1979

Top Selling Singles

1. Art Garfunkel – Bright Eyes
2. Cliff Richard – We Don’t Talk Anymore
3. Dr Hook – When You’re In Love With A Beautiful Woman
4. Tubeway Army – Are ‘Friends’ Electric
5. Gloria Gaynor – I Will Survive
6. The Boomtown Rats – I Don’t Like Mondays
7. Blondie – Heart Of Glass
8. Lena Martell – One Day At A Time
9. Blondie – Sunday Girl
10. Roxy Music – Dance Away

Christmas No.1: PINK FLOYD – ANOTHER BRICK IN THE WALL

Top Selling Albums

1. Showaddywaddy – Greatest Hits (1976–1978)
2. Various Artists – Midnight Hustle
3. Various Artists – Don’t Walk – Boogie
4. Grease – Original Soundtrack
5. The Carpenters – The Singles 1974–1978
6. Boney M. – Nightflight to Venus
7. Various Artists – Emotions
8. Neil Diamond – 20 Golden Greats
9. Rod Stewart – Blondes Have More Fun
10. Elton John – A Single Man

At the Box Office

1. Moonraker
2. Alien
3. Star Trek: The Motion Picture
4. Monty Python’s Life of Brian
5. Every Which Way but Lose
6. The Black Hole
7. Apocalypse Now
8. Quadrophenia (1979)
9. National Lampoon’s Animal House (1978)
10. Porridge (1979)

Cost of Living

Average house price	£13,650
Average salary
Average car price	£3,503
Petrol	98p/Gallon
Pint of beer	46p
Packet of 20 Cigarettes	67p
Pint of milk	15p

In the News

• Prime Minister – James Callaghan (Labour) (until 4 May), Margaret Thatcher (Conservative) (after 4 May)
• Margaret Thatcher becomes Britain’s 1st Female PM
• Lorry drivers go on strike, causing new shortages of heating oil and fresh food.
• Tens of thousands of public-workers strike in the beginning of what becomes known as the “Winter of Discontent”
• Airey Neave, Conservative Northern Ireland spokesman, is killed by an Irish National Liberation Army bomb in the House of Commons car park
• Inflation was 17%.
• Sony launched a portable cassette player called a Walkman, marketed in the US at $200
• McDonalds introduced Happy Meals.
• Mother Theresa won the Nobel peace prize
• China ordered its citizens to have no more than one child
• Lord Mountbatten was murdered by IRA bombers. (His death set a record audience for a news bulletin, as 26 million viewers watched the coverage on BBC1. Strike action at ITN led to the record viewing figures.)
• Space Invaders Hit UK
• World’s first £1 Million footballer is bought – Trevor Francis bought by Nottingham Forest

On the Telly

• BBC1 broadcasts the first edition of Blankety Blank hosted by Terry Wogan.
• The first episode of the children’s television series Worzel Gummidge begins on ITV.
• Tales of the Unexpected, an Anglia Television series based on the short stories of Roald Dahl, makes its debut on ITV. [theme]
• Robin Day presents the first edition of the long-running political debate programme Question Time on BBC1.
• The final episode of the comedy series Fawlty Towers is broadcast on BBC2.
• ITV debuts its comedy drama series Minder starring George Cole and Dennis Waterman.
• The last episode of the first series of the sitcom To the Manor Born is broadcast on BBC1. It is watched by 23.95 million viewers, the all-time highest figure for a recorded programme in the UK
• We were also still watching:
• The Dukes of Hazzard
• The Paul Daniels Magic Show
• Shoestring
• Terry and June
• Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
• Kelly Monteith
• The Jim Davidson Show
• Mork & Mindy
• The Cannon and Ball Show
• Only When I Laugh
• Are You Being Served
• Last of the Summer Wine

In Music

• Elton John becomes the first musician from the west to perform live in the Soviet Union.

Top Selling Christmas Toys

• Strawberry Shortcake
• Millenium Falcon
• Sony Walkman

Gadgets

• cassette tapes were everywhere
• arcade gaming exploded
• calculators became pocket-sized
• home computers were emerging
• portable gadgets suddenly mattered
• MB Games – BigTrak
• Betamax
• Atari 2600

Script

• 🎙️ “The average UK house price was around £19,000… and you could still buy sweets for just a few pence.”
• 🎙️ “The biggest-selling single in the UK was Bright Eyes by Art Garfunkel.”
• 🎙️ “This was the year Margaret Thatcher became Britain’s first female Prime Minister.”
• 🎙️ “A pint of beer in the UK cost around 50p.”
• 🎙️ “Portable music meant carrying around a cassette player… unless you were lucky enough to own the brand-new Sony Walkman.”
• 🎙️ “Disco was everywhere — and clubs were packed with people dancing to Saturday Night Fever soundtrack hits.”
• 🎙️ “The average UK annual salary was under £6,000.”
• 🎙️ “The UK charts were full of acts like Blondie, Electric Light Orchestra and The Police.”
• 🎙️ “People queued at petrol stations after the global oil crisis caused fuel worries.”
• 🎙️ “One of the hottest TV shows in Britain was The Dukes of Hazzard.”
• 🎙️ “The space age felt real after the release of Alien.”
• 🎙️ “Home computers were only just starting to appear — and most people had never touched one.”
• 🎙️ “The phrase ‘Video killed the radio star’ became famous thanks to Video Killed the Radio Star by The Buggles.”
• 🎙️ “A brand-new Ford Cortina was one of Britain’s best-selling cars.”
• 🎙️ “Kids spent pocket money on Space Invaders at the arcade.”
• 🎙️ “The Iranian Revolution dominated world headlines.”
• 🎙️ “The average cinema ticket in the UK cost around £1.”
• 🎙️ “Fashion meant flared trousers, satin jackets, big collars and platform shoes.”
• 🎙️ “The Sony Walkman changed music forever by letting people take their tunes everywhere.”
• 🎙️ “Many homes still had just three TV channels — BBC One, BBC Two and ITV.”