1981/1982: Buy A Trimphone PLEASE - We'll Give You Funky Two-Tone Colours, We'll Call Them Phoenixphones... We'll Knock £15 Off.... We'll Do ANYTHING

From the Daily Mail, April 15, 1981. British Telecom arrived in 1980 and in 1981 began selling phones for the very first time. Before that subscribers could only rent, and there wasn't much choice of styles. The Trimphone arrived in the 1960s, and with its distinctive warble was supposedly set for great things.

The Trimphone of the 1960s and 1970s came in one sludgy colour scheme (ignore Life On Mars and Margaret - they'll put you wrong - more about that later!) and I've often wondered just how popular they were? If you watch actual television shows of the era, how many Trimphones do you see?

Crossroads, the ITV Midlands soap, had one of the early sludge-coloured beauties - it was in the very trendy flat of the womanising restaurant manager (later home to Miss Diane) - and was on-screen from 1977 until the mid-1980s.

Incidentally, in a 1983 episode of Crossroads I recently viewed, the Trimphone rang on one occasion like a traditional bell-ringer phone. This was obviously because the chap or chappess in charge of the sound effects had forgotten to use the "warble effect". None of the characters on screen appeared to notice the oddness of this event. Crossroads was endearingly batty at times!

But, apart from the very odd one in Crossroads, Trimphones were thin on the ground on the telly.

In 1981, with their desire to sell phones, that brave new entity, BT, seemed very keen indeed to flog off Trimphones. So, they gave them lovely two-tone colours. And offered £15.00 off.

From the newspaper ad above:

The Trimphone is a lightweight phone with a melodious warble. It combines the best in modern technology with a timeless elegance of design.

Normally, it costs quite a bit more than an ordinary phone, as you might expect. However, until 31 July 1981, we're offering it to you at a knock-down price.

There are two models, the press-button and a dial model. They come in a range of 3 attractive two-tone colours.

For full details, do one of two things. Call the operator and ask for Freefone 888 anytime during office hours, or fill in the coupon (no stamp required). Either way, you'll get a warble for a song.

I'm not sure how successful this marketing ploy was. Everybody I knew who had a telephone (apart from my posh auntie who had a Trimphone - but then she would) had a bog standard traditional dial bell-ringer and I noticed none of these new colourful 1981 Trimphones suddenly bursting out all over.

In early 1982, BT, seemingly absolutely determined to flog these phones, went further.

The two-tone colour gimmick of 1981 continued, but the Trimphones were now called Phoenixphones. Lord Snowdon had a hand in picking the colours, and they were all part of "The Snowdon Collection". There's stylish for you!

The Trimphone goes colourful - the 1982 Phoenix Phone, sorry, Phoenixphone, all one word, available in dial or push-button models.

I didn't see any of these new telephonic style icons on my daily rounds. And BT released such a range of telephones for sale in the 1980s that the Trimphone/Phoenixphone soon seemed positively quaint.

Bizarrely, a couple of the red trimphones - sorry, Phoenixphones - have recently, quite wrongly, appeared in TV programmes set in the 1970s - including Life On Mars and Margaret.

They've also cropped up on one or two websites dedicated to phones as "70s" items and are often falsely sold as such on eBay.

Odd, isn't it - just how many '60s and '80s pop culture items are attributed to the 1970s?

But then perhaps it's not so surprising - the modern day fantasy view of the 1970s largely depends on 1960s and 1980s realities to keep up its totally fake "funky" image!

1985: Live Aid

After Band Aid in 1984, 1985 gave us Live Aid - the Global Juke Box - the 12 hour pop marathon, watched by an estimated 1.5 billion people worldwide...

The events took place at Wembley Stadium, England, and the John F. Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, USA, on 13 July 1985. It was a massive event, unparalleled in rock history.

You'd got your ticket...

You'd got your T-shirt...

And suddenly you were there...

...with Charles and Diana, Bob Geldof, U2, Spandau Ballet, Nik Kershaw, Sade...

... Freddie Mercury and Queen... and oodles of other notables.

Yes, it had been a pain queuing for the loo; yes, it had been grotty when the girl in front of you had stepped back on to your big toe... but you still went home in a blissful daze...

It had been a day of colour, light, sound, energy... a day that made rock and pop history... a day that saved lives...

And if you were at home, watching the spectacle on the telly, it was still a fantastic experience...

Even via the small screen, Live Aid was pure magic.

Bob Geldof (referred to as "Sir Bob of Geldof" in certain quarters) had been driven, a man possessed by his dream right up to and, indeed, throughout the concert (remember his cussin' and blindin'?).

The 1980s - the decade of greed?

That's far from being the full picture.

It was the decade of contrasts.

Madonna on-stage in Philadelphia, experiencing rucked-up shoulder pad syndrome.

How the Sunday People reported events - 14/7/1985:

A thunderous roar erupted when the Greatest Rock Show on Earth got under way yesterday with the arrival of Prince Charles and Princess Di.

And the Royals raved it up with the rest.

Princess Di was clearly thrilled to meet her pop idols as the couple were introduced backstage to 60 of the stars.

And as Prince Charles watched the jean-clad rock fans enjoying the party, he said:

"I'll have to buy myself a pair of denims."

Part of the show at the preliminaries was stolen by two-year-old Fifi Trixie-Belle Geldof, daughter of Boomtown Rats star Bob, who masterminded the event.

She was supposed to present Di with a bouquet, but fled, overcome by shyness.

The royal couple clapped and tapped their feet along to the music.

Nearly two billion people were estimated to have tuned into the extravaganza.

The £10 million target for the twin Live Aid concerts at Wembley Stadium and Philadelphia could eventually be trebled when the cash is totted up from donations, TV rights and souvenir sales.

Geldof summed it up: "To me it is not a pop concert. To me it is not a TV show. To me it is simply a means of keeping people alive."

Quotes from the day:

Gary Kemp, of Spandau Ballet, who arrived by helicopter: "It was the most incredible sight from the air. Quite wonderful. This is going to be the greatest audience in history. It won't happen again, ever, at least not with this generation of performers."

