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It's the whodunit that's gripped EastEnders' fans and at Christmas, we discovered the identity of who attacked Ian Beale - none other than his 'best mate' and new wife Sharon along with her ex-husband Phil Mitchell as retribution for the death of Sharon's son, Denny. Ian has never really been the Square's Mr. Popular. But ever since his accidental role in Denny's death last year, he's been an even greater prat that usual, and has really succeeded in rubbing a long list of people up the wrong way. Will this man ever learn? Probably not! EastEnders' love their mysteries and whodunnits just as much as they love their 'who's the daddy' storylines - which we suppose are another kind of whodunnit! And these mysteries are guaranteed to keep viewers tuning in to discover the identity of the culprit and their motives. Think back to the very first EastEnders scene, and that involved a murder - that of local resident, Reg Cox. If Hercule Poirot lived on The Square, he'd never be out of work with all the murders, attacks, thefts and mayhem that takes place there! We're taking a look at some of the most memorable mysteries ever to occur on the Square, with some going as far back as the early days of the show. They definitely had us on the edge of our seats! 1. DEBBIE'S PHONE PEST (1985) After getting several obscene phone calls, Debbie Wilkins suspected café owner Ali Osman of being the phone pest. Her enraged boyfriend Andy wanted to have it out with him but Debbie had other ideas: she decided to invite Ali and his wife Sue over for dinner in order to confront him. It was a very tense dinner as Sue worked out that Debbie and Andy were blaming Ali for the phone calls... and then the phone rang... You guessed it - it was the phone pest! And a horrified Debbie realized that she had made a mistake and still didn't know the identity of the person making the malicious calls. It was during a visit from Debbie's friend Naima that the identity of the caller was revealed. Naima had answered the phone when it rang and despite Debbie's attempts to take the phone from her, Naima insisted on speaking to the caller herself. So she did - in Bengali. Naima realized that the caller was her own husband, Saeed. 2. FOWLER BREAK-IN (1986) When Pauline and Arthur invited a group of friends and family back to theirs, they weren't expecting to be greeted by the sight of a ransacked home. Furthermore the Christmas club fund that Arthur had recently withdrawn from the bank was gone. The question was... who could have done it? As far as mysteries goes, this was pretty tame stuff. But then again it was back in the eighties when EastEnders was just getting warmed up. And far from it dragging on and on, the culprit was revealed within a couple of episodes as loveable Arthur Fowler who'd used the Christmas club money to pay for his daughter Chelle's wedding and then staged the break-in to explain the missing money to all his friends, family, and neighbours. Wife Pauline had already sussed it out, and this incident lead to Arthur's eventual breakdown and imprisonment. 3. WHO'S VICKI FOWLER'S DAD? (1986) Drama didn't follow anyone around as much as it followed Michelle Fowler, and it all began when she got pregnant at sixteen and refused to name the father. This storyline occurred very early on for EastEnders and it is still one of the most memorable and often talked about storylines today. There were several characters who were in the frame for being the father of the yet-to-be-born Vicki Fowler. On the day of the big reveal, viewers saw Andy O'Brien, Tony Carpenter, Den Watts, and Ali Osman hurriedly getting into their vehicles and driving away - just as Michelle was on her way to the canal to meet the father, leaving viewers excitedly guessing which one of the four was the baby's dad. A car appeared at the canal, with an unidentified figure stepping out before going to open one of the rear doors - and out jumped Roly! Yes, the father was none other than the Queen Vic's landlord 'Dirty' Den Watts - who also happened to be the father of Michelle's best friend, Sharon. 4. WALFORD SERIAL ATTACKER (1987) An unknown man was terrorizing and attacking the local women of Walford, stalking them at night. Some of the Square's female residents had had close calls with the Walford Attacker, including Sue Osman and Sharon Watts but both had escaped unharmed. Unfortunately Pat Wicks didn't fare so well. She was brutally attacked and left for dead. Her ex-husband Pete became a suspect as he loathed Pat with a passion, but although he had a motive for attacking her, there was no reason why he should go after the other women. Eventually the Walford attacker was caught when he tried to assault Debbie Wilkins after finding her alone in the launderette. Unfortunately his capture was a bit of a let-down because instead of being a well-known or at least recognizable character, the attacker just turned out to be some random guy called Oxley who no one had ever heard of before! Still not bad for a soap that was pretty much just starting out. 5. MURDER OF EDDIE ROYLE (1991) Ex-policeman Eddie Royle hadn't been landlord of The Queen Vic for long when he had been found knifed to death in The Square's gardens. Dot stumbled across his body when she found Roly stranded in the Square who led her to Eddie's body. But what Dot didn't know was that she wasn't the first person to discover Eddie's body... Viewers saw Clyde Tavernier standing over the body with a knife in his hand before wiping the blood from his hands and fleeing. He then set about acting very suspiciously: tiptoeing back into his house before burning a shirt with Eddie's blood on it - unknowingly under the watchful eye of his suspicious grandfather, Jules. However Clyde was innocent. He'd found Eddie lying in the gardens and foolishly picked up the murder weapon thus incriminating himself. Not only that but Clyde also had a motive for killing Eddie after they fell out over a boxing betting scam. But then Eddie was hardly a popular man in The Square with a few of the residents including Grant, Phil and Sharon holding grudges against him. Then the ever-trustworthy Nick Cotton told police that he had witnessed Eddie's murder - and that the killer was Clyde. Nick's statement caused a terrified Clyde to go on the run with his son Kofi, on-off girlfriend Michelle Fowler and her daughter Vicki. Thankfully Joe, a friend of Michelle's brother Mark, came forward and told police that he had seen Nick Cotton