1 9 4 9 – 1 9 5 4 (USA) 15 minute episodes This early presentation of the Bob Clampett created characters of Beany (a freckle-faced young boy), Cecil (the seasick sea serpent), Horatio K. Huffenpuff – also called Uncle…
1 9 9 7 (USA) 10 x 60 minute episodes A non-profit teen crisis centre at 413 Hope Street in New York saw counsellors, doctors, psychologists and social workers – and wealthy businessman Phil Thomas (Richard Roundtree), who established the centre…
Formed in Bakersfield, California, in 1993, Korn pioneered the nu metal genre and brought it into the mainstream. Their self-titled debut album was released in 1994, followed by Life Is Peachy in 1996. Their first experience of mainstream success came…
Founded in 1982 in Düsseldorf, Germany, Warlock gained popularity and some commercial success in Europe in the mid-1980s due to the personality and stage presence of lead vocalist Doro Pesch. If Rob Halford is the Metal God, Pesch is the…
Formed in New York City in 1989, Helmet came out of the noise-rock underground, debuting on the Minneapolis punk label Amphetamine Reptile with the cold-eyed assault of 1990’s Strap It On, fusing orchestrated noise, metal precision, tricky time signatures, avalanche…
Less than a decade after This Is Spinal Tap (1984) lovingly lampooned heavy metal, Chris Rock starred in the mockumentary CB4, a send-up of gangsta rap. Rock plays a wannabe rapper named Albert Brown, who assumes the identity of a…
Beginning in 1958, Sparkle tells the (fictional) story of three singing sisters who climb up from the Harlem ghetto and fight their way to superstardom. Fresh new 17-year-old talent Irene Cara starred in the title role. Costarring as her sisters were…
1 9 9 0 – 1 9 9 1 (USA) 17 x 30 minute episodes After graduating from NYU in 1972, Tom Nash (Robert Urich) becomes a stringer for an unnamed, low-rated TV news show. He later becomes a reporter and…
1 9 9 2 (USA) Adapted from the hit British comedy series Birds Of A Feather, this programme revolved around sisters Rochelle (Melissa Gilbert) and Lorraine (Rosie O’Donnell). Rochelle’s husband, Roger (Sam McMurray), had been an apparently successful builder of sunrooms and…
1 9 6 0 – 1 9 6 1 (USA) 38 x 60 minute episodes Luke Perry (Wayne Rogers) and Simon Kane (Robert Bray) were drivers for the Overland Stage Coach Line in the Old West, carrying passengers back and forth…
1 9 6 2 – 1 9 6 8 (USA) 1 9 8 8 (USA) The characters of Beany and Cecil were first seen as puppets on the 1950s show Time for Beany, which featured Captain Horatio Huffenpuff (“Uncle Captain”) and his nephew…
1 9 7 0 (USA) 13 x 30 minute episodes Timothy “Spud” Barrett (Tim Conway) was the clumsy, oafish, but well-meaning chief pilot for a small airline called Triple-A (“Anywhere Anytime Airline”). He was the chief pilot primarily because he was…
1 9 7 6 – 1 9 7 7 (USA) 13 x 30 minute episodes Walt (Fred Grandy) was a college student majoring in criminology. To help pay for college, he took a job working part-time as a night watchman in…
1 9 6 0 – 1 9 7 5 (USA) 65 x 15 minute episodes Several x 30 minute specials Brought to you by the makers of Gumby and the Lutheran Church, Davey and Goliath taught morals and goodwill to young…
1 9 8 5 – 1 9 8 6 (USA) 16 x 60 minute episodes The Misfits of Science are a group of young weirdos with strange but handy abilities. Johnny B (Mark Thomas Miller) is a former rock singer who…
1 9 8 4 (USA) 11 x 30 minute episodes 1 x 60 minute episode This CBS sitcom was created by Alan Alda (and was based on his 1981 movie of the same name). It told the story of four couples…
Sid Vicious was self-destructive; Johnny Rotten was snotty; Rollins was furious; and Johnny and Dee Dee were cartoon-like. Darby Crash was all of these things. A charismatic and confrontational frontman, many considered him barking mad (many happened to be right).…
Unashamedly middle-class, and older than most of their contemporaries, Colin Newman, Graham Lewis, Bruce Gilbert and Robert Gotobed (born Mark Field) – who weren’t mates – were introduced via mutual friends, formed their group in October 1976, then learned to play. Apart…
Grant McLennan was born in Rockhampton, Queensland (Australia) on 12 February 1958. While studying at Queensland University he met a flamboyant dandy – and fellow drama student – named Robert Forster. Together they formed The Go-Betweens. The Go-Betweens released their…
