A news clip investigating rumours of wife-swapping in Ballymena back in 1969 has resurfaced.
The hilarious clip sees UTV reporter Ian Hill visit the Co Antrim town where reports of debauchery and wife-swapping have stunned the local community.
The footage of just over two and a half minutes long and sees Ian ask the people of the town what they think about these strange goings-on.
The clip is from the Northern Ireland Screen's Digital Film Archive and was digitised as part of the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland’s Archiving Project Scheme 2.
In the video, Ian says: "At the weekend the bombshell stopped on the startled town, the report presented told of social functions with disgraceful scenes of drunkenness and moral laxity being only too common. Could this be the Ballymena we all know so well? Dour and canny Ballymena.
"But worse was still to come, one session said of private morality, pyjama parties and swapping car keys leads to infidelity, separation and divorce.
"The local paper, the Ballymena Observer, explained coldly, 'We understand that the reference to car keys comes from allegations that parties are held where husbands' car keys are put into a hat, the wives then draw the keys out and the owner becomes their partner for the night."
Ian, who says the reports came from members of the clergy, then goes on to ask residents of the town about the wife-swapping rumours, with some hilarious responses.
Northern Ireland Screen’s Digital Film Archive (DFA) is a free public access resource containing hundreds of hours of moving image titles, spanning from 1897 to the present day.
VIDEO CREDIT: Courtesy of UTV © ITV
Digitised as part of the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland’s Archiving Project Scheme 2