in the Square that night, and had even witnessed Nick shin down the drainpipe outside his bedroom window. A recovering drug addict, Nick had been locked in his bedroom by his desperate mum, Dot. But after escaping, Nick was seen by Eddie who tried to do the right thing in escorting Nick home - and he paid for it with his life. Hardly known for his angelic behaviour, it probably didn't come as much of a shock to viewers that Nick was Eddie's murderer. But despite being arrested and tried for the murder, Nick was found not guilty due to lack of evidence, leaving him free to wreak havoc in the Square for years to come. 6. WHO FRAMED ARTHUR FOWLER? (1996) After getting elected as the new allotment committee secretary, Arthur Fowler began fundraising for the Flowering Wilderness Fund: a new initiative to create an eco-friendly, urban garden in Walford. It was Arthur's old friend and fellow allotment owner, Willy Roper who took a keen interest in Arthur's fundraising and set about advising a very trusting Arthur on how to handle the money. But when it appeared that there was fraudulent activity, Arthur was questioned by police - and imprisoned. Distraught at going to prison for a second time - this time for a crime he didn't commit - Arthur had a breakdown, refusing to his see family. By now viewers had got an inkling of what had happened but it was Arthur's son Mark who was the first person to become suspicious of Willy. Alarmed at the amount of time Willy was spending with Pauline, Mark confided his fears to his mum but Pauline dismissed Mark's concerns believing Willy to be a dear friend and a tower of strength. Then Pauline and Willy went on a break to Jersey much to Mark's dismay who by now had figured out that Willy must have moved the stolen money to an off-shore account in a fake name. It was only when Pauline discovered credit cards in a different name, that she realized that Mark had been right about Willy all along. So setting a trap in order to get to the truth, Willy fell for the ruse and was subsequently arrested and eventually imprisoned. Willy had come up with this elaborate plan in order to steal the money to pay for a place at a care home for his mum. Although Arthur was released from prison, it sadly came too late for him. A shell of his former self when he returned from prison, Arthur was working on his beloved allotment, when he collapsed and died due to a head injury he sustained in prison, leaving his family - and viewers - heartbroken. 7. WHO SHOT PHIL MITCHELL? (2001) EastEnders' very own version of the 'Who shot JR?' saga was 'Who shot Phil Mitchell? With the number of residents Phil had cheesed off, it could've been anyone! On the evening he got shot, a very drunken Phil was irritated by what he thought were kids playing knock down ginger. So he went outside and hollered in typical Phil fashion that if they did it again, he'd 'tan their backsides'. Then as he turned around to walk back inside, he was shot in the back. But before losing consciousness, Phil caught a glimpse of his assassin fleeing... and we all - twenty two million of us - waited until Phil was out of hospital for that humdinger of an episode where Phil confronted the person who shot him. Steve Owen, Lisa Shaw, Dan Sullivan, and Ian Beale were all suspects - but it turned out that it was little Lisa who pulled the trigger. 7. DENNIS RICKMAN'S MURDER (2005) Who didn't have the biggest crush ever on Dennis Rickman? So we were absolutely heartbroken when Walford's hottest resident was killed off, especially as it was in an extremely brutal manner. After marrying Sharon, the woman of his dreams, the newlyweds were thrilled beyond belief to discover that they were going to have the one thing that they didn't think was possible - a baby. Who still remembers the scene where Sharon broke the news of their very own Christmas miracle to Dennis and how jubilant they both were? But sadly their happiness wasn't to last... Local gangster, Johnny Allen, was furious with Sharon for meddling in his relationship with his daughter, Ruby, and with Dennis for having crossed him. So he threatened Sharon and told her that if she and Dennis didn't leave Walford before the new year, her baby was going to grow up without a father. Sharon managed to talk Dennis into leaving for a new life in America but on the day they were due to leave, Phil Mitchell told Dennis that Johnny Allen attacked and threatened Sharon, and that he had killed Dennis's friend, Andy Hunter. A furious Dennis went over to Johnny's, where he beat him half to death. But then Dennis made the mistake of throwing Johnny a phone so that he could call for help, thinking it wouldn't matter as he and Sharon would be long gone by the time help arrived. But Johnny didn't call for an ambulance; he called for someone to take care of Dennis in revenge for the vicious attack. As Dennis and Sharon looked for each other among the crowds of New Year's Eve revellers, they caught sight of each other - and as they did so, someone brutally stabbed Dennis leaving him to die in a hysterical Sharon's arms. It was in Spring 2006 that we found out that the man ordered to kill Dennis was Alfie Moon's cousin, Danny. 9. WHO KILLED ARCHIE MITCHELL (2009) Even for a Mitchell, Archie was a thoroughly unlikeable character. A philanderer, narcissist, liar, control freak, rapist and trouble maker, Archie Mitchell made a lot of enemies - even among his own family. So when he was murdered at Christmas, after being hit over the head with the Queen Victoria bust, there were many possible suspects including Ian Beale, Bradley Branning, Ryan Malloy, Stacey Branning, and practically the entire Mitchell clan. Archie Mitchell's killer was unmasked during EastEnders' first ever live episode to mark the show's twenty fifth anniversary. It appeared that the murderer was a panic-stricken Bradly who was fleeing from the police and was killed as he fell from a roof. But it wasn't him... …The murderer turned out to be Bradley's wife Stacey. 10. KAT'S MYSTERY MAN (2012) They may have originally started out as one Walford's greatest love stories... but when it came to ups and downs, Dow Jones had nothing on Kat and Alfie! It seemed as though they had finally put the past behind them, and were settling down to family life with their three kids, when a mystery man managed to catch Kat's eye... Not only did Kat have an affair but she fell head-over-heels in love with this man, wanting to leave Alfie and start a new life with her secret love. The question we all wanted answered was - who was he? And so did Alfie! After realizing that his wife was playing away, Alfie set about trying to discover the identity of Kat's mystery man, suspecting almost every man in Walford. He eventually worked out that it was one of the Branning brothers. During a very tense, public showdown at The Vic between Alfie and the Brannings, Kat made a very frantic call to one of the brothers - Max! After rushing in to the pub and finding Max and Alfie brawling, Kat was forced to reveal the truth about the identity of her mystery man. Much to the relief of Max's wife Tanya, it wasn't Max after all... …It was Derek Branning! Most of us would have opted for Jack but whatever floats Kat's boat! What's your favourite EastEnders' mystery? Photos: YouTube Word Cloud: Angel Noire

