Life Is A Cabaret
Lyn Paul signs a management contract with John Francis, who negotiates an album deal for her with Leo Lintermans of CBS Records. A single is scheduled for release in September but never makes it to vinyl.
Meanwhile Lyn continues to work on the cabaret circuit, appearing at the Lakeside Country Club, Caesar's Nightclub, Streatham and The Night Out, Birmingham. As reported in The Stage & Television Today she is "in demand everywhere" (No. 5218, 9th April 1981, page 6). Reviewing Lyn's performance at the Lakeside's 'Club of the Year' celebrations, The Stage's critic writes: "Lyn puts that extra something into her performance that is the hallmark of a star" (No. 5220, 30th April 1981, page 8).
During April Lyn travels to South Africa, appearing on the Holiday Inn and Sun City circuit. After returning to the UK she appears with Mike Yarwood at the Ashcroft Theatre, Croydon (29th June), followed by dates at the Theatre Royal, Nottingham and the Fort Regent, Jersey (15th-18th July).
 
These are followed by a Summer Season at the Maison Royale, Bournemouth (2nd August - 26th September) and a week at the Poole Arts Centre (Wessex Hall), where Lyn appears with TV comedian Dick Emery (24th - 29th August). Lyn also makes two visits to the Bar Celona, Leeds (June and October) and ends the year at the Royal Court Theatre, Liverpool (18th December - 23rd January).
Incidentally...
Alan Tarney, who worked with Lyn Paul and the New Seekers as a session musician, continues his successful partnership with Cliff Richard. Following the success of the singles We Don't Talk Anymore (1979) and Dreamin' (1980), both of which were written and produced by Alan Tarney, Cliff has a Top 10 hit with an Alan Tarney / B.A. Robertson composition, Wired For Sound (EMI 5221). The single enters the UK chart on 29th August and makes it as high as number 4. The album from which it is taken, also titled Wired For Sound (EMI EMC 3377), is produced and arranged by Tarney and contains six of his songs. It enters the LP chart four weeks later and also makes it to number 4.
One of the tracks on the album, Daddy's Home, is a cover of a song that was originally a US hit in 1961 for Shep and the Limelites. Cliff's version is chosen as the second single from Wired For Sound. It enters the UK singles chart on 21st November and is only kept off the top of the charts by the Human League's single Don't You Want Me.
In December, while Cliff is climbing to number 2, Madness have a hit single with a track from their album Madness 7. It Must Be Love is a Labi Siffre song previously recorded by Lyn Paul for her 1975 album Give Me Love. Siffre's original version reached number 14 in the UK singles chart in 1971. Madness make it to number 4.
On Saturday, 28th November Sir Douglas Bader is the guest castaway on BBC Radio 4's Desert Island Discs. His favourite, of the eight discs he is allowed to take with him to the island, is the New Seekers' I'd Like To Teach The World To Sing.
| In the News - 1981 |
| |
|
| Jan |
Greece becomes the 10th member of the European Community on 1st January.
Princess Alice, Countess of Athlone, the last surviving grandchild of Queen Victoria, dies on 3rd January, aged 97.
260 people are killed on 6th January when the steamer Novo Amapa sinks in the Amazon River near Macapá, Brazil.
On Friday, 9th January Jerry Dammers and Terry Hall of The Specials are fined for inciting violence at a gig in Cambridge.
On 11th January a three-man British expedition led by Sir Ranulph Fiennes completes the fastest and longest crossing of Antarctica after 75 days and 2,500 miles.
Thirteen black partygoers are killed in a fire at a house in New Cross, south-east London, on Sunday, 18th January.
Bernadette McAliskey, formerly Bernadette Devlin, who had served as the MP for Mid Ulster from 1969-73, is injured in the chest, arm and thigh when three gunmen burst into her home on 16th January.
On 20th January Ronald Reagan is sworn in as 40th President of the USA. At the age of 69 he is the oldest man ever elected to the White House.
52 American hostages are freed from the US Embassy in Tehran on 21st January after 444 days in captivity.
|
| Feb |
Rock 'n' roll pioneer Bill Hayley, whose hits included Shake, Rattle And Roll (1954), (We're Gonna) Rock Around The Clock (1955) and See You Later, Alligator (1956), dies in Harlingen, Texas on 9th February, aged 55.