U2 vocalist Bono: "The money spent on defence could turn the deserts of Africa into fertile land. The technology is with us... but the technocrats are not."

Texas Tom - Commercial Break 1988

Does anybody else remember the Texas Tom TV ads?

The words to the ads were set to a country and western dirge, and sung by a very rugged-sounding gent with an American accent, who was apparently called Texas Tom.

But the setting was England - complete with rain.

In one of the ads (I think there were several), a woman was at home, doing the ironing, apparently dreaming of somebody called Texas Tom. The accompanying song's lyrics assured us that he could transform her drab home. So off she went into the rain, headed for her local Texas Homecare store.

During the ad, we saw the back view of a man several times - and it would appear that this was Texas Tom, the hunk doing the singing...

The woman arrived at Texas, soaking wet, asked for Tom, the guy turned around... and he was not what you might expect.

For years, the Texas ads had the slogan "Texas - The Big One" - these ads are usually the first to spring to mind when Texas Homecare is mentioned.

Texas Tom arrived in the late 1980s (the screen capture at the top of this post is from a 1988 video recording) and didn't stick around for long. But the ad had a certain charm - and I remember it fondly.

And guess what? Apparently some customers actually asked for Tom at their local Texas Homecare stores!

By the miracle of YouTube, see the Texas Tom ad below...


"Just Ask For Tom" - Texas Homecare ad from the Sun, August 28, 1989.

UPDATE - 7/11/2009:

I have just received a comment from Mr Paul Richey. When Texas Tom made his TV ad debut in the late 1980s, Mr Richey was a country singer of Nashville, Tennessee. So, what has Mr Richey got to do with Tom? I quote from Mr Richey's comment below:

I was the voice of Texas Tom in the advert. I also appeared at the Wimbley Festival three different years and did a six week tour with Billie Jo Spears. Our opening act was Raymond Froggett. I still live in Nashville and I'm a Songwriter and Music Publisher. Was surprised to have found this advert.

Texas Tom was a 1980s TV ads hero of mine, Paul! I thought those ads were great fun and remember them fondly. Thank you for getting in touch - I have often wondered who gave Tom voice!

Some Advice On Blogging About A Decade...

Jim has written to ask me for advice about producing a blog based on the events and pop culture of a particular decade. Very flattering, although I'm no high-minded expert!

A few points may be of interest:

1) Choose a decade you are enthusiastic about - one about which you have good memories, an important time in your life - or a decade you never lived through but have enthusiasm for nonetheless.

2) Read up all about it. You may have lived through, for example, the 1980s, but you are one person. Your memories of living through the decade are very important - these insights help to give the blog life and colour. But also include as much media material as possible, and see yourself in perspective, also including the perspectives of others differently placed from yourself.

3) Don't trust all you read. I never use Wikipedia for example, or BBC on-line, or the I Love... BBC TV shows. I find there are inaccuracies and personal agendas seeping through to an alarming degree. Even media actually from a decade can contain misleading information, and I'm not just talking about political biases - basic facts are sometimes misreported. If you are including a snippet from a newspaper/magazine article or TV or radio show, and you know one or more facts are wrong, insert the correct fact/s - something like this:

[The Hungarian Magic Cube became Rubik's Cube in 1980 when it was re-named, re-manufactured and entered mainstream pop culture in the western world. It was released in America in May 1980, and the trademark was first registered in the UK on 7/5/1980 but, due to a shortage, the first Rubik's Cubes did not arrive here until just before Christmas].

Squared brackets indicate that this is your writing, a departure from whatever text you have been quoting.

4) Make it serious, make it fun. If you remember, for instance, the moment the Rubik's Cube first arrived in your household in 1980 or 1981, write it up. Was Dad befuddled? Did your little sis turn out to be an unexpected Cube genius? Cover major events, politics, TV, pop culture, pop music, film and fashion trends. Try and present as full a picture of the decade as possible.

5) Remember that decades are very short periods of time and look at how they link to other times. In the case of the 1980s, for example, something much seen in 1980/81 was flared trousers, not the height of fashion, but still around in large numbers. These are a link back to the late 1960s when this fashion first began to enter the mainstream. Do not be afraid to scan across the decades for the origins of some fads, fashions, news stories etc. Time is not split up rigidly into decades, it is a constantly flowing stream.

6) Accuracy is of prime importance. Study, study, study - there is a great deal of inaccurate information on-line. Try and make your blog a resource readers can trust. If you discover you have got something wrong, correct it!

7) Be prepared to answer e-mail queries/comments from readers.

8) Be as obscure as you like. You may have loved Max Wall as Walter Soper in Crossroads from 1982-1983, and have detailed knowledge of Marjorie Dawe and her life at Riddleton End (for example). Blog it all. You can rest assured that a topic not covered much elsewhere will add extra interest to your blog - and some people out there will come looking!

9) Most of all, have fun! And if you like your subject matter, that shouldn't be too difficult. I find '80s Actual to be both stimulating and relaxing. My final piece of advice, in the "immortal" words of Wham! is "Enjoy what you do!"

Rubik's Cube

An original early 1980s Rubik's Cube. The British Association of Toy Retailers noted the intense interest in the Cube upon its arrival in late 1980 and named it Toy Of The Year as a huge Cube shortage began. There simply were not enough to go round! In the spring of 1981, the country was finally fully stocked and the Cube won Toy Of The Year for the second year running.

I can't.

The Cube was invented by Erno Rubik of Hungary in 1974, and he called it the "Magic Cube".

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The first test batches of the Magic Cube were finally released in Budapest, Hungary, then very much "behind the Iron Curtain", just before Christmas 1977. In 1978, the Cube started to become popular in Hungary. Small numbers of Magic Cubes passed beyond Hungarian borders, and there was growing interest amongst academics and puzzle fans lucky enough to encounter it in the Western World. But the vast majority of us remained ignorant of the puzzle's existence.

