News belatedly broke yesterday, unsurprising given the unfortunate coincidence of her passing on the same day as Queen Elizabeth II. As a kid growing up in the 1970s and 1980s, Gwyneth Powell was synonymous with BBC TV series Grange Hill. Although her character, Mrs Bridget "The Midget" McClusky didn't appear until series 4, episode 1 broadcast on 30th December 1980, she was the show's longest serving head teacher, departing at the end of series 14, transmitted 15th March 1991.
Gwyneth won over a whole new generation of fans when she co-starred with Greg Davies in Channel 4 comedy Man Down between 2013 and 2017 as his character's mum.
Sadly, little evidence online of Gwyneth's musical leanings and she was criminally overlooked for the Grange Hill cast's 1986 Top 5 anti-drugs classic, Just Say No. So, for today's selection, I've gone for a brief dip into songs by bands featuring a McClusky (or McCluskey, just to pad it out a bit more).
Is that the sound of a barrel being scraped...?
1) Wonderful (Cover of The Beach Boys): Adventures In Stereo (1998)
2) Just Got Lucky (12" Version): JoBoxers (1983)
3) We Love You (Album Version): O.M.D. (1986)
4) Five o' Clock World (Remix By Robert Ash & Nigel Grainge) (Cover of The Vogues): Ballistic Kisses (1982)
5) Everything And More (Seven Inch Edit): If? (1992)
6) Everybody's Somebody's Fool (Album Version): The Bluebells (1983)
7) Super Love: Wigan's Ovation (1975)