Australian newspaper tycoon Rupert Murdoch buys The Times and The Sunday Times newspapers for £12 million. He is confirmed as the new owner on 12th February after reaching agreement with the print unions on the introduction of new technology.
48 people are killed in a fire at a Valentine's Day disco in Dublin.
Following two hours' of crisis talks on 18th February between the leaders of the National Union of Mineworkers and officials from the Department of Trade and Industry, the UK government backtracks on
its plans to close 23 pits.
On Thursday, 19th February George Harrison is fined $587,000 for plagiarising The Chiffons' 1963 hit He's So Fine in his 1971 chart topper My Sweet Lord.
On Monday, 23rd February 350 Spanish MPs are held hostage in an attempted right-wing coup led by Lieutenant Colonel Antonio Molina.
On 24th February the engagement is announced of Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer.
Roger Tonge, best known for his role as Sandy Richardson in the long-running television soap opera Crossroads, dies of heart failure on 26th February, aged 35, having lived for many years with Hodgkin’s lymphoma.
Terry Waite, the Archbishop of Canterbury's special envoy, returns from Iran on 28th February with three British missionaries who had been held captive for six months. Waite had flown to Tehran on 26th December 1980 to negotiate for their release.
|
| Mar |
On 9th March the man known as the M5 Rapist, John Lambe, is sentenced to life on each of 12 counts of rape and given concurrent six year sentences on four charges of attempted rape.
The passengers and crew on board a Pakistan Airways plane, who had been held hostage for almost two weeks, are released in Syria on 15th March.
On 23rd March the UK government bans all animal transport on the Isle of Wight and in southern Hampshire, following an outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease.
Four ex-Labour MPs (Roy Jenkins, Dr. David Owen, William Rodgers and Shirley Williams) officially launch the new Social Democratic Party (SDP) on Thursday, 26th March.
On Monday, 30th March President Reagan is injured in an assassination attempt outside the Hilton Hotel, Washington. Greeting his wife Nancy afterwards, he quips: "Honey, I forgot to duck." John Hinkley, a 25-year old arrested and charged with attempted assassination, is later found not guilty by reason of insanity.
Ordinary People wins the Oscar for Best Picture at the 53rd Academy Awards ceremony on 31st March.
|
| Apr |
On 4th April Bucks Fizz win the Eurovision Song Contest for United Kingdom with the song Making Your Mind Up.
On the same day police arrest the Red Brigade leader Mario Moretti in Rome.
Bobby Sands, an IRA hunger-striker in the Maze prison, wins the Fermanagh and South Tyrone by-election on 10th April.
Former heavyweight boxing champion Joe Louis dies on 12th April, aged 66.
On 13th April the Home Secretary, William Whitelaw, orders an urgent public enquiry, following three days of violent rioting on the streets of Brixton.
On 28th April former US Vice President Spiro Agnew is convicted of taking bribes from contractors while he was Governor of Maryland and Vice President. He is ordered by a Maryland court to repay $147,500 to the state.
|
| May |
IRA hunger-striker Bobby Sands dies in the Maze prison on Tuesday, 5th May, 66 days after first refusing to eat. A second hunger striker, Francis Hughes, dies a week later.
On 7th May Ken Livingstone is elected leader of the Greater London Council (GLC).
François Mitterand is elected President of France on 10th May. He is the first socialist President of the Fifth Republic.
Andrew Lloyd Webber's musical Cats opens at the New London Theatre on Monday, 11th May. Judi Dench, who had snapped her Achilles tendon during rehearsals, is replaced by Elaine Paige as Grizabella.
Bob Marley dies of lung cancer and a brain tumour on 11th May, aged 36. His funeral takes place on 22nd May.
Pope John Paul II is shot four times as he blesses crowds in Rome on Wednesday, 13th May. He survives the assassination attempt and goes on to make a full recovery after undergoing emergency surgery.
On 22nd May the "Yorkshire Ripper", Peter Sutcliffe, is convicted of murder and sentenced to life imprisonment.
The Italian coalition government led by Arnaldo Forlani resigns on 26th May in the wake of a scandal over freemasonry.
