Silver Jubilee

Bobby Sands MP, the IRA hunger striker died, Bucks Fizz won the Eurovision Song Contest with 'Making Your Mind Up', Ronald Reagan was shot in the chest by John Hinkley, Bob Marley died of cancer, Charles & Di got married, The Yorkshire Ripper was arrested, Justin Timberlake, Paris Hilton, Craig David, Owen Hargreaves, Beyonce Knowles, Jade Goody and Britney Spears were born. Ricky Villa scored his wonder goal to win the FA Cup for Tottenham. Steve Davis won his first UK snooker Championship and John McEnroe won Wimbledon. Number one singles included Joe Dolce's 'Shaddap You Face', 'Ghost Town' by The Specials, 'Under Pressure' by Queen and David Bowie, and 'Stand and Deliver' and 'Prince Charming' by Adam and the Ants. The Greenham Common Women's Peace Camp was established. 'Chariots of Fire' won the best film Oscar; coming soon to a screen near you were: 'Mad Max 2', 'Raiders Of The Lost Ark'. 'Time Bandits', 'Reds' and 'An American Werewolf In London'. The NME voted 'Nightclubbing' by Grace Jones as their album of the year, also released were: 'Computer World' by Kraftwerk, 'Dare' by The Human league, 'East Side Story' by Squeeze, 'Almost Blue' by Elvis Costello and 'Psychedelic Jungle' by The Cramps, but the charts were dominated by Phil Collins 'Face Value' and 'Ghost In The Machine' by The Police. Watching ITV you would have seen adverts for the Duracell Bunny and a dog doing tricks for John Smiths bitter. The were only 3 TV channels and available for your viewing pleasure were 'Dynasty', 'Brideshead Revisited', 'The Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy' and 'Hill Street Blues', Tom Baker made his last appearance as Dr. Who. MTV started in the UK, but God knows how you could watch it.

Meanwhile on October 21st 1981, in a basement in Wardour Street I started working for Rank Phicom Video Group, as was. Ah! seems like only a quarter of a century ago.