Although their first gig – at The 100 Club’s ‘Punk Fest’ in September 1976 – was with The Sex Pistols, The Clash and Siouxsie and The Banshees, Subway Sect would later name check Irving Berlin, Cole Porter and Johnny Mercer. The astute-minded Vic Godard…
The Coyne brothers (Peter and Chris), who founded The Godfathers, grew up in South London in a large close-knit Irish family. Although they drew early inspiration from The Beatles and Elvis Presley, the Coynes became standard-bearers in the late-70s punk revolution. Following a string…
Formed in 1981 outside Seattle, Washington, Queensrÿche were one of the most artistic and creative of the hard rock bands during the decade, and released one of the most enduring and influential albums in the genre, Operation: Mindcrime, the story of…
Def Leppard formed in Sheffield, England in 1977 as Atomic Mass with original members Rick Savage, Pete Willis and Tony Kenning. Frontman Joe Elliot came into the picture not long after and the band adopted the name, Deaf Leopard, soon…
Blue Cheer emerged in 1967 under the cover of the San Francisco psychedelic scene, but there was nothing remotely lyrical about the three-piece from North Dakota who were laying the foundations for heavy metal in the USA at the same time as Black…
For all his success on TV, in children’s shows like Mick and Montmorency and the classic sitcom The Worker, Charlie Drake largely failed to make an impact on the big screen, with only four movies in 13 years before this…
Way out west, the peace of Stodge City is shattered when the dreaded Rumpo Kid (Sid James) rides into town and guns down the sheriff (Jon Pertwee). By mistake, Washington sends a travelling British Sanitary Engineer called Marshal P Knutt…
With songs galore throughout the whole film, we are thrown headfirst into America’s country music capital whilst witnessing the machinations of the presidential candidate elections. Comebacks, showdowns, backstabbing and heartbreak are all par for the course in this all-singing, all-dancing…
Joe Rasnick (Michael J Fox) scrapes together a living and plays in a band (the Barbusters) in his spare time with his sister Patti (Joan Jett), who has a young child. They find it hard to make ends meet but…
A small IRA terrorist group led by ruthless idealist Jude (Miranda Richardson) and Maguire (Adrian Dunbar) kidnap Jody (Forest Whitaker), a black British soldier serving in Northern Ireland, at a South Armagh funfair. They threaten to kill him unless one…
This 90-minute musical version of the Hans Christian Anderson story The Little Match Seller – now set in London rather than Copenhagen – was produced by ITV to air on television at Christmas 1986 and starred Roger Daltrey from The…
The story begins in Florida in 1935. Lounge singer Ruby Claire (Piper Laurie, fresh from her role in Carrie) is having a romantic encounter near a swamp with her gangster boyfriend Nicky (Sal Vecchio). They’re about to get on a…
Never in the name of British farce have so many worked so hard for so little . . . Giddy young married couple Pelham Butterworth (Donald Sinden) and his wife Gay (Peggy Cummins) frenziedly pull every trick out of the…
1 9 2 4 – Current (UK) “Rockall, Malin, Hebrides. Southwest gale 8 to storm 10, veering west, severe gale 9 to violent storm 11. Rain, then squally showers. Poor, becoming moderate.” One of the oldest and most curious radio broadcasts…
Born on 25 January 1949 in Salford, Manchester, John Cooper Clarke enjoyed a brief vogue as a ‘punk poet’ with his 1965-style Bob Dylan in sunglasses look and quickfire verbal delivery, with his compositions showing the influence of the punning…
1 9 5 9 – 1 9 7 7 (UK) This long-running BBC radio sitcom was set aboard a (fictional) Royal Navy frigate named HMS Troutbridge. Premiering on 29 March 1959, the 30-minute episodes were initially transmitted on the BBC Light…
1 9 4 9 – 1 9 6 2 (USA) No fewer than six actors played the character of Johnny Dollar – the private eye “with the action-packed expense account” who tracked down people’s missing relatives and solved murders and…
1 9 5 3 – 1 9 5 6 (USA) Sharp-tongued satirists Bob Elliott and Ray Goulding had such an excellent on-air rapport as staff announcers at a local radio station in Boston that they were offered a national network show…
