 8, July 21 – Oil spills pollute ocean waters in Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico.
Jan 7 – Pol Pot regime in Cambodia collapses.
Feb 18 – Snow falls in Sahara Desert.
Mar 4 – US Voyager I photo reveals Jupiter’s rings.
May 3 – Margaret Thatcher is elected first woman Prime Minister of UK.
June 2 – John Paul II is the first Pope to visit a communist country: Poland.
Dec 27 – Soviet invasion of Afghanistan stirs world protests.