Red Nose Day - 25 Years - 1988-2013

 1988 - Griff Rhys Jones, Lenny Henry and Jonathan Ross take part in the very first Red Nose Day.

Did you wear your red nose today? '80s Actual Towers has been fair bristling with the things! Comic Relief was, of course, launched on Christmas Day 1985 with a live report from a refugee camp in Sudan, and the first Red Nose Day was held on 5 February 1988.

Recently, Lenny Henry wrote about the first Red Nose Day back in 1988, and how it has changed since then:

"Comic Relief these days is much more in line with shiny-floor shows like The X Factor – fast, zappy, presenter-led – but we were just asking everybody to be kind and help. We had live entertainment from comedians such as the Goodies and pre-recorded films from Africa, but lots of comedians discovered it was very difficult to do live comedy with an audience that has just watched somebody die. I went to Ethiopia for one section where we filmed a row of Ethiopian men in their tribal gowns. The camera panned along them and the voice-over said, 'Please give us some money; poverty can affect somebody you might know.’ The last person on the row was me, dressed in the same tribal gown. For the first time it wasn’t just an image of a starving child with a big belly and flies crawling all over their face – it was somebody that the audience knew. 

"There is a lot of fear bound up in comedy – 'How will I be funny? Am I going to be the funniest?’ – but since we were all aiming at the same target there was a bullish vibe. Everything went wrong, of course – the autocue stopped, someone tried to do some magic and it didn’t work, Frankie Howerd came on and wouldn’t stop talking – but people were really moved by the films. I thought that if I made people laugh, and donate, then maybe the kids I visited in the Kibera slum in Kenya wouldn’t have to live in a room with a sewer running down the middle of it. We raised £15 million that night, which was a big deal."

BBC Cashes In On EastEnders...

DOSH! DOSH! DOSH! Auntie Beeb - AKA the BBC - had a very nice not-so-little earner going on in the mid-to-late 1980s - courtesy of that brash new soap EastEnders! You could buy all sorts of EastEnders goodies - simply squillions of things - even a novel detailing Andy and Debs's back story - so how would real life beer fans fancy paying out for some of the brews sold over the bar at the Queen Vic? Cut to 1988 newspaper article:

The Beeb is planning to make millions by selling Dirty Den's bitter all over Britain.

Flooding the market with EastEnders' ales is the latest plan in a BBC campaign to milk Albert Square for every last penny.

Already the top soap is bringing its bosses more than £1 million profit a year.

But that could be more than doubled as the cash-thirsty corporation gets set to rival the top brewers.

Insiders at BBC Enterprises - the selling arm of the BBC - have revealed that executives are now searching for the right company to make the beer.

Among the BBC brews set to be stacked on the shelves in pubs, off-licences and supermarkets are Churchill ale, Luxford and Copley Strong Bitter and Melbourne Star lager - all sold in Den's pub.

The beer would join scores of EastEnders' spin-offs already taking the world by storm. For all over the globe people are raving about the goings-on in Albert Square.

Besides the actual programme, the BBC is selling EastEnders' underwear, mugs, T-shirts, cut-glass, calendars, stationary, records, books, videos and will soon launch an EastEnders' board game.

Sue Osman: "'Ere, Ali, if they're gonna be sellin' Den's beer, wot about my bacon sarnies? Why 'aven't the BBC been in touch with us?"

Ali Osman: "Do you really wanna know, Sue?"

More About Acid House - What The Establishment Thought, 1988, And A 1989 Rave...

This is Acid House 1988... still stirs the blood and gets me moving... how far we'd come from Adam and the Ants, Bad Manners and Madness...


Footage from a 1989 Rave...

House music was a brand new electronic music genre born in Chicago USA in the early 1980s (for those desiring a more specific timeline 1983 is often referred to as "Year Zero"). We got our first taste of House here in England in 1986 and, following hot on its heels, in 1988, came Acid House - with its attendant Raves and new drug culture ("What planet are you on?" "Planet Ecstasy"...).

The only drawback with ecstasy - or E as it was known - was the chance that it could do you serious harm or even kill you if you happened to pop a bad one! It was a small risk, but still off-putting to many people. Mind you, the music and atmosphere of an Acid House rave could still be enjoyed without popping anything!

The distinctive Acid House sound came from the Roland TB-303 Bass Line synthesiser, which was first released in 1982.

Acid House had the establishment seriously rattled - the bloody kids were acting up again - and saw bitter rival football fans peacefully dancing and chatting together under the effects of ecstasy.


What the tabloids and elders thought... BBC news footage from 1988. The stance taken by the BBC in this clip seems as impartial as the stance the organisation took (and still takes given half a chance) towards Reagan and Thatcher! Didn't they interview anybody in favour of Acid House?!

More '80s Actual Acid House here.

1988 and 1989: Eco-Friendliness - And Pop Scene News And Gossip...

Environmental concerns had grown stronger and stronger during the 1980s, even Mrs Thatcher was turning Green late in the decade - as this extract from a 1988 speech she gave to the Royal Society illustrates:

In the past when we have identified forms of pollution, we have shown our capacity to act effectively. The great London Smogs are now only a nightmare of the past. We have cut airborne lead by 50 per cent. We are spending £4 billion on cleansing the Mersey Basin alone; and the Thames now has the cleanest metropolitan estuary in the world. Even though this kind of action may cost a lot, I believe it to be money well and necessarily spent because the health of the economy and the health of our environment are totally dependent upon each other.

The Government espouses the concept of sustainable economic development.

Stable prosperity can be achieved throughout the world provided the environment is nutured and safeguarded.

Protecting this balance of nature is therefore one of the great challenges of the late Twentieth Century and one in which I am sure your advice will be repeatedly sought.

In 1989, the UK Green Party won 15% of the vote in elections for the European Parliament, but no seats because of the first-past-the-post voting system.

The Party was formerly known as "The Ecology Party" and switched to the Green name in the 1980s.

In the late 1980s, many of us were getting into buying eco-friendly products (I bought a sink cleaning fluid which left a nasty chalky deposit in its wake and I was never sure that my eco friendly bog cleaner got my bog hygenically clean, but I persevered).

In 1989, as reported by the Bizarre page in the Sun on August 29th, Sting (formerly of The Police) and Elton John had got together to stage a very expensive concert - for the planet:

Elton John and Sting are charging the highest amount ever to see them in concert... £1,000 a head.

The two superstars are to play a £500,000 charity concert to raise cash for the Rain Forest Foundation. It is being staged in the grounds of tycoon Ted Field's £4million mansion in Los Angeles. More than 500 guests will be invited to the event on November 6.

A spokesman for Sting said last night: "Ted Field is a good friend of Sting's and they share a deep concern about the destruction of the forests.

"Ted offered to stage the concert in his grounds if the guests would pay a grand to get in. Sting and Elton will also help out with extra fund-raising events, including a raffle."

Elton, 42, will play piano and Sting, 37, will be on the bass guitar - but there will be no backing band. Last night Elton - who is taking time out from his world tour for the concert - said:

"Sting has done an awful lot for the foundation and I'm happy to help him raise more. It will just be me and him on stage and will be a lot of fun.

"The environment is something I really care about."

Meanwhile, elsewhere on the Bizarre page, Pat Sharp, he of the beautiful bouffant mullet, was revealing some facts of his life:

Hobbies: After work I plan more work.

Car: A £26,000 second-hand Porsche 944 Turbo and a rare old Datsun 240Z sports coupe.

TV: There's no time to watch it.

Films: I keep 350 films in the same room as my 6,000 records. My favourite is Caddy Shack.

Star Sign: Scorpio.

Most Embarrassing Moment: When I got chased by gays outside Radio Luxembourg.

Clothes: I love Poco Loco, the Norwegian designer who make great jogging pants and T-shirts.

Pet Hates: I have never smoked, drunk or taken drugs - I don't even drink tea.

Ambition: I would love to make serious TV programmes.

Dave Stewart, one half of the excellent '80s pop duo The Eurythmics, was having some fun...

Zany Dave Leaves Scribblers In Chaos

By Piers Morgan

Dave Stewart caused chaos at a Press Conference by giving bizarre answers to questions.

The oddball Eurythmics star - back in the charts at No 30 with Revival - confused dozens of foreign journalists after the band's gig in the South of France.

But Dave, 36, had the British contingent - including me - in hysterics.

Here's what he said:

Q. Dave, is it right that you are broke?

A. Absolutely. The only reason I stay in Cannes is so I can go to all my rich friends' houses and nick all their furniture.

Q. Dave, as an environmentalist, what did you think of Chrissie Hynde's outburst saying she'd like to bomb McDonald's?

A. She should have said she she wanted to firebomb Spud-U-like. They've got a much sillier name.

Q. Dave, we hear you are going to do a cover version of an old hit soon?

A. Yes, I want to do Three Blind Mice and Custer's Last Stand.

Q. Dave, what you think of your wife Siobhan having bigger hits than you with Shakespear's Sister?

A. It's great. Her contract says she has to give me 50 per cent of every penny she makes MORE than I do this year.

That told 'em, Dave!

Actually, I was startled by Siobhan Fahey's transformation from Bananarama girlie to purring Shakespear's Sister with Marcella Detroit. Startled, but pretty darned pleased.

To round off our look at this 1989 Bizarre page, hands up all those who remember the Scots band Simple Minds?

Me too. Loved them.

Somewhere in summertime...

Won't you come see about me, I'll be alone dancing you know it baby...

Little darlin' close your eyes, there'll be no compromising...

Alive and kicking - stay until your love is...

I must confess to singing "butter on it, put butter on it, put butter oh, butter oh" to the "bah da da da, bah da da da da, bah da da oh" segment of Alive and Kicking. A lot of people did. Sorry, Jim Kerr and co.

However, despite this, I genuinely loved the band - and their atmosphere-laden music now has the power to draw me back to my youthful years, in fancy if not in fact.

In the late 1980s, another Scots band had emerged into the UK pop charts - Deacon Blue. I liked them too. But the Minds remained the favourites.

The beautifully gossipy 1989 Bizarre page (could it be trusted?!!) revealed:

Jim Kerr was a proud son last night after his mum had a bust-up in the Glasgow baker's shop where she works.

Ina Kerr saw red when a woman customer came in and slated her 30-year-old son's band Simple Minds and said she much preferred Deacon Blue. Ina chased her down the road, screaming and shouting.

What it is to have parents who love us!

More from the 1980s pop scene soon...