2000 AD - December 1980.

At the start of December 1980, the Number One slot on the UK singles chart was held by ABBA's Super Trouper but it wasn't long before John Lennon's murder caused it to be toppled by (Just Like) Starting Over, giving him his first post-Beatles Number One in Britain.

But even the combined might of a Beatle and ABBA couldn't stop a far more powerful force from rising, late in the day, to claim the Christmas Number One slot for 1980.

And that force was There's No One Quite Like Grandma by St Winifred's School Choir, truly one of the most appallingly horrific records ever released. To this very day, some of us still live in fear of a St Winifred's revival.

Still, at least there was refuge from them on the album chart, where just one LP ruled the UK roost for the entire month, and that was Super Trouper by ABBA.

But, if St Winifred's were rampant, there were other things afoot at the time that could instill fear into the hardest of hearts - and one of them was that it was the month in which a UFO was spotted near RAF Woodbridge, launching what became known as the Rendlesham Forest Incident, ofttimes dubbed, "Britain's Roswell," and possibly the highest-profile UFO event this land has ever seen.

There was only one thing for it. With all these nightmares unfolding in the real world, we were going to have to seek refuge in the Galaxy's Greatest Comic, and I have no doubt at all that that's precisely what I did do.

Even so, I must confess that nothing that happens in this month's issues rings any bells in my memory.

But that doesn't matter, because it's Christmas and that means we have an annual to look forward to.

Admittedly, nothing in that book rings any bells for me either but that's mostly because I've never read it, and I do have to say it doesn't possess the most compelling cover I've ever seen on a 2000 AD annual.

That aside, its interior contains 128 pages, including a Strontium Dog tale titled Night of the Blood-Freaks, a feature on Special Effects in Sci-Fi Movies, 10 Ways to Destroy the World, The Mumps From Beyond the Moon, Ro-Jaws' Robo-Facts, The Man From 2000, Tharg's Guide to How 2000 AD is Produced and a zillion and one other features, games, puzzles, pin-ups and stories. It does seem to be a book dominated by Judge Dredd and the ABC Warriors and looks to be far better value for money than the somewhat half-hearted annuals Marvel were putting out at the time.

I do see Prog 191 is giving away Black Hole space suits which will no doubt come in handy the next time I encounter a black hole, whilst Progs 189 and 190 offer us the chance to own our own flying saucer, which, bearing in mind what was going on at Rendlesham at the time, seems a remarkable coincidence.

Clearly, with his Outer Space connections, Tharg knew more than he was letting on...

STOP PRESS! As Sean has pointed out in the comments section below, this year saw publication of the first Judge Dredd Annual. Accordingly, I've now added its cover to this post.