The Ascent of
Man...
... and the Birth
of Essex Girl
- In pre-history, there was Piltdown Man
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In 1912, an amateur archaeologist claimed to have discovered the
"missing link" between ape and man. This supposed discovery of early humanoid
remains, in gravel beds near Piltdown, was eventually proved to be a fraud, but
the phrase 'Piltdown Man' entered common parlance.
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- Then came Selsdon Man
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In February 1970 Edward Heath gathered his party leaders at the
Selsdon Park Hotel to agree on a strategy with which to approach the upcoming
General Election. It focused on promoting the free market. From the opposite
side of the House, Harold Wilson mockingly proclaimed: this is not just a
lurch to the right, it is an atavistic desire to reverse the course of
twenty-five years of social revolution... what they are planning is a wanton,
calculated and deliberate return to greater inequality... 'Selsdon Man' is
designing a system of society for the ruthlessness and the pushing, the
uncaring: his message to the rest of us is clear - "you're out on your own".
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- Followed by Essex Man
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Writing anonymously in October 1990, Sunday Telegraph journalist
Simon Heffer identified an emerging type: 'Essex Man' was working class,
Thatcher-supporting, self-made, wore sharp suits, drove flash cars, had little
education, was coarse and vulgar and drank too much lager, most of which ended
up on the floor of the last train home. The following year, Heffer owned up
and claimed that the good points he had attributed to Essex Man had been
ignored: hard working, patriotic and aware of the difference between right
and wrong.
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- And finally: the birth of Essex Girl
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Essex Girl arose soon after Essex Man, and she shared many of his
characteristics. Essex Girls wore high heels, very short skirts, tons of
jewellery, far too much make-up, had fluffy blond hair, were called Sharon or
Tracey, had no brains and were of negotiable virtue. They were the subject
of innumerable jokes, largely unkind but perhaps with a grain of truth...
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Some of the above information was sourced from the Press
Association News Library