Bric-a-Brac: A-M

Active Learning

The late 1960s were a time of cultural revolution in the classroom.

455

Agitprop Theatre

They may be full of identikit wisecracking unicyclists these days, but once the streets, precincts and schools of the nation thrilled to...

444

Angel Delight

A nation long reconciled to spending just as many hours in the kitchen preparing pudding as the main course (it’s Thursday, so...

529

Anti-Static Bumper Strips

Possibly the nearest Halfords ever got to practising complementary medicine, these odd little rubber strips with arrows down the middle hung from...

484

8

Banda Duplicators

Sure, with modern technology even the most technophobic teacher can knock up a perfectly attractive handout in moments, and print out hundreds...

261

Barclaycard adverts with Whicker

Credit cards used to evoke an exotically luxuriant lifestyle. What orgies of epicurean excess, for example, carried on behind the doubtlessly imposing...

347

Barratt Homes

Building firms don’t tend to make memorable adverts, but Barratt’s long-lived 1970s campaign, in which a helicopter zoomed over the majestic expanses...

427

9

Betamax

Of course, the picture’s better on Betamax – so claimed home hi-fi nutters in the mid-1980s unwilling to admit the entertainment system...

405

Big D Nut Displays

The British public house used to be an establishment of two halves. Turn right as you went in (or was it left?),...

447

Bilton, Eileen

In the race to engulf greensward at irresponsible speeds which was the 1970s New Town scheme, it was hard for a fledgling...

363

Bio-Tex

Funny how advertising can alter the associations of a song forever. The Stylistics’ You Make Me Feel Brand New, a keening tract...

328

Birdseye Steakhouse Grills

You remember the one. It featured a load of hungry builders in the back of a van, singing the immortal lines, to...

355

Bottle of Guinness Supporter’s Club, The

From that day on, we worked at such a rate, By six each night we'd built a housing estate!

398

Brian Rogers Connection, The

A well-drilled team of young men and women performing an intricately choreographed burlesque version of Tropical Heatwave while three middle aged couples...

410

6

British Rail’s ‘Age of the Train’ ads

Brainchild of boss Peter ‘Mitsubishi’ Parker, British Rail’s first proper TV ad campaign was a whistles-and-bells extravaganza of cut-price offers and posh...

277

British Wine

Nowadays even the Daily Star has a resident wineologist , but until relatively recently the majority of British folk existed in a...

425

BSB squarial

Satellite telly in Britain has been around since 1978, however Sky Channel broadcasting Australian Rules football and looped episodes of The Untouchables...

341

Butler, Neil

By the end of the '80s, the old 'ask the nice scientist man in the white coat about what low-fat toilet washing-up...

207

Button B

What to press in event of an unanswered call in those phoneboxes that you now only see in very exclusive neighbourhoods, or...

505

9

Buzby

When Bernard Cribbins, the voice of Buzby – a straggly, phone pole-dwelling cartoon canary in personalised vest – phoned his mum to...

384

Captain Beaky

They really were the greatest animals in the land. Captain Beaky and his band (from left to right: Timid Toad, Reckless Rat,...

299

Casual font, The

In the days before desktop publishing, magazines and newspapers were limited to the typefaces they could use. Most relied on Letraset to...

269

Choices Pension Ads

It’s the late 1980s, and, once again, banks and building societies are at pains to come over all friendly, as their TV...

223

Choose Your Own Adventure

Over nineteen years from 1979, 184 Choose Your Own Adventure titles were published. Their unique selling point lay in allowing you –...

241

Christmas card post boxes

As the school term wound up at the end of the year, teachers across the country looked for some form of activity...

388

14

Colour Separation Overlay

This behind me... um, pedals... is um, a process, er... called Colour Sepatar... Serapeta... Seppepetera...

453

6

Covered markets

To get to the covered market you need to take a long walk down a shallow concrete ramp. It’s about 4.15PM on...

287

Crosse and Blackwell Alphabet Soup in a cube

If the bomb dropped, we’d still have Crosse and Blackwell soup to keep us company in the twilight. Indeed, the cubes were...

308

Deely-boppers

Never mind Internet ‘virals’ and crazes that get the drowsier variety of broadsheet hack hot under the collar, here was a pointless...

332

7

Dial-a-Disc

Short of the 45p (plus bus fare into town) to buy the latest hit parade favourite? No matter, just phone up this...

237

Dingbats, The

A speciality act beloved of Crackerjack and middleweight pantomimes, The Dingbats were a group of tumbling clowns in various vintage ‘comedy’ costumes...

268

DJ Kat

In the pantheon of moth-eaten feline puppet presenters in baseball caps, DJ Kat reigns supreme. His TV showcase, regarded by many as...

313

6

Domesday Project, The

A grandiose scheme involving BBC Micro computers, laser videodisc players and Paul Coia. Surely nothing gets more 1980s than this? In 1983,...

247

Domino Toppling

What do you get if you combine an ancient pub game, the law of gravity, a big old Japanese warehouse, blatant corporate...

283

Dry Ice Laser Light Tunnel, The

Hey, science can be sexy, too! And the nightclub of the future wouldn’t be complete without a cloud of dry ice through...

337

8

Eastmancolor

This gets a little technical, but bear with us, there is a point to it all somewhere.

309

Energy Saving Campaigns

Every ten years or so, energy secretaries feel the need to roll out an energy saving initiative of their own devising, backed...

529

Esso World Cup Coin Collection, The

The endeavour was, of course, a no-brainer. Cast the complete squad of defending champions in bronze - oh, all right, some kind...

260

Everest windows

Burly agricultural lummox Ted Moult became a minor celebrity after being crowned Brain of Britain, but it’s for his double-glazing commercials that...

370

14

Fairlight CMI

Not since the Les Paul guitar had one musical instrument had such a massive effect on the sound of popular music as...

288

Flash cubes

Photography has been devalued.

351

10

Food Awareness Campaigns

It all started with the Humphreys – those unseen drinking straw-wielding beasts insidiously snaffling the milk from under the noses of Frank...

342

11

Free milk

Besuited men behind desks considered it a nationwide dose of protein, but out in the field it was always a cheap and...

298

8

Glacé Cherries

It's 1991, midnight, and you're scrambling around in a half-lit kitchen...

445

10

Gloy gum

There are few things in life more satisfying that painstakingly peeling a dried bit of glue off the side of the bottle...

283

Gold Spinner

Not so much a cheese spread, more a way of life. Well, that was the marketing plan, at least. In the admittedly...

194

Gossamer Albatross

It was one of those record-breaking events, like domino toppling and giant houses of cards, that children’s TV lived for. Blue Peter,...

317

Green Shield Stamps

So many artifacts evocative of the 1960s and 70s turn out to hail from antiquity, but the corner-shop-and-petrol-station-oriented phenomenon of Green Shield...

200