The North East Film Archive is one of a network of regional film archives established to collect, preserve and show film made in, or about the North East of England. Our collections are non-fiction, and date from the early 1900s to the present day, providing a rich record of life in the region over the 20th century. Many of our films are available to watch, free of charge, on our website.
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Glasgow Student Rag
Get your freak on with the students at Glasgow’s RAG Weeks in the 1960s.
From the collection of:
Overview
It’s shakedown time in Glasgow as a brazen rabble of can-rattling youth in costume ambush citizens during student Rag Week in the 1960s. A typically supercharged Dalek menaces the filmmaker himself. First up, a riotous parade of topical floats celebrates the Pill (newly available to unmarried women), Elvis Presley’s film ‘Roustabout’, and Ygorra, Glasgow University’s satirical rag mag, sold in conjunction with the Charities Week appeal.
The Glasgow Students' Charities Appeal Committee began to publish the annual magazine Ygorra in 1922. The title originates from the phrase “you’ve got to” in the Glaswegian vernacular, and was used in a witty slogan devised each year to encourage people to hand over money. The example decorating a float in this amateur film is “Ygorra Hans Fruppens or else”. Student complaints about the racism and sexism of the ‘rag mags’ and performances increased in the 1970s and 80s as the undergraduate community became more diverse and challenged the stereotypes, leading to attempts to ban Ygorra. It is disturbing to see students dressed up as Ku Klux Klan members on the streets of Glasgow in these 60s festivities.
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