Do you remember the 7 up programmes?

Yes Daddima remember it well ..

I first saw 7. Up while studying many years ago and have watched with interest every 7 years when a new episode is made.
Michael Apted was an excellent interviewer of the children and think became a friend to many of them until he died a few years ago.
Well worth watching .

Loved them. I thought it was a fascinating project.

Yes, they are fascinating.

I always remember the Yorkshire farmer's son who said, when he was 6, "When I grow up I want to go to the moon".
He did go to work at NASA but I'm not sure if he did go up into space, certainly not the moon.

Oh no, I've just checked and that lovely little boy, Nick Hitchon, died last year aged 65.

RIP Nick Hitchon

I have watched it from early on and loved it, but found it quite upsetting at times. I love that they show clips from earlier episodes to remind you of things they said or did in the past. They are all very brave to be followed like that, although some have dropped out of course, probably don't want the world and his dog knowing all about them. That would probably be me! Some have already died, and it's sad to be following them and then find out they've died.

All episodes seem to be on ITVX. There are quite a few. I like seeing them aged 14 with their whole lives ahead of them.
www.itv.com/watch/the-7-up-collection/3a0317/2a1866a0001

I loved that program and hats off to those who allowed the intrusion into their lives. It was fascinating. So many different personalities and outcomes.

I'm another one who followed the whole series. It showed clearly the differences in the classes. I remember one of the upper class boys saying, 'I played with them quite naturally', after all the children were taken to a playground to get to know each other. Obviously working class children were seen as a different species.

Bump

I thought about 7 Up just the other day - a unique experiment which I found deeply touching at times. I can't recall how old the participants would be now.

The OP said 70 Up will be in 2026.

There was another similar series with Robert Winston called Child of Our Time which covered them from birth in 2000 until the age of 20 to see how they developed as they grew into adulthood. There won't be any more. The 25 children were chosen to represent a wide range of backgrounds. That was also very interesting especially in 2017 when he was analysing the brain patterns of 16 year olds. It's fascinating how they change and develop at that age.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Child_of_Our_Time

We watched it as part of A level sociology way back in the late 70's but I didn't realise it was still going - that's brilliant; I'll have a hunt later.

We also watched the film about the American depression 'They Shoot Horses Don't They'

Both the programme and the film have stayed as vivid memories.
I hope they do the 70 Up in a couple of years.

I watched the whole series and now plan to rewatch. It is fascinating how the childrens lives panned out. So courageous to be so open when they were older..

Ten boys and only four girls! Amazed they would opt for that even then.

Times were very different in 1964 but nonetheless a huge inbalance. I wonder why or even if they actually realised when they looked for the children to interview.
I began work in the civil service in 1963 and women had to leave when they got married. I thought it shocking then and now. Not the swinging 60 s people think it was. It was an extension of the 50s where women knew their place.

Thinking a bout it women may have been able to stay if they were ‘established’ but majority of women and girls were in the lower echelons, so they woukd have had to leave on marriage. Luckily I was only 15 and I left at 17.

I do remember it very well. Of course the problem for them was that they were selected at seven years old when they couldn't really make an informed choice as to what they were consenting to. I don't doubt that some found, as the years rolled by, an intrusion into their lives. Would any one of us want the eyes of the nation assessing how our lives were panning out over years with all our baggage and hiccups laid bare, I wouldn't! It wasn't surprising that at least one of the three boys refused to participate after age 21. It was sad to see the bright eyed, Neil I think he was called, morph from a little boy full of promise to a troubled youth into a man living in itinerant circumstances and mental health issues, what happened there? The transition from childhood sometimes via truculent youth through to adulthood in some instances delivering on their hopes and dreams but not always.

It's sad to know at least two of them are now dead, the Yorkshire boy who became a scientist and one of the trio of London girls.

Interesting that the old Jesuit saying give me a child until he's seven and I will give you the man is only true to a degree. It's the old nature v nurture argument. Take Neil who was bright and cheery at 7 but by 14 was nervous and stressed. He never regained his cheerfulness and led a transient life. Why did he change so drastically we may never know, but 'the man' was certainly not the same as the child of 7.

The child may be taught and moulded by the age of 7 but life experiences and the chemical changes which take place in the brain during the teenage years can override that completely in some cases. Then of course there are genes, which can affect us in so many unknown ways.

If anyone needs a refresher course it's all here:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Up_(film_series)

Neil was actually my favourite of the children, it was very sad to see the change wrought by his mental health deteriorating when he seemed such a happy child.
He has remained in the programme and ended up in local politics up in a Scottish island I think.
Everyone in my course liked Tony who wanted to be a jockey, and so he was.

silverlining48

Neil was actually my favourite of the children, it was very sad to see the change wrought by his mental health deteriorating when he seemed such a happy child.
He has remained in the programme and ended up in local politics up in a Scottish island I think.
Everyone in my course liked Tony who wanted to be a jockey, and so he was.

I think we all fell in love with Neil didn’t we.

I thought I d seen it all but I wasn’t even in Uk in ‘64 so can’t have done as I wasn’t in a country with a British TV I do remember the little chap who wanted to be a jockey I also watched the Ray Winston one
Isn’t that strange I could have sworn I d seen it all 🤷🏼‍♂️

Bluebelle I think we all think we have seen it all but I know I only started watching 7 Up in the 80 s on a sociology degree forty years ago but becayse they play flashbacks of the children it’s easy to feel you have seen it all.