The president of Bangladesh, Zia Rahman, is assassinated in Chittagong on Saturday, 30th May.
|
| June |
In California on Friday, 5th June, five men with weakened immune systems are diagnosed with a new form of pneumonia, later recognised as the first cases of AIDS.
On 7th June the Israeli air force destroys an Iraqi nuclear reactor at Daura. The attack, which was made to prevent the manufacture of nuclear bombs for use against Israel, is later condemned by the United Nations Security Council.
Two H-block prisoners win seats in the Irish general election held on 11th June. The Fianna Fail party, led by Charles Haughey, is returned to power but without an overall majority. At the first sitting of the Dael the Fine Gael leader, Dr. Garret Fitzgerald, is elected Prime Minister. The Fine Gael and Labour parties form a coalition government.
Queen Elizabeth II visits the City of London on 11th June to open the National Westminster Tower - at the time the UK's tallest office building.
Two days later, on Saturday, 13th June, a 17-year-old former cadet, Marcus Serjeant, fires six blank shots at Queen Elizabeth II as she rides down the Mall on horseback during the Trooping of the Colour ceremony.
Mark Chapman, on trial for murdering John Lennon in New York in December 1980, surprises his lawyers on Monday, 22nd June by changing his plea to guilty.
|
| July |
On 3rd July there are riots on the streets of Southall, London. On 4th July riots break out in the Toxteth area of Liverpool and continue for several days. For the first time on mainland Britain the police use CS gas to disperse the rioters. On 7th July further riots erupt in the Moss Side area of Manchester. In response the Home Secretary, William Whitelaw, bans all marches in London till 14th August and Michael Heseltine heads a government investigation into inner city conditions.
On Tuesday, 7th July the General Synod of the Church of England decrees that divorcees can remarry in church.
On the same day Solar Challenger, the first solar-powered aircraft capable of long-distance flight, crosses the English Channel, flying 163 miles from Pontoise Aerodrome, north of Paris, to Manston Royal Air Force Base in Kent.
British Gas workers hold a 24-hour strike on 13th July in protest at the UK government's plans to sell off 900 British Gas showrooms.
Harry Chapin, who wrote the New Seekers' 1972 hit Circles and had hits of his own with W.O.L.D. and Cats In The Cradle, is killed in a car accident on the Long Island Expressway on 16th July.
On the same day the Space Shuttle Enterprise is launched on its maiden spaceflight.
On 17th July two overhead walkways fall onto a dance floor at the Hyatt Regency hotel in Kansas City, killing 111 people.
The Humber Bridge, which opened to traffic on 24th June, is officially opened by Queen Elizabeth II on 17th July. Under construction since January 1980, it is the longest single-span suspension bridge in the world.
On Monday, 27th July more than 24 million people in the UK tune in to ITV to watch Ken and Deidre get married on Coronation Street.
On 29th July the UK celebrates the wedding of Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer.
|
| Aug |
MTV is launched on 1xt August. The first music video shown is Video Killed The Radio Star by the Buggles.
US air traffic controllers begin a nationwide strike on 3rd August.
On 5th August Olivia Newton-John is awarded a 'Gold Star' on Hollywood Boulevard.
IBM launch the first personal computer, the PC 5150, on 12th August. The software for the PC is supplied by a little-known company called Microsoft.
Thirteen people die on 13th August when a helicopter ferrying gas rig workers crashes off the Norfolk coast.
A by-election is held in Fermanagh and South Tyrone on 20th August, caused by the death of the IRA hunger striker Bobby Sands. The seat is won by Owen Carron, who stands as the "Anti H-Block / Proxy Political Prisoner".
On 24th August Mark David Chapman is sentenced to 20 years to life for the murder of John Lennon.
On 30th August the President of Iran, Mohammad Ali Rajai, and the Prime Minister, Mohammad Javad Bahonar, are both assassinated in a bomb attack in Tehran.
|
| Sep |
On Wednesday, 4th September a remotely-controlled camera is sent down to the seabed of the North Atlantic to take photographs of the wreck of the Titanic, 73 years after the ocean liner had been sunk by an iceberg.
