Coventry heroes escaping the Ghost Town
In 1981 – Coventry really was the Ghost Town but local heroes like Neville Staple and Errol Christie were trying to make a difference – as Tony McMahon reports
1980s
News, current affairs, and cultural issues from the 1980s
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Clifford Olson – Canadian serial killer
Clifford Olson was a notorious Canadian serial killer and yet has slipped into obscurity compared to some American mass murderers as Tony McMahon reports
Short Sharp Shock – nightmare prison regime
Short Sharp Shock was a military-style prison regime for young offenders that wrecked lives and didn’t work as Tony McMahon discovers
Mods and Rockers clash in Tamworth – 1979
Mods and Rockers were at each others’ throats again in the late 1970s in the town of Tamworth in England as Tony McMahon discovers
1967 – when abortion became legal in the UK
From the 1960s to the 1990s, abortion became a culture war issue that is hugely divisive down to the present day as TV historian Tony McMahon reports
Tragic end to the Miners Strike 1984/85
The 1984/85 miners strike ended with defeat for organised labour and a victory for neo-liberalism as TV historian Tony McMahon explains
How 1970s parents rescued their children from cults
In the 1970s, parents increasingly tried to rescue their children from cults but ACLU objected on civil liberties grounds
Accidental explosion of the Titan II nuclear missile
When a nuclear missile explodes once, that’s bad. But the Titan II nuclear missile exploded twice on American soil as Tony McMahon reports
When the BBC refused to screen Dallas
In 1985 the BBC lost the rights to screen the TV series Dallas to ITV and refused to screen the remaining episodes
Nigel Lawson – the 1980s Tory Chancellor
In the 1980s, I lived with Nigel Lawson’s nephew while his uncle was Thatcher’s Chancellor of the Exchequer and architect of her financial policies.