1 9 4 0 – 1 9 6 7 (UK) This daytime radio programme featuring live popular music was broadcast by the BBC twice daily on workdays from 23 June 1940 until 29 September 1967. The programme began during World War…
1 9 4 1 – 1 9 6 4 (UK) This BBC radio music, comedy and variety programme was originally transmitted in May 1941. Intended as a morale-booster for industrial workers in Britain to relieve the monotony of factory production lines…
1 9 4 2 – Current (UK) The long-running BBC radio series Desert Island Discs was first broadcast on the Forces Programme on 29 January 1942. The 30-minute show was devised and originally presented by Roy Plomley. Each week a guest…
Average Weekly Wage (male): $149.93 Average Weekly Wage (female): $138.71 3-seater sofa and 2 x leather-look armchairs: $259.00 Chrome and Glass Coffee Table (Square): $29.00 62cm Colour TV: $779.00 4-piece stereo system: $599.00 2-door fridge: $499 Electric frypan: $39.95 Toaster: $19.95…
January 01 – Czechoslovakia is peacefully divided into the Czech Republic and Slovakia in the so-called “Velvet Divorce”. 01 – The European single market is created by the European Economic Community (EEC), eliminating trade barriers within the EU. 03 -…
January 02 – Rebels in El Salvador shoot down an American Army helicopter and kill all three crew members. It is believed that two crew members initially survived and were executed on the ground. 08 – Def Leppard guitarist Steve…
January 01 – David Dinkins is sworn in as New York City’s first black mayor. 02 – World population passes five billion. In 1960 it was three billion. 03 – Manuel Noriega surrenders to US forces, ten days after taking…
January 02 – Ideological purity reaches the superficially cosy world of the nursery. In an attempt to excise any taint of racism, all new editions of Enid Blyton’s Noddy books will be shorn of the traditional black golliwogs, who will…
January 01 – Spain and Portugal join the European Economic Community (EEC). 04 – Thin Lizzy bass player and vocalist, Phil Lynott dies of heart failure after laying in a coma for a week following a drug overdose. He is…
January 01 – Dusty Hill of ZZ Top is accidentally shot in the stomach by his girlfriend, Jane Ellen Henderson. She is pulling his boots off when his gun falls to the floor and discharges. 02 – Paul McCartney turns down a…
January 01 – Greece becomes the 10th member of the Common Market (EEC). 02 – Fire breaks out at La Scala Opera House in Milan, Italy. 02 – Former Platters vocalist David Lynch dies. 03 – Princess Alice, the last surviving grandchild…
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The Gulf War in 1991 really freaked me out. I guess it would be a huge understatement to say it freaked a lot of people out (especially the folks who…
School dinners, “kiss-catch”, free milk, bob-a-job week, Bonfire Night, snowball fights, power cuts . . . ee bah gum! Wath-upon-Dearne is in South Yorkshire (in what used to be called…
1. Miss World 1970 (BBC) 10.6 million 2. Benny Hill Show (ITV) 9.3 million 3. Eurovision Song Contest (BBC) 9.2 million 4. This Is Your Life (ITV) 8.9 million 5.…
Voyage No. 17 Southbound May – June 1974 Captain G Nicolaou, Master Rotterdam to Bremerhaven 205 miles – Bremerhaven to Southampton 415 miles Southampton to Las Palmas 1,520 miles -…
18 January 2019 The Barrett-Jackson auction company in Scottsdale, Arizona, is currently auctioning one of three Firebird Formulas provided by Pontiac Motor Division to the TV show The Rockford Files…
The Silver Beetles (John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Stuart Sutcliffe) failed an audition as Billy Fury’s backing group but drew a consolation prize in playing behind Johnny Gentle…
“John, please don’t go. They’ll kill you,” screamed one of the 500 young Beatlemaniacs who braved the London rain to watch John, Paul, George and Ringo board a Pan Am…
During the summer of 1967, The Beatles’ Sgt Peppers Lonely Hearts Club album had shot straight to the top of the UK and US album charts. A few weeks later, All You…
Featured Aussie Posts
From the release of their She Never Said single in November 1980, this unique Canberra-born, Sydney-based band produced a distinctive, ethereal, psychedelic blend of music which alternatively found favour and…
Peter Blakeley – described by the founder of Atlantic Records Ahmet Ertegun, as “The finest White Soul singer I have ever heard” – was the lead singer of the Australian band…