Members of a Welsh protest group 'Women for Life on Earth' arrive at RAF Greenham in Berkshire on 5th September, having marched from Cardiff to oppose the British government's decision to site nuclear missiles there.
Christy Brown, author of My Left Foot, dies on 7th September.
A teenager who fired blank shots at Queen Elizabeth II is jailed for five years on 14th September.
On 16th September the Liberal Party Assembly, meeting in Llandudno, votes in favour of forming an electoral pact with the new Social Democratic Party (SDP).
The death penalty is abolished in France on Friday, 18th September, nearly 200 years after beheading by guillotine became the standard method of capital punishment.
Simon and Garfunkel reunite after 11 years for a free concert in Central Park, New York on 19th September. 500,000 attend.
On 21st September Guatemala breaks off diplomatic relations with the UK in protest at Britain's decision to grant independence to Belize.
Songwriter Harry Warren dies on 22nd September, aged 88.
A new high-speed train, the TGV (Train à Grande Vitesse), is brought into service in France on 27th September on a new line linking Paris and Lyon.
|
| Oct |
The President of Egypt, Anwar Sadat, is assassinated by Islamic fundamentalists on Tuesday, 6th October while reviewing a military parade in Cairo. The Vice President, Hosni Mubarak, is sworn in as President on 14th October.
A nail bomb explodes outside Chelsea barracks on 10th October, killing two civilians. 22 soldiers and 16 other civilians are injured.
The Panhellenic Socialist Movement (PASOK), led by Andreas Papandreou, wins a landslide victory over the conservative New Democracy party in the Parliamentary elections held in Greece on Sunday, 18th October. Papandreou becomes the first non-conservative Prime Minister of Greece for 50 years.
On 22nd October William Pitt wins the Croydon North West by-election for the new Liberal-Social Democratic Alliance.
On Friday, 30th October Nicholas Reed, the secretary of the pro-euthanasia group Exit, is sent to prison for two-and-a-half years, having been found guilty on three counts of aiding and abetting suicide and one of conspiracy to aid and abet.
|
| Nov |
Citizens' Band radio becomes legal in the UK on 2nd November.
Queen Elizabeth II opens the Tyne and Wear Metro on 6th November.
On 12th November the Church of England's General Synod votes to allow women to take Holy Orders.
The by-election held in the Conservative 'safe seat' of Crosby on 26th November is won by Shirley Williams, who returns to Parliament as the SDP's first successful Parliamentary candidate.
Lotte Lenya, best known for her renditions of songs by her husband, Kurt Weill, dies on 27th November, aged 83. Lotte Lenya’s stage roles included Jenny in Marc Blitzstein's English version of The Threepenny Opera and Fräulein Schneider in the original Broadway production of Cabaret.
Natalie Wood, star of films such as Rebel Without A Cause and West Side Story, dies on 29th November, aged 43. Her death by drowning is ruled to have been an accident but in 2011 police re-open their inquiry after receiving new evidence and her death certificate is amended to say that she died as a result of "drowning and other undetermined factors".
|
| Dec |
During December the UK has the heaviest snowfalls and the lowest temperatures since 1878.
On 1st December Vince Clarke announces that he is leaving Depeche Mode to form Yazoo with Alison Moyet.
On 8th December Arthur Scargill is elected President of the National Union of Mineworkers.
On Sunday, 13th December martial law is imposed in Poland and thousands are arrested, including Lech Walesa, the leader of the Solidarity trade union.
On 14th December Israel announces plans to annex the Golan Heights, captured from Syria in 1973.
On 16th December the National Executive Committee of the UK Labour Party votes by 15:14 not to endorse Peter Tatchell as the Labour candidate in Bermondsey.
On Saturday, 19th December the eight crew members of the RNLI Penlee lifeboat, Solomon Browne, are killed in rough seas off the south coast of Cornwall, when responding to a rescue call from the freighter Union Star.
The musical Dreamgirls opens on Broadway at the Imperial Theatre on 20th December.
