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I wonder what vintage wine from 1981 would taste like these days? If I could go back in a time machine, I wouldn't go back too far - probably back to the summer of 1981 or thereabouts - a taste of that year's culture makes me feel that one had received the best of both worlds with an almost 1970s and 1980s overlap. I hardly remember that time personally as I was just a month or two away from my third birthday, but I wished that I was an adult or at least a teenager with a clear memory of that era. I have mentioned this before on here, and 1981 did seem like a very British year, not to mention the "2011" of the second half of the 20th century. Fair enough, Liverpool had severe riots that wasn't even matched with August 2011, but it was what was happening in the south of the country that stood out more, which goes to show that the North-South Divide had even existed back then. It is fascinating: three or four years previously one would could have walked down the street wearing flares and no one would have bat an eyelid; and three or four years later, we would have been in the "main course" of the 1980s and what the decade was most associated with; Cabbage Patch Dolls; Transformers; TV-am and monthly Children's ITV presenters. Of course, 1981 was the "Starter", while Margaret Thatcher quit Downing Street during the "coffee and after dinner mints" stage of autumn 1990. I would classify this overlap period as being from early 1979 to late 1982 at least.
I wouldn't have minded being between 16 and 25 in 1981 (meaning that I would have to have been born in the second half of the 1950s or first half of the 1960s - 1956 for 25, and 1965 for 16) - watching Top of the Pops and dressing like Shakin' Stevens (save for around two or three decades later); getting excited at the then Prince Charles getting engaged for the first time to a lovely bride called Diana; flying the Union Jack flag in support of Cheryl Baker and her Bucks Fizz bandmates in the Eurovision Song Contest, and Bob Champion romping home on his equine mate on the same day. My view of 1981 was that it was still the 1970s but with more tasteful fashions and without the flares. But then again, the 1970s could have either ended at: A) 11.59 pm on 31st December 1979; B) The day after the 1979 General Election when Margaret Thatcher became Prime Minister; C) October 1979 at the end of the ITV Network strike (as well as the day when The Times came back from their year-long strike that year, around a month after the ITV Network returned); D) 29th July 1981 when Charles and Diana were proclaimed Husband and Wife; or: E) New Year's Day 1982 when ATV became Central, TVS took over from Southern and TSW succeeded Westward - a nearly three year timespan.
Would flares and 1970s decor have looked just as tasteless to a 1981 person just like it would have in the latter part of that decade, the 1990s and so on, or would they have had to wait until 1984 at least - even for the 1970s to become ready to become parodied? After all, the changes that were to take place like the start of Channel 4 and breakfast television and all that were yet to take place, and 1981 looked a bit closer to resembling 1975 rather than 1985 even though it was closer to 1985, but without the tastelessness. The film Saturday Night Fever was shown on ITV during the evening of Charles and Diana's wedding day - John Travolta was probably wearing jeans on the dancefloor that even Bottom Line wasn't selling anymore, and one would assume that it was obvious that it wasn't recent and was four years old at least. I think that it is quite normal, and I was often like this in the 1980s, whilst still being a child, one wanted to be an adult back then for real as it seemed that adults got it easier in life - they were old enough and were allowed to make their own decisions without almost anyone getting in their way, and I think that it would have been a perfect time to be an adult. Never mind pretending, I wanted it to be so real. The fact of the matter is that 1981 looked so fascinating in 1986 - I thought that it was my younger self that saw an optical illusion of life and society changing so much in those five years or so, but then again, I found that others were in the same boat and had experienced this amount of change in life as well.
As an adult, 2011 happened to become my very own "1981" in order to make up for being a couple of years old when the real 1981 took place, and William and Kate (not to mention what had happened in Tottenham) had helped there - weddings, riots; both years had contained them. The Andrew and Sarah "Fergie" Ferguson wedding in 1986 was, from a TV scheduling perspective, a chance to reenact how it was five years previously, also with special edition of Give us a Clue on ITV, but the magic had been lost over the last five years and too much water had passed under the bridge; I assume that in 1981, the decade of flares and tastelessness had only been a couple of years before, and one feels excitement, wonder and adventure thinking how close and recent it would have been back then, even though society had "sobered up" very quickly in the past two years; even Samuel "Zammo" Maguire and Gordon "Jonah" Jones had ridiculed Roland Browning for wearing flares in Grange Hill which would have been filmed around the same time for transmission in early 1982. Yes, two years ago back then seemed to be ancient history, and now, 20 years ago feels like recent history. When TV-am began in February 1983, it was hard to believe that it was only 18 months since the Charles and Diana wedding, and in 1981 a Daily Star was only 12p - twice the price as its launch price in November 1978.
