Life in Britain in the early 1980s

[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...

[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]

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?

[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.

[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.

[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]

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]

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]

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]

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.

[tex]

Yes, just you.

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.

[George 1978]

There is definitely some truth to this. The Conservative government got off to a slow start policy wise. In their first term they just tinkered around here and there with very little in the way of any radical changes. There was even pressure for Margaret Thatcher to resign as PM from her own party for not being proactive enough. It was only after the 1983 general election did their economic reforms go into action, and the 80s really start.

Digital technology was starting to enter the mainstream during the early 1980s with home and school computers, along with concerns that computers in offices and factories will further add to the already rising level of unemployment, but it only came into full force after the 1983 general election.

The video recorder boom also took place during this time and video shops popped up on every street.

British Leyland made bad cars. The Mk2 Vauxhall Cavalier became one of the most popular company cars and demolished the idea that fleet buyers would only buy RWD cars, ultimately leading to the demise of Morris as a division in BL.

Certainly by the mid 1980s game shows like Play Your Cards Right and 3-2-1 were offering home computers as prizes, of course a whole decade away from the internet, and the latter was even offering a satellite TV system with a dish so big that it made the TV set look tiny in comparison.

I know that TV rental shops were still around at the end of the 1980s as my family were late in getting a VCR (in 1989) and the very first videotape that we used was a Granada Rental brand.

[Arran]

The banks were in the process of installing cash machines. If a bank did not have a cash machine then customers could only withdraw cash when the bank was open.

Some banks charged customers who withdrew or deposited cash at a different branch of the same bank.

Cash payments were far more common in the 1980s than they are now. Hundreds of thousands of workers were even paid their wages in cash in brown envelopes.

The introduction of the 20p and £1 coins, and the withdrawal of the 1/2p coin. Currency wasn't fully decimal as shillings and florins were still in circulation with the values of 5p and 10p respectively.

The last commemoration crowns with a face value of 25p were issued in 1981 for Charles and Diana's wedding. Subsequent commemoration coins have a face value of £5.

People paid for things in shops with cheques. Debit cards did not exist until 1987.

Shops and other places that accepted credit cards often advertised it with huge Access and Visa signs. A wax rubbing was made of the card, then at the end of the day the slips would be posted to the credit card company for processing.

https://forums.doyouremember.co.uk/f...bbing-machines

[Arran]

In around 1981, there was the "1970s without the flares" concept - the 1970s had ended, but the mainstream 1980s as most people would associate it with had not yet started - I would say that 1983-1984 was when it actually started.

There is definitely some truth to this. The Conservative government got off to a slow start policy wise. In their first term they just tinkered around here and there with very little in the way of any radical changes. There was even pressure for Margaret Thatcher to resign as PM from her own party for not being proactive enough. It was only after the 1983 general election did their economic reforms go into action, and the 80s really start.

Digital technology was starting to enter the mainstream during the early 1980s with home and school computers, along with concerns that computers in offices and factories will further add to the already rising level of unemployment, but it only came into full force after the 1983 general election.

The video recorder boom also took place during this time and video shops popped up on every street.

British Leyland made bad cars. The Mk2 Vauxhall Cavalier became one of the most popular company cars and demolished the idea that fleet buyers would only buy RWD cars, ultimately leading to the demise of Morris as a division in BL.

[Arran]

That's a bit naive if you consider the Brixton & Broadwater Farm riots happened, which shows how much progress has been made, or do you prefer whole neighbourhoods being trashed as it's the only way for minorities to get their voices heard?

The first riot was St. Pauls (Bristol) in April 1980. The Brixton riots took place a year later in April 1981. They were followed shortly by Toxteth (Liverpool), Chapeltown (Leeds), Moss Side (Manchester), and Handsworth (Birmingham) in July 1981.

My mother (who has studied politics and economics) found it intriguing, and worrying, that all of the riots were carried out by black Caribbean people, but not south Asian, Chinese, Arab / Middle East, or even black African people. No riots took place in areas with a high proportion of south Asians but few black Caribbeans – such as Bradford, Blackburn, Leicester, or Tower Hamlets despite significant levels of poverty and racism there. The only notable exception was the Southall riot of April 1979, but that was caused by the National Front deciding to hold an election meeting in the town hall.

My mother mentioned this phenomenon of the riots being confined to one specific ethnic group a few times during debates in PHSE and RS lessons at secondary school, which raised questions whether they really were a result of poverty and racism, or whether it was the result of some deeper reason endemic to the black Caribbean community that was not prevalent within other ethnic minority communities.

A particular cause for concern was the way that the race relations community used the term (political) black to describe all ethnic minorities during the 1980s. I have previously mentioned this:

https://forums.doyouremember.co.uk/f...lack-community

It had the effect of obscuring the differences between different ethnic and religious groups, resulting in much confusion and the difficulties in addressing the needs of particular communities.