Do you remember?

As we swelter in the heat here in London - I started clearing some pots and troughs we had unceremoniously dumped at the end of the garden after the bulbs had finished, but even a sun-lover such as I couldn't cope with it after a couple of hours, so now I'm indoors with a cider - I thought another "mini-timeslip" might be in order.

Let us cast our minds back forty years to this week in 1985...

I was thoroughly enjoying being the "new meat" on the Cardiff gay scene, having only come out (in an explosion of glitter, as Mistress Maddie might say) the previous Autumn - and I had just been to my first-ever Gay Pride in London, where I watched Divine perform for us on a paddle-steamer going down the Thames! - the weather was pleasant (if not sweltering), Live Aid was on the telly, and A View to a Kill was in our cinemas.

And what about our charts? All present and correct in the Top Ten were Eurythmics, Mai Tai, Fine Young Cannibals, Denise LaSalle, Bruce Springsteen, Kool and the Gang, Harold Faltermeyer and (erm) Marti Webb - but at the coveted #1 slot [for the third of its four weeks at the top] was this jolly number, from a girl group that many had written-off with the end of their 70s heyday. Definitely "the song of the summer" that year!

Sister Sledge - Frankie

FOUR DECADES?! Where did they go..?

You can almost hear time slipping away

Timeslip moment again...

We've been teleported down to the Spring of 1985: the year of Live Aid, Ronald Reagan, riots in Birmingham, Brixton and the Broadwater Farm estate, the Sinclair C5, the hole in the ozone layer, Back to the Future, the SDP–Liberal Alliance, Boris Becker, the final appearance by Roger Moore as James Bond, Miami Vice, Princess Diana dancing with John Travolta, Garry Kasparov, the hijack of the Achille Lauro, the Heysel Stadium disaster, Super Mario Bros., and the Japan Airlines Flight 123 crash which killed 520 people; the births of Cristiano Ronaldo, Lewis Hamilton, Leona Lewis, Keira Knightley, the Commodore Amiga, Bruno Mars, Lana Del Rey and Windows 1.0.; and the deaths of Rock Hudson, Louise Brooks, Noele Gordon, Orson Welles, Phil Silvers, Dian Fossey, Wilfrid Brambell, Ricky Nelson, Yul Brynner and Laura Ashley.

In the headlines in March thirty-four years ago: Mikhail Gorbachev came to power in the USSR, the Miners' Strike finally ended after a year of strife, Mohamed Al-Fayed bought Harrods, a blood test for AIDS was developed to screen blood donations in the USA, the Algarrobo earthquake devastated parts of Chile, US journalist Terry Anderson became the latest hostage taken by Hezbollah in Beirut (he remained in captivity till 1991), and football hooligans caused extensive damage and 81 injured in a rampage in Luton. In our cinemas: Dance With a Stranger, The Breakfast Club and A Passage to India. On telly: the first-ever Comic Relief telethon, the last-ever episode of Play School, James Burke's The Day the Universe Changed, and the new BBC soap EastEnders.

And in our charts this week in 1985? The faboo reign of Dead of Alive's You Spin Me Round unceremoniously ended with a drop from the top to #6, and in its wake - with the possible exception of Madonna's Material World and, at the other end of the scale, Elaine Paige and Barbara Dickson's uber-camp opus - the rest of the Top Ten was (ahem) unchallenging, to say the least. Phil Collins and Philip Bailey were at #1, and Miss Alison Moyet, Paul Young, Jermaine Jackson, Stephen "Tin Tin" Duffy, David Cassidy and the Commodores were all proudly proclaiming their right to occupy the playlists in supermarkets, airport bars, and the night-time airwaves of Magic FM FOREVER.

And also - fortuitously, since it is the 60th birthday today of one half of the band's line-up Richard Drummie - there was (and probably ever will be) Go West...

Go West - We Close Our Eyes

Inside everyone hides one desire
Outside no one would know
Danger close to edge of the knife
Safer not to let go
And while we miss chances
You can almost hear time slipping away

We close our eyes, we never lose a game
Imagination never lets us take the blame
We close our eyes to see the final frame
We close our eyes to time slipping away

No show, Wednesday girl waits with the wine
She knows just what to say
While no one listens
You can almost hear time slipping away

We close our eyes, we never lose a game
Imagination never lets us take the blame
We close our eyes to see the final frame
We close our eyes and

We can talk to strangers
We are burning with the spark
And we can walk on water
We are tigers in the dark
We are burning

We close our eyes

Heroes never give into the night
He knows how far he can run
And as he surrenders
You can almost hear time slipping away

We close our eyes, we never lose a game
Imagination never lets us take the blame
We close our eyes to see the final frame
We close our eyes

We close our eyes, we never lose a game
Imagination never lets us take the blame
We close our eyes to see the final frame
We close our eyes

We close our eyes, we walk on water
Lets us take the blame
We are burning
Talk to strangers

I can hear you humming away, dear reader, even now.