American songwriter Hoagie Carmichael dies on 27th December, aged 82.
|
|
| In the Charts |
| |
UK Chart débuts |
| |
- ABC
- Bucks Fizz
- Phil Collins
- Depeche Mode
- Duran Duran
- Eurythmics
- Fun Boy Three
- Julio Iglesias
- Kirsty MacColl
- New Order
- Talking Heads
- U2
|
| UK Best-selling Singles |
|
- ABBA
Lay All Your Love On Me
- ABBA
One Of Us
- Adam and The Ants
Prince Charming
- Adam and The Ants
Stand and Deliver
- Altered Images
Happy Birthday
- Aneka
Japanese Boy
- Bucks Fizz
Making Your Mind Up
[Eurovision Song Contest Winner]
- Kim Carnes
Bette Davis Eyes
- Coast to Coast
(Do) The Hucklebuck
- Phil Collins
In The Air Tonight
- Elvis Costello and The Attractions
A Good Year For The Roses
- Kiki Dee
Star
- Department S
Is Vic There?
- Depeche Mode
Just Can't Get Enough
- Dire Straits
Romeo and Juliet
- Sheena Easton
For Your Eyes Only
- Godley and Creme
Under Your Thumb
- Human League
Don't You Want Me
- Headgirl (Motorhead and Girlschool)
St. Valentine's Day Massacre EP
- Julio Iglesias
Begin The Beguine (Volver A Empezar)
- Imagination
Body Talk
- Michael Jackson
One Day In Your Life
- Landscape
Einstein A Go-Go
- John Lennon
Imagine
- John Lennon
Woman
- Look
I Am The Beat
- Kirsty MacColl
There's A Guy Works Down The Chipshop Swears He's Elvis
- Madness
It Must Be Love
- Bob Marley and The Wailers
No Woman, No Cry
- Olivia Newton-John
Physical
- Hazel O'Connor
Will You
- Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark
Joan Of Arc
- Ottawan
Hands Up (Give Me Your Heart)
- Elaine Paige
Memory
- Police
Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic
- Police
Invisible Sun
- Queen and David Bowie
Under Pressure
- Cliff Richard
Daddy's Home
- Cliff Richard
Wired For Sound
- Smokey Robinson
Being With You
- Roxy Music
Jealous Guy
- Soft Cell
Tainted Love
- The Specials
Ghost Town
- Squeeze
Labelled With Love
- Shakin' Stevens
Green Door
- Shakin' Stevens
This Ole House
- Dave Stewart and Barbara Gaskin
It's My Party
- Talking Heads
Once In A Lifetime
- Teardrop Explodes
Reward
- Tom Tom Club
Wordy Rappinghood
- Tweets
The Birdie Song (Birdie Dance)
- Ultravox
Vienna
- Visage
Fade To Grey
- Kim Wilde
Chequered Love
- Kim Wilde
Kids In America
- Stevie Wonder
Happy Birthday
- Stevie Wonder
Lately
|
|
| One Hit Wonders |
| |
- Laurie Anderson
O Superman
- Joe Dolce Music Theatre
Shaddap You Face
- Keith Marshall
Only Crying
- Passions
I'm In Love With A German Film Star
- Kate Robbins and Beyond
More Than In Love
- Red Sovine
Teddy Bear
- Fred Wedlock
Oldest Swinger In Town
|
Hit Albums |
|
- ABBA
The Visitors
- Joan Armatrading
Walk Under Ladders
- Elkie Brooks
Pearls
- Phil Collins
Face Value
- Elvis Costello
Almost Blue
- Christopher Cross
Christopher Cross
- Billy Field
Bad Habits
- Art Garfunkel
Scissors Cut
- Genesis
Abacab
- Billy Joel
Songs In The Attic
- Human League
Dare
- Madness
Madness 7
- Olivia Newton-John
Physical
- Stevie Nicks
Bella Donna
- Not The 9 O'Clock News Cast
Hedgehog Sandwich
- Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark
Architecture and Morality
- Police
Ghost In The Machine
- Cliff Richard
Love Songs
- Cliff Richard
Wired For Sound
- Sky
Sky 3
- Soft Cell
Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret
- Jim Steinman
Bad For Good
- Vangelis
Chariots Of Fire
[Film Soundtrack]
- Kim Wilde
Kim Wilde
|
|
|
| At the Movies |
| |
| |
- An American Werewolf In London
- Arthur
- Chariots Of Fire
- Coal Miner's Daughter
- Diva
- For Your Eyes Only
- The French Lieutenant's Woman
- History Of The World Part 1
- The Jazz Singer
- 9 to 5
- Ordinary People
- The Postman Always Rings Twice
- Private Benjamin
- Raiders Of The Lost Ark
- Raging Bull
- Stir Crazy
- Tess
|
|
| On Stage |
| |
Tony Award for Best Musical:
42nd Street
Society of
West End Theatre
Award for Musical of the Year:
Cats
|
|
| On Television |
| |
| |
- Are You Being Served?