In the real world, my name was put down for a local nursery school (I didn't put my name down myself, but my late parents did on my behalf by law), and I can vaguely remember visiting the school for the first time just after watching that morning's edition Play School on BBC 2 (probably presented by Floella Benjamin that day) - of course, I would have been "one year out" in true Popmaster sense and it might have happened a year later in 1982 instead. However, I am certain that I had two years in the nursery department of my school before transferring to the Infant department, so I could have started there in 1981 after all? Even back then, I probably would have heard of that woman called Margaret Thatcher, but living in a country which had two female leaders back then, I probably wouldn't have told them apart to be honest; one would wondered which one of those two ladies had their picture on a ten pound note. Probably Florence Nightingale. Apart from shopping trips, the only other things that I can vaguely remember is doctors' surgery and hospital check-up visits, and obtaining my old medical records under the Data Protection Act 1998 had allowed me to be reunited to the dates, times, and who was who back then with those classic appointments. I am probably one of very few people to get proper nostalgia value from looking at my own hospital records.
And it was a liberated year - a "free for all": Saturday mornings, especially in the summer months - full of Tiswas, and adverts for TCR (that's Total Control Racing); Palitoy (usually Action Man); Wall's Funny Feet; and Public Information Films (and in particular, the Play Safe ones narrated by Brian "Mr Barrowclough from Porridge" Wilde, and also the "he's gone to Birmingham" Driving in Fog one - a lot better than being sent to Coventry in any case) in the "Telly Selly Time" parts, and it seemed to extend to holiday mornings when schools programmes were off. A Sesame Street here; a Flying Kiwi there; a Welcome Back Kotter somewhere else, and a Belgian cartoon somewhere over there as well - something which was only seen on Tyne Tees which wasn't on seen on Anglia, while waiting for Rainbow just after midday. Michael Jayston narrating a green-bottled Vosene shampoo advert in the commercial breaks, and Gary Watson narrating anything else as soon as the End of Part One slide comes up. Playing in the back garden using chalk to draw hopscotch grids on the path, and later on, allowing nature's way to remove the chalk from the floor; or better still, have a paddling pool out and use the water from the pool to get rid of the chalk that way. In those pre-school days, the summer holidays seemed to be all year round - and I bet that it was a continuation of the 1970s as well. And our brand new garden shed was erected on Good Friday of that year as well.
They say that there is no such thing as a perfect age, but there just might be such a thing as a perfect year - in our own minds, at least.
I wouldn't have minded being between 16 and 25 in 1981 (meaning that I would have to have been born in the second half of the 1950s or first half of the 1960s - 1956 for 25, and 1965 for 16) - watching Top of the Pops and dressing like Shakin' Stevens (save for around two or three decades later); getting excited at the then Prince Charles getting engaged for the first time to a lovely bride called Diana; flying the Union Jack flag in support of Cheryl Baker and her Bucks Fizz bandmates in the Eurovision Song Contest, and Bob Champion romping home on his equine mate on the same day. My view of 1981 was that it was still the 1970s but with more tasteful fashions and without the flares. But then again, the 1970s could have either ended at: A) 11.59 pm on 31st December 1979; B) The day after the 1979 General Election when Margaret Thatcher became Prime Minister; C) October 1979 at the end of the ITV Network strike (as well as the day when The Times came back from their year-long strike that year, around a month after the ITV Network returned); D) 29th July 1981 when Charles and Diana were proclaimed Husband and Wife; or: E) New Year's Day 1982 when ATV became Central, TVS took over from Southern and TSW succeeded Westward - a nearly three year timespan.