The word legend often gets thrown around a lot. But when the legend we're talking about is Dame Barbara Windsor, how could she be considered anything else? A little lady with a big presence, the world of showbiz was in mourning recently when Dame Barbara lost her brave battle against Alzheimer's, with her funeral being held last week. When the news of her passing broke, tributes came flooding in from stars who had been fortunate to have worked with the talented actress during her seventy year career. Reading them was lovely because it showed just how much Dame Barbara was loved. And for those of us who didn't know Barbara Windsor personally... well we certainly wished we had! Our screens are going to be a little less brighter now that she's gone. For many of us, Barbara Windsor was a very familiar face on TV. We watched her in everything from those 'Naughty but Nice' ads for fresh cream; shows like Blankety Blank; as Saucy Nancy in Worzel Gummidge; Chitty Chitty Bang Bang; Supergran; You Rang M'Lord? and a whole host of other films and TV shows. But of course it was through the Carry On films that Dame Barbara first made her name and was familiar to audiences as the petite blonde who appeared in much of the British film series. But after the Carry On series ended, there were what were described as 'lean years' before a role came along that completely and utterly changed her life. Barbara Windsor played a pub landlady and mum to two hard men in some soap or other... what was it called again??? When it was announced back in 1994 that Barbara Windsor was being cast in EastEnders as the Mitchell brothers' mum Peggy Mitchell, nobody but nobody could have predicted what this role would do for the character, the soap, or for the actress herself. And Dame Barbara did have some input in shaping the character of Peggy Mitchell, turning her into the Walford icon we know and love. The chemistry that Barbara had with her screen family was epic, and it was a bond that spilled over into real-life with Steve McFadden and Ross Kemp, who play the Mitchell brothers, having great affection for their screen mum. And nobody could ever deliver the line 'Get outta my pub!" quite like she could! It sometimes takes a while for a soap character to make an impact. But when Barbara Windsor took over the role of Peggy Mitchell from original actress Jo Warne - who had played the Mitchell matriarch for around ten episodes - she arrived in Albert Square with an almighty bang that made viewers sit up and take notice. And during the twenty two years - on and off until her death from cancer - that Peggy had been in Albert Square, she was in the midst of a lot of drama: so many memorable storylines with great dialogue and many of those scenes being hailed by EastEnders fans as iconic. So it goes without saying that for this post, it was almost impossible to limit ourselves to just five epic storylines. But somehow we managed to choose the five that seemed the most poignant to us. 1. PEGGY HITS WALFORD... AND SHARON! "If I catch you anywhere near my two sons... I'll do time for you. I'll kill you with my bare hands..." When Peggy returned from Spain to be at son Phil's bedside after hearing he'd been badly injured, she didn't know the full story of how he had come to be hospitalized. She didn't know that it was her younger son Grant who had put him in there. Or that Grant had discovered that his wife Sharon had been having an affair with Phil. But when Peggy discovered the truth, all hell broke loose! Her very public confrontation with Sharon in the Square set the scene for Peggy's reign over Walford for the next twenty two years or so, and let the locals know just what they were in for. For Peggy, family always came first no matter what. She was also never afraid of a confrontation (the more public the better!) with many a spat taking place in the Vic, and neither was she shy about dishing out one of her legendary slaps if she felt someone deserved it. And as it turned out, she was always going to lock horns with Sharon - a woman she more often than not loathed with a passion. If they weren't arguing over Sharon's involvement with one of the Mitchell brothers, then it was over their beloved Queen Victoria pub. But the two women did manage to make their peace just before Peggy passed away. 2. MARK AND PEGGY'S ILL HEALTH "If you swim in the sewer, you catch something!" Nobody could accuse Peggy of being sweetness and light all the time - she was a Mitchell after all. But when she declared war against the Fowlers because she'd discovered that Mark was HIV positive, even Peggy's family were stunned at just how vicious she could be - and it was a storyline that made the character very unpopular with viewers. But Peggy remained unrepentant, especially when she feared that her grandson Ben's illness was due to the little one having come into contact with Mark and his wife Ruth. That was until she faced her own battle with a life threatening illness and realized what poor Mark must have been going through. When Peggy discovered a lump in her breast, she didn't tell anyone. But her daughter-in-law Tiffany found out and agreed to keep Peggy's secret, while providing support and accompanying Peggy to her hospital visits. Sadly it was confirmed that Peggy did indeed have breast cancer, enabling the character to display a vulnerability that had never been seen before. Peggy needed to have a lumpectomy, although she went on to have a mastectomy when the cancer returned a couple of years later. But Peggy's illness was the push she needed to head over to the Fowlers' to make a very heart-felt apology to a very gracious and supportive Mark. Barbara Windsor had revealed how much she hated the storyline involving Peggy's bigoted feud with Mark, but the two subplots intertwined in this storyline - the revelation of Mark's HIV and Peggy discovering she had cancer - showed many facets to Peggy's character. And furthermore both plots were effective in raising awareness of breast cancer; highlighting people's ignorance about HIV and AIDS, as well as demonstrating the prejudice faced by HIV sufferers. 