The Magic Cube debuted at the toy fairs of London, Paris, Nuremberg and New York in January and February 1980, and was then remanufactured to Western World safety standards and packaging norms. The new version was lighter and easier to manipulate.

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Just prior to its Western World release, Ideal Toys decided to rename the newly remanufactured 1980 version of the Cube. "Inca Gold" and "The Gordian Knot" were two of the names suggested, but "Rubik's Cube" was chosen.

In 1980, mathematician David Singmaster, author of the first newspaper article on the Magic Cube to appear outside Hungary, wrote:
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... the Magic Cube is now being sold as Rubik's Cube... [the Ideal Toy Corp.] has renamed the cube as 'Rubik's Cube' on the grounds that 'magic' tends to be associated with magic.
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The Rubik's Cube trademark was registered in England on 7 May 1980, but due to a shortage, supplies did not start arriving here until just before Christmas. Many of us were entranced by it, but the shortage stretched on into 1981 and it was spring before the country was fully stocked.

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The puzzle celebrated 25 years as Rubik's Cube in 2005.

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Erno Rubik's wonderful puzzle made it on to the cover of Scientific American in March 1981, with a "computer graphical display" image of the Cube and, inside, an article by Douglas R Hafstadter.

Interestingly enough, although the Scientific American article refers to the puzzle being marketed as "Rubik's Cube" (as it was from 1980 onwards), most of Mr Hofstadter's references are to the "Magic Cube".

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Like most of us, 13-year-old Patrick Bossert had trouble obtaining a Rubik's Cube when they were first released in England in late 1980. There was an acute shortage. He finally secured one in March 1981 and had soon gained a bit of a reputation as a Cube Master at his school. You Can Do The Cube followed - it was published in June 1981 and became the year's bestseller. By the end of the year, it had been reprinted (at least) fourteen times, and Patrick went on to make a cube-solving video.

The man himself - Erno Rubik.

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The Sunday Times Magazine "photo-review" of 1981.

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The Cube certainly made a monkey out of me!

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From the Cambridge Evening News, England, 15 July 1981.

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From the Daily Mirror, 12/8/1981. The article reminds me that "Rubik's Cube" was just as commonly known as "the Rubik Cube" back then. The official name, chosen by Ideal Toys back in 1980, was the former.

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A how to solve the Rubik's Cube video from 1981...

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... featuring a leggy, lip-glossed female Cubist...

... an in-depth explanation of what makes a Rubik Cube twist...

... and two little boys - the dark haired one looks rather as though he's wearing hairspray to me.

The helpful narrator reminded us that we were watching a video tape (fat chance of that for most of us back in 1981) and so could rewind it if we missed any points, and a cheap disco soundtrack kept the whole thing groovin'.

By the way, I followed the tape's instructions and my Cube still ended up a mess.

As well as a plethora of "how to solve the Cube" books, there was also this...

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Joan Smith's Great Cube Race was a 1982 children's story about a school's Rubik's Cube contest...

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"I'm over half way there," said Ollie pleased, going through the moves again between mouthfuls of fish pie. Brr-ik, Brr-ik went the Cube confidently.

"Not while we're eating please," said Dad. "I can't stand the sight or sound of that toy."

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"They say it helps with maths," said Mum.

Ollie thought this meant that it was safe to go on and he ran through the pattern once more putting the blue and yellow edge in place. Brr-ik. Brr-ik.

"PUT THAT DOWN," shouted Dad, "or I'll scramble you up so thoroughly that even the winner of the race couldn't put you straight again."

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Ollie put the Cube down beside the salt, but Dad could not bear to have it so close to him, and hid it behind the curtain.

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People were doing the Cube absolutely everywhere - as this newspaper article from the "Sun", May 13, 1982, shows!

1981: The First London Marathon

The idea was inspired by the annual New York City Marathon. Athelete and journalist Chris Brasher, who ran in the event in November 1979, was so impressed, he wondered aloud, in an article he wrote for The Observer newspaper, if a similar event could be staged in the UK?

Brasher joined forces with his old friend and fellow runner John Disley, and the two set out to find out what the possibilities were.

In early 1980, Donald Trelford, then editor of The Observer, hosted a lunch so that Brasher and Disley could meet the authorities who would be involved in organising a marathon, including the Greater London Council (GLC), the police, the Amateur Athletics Association and the London Tourist Board.

After some discussion, it was agreed that a London Marathon was possible - and that the idea was worth pursuing.

Chris Brasher revisited America to gain further marathon knowledge.

Many details needed to be ironed out. Charitable status was established for the event, and the following aims were established:

* To improve the overall standard and status of British marathon running by providing a fast course and strong international competition.

* To show mankind that, on occasions, they can be united.

* To raise money for sporting and recreational facilities in London.

* To help boost London’s tourism.

* To prove that ‘Britain is best’ when it comes to organising major events.

* To have fun, and provide some happiness and sense of achievement in a troubled world.

Five months later, on 29 March, 1981, the first London Marathon was run. It was a colourful occasion with some fancy dress present...

Did I dream it, or did I see a chicken on the run? There was certainly a waiter who ran the course with a tray and bottle - which weren't stuck together...

Here's a report from the Daily Mail, March 30, 1981...

IT'S A WINNER!

One million people turn out to watch Britain's biggest-ever sporting event

The most amazing sporting event Britain has ever seen turned out to have 5,300 winners yesterday. Around that number finished out of 6,700 who officially started in the first London Marathon and were cheered by a million people as they ran through the streets of the capital.

The first and last to complete the 26 miles and 385 yards symbolised in their different ways the spirit of the occasion.

At the front Dick Beardsley from the United States and Inge Simonsen from Norway linked hands to run the last few yards and stayed a dead heat for the first place.

"What does it matter who wins?" said 24-year-old Beardsley.

"Every runner who finishes this race is a winner."

Some four hours later, last man home was the oldest competitor 78-year-old Bob Wiseman. "I feel good. It's great to be alive," he said.

