HE Adver began this week in 1978 by looking to infinity and beyond with a former Swindon schoolboy who had a good chance of becoming Britain’s first astronaut.

Scientist Bruce Patchett, who has been mentioned in previous Rewinds, was an old boy of Ferndale School Secondary Modern.

He was also on the shortlist of potential scientist astronauts awaiting a place on a space shuttle flight.

We said: “He is waiting at his home in Abingdon, Oxfordshire, for the phone call from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration at Cape Canaveral, which could launch him to fame as a star astronaut.

“If he is chosen he will be one of three scientists who will blast off from Texas in 1981 in Spacelab 2.”

Physicist Mr Patchett said his obsession with space had started back in Swindon – and bewildered his schoolmates.

He added: “I remember they all thought I was mad in Ferndale Road when I was out in the cold pointing a telescope at the moon with the snow piling up on my shoulders.”

Sadly Mr Patchett, who died in 1996, didn’t get the seat he wanted, although he did see some of his experiments carried into orbit on a Challenger Spacelab mission.

Another person previously mentioned in Rewind was also in the news this week 37 years ago.

Derek West, 34, was better known as Bubbles, a 34-year-old London-based roving stripper.

Earlier that year, his show before an audience of enthusiastic women at the Wiltshire Hotel had been interrupted by the arrival of the police, and West ended up with a £75 fine for kicking an officer.

Back in Swindon for an appeal at the Crown Court, West was disappointed by the judge’s decision but promised the women of Swindon: “I’ll be back if they want me.”

We reported: “He again denied kicking Inspector John Jones, who broke up a hen party at the Wiltshire Hotel – to the fury of 300 screaming women. “A member of the audience, housewife Mrs Clare Shearan, of Station Road, Swindon, said she was sitting near the catwalk and could see West did not have his pants round his knees as alleged.

“The only violence she saw was when police dragged him off stage and an enraged woman knocked one of their helmets off. West, of Stockwell Green, was accused by Mr Michael Hubbard, prosecuting, of staging the appeal for publicity.

“West said the fact that he arrived in a white suit and Rolls Royce – and was filmed by television cameras – had nothing to do with clearing his name, which was the important thing.

“But the judge, Sir Ian Lewis, believed the officers’ evidence that West deliberately kicked Insp Jones.”

There was a time when Swindon was home to numerous independent schools, especially in Old Town. By 1978, according to an Adver article, there was only one – and its days were numbered.

We said: “The last independent school in Swindon – Picton House School for Girls in Bath Road – is being forced to close down next month.

“It was established in 1961 as an all-age private school in a former private house by principal Mrs Marguerite Johansen Deane.

“But it cannot meet new Department of Education minimum standards for laboratories, other accommodation facilities and age separation.”

In a poignant foreshadowing of events at certain schools today, it seems pupils, parents and staff were delighted with the standards at Picton House, but that didn’t stop the place from falling foul of new regulations.

The principal said: “There’s pandemonium among the parents about the closing. I’m very cross about it. We have excellent examination results but we are an all-age school in one building.

“We don’t charge very high fees here. It is mainly catering for working mothers and also to bring on shy and timid children. It’s been my life. I love this work. I shall miss it very much.”

News of a happier kind took us across the Atlantic and gave us an excuse to publish a photo of a local boy made good in a large jet engine.

“John Mansell is a real high flyer,” we said, never being ones to ignore a potential pun.

“He’s the man who makes sure the giant £1m RB211 engines are fitted safely and securely in the latest version of the Tri-Star airliner.

“John, from Lansbury Drive, Upper Stratton, is based at the TriStar assembly plant at Palmdale, California.

“Forty-three-year-old John, who works for Rolls Royce, the engine-makers, is part of a large Rolls Royce support team employed in America.”

The photo suggests he was also one of the few men ever to look commanding and dignified while wearing 1970s flared suit trousers and a kipper tie...

Another man happy in his work was Oxford University snake expert James Ashe, who cheerily milked a puff adder during a Cotswold Wildlife presentation.

It was attended by dozens of Swindon people, including a group of St Joseph’s sixth formers.

He assured his audience: “Well, it’s not that deadly; you can survive for nearly 48 hours before you need anti-venom treatment.”

Also giving a talk was a fellow zoologist, Swindon’s own Desmond Morris.