Appearances in The Media
The White City Stadium features in the climax to the 1950 film The Blue Lamp. It also appears in an episode, named "Man From the Dead", of 1960s television spy series Man in a Suitcase, and was used in the 1973 film Steptoe and Son Ride Again. Some sections of the video for The Human League single "Life On Your Own" were shot in the stadium in 1984 just a few months before its demolition.
The stadium was the location of a famous public outburst by Ray Davies of The Kinks during a July 1973 performance. Davies swore onstage, and at the show's conclusion, as pretaped music played on the sound system, declared his retirement from the group. He subsequently collapsed after a drug overdose and was rushed to hospital. He would eventually recover and return to recording with The Kinks.
At a David Cassidy show on 26 May 1974, 650 were injured in a crush at the front of the stage. Thirty were taken to hospital, and one, 14-year-old Bernadette Whelan, died on 30 May from injuries. The tragedy deeply affected Cassidy, who, out of respect for the family and to avoid turning the girl's funeral into a media circus, did not attend her funeral.
The Pogues made a song about the stadium and its demolition, called White City. It can be found on their 1989 album Peace and Love.
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Famous quotes containing the words appearances and/or media:
“It is doubtless wise, when a reform is introduced, to try to persuade the British public that it is not a reform at all; but appearances must be kept up to some extent at least.”
—George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950)
“Never before has a generation of parents faced such awesome competition with the mass media for their children’s attention. While parents tout the virtues of premarital virginity, drug-free living, nonviolent resolution of social conflict, or character over physical appearance, their values are daily challenged by television soaps, rock music lyrics, tabloid headlines, and movie scenes extolling the importance of physical appearance and conformity.”
—Marianne E. Neifert (20th century)