Life in Britain in the early 1980s

[Arran]

It was possible to buy the following computers in 1982:

Sinclair ZX81
Sinclair ZX Spectrum
Commodore PET
Commodore VIC-20
BBC Model B

The Commodore 64 was released in August 1982 but it wasn't generally available in Britain until some time in 1983. The IBM PC XT was released in the first half of 1983. The Amstrad CPC and the MSX went on sale in 1984.

Computers in homes and primary schools must have been uncommon during the Falklands War.

Texas Instruments TI99/4A and Philips G7000 were available in the Autumn Winter 1982 Argos catalogue, so Christmas 1982 was probably the start of the home computer boom years. The PC was accepted as the industry standard business computer around 1985 by which time there were clones by many manufacturers.

[Arran]

The Dragon 32 went on sale in the autumn of 1982 but the Dragon 64 only became available in the summer of 1983. They were very similar in design to the TRS-80 Color Computer. Dragon Data was the largest privately owned Welsh company for a couple of years in the 1980s until they collapsed in June 1984. The company was acquired by company Eurohard S.A. based in Spain who attempted to produce an MSX1 compatible Dragon but only a few prototypes exist. Eurohard S.A. collapsed in 1987.

Were Dragon 32 / 64 computers more popular in Wales than in other parts of the UK?

[Arran]

Quite a few changes seemed to happen in late 1982, when Ford replaced the Cortina with the Sierra.

The Sierra was actually the mechanicals of the Cortina in a 'jellymould' bodyshell with a hatchback. It was seen as controversial in terms of styling despite it being very aerodynamic.

The BMW E30 3 series was released in November 1982, initially as a 2 door model. It was ultimate yuppiemobile of the 1980s and the car that made BMW what it is today.

[Arran]

Have you noticed that photos of offices from the early 1980s rarely feature computers but typewriters and telephones with rotary dials are ubiquitous? Sometimes you see Telex machines. In larger companies the computers are often dumb terminals connected to mainframes.

[Arran]

Watch It! first appeared on 29 December 1980 as an attempt to unify the children's programmes on ITV on weekday afternoons. It was presented by the continuity announcers for each individual ITV regions (it was never a networked programme) but much of the presentation graphics were produced by ATV.

It was replaced by CITV on 3 January 1983 which was networked and played out by Central although component programmes originated from different regional ITV companies.

CBBC only appeared on 9 September 1985. The first run of Dogtanian in the first half of 1985 was not actually shown on CBBC.

[Arran]

The early 1980s was the time when fuel injection became standard on executive cars, sports cars, and most hot hatches, although family saloons and hatchbacks were mostly carburettor until the 1990s.

Central locking and electric windows became available on the higher spec family cars. Air conditioning was rare, but the 1980s was the decade of the tilt and slide sunroof.

Japanese cars tended to have more features as standard compared with European cars where many features were optional extras or only standard on the highest spec model - like Ghia Fords.

Safety and security seemed to be a bit of an afterthought. Alarms were rarely fitted as standard to any cars and airbags were about a decade away. Even rear seatbelts were an optional extra on many cars.

Electronics was starting to make its way into cars. Higher spec models of the Ford Escort, Orion, and Sierra had a set of extra warning lights controlled by an electronic module. BMWs were fitted with a service indicator consisting of a row of LEDs. Some manufacturers even produced cars with digital dashboards - including the MG Montego, Opel Monza GSE, Renault 11 TXE Electronic, Audi Quattro and Coupe GT - but they were perceived as gimmicky and failed to catch on.

[George 1978]

The Sierra was actually the mechanicals of the Cortina in a 'jellymould' bodyshell with a hatchback. It was seen as controversial in terms of styling despite it being very aerodynamic.

The BMW E30 3 series was released in November 1982, initially as a 2 door model. It was ultimate yuppiemobile of the 1980s and the car that made BMW what it is today.

I assumed that the Sierra was introduced because Ford wasn't unable to modernise the Cortina for the 1980s - ditto the Mondeo in the 1990s. The Escort overtook the Cortina as Ford's best selling car where it had a back seat (no pun intended) in the previous decade.