3. EXPOSING PAT AND FRANK'S AFFAIR "...So why they're still here is a bit of a mystery. But one thing I've learned while I've been married to Mr. Butcher is never underestimate his capacity to make a cock-up of things!" Peggy was devastated when she realised that not only was her husband Frank having an affair with his ex-wife Pat, but the pair were also planning on leaving their spouses and running off together. Just as Peggy and Frank were planning to renew their wedding vows! Frank had explained everything in a letter that Peggy was meant to have read after Pat and Frank had sailed off into the sunset together. But Peggy had found the letter and after talking to her son Phil, she decided that she would teach the cheating pair a lesson... In the Vic, in what is now a classic and very well-acted scene, Peggy gathered everyone around as she read Frank's letter out to a stunned pub including an embarrassed Pat and Frank, as well as Pat's horrified husband, Roy. Peggy then went on to do what she was famous for - dishing out two almighty slaps to her unfaithful husband and his mistress, proving that unlike with Pauline Fowler, frying pans really weren't necessary! Although Roy eventually forgave Pat and the two remained married until Roy's death, it spelled the end of Frank and Peggy's marriage. But ironically, even though she did often clash with Pat, the two women went on to form quite a strong friendship. 4. CHRISSIE WATTS! MURDERER!!! "Tell Den you're sorry. Tell Den!" After finding out that the person who killed Den Watts was his wife, Chrissie, and that she was intent on letting Peggy's daughter Sam take the blame for it, Peggy wasted no time in heading over to the cemetery and confronting the weeping widow. Den's coffin had just been lowered into the ground, and Chrissie was about to read a Bible passage when an irate Peggy charged up to the group furiously yelling that she knew what Chrissie had done. Terrified that her secret might come out, Chrissie had tried to get Peggy to stop, helped by her new lovesick boyfriend Jake Moon. But Peggy was having none of it, and when Chrissie tried to walk off, Peggy pushed Chrissie into Den's grave demanding that she tell her dead husband she was sorry for putting him in there. It was definitely one of the most memorable funeral scenes from a soap. But what we want to know is, that why was it when a horrified Chrissie was wriggling around on her husband's coffin desperately wanting to get out, none of the mourners moved a muscle, and just stood around the edge of the grave - more motionless than the graveyard statues and stared in complete silence? 5. MARRIAGE TO ARCHIE MITCHELL "I don't think you know who you're dealing with here. I'm not some cuddly, little old lady. I'm Peggy Mitchell. I'm old East End. Real East End, proper! You don't mess with me." Well said, Peggy! For years viewers had been hearing all about "Daad's bruvver, Archie." And while we all knew that Peggy's husband, Eric Mitchell, was no choir boy, Archie proved that anything his brother could do, he could go one better - or worse! But Peggy, proving that some girls always fall for the bad boy, couldn't resist Archie's charms, much to the concern of Archie's daughter Ronnie who knew exactly what her dad was like. But Peggy refused to listen to Ronnie's warnings, and when Archie proposed, Peggy accepted. But the marriage was extremely short-lived as the reception descended into chaos when the extent of Archie's deception and devious ways were revealed, culminating in the death of Ronnie's long-lost daughter, Danielle. Peggy knew she could never stay with a man like that and had to endure the humiliation of her marriage ending before she'd even tossed the bouquet. She probably even beat Ian and Melanie Beale's record for the shortest Walford marriage ever! That didn't stop Archie from trying to win his bride back but Peggy made it clear that he didn't stand a chance. And when his attempts to reconcile didn't work, Archie grew nasty, eventually ousting Peggy out of her beloved pub. But he made one last-ditch effort to win back his bride in a very moving scene - their last one together before Archie was killed. And it looked as though Peggy might just be swayed... But we'll never know what Peggy would have done because just moments later, Archie was murdered after being hit over the head with the famous Queen Victoria bust. And upon hearing that Archie had been murdered at The Vic, Peggy was distraught. But seven years later when talking to Archie's killer - Stacey Branning - Peggy said in typical Mitchell style that Stacey had saved Peggy the job of killing Archie herself! What are your favourite memories of the formidable Peggy Mitchell and the amazing Dame Barbara Windsor? Barbara Windsor, you'll be missed. Rest in peace x Photos: YouTube Word cloud: Angel Noire

It seems like only yesterday we were all eagerly awaiting the beginning of a new decade, and wondering what fabulous things might be coming our way. Well you don't need me to tell you that for many of us, the things we hoped for didn't quite go to plan! It has been an extraordinarily bad, mad year - and one that we hope we shall never see the likes of again. It wasn't just Covid, a lot of people had more than their share of hard luck in lots of other ways. It's just been one of those weird years where nothing seems to go right. When in say fifty or sixty years time, and people look back at this year, they'll see 2020 as being the year where people felt as though they were living in a zombie apocalypse movie; toilet roll was more valuable than gold; supermarket sweep became a reality rather than a TV show; we had to stand outside our grandparents' living room window to talk to them; we had to stand outside the supermarket as though we were waiting to get into a nightclub; Zoom became a key connection to the outside world and not just the name of an ice-lolly; masks were not just for surgeons; there was a pasta famine; it was more likely to spot a UFO than hand sanitizer on a supermarket shelf; 'quarantine,' 'self-isolation,' and 'pandemic' were buzzwords; it took a pandemic for us to show the NHS our appreciation; everything from schools to offices to places of worship were closed; sporting and music events ground to a halt, and as for going on holiday - forget it! 