False Alarm
On Christmas Eve 1984 a health check had revealed that Lyn had a lump in one of her breasts. Although the suspected cancer later turns out to be a false alarm it does not make for the happiest of New Years, especially as it comes so hard on the heels of the coach crash in which Lyn's flatmate and good friend from Bucks Fizz, Mike Nolan, was badly injured.
Mike Nolan
Photo used with kind permission of
Rafael Pohlman.
 
During 1985 Bucks Fizz go through a change in line-up. Jay Aston leaves after an alleged affair with the group's record producer, Andy Hill, and is replaced in June by Shelley Preston. In an interview with the Mail On Sunday Mike Nolan draws an interesting parallel with the New Seekers:
"If I'd had the choice I'd never have changed the line-up. I always think if one goes it's the beginning of the end. It happened to the New Seekers [in 1973]. When groups change their line-up popularity starts to go." (Mail On Sunday, 18th August 1985, page 13)
Coincidentally the Pickwick label releases an album entitled The Best Of The New Seekers, which features 12 of the group's original recordings. Lyn Paul can be heard singing the lead vocal on three of the tracks - Beg, Steal Or Borrow, I Get A Little Sentimental Over You and You Won't Find Another Fool Like Me.
Amid these off-stage distractions Lyn Paul appears at the London Palladium in a one-night show to celebrate the Festival of British Jewry. The assembled performers include: Larry Adler, Theodore Bikel, Georgia Brown, Patti Boulaye, Alf Fogel, Lawrence Layton, Ron Moody and Frankie Vaughan.
On Saturday, 1st June Lyn is one of the guests on Vince Hill's Solid Gold Music Show (BBC Radio 2, 12.30pm). On 22nd July she appears on Breakfast Time (BBC1).
In November Lyn lends her vocal talents to a children's single by The Gonks. Titled The Gonks Are Here For Christmas, the single is released on the WEA label in 7" and 12" versions.
The Gonks Are Here For Christmas
(picture disc).
When Christmas comes, Lyn finds herself at the Princess Theatre, Torquay, playing the part of Prince Charming in Cinderella. The pantomime, which is reviewed in the Herald Express by local journalist Jasmine Tanner, opens with a matinée performance on 26th December and continues to 11th January. Joining Lyn on stage as Buttons is the comedian Norman Vaughan, known to TV viewers as the host of the 1970s game-show The Golden Shot and, prior to that, as the compère of the 1960s variety show Val Parnell's Sunday Night At The London Palladium. The actors Simon Barry and Alan Vicars are cast as the Ugly Sisters.
Meanwhile, at the Hippodrome in Bristol, ex-New Seeker Eve Graham joins Cannon & Ball in Babes In The Wood (20th December - 15th January).
Babes In The Wood programme,
Bristol Hippodrome, 1985.
Incidentally...
Terry Britten, who worked with the New Seekers as a session musician and also wrote one of the songs on their album New Colours, wins two Grammy Awards as songwriter and producer of Tina Turner's 1984 hit What's Love Got To Do With It.
Three of the year's top films, A View To A Kill, Jagged Edge and Out Of Africa, feature soundtracks by John Barry (Barry wrote and produced Lyn Paul's first solo single Sail The Summer Winds). The following year Out Of Africa wins seven Oscars, including the Oscars for 'Best Picture' and 'Best Music, Original Score'.
Cinderella is the pantomime of choice in 1985. Other productions include: Jim Davidson at the Apollo Theatre, Oxford; Bernie Clifton with Roger de Courcey and Nookie Bear at the Grand Theatre and Opera House, Leeds; Cheryl Baker (Bucks Fizz) and Tessa Sanderson at the Lewisham Theatre; Des O'Connor and Paul Nicholas at the London Palladium; Sally Thomsett and Jack Wild at the Marlowe Theatre, Canterbury; The Krankies at the New Theatre, Hull; Frank Carson at the New Vic Theatre, Belfast; Rolf Harris, Bill Owen and Kathy Staff at the Pavilion Theatre, Bournmouth; and Les Dennis and Dustin Gee at the Southport Theatre.
| In the News - 1985 |
| |
|
| Jan |
On 1st January the halfpenny ceases to be legal tender in the UK.