The leaders made it an event of the highest athletic quality. At 2 hours, 11 minutes, 48 seconds, the joint winners ran the fastest marathon ever in Britain - and 142 runners finished under 2 hours 30 minutes.

Among them: The first Briton, 34-year-old Trevor Wright, who was third, and the first woman, 43-year-old Joyce Smith.

Personalities in the field included disc jockey Jimmy Savile in a gold lame track suit, whose run raised £50,000 from sponsors for Stoke Mandeville Hospital, and race director Chris Brasher, who said: "It went like a dream."

He is already talking about holding the second London Marathon - on April 4, 1982.

St John Ambulance crews stationed along the route treated hundreds of runners for exhaustion, but the worst damage reported was a broken leg. "We are surprised there weren't more casualties - everyone was very fit," an ambulance spokesman said.

The drizzly conditions were ideal for marathon running - and competitors praised the camaraderie of those taking part and the encouragement given them by spectators.

This aspect was summed up by 29-year-old jogger Ron Crowley, from Liverpool. Four miles from the finish, he was on the point of quitting after stumbling to a halt.

Then, he said, he heard the crowd yelling out his number.

"No one has ever cheered like that for me before," he said. "They gave me heart to go on."

The Daily Mail "COMMENT" section commented:

It's popular. It's freaky. It's here to stay.

The first London marathon was a blistering success. Didn't matter that some top runners chose snootily to stay away. The time was a cracking one anyway.

But, as if to point up the frolicsome gutsiness of this unprecedented happening in Britain, the Norwegian and the American, who won, deliberately crossed the line together holding hands.

And what crowds there were lining the 26-mile route that wound its way back and forth along banks of the Thames from Greenwich to Westminster.

Neither the drizzle nor the loss of an hour's sleep could keep them away.

The atmosphere was peculiarly British... a strange mixture of waiting for the royal procession to go by and egging on a competitor at a father's race in a school sports.

For, with close to 7,000 entrants, almost every family watching knew somebody taking part.

All credit to Chris Brasher for doing so much to promote this American-style folk sport here in Britain.

Catch on?

Nobody will be able to stop it now.

Slight, unassuming middle-aged women shaming thousands of would-be iron men. Balding, bespectacled bobbing chaps, doing every bit as well as athletic-looking bounders. The streets of a big city given over for a few hours at least to a challenge that is human in scale and classless in appeal.

This show will run and run.

All those who took part yesterday - whether they finished or whether they didn't - can reckon themselves pioneers in the making of a grand new British sporting tradition. In years to come, Marathon Day will eclipse Boat Race Day and could even upstage Derby Day.

1989: The Fall Of The Berlin Wall

Thinking about 1989 the other night, two events sprang into my mind, followed by a whole battalion of others. I haven't much time, so I'll just toddle through the first two here...

The first of the 1989 events that came to mind when I focused the little grey cells on that memorable twelve months, was the invention of the World Wide Web by English software engineer Tim Berners-Lee at CERN in Switzerland.

This event passed unnoticed by the vast majority of us at the time - we would not discover its wonderful, world-altering significance until the 1990s. Read all about it here.

The second event to trot into my noddle was the Fall of the Berlin Wall...

An absolutely stunning historical moment...

Here's how the Daily Mirror reported events on Saturday, November 11, 1989:

TOGETHER AT LAST
on the day the world became a better, braver place...

Holes were bulldozed in the Berlin Wall and East Germany promised free elections yesterday as thousands of her citizens continued to pour out to the West.

Minutes after the election announcement, East German bulldozers began smashing two more holes as exit points in the wall. And eight more border crossings will be made next week.

For the Communists it is a calculated gamble in an attempt to stem an exodus. For the East German people, already almost delirious with the pace of change, it is another giant step to freedom.

The East German Communist Party unveiled an amazing package of reforms, including free elections, changes in the economy and parliamentary control over the army.

This revolutionary programme means party bosses have now given thousands of demonstrators everything they demanded during peaceful candlelit protests.

They knew that East Germany's 16 million people would never have halted the protests unless free elections were granted.

Yesterday the East Germans were walking and driving through the Wall at the rate of 800 an hour, sounding their car horns and weeping with emotion.

For some, however, the dizzying pace was almost too much. The East German guards did not know quite how to react to the West German who stretched out the hand of friendship near the Checkpoint Charlie crossing.

But for the families who were crossing into West Berlin all day there were no doubts. They came, they saw... and they fell in love with the capitalist world they had for so long been taught to distrust.

With the toys in the shops - the Batman cars, the walking, talking, living dolls, the video games, the mountain bikes.

With the clothes. The baby wear. The range of cars.

But, most of all, with the overflowing shelves in the supermarkets. For many who are younger than the 28-year-old wall, it was their first day of freedom. Their lives have been dominated by secrecy and shortages.

Their first taste of Western plenty was a free handout.

Police and savings banks told excited East Germans who wanted to go shopping the way to social security offices.

There they were given 100 West German marks - worth about £35 - in "welcome money."

Gunter Martin, a factory worker from Halle, waved a wad of East German marks and said: "This is completely useless to me here.

"It's the most unbelievable day of my life. I just shut up my car repair shop and jumped in my car as fast as I could."

Reinhold Haupt, a 41-year-old electrician who drove from Ashersleben to spend the weekend in West, was showered with hospitality by a crowd of West Germans giving the new arrivals a heroes' welcome.

Within minutes someone offered him a bed, another said he would take him on a tour, a third handed him a cup of coffee and a woman pressed a 10-mark note into his hand.

He spent his "welcome money" on bananas, oranges, coffee and chocolate, all in short supply in East Germany.

Civil servant Thomas Kolbar said: "I turned up at my aunt's house last night and she nearly died of shock."

The Communists' gamble may pay off. Most East Germans are only visiting the West, happily returning home after partying or sight-seeing in the West.

No one could count the numbers going to the West in Berlin. But elsewhere, 45,000 East Germans swarmed to the West yesterday and only 2,500 stayed.

More from 1989 soon.

