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November 11, 2026
  • Did 1990s Laddism create Russell Brand?
  • The late 1980s love affair with French movies
  • Demonising people with ‘Yuppie Flu’
  • Teaching adult literacy in the 1980s

The 70s 80s 90s Blog

Three Decades of History with TV historian Tony McMahon

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  • Laddism Russell Brand

    Did 1990s Laddism create Russell Brand?

    12 hours ago12 hours ago
  • French movies 1980s

    The late 1980s love affair with French movies

    1 week ago1 week ago
  • yuppie flu

    Demonising people with ‘Yuppie Flu’

    1 week ago1 week ago
  • 1980s illiteracy

    Teaching adult literacy in the 1980s

    1 week ago1 week ago
  • TV 1970s 1980s

    Was TV better in the 1970s and 1980s?

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    Summer of 1976 and Climate Change

    6 months ago6 months ago
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eighties

It's a Sin
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It’s a Sin – LGBT in the Thatcher era

The 70s 80s 90s Blog6 years ago6 years ago011 mins

The Russell T Davies series It’s a Sin shows what it was like to be young and gay in the 1980s under Margaret Thatcher and with AIDS

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1980s technology
  • Culture

The look of new technology in 1983!

The 70s 80s 90s Blog10 years ago6 years ago03 mins

New technology in 1983 involved TVs with text services, washing machines with computer chips and a new generation of microwave ovens

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  • 1981 riots
  • Politics

Political badges from the 1980s

The 70s 80s 90s Blog12 years ago6 years ago05 mins

My collection of political badges from the 1980s shows the causes we cared about from racism to nuclear disarmament and freedom for the people of Chile

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  • Culture
  • Music

The Beat – Too Nice To Talk to

The 70s 80s 90s Blog14 years ago9 years ago01 mins

The Beat – Too Nice To Talk to

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  • Music

80s bands that toyed with Nazi references

The 70s 80s 90s Blog16 years ago4 years ago06 mins

Some pop bands in the 80s liked to play with Nazi imagery and terminology but in reality they were playing with fire

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  • Music

Toyah – the tail end of punk

The 70s 80s 90s Blog16 years ago4 years ago03 mins

Tony McMahon never quite got Toyah and among punk female singers preferred X Ray Spex and Siouxsie Sioux but she was successful

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  • Clothes

1981 and 16-pleat Bowie trousers

The 70s 80s 90s Blog16 years ago4 years ago04 mins

1981 saw ska and 2Tone reach its peak but some people were wearing 16-pleat Bowie trousers as part of the New Romantic look

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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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