'Home' was very much the order of the day as we were told to stay at home; most of us realized we needed a home office; our kids had to be home-schooled, and we desperately needed companies to make home deliveries. Let's not forget the whole world went banana bread crazy! And in a year that saw more death than we ever thought possible, 2020 started to resemble 2016 when a host of well-loved famous faces sadly passed away. But let's not forget that in the midst of uncertainty and despair, there was some good to come out of a year that saw much hardship and suffering caused primarily by the coronavirus. People started to reevaluate their lives, take a good look at their relationships with family and friends and decide what really mattered. People volunteered their time as best they could to help others. We used the time we were at home to rest, learn something new, exercise more or take up a hobby. We grew to appreciate the people in our lives more. We looked out for people who were vulnerable or alone, whether we knew them or not. Medical staff, supermarket staff, delivery drivers and a whole host of frontline workers became the heroes of the hour and rightly so, rather than the latest attention-seeking 'celebrity' who was famous solely for being famous. And I for one, hope that that will continue. 2020 was a year in which we saw the best and worst in humanity. It's still uncertain what next year will bring. But I'm trying to remain optimistic and hope that next year will bring much better things our way. I know that the normal we once knew may never return and whether that's a good or bad thing - who knows! But I'm keeping everything crossed that things will improve immensely for all of us. Come on, 2021 - show 2020 how it should have been done! Happy new year, everyone. Wishing you all a happier, healthier, and more peaceful 2021 xx Photos: Wix Blog graphics: Angel Noire

Remember, Remember the Fifth of November... Well, right now we're just trying to remember the once long-held traditions of Guy Fawkes Night and trying to work out where they've gone! Those of us who grew up in Britain prior to the millenium will be very familiar with Bonfire/Guy Fawkes/Fireworks Night, and the set of traditions we used to embrace wholeheartedly every year on 5th November. It's a loud, colourful, riotous celebration of the foiling of the Gunpowder Plot that has been around for over 400 years... but is it still going strong? Although 5th November is officially still Bonfire Night, it seems that no one really makes a fuss of the event the way they once did - or at least the way us kids of the eighties remember it. Over the years, it seems as though the popularity of Guy Fawkes Night has fizzled out like a faulty Catherine Wheel. We take a look at memorable traditions and events that heralded the arrival of Bonfire Night. 1. THEMED LESSONS AT SCHOOL The countdown to Bonfire Night began with a series of Bonfire Night themed lessons at primary school. First we'd get to learn about the history of the event as well as understanding who that Guy Fawkes dude was and why there is an event named after him. Then for English, we'd learn to recite the Fifth of November poem (come on - you can't seriously expect us to remember it from the year before) as well as a spot of creative writing where we'd have to come up with a story about Fireworks Night, or we'd have to do an essay about how we were going to celebrate. Arts and crafts would see us making fabulous pieces of artwork to put up around the classroom, and if our school was lucky enough to have one of those dinky little stoves, we might do a spot of Bonfire baking or confectionary making. Toffee apple, anyone? But the most important of all these lessons, was the special class on fireworks safety in which 'Miss' or 'Sir' explained the dos and don'ts of handling fireworks so that our evening would end with us tucked up in bed with yet another cup of cocoa and not in A&E. And we didn't half learn a lot from those lessons: Keep pets indoors; never relight a used firework; stand two arms length away from others when using sparklers... (if only we knew how handy this lesson in social distancing was going to be!) 2. PUBLIC SAFETY INFORMATION Another sign that Bonfire Night was on the way, were all the safety adverts on the telly. If you were a child of the 70s, 80s, or 90s, you might remember those public safety information broadcasts that appeared during the advert breaks, once again highlighting the importance of staying safe while enjoying the fireworks... you know, just in case you weren't paying attention to 'Miss' in class! They may have been a bit alarming, especially for a five year old, but the shock factor pretty much did what it was supposed to and visibly demonstrated to the young ones (and no doubt a few adults!) why it was so important to adhere to the rules. 3. PENNY FOR THE GUY How many of you used to get all crafty by fashioning a dummy or a 'Guy' out of old clothes and scraps of fabric stuffed with newspapers? During the latter part of the twentieth century you knew November had well and truly arrived when you'd see groups of kids wheeling their 'Guy' around in a wheelbarrow, or sat on the street with their fabulous bit of artwork, asking passers-by for a 'penny for the Guy' which would go towards their fireworks-and-sweets fund. But poor old Guy didn't fare too well by the end of the evening, as he was always thrown on top of the bonfire while everyone watched it burn in a rather symbolic gesture. This is a tradition that's pretty much forgotten -in some cases on purpose, as some parents don't like the rather sinister concept of burning an effigy so prefer not to get their children involved in this tradition. Furthermore Halloween - which takes place just a few days before Bonfire Night - has pretty much replaced the November event in the UK with regards to it's celebratory nature, and most youngsters would rather use their time selecting or making a costume than creating a dummy to wheel around in grandad's wonky old wheelbarrow. And in any case these savvy kids know that they can get way more trick or treating than getting a penny for the Guy - which today would have to be at least a quid! 4. BACK GARDEN FIREWORKS Fireworks serve as a reminder of the gunpowder that was stored in the cellar under the House of