I Claudius – best historical TV drama ever?
In 1976, the BBC broadcast the Roman drama series I Claudius but as Tony McMahon discovers, some TV critics savaged this TV gem
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Memories of Liverpool in 1981 – part three
The media faced a huge challenge covering the 1981 riots but ENG technology was revolutionising TV news as Tony McMahon discovers
Memories of Liverpool in 1981 – part two
In these blog posts, I’m casting my mind back to my first year at university in Liverpool. I arrived in the aftermath of the Toxteth riots and a city in ferment. Can’t deny it was very exciting. But it was also a time of massive poverty and sky-high rates of unemployment as well as shocking…
Young Boomers – broke and jobless in the 80s
Young Boomers in the 1980s weren’t all rich and privileged – millions were out of work and in poverty, as Tony McMahon discovers
Irish skinheads, rude boys and punks
1980 was a the high point for the whole late 1970s revival of skinheads and there were Irish boot boys and girls around too
It’s a Sin – LGBT in the Thatcher era
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
Comparing the riots of 1981, 2001 and 2011
2021 will be the fourtieth anniversary of the 1981 riots and the tenth anniverary of the 2011 riots so what lessons have been learned?
Dave Wakeling of The Beat draws himself
Dave Wakeling was the front man of the British ska combo The Beat and here is a self-portrait he penned when the band was at the height of its fame
LGBT woes in the early 1980s
LGBT people faced discrimination, the AIDS virus and homophobic legislation from the Thatcher government in the 1980s as Tony McMahon reports
Anti-Nazi League carnival in 1978
In 1978, the Anti-Nazi League and Rock Against Racism held a huge Carnival at Victoria Park in Mile End where The Clash and other bands played