'80s Christmas Memories - Bob Holness And A Cuddly hedgehog...

Christmas is just around the corner, and I'm startled by the suddenness of it all! Where did 2011 go?

Anyway, to celebrate the forthcoming festivities, here's a little look back at a favourite celebrity of the 1980s, with a Christmas flavour.

Blockbusters began in America in October 1980, and the UK version in August 1983. The UK version was, of course, presented by Bob Holness, and in this 1985 TV Times article, Bob recalls a favourite Christmas present:

"One of the nicest stocking fillers I've ever had was a glove puppet hedgehog, who quickly became christened Harold the Hedgehog.

"My wife, Mary, knows I have a soft spot for cuddly animals such as Harold and she gave him to me at Christmas 1983. He's becoming something of a national celebrity now, having appeared with me on two series of Blockbusters.

"Harold is in good company on the show. Most of the young contestants in the series have mascots like him."

Was there ever a kinder and more polite quiz master than Bob? We loved the show. Happy days... so far removed from Anne Robinson on The Weakest Link...

Read our full Blockbusters history here.

I Eat Cannibals...

All I wanna do is make a meal of you...

... If we are what we eat, you're my kind of meat...

Remember those lyrics from Toto Coelo? I Eat Cannibals was a smashing piece of pop fun. You disagree? Suit yourselves, but I loved it then and love it now... oh sweet memories of youth!

In the USA, the group was known as "Total Coelo" after MOR group Toto made noises about the "Toto" part of Toto Coelo.

Back to those lyrics...

Hot pot, cook it up - I'm never gonna stop

yum yum, gee it's fun - I'm banging on a drum...

One member of Toto Coelo had a father who had been a celebrity for years, and whose career was shortly to receive a major boost...

... yep, band member Ros Holness was the daughter of Bob Holness, who would be appearing on the highly successful telly quiz Blockbusters from 1983 onwards.

In 1982, Bob was a radio newsreader and, for both his daughters, "P" was for pop...

From The Sun, September 1982:

Radio newsman Bob Holness has become pop's top pop.

Both his daughters, Carole and Ros, have records in the charts, although the former Radio One DJ, who is now the star of Independent Radio News, did not want the girls to have pop careers.

Ros is in the group Toto Coelo, whose record "I Eat Cannibals" is at number nine, and Carole, better known as Nancy Nova, has a single "No, No, No," hovering in the lower reaches.

Holness says: "They were both trained as actresses and I tried to steer them away from the pop business, but my guidance had the opposite effect.

"Now I'm rather pleased about their success. You can't really be worried if they succeed."

Carole was also in the original Toto Coelo until she broke away for a solo career.