1 9 6 7 – 1 9 7 7 (Australia) 1508 x 15 minute episodes 53 x 60 minute episodes 134 x 30 minute episodes Bellbird followed the lives of a community…
This Australian quartet began life in 1963 with Keith Potger singing and playing the guitar and Athol Guy performing on bass. They toured the Melbourne coffee bars “starving on a grand…
A falsely convicted man joins two other convicts in breaking out of a Sydney prison, but they end up trapped in a fortress in the harbour. While the innocent man…
Smiley Greevins (Colin Petersen) is a cheeky, mischievous, imaginative little boy who lives in the small town of Murrumbilla in the Australian outback. His father Bill (Reg Lye) is a…
Featured Canadian Posts
Canadian musician Michael Timmins and his childhood friend Alan Anton formed a group called Hunger Project in 1979. It was not successful and, relocating to the UK, they formed an…
1 9 6 3 – 1 9 6 5 (Canada) 1 9 7 9 – 1 9 8 5 (Canada) There’s a voice that keeps on calling me Down the road, that’s…
1 9 6 6 – 1 9 6 8 (Canada) 18 x 60 minute episodes This hour length landmark drama from the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) focused on the work of…
No-budget Canadian horror flick (also known as The Playgirl Killer) about a deranged artist with a nasty habit of killing and freezing his models when he loses patience with their squirming and…
This amiable Canadian-produced comedy featured Bill Murray as Tripper Harrison, a counsellor-in-training at second-rate Camp North Star whipping a pack of stereotypes into shape. Most of the story concerns Tripper’s…
Rynn Jacobs (Jodie Foster) is a pretty thirteen-year-old girl who lives in a secluded house that she and her poet father have rented in a quiet Quebec seaside community. But…
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Terry Hall: Coventry scooter ride-out pays tribute to singer
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Hundreds of people ride through Coventry on what would have been the singer's 64th birthday.metro.co.uk/2023/03/13/the-whos-roger-daltrey-thinks-theres-no-point-releasing-an-album-18434779/
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Sir Michael Caine's first Rolls Royce sells at Duxford for £120K
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The Italian Job actor hired a chauffeur to drive the 1968 Silver Shadow, with its doors still intact.www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-64900348
Mystic Meg: Astrologer dies aged 80
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The TV star, whose real name was Margaret Lake, was a well-known TV figure in the 1990s.Do you think she know it eas going to happen
Gary Rossington: Lynyrd Skynyrd's last founding member dies aged 71.
Gary Rossington: Lynyrd Skynyrd's last founding member dies aged 71
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Guitarist Gary Rossington had survived a 1977 air crash that killed several of his bandmates.What a talented man. Lucky enough to see original band in concert. BRILLIANT.
Rest in peace Dickie Davies. An absolute giant of British sports broadcasting.
Dickie Davies, World of Sport presenter, dies at 94
www.theguardian.com
The broadcaster became something of a cult figure after fronting the ITV show for 20 yearsYes, one of the great presenters. R.I.P.
For fans of the radio series "Round The Horne" (1965 - 1968) - starring the inimitable Kenneth Williams - there are several full episodes on Spotify. Some of the humour is still pretty "close to the edge", even by modern standards. Bona!
open.spotify.com/show/7DIM1wfGKwDis0uzsjHeP7?si=pG0_U0TjRKGzVDvrePs4vA
For those interested, the complete “Jules and Sandy” is available on Audible…
Bona to vada your jolly old eek. Lovely riah....
RIP the beautiful Stella Stevens, who has died at the age of 84.
Stella Stevens: Nutty Professor and Poseidon Adventure star dies at 84
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The co-star of Elvis Presley also worked in TV on series such as Murder She Wrote and Magnum, P.I.
A very young Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr and George Harrison and friends.
If they only knew what lay ahead . . .
I always hated the Beatles, and as it happens I still do.
Nostalgia Central covers the period 1950 to 1999 and contains some words and references which reflect the attitudes of those times and which may be considered culturally sensitive, offensive or inappropriate today.