[George 1978]

Here's the thing George, I'm a Salford lad born and bred and after 62 years i'm still living in Salford now, getting hammered was a right of passage as it was in many northern towns.I never once ended up in A&E but i had a bloody good time avoiding it, with maturity comes wisdom but at least i can say i made some memories.

Why do I think of someone in an early 1980s episode of Coronation Street when I think of all that?

[tex]

Why do I think of someone in an early 1980s episode of Coronation Street when I think of all that?

Probably because the fictional Weatherfield is 100% based on Salford

[George 1978]

Watch It! first appeared on 29 December 1980 as an attempt to unify the children's programmes on ITV on weekday afternoons. It was presented by the continuity announcers for each individual ITV regions (it was never a networked programme) but much of the presentation graphics were produced by ATV.

It was replaced by CITV on 3 January 1983 which was networked and played out by Central although component programmes originated from different regional ITV companies.

CBBC only appeared on 9 September 1985. The first run of Dogtanian in the first half of 1985 was not actually shown on CBBC.

I actually thought that the reason why Watch It! changed into Children's ITV was because Watch It! sounded too aggressive to be the name of a strand for children's television - remember this was the time when Bob Monkhouse decided to call the the British version of the American game show Family Feud "Family Fortunes" for the same reason, yet ten years later, ironically enough, Monkhouse decided to keep the $64,000 Question title for his 1990s game show, keeping the American name even though it lacked relevance in Britain.

Going back to children's television, Thursdays were regional with a Little House on the Prairie here, a Jason of Star Command there, and repeats elsewhere. The change to Children's ITV was better as I loved the presenters or actors from the shows being continuity announcers for a month - Matthew Kelly was the first (even though he was still doing Game for a Laugh, he was on CITV doing Madabout). Looking back, one can remember various people doing the continuity even though their connection with CITV and the programmes they appeared in have since been forgotten. Bernie Winters and Schnorbitz was one of them, although I have forgotten which Children's ITV series they had appeared in back then. Also, it must have happened a few times, but I cannot remember any of them introducing their own programmes that they had appeared in...

[George 1978]

Probably because the fictional Weatherfield is 100% based on Salford

I know - that is what reminds me of it!

[George 1978]

CBBC only appeared on 9 September 1985. The first run of Dogtanian in the first half of 1985 was not actually shown on CBBC.

A lot of original Grange Hill off-airs still had generic BBC 1 continuity on YT, including the first TX of the 1985 series - up till then, the autumn repeat was on BBC 2 at around 5.35 pm or 6.00 pm.

[Arran]

I assumed that the Sierra was introduced because Ford wasn't unable to modernise the Cortina for the 1980s - ditto the Mondeo in the 1990s. The Escort overtook the Cortina as Ford's best selling car where it had a back seat (no pun intended) in the previous decade.

The Sierra was all marketing. Under the curvaceous bodyshell was a Cortina. The Mondeo was a completely different beast as it shared no lineage with the Sierra or Cortina. It was intended as a global car (hence the name) to replace both the Sierra in Europe and the Tempo in North America.

The success of the Mk3 Escort was a result of it being a modern (for its time) medium sized FWD hatchback with a spacious interior and a range of different trim levels.

[Arran]

I actually thought that the reason why Watch It! changed into Children's ITV was because Watch It! sounded too aggressive to be the name of a strand for children's television.

There may have been concerns with the name, but CITV was organised in a very different way from Watch It! hence a valid reason for a change of name. Watch It! was run by the regional ITV companies whereas CITV was effectively a time limited national ITV company (like TV-AM) although it was owned by Central.

I'm surprised that there wasn't a separate franchise for children's programmes in the 1991 ITV franchise round like there was for breakfast TV and the teletext service.

Is there any truth that CBBC was created as a result of the success of CITV?

[Arran]

The early to mid 1980s was the era of computer generated graphics in television that were designed in a way that reflected the graphics capabilities of 8 bit computers. In the late 1980s they became smoother and slicker and weren't trying to advertise the fact that they were designed on a computer.