JUSTIN Hayward was in town this week 40 years ago to open his new record shop, Threshold, in Canal Walk.

Had there been an award at the time for the world’s most famous Swindonian, the Moody Blues star would have been a shoo-in, so any visit was a major local event.

We wrote: “His visits to Swindon are few and far between. But although his family now lives in London he still has strong ties with the town and returns from time to time to see old friends.”

Justin told us: “It has changed so much since I lived here – it is hardly recognisable.

“I could find my way around Old Town but I just get lost in New Swindon.

“The countryside means a lot to me. That, at least, hasn’t changed. It’s great to see it again.”

The shop, owned by Justin and his fellow Moody Blues, had been the subject of an extensive advertising feature earlier in the week, which revealed the star took a break from a promotional tour of Los Angeles.

“His transatlantic flight into London,” we added, “will be continued by private plane to South Marston Airfield, and on Saturday afternoon he will rejoin John Lodge in California to continue promotion of their recently highly successful Blue Jays album.

“The Swindon Threshold Record Shop is the fifth record outlet to open in this country.

“The idea for the Moody Blues to start their own record stores came shortly after they set up Threshold Records as their own record company in Cobham, Surrey, in 1970.”

Another Swindonian visitor from across the Atlantic was Mrs Jan Canales.

We wrote: “It’s about 14 years since Jan Gale left Swindon as the bride of an American airforceman.

“Now, as Mrs Ed Canales, she is back in Swindon and staying with her parents, Vi and Sid Gale, in Laburnum Road, Pinehurst.

“She plans to be in England for four weeks. Her husband, who is manager of a cemetery in Texas, will be joining the family on Thursday.

“This is the first time Mrs Canales has been in Swindon for about 11 years and naturally she noticed changes in the town as soon as she arrived.”

Her eldest child, 14-year-old Steven, had been born at the house, while ten-year-old Carlos and eight-year-old Donna were in England for the first time.

The family, who lived in Pearland, Texas, were photographed with Jan’s mother, Violet Gale, and grandmother Lily Barnes.

Justin Hayward wasn’t the only celebrity featured in the Adver that week. We also pictured motor racing legend Graham Hill.

A contemporary of Sir Stirling Moss and twice world Formula One champion, he was also the sponsor of a safe driving competition in which a Swindon man, Jim Mackay of Greenmeadow, was a finalist.

That was enough to earn him the chance to be photographed with the driver and compete for prizes including cars, televisions and stereos.

Sadly Graham Hill would die four months later in a light aircraft crash. In 1996 his son, Damon, took the 1996 Formula One drivers’ championship.

Also in the news was Abingdon MP Airey Neave, who had helped Margaret Thatcher to the Tory leadership earlier that year.

His constituents included the people of Watchfield near Highworth, who were protesting about a pop festival scheduled for that August.

The festival is remembered these days – if it’s remembered at all – as a good-natured affair whose acts included famous names such as Hawkwind, Stevie Winwood and The Stranglers, and also some rather less famous names such as Slug Addict, Esme Hippo Productions and Irma’s Tubes.

In July of 1975, though, many villagers feared muddy chaos on a scale approaching that of Woodstock six years earlier. They enlisted the help of Mr Neave, who accused organisers of keeping visitors in the dark until almost the last moment.

He told a protest meeting: “ The public has been deliberately deceived. Surely people are entitled to be consulted before arbitrary action is taken.”

Moving to rather more offbeat matters, staff at the Wiltshire Hotel in Swindon were puzzled by the mysterious delivery of several bags of top quality racehorse manure.

Inadvertently signed for by a receptionist, the dozen bags of natural fertiliser weighed about 10lbs each and had cost a total of £11.50.

In what was a local newspaper tradition then, hotel manager Ian Hackney was photographed scratching his head.

“We can’t decipher the signature on the delivery note,” he said. “I think it was a genuine mistake and it was just delivered to the wrong place, so somebody could be a few sacks of manure short.”