Everything 80's

Funny the sort of thing you remember when looking at a photo. I have just posted some DC Lego model photos to a new thread and one of them was the old tv series Batmobile, which at the time looked amazing and it got me thinking when the series was shown on television. I remember it was on a Saturday morning on ITV here and it also clashed with me going off to have guitar lessons, so I had to either miss it completely or later record it onto video tape and watch it some other time. On the days I did watch it the whole campness of it was lost to me, but I did enjoy it immensely(as stated on this thread I went to see the film version at Saturday morning pictures with my cousin) We all laughed at the on-screen KER-POW! ZZZAP! and ZOWWIE! when a punch or a kick landed and the over-the-top dialogue especially by Robin with HOLY... etc added(never quite understood why holy?) Anyway it was all good fun. Fast forward to late 80's and the possibility of an all new action film, made here in the UK and starring Michael Keaton, Kim Basinger and Jack Nicholson as the Joker! There were so many teasers around and it even infiltrated, to the annoyance of the Wimbledon All England Tennis Club, hats and t-shirts with the new BATMAN logo(yellow disc with a black bat on it) However, finally it opened here and WOW! was it good. It was nothing remotely like the old tv series and it was a lot darker(literally) and atmospheric-the sets built here were magnificent and the Batmobile was an absolute monster. Seeing it on the big screen in the cinema it was light years away from the camp 60's version. Did you go and see it? What did you think of it? Did you buy a t-shirt or hat-I still have mine somewhere.

Now here is something you MUST remember doing-the school thing BACK YOUR BOOKS! Basically I think it was done deliberately to stop kids doodling on their school books-yeah we ALL did that back then didn't we? I know I did, so they decided that you had to back your books - using wrapping paper, wallpaper or even brown paper to cover your books. I managed to find some appropriate paper for my History books(old map of the world) but mostly you could cover it with anything and even make it bright and cheerful. Did you do that with your school books?

I've mentioned the fashions of the decade but what I remember most about that is the ridiculous blouses with shoulder pads built in(not that I wore anything like that) and for the men desperately trying to imitate Miami Vice with the canvas shoes, no socks and rolled up pastel-coloured jacket sleeves. I also remember BIG hair styles. These again looked mad at times but that was also the time that afros were still in(who knew they would make a return nearly 40 years later) It was mostly Hollywood films and television that you saw the shoulder pads and big hair in things like Dynasty, Dallas and The Colbys, although we weren't immune to it and they crept into EastEnders, Howard's Way and home-grown lifestyle programmes like The Clothes Show. Pop stars weren't immune either and some just looked ridiculous, like Jakki Graham(Step Right Up) and others who embraced big hair and shoulder pads. It was also the decade that some men looked more like women with make up plastered all over their faces, foundation and even nail varnish! Someone like Phil Oakey from the Human League had this odd hairstyle-brushed over one side and wearing lipstick and varnish just looked crazy but then the decade was like that. However, us normal people continued to wear what we had always worn except FLAIRS!!! I hated flairs and wouldn't wear them then or in the 70's. In the 90's they made a comeback-sheesh, nothing was safe from being brought back from the dead!

Today being Comic Relief or Red Nose Day reminded me of the very first programme that went out in 1985 and I still have the nose they produced. In the earlier days they were so tight you could barely breathe as it pinched the nose and cut off the supply of oxygen so you could only wear them for a very short period of time. I remember my sister wore hers on the bus going to work and got laughs and smiles. Larger than life Lenny Henry was the host along with Jonathan Ross, Griff Rhys-Jones and one other I forget the name of, but it was pretty mad and Lenny also did a stage show at the Hackney Empire which I think is when he did Frank Bruno impression and Frank appeared in a dress for a Romeo and Juliet sketch. These days it alternates each other year with its sister charity, Sport Relief and has raised a billion pounds and broken records for what the Americans would call a 'telethon.' Speaking of that does anyone remember the Thames Telethons that they used to have which was basically money-raising and entertainment for the viewers that ran into the small hours of the morning to the next evening. That was quite a push, but it didn't last that long because it was basically overtaken by the BBC's Children In Need, fronted by the late, great Sir Terry Wogan. One memorable night we were watching and Terry handed over to Joanna Lumley who, in that very sexy voice of hers said "And now back to Plymouth" but something went wrong so she decided to strip out of her dress! The look on Terry's face was priceless and it was pretty daring of Joanna who was wearing a black basque, stockings and suspenders. That has gone down in folklore. In fact watch it here:

You might recognise Simon Cadell, Judi Dench and Russell Grant in the background and brief shot of Roy Kinnear as well.

Does anyone remember the excitement of a brand new reg plate car coming out every August.? It was trumpeted by the media and there was always a silly commercial-for instance when the S plate came out there was a jingle that went "S plate special coming down the line, S plate special right on time. For Ley-land cars, it's just great, you can get them now with the new S plate..." Yeah I know sad innit, but somehow that has stuck in my head for years. I don't quite get the new ones these days, it was so much easier to identify new cars by the letter not the number. It was also fun to spot how many of the new cars hit the road that week.