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I always thought if you happened to be a person who was famous, the 1980s was the perfect decade to be a celebrity in - I have always felt growing up that society, mostly in television, sport, politics etc, there really was a lot of "community spirit" that celebrities lived under - one happened to be famous for doing what they were good at, and because of being famous, they got paid a lucrative amount - not bad for an era where people were successful at making lots of money from the outset.
A lot of famous people had their own niches - Steve Davis - snooker; Russell Grant - astrology; Ian Botham - cricket; Shakin' Stevens - pop music and wearing jeans; Claire Rayner - agony aunt: Paul Daniels - magic; David Bellamy - Botany; Margaret Thatcher - politics; Jimmy Cricket - wearing his wellies the wrong way round; Brian Clough - Nottingham Forest, etc.
I have always assumed that a celebrity was a celebrity back in the 1980s if they had at least one of these things happen to them:
1) They were portrayed as a Spitting Image puppet.
2) They were the star guest on This is Your Life (mostly hosted by Eamonn Andrews reading the Big Red Book), or they had featured as a guest on someone else's edition.
3) They sat on the TV-am sofa at least once.
4) They were a guest on Wogan at least once.
5) They were seen at least once in the audience of an edition "An Audience With", unless they were the star guest on stage.
6) They were on the panel on editions of Blankety Blank or Punchlines - mostly the first one of those two shows.
7) They were on the panel of the Thames "What's My Line" (if they were not the star guest during the "blindfold" round).
8) They supported Margaret Thatcher at the 1983 and 1987 General Elections, and by implication they were Conservative Party supporters.
9) They were impersonated by Mike Yarwood (Rory Bremner didn't find his own niche properly until the early 1990s).
10) They were part of an "all-star cast" in a comedy drama or film.
11) They were featured in at least one outtake seen on It'll be Alright on the Night.
12) They lost most of their earnings in the 1992 Recession, and became a "where are they now?" person.
13) They allowed Loyd Grossman to look around their house for Through the Keyhole.
14) They were continuity announcers for a whole month on Children's ITV, if they had presented or starred in a children's TV series on ITV at the time.
15) They had a novelty hit in the charts, mostly for charity (cf Russ Abbot; neil [sic] from The Young Ones; Keith Harris and Orville, etc).
16) They appeared in that year's Royal Variety Performance.
17) They performed as contestants in celebrity versions of game shows at Christmas.
18) They had a well-known catchphrase (which was probably repeated in the school playground).
19) They probably ended up doing local radio or regional news programmes by the late 1990s, Alan Partridge style.
20) They still perform ironically at Pontins or Butlins, birthday parties, and also at university dos.
21) They haven't been seen on TV since 1991. but they still perform in pantomimes, summer seasons and sea cruises every year.
22) They were famous for being in character as someone.
23) They had a prop sidekick (emu, ventriloquist's dummy, soft toy, dustbin, etc).
24) They appeared in TV commercials either as themselves or in character.
25) They are now in their 60s and 70s if they are still around these days.
26) They were implicated by Operation Yewtree nearly 30 years later, (but enough said about that).
27) They had their own show on BBC Radio 2.
28) They supported Manchester United, (says a Nottingham Forest supporter).
29) Er…
30) That's it. (cf Private Eye).
So many famous people fall into one of those categories, no doubt - if I was looking back at the 2010s, no doubt that taking part in Reality TV programmes such as Strictly Come Dancing, or I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here! would feature prominently in the above list.
As I grew up in the 1980s as a child, the familiar names and faces that we saw on TV, be it as an actors, game show hosts, newsreaders, darts players, etc, felt like a community that nearly everyone in Britain was familiar with, and it made the decade so special and magical, especially the Christmases where we had Christmas specials that they appeared in, mostly for charity. It was so great to hear or see so many 1980s celebrities in "scaled down" roles in the late 1990s and 2000s, but are so welcome, such as Sarah Kennedy from Game from a Laugh doing the early show on Radio 2, or Gordon Burns of The Krypton Factor seen reading the BBC North West News. I would even include people like Margaret Thatcher, Ronald Regan and Robert Runcie within that scope as well - they were the "straight" people to most of the others. The TV-am sofa and Wogan was such a huge showcase for a lot of these stars, and I suppose that the occupational hazard was the fact that many of them got a bit of over-exposure at the time as a result.
I might be looking through my Dolland and Aitchison rose-tinted spectacles at my childhood from over 30 years ago, but the famous people who we saw on TV was amazing, and to think that if they had not had become famous in the first place, we would have missed a good chunk of all this, and many of them weren't even discovered on talent shows in the first place.
I bet that the 1980s was the best decade to be famous in - or was it?
A lot of famous people had their own niches - Steve Davis - snooker; Russell Grant - astrology; Ian Botham - cricket; Shakin' Stevens - pop music and wearing jeans; Claire Rayner - agony aunt: Paul Daniels - magic; David Bellamy - Botany; Margaret Thatcher - politics; Jimmy Cricket - wearing his wellies the wrong way round; Brian Clough - Nottingham Forest, etc.
I have always assumed that a celebrity was a celebrity back in the 1980s if they had at least one of these things happen to them:
1) They were portrayed as a Spitting Image puppet.
2) They were the star guest on This is Your Life (mostly hosted by Eamonn Andrews reading the Big Red Book), or they had featured as a guest on someone else's edition.
3) They sat on the TV-am sofa at least once.
4) They were a guest on Wogan at least once.
5) They were seen at least once in the audience of an edition "An Audience With", unless they were the star guest on stage.
6) They were on the panel on editions of Blankety Blank or Punchlines - mostly the first one of those two shows.
7) They were on the panel of the Thames "What's My Line" (if they were not the star guest during the "blindfold" round).
8) They supported Margaret Thatcher at the 1983 and 1987 General Elections, and by implication they were Conservative Party supporters.
9) They were impersonated by Mike Yarwood (Rory Bremner didn't find his own niche properly until the early 1990s).
10) They were part of an "all-star cast" in a comedy drama or film.
11) They were featured in at least one outtake seen on It'll be Alright on the Night.
12) They lost most of their earnings in the 1992 Recession, and became a "where are they now?" person.
13) They allowed Loyd Grossman to look around their house for Through the Keyhole.
14) They were continuity announcers for a whole month on Children's ITV, if they had presented or starred in a children's TV series on ITV at the time.
15) They had a novelty hit in the charts, mostly for charity (cf Russ Abbot; neil [sic] from The Young Ones; Keith Harris and Orville, etc).
16) They appeared in that year's Royal Variety Performance.
17) They performed as contestants in celebrity versions of game shows at Christmas.
18) They had a well-known catchphrase (which was probably repeated in the school playground).
19) They probably ended up doing local radio or regional news programmes by the late 1990s, Alan Partridge style.
20) They still perform ironically at Pontins or Butlins, birthday parties, and also at university dos.
21) They haven't been seen on TV since 1991. but they still perform in pantomimes, summer seasons and sea cruises every year.
22) They were famous for being in character as someone.
23) They had a prop sidekick (emu, ventriloquist's dummy, soft toy, dustbin, etc).
24) They appeared in TV commercials either as themselves or in character.
25) They are now in their 60s and 70s if they are still around these days.
26) They were implicated by Operation Yewtree nearly 30 years later, (but enough said about that).
27) They had their own show on BBC Radio 2.
28) They supported Manchester United, (says a Nottingham Forest supporter).
29) Er…
30) That's it. (cf Private Eye).
So many famous people fall into one of those categories, no doubt - if I was looking back at the 2010s, no doubt that taking part in Reality TV programmes such as Strictly Come Dancing, or I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here! would feature prominently in the above list.
As I grew up in the 1980s as a child, the familiar names and faces that we saw on TV, be it as an actors, game show hosts, newsreaders, darts players, etc, felt like a community that nearly everyone in Britain was familiar with, and it made the decade so special and magical, especially the Christmases where we had Christmas specials that they appeared in, mostly for charity. It was so great to hear or see so many 1980s celebrities in "scaled down" roles in the late 1990s and 2000s, but are so welcome, such as Sarah Kennedy from Game from a Laugh doing the early show on Radio 2, or Gordon Burns of The Krypton Factor seen reading the BBC North West News. I would even include people like Margaret Thatcher, Ronald Regan and Robert Runcie within that scope as well - they were the "straight" people to most of the others. The TV-am sofa and Wogan was such a huge showcase for a lot of these stars, and I suppose that the occupational hazard was the fact that many of them got a bit of over-exposure at the time as a result.
I might be looking through my Dolland and Aitchison rose-tinted spectacles at my childhood from over 30 years ago, but the famous people who we saw on TV was amazing, and to think that if they had not had become famous in the first place, we would have missed a good chunk of all this, and many of them weren't even discovered on talent shows in the first place.
I bet that the 1980s was the best decade to be famous in - or was it?
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