On the same day the first mobile phone call is made in the UK. The call is made on the Vodaphone network by Ernie Wise, a friend of the telecom firm's chairman.
The £ sinks to an all-time low against the US $. On 14th January it is worth only $1.1105.
On 10th January Daniel Ortega is inaugurated as President of Nicaragua.
The C5, Clive Sinclair's battery-powered tricycle, is launched in the UK on the same day. The tricycle fails to catch the public's imagination. Production is halted in August, with only around 5,000 of the tricycles having been sold.
Ronald Reagan begins his second term as US President on 20th January.
On 22nd January Apple launches its new Macintosh personal computer in a television commercial directed by Ridley Scott, which is broadcast on CBS during the third quarter of Super Bowl XVIII. It is the world's first mass-produced personal computer with a graphical user interface.
The proceedings of the House of Lords are televised for the first time on 23rd January.
Inspired by the Band Aid single Do They Know It's Christmas, which had raised an estimated £8 million in the UK for famine relief in Africa, leading US recording artists gather together on 28th January to complete the recording of the We Are The World single. Meanwhile, the UK government refuses to waive the VAT payable on sales of the Band Aid single.
On Tuesday, 29th January academics at Oxford University
vote not to award Margaret Thatcher an honorary degree.
|
| Feb |
On 5th February Terry Waite secures the release of four Britons, who had been held hostage in Libya for nearly nine months.
Singer Matt Monro, whose hits included Portrait Of My Love, From Russia With Love and Walk Away, dies on 7th February, aged 54.
On 11th February nineteen people are killed (among them seventeen RAF bandsmen) when a petrol tanker and a bus collide near Munich.
13 million viewers watch the first episode of the BBC's new soap opera EastEnders, broadcast on 19th February.
In Argentina Isabel Perón resigns as head of the Perónist party on 21st February.
On 26th February the £ sinks to a new all-time low of $1.0535.
|
| Mar |
On 1st March delegates at a conference of the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) vote for a return to work. Miners in Scotland and Kent, however, vote to continue the strike.
The miners' dispute in the UK finally comes to an end on 3rd March when delegates at a NUM conference decide by 98 votes to abandon the strike without an agreement with the National Coal Board.
On 8th March at least 45 people are killed by a car bomb in Beirut. Another 175 are injured by the blast.
Mikhail Gorbachev becomes the new President of the USSR on Monday, 11th March, following the death the day before of President Konstantin Chernenko. He is the first General Secretary of the Communist Party to have been born after the Russian Revolution.
81 people are injured on 13th March at Luton Town's Kenilworth Road ground when violence breaks out amongst football fans before, during and after a FA Cup sixth-round match between Luton Town and Millwall.
Billy Joel and Christie Brinkley get married on 23rd March. The wedding is held on a boat by the Statue of Liberty.
Amadeus wins the Oscar for Best Picture at the 57th Academy Awards ceremony on 25th March.
|
| Apr |
On 8th April Rupert Murdoch buys 50% of the Twentieth-Century Fox film company.
Noele Gordon, best known for her role as Meg Mortimer in the long-running television soap opera Crossroads, dies of cancer on 14th April, aged 65.
In the USA on 23rd April the Coca-Cola Company launches 'New Coke', a sweeter version of the original recipe.
On 26th April Warsaw Pact leaders agree to renew their military alliance for a further 30 years.
The Prince and Princess of Wales have an audience with the Pope at the Vatican on 29th April.
|
| May |
The USA imposes economic and trade sanctions against Nicaragua on 1st May.
On Saturday, 4th May Bobbysocks! win the Eurovision Song Contest for Norway with the song La Det Swinge. The UK entry, Love Is... by Vikki finishes in fourth place.
On Saturday, 11th May 56 football fans are killed and at least 265 injured as crowds try to escape a fire at Bradford City's Valley Parade stadium.
On Wednesday, 29th May at the Heysel Stadium in Belgium, violence breaks out amongst the crowd at the European Cup Final match between Liverpool and Juventus. 39 people are killed and more than 250 are injured when a wall and safety fence collapse. Two days after the riot English football clubs are banned indefinitely from playing in Europe. The ban eventually lasted for five years, six for Liverpool FC.
|
| June |
On Saturday, 1st June over 300 people are arrested at the "Battle of Beanfield", when police enforce an English Heritage ban on midsummer festivals at Stonehenge.