More 1980s Fashions: Girls Wearing Braces...

Ah, braces!

Essential for the 1980s Wall Street look.

Nice big red braces, often with exquisite patterns...

But that was a male fashion trend of slightly later than 1983. The Sunday Mirror of August 14 1983 revealed that braces were making waves in female fashion circles. And here we weren't talking about outlandish dressers like punks or skinheads. No, this was your average girl next door.

As illustrated by the two models in the photograph which accompanied the article, braces could actually help to... er... accentuate a woman's femininity.

Koo Stark was giving braces for girlies a leg-up in 1983. Remember Koo? The American actress who had a brief romance with Prince Andrew in the early 1980s? People were agog, as Miss Stark had once appeared in an erotic film called Emily. Would she become a princess? No, as it turned out, and "randy Andy" as the prince was nicknamed, married Sarah Ferguson in 1986.

Anyway, enough from me - here's the text:

HOW KOO GAVE BRACES A LIFT

Braces are back - but now it's the girls who are wearing them, not the men.

Last week Koo Stark, following the trend set by cockney duo Chas and Dave, sported a smart pair of braces when she was pictured outside a London hotel.

But her clip-on versions, though smart and trendy, are not the ultimate in fashion chic, according to top Savile Row fashion designer Tommy Nutter.

It is the old-fashioned button-on variety that are selling like hot-cakes.

Tommy made up dinner suits for Elaine Paige, Twiggy and Bianca Jagger, all cut for braces.

For some girls however, wearing braces can have two distinct disadvantages. Bucks Fizz singer Jay Aston said: "I haven't got a lot for them to get in the way of. But some girls might have awful problems."

So for big busted girls the answer is to wear them - as Koo did - only just on the edge of the shoulder.

Before the fashion fad, braces in junk shops cost 25p. Tommy's version sell for up to £19.95.

But for really cut price chic, Woolworths are selling button-on braces for £2.99 or Koo Stark-style clip-ons for £1.35.

The Pretenders - Chrissie Hynde In 1981...

There was no House Music in 1980. It did not exist. No true Hip Hop scene either (we'd just experienced the first Rap record to chart).

But 1980 threw us a few final Disco classics, brought us Buster Bloodvessel and Bad Manners, David Bowie's weird and wonderful Ashes To Ashes with its groundbreaking video, and The Cure with A Forest. Adam Ant and Spandau Ballet hit the charts as The New Romantics began their reign, and it was a golden year for new boys Madness. In fact, all in all, 1980 was an excellent year for the pop charts.

On 19 January 1980, the decade got its first new chart topper - Brass In Pocket by The Pretenders.

With a title like that, some think it an appropriate first new Number 1 for the '80s. Perhaps it is - although in 1980 the financial climate was grim and yuppies unknown.

Brass In Pocket was gloriously downbeat music-wise, whilst the lyrics were personable and optimistic.

Here's a small but (I think) fascinating glimpse into the world of Pretenders singer Chrissie Hynde from the Daily Mirror, July 27, 1981.

I'VE STOPPED PRETENDING

Now rock star Chrissie really is mean and moody

She looks as though she has just got off the pillion of a greaser's motorbike.

Big leather jacket, black eyeliner, stark white face and a street fighter's stride.

The tough image would force a building worker to think twice before whistling.

But the mean, moody look has made Chrissie Hynde star rock singer with The Pretenders. Now the moodiness is for real, because Chrissie is not sure anymore she wants to be a star.

"I could go back to being a dropout. I was really good at that. No stage nerves, no worries or responsibilities. Just a bag on my back, moving around, sleeping on somebody's floor, earning a few pounds here and there.

"That was much more me than all this."

She means the top hotels, the chauffeur-driven limousines and the shyness she has to fight each time The Pretenders appear in concert.

"I didn't go into the rock world for money and stardom, or to join the superstar sex round their swimming pools. I like writing songs and playing my guitar. A recording contract came along. At the time, it seemed more fun than being a waitress. Now, I'm not so sure."

Rock fans might find that a little difficult to swallow. But the stage punk has little in common with the thoughtful, 29-year-old Chrissie voicing her doubts.

Chrissie left her native American city, Ohio, in 1973, and bummed around London for four years until she met Pete Farndon, Martin Chambers and James Honeyman-Scott - the three Hereford men who eventually made up The Pretenders.

After Brass In Pocket reached number one, the band became one of the biggest names on the international rock circuit.

A tour of Britain, America, Japan and Australia - to coincide with their new album Pretenders II - ends in three days.

Non-smoker Chrissie hardly drinks. And has no interest in the rock tour diet of sex and drugs.

"Cocaine, it's the new calling card when you're on the road. Strange people appear backstage with little packets. They say, want me to cut you up some fun? And I say, get your ass outa here.

"Believe me, it's difficult trying to stay sober and clear-headed around rock people.

"Everyone is so intent on getting high. A little bourbon here, more beer over there.

"Meanwhile, I'm trying to smile at the jokes, keep up with the fun, and all the time I'd rather be sitting in a room by myself."

She gives the impression that her life is one long solo act.

Try steering the conversation to men, and a series of no-entry signs appear.

Mention love, and she clams up tighter than her torn, drainpipe jeans.

"My man of the moment?" She repeated the question with a shocked expression.

"I don't have men for the moment. I'm not like that

"I've never had a boyfriend until now. There is a man in my life now, but I'm not telling who he is or what he does.

"I'm not denying him because I want the fans to think I'm wild, free and available. I was always a loner before I met him.

"Friends filled my life, that was enough."

She hums, she plays with her hair and eventually admits that life is better with love.

"I suppose there is some colour now. Yeah, colours like black and blue."

Later, she walked back to her West End flat chatting happily, then she saw a poster advertising The Pretenders.

She paused and said: "When I see pictures all over the walls like that, I know there's no escape."

The first two Pretenders albums, released in 1980 and 1981.

Personal Computer World Magazine, November 1982...