(Series 8)
- Bergerac
- The Borgias
- Brideshead Revisited
- The Chinese Detective
- Dangermouse
- The Dick Emery Show
(last series)
- Doctor Who (Season 18)
- A Fine Romance
(Series 1)
- Game For A Laugh
- Hi-De-Hi!
(Series 1 and 2)
- The Hitch-Hiker's Guide To The Galaxy
- It Ain't Half Hot Mum
(Series 8)
- Nanny
- Only Fools And Horses
(Series 1)
- Open All Hours
(Series 2)
- Postman Pat
- Punchlines
- Three Of A Kind
- To The Manor Born
(Series 3)
- The Two Ronnies
(Series 9)
- Yes, Minister
(Series 2)
|
|
| Sporting Heroes |
| |
BBC Sport
BBC
Sports Personality
of the Year:
Ian Botham
|
Darts: Eric Bristow wins the British Darts Organisation (BDO) World Darts Championship for the second year in a row.
Ice Skating: On 6th February Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean win the European Ice Dancing Championships at Innsbruck.
They follow this, a month later, with victory in the World Ice Dancing Championship at Hartford, Connecticut.
Rugby Union: France win the Five Nations Championship.
Athletics: 7,500 people take part in the inaugural London Marathon on Sunday, 29th March. 6,255 of them make it to the finishing line on Constitution Hill.
Horse Racing: Bob Champion wins the Grand National on Aldaniti.
Shergar wins the Derby by a record 10-length margin.
Rowing: the University of Oxford crew wins the 127th Boat Race by eight lengths.
Snooker: Steve Davis becomes World Snooker Champion for the first time, beating Doug Mountjoy in the final (18-12). He also wins the UK Championship for the second year in a row, beating Terry Griffiths in the final (16-3).
Golf: Tom Watson wins the 45th US Masters by 2 strokes over Jack Nicklaus and Johnny Miller.
David Graham wins the US Open at Merion Golf Club, Pennsylvania.
Bill Rogers wins the Open Championship at Royal St. George's, Sandwich.
Football: Aston Villa end the season as Champions of the Football League First Division for the first time since 1910.
Tottenham Hotspur win the FA Cup, beating Manchester City 3-2 in a replay of the final.
Liverpool win the European Cup for the third time, beating Real Madrid 1-0 in the Paris final.
Cycling: Bernard Hinault wins the Tour de France for the third time.
Tennis: John McEnroe ends Björn Borg's reign as men's singles Champion at Wimbledon.
Chris Lloyd beats Hana Mandlikova in the women's singles final (6-2, 6-2).
Cricket: England beat Australia by 18 runs in the Third Ashes Test at Headingley, having lost the First at Trent Bridge and drawn the Second at Lords. England go on to win the series with a second victory in the Fourth Test at Old Trafford and a draw in the final Test at Edgbaston, completing one of the most remarkable turnarounds in cricketing history.
Athletics: Steve Ovett and Sebastian Coe both break the World Record for the Mile. Coe has the new fastest time of 3 minutes, 47.33 seconds.
Darts: Jocky Wilson wins the first World Professional Darts Championship.
Motor Racing: Nelson Piquet wins the Formula 1 World Drivers' Championship.
|
|
| Page-turners |
| |
Man Booker Prize
Winner:
Salman Rushdie
Midnight's Children
On the shortlist:
Molly Keane
Good Behaviour
Doris Lessing
The Sirian Experiments
Ian McEwan
The Comfort Of Strangers
Ann Schlee
Rhine Journey
Muriel Spark
Loitering With Intent
D.M. Thomas
The White Hotel
|
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