Would flares and 1970s decor have looked just as tasteless to a 1981 person just like it would have in the latter part of that decade, the 1990s and so on, or would they have had to wait until 1984 at least - even for the 1970s to become ready to become parodied? After all, the changes that were to take place like the start of Channel 4 and breakfast television and all that were yet to take place, and 1981 looked a bit closer to resembling 1975 rather than 1985 even though it was closer to 1985, but without the tastelessness. The film Saturday Night Fever was shown on ITV during the evening of Charles and Diana's wedding day - John Travolta was probably wearing jeans on the dancefloor that even Bottom Line wasn't selling anymore, and one would assume that it was obvious that it wasn't recent and was four years old at least. I think that it is quite normal, and I was often like this in the 1980s, whilst still being a child, one wanted to be an adult back then for real as it seemed that adults got it easier in life - they were old enough and were allowed to make their own decisions without almost anyone getting in their way, and I think that it would have been a perfect time to be an adult. Never mind pretending, I wanted it to be so real. The fact of the matter is that 1981 looked so fascinating in 1986 - I thought that it was my younger self that saw an optical illusion of life and society changing so much in those five years or so, but then again, I found that others were in the same boat and had experienced this amount of change in life as well.
As an adult, 2011 happened to become my very own "1981" in order to make up for being a couple of years old when the real 1981 took place, and William and Kate (not to mention what had happened in Tottenham) had helped there - weddings, riots; both years had contained them. The Andrew and Sarah "Fergie" Ferguson wedding in 1986 was, from a TV scheduling perspective, a chance to reenact how it was five years previously, also with special edition of Give us a Clue on ITV, but the magic had been lost over the last five years and too much water had passed under the bridge; I assume that in 1981, the decade of flares and tastelessness had only been a couple of years before, and one feels excitement, wonder and adventure thinking how close and recent it would have been back then, even though society had "sobered up" very quickly in the past two years; even Samuel "Zammo" Maguire and Gordon "Jonah" Jones had ridiculed Roland Browning for wearing flares in Grange Hill which would have been filmed around the same time for transmission in early 1982. Yes, two years ago back then seemed to be ancient history, and now, 20 years ago feels like recent history. When TV-am began in February 1983, it was hard to believe that it was only 18 months since the Charles and Diana wedding, and in 1981 a Daily Star was only 12p - twice the price as its launch price in November 1978.
In the real world, my name was put down for a local nursery school (I didn't put my name down myself, but my late parents did on my behalf by law), and I can vaguely remember visiting the school for the first time just after watching that morning's edition Play School on BBC 2 (probably presented by Floella Benjamin that day) - of course, I would have been "one year out" in true Popmaster sense and it might have happened a year later in 1982 instead. However, I am certain that I had two years in the nursery department of my school before transferring to the Infant department, so I could have started there in 1981 after all? Even back then, I probably would have heard of that woman called Margaret Thatcher, but living in a country which had two female leaders back then, I probably wouldn't have told them apart to be honest; one would wondered which one of those two ladies had their picture on a ten pound note. Probably Florence Nightingale. Apart from shopping trips, the only other things that I can vaguely remember is doctors' surgery and hospital check-up visits, and obtaining my old medical records under the Data Protection Act 1998 had allowed me to be reunited to the dates, times, and who was who back then with those classic appointments. I am probably one of very few people to get proper nostalgia value from looking at my own hospital records.
And it was a liberated year - a "free for all": Saturday mornings, especially in the summer months - full of Tiswas, and adverts for TCR (that's Total Control Racing); Palitoy (usually Action Man); Wall's Funny Feet; and Public Information Films (and in particular, the Play Safe ones narrated by Brian "Mr Barrowclough from Porridge" Wilde, and also the "he's gone to Birmingham" Driving in Fog one - a lot better than being sent to Coventry in any case) in the "Telly Selly Time" parts, and it seemed to extend to holiday mornings when schools programmes were off. A Sesame Street here; a Flying Kiwi there; a Welcome Back Kotter somewhere else, and a Belgian cartoon somewhere over there as well - something which was only seen on Tyne Tees which wasn't on seen on Anglia, while waiting for Rainbow just after midday. Michael Jayston narrating a green-bottled Vosene shampoo advert in the commercial breaks, and Gary Watson narrating anything else as soon as the End of Part One slide comes up. Playing in the back garden using chalk to draw hopscotch grids on the path, and later on, allowing nature's way to remove the chalk from the floor; or better still, have a paddling pool out and use the water from the pool to get rid of the chalk that way. In those pre-school days, the summer holidays seemed to be all year round - and I bet that it was a continuation of the 1970s as well. And our brand new garden shed was erected on Good Friday of that year as well.
They say that there is no such thing as a perfect age, but there just might be such a thing as a perfect year - in our own minds, at least.
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