If you're gonna do it, do it right

I was somewhat premature when I declared our visit to Grandma's Party to be "our last timeslip moment of 2016" - for here we are again, crash-landed awkwardly in the last vestiges of the year when the mobile phone, Eastenders, the "hole" in the ozone layer, Calvin and Hobbes, the Amiga computer, Neighbours, the "AIDS test", the Discovery Channel and "Super Mario" all arrived; the year of Reagan and Gorbachev, of Mohamed Al-Fayed (who bought Harrods) and Madonna, of the "Unabomber" and Live Aid... 1985!

In the news thirty-one years ago this month: unemployment fell in the UK for the third month running; the new Nissan plant in Sunderland was completed, ready to open the following year; the Comic Relief charity was launched; in the ascendant were Microsoft Windows 1.0 (which was released for use on home computers in time for Xmas),the Abu Nidal terrorist group (which wreaked havoc in a series of murderous shootings at airports in Rome and Vienna) and Les Misérables (which made its West End début at the Palace Theatre - and is still in the West End today!), but it was sad news for gorilla conservation as naturalist Dian Fossey was found murdered in Rwanda. In our cinemas: Legend (with Tim Curry), Kiss of the Spider Woman and Back to the Future. On telly: a Wogan Xmas special with the cast of Dynasty, the 25th anniversary of Coronation Street, and Minder (on the Orient Express!).

In the final chart of December 1985: Shakin'-bloody-Stevens was at #1, and also in attendance in this Xmas lineup were Whitney "somebody slap her" Houston, Band Aid (for the second year running), Pet Shop Boys, Aled Jones, Dee C Lee, Phil "not dead yet" [why?] Collins, Queen Madge and Bruce Springsteen - but taking up two positions in the Top 10 was dear, sadly-missed, George Michael and Wham! At number 6 was a return visit for Last Christmas, but not long departed from the top spot was this one - I'm Your Man!

Wham! - I'm Your Man

Call me good
Call me bad
Call me anything you want to baby
But I know that you're sad
And I know I'll make you happy
With the one thing that you never had

Baby, I'm your man (don't you know that?)
Baby, I'm your man
You bet!
If you're gonna do it, do it right, right?
Do it with me

So good
You're divine
Want to take you, want to make you
But they tell me it's a crime!
Everybody knows where the good people go
But where we're going baby
Ain't no such word as no!

Baby, I'm your man (don't you know who I am?)
Baby, I'm your man
You bet!
If you're gonna do it, do it right, right?
Do it with me
Come on baby, (ooh, take me home
Please don't leave me here, to do it on my own)

First class information
I'll be your sexual inspiration
And with some stimulation
We can do it right

So why waste time
With the other guys?
When you can have mine
I ain't askin' for no sacrifice
Baby your friends do not need to know!
I've got a real nice place to go

Listen,
I don't need you to care
I don't need you to understand
All I want is for you to be there
And when I'm turned on
If you want me
I'm your man!

If you're gonna do it, do it right, right?
Do it with me

Now listen
If you're gonna do it, you know what I say?
If you're gonna do it don't throw it away
Don't throw it baby
Because
I'll be your boy, I'll be your man
I'll be the one who understands
I'll be your first, I'll be your last
I'll be the only one you ask
I'll be your friend, I'll be your toy
I'll be the one who brings you joy
I'll be your hope, I'll be your pearl
I'll take you halfway 'round the world!
I'll make you rich, I'll make you poor
Just don't use the door

Do it with me

Seems like yesterday.

More Wham! here, here, here, and - significantly - here.

Really worth a try

It's a timeslip moment again, as we materialise in this week thirty years ago...

In the news in early December 1985: Mikhail Gorbachev continued progress towards reform in Russia; "Les Miserables" opened in the West End (and it's still there!); a new Nissan factory was built in Sunderland, contributing to a continued fall in unemployment in the UK; and the Labour party's internal war on its Militant wing continued. On telly: we celebrated the 25th anniversary of the first episode of Coronation Street; top shows included Minder, Roland Rat and Blind Date . In our cinemas: Out of Africa, Clue and The Colour Purple.

Our charts were dominated this week by Wibbler Whitney, bloody Phil Collins, Lionel Richie, Madge, Band Aid, Pet Shop Boys and Wham! But holding on to her place in the Top 3 was Style Council singer (she later married Paul Weller) Dee C Lee, with her one and only hit.

But what a hit! It's the magnificent See The Day:

Dee C Lee - See The Day

When you look at me
Tell me what you see
Do you see no love at all?
Or do you see in me
What you always see
In every girl that you fall for?

I will show you how love is meant to be
Just watch and learn and listen to me

Will you ever see the day
Heartache leads astray
Good love will always come from me
Will you ever learn to love
Without a little doubt?
Good love will always come from me

When you look away
Is it mean to say
That she haunts you night and day?
And does it hurt your heart
When I say let's start
To heal the part that's been torn

Don't you see that I
Am really worth a try
And I say to you
I know just what to do

Sublime.