On 5th June the UK Secretary of State for Transport, Nicholas Ridley, announces that Stansted will be developed as London's third airport.
Investigators uncover the corpse of Josef Mengele, the so-called Nazi "angel of death", in a grave in Brazil. His remains are exhumed on 6th June.
On 10th June Claus von Bülow is acquitted of twice trying to murder his wife "Sunny" von Bülow.
On
11th June Coca-Cola announces the return of ‘Classic Coca-Cola’ to be sold alongside 'New Coke', which had proved to be a marketing disaster.
On 13th June the philanthropist John Paul Getty II donates £20 million to the National Gallery to create a trust fund for the purchase of works of art. He donates a further £30 million shortly afterwards.
A TWA Boeing 727-200 (Flight 847 from Cairo to San Diego via Athens, Rome, Boston and Los Angeles) is hijacked on 14th June shortly after taking off from Athens. One of the passengers held hostage is Greek singer Demis Roussos, who spends his 39th birthday on the plane before being released unharmed.
On Sunday, 23rd June at 7.13am GMT a bomb planted by Sikh extremists explodes aboard an Air India jumbo jet flying from Toronto to London. The plane disintegrates at 31,000 feet and crashes into the Atlantic, 180 miles off the coast of Ireland. The 329 passengers and crew on board are all killed.
On 27th June Route 66 is removed from the US highway system.
|
| July |
13-year-old Ruth Lawrence graduates in mathematics from Oxford University on Thursday, 4th July, thereby becoming the youngest person in Britain to receive a first-class degree.
The Nottinghamshire area of the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) breaks away from the national union on 6th July, following a ballot of Nottinghamshire miners in May.
The Greenpeace ship Rainbow Warrior is destroyed by an explosion in Auckland Harbour on Wednesday, 10th July. One of the crew is killed.
The Live Aid concert, organised by Bob Geldorf and Midge Ure to raise funds for Africa, takes place at Wembley Stadium and at the JFK Stadium in Philadelphia on Saturday, 13th July. The live television broadcast is watched by more than 1.5 billion viewers around the world.
Photos taken in 1977 of Madonna in the nude are published in Penthouse and Playboy magazines on 16th July.
A state of emergency is declared in South Africa on 20th July.
On 30th July the BBC gives in to government pressure and agrees not to show a documentary in its series Real Lives, which contains an interview with Sinn Féin's Martin McGuinness.
|
| Aug |
On 7th August UK journalists hold a 24-hour strike in protest at the decision by BBC governors not to show the Real Lives programme about extremism in Northern Ireland. As a result there are no news bulletins on radio or TV.
A Japanese Airlines jumbo jet carrying 509 passengers and 15 crew from Tokyo to Osaka crashes near Mount Takamagahara on 12th August.
On 13th August a three-year-old boy from Dublin becomes the world's youngest heart and lung transplant patient.
Michael Jackson acquires the rights to more than 250 Beatles' songs, outbidding Paul McCartney and Yoko Ono on 14th August to secure the ATV Music Publishing catalogue.
53 passengers and two members of the flight crew are killed on 22nd August when an engine explodes on a British Airtours Boeing 737 aircraft taking off at Manchester Airport.
|
| Sep |
On 11th September 150 people are killed in head-on train crash in Portugal.
Fashion designer Laura Ashley dies after a fall on 17th September, aged 60.
Mexico City is hit by a massive earthquake on 19th September.
On 22nd September the French Prime Minister, Laurent Fabius, admits that French secret agents had been responsible for the sinking of the Rainbow Warrior.
Riots break out in Brixton on 28th September after police shoot and wound Cherry Grace while attempting to arrest her son.
|
| Oct |
Rock Hudson dies from AIDS-related illnesses on 2nd October, aged 59.
Rioting breaks out on the Broadwater Farm Estate in Tottenham on Sunday, 6th October, following the death of Cynthia Jarrett, who dies of a heart attack during a police raid. During the rioting four policemen are wounded by gunshots and one, PC Keith Blakelock, is killed as he tries to protect firefighters.