Lords, and for many of us, our childhood memories of Guy Fawkes Night involved our entire family standing in our back yard, wrapped up warm, while our parents treated us to a mini fireworks display. Remember those selection boxes of chocs we used to get (and still get) at Christmas? Well for Guy Fawkes Night, we got selection boxes of fireworks which we would all huddle around and decide which one we were going to let off first. Oh and let's not forget the packets of sparklers - how else were we going to learn how to write our names? But over the years, these back yard mini extravaganzas have become rare due to issues such as noise, distressed pets, and fears over safety, especially where small children are concerned. It's believed that more people are injured at these small, household events than at properly organized public displays, which is one of the reasons why people prefer to go to these public events. But while the excitement over Bonfire night may have died down over the years, there are still many others who look forward to this night, and for whom the act of letting off fireworks (safely of course) is connected to pure nostalgia as all the childhood, family memories come flooding back. It's also a lot more personal as you're with family, friends and neighbours rather than a bunch of strangers. 5. BONFIRES Even if you didn't rush out and grab a pack of sparklers, and you were too late for the last fireworks selection box, at the very least you had a bonfire in your backyard. You would often invite friends and neighbours and people would sit around the fire, drinking mugs of soup or hot chocolate while cooking sausages and jacket spuds, or toasting marshmallows. And yes, somebody probably would bring out a guitar. It's just too bad it wasn't Slash! But over the years, these domestic bonfire celebrations have become increasingly rare, partly due to the ambiguous nature of the legalities regarding backyard bonfires, and partly because Bonfire Night often falls on a weeknight, when it's often impractical to organize a get-together. 6. FIREWORK DISPLAYS Public firework displays are still being held, and out of all the Bonfire Night traditions, this is one that has probably endured the longest. If you live in a city like London, you'll be lucky to have a balcony much less a backyard! And if you do have a garden, chances are that it won't be big enough for you to set a few incendiaries alight. So this is where firework displays come in handy and provide for a spectacular show with a vibrant atmosphere, lively crowd, music, and refreshments. It sure beats you have to organize that lot yourself and queue up at Tescos! In the eighties and nineties, although thankfully not a regular occurrence, it wasn't unheard of for accidents to have happened at these firework displays. But today due to the tightening up of health and safety measures, these incidents are even rarer, and as a result most people think that these organised events are a better, safer option than private backyard bonfires. 7. BONFIRE GRUB If you're going to have a small gathering in order to celebrate an event, you've got to have a good selection of food, right? And no Bonfire Night celebration would be complete without some tasty morsels or warming liquids to tuck into/slurp. There are some food and drinks that typically used to be served during Bonfire Night celebrations. There were the obligatory sausages, warm bread rolls, jacket potatoes, and soup - which today would probably be something fancy and homemade like roasted butternut squash and chilli, or wild mushroom and truffle. Well back in our day it was just Bachelor's Cup-A-Soup. But we had a wide array of flavours! We would also toast marshmallows on skewers, and gorge on other sweet treats like Bonfire toffee or toffee apples. Then there were regional delicacies like Parkin (Yorkshire and Lancashire) or grey peas and bacon (the Black Country.) And lets not forget hot choccie and spiced apple toddy for warming beverages. But over the years, tastes have changed and much of this classic bonfire fare has given way to American style hamburgers or pizza which these days are much more popular and vastly consumed than... Cup-A-Soup! What childhood memories of Guy Fawkes Night do you have? What are your favourite traditions? Photos: Pixabay and YouTube Word cloud and Blog graphics: Angel Noire

It's 5th November so that can only mean one thing - Guy Fawkes Night! Unfortunately we won't be able to celebrate tonight, but the fella and I hope to have a very small, socially-distanced gathering at the weekend, and I can't wait to show our friends how a traditional Bonfire Night in England is done. Or perhaps I should say used to be done..? It's left me wondering just how much of a big deal folk back in Britain make of this day. Even when I lived in England, the last few years before arriving in America, hardly anyone made a fuss of the fact that it was Bonfire Night. In fact the last public fireworks display I went to was back in 2012. So what's going on - do people not celebrate Bonfire Night anymore? Oh no, this is not another thing we can blame on the pandemic. It seems people have lost their enthusiasm for rockets and Catherine wheels for a while now. I have very fond memories of Guy Fawkes Night when I was a child. The shops would be jampacked with fireworks which didn't stay on the shelves for very long; people would be having bonfires in their gardens and having the neighbours round; over at my grandad's house, my aunts and uncles - who have always been a bunch of big kids - eagerly set off fireworks from a bumper selection box of delights. And at our house, my sister and I were excitedly awaiting the return of our dad from work - as we knew he'd be bringing back at least a couple of packets of sparklers. And because we liked having him home, of course! Mum would make sure we were well wrapped up as we headed out into the garden for the only time we were ever to see our name in lights courtesy of the sparklers. Oh and Mum'd be on stand-by with a bucket of water - just in case! Although I have great memories of celebrating Bonfire Night, I'm well aware that the popularity of this great British event has declined over the years. Part of the reason is concerns over safety; for a long time there have been petitions to ban the sale of fireworks to the general public, and for public fire work displays to be cancelled. And as the world becomes more and more Americanized, Halloween seems to have replaced Guy Fawkes Night as the main autumn event. Furthermore, with just about everyone working longer, more unsociable hours these days (I know I did and still do sometimes!) Bonfire Night has become something people literally don't have the time for - especially if it falls on a weekday. Check out our post on Bonfire Night traditions that we all used to delight in back in the day. Happy Bonfire Night! Photos: See Description GIF: Wix Blog graphics and word cloud: Angel Noire