Personal Computer World, November, 1982 - 75p. Personally, I couldn't give a toss about computers in 1982...

They just weren't "happening" round my way. Too expensive. Too complicated. And the Gas and Electricity people were always blaming their computers when domestic utility bills were wrong, so they were obviously bloody unreliable.

And anyway, these things didn't even look like computers. Where were the flashing lights? The knobs and levers? The whirling tape spools? What a swizz...

And nobody I knew even had one of those Atari TV games thingies until 1984. And then I quickly gave up, letting Pac-Man be caught by the ghosties. It was inevitable anyway. Just as it had been on the machine at the local boozer a couple of years earlier.

But in the 1980s we entered the IT age, and many things were happening in the world of computing, whether I was interested or not...

Sinclair ZX Spectrum

16K or 48K RAM...

full-size moving-key keyboard

colour and sound...

high-resolution graphics...

From only £125!

First there was the world-beating Sinclair ZX80. The first personal computer for under £100.
Then the ZX81. With up to 16K RAM available, and the ZX Printer. Giving more power and more flexibility. Together, they've sold over 500,000 so far, to make Sinclair world leaders in personal computing. And the ZX81 remains the ideal low-cost introduction to computing.

Now there's the ZX Spectrum! With up to 48K of RAM. A full-size moving key keyboard. Vivid colour and sound. High resolution graphics. And a low price that's unrivalled.

Professional power - personal computer price!

The ZX Spectrum incorporates all the proven features of the ZX81. But its new 16K BASIC ROM dramatically increases your computing power.

You have access to a range of 8 colours for foreground, background and border, together with a sound generator and high-resolution graphics.

You have the facility to support separate data files.

You have a choice of storage capacities (governed by the amount of RAM). 16K of RAM (which you can uprate later to 48K of RAM) or a massive 48K of RAM.

Yet the price of the Spectrum 16K is an amazing £125! Even the popular 48K version costs only £175!

You may decide to begin with the 16K version. If so, you can still return it later for an upgrade. The cost? Around £60.

Ready to use today, easy to expand tomorrow

Your ZX Spectrum comes with a mains adaptor and all the necessary leads to connect to most cassette recorders and TVs (colour or black and white).

Employing Sinclair BASIC (now used in over 500,000 computers worldwide) the ZX Spectrum comes complete with two manuals which together represent a detailed course in BASIC programming. Whether you're a beginner or a competent programmer, you'll find them both of immense help. Depending on your computer, you'll quickly be moving into the colourful world of ZX Spectrum professional-level computing.

There's no need to stop there. The ZX Printer - available now - is fully compatible with the ZX Spectrum. And later this year there will be Microdrives for massive amounts of extra on-line storage, plus an RS232/network interface board.

Broader Horizons

The BBC Microcomputer System

'Whether your interests lie in business, educational, scientific control or games applications, this system provides a possibility for expansion which is unparalleled in any other machine available at present,' comments Paul Beverley in the July 1982 edition of Personal Computer World.

The BBC Microcomputer can genuinely claim to satisfy the needs of novice and expert alike. It is a fast, powerful system generating high resolution colour graphics and which can synthesise music and speech. The keyboard uses a conventional layout and electric typewriter 'feel'.

You can can connect directly* to cassette recorders, domestic television, video monitor, disc drives, printers (dot matrix and daisy wheel) and paddles. Interfaces include RS423, inter-operable with RS232C equipment, and Centronics. There is an 8-bit user port and 1MHz buffered extension bus for a direct link to Prestel and Teletext adaptors and many other expansion units. The Econet System allows numerous machines to share the use of expensive disc drives and printers.

BASIC is used, but plug-in ROM options will allow instant access to other high level languages (including Pascal, FORTH and LISP) and to word processing software.

A feature of the BBC Microcomputer which has attracted widespread interest is the Tube, a design registered by Acorn Computers. The Tube is unique to the BBC Microcomputer and greatly enhances the expandability of the system by providing, via a high speed data channel for the addition of a second processor. A 3MHz 6502 with 64K of RAM will double processing speed; a Z80 extension will make it fully CP/M** compatible.

The BBC Microcomputer is also at the heart of a massive computer education programme. The government has recommended it for use in both primary and secondary schools. The BBC Computer Literacy Project includes two series of television programmes on the use and applications of computers.

There are two versions of the computer. Model A, at £299, offers 16K of RAM and Model B at £399 has 32K of RAM.

*Model A has a limited range of interfaces but can be upgraded to meet Model B specification.
**CP/M is a registered trademark of Digital Research

The BBC Microcomputer is designed, produced and distributed in the UK by Acorn Computers Limited.

A few games here...

Spectres for the Speccy -

... more mystery and excitement on your Spectrum as Eddy the electrician tries to thwart the ghosts in the mansion with his secret light generator. (from the developers of 'Spectral Invaders').

Eight quid to you, guv'nor!

There's also the BBC Dragon Quest, and BBC Chess (£11.50), Spacewarp (£9.00), Spaces Pirates (£8.00), Polaris (£5.50), Multifile (£25.00), Backgammon (£8.00), Golf (£5.50), Airlift (£5.50) and Fruit Machine (£5.50).

If you were interested in computers in 1982, but didn't fancy forking out for one, you could always try and win the "NEW GENERATION DRG VICTOR 9000".

The DRG Victor 9000 is a new generation 16 bit micro with the power to rival many minicomputers.

Designed to meet the need for more powerful business applications, its 1.2 MB of floppy disk is expandable to 2.4 MB of floppy disk creating the flexibility to cope easily with longer customer files, company records and word processing.

The Commodore VIC 20 - The best home computer in the world

How to make the best home computer in the world even better.

Peripherals to turn a powerful computer into a super-computer for the professional.

With VIC, you have the finest home computer money can buy. And the more you use it, the more you will ask it to do.

Pretty soon, you'll want to extend VIC's vast potential to the full; and there is a wide range of VIC peripherals to help you do it.

Disk drives, disk-based software, a printer, cassette unit, joysticks, paddles - with these VIC computing becomes total computing: giving you true professional power and capability...