The Italian cruise liner Achille Lauro is hijacked by four gunmen from the Palestinian Liberation Organisation on Monday, 7th October, as it sails off the coast of Egypt. A disabled American passenger, Leon Klinghoffer, is shot dead and thrown overboard in his wheelchair.
Les Misérables, a musical based on the novel by Victor Hugo, which had premiered in Paris in 1980, opens at the Barbican Arts Centre in London on 8th October. The cast includes Colm Wilkinson as Jean Valjean, Roger Allam as Javert, Ken Caswell as the Bishop of Digne and Patti LuPone as Fantine. The show transfers to the Palace Theatre in London's West End on 4th December.
Yul Brynner, best known for his portrayal of King Mongkut in the both the stage and film versions of the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical The King and I, dies on 10th October, aged 65.
Orson Welles dies on the same day, aged 70. In 1938 his radio adaptation of the H.G. Wells' novel The War Of The Worlds had caused widespread panic, with many listeners believing that an invasion by extraterrestrial beings was actually occurring. His film credits include: Citizen Kane (1941), The Magnificent Ambersons (1942), The Lady From Shanghai (1947), Touch Of Evil (1958), The Trial (1962), Chimes At Midnight (1965) and F For Fake (1973).
In ballots held on 18th and 19th October miners in South Derbyshire vote in favour by 51% of joining Nottinghamshire miners in a new miners' union.
Dan White, a former San Francisco city supervisor who in 1978 had shot dead the city's Mayor, George Moscone, and fellow supervisor Harvey Milk, takes his own life on 21st October, 21 months after his release from jail.
|
| Nov |
Phil Silvers, best known for playing the part of Sergeant Bilko, dies on 1st November, aged 73.
On Saturday, 9th November, at the end of a White House dinner hosted by the US President Ronald Reagan, the Princess of Wales takes to the dancefloor with Saturday Night Fever star John Travolta.
The Nevado del Ruiz volcano in northern Colombia erupts on Wednesday, 13th November, killing 22,940 people and causing a mud flow that buried four towns.
On Friday, 15th November Margaret Thatcher and Dr. Garrett Fitzgerald sign an agreement at Hillsborough Castle. The Anglo-Irish accord establishes an Inter-Governmental Conference of Ministers and civil servants from Northern Ireland and the Irish Republic. Loyalists hold a rally in Belfast on 23rd November in protest at the agreement.
The US President Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev meet in Geneva on 19th November. The summit ends two days later without any agreement on the "Star Wars" space defence system, but the two men do agree to work towards the abolition of chemical weapons.
Microsoft launches its Windows 1.0 software for the PC on 20th November.
|
| Dec |
Elton John and Bernie Taupin win a High Court action against Dick James Music on 1st December but fail to recover the copyright to 169 of their songs, including Daniel, Goodbye Yellow Brick Road and Rocket Man.
An inquiry into the murder of four-year-old Jasmine Beckford reports on 3rd December that her death at the hands of her step-father was "predictable and preventable." The next day Brent Council sacks three social workers involved in the case.
The newly-formed Union of Democratic Mineworkers (UDM), based in Nottinghamshire, receives certification on 6th December.
Poet and novelist Robert Graves dies on 7th December, aged 90.
Ian Stewart, pianist with The Rolling Stones, dies of a heart-attack on 12th December, aged 47.
On 23rd December, after 23 years with the band, Mike Pender plays his last gig with The Searchers.
On 27th December Arab terrorists attack Rome and Vienna Airports.
Ricky Nelson, a hit-maker in the late '50s and early '60s with songs such as It's Late, Never Be Anyone Else But You and Hello Mary Lou, dies in a plane crash on 31st December, aged 45. The crash in De Kalb, Texas also claims the lives of his fiancée Helen Blair and five members of the Stone Canyon Band.
|
|
| In the Charts |
| |
UK Chart débuts |
|
- Bryan Adams
- A-ha
- Bon Jovi
- Communards
- Erasure
- Fine Young Cannibals
- Five Star
- Whitney Houston
- Pet Shop Boys
- Simply Red
|
| UK Best-selling Singles |
|
- A-ha
Take On Me
- Art Of Noise
Close (To The Edit)
- Ashford and Simpson
Solid
- Philip Bailey and Phil Collins
Easy Lover
- David Bowie and Mick Jagger
Dancing In The Street
- Sarah Brightman and Paul Miles-Kingston
Pie Jesu
- Bronski Beat and Marc Almond
I Feel Love
- Kate Bush
Running Up That Hill
- Cars
Drive
- David Cassidy
The Last Kiss
- China Crisis
Black Man Ray
- Lloyd Cole and The Commotions
Brand New Friend
- Lloyd Cole and The Commotions
Lost Weekend
- Phil Collins
One More Night
- Colonel Abrams
Trapped
- Commodores
Nightshift
- Dead Or Alive
You Spin Me Around (Like A Record)
- DeBarge
Rhythm Of The Night
- Dire Straits
Money For Nothing
- Dream Academy
Life In A Northern Town
- Stephen 'Tin Tin' Duffy
Kiss Me
- Duran Duran
A View To A Kill
(Theme from the James Bond film 'A View To A Kill')
- Eurythmics
There Must Be An Angel (Playing With My Heart)
- Harold Faltermeyer
Axel F
- Bryan Ferry
Slave To Love
- Foreigner
I Want To Know What Love Is
- Go West
We Close Our Eyes
- Paul Hardcastle
19
- Whitney Houston
Saving All My Love For You
- Billy Idol
White Wedding
- James Ingram
with Malcolm McDonald
Yah Mo B There (remix)
- Elton John
Nikita
- Aled Jones
Walking In The Air
- Grace Jones
Slave To The Rhythm
- King
Love And Pride
- Dee C. Lee
See The Day
- Kirsty MacColl
A New England
- Madonna
Crazy For You
- Madonna
Into The Groove
- Madonna
Material Girl
- Marillion
Kayleigh
- Alison Moyet
That Ole Devil Called Love
- Elaine Paige and Barbara Dickson
I Know Him So Well
- Prince
1999 / Little Red Corvette
- Red Box
Lean On Me (Ah-LI-Ayo)
- Lionel Richie
Say You Say Me
- Jennifer Rush
The Power Of Love
- Scritti Politti
The Word Girl
- Feargal Sharkey
A Good Heart
- Simple Minds
Don't You (Forget About Me)
- Sister Sledge
Frankie
- Bruce Springsteen
Dancing In The Dark (re-entry)
- Bruce Springsteen
I'm On Fire / Born In The USA
- Shakin' Stevens
Merry Christmas Everyone
- Talking Heads
Road To Nowhere
- Tears For Fears
Everybody Wants To Rule The World
- Tina Turner
We Don't Need Another Hero (Thunderdome)
- UB40 and Chrissie Hynde
I Got You Babe
- Midge Ure
If I Was
- Wham!
I'm Your Man
- Paul Young
Every Time You Go Away
|
|
One Hit Wonders |
| |
- Animotion
Obsession
- Big Daddy
Dancing In The Dark
- The Crowd
You'll Never Walk Alone
- Far Corporation
Stairway To Heaven
- Sophia George
Girlie Girlie
- Denise Lasalle
My Toot Toot
- Phyllis Nelson
Move Closer
- Opus
Live Is Life
- Rebecca Storm
The Show (Theme from 'Connie')
- USA for Africa
We Are The World
- Maria Vidal
Body Rock
|
|
Hit Albums |
|
- A-ha
Hunting High and Low
- Mary Black
Without The Fanfare
- Kate Bush
Hounds Of Love
- Clannad
Macalla
- Lloyd Cole
Easy Pieces
- Phil Collins
No Jacket Required
- Dire Straits
Brothers In Arms
- Eurythmics
Be Yourself Tonight
- Bryan Ferry
Boys and Girls
- Emmylou Harris
The Ballad Of Sally Rose
- Whitney Houston
Whitney Houston
- Grace Jones
Island Life
- Marillion
Misplaced Childhood
- Chris Rea
Shamrock Diaries
- Sade
Promise
- Simple Minds
Once Upon A Time
- Simply Red
Picture Book
- The Smiths
Meat Is Murder
- Sting
The Dream Of The Blue Turtles
- The Style Council
Our Favourite Shop
- Talking Heads
Little Creatures
- Tears for Fears
Songs From The Big Chair
- Paul Young
The Secret Of Association
|
|
|
| At the Movies |
| |
| |
- Amadeus
- Back To The Future
- Beverly Hills Cop
- Birdy
- Brazil
- The Cotton Club
- Dance With A Stranger
- Desperately Seeking Susan
- Dune
- Falling In Love
- Letter To Brezhnev
- Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome
- Mask
- My Beautiful Launderette
- A Nightmare On Elm Street
- A Passage To India
- Prizzi's Honour
- The Purple Rose Of Cairo (Woody Allen)
- Rambo: First Blood Part II
- Sweet Dreams
- A View To A Kill
- Witness
|
|
| On Stage |
| |
Tony Award for Best Musical:
Big River
Laurence Olivier
Award for Musical of the Year:
Me And My Girl
|
|
| On Television |
| |
| |
- Alas, Smith And Jones
(Series 2)
- 'Allo 'Allo
(Series 2)
- Are You Being Served?
(Series 10)
- Blind Date
- Copy Cats
- Dempsey And Makepeace
- Doctor Who (Season 22)
- EastEnders
- Edge Of Darkness
- The Golden Girls
(USA: Series 1)
- Hollywood Wives
- Howards' Way
- In Sickness And In Health
(Series 1)
- Last Of The Summer Wine
(Series 8)
- Mapp & Lucia
- Only Fools And Horses
(Series 4)
- Open All Hours
(Series 4)
- The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole Aged 13 3/4
(Series 1)
- Spitting Image
(Series 3)
- Three Up Two Down
(Series 1)
- Victoria Wood: As Seen on TV
(Series 1)
- Watchdog
- Wogan
|
|
| Sporting Heroes |
| |
BBC Sport
BBC
Sports Personality
of the Year:
Barry McGuigan
|
Darts: Eric Bristow wins the British Darts Organisation (BDO) World Darts Championship for the fourth time.
Rugby Union: Ireland win the Five Nations Championship.
Horse Racing: Last Suspect wins the Grand National.
After 38 years as a jockey Lester Piggott retires.
Rowing: the University of Oxford crew wins the 131st Boat Race.
Snooker: Dennis Taylor beats Steve Davis on the last ball of the last frame to win the World Snooker Championship (18-17).
Davis retains his UK title, beating Willie Thorne 16-14 in the final.
Golf: Bernhard Langer becomes the first German to win the US Masters, finishing 2 strokes ahead of Seve Ballesteros, Raymond Floyd and Curtis Strange.
Andy North wins the US Open at Oakland Hills Country Club, Michigan.
Sandy Lyle wins the Open Championship at Royal St. George's, Sandwich.
Europe, with Tony Jacklin as team captain, wins the Ryder Cup for the first time.
Football: Everton end the season as Champions of the Football League First Division but lose 1-0 to Manchester United in the FA Cup final.
Cycling: Bernard Hinault wins the Tour de France for the fifth time.
Boxing: Barry McGuigan beats Pedro Mendoza to win the World Featherweight title.
Tennis: Martina Navratilova beats Chris Evert-Lloyd in the women's singles final at the Australian Open (6-2, 4-6, 6-2). She beats her again in the Wimbledon final (4-6, 6-3, 6-2). Navratilova becomes only the third tennis player, after Jimmy Connors and Chris Evert-Lloyd, to win 100 tennis tournaments.
Boris Becker, at 17, becomes the youngest ever men's singles Champion at Wimbledon. He beats Kevin Curren (the number 8 seed) in the final.
Athletics: Steve Cram breaks the world record for the Mile, setting a new time of 3 minutes, 46.31 seconds.
Zola Budd breaks the world record for the women's 5,000 metres by 10 seconds.
Motor Racing: Alain Prost wins the Formula 1 World Drivers' Championship for the first time.
|
|
| Page-turners |
| |
Man Booker Prize
Winner:
Keri Hulme
The Bone People
Peter Carey
Illywhacker
J.L. Carr
The Battle Of Pollocks Crossing
Doris Lessing
The Good Terrorist
Jan Morris
Last Letters From Hav
Iris Murdoch
The Good Apprentice
|
|
