Outspan - Small Ones Are More Juicy & Batchelors Savoury Rice...

Outspan oranges - advertisement from Woman's Weekly, August, 1985.

A 1985 Batchelors Savoury Rice ad from the TV Times.

This product was a major part of my diet at that time. With Bernard Matthews turkey sausages or Bejam mini-pizzas it truly was "tantalizingly tasty".

Remember the TV ads starring the voice of Frank Muir?

More 1980s TV Ads: "We Hope It's Chips, It's Chips!"

Ah, the bliss that was '80s TV adverts! Remember Jenny Logan and the Shake n' Vac ad? (Also remember Jenny answering questions from'80s Actual blog readers on the subject to celebrate the campaign's 30th anniversary in 2010? Look here). And what about the ecstasy and the agony of completing a Rubik's Cube and then discovering...

What about the lovely Beattie (Maureen Lipman) - "An ology?!!" - and dear Su Pollard and the singing donkeys ("Ooo makes a lovely cuppa...")?

Adverts sure stir up memories, especially when they're as memorable as these!

Ah, who could forget this one: "Will it be chips or jacket spuds? Will it be salad or frozen peas?"

Enjoy all the above mentioned and more by the miracle of YouTube below!

Alexei Sayle: 'Ullo John! Gotta New Motor? And Toshiba: 'Ullo Tosh, Gotta Toshiba?

Alternative comedian Alexei Sayle gave us novelty chart hit 'Ullo John! Gotta A New Motor? in 1984. Apparently originally released in 1982, the song bombed - Mr S. was simply not famous enough, it seemed. But, re-released a year or so later, it was a different story.

It sounded bloomin' awful and I loved it to bits.

Mr Sayle also had an album released in 1984 - The Fish People Tapes, based on a series called Alexei Sayle And The Fish People, broadcast on London-based Capital Radio in 1981. Both the radio series and record apparently featured a few digs at the Government.

Good job, eh?

One of the tracks included - That's Milton Springsteen - was a parody of the Jam's early 1980s song That's Entertainment.

'Ullo John was included on the album and was soon tweaked for a fondly remembered 1985 TV ad - "Hello Tosh Gotta Toshiba?"... or should that be "'Ullo Tosh..."?

Ian Dury provided the main voice over for the ad...

"'Ullo - ullo - ullo Tosh gotta Toshiba?

'Ullo Tosh gotta Toshiba?"

"That's an FST."

"RIGHT!!"

"That's an FST."

"RIGHT!!"

"It's the flattest squarest tube.
It's the flattest squarest tube."

And what did the flattest squarest tube give you? A flatter screen and sharper picture. It was a good development.

Return to the mid-1980s with the 'Ullo John! video and the Toshiba ad below...

The Scotch Skeleton Ads: "Re-Record Not Fade Away"

A December 1985 TV Times magazine advertisement for "New Scotch Extra High Grade Tape", designed for "when you want to watch something again and again and again".

The Scotch skeleton TV ads were launched in 1983 when less than a quarter of UK households had a VCR. The skeleton didn't sing in the original ad - he fell off his chair instead! The 1983 ad was set in the year 2021, and the premise was that a Scotch video tape bought in 1983 was still perfectly usable for re-recording in the 21st Century!

In 1985, came the famous "Re-record, not fade away, re-record, not fade away..." slogan. The ads ran for years and were highly popular.

If I remember correctly, Deryck Guyler (Corky the policeman from Sykes and the caretaker from Please Sir!) was the voice of the skeleton.

Great.

The skeleton idea was indicative of the manufacturer's confidence that the Scotch tapes were amazingly durable and could well outlast the buyer. And if every recording wasn't as good as the first, they'd give you a new video cassette. Good, eh?

Video technology had been around for ages, but by the 1980s domestic VCRs had not. In 1980, only 5% of UK households had a video recorder. They were hugely expensive for the average household to buy. Renting was not terribly popular either because, in those financially-stressed times, further commitments were unwelcome in the majority of homes. Also, as most people had never even seen a VCR, there simply wasn't the interest.

And on top of the dosh considerations, there was the confusion over which make to have - Betamax? Video 2000? VHS? My well-off aunt bought a Betamax machine circa 1983, and soon regretted it bitterly. Betamax video tapes were still on sale for several years after VHS won the sales battle, and, determined to get value for money, Auntie used her Betamax machine for taping films and Brookside until it finally conked out!

I recall, when my mother first rented a VCR in 1983, we considered ourselves very posh indeed. In that year, the year of the very first Scotch skeleton ad, nearly 20% of UK households had a VCR. The Steve Wright In The Afternoon Book, published in 1985, the year of the first "Re-record, not fade away" skeleton ad, informs us that the proportion had grown to 25% by that time.



A Scotch skeleton ad from the series' launch year - 1983 - very cleverly set in the 21st Century (then the distant future), with the video cassette featured bought in 1983 and still in use! Amazing to think that under 20% of UK households had VCRs in 1983!



The original 1985 "Re-Record, Not Fade Away" Scotch Skeleton ad.