See, I couldn't look no better

Timeslip moment again...

E.T. hasn't just "phoned home"; he's dumped us thirty-seven years ago in the midst of 1982 - the year of the Falklands War, Buckingham Palace burglar Michael Fagan, Greenham Common, Next clothing stores, Blade Runner, Lech Wałęsa, the IRA Hyde Park and Regent's Park bombings, The Wrath of Khan, the SDP, Yuri Andropov, war in Lebanon, Kielder Water, Thriller, the Thames Barrier, the Nuclear Disarmament Rally in New York, Romans in Britain, China becoming the first nation to have a population of more than 1 billion, Gandhi, the Eurovision Song Contest in Harrogate (won by Nicole A Little Peace), Charles Haughey, the final TV appearance of ABBA, the Latin-American debt crisis, Poltergeist, Helmut Kohl, Tron, decriminalisation of homosexuality in Northern Ireland, The Dark Crystal, and the raising of the Mary Rose; the year Eddie Redmayne, the Duchess of Cambridge, the Haçienda nightclub in Manchester, Anne Hathaway, St David's Hall in Cardiff, Channel 4, Billie Piper, Nicki Minaj, Adobe Systems, Dan Stevens, Matt Smith, the CD, the Barbican Centre, Central Television, LeAnn Rimes, the Ford Sierra, Gavin Henson and Ciabatta bread were all born; and Kenneth More, Henry Fonda, Ingrid Bergman, Grace Kelly, Celia Johnson, Terrence Higgins (in whose name the AIDS trust was formed), Gilles Villeneuve, Arthur Lowe, Stanley Holloway, Marty Feldman, John Belushi, Laker Airways, Leonid Brezhnev, Harry H. Corbett, Arthur Askey, Patrick Cowley and Jacques Tati died.

In the news in June 1982 - the birth of Charles and Diana's first child Prince William caused a media frenzy, the hanging of "God's Banker" Roberto Calvi under Blackfriars Bridge led to a million conspiracy theories, Ronald Reagan's visit to the UK saw him address both Houses of Parliament, and the twenty pence coin went into circulation; in the ascendant: King Fahd became King of Saudi Arabia, and E.T. became the biggest box-office hit of the 80s; but James Honeyman-Scott of the Pretenders was found dead at the age of just 25. In our cinemas: Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid, Britannia Hospital and Porky's. On telly: Kids from Fame, Dynasty and Call My Bluff.

And in our charts this week in June '82? Erstwhile founder member of The Damned Captain Sensible was at Number 1 with Happy Talk, and quite possibly the cheesiest song in living memory I've Never Been To Me by Charlene held second place. Also present and correct were Odyssey, The Steve Miller Band, Imagination, Miss Ross, Duran Duran, Adam Ant, Midge Ure and - ahem - The Beatles (with their "Beatles Movie Medley" [Nope, me neither]). But also knocking around the upper echelons was this classic...

Kid Creole & The Coconuts - I'm a Wonderful Thing, Baby

Take a look at me
See, I couldn't look no better
Girl, I'm at my peak
And that's a fact, that's a fact

Take a part of me
You know it couldn't feel no better
Take it all with ease
Before you break your back
Or get a heart attack

I'm a wonderful thing, baby
Such a, such a
(Wonderful)
I'm a wonderful thing, baby
Such a, such a

Irresistible.

Facts about "Kid Creole":

• He was born Thomas August Darnell Browder, and dropped his first and last name when he began his musical career.
• Mr Darnell co-founded Dr. Buzzard's Original Savannah Band, who had their biggest hit with Cherchez La Femme in the long, hot summer of '76.
• He also wrote one our favourite Disco choons here at Dolores Delargo Towers, There But For The Grace Of God Go I for his funk group Machine.
• With his long-term collaborator Coati Mundi (Andy Hernandez) and the Coconuts, the newly-christened Kid Creole had a string of mega-hits here in the UK (but barely a whimper back in the US of A).