Halloween is about to descend upon us which means that it's scary movie season again. However for this girl who was brought up on a diet of classic horror, thanks to my dad and my mum's side of the family who got me watching blood-chillingly frightening movies at an age when I had no business to be watching them, every day was pretty much Halloween! Is it any wonder that for years I had to sleep with the light on??? The Poltergeist, Halloween, Carrie, The Exorcist, Rosemary's Baby... I'd seen them all. And as I got older, and we'd go to pick up movies from Blockbuster (damn, I miss Blockbuster!) you could bet your life it'd be something nightmare-inducing whether it was classic horror, suspense, a whodunnit or psychological thriller. And I have to say those are still among my favourite film genres today. I'll leave the sci-fi and fantasy to the fella! There's loads of horror films that I could watch over and over again without getting bored of them. Here's a list of my top five horror flicks. It wasn't easy picking just five and I know there's a couple here that a lot of people might not be familiar with. But I have great memories of watching them the first time round, and there were some parts that scared the hell out of me... which is exactly what a good horror movie is supposed to do! And just in case anyone is wondering why The Texas Chainsaw Massacre isn't on this list, well that's because despite being a great film, it didn't do what it was supposed to and frighten me. Instead it made me laugh. A lot. And hard! 1. PSYCHO Year: 1960 Director: Alfred Hitchcock Country: United States Starring: Anthony Perkins Janet Leigh The film considered to be the Master of Suspense's great masterpiece and the film that made everyone afraid to step into the shower, Psycho turned the big 6-0 this year, and I still remember the very first time I watched this Hitchcock spine chiller. I was probably about eleven, it was a school night, and my sister and I had stayed up with Dad to watch it. It freaked me the hell out - especially the final scene - but Psycho did go on to become one of my fave movies. How The Story Goes... After stealing a huge sum of money from her employer, secretary Marion Crane flees Phoenix in order to go on the run with her boyfriend in the hope that he'll marry her. But overcome with exhaustion and eager to escape the heavy rainstorm, Marion decides to check into the rundown looking Bates Motel for the night. There she meets the owner, the seemingly sweet but slightly odd, Norman Bates, who has an interest in taxidermy and has a rather difficult relationship with his domineering mother. But Marion doesn't realize just how difficult until she decides to take a shower... and when no one hears from her, Marion's very worried sister raises the alarm... 2. THE OMEN Year: 1976 Director: Richard Donner Country: UK & USA Starring: Gregory Peck Lee Remick Billie Whitelaw Harvey Spencer Stephens My dad had had the David Selznor novel as part of his collection of books for years. But I only read it after seeing the film adaptation for The Omen. It freaked me the hell out (Dad, there's a reason why films come with a rating!) but I was incredibly fascinated with the film, and Dad's book came in very handy for explaining the bits I didn't get. And watching The Omen might explain why I've always thought twice about telling off naughty children! How The Story Goes... When the wife of an American diplomat living in London gives birth to a baby boy who is stillborn, husband Robert quickly and secretly adopts another newborn baby in order to spare his wife Katherine any pain; passing off the child as the baby boy she gave birth to. A classic case of 'it seemed like a good idea at the time!' And if they were wondering why baby Damien had such a thick shock of hair, well, there was a good reason for that! But as little Damien grows older, a series of bizarre happenings and tragedies - not to mention Damien's intense fear and hatred of places of worship - causes Robert to become suspicious. When a priest approaches Robert with a terrifying prophecy regarding Damien, Robert is forced to investigate and is horrified to discover the awful truth about both his sons... 3. THE SHINING Year: 1980 Director: Stanley Kubrick Country: USA Starring: Jack Nicholson Shelley Duvall Danny Lloyd Scatman Crowthers "Come and play with us Danny. Come and play..." What is it with horror movies and kids? There's a reason why I never thought identical twin girls dressed the same were cute. And if you need further explanation, all you have to do is watch The Shining. As my dad has always been a Jack Nicholson fan, he naturally loved The Shining and introduced me to it. The first time I watched it, I have to admit I didn't really know what was going on exactly but that didn't stop the film from scaring the bejeezuz out of me! How The Story Goes... When writer and recovering alcoholic Jack Torrance takes on the position of a seasonal caretaker at an isolated hotel in the Colorado Rockies, he sees it as the perfect opportunity to overcome his writer's block. So along with wife Wendy and son Danny the family settle into life at the hotel. But it isn't long before young Danny is plagued by terrifying visions of the hotel's disturbing past. It is the hotel's chef, Dick Hallorann who realizes that like himself, Danny has psychic abilities and can communicate telepathically; an ability known as 'the shining.' Things take a turn for the worse however when Jack, having ghostly visions himself, and is frustrated that his writing is going nowhere, begins to spiral into a psychotic rage and targets his family in a terrifying ordeal... 