Babes In The Wood
On Friday, 6th May Lyn Paul appears in a charity Starlit Night of Variety at the Fairfield Halls in Croydon. Organised in aid of the Entertainment Artistes' Benevolent Fund, the evening is hosted by Roy Hudd. Lyn adds a touch of class to a programme which features appearances by comedy actress June Whitfield, guitarist Bert Weedon, the European yo-yo champion Don Robertson and the impressionist Mike Yarwood.
On 28th July Willy Russell's musical Blood Brothers returns to the West End stage courtesy of theatre impresario Bill Kenwright. This time it is at the Albery Theatre and stars Kiki Dee. Ten years hence it will celebrate a decade of success and will star none other than Lyn Paul.
In October the News Of The World runs a story about Lyn and comedian Freddie Starr, in which Lyn's ex-husband "lifts the lid on 44-year-old Starr's lifestyle." (News Of The World, 9th October 1988, page 29)
Another Christmas, another panto! Lyn stars as Robin Hood in Roy Hudd's production of Babes In The Wood at the Grand Theatre, Wolverhampton.
Leaflet promoting
Babes In The Wood
at the Grand Theatre, Wolverhampton.
 
Whilst Lyn is appearing in Babes In The Wood there comes an ominous knock on the Stage Door. As Lyn later told it to the Weekly News:
"An Inland Revenue official arrived at the stage door. The Manager said, 'Lyn, there's somebody here for you looking very officious. I'll just take a message for you'."
(Weekly News, 22nd August 1998, page 13)
So began a tax wrangle that would run for five years.
"I had no idea I owed money to the taxman. So you can imagine my shock when the Inland Revenue demanded I pay £26,500.
I didn't have that sort of money - at the time, I'd have been struggling to find £26!"
(Weekly News, 22nd August 1998, page 13)
Babes In The Wood
(programme cover).
Incidentally ...
In May Wet Wet Wet have a number 1 hit with a cover version of the Beatles' With A Little Help From My Friends. The song had been a chart-topper for Joe Cocker in 1968. Lyn Paul recorded the song with the New Seekers as part of a Friends Medley, a track on the group's 1974 album Together.
In November, for the first time since 1972, when the New Seekers topped the UK charts with I'd Like To Teach The World To Sing, a song featured in a Coke commercial reaches number 1. Robin Beck spends three weeks at the top of the UK singles chart with The First Time. The single is not a hit in the USA. Read more about it in Tom Bromley's book We Could Have Been The Wombles.
| In the News - 1988 |
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| Jan |
Czech-born tennis star Hana Mandlikova becomes an Australian citizen.
Margaret Thatcher becomes the longest-serving British Prime Minister of the 20th Century.
Actor Trevor Howard dies on 7th January, aged 71.
Arthur Scargill is re-elected as President of the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM).
Celebrations are held in Australia on 26th January to mark the nation's 200th anniversary.
In the UK delegates at a SDP conference vote in favour of merging with the Liberal Party.
The National Union of Seamen (NUS) calls a national strike 31st January in support of the 161 crew sacked by the Isle of Man Steam Packet Company for refusing to accept new terms and conditions.
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| Feb |
Nurses and health service staff in the UK take part in a one day strike on 3rd February as part of a campaign for better pay.
On 5th February Comic Relief organises its first Red Nose Day to help raise funds for Africa.
Thousands are made homeless by landslides and flooding in Rio de Janiero.
US televangelist Jimmy Swaggart hits the headlines in the USA after admitting that he had met with a prostitute.
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| Mar |
Three members of the IRA are shot dead by the SAS in Gibraltar on 6th March. At their funeral on 16th March a gunman opens fire, killing three of the mourners and injuring 50 others.
On 10th March Prince Charles is nearly killed by an avalanche whilst on a skiing holiday in Klosters. The avalanche claims the life of Major Hugh Lindsay and badly injures Mrs. Patti Palmer-Tomkinson.
Andy Gibb, the Bee Gees' younger brother, also dies on 10th March, aged 30.
On 16th March thousands die in an Iraqi poison gas attack the Kurdish city of Halabja.
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| Apr |
A Kuwait Airways jumbo jet with members of the Kuwaiti Royal Family on board is hijacked on 5th April and forced to fly to Iran. The hijackers, who allow 24 women passengers to leave the plane, demand the release of 17 prisoners in return for the lives of everyone else on the aircraft. The plane flies on to Beirut three days later but is refused permission to land and flies to Cyprus instead. One of the passengers is killed and his body dumped on the tarmac. A further 12 hostages are released unharmed. The plane then flies to Algiers, where the remaining passengers are also released.
