Timeslip moment again...
Our trusty TARDIS has dumped us into the inaugural year of a brand-new exciting decade! It's 1980 - the year of the Mount St. Helens eruption, The Empire Strikes Back, Robin Cousins, the Iranian Embassy siege (and the dramatic televised SAS rescue), Alton Towers, the eradication of smallpox, an independent Zimbabwe and the rise of Robert Mugabe, Greenham Common, the boycott of the Olympics in Moscow, Yes Minister, the so-called "Dingo Baby" case, Andrei Sakharov, Pac-Man, the St Paul's riot in Bristol, Hi-de-Hi, civil war in El Salvador, and the murder of John Lennon; the births of Chelsea Clinton, Christina Aguilera, Venus Williams, Katherine Jenkins, Ryan Gosling, the MRI whole body scanner, CNN, the Audi Quattro and - erm - Kim Kardashian; and the deaths of Cecil Beaton, Alfred Hitchcock, Jimmy Durante, Peter Sellers, Tamara de Lempicka, Marshal Josip Tito, Ian Curtis, Yootha Joyce, Steve McQueen, and the pre-decimal sixpence coin.
In the news in October thirty-eight years ago: Margaret Thatcher delivered her famous "The lady's not for turning" speech, Polish trade union Solidarity was formally recognised by the country's government, prisoners in the Maze prison in Northern Ireland started a hunger strike that lasted till December, "Right to Buy" (for council tenants) was launched, Jim Callaghan resigned as Labour Party Leader, HM The Queen visited the Vatican (the first monarch to do so), and Greece rejoined NATO; in the ascendant were Reza Pahlavi (who proclaimed himself successor to the Peacock Throne after the death of his father the Shah of Iran), and the Austin Mini Metro (launched by British Leyland as the successor to the Mini); but we bade a sad farewell to "national treasure" Hattie Jacques. In our cinemas: The Blues Brothers; Close Encounters of the Third Kind (special edition); Breaker Morant. On telly: The Amazing Adventures of Morph, Metal Mickey, and the last ever episode of The Onedin Line.
But what was in the charts this week in October 1980? Top of the tree was the all-conquering "MegaBabs" Barbra Streisand with Woman in Love, which had just knocked The Police Don't Stand So Close To Me off its perch after four weks. Also in the running were Ottawan, Status Quo, Madness, Matchbox, Odyssey, The Nolans, George Benson and a really weird piece of ambient/relaxation/lift music featuring real birdsong called Et les oiseaux chantaient [to this day nobody will ever admit to buying this, but it did get into the Top 5]. However, lurking outside this fairly pedestrian Top Ten, the future was looming - in the form of Adam and the Ants [soon to dominate the UK charts for several years in the early 80s]!
Thirty-eight years? Oh, heavens...
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