4. CROWHAVEN FARM Year: 1970 Director: Walter Grauman Country: USA Starring: Hope Lang Paul Burke John Carredine Lisa Eilbacher Now this little known, made-for-TV movie won't be instantly recognizable to a lot of people but it's definitely one of my favourites. Although for years, I thought it was called Craven Hill Farm (no wonder people said they didn't know it. The movie Craven Hill Farm hasn't been made yet!) I must have seen it for the first time back in the eighties because I have memories of watching it in our first family home. As the years have gone by, I sometimes feel as though I have what I now call Crowhaven Syndrome: it's where you're the only person who can sense that something isn't right but no one else will listen or take notice of what you're saying a la Maggie Porter - the movie's heroine. And the moral of the story is always trust your intuition. That and your wife is always right (eh, Mr. D!) How The Story Goes... A married couple, Ben and Maggie Porter, inherit a New England farm, hoping that the fresh start and change of scene might help to patch up their troubled marriage. But tales of supernatural activity and a weird sense of foreboding surrounds Crowhaven Farm. And while Maggie immediately picks up on something not being quite right with the people or the place, Ben takes to life at Crowhaven Farm like a duck to water, ignoring his wife's misgivings, and befriending the locals. It isn't long before the Porters are confronted by supernatural forces and Maggie soon learns who the locals really are... 5. THE DEAD ZONE Year: 1983 Director: David Cronenberg Country: United States Starring: Christopher Walken Brooke Adams Tom Skerrit Martin Sheen Based on the novel of the same name by Stephen King, I remember watching this for the first time with my parents and my sister, and I'd thought about it a lot over the years. I might call it a horror of the non-ghosts and ghouls variety but The Dead Zone also falls under the psychological thriller, sci-fi thriller or political thriller genres. If you watch it, you're sure to find it chilling, sinister, and tragic. How The Story Goes... Teacher Johnny Smith is in a relationship with his colleague, Sarah, and everything is going well until one night, following a date with Sarah, Johnny has an accident while driving home. When he awakes from his coma, he is shocked to discover that not only have years gone by, but Sarah has married and moved on with her life. Making an effort to move on and make up for the lost years, Johnny is unnerved when he discovers that he can see into a person's future through the power of touch. As these premonitions are disturbing, Johnny is quite unsettled by this. But after meeting and shaking hands with political candidate Greg Stillson, Johnny realizes the danger presented by the candidate should he be successful, so Johnny takes it upon himself to kill Stillson... Which scary movies do you like best? Photos: YouTube Word Cloud: Nostalgia Pie

Every decade is defined by key interior design trends - and the fun and funky seventies were no different. Ever looked at a photo of a room decorated in the 1970s and thought 'Ooh, that's so seventies?' Well, that's because er, it was! When it came to home decor, the seventies had a style that was all of it's own - even though a lot of those trends were borrowed from previous decades. But the seventies have made these home fashion features their own, and they have since become synonymous with that decade. There were a lot of contradictions among the key styles and trends of the seventies. It may have been known as the decade of glitz, glitter and disco, but there was also a move towards nature and all that was organic and earthy which was reflected in the colour palettes that were largely in fashion at the time. There were however also a great deal of bright yellows, reds and oranges, Not to mention plastics. See - contradictions! And indeed there was a variety of materials and textures in the seventies' home: wood (and lots of it) plastics (especially within a bright colour scheme) corduroy, velvet, faux fur, cork, coir, wool, rattan, glass, leather, ceramic, exposed brickwork, stone... more textures than a baby's activity play mat! So aside from having a distinct colour scheme, the seventies home was also a very textural one. It's interesting to note that despite the use of 'hard' natural materials that were in-line with the whole return to nature ethos - coir, jute, rattan, stone, wood etc. - there was also the need for 'soft,' for luxury and comfort as reflected in the use of velvet, fur, wool, corduroy, and shag rugs and carpets. And as you'll soon see, it would appear that unless you were especially house proud, the seventies home may well have been a bit of a dustbowl! But a very charming one! We take a look at key trends and just some of things that you had to have in your home during the seventies. 1. SHAG PILE Isn't it funny how times change? Today many people opt not to have wall-to-wall carpets fitted in their home due to the practicalities of hardwood/laminate floors and the increase in allergies. But back in the seventies only a shag would do (of course we're talking about the flooring!) and carpets had to be shaggier than all of Slade's barnets put together! Sure, shag piles shed and were harder to keep clean than the bottom of a birdcage, but no one seemed to care that much. What was a bit shedding and dirt compared to that cozy look and soft underfoot feeling? And the more deeper the pile the more luxurious the look - especially if it was all white. And for those who couldn't do wall-to wall carpet, they made do with a shag pile rug instead. 2. FRINGING Fringing and tassels were in during the 1970s, and not just for clothing but in home décor too. Fringing was found on the edges of blankets, lampshades, bedspreads, rugs, wallhangings, window dressing and around the base of couches. 3. ANIMAL FABRICS & PRINTS The hunting lodge look was a very big trend in the 1970s. There was an abundance of hides and animal prints - anything from cow hide to zebra print to leopard print. These prints and pelts were often mixed and matched to the point where KISS or Del Boy would have been proud! It gave the room an edgy yet cosy look and feel. It's a style that's still in use today except that the overall look is toned down and all the furs and skins are faux and completely cruelty-free - and thank goodness for that! 4. FLOCK WALLPAPER Velvet flock wallpaper was definitely the in-thing in a lot of British homes back in the seventies, and this trend carried on until around the mid-eighties. Most of us who grew up during this time will probably remember having flock covered walls in our hallway or sitting rooms, or came across it in someone else's house. It came in a range of colours but flock wall coverings in brown, burgundy or gold were especially popular. The Warrenders' living room in Just Good Friends (YouTