Tarmac Group centenary in 1953, Tarmac was processing over two million tons of slag a year, its road surfacing had developed into a significant civil engineering business, and its Vinculum subsidiary "had become one of the major precast concrete undertakings in the country." Under Robin Martin's leadership, Tarmac moved from being an important regional force to a national roadstone and contracting business. Acquisitions played a major role in Tarmac's growth. While leading the roadstone division, Martin had been responsible in 1959 for the acquisition of local competitor Tarslag and Crow Catchpole, which gave it a greater presence in the south east. In
The Fine Art of Surfacing The Fine Art of Surfacing The Fine Art of Surfacing was The Boomtown Rats' third album and contained the hit-single releases, "I Don't Like Mondays", "Diamond Smiles" and "Someone's Looking at You". The album peaked at No. 7 in the UK Albums Chart in 1979. "I Don't Like Mondays" b/w "It's All the Rage" was released in June 1979, and reached No. 1 in the UK Singles Chart in late July in the UK in the same year. The song refers to Brenda Ann Spencer's killing spree on Monday, 29 January 1979 in San Diego, California. Bob Geldof also went