There were a lot more dangerous toys and things that should be banned which sounds like a bad thing but when you're a kid its actually good, you want balls that cause sparks when you bang them together and rockets with metal spikes on that spark when they hit the floor and Garbage Pail Kid cards that give you licenses to stamp on dinner ladies feet
There was less choice for things to watch on TV which also sounds like a bad thing but it meant you watched the James Bond films every time they came on, you watched Superman every year, you watched things that you probably wouldn't watch if there were a hundred other channels to flick through but you enjoyed what you did watch. I've spent a full hour just channel surfing trying to find something that can't be missed but being paranoid that I might be missing something else even better if I stop surfing and actually watch a full program. I miss gameshows too, with ordinary contestants rather than D list celebrities that you've only seen on other celebrity based shows, The Price is Right, Play Your Cards Right, Bullseye, I know I can watch repeats on sky and I do and I like to see the brightly coloured patterned knitwear and mullets of the contestants but I can't watch a full show, I have to keep on channel surfing. While I'm on the subject there were no reality shows it was all proper programs that were worth watching so 4 channels was enough and the celebrities were real celebrities back then rather than being famous for being on heat magazine every week, if anyone out there is actually interested in Kerry Katona losing weight, gaining weight, losing her boyfriend, gaining a boyfriend then please email me and let me know why
Yes, a simple google image search for heat magazine covers gave a bountiful supply of things I couldn't care less about Kerry Katona, she must hate Big Brother being on TV every year as that is the only thing that ever knocks her off the front page, maybe its not Kerry's fault, it looks like Mark might be the one making her be on every magazine cover possible. Please, Heat Magazine, write about someone else, I vote for Roger Moore
In the 80's, 1p and 2p coins were actually useful, we even had half pence coins for a while, but as a child you could save coppers to buy a 10p mix which actually got you 10 different sweets, when you went trick or treating and someone gave you 10p in 1's and 2's it wasn't cause for you to spit in their face and set fire to their garden, you could happily spend it. Now whenever I have 1p and 2p coins they get taken out of my pocket and thrown in a drawer in the hope that someday I might have enough of them to bother bagging them up and paying them into the bank
Arcades were fun and worth going to and you could use your coppers, actually they are one of the few things you can still do with your 1p and 2p coins these days, pump them into the step machines, occasionally you get some back but you always have to play until all your money is gone and lets face it you never win enough to bother stopping and settling with what you've got, its always just more useless loose change. But anyway, arcades had loads of different games that varied in gameplay, Pacman, Q-Bert, Operation Wolf, Outrun, Afterburner, Double Dragon, all awesome, all different, if you can find an arcade now they have a few racing games and some shooters and thats it.
Arcades in films are often the hang-out of local street gangs which were cool in the 80's, denim waistcoats, ripped jeans, head bands, so much better than hoodies, bad guys in general were better, when they wanted to take over the world they actually had to put some effort in and be hard man soldier types, or at least employ hard man soldier types, bad guys now are happy to use the internet for crimes which is a lot less explosive and fun to watch, not much chance of being pinned to a wall with a metal pipe or killed in a speedboat crash while you're on the internet
Eighties street punks looking mean and dangerous, even a dance off with Michael Jacksons gang wouldn't defeat these guys
Modern day "Hoodie" gangs, rubbish
Take another look at the picture above, it's Nancy Reagan sat on Mr. T's knee, both of them appear to be holding a box containing a Mr T doll. I don't know the full story as to how this situation occured, I don't want or need to know the full story, apparently its something to do with having a guest Santa at the White House, all I know is my life is better for seeing this photo and thats all that matters. If you do want to know the full story about this you can probably find it on another website, but in my head these are the facts and I don't want anyone to tell me any different. Mr T was hired to save Christmas and take the place of Santa who had been captured by evil wrongdoers, as a precaution every child around the world was told to drug the milk they left out for Santa that Christmas so that the elves could get Mr T back on the flying sleigh after delivering the presents, cos he's not getting on no flying sleigh fool!
This year was the year that Mr T dolls were the most common gift whether people wanted it to be or not. The Christmas journey ended at the white house where Nancy told Mr T to just say no to drugs, you can see how shocked he is on the photo, he protested his innocence as he didn't know that his drinks were spiked but the night ended with Mr T having to hitch a ride home from a passing motorist. Santa was released 5 days later.
Did Nancy Reagan re-enact her momentous evening when no-one else was around by sitting on the knee of her Mr T doll? Yes she did
The royal wedding, Charles and Diana. 750 million people watched it, it was a fairytale come to life, Diana arrived in a glass coach, there were 27 wedding cakes, Britain had the day off work, it was beautiful until the eighties ended and affairs, divorce and death followed.
The other big royal wedding was Amanda Carrington to Prince Michael of Moldavia on Dynasty, the greatest TV wedding I have ever seen, I loved every second, the wedding interspersed
with soldiers running around with ninja skills ready to overthrow the monarchy and take the country themselves while Dex tries to fight his way to the wedding to warn them, all set to wedding music, awesome. Affairs, divorce and death follow but its ok this time because its fun to watch.
