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December 31, 2025
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The 70s 80s 90s Blog

Three Decades of History with TV historian Tony McMahon

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    Summer school holiday in 1975

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    Samurai sword wielding hijackers seize a plane

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    Amityville Horror – was it actually true?

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November 2023

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Clackers – moral panic over 1970s toy

The 70s 80s 90s Blog2 years ago2 years ago05 mins

Two plastic balls linked by a skinny rope caused the most ridiculous moral panic at at the start of the 1970s. Clackers was a toy that, it was claimed, could leave you blinded or seriously injured. Very rapidly it went from being the must-have item in the school playground to a shunned and dangerous creation….

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  • 1980s
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1985 – the murder of PC Keith Blakelock

The 70s 80s 90s Blog2 years ago2 years ago215 mins

Nearly forty years ago, a police officer was hacked to death during a night of violence in north London. Police Constable Keith Blakelock stumbled during a riot on the Broadwater Farm estate and never stood up again. His neck was hacked at with a machete and knives with one report suggesting he lost fingers as…

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Buy Original Rude Boy – biography of Neville Staple, The Specials

Boxing and racism in the 80s

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Tony McMahon – your blogger – circa 1982

TV historian Tony McMahon journeys through the politics, culture, and history of the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s

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