Dave Prater, one half of the duo Sam and Dave, is killed in a car accident on 9th April, aged 50.
The Last Emperor, directed by Bernardo Bertolucci, wins 9 Oscars.
The comic actor Kenneth Williams is found dead from an overdose of barbiturates on Thursday, 14th April, aged 62. The coroner returns an open verdict.
On the same day, at a United Nations ceremony in Geneva, the Soviet Union signs an agreement to gradually withdraw of its troops from Afghanistan.
Yasser Arafat's deputy, Abu Jihad, is killed in Tunis on 16th April.
Sonny Bono is inaugurated as the Mayor of Palm Springs on 19th April.
Ian Botham raises £3 million for leukemia research by completing a walk across the Alps with elephants.
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| May |
François Mitterand is re-elected as President of France on 8th May, winning over 54% of votes. His defeated opponent, Jacques Chirac, resigns as Prime Minister two days later and is succeeded by the Socialist Michel Rocard.
On 19th May Sikh rebels surrender to Indian government forces after occupying the Golden Temple complex in Amritsar, Punjab.
On 20th May pub opening hours in England and Wales are extended (11.00am - 11.00pm).
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| Jun |
In UK secondary schools 16-year-olds sit the new General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) exam for the first time. The GCSE replaced O-Levels and CSEs.
Lester Piggott is stripped of his OBE on 6th June.
TV presenter Russell Harty dies in St. James' Hospital, Leeds on 8th June.
On 11th June a concert is held at Wembley Stadium to celebrate Nelson Mandela's 70th birthday.
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| Jul |
On Sunday, 3rd July 286 innocent people are killed when an Iranian airliner is shot down in the Gulf, apparently by accident, by missiles launched from the USS Vincennes.
On 6th July the Piper Alpha North Sea oil rig explodes. 167 people die in the blaze.
Paddy Ashdown becomes the new leader of the Social and Liberal Democrats on 29th July.
The Education Reform Act introduces a national curriculum for all state schools in the UK.
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| Aug |
Iran and Iraq call an end to the 8-year war in the Gulf, in which an estimated 1 million people had been killed.
Enzio Ferrari dies on 14th August, aged 90.
On 17th August President Zia-ul Haq of Pakistan dies in a plane crash along with five senior Generals and the American Ambassador, Arnold Raphel.
On 21st August an area on the border of India and Nepal is hit by an earthquake measuring 6.7 on the Richter scale.
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| Sep |
Bangladesh is hit by severe floods.
On 11th September millions of people all over the world take part in Sport Aid '88 - The Race Against Time. The event is staged to help raise funds to fight diseases that claim the lives of 15 million children each year.
In Haiti on 18th September Brigadier-General Prosper Avril leads a coup against President Leslie Manigat. Avril installs a civilian government under military control.
Comedy actor Roy Kinnear dies in Spain on 21st September after falling from a horse.
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| Oct |
The Shroud of Turin is revealed to be a fake.
A Law Lords' ruling on 13th October allows the British media to publish extracts from the memoirs of former MI5 officer Peter Wright.
On 19th October the UK government bans the broadcasting of interviews with members of Sinn Fein or representatives of the IRA.
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| Nov |
A general election in Israel ends inconclusively on 2nd November, with the governing Likud party winning 40 seats and the opposition Labour Alignment winning 39. By the end of the month the two parties agree to form another national unity government.
On 8th November George Bush is elected President of the USA.
On 16th November, in the first open election for more than a decade, Benazir Bhutto is elected Prime Minister of Pakistan.
The 1920 manuscript of Franz Kafka's The Trial is sold at Sotheby's in London on 17th November for a record £1million.
The USA unveils its new Stealth fighter-bomber, which is supposedly undetectable by radar.
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| Dec |
The World Health Organisation promotes the first World AIDS Day on 1st December.
Roy Orbison dies of a heart attack on 6th December, aged 52.
On 9th December an earthquake devastates Armenia, leaving 45,000 people dead and a further 500,000 without homes.
35 people are killed in a rush hour rail crash at Clapham on 12th December. Another 132 are injured.
UK Health Minister Edwina Currie resigns on 16th December, following her claim that most of the eggs in Britain are infected with salmonella.
US singer Sylvester (full name: Sylvester James), who had hits with Dance (Disco Heat) and You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real), dies on 16th December, aged 41.
A Pan Am jet (Flight 103) crashes at Lockerbie on 21st December, killing everyone on board. Crash investigators later confirm that the disaster was caused by a bomb.
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