Historical Hoff

A double celebration today - not only is it twenty years since the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 that led the sea-change in ending the Cold War, but it is also the 33rd anniversary of the invention of the Jheri Perm (the "curly perm") by the American Jheri Redding, founder of Redken and Nexxus.

And by a strange twist of fate, these two landmarks come together quite neatly in the form of none other than David Hasselhoff!



Famously, The Hoff (uber-hunk star of TV's Knight Rider and Baywatch, m'Lud) complained in an interview with a German magazine that he felt his historic role in bringing down the wall had not been sufficiently recognised. At this point I am trying not to laugh...

Suffice to say, a whole generation of East Germans (whose musical diet at the time must have been most unusual) did indeed idolise the man, and his song Looking for Freedom was a massive hit on both sides of the divide throughout that fateful summer of '89.

So, maybe as well as lauding the role of the German people themselves, or that of President Gorbachev, in the fall of the wall - we should call for The Hoff's legendary influence to be acknowledged once and for all!

David Hasselhoff at the Berlin Wall, 1989