In the late 80s, Cinderella had triple-platinum hits in the US with their debut album Night Songs (1986) and follow-up, Long Cold Winter (1988). Night Songs was released a year after the Philadelphia group were discovered by Jon Bon Jovi and showcased a…

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Blazing a trail of outrage that lifted them from the suffocating obscurity of the downbeat club circuit in Los Angeles and onto the biggest stages in the world, W.A.S.P exploded onto the scene in 1984 when Capitol Records refused to…

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Although die-hard fans stuck by Anthrax no matter who their singer was, it is widely agreed among metalheads that the band was at their peak – both artistically and commercially – when Joey Belladonna was fronting the line-up. What set…

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Formed by Lars Ulrich and James Hetfield in Los Angeles in 1981 and initially inspired by the New Wave of British Heavy Metal (NWOBHM), Metallica’s music was built on frenetic guitars cranking one deliciously sleazy riff after another, played at…

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The birth of the Psychedelic Furs came in 1977 when London art college student Richard Butler grew tired of silk-screening, persuaded his younger brother, Tim, to buy a bass guitar, recruited a couple of pals and spent a year and a…

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Birmingham’s Toyah Ann Willcox was born on 18 May 1958. As a professional actress, her film appearances included Jubilee (1978) and Quadrophenia (1979), and she suddenly found parallel success as a highly visual punk/pop singer. Chart success came in 1981 with It’s A Mystery, I…

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An excellent cast combined with the provocative idea of witchcraft yields a top-notch thriller under Polish director Roman Polanski’s deft handling in this, his US film debut. Waif-like Rosemary Woodhouse (Mia Farrow) and her overly ambitious husband, Guy (John Cassavetes),…

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In this sequel to The Silencers (1966), Dean Martin returns as womanising photographer-turned-secret agent Matt Helm to save Washington from dastardly millionaire industrialist Julian Wall (Karl Malden), operating from a secret island base in the French Riviera. This time, Helm fakes…

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This film about an Australian Rules football club in the Victorian Football League (VFL) could easily be about the behind-the-scenes and front-of-house activities of any company, organisation, charity or committee. It shows the way people operate – lying, manipulating, adapting,…

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When you mix a left-wing teacher, a loud-mouthed philanderer, a mild-mannered accountant, a failed philosopher, a 19-year-old nymphette, a frustrated wife, a drunken pornographer, a temperamental artist and an arrogant dentist with a lot of booze on election night in…

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Although the curry is the national dish of the British these days, back in the 1960s and 1970s when fish & chips was still Britain’s favourite meal, having a curry was the height of culinary daring. It showed you had…

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Nothing said ‘mod’ more than the high-standing band collar of the Nehru jacket. The 60’s interest in world affairs and ethnic cultures broadened the horizons of the fashion world, opening the way for the ‘collarless’ jacket worn by Indian prime…

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The first Lord John men’s fashion boutique was opened in 1963 at 43 Carnaby Street in London, on the corner of Ganton Street (pictured above) by brothers Warren, Harold and David Gold, who graduated from selling suede jackets from a…

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Angel Delight was first released in Britain in 1967 by the Birds Custard company, promising the taste of strawberries and cream from colourful sachets of microdust. By the 1970s, the product had doubled Britain’s instant dessert market. The luminous powder…

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Encouraged by the success of Atari, other companies tried dipping their joysticks into the home video game market in 1976. Coleco introduced Telstar Pong, while the Fairchild Camera and Instrument Company weighed in with the Fairchild Channel F; the first programmable…

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American physicist Professor Julius Sumner Miller was the brilliant and wonderfully mad professor who introduced young Australian television viewers to science with his famous signature question, “Why is it so?” Born in Billerica, Massachusetts, of immigrant small-farming parents, he studied…

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Fred Dagg was actually New Zealand-born comedian and political satirist John Clarke, who appeared as Dagg on television always wearing a black singlet and gumboots. Fred Dagg, father of seven sons all called Trev, became a household name in Australia…

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January 05 – Winston Churchill arrives in Washington for talks with Truman. 07 – General Dwight D Eisenhower says he will run for US President. 12 – The prototype Vickers Valiant, Britain’s only long-range jet for carrying the atomic bomb, crashes. 13 – The Iranian government…

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January 01 – Chinese and North Korean forces advance across the 38th Parallel and through UN lines. 01 – First episode of The Archers is broadcast nationally on the BBC Light Programme. 01 – Bill Byford (Saxon) born. 04 – Communist…

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January 01 – Radio Beijing announces that Tibet will shortly be “liberated”. 03 – Wafd Party wins Egyptian elections. 04 – Britain asks the US for a stockpile of atomic bombs. 05 – President Truman rules out military aid to…

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January 01 – Britain, Denmark and Ireland join the European Economic Community (the “Common Market”) bringing the total number of member states to nine. 01 – Baseball star Roberto Clemente is killed in a light plane crash off Puerto Rico.…

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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…

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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 -…

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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…

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