The 1980s - What Did We Do Before Fact Checkers, The World Wide Web, Wikipedia, etc, etc.

Tim Berners-Lee invented the World Wide Web in 1989. When it celebrated 30 years in 2019, I began to take a look at what it had become.

Looking back at the 1980s is to peer into a different world. The computer revolution was beginning, but the World Wide Web wasn't even invented until 1989, and not up and running until the early '90s, so what did we do in place of the things so many modern day 'clever' folk take for granted?

Well...

Let's begin...

Wow, Christmas 1982 - and if you were terribly posh and a complete nerd you might have had a Christmas like this. But it's not likely.

Fact Checkers - they check the facts so you don't have to. They back their own viewpoints and often the Establishment, pouring ridicule on anything outside of that. Say anything outside of the narrative? You're a conspiracy theorist - and all right-minded folk must shun you. You're 'far right' and, no doubt, your bum smells. Your accuser's, of course, does not.

In the 1980s: You formed your own opinions. You read various things. You might have been absolutely hidebound in your opinions, but many people were less comfortable, more investigative, more opinionated. In the main, we didn't want people to tell us what to think. We wanted to find out for ourselves. And we didn't just trust governments or organisations like the UN - which is a lot of the problem now. People can read absolutely irrefutable facts, but there seems to be some sort of cognitive dissonance in applying them when 'experts' say something else. The official narrative has to be adhered to.

Rating (in my opinion): 1980s: 10, 21st Century: 0.

Usenet began in 1980 as a tiny concern for university geeks and professors. It can't really be called a forerunner to the Web, but it did have newsgroups which exchanged fascinating information. Read the above. See what I mean? Most of the world was blissfully unaware. We took a look here.

Wikipedia: What an odd idea! Anybody can write anything? But editors are on hand to correct false information? Um, usually only if it fits their own agenda. A lot of Wikipedia is unreadable. The SJWs rule it and it's propaganda writ large. And 1980s = BAD! Very bad! It's rather like a schoolkid's effort at an encyclopedia. 

Now, I know the arguments: 'Oh, yes, but Wikipedia contains links to dependable information!' Does it? Not in a lot of my experiences with the site it doesn't! It cherry-picks and blocks dissenting voices and there is nothing balanced about it when it comes to issues like Feminism at all. In fact, the article on Feminism is like a brain washing lesson in the ideology. And, guess what? Google and the like include a little panel on searches with Wikipedia articles linked! So, many people will be innocently drawn to the site. BONKERS!

Wikipedia is not an encyclopedia at all. And the lame brained-ness of people who use it at all is one of the most worrying early 21st Century online trends - in my opinion.

In the 1980s: People read things in encyclopedias, and read other books. People agreed or disagreed with the authors. People asked questions. People didn't tell other people to 'stand away from their rage totems' if they disliked their discussion of misandry or whatever. People discussed, they argued, they sometimes had a punch-up. But they didn't face a bunch of sheeple bleating at them and blocking them, sheeple fully convinced of their own goodness, and making sure other views don't get a hearing, whilst theirs - often highly flawed and even bigoted - do, and become the narrative.

Rating: 1980s: 10, 21st Century: 0.

I'll return to this theme at some point, 'cos it's dead interesting, don't you think? No? Oh well, we're glad you have your own views on the subject!

See you soon. xxx

Enquiries... Suzy Lamplugh, Anglia Weatherman, World Wide Web...

I'm not getting to write on here as much I want, but I've had a few enquiries relating to the 1980s, so I'll do my best to answer. The first enquiry is regarding the London estate agent Suzy Lamplugh, who disappeared in July 1986, having apparently gone to meet a client called 'Mr Kipper':

David wrote:

Hi there! Great fan of your blog. I read your piece on Suzy Lamplugh and your own memories of the summer of 1986 with fascination as I was actually born in the July of that year! Regarding Suzy, it says on Wikipedia that her name was Susanna Lamplugh, minus the 'H' which you included. What was her name? And what do you think of the latest developments, the guy who thinks she didn't go to Shorrolds Road and the dig at Pershore?

Hello, David!

Thanks for writing. Susannah was named after the actress Susannah York and actively informed her colleagues on the QE2 that it was 'Susannah with an H' - so much so that her nickname amongst some of them was 'H'. Apparently, the 'h' does not appear on her birth certificate, but Suzy much preferred it! I really hope the latest developments lead to closure for her family and friends. I'm uncertain about the Shorrolds Road theory. Certainly, a witness from 1986 claims that Suzy's company car was parked in Stevenage Road about five minutes after she'd left the Sturgis branch so it would certainly make sense that she hadn't been to Shorrolds Road. I really don't know. The fact that it's now claimed that she didn't take the Sturgis key to the Shorrolds Road property adds to the hope that perhaps things might finally become clear.

Link to the Suzy Lamplugh blog post - click HERE.