The RP 1600 FLOWRITER

A Daisywheel printer that thinks it's a computer!

The RICOH FLOWRITER is the most intelligent Daisy Wheel printer on the world market. Equipped with an internal micro computer and a large memory it will intelligently handle all printing and word processing operations; hence relieving the host computer for simultaneous use.

The Flowriter is fully compatible with software written for any intelligent printer and is plug compatible with all popular hardware...

Professional microcomputers from only £16 per week!

The new Dragon 32. So well designed, you'll even understand this ad.

If you're already a computer expert, may we refer you to the box of technical specifications displayed opposite.

If you're not, may we refer you to the new Dragon 32 family computer. A computer so easy to understand, you won't understand why all the others seem so difficult.

And the new Dragon 32 costs under £200...

BBC Dragon Quest - an exciting adventure game based on 'Dungeons And Dragons'... by the look of the flag on his front, that's St George in there facing up to his old enemy...

NEC turns 28 years of computer experience to your personal advantage.

It takes a great computer company to make a great personal computer. And from the start, NEC has been a pioneer in computer technology. In fact, we invented the all-semiconductor computer in 1959. Now, hundreds of innovations later, we've made it personal.

We present the PC-8000, a powerful and friendly business tool that can help you get more done in a day than you ever could before...

3.7 million reasons why the Atari Home Computer is something to see. The display screen used with our computers is composed of 192 horizontal lines, each containing 320 dots. Delivering colour and luminosity instructions to each dot for a second requires 3.7 million cycles... a lot of work for the normal 6502 processor.

That's why the Atari computer has equipped its 6502 with its own electronic assistant. It's called ANTIC, and it handles all the display work, leaving the 6502 free to handle the rest. What this means to you is uncompromisingly spectacular display capabilities without loss of computer power needed to carry out the demands of your program.

That's a quality you just don't find in ordinary home computers. And it's one of the reasons some computer experts say that Atari computers are so far ahead of their time...

More from the wondrous world of 1980s computing soon!

1982: The Kids From Fame In England...

"Baby look at me and tell me what you see..." We see Doris on the cover of an October 1982 Look-In magazine, which contained an invitation for readers to meet the kids from Fame in an EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW!

"You ain't seen the best of me yet, give me time I'll make you forget the rest..."

It had all started as a film in 1980, but now, in 1982, we got Fame the TV series, and Fame fever struck! The series helped start a major fashion trend - transforming leg warmers from useful but boring garments into high fashion. Yes, they were worn on the streets in high summer.

"You want fame? Well, fame costs. And right here's where you start payin' - in sweaty ankles..."

Here's a newspaper advertisement for Fame, the 1980 film, available on Video 2000 in 1982.

Video what?!

Yes, we didn't only have Betamax and VHS to confuse us. Perhaps it was a good job that video machines were too expensive for many of us!

Fame, the TV series, was first shown by the BBC on Thursday, 17/6/1982.

From the Daily Mirror, 31/12/1982:

The Kids from "Fame" faced up to the consequences of their phenomenal showbiz success yesterday. They were hemmed in by a crowd of fans and photographers at their London hotel.

The singing, dancing, music-playing kids, including Debbie Allen and Lee Curreri, came smiling through as they do in their TV shows.

It was their first night off during a ten-day British tour.

But they were given no time to relax at their hotel when the cameras clicked and they were questioned by a group of children for an ITV programme.

One youngster asked Debbie, who plays teacher Lydia Grant in the series: "What do you do if you want to be a dancer?"

The answer: "Just jump into it and work, work, work."

Then, without further ado, Debbie led Lee Curreri, who plays keyboards ace Bruno Martelli, and the rest of the cast back to rehearsals and work, work, work.

Claire, my little sister, was a Fame devotee well before the end of the year. My diary entry for 8/9/1982 reads:

Claire has gone bats on "Fame". I'm going bats listening to her rambling on and on about it. There's going to be trouble if this keeps up.

1986: Chernobyl

The Chernobyl disaster - and a rise in radiation levels across Europe. Poor old ignorant me was caught out in a downpour just after it happened and, with the knowledge that there was a radiactive cloud somewhere overhead, and also having heard that rain was a good carrier of radiation, I wondered if my snorkel parka, which I always hung behind my bedroom door, would be glowing when I turned out the light and got into bed.

That may sound humorous - but I kid you not!

Breaking news - from The Times, 29 April, 1986:

Huge Nuclear Leak At Soviet Plant

Alert 1,000 Miles Away In Sweden After Moscow Admits Casualties.

A massive radioactive leak at a Soviet nuclear power station has caused casualties in what may be the world's worst nuclear accident. The leak was so large that it prompted a full-scale alert nearly 1,000 miles away in Sweden, including the evacuation of 600 workers from a Swedish power station on the Baltic coast.

Finland reported radiation levels six times higher than normal. Denmark five times higher than normal, and Norway 50% up as a result of the accident. "We have registered radiation just about everywhere we have looked," said Mr Ragnor Boge, of the Swedish Radiation Institute.

Soviet atomic energy authorities at first told the Swedish Embassy in Moscow they were unaware of any nuclear accident on Soviet territory that could cause a leak to reach Sweden.

But later Tass reported that an accident had taken place at a nuclear power station at Chernobyl, north of Kiev, and there were some casualties.

It said measures were being taken "to eliminate the consequences of the accident" at the plant, where a reactor had been damaged. Aid was being given to those affected by the leak, it added.

Swedish scientists at first believed a leak had occurred at their own nuclear plant at Forsmark, on the Baltic coast about 60 miles north of Stockholm, and evacuated the 600 workers there. After the evacuation radiation levels were checked at other areas of the country, including the capital.

These all confirmed a higher degree of radioactivity than normal, and further tests at Forsmark led the Swedish authorities to conclude that the discharge had come from the Soviet Union.

