REMEMBER the "mighty chew"? Tony Blackburn does.

The man who launched Radio 1 rang the Diary to promote the relaunch of the Texan Bar, that Seventies sweetshop sensation previously advertised by a chocoholic cowboy.

Nostalgic folk at York's Nestl Rowntree factory have revived the Texan, perhaps persuaded by the fact that it is the most requested chocolate bar on sugar-coated website aquarterof.co.uk. And the bar seems to span the generation gap, meeting with approval from both Tony, 62, and his eight-year-old daughter.

Not that everything about the Seventies was a treat. "There was the three-day week, all the rubbish piling up everywhere," reminisces Tony.

"Apart from that I thought it was great. You had the glitter bands, all the discos - I loved disco music, Gloria Gaynor...

"And although the fashion was laughable, at the time it was good fun with the flares and high boots and things."

In his prime, Tony wore platform heels to almost every occasion, a fact which will forever haunt his son, now 32. "I went to his school wearing these things. He tells me how embarrassing it was to see me in them. I didn't realise at the time."

Today, the I'm A Celebrity winner dons outrageous Seventies gear for appearances at university bashes. He visited the York campus last year and managed to stay upright, which is not always the case.

Before a similar event in Kilburn, north London, Tony was plied with bubbly by an old mate who ran the club. He eventually went in front of his public an hour late at 1am. "We'd had so much champagne, I got up on stage and fell off," Tony confesses to the Diary.

"But it was his fault."

Tomorrow: Tony's verdict on Radio 1, and the truth about Keith Chegwin.

INCIDENTALLY, mighty chewers can save up Texan Bar tokens and exchange them for 1970s-themed ring tones for their mobiles. As a result, Sailing by Rod Stewart, I Love To Love by Tina Charles and Tie A Yellow Ribbon Round The Old Oak Tree by Dawn will soon by bleeping out of a phone near you.

The address for complaints: Nestl Consumer Services, PO Box No 203, York YO91 1XY.

WE asked what words or phrases used by TV and radio broadcasters sent you up the wall and round the bend.

"My husband Martin gets very annoyed at the much over-used word 'actually'," writes Jean Reagan, who lives on Carr Lane, Acomb.

"In some interviews it is actually used many times. The sentences do not sound any worse if the word is missed out.

"My pet hates are 'stood' and 'sat' instead of 'standing' and 'sitting'. Alas, 'I was stood' and 'I was sat' seem to be accepted now as normal usage, even by those who appear to have been well educated."

Ah, but appearances can be deceptive, Mrs R. Actually.

William Dixon Smith, meanwhile, takes a previous contributor to task.

"I cannot accept the contention that the phrase 'the car lost control' (ie control was lost) is linguistically objectionable, or that 'the driver lost control' is preferable (Diary, September 2)," writes Mr Dixon Smith from the Welland Rise corner of Acomb.

"As with those who claim to have lost faith, hope or what delicacy forbids me to mention, in most cases the appropriate term is 'relinquished'."

Much more of this sort of talk, and we might start relinquishing our grip.

Updated: 09:00 Tuesday, September 06, 2005