ENTERTAINMENT for teenagers has changed out of all recognition over the past 40 years.

Instead of Saturday and Sunday cinemas, youngsters now have DVDs and all kinds of computer games which mean they can wile away hours in front of a PC screen.

The days when you asked at the high street record shop counter to hear a single and were directed to a listening booth are long, long gone.

Today youngsters don’t even gather together to hear – they play their favourite tracks solo-style through earpieces.

And when it comes to expending physical energy, alone or with a pal, you just use the Nintendo Wii in front of the wall-hung widescreen TV.

So much has changed – but there are a few things that have somehow managed to carry on through the decades and even prosper without much updating.

The most startling survivor from another age came out of winter hibernation last week and has been pulling in the crowds across East Lancashire – the travelling funfair.

As a teenager in the late 60s, I remember vividly the mixed feelings of excitement and apprehension with which you’d go to the fair, preferably with teenage girls of your choice.

The excitement came as you coaxed them to accompany you onto thriller rides in the hope that fear would force them to tightly embrace you.

The apprehension came as dangerous ‘employees’ jumped from car to car on the moving Waltzer to collect fares and humiliate by demanding you hand over cash you had found down the back of the seat from the previous ‘shaken-up’ passenger and tried to sneak into your pocket.

Then you’d splash out cash attempting to chuck hoops so they landed flat on the deck around a rectangular block of wood bearing some cheap but sparkly ring or bracelet.

The odds on success were about the same as those of you and your girlfriend becoming stranded in the dark in the middle of the ghost train.

They might have updated the names of the rides but the truth is fairgrounds are shamelessly mechanical and old tech – and we love them for it.