Some Swedish nuclear experts said they believed the Soviet accident was caused by the overheating of nuclear fuel. A "considerable explosion" would be the result of such overheating and could have led to a "meltdown" of the nuclear core at the reactor, they said.

The Swedish energy minister, Mrs Birgitta Dahl, said all Russian nuclear reactors should be placed under international control.

"We must demand that [the] Soviet Union improve their security and inform the rest of the world of such accidents in good time," she said.

The first stage of the Chernobyl nuclear plant was put into service in September 1977, followed by two more stages in 1980.

A government committee of inquiry has been set up by the Soviet Union into the accident, Tass said.

The Swedish Defence Ministry said an abnormally high level of radioactivity had been recorded on Monday afternoon by several monitoring stations in Finland, Sweden, Denmark and Norway.

The ministry said that at a rate of "a few millirems an hour" the level was not thought high enough to warrant the evacuation of the local population at Forsmark. It would not be a danger to human beings, although regional specialists said the level was twice as high in Finland as in Sweden and Norway.

A millirem is a unit of ionizing radiation that gives the same biological effect as one thousandth of a standard unit of X-rays.

MOSCOW: Tass said the accident was the first of its kind in the USSR (Christopher Walker writes).

Since Mr Mikhail Gorbachov [sic] came to power in March 1985 there have been repeated calls in the Soviet Union for more open reporting of disasters within the Soviet Union.

The Tass statement was seen as a quick propaganda move ordered by the Kremlin to counter any international criticism of safety measures taken inside the Soviet Union, which has traditionally surrounded details of its nuclear programme with secrecy.

Abandoned villages: There was a serious nuclear accident in the Soviet Union during the winter of 1957-58, according to a report published in February 1980 by the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee (UPI reports).

The report said the contamination covered between 40 to 400 square miles. It said there was "some loss of life" and at least 30 villages were abandoned, their names subsequently deleted from Soviet maps.

Yuppie!

My wife recently bought this 1986 work of fiction in a charity shop, thinking it might bring back a few memories of the mid-80s era to me.

Diary Of A Yuppie is about a yuppie who likes making money, and having boardroom meetings, and eating lots of posh food, and wearing lots of posh clothes.

At least I assume it is. The first few pages certainly indicate it is.

In 1986, I was having the time of my life, dancing to the Pet Shop Boys and Nu Shooz, and wearing shoulder-padded jackets, cerise mesh vests. And I didn't wear socks (my canvas shoes rubbed nearly all the skin off my feet).

I was also trying to grow designer stubble (it simply made me look dog rough), glutting on hair gel and mousse, and fancying myself with blonde streaks. On top of all that, I was boozing and bedding like there was no tomorrow.

But I wasn't a yuppie. I was working like a dog at... I'll call it Primrose Cottage, a Social Services home for the elderly, so the experiences related in the book don't meld with my own, arouse no nostalgia, and so I've stopped reading after page four.

Also, it's American and I'm English. Bog standard working class English at that.

The book's cover makes an interesting "sign of the times" for the blog, though!

20th Century Words by John Ayto, traces the yuppie name back to 1982 and defines a yuppie thus:

a member of a socio-economic group comprising young professional people working in cities of a type thought of as typifying the ethos of the 1980s: ambitious, go-getting, newly affluent, young, class-free, owing no debt to the past. Originally US; a hybrid word coined probably by grafting an acronym based on "Young Urban Professional" (or "Young Upwardly mobile Professional") on to a basic model suggested by hippie.

Some people, of course, spell it "yuppy".

Coincidentally, 20th Century Words traces hippie back to 1953! This came as something of a surprise to me as hippies and everything to do with hippiedom are usually so strongly associated with the 1960s.

Returning to the 1980s, I have read on-line that the yuppie word was first coined in 1981, whilst 20th Century Words, as seen above, traces it to 1982. There is no doubt that it is an early 1980s coinage, coming into existence at some point not long after the election of Ronald Reagan in November 1980. Yuppies were most prevalent in the mid-to-late decade.

In the UK, I think we started to move into our "yuppie era" around 1984. I remember 1980, 1981 and 1982 as being financially-poor-as-church-mice years. In 1983, things perhaps began to alter a little... and I think 1984 was getting distinctly upwardly mobile. Funnily enough, although people now like to catogorise the entire 1980s as being "excess unlimited", I only remember the years 1984 to 1987 as being truly like that. Black Monday in 1987 sent out huge shockwaves throughout the financial world, and in 1988 Acid House was distorting the 1980s' "stylish" image more than somewhat.

And '80s "stylish" garb (which I loved) and yuppies were far from being the full story from 1984 to 1987, either. Who could ever forget the Miners' Strike? The Left were very vocal, and environmental concerns were on the rise. I always recall the 1980s as being uproar. And that includes the "height of yuppiedom" years.

I've been having a little delve into the world of yuppiedom, and discovered that as well as plain and simple yuppies there were buppies (black yuppies), Juppies (Japanese yuppies), guppies (gay yuppies) and green yuppies (environmentally concerned yuppies - tree hugging dosh chasers - amazing!).

A yuppie with a yuppie toy in the 1980s - a brick mobile phone. Yuppies also liked filofaxes and wine bars. Oh, yes, I almost forgot - and money.

"Hello, darling, it's me. Listen, I've got a meeting with the chairman of the board in twenty minutes, and my shoulder pads have gone all funny..."

1989: Dancing Flowers

In 1989, the year that the World Wide Web was invented and the Berlin Wall came down, we plebs were hugely excited by Dancing Flowers ("copyright 1988"). My cousin bought one for her children and we... oops... sorry, I mean "they" were thrilled with it, bellowing their heads off with laughter as it jiggled ... er... I mean "danced" around to Technotronic ("Pump Up The Jam, Pump It Up..."), or whatever.

But it didn't have to be major dance hits of 1989 that got this little beauty grooving.

It even "danced" to my uncle's Charlie Pride LP.

Wonderful.

1989, like the rest of the 1980s, was not, as LP Hartley once wrote about the past, a "foreign country". It was a foreign planet!