Thanks to Charlie Horse 47 and Killdumpster for their sponsorship of this post, via the magic of Patreon.
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At least, you might if your local recording studio was in Notting Hill.
That's because it was the month in which thirty-five of Britain and Ireland's mightiest pop stars - and Marilyn - got together in one room to become Band Aid and record the song Do They Know It's Christmas? in order to raise money for famine relief in Ethiopia.
I do acknowledge that some of those stars, such as Jody Watley, were clearly neither British nor Irish.
Regardless, that track would go on to become the biggest-selling single in UK history and hit the Number One slot on more than one occasion.
Elsewhere, it was good news for all God-fearing females because the General Synod of the Church of England finally supported the ordination of women as deacons. Having said that, it still didn't agree to them becoming full-blown priests.
Also elsewhere, the British and French governments announced their intention to find private funding for the construction of a Channel Tunnel. The tunnel - which had been first proposed in 1802 - was projected to open in the early 1990s. A target which would actually be met.
Across the ocean, Ronald Reagan defeated Democrat hopeful Walter Mondale in the US Presidential Election. Reagan won 59% of the popular vote - the highest percentage since Richard Nixon in 1972 - and picked up 49 states in the Electoral College, with Mondale only securing his home state of Minnesota, and the District of Columbia.
When it came to the UK singles chart, November launched with Chaka Khan's I Feel For You holding sway before it was dethroned by Jim Diamond's I Should Have Known Better. While the accompanying album chart greeted the month with Frankie's Welcome to the Pleasuredome on top before that was replaced by Wham's Make It Big which then had to subside before the onslaught of The Hits Album by those pesky Various Artists who just couldn't stop having hits.
It had to happen. With Conan the Destroyer rampaging through the cinemas of the world, Big Arnie makes the cover of Marvel UK's longest surviving monthly.
Starburst hits its 75th issue - and does so by looking at V, the television show which launched a million and one conspiracy theories about the world being ruled by reptile aliens disguised as people.
Elsewhere, it was good news for all God-fearing females because the General Synod of the Church of England finally supported the ordination of women as deacons. Having said that, it still didn't agree to them becoming full-blown priests.
Also elsewhere, the British and French governments announced their intention to find private funding for the construction of a Channel Tunnel. The tunnel - which had been first proposed in 1802 - was projected to open in the early 1990s. A target which would actually be met.
Across the ocean, Ronald Reagan defeated Democrat hopeful Walter Mondale in the US Presidential Election. Reagan won 59% of the popular vote - the highest percentage since Richard Nixon in 1972 - and picked up 49 states in the Electoral College, with Mondale only securing his home state of Minnesota, and the District of Columbia.
When it came to the UK singles chart, November launched with Chaka Khan's I Feel For You holding sway before it was dethroned by Jim Diamond's I Should Have Known Better. While the accompanying album chart greeted the month with Frankie's Welcome to the Pleasuredome on top before that was replaced by Wham's Make It Big which then had to subside before the onslaught of The Hits Album by those pesky Various Artists who just couldn't stop having hits.
Colin Baker gets the rare pleasure of being allowed on the cover of the magazine dedicated to the show he's the star of.
While, inside, Eric Saward reveals just what a script editor does.
Some may express surprise to discover Doctor Who in this era has a script editor.
But not me. I never doubted it for a second.
We also get Part Five of the comic strip The Voyager.
And we're treated to a preview of Vengeance on Varos and a look at the work of Ice Warriors' creator Brian Hayles.
It had to happen. With Conan the Destroyer rampaging through the cinemas of the world, Big Arnie makes the cover of Marvel UK's longest surviving monthly.
And he makes the inside too. Sort of. As the book gives us its adaptation of that very movie, as well as an interview with its star. And I do believe that adaptation is in colour!
But hold on. What's this? The mag seems to have merged with Mighty World of Marvel, which means we also encounter Night Raven, Magik and Showcase!
Less infamously, there's a look at the new fantasy adventure Streets of Fire, a film I've never heard of. While John Brosnan looks back at Tarzan films through the ages.
And, as if that wasn't enough for any reader, this issue also offers up reviews of The Company of Wolves and the aforementioned Conan the Destroyer.
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6 comments:
Any of you ever see Various Artists in concert? Must have been incredible!
I started going to a youth club (there’s a phrase from the past) in 1984. It had a PA and twin turntables. Everyone used to bring their records along.
One night everyone was late and the only record we had for about half an hour was ‘I Feel For You’. The experience didn’t put me off it though, and nor did its recent misuse in a UK ad campaign. I love that record.
I was brought up by the music press to despise Marilyn for reasons I don’t really understand. But I fairly recently heard (insert appropriate pronoun here, I honestly don’t know how they identified then or now: I’m not taking the p*** here) record ‘Calling Your Name’ and I think it’s great.
Oh, so MWOM was merged into Conan? Weird. I never knew that. Why? Why not simply rebrand as Captain Britain? And carry over the reprints into that?
Yet again, an edition of Staburst I had but never read. I remember the first series of V being quite enthralling at the time, though Alan Moore obsessed me was miffed that the V slogan had been appropriated. There were more series, weren’t there? But I completely missed those.
Matthew - I went to a youth club too, but in 1985. The girls brought "Girls On Film" by Duran, Duran, and danced to it. Another one that sticks in my mind is 'Body Rock', by Maria Vidal. There were others, too - but my memory only seems to take a representative sample!
V was very powerful. Wasn't it the moment when face-peeled Diana was revealed to be a lizard-like creature (rather than a beautiful humanoid), the scene that shocked the audience beyond words? Confronting "the other" - that which is not us - on a fundamental level!
Phillip
Strike 'creature' & replace with 'monster' !
Phillip
Philip:
Yes, that was the moment that had viewers all a-buzz afterwards. Honestly, I was a bit surprised at the response — I was like, “People are freaking out because the Visitors are actually Lizard People in disguise? Really?” It seemed kinda corny and “Old Hat” to me at the time. I guess most people hadn’t been exposed to as much cheesy sci-fi pulp as I’d been.
It’s hilarious to me (and also kinda worrisome) that there are a large number of people today who firmly believe that the world is secretly being run by Lizard People disguised as humans. I mean, it’s a whole thing! I wonder if the Paranoid Fringies got the idea from seeing “V” or if it pre-dates the mini-series. Maybe it was started by a sub-sect of gullible folks who bought into the Shaver Mystery nonsense — or Scientologists…
Oh, and I hope you’re feeling better, Phillip:)
Steve:
I’m kind of amazed you’ve never heard of STREETS OF FIRE. Maybe it didn’t get much of a publicity push in the UK. Here in the States , Universal’s PR machine practically rammed it down our throats in the weeks leading up to its release — it was their big Summer Movie that year. When it finally opened, it was a huge bomb. I can’t recommend it, but it’s not terrible — just kinda half-assed and mediocre. Good soundtrack tho (The Blasters, The Fixx, Jim Steinman etc).
b.t.
b.t. - Yes, Lizard people - a former sport commentator, named David Icke, started a lot of that nonsense in the UK. If V didn't start lizard people, maybe it was Kirk fighting the Gorn. If lizard people are as slow as the Gorn, we've got nothing to worry about! And what about the Greys - did anybody conceive of big-eyed, spindly-limbed Greys before Close Encounters?
Thanks, b.t. - Hopefully, the antibiotics are kicking in, and I'm booking my chest X-ray tomorrow.
Phillip
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