Ampthill Youth Club Poster
The poster for the intended gig by Spandau Ballet at the Ampthill Youth Club on Wednesday, 30th August, 1978 was created by Mark Robinson.
From the image of this poster reproduced in New Romantics Who Never Were it will be seen that the date of "AUG. 30th" is on a sticker which appears to be covering up something underneath.
The reader may be wondering what is being covered up. We can see the answer clearly from the reverse of the poster (once flipped).
Originally, therefore, it said "WEDNESDAY SEPT. 2ND.".
In 1978, September 2nd was a Saturday, not a Wednesday, so this date must have been written in error when the poster was first created until the mistake was spotted and the date corrected.
Mark Robinson can't actually recall after all these years what happened here with the poster but accepts that it must have been a simple dating error when he misread the calendar or miscalculated the date of the gig while he was drawing the poster.
Some suspicious minded people might think that this means that the poster was not created in 1978, so it is worth considering Mark's response to that suggestion. He says:
"I remember drawing that poster in College Farm, Pulloxhill, before we all went to London and for the Ampthill gig... I just know that it was my poster and made to put up somewhere before the gig at Ampthill youth club."
The Ampthill gig could only have been in 1978, the band members having moved to London in 1979.
The next year in which 2nd September was a Wednesday was in 1981 but it is hardly likely that Mark would have drawn the poster in that year, intending for it to represent gig in 1978, yet use a 1981 calendar for the date. In any event, Mark had to all intents and purposes by 1981 completely forgotten about Spandau Ballet.
I was first shown the original of this poster in the summer of 2014 by Mick Austin who has had it in his possession since 1978 and he had sent me a scan of it in early 2009. In 2009, Mark Robinson was living in Dubai and Mick Austin had not spoken to or had any contact with him since 1980 at the very latest (and he had still not seen him as of 2014) so it was impossible for Mark to have created a poster in 1981 which Mick had in his possession in 2009.
The keen-eyed reader may also have noticed some printed words on the poster and we can see what these are by turning it upside down and flipping it again:
As can be seen, it is some kind of medical document entitled "DAILY FEED CHART". It records food intake and things like stools and vomits. Mark cannot recall why he used this document for the poster or why it might have been in his house and says he would have used anything to hand.