Greg says:

I really enjoyed your pieces on BC of Anglia Television (1980-2002 RIP). Do you remember the name of the main Anglia weatherman in the 1980s? He was quite a tall, thickset bloke as I recall, had a quiet sense of humour.

I think it would be David Brooks, Greg (see pic). He was at Anglia from 1972-1993. He was a nice presence at the station. I was watching his reaction to the failure of a weather screen to appear after he'd said 'let's look at tomorrow's weather,' or some such back in the day. When the manual board showing today's weather was slipped out (manually, of course!), the board beneath was completely blank. 'Good 'ere, innit?' quipped David, as the studio dissolved into laughter.

David was a huge golf fan and one of his greatest claims to fame was being struck by lightning on the Gog Magog course near Cambridge in 1979. As he said afterwards, next time he'd check the Anglia weather forecast before venturing out! He died of leukaemia in 2010.

Fran has written:

Saw all the excitement about the thirtieth anniversary of the invention of the World Wide Web back in March. 1989-2019! It's changed everything. On balance, would you say good or bad?

Definitely both, Fran! It's brought the world closer together but also exposed differences and maybe exacerbated a few! Personally, I'm allergic to SJWs online!

Enquiry: No, Robert Cailliau Did Not Co-Invent The World Wide Web

The original invention document for the World Wide Web, March 1989, Tim Berners-Lee. He had already produced what turned out to be a precursor project called ENQUIRE whilst working at CERN for six months from June to December 1980.

Had an interesting enquiry from Sam:

I'm studying the history of the World Wide Web and most sources state that Tim Berners-Lee invented it alone, but some say he co-invented it with Robert Cailliau, a Belgian scientist. There is currently controversy about this on Wikipedia. do you know which is true?

Yes, Sam - I can safely say I do. Sir Tim Berners-Lee invented the World Wide Web in March 1989, when he submitted a proposal to his boss at CERN. Robert Cailliau became a highly valuble collaborator later. But the ideas and the invention and the writing of the first Web browser were all Tim's own work.

Robert Cailliau has never stated that he co-invented the Web. This inaccurate information has simply been parroted by certain Web users. In using the Web, one must be "information smart", and I don't recommend using Wikipedia for a start. It's an illogical nightmare of an idea, where uninformed, wishy-washy admins and silly, ignorant kids and adults can wreak havoc. Some people are so eager to thrust their own strange and inaccurate views on others they throw their rattles out of their prams and are amazingly persistent if challenged. Anybody trusting that source  for a homework study deserves all they get! This is Tim Berners-Lee's own comment on Robert Cailliau's initial contribution to the project:

"Some commentators suggest that Robert co-invented the WWW. To set this straight, he did not invent it. It wasn't his idea. He did not write the specifications for UDIs (later to be URLs, then URIs), or for HTML, the hypertext language, nor HTTP, the protocol, or the code of the original implementation. More than a year after my original proposal (March 1989), while I was working on the code, he wrote a proposal to CERN proposing some staff be allocated to the project. This was a brave thing to do, as CERN was always chronically short of manpower for the huge challenges it had taken on. So Robert put himself out there to claim that effort on WWW was worth it."

https://www.w3.org/People/Berners-Lee/FAQ.html (scroll down to section "Robert Cailliau's Role" for further information)

And you can read our own piece on the wonderful Web here.

Sir Tim Berners-Lee celebrating twenty years since the invention of the Web in March 2009. The event took place at CERN.

1989 - The Berlin Wall, Sky TV, World Wide Web Invented, French Kiss, Back To Life, Pump Up The Jam,

Definitely the man of the year - English physicist Tim Berners-Lee invented the World Wide Web at CERN in Switzerland in 1989. More here.

We entered the final year of the decade. 1980 seemed sooo long ago... so much had changed... could it really have been part of the same decade?

And 1989 had more surprises in store...

Thatcher became a granny and famously told the Press: "We are a grandmother." Barking.

An asteroid narrowly missed Planet Earth.

The Berlin Wall came down. Did I dream it, or was Michael Knight of Knight Rider dancing around on top of it, singing one of his poppy songs, with fairy lights winking on and off on his jacket?

We got satellite TV. Well, some of us did. Back in 1982, the launch of Channel Four had been a national event. Now, just by sticking a dish on your house, you could have a whole range of new channels. A dish? Oh yes, these were apparently essential - although Alexei Sayle wondered if a dustbin lid and a pair of jump leads might work just as well!

I didn't "go in for it" at the time - and judging by the selected listings in the illustrations section, I'm not sorry! No, I preferred Samantha Fox and Mick Fleetwood and the chaotic Brits pop awards (the wrong people kept turning up under the spotlights) and Julian Clary mincing about on Trick or Treat.

The brave new world of satellite broadcasting? Pooh - I was impervious to its charms!

In America, the Twin Peaks pilot was made, and the first full-length episodes of The Simpsons, on screen as cartoon "shorts" since 1987. Also in America, Game Boy was released.

On children's TV in England, we first met Mossop, Tiddler and co - The Riddlers.