On September 19 1982, at 11:44 am, Carnegie Mellon University professor Scott E Fahlman posted this - :-) and the "smiley", the ...

Computer 'for all the family' is launched From the Cambridge Evening News , 29/1/1980 The ZX80 personal computer was launched by Si...

Some "Keypers" as seen in the autumn/winter 1987 Argos catalogue. They had names like Fancy and Footloose and Keyboard and Hummer ...

The piccy shows a 1980 sew-on patch. Why don't we ever hear the likes of Mirror In The Bathroom on the radio these days? "I'll ...

Bo, Luke, Daisy and the good ole General Lee feature on the front of this American "Dukes of Hazzard" bubble gum packet - copyrigh...

"D-D-D-D-D-D-Dizzy!" I love this thing! Liquid Gold tried to make Eurovision 1981 for us, but were beaten by Bucks Fizz .

In the promo for Feels Like I'm In Love , Kelly Marie was seen dancing her way around London with two jolly sailors. Later, she was seen...

Yep, 1981 was the year of the Tweets, who brought us the Birdie Song with its accompanying dance - and we were all at it... Benny really se...

Sir Billy Butlin died in 1980, and Butlin's introduced us to a new catchphrase: "Butlin it Once and You'll do it Again". ...

These are the bravest animals in the land! "Captain Beaky" - the book! From the 1981 Captain Beaky annual. More Captain Beaky ...

Joan Armatrading's 1980 album, Me, Myself, I. In 1980, I "got into" Joan's music. I'd heard her Love And Affection tra...

"Heeeere's Hazel!" Oower, missis! I never actually saw Breaking Glass , although I recall Hazel O'Connor going absolutely...

John Lennon had commented in an interview shortly before his death: "Weren't the '70s a drag?" He recorded a new album, Do...

And here's the St Winifred's School Choir with There's No One Quite Like Grandma . This record is often slated today, listed in...

It was a terrific year for the still evolving synth sound, with Visage, Depeche Mod e , The Human Leagu e , Ultravox and Kim Carnes all p...

The "Fabulous Soft Cell" actually were pretty fabulous in my opinion.

We'd had over a million unemployed in Britain since the early 1970s. Rising to around one-and-half million by 1979. Now, in 1981, it w...

A newspaper advertisement for a new branch of Tandy's, December 1981. Just look at those (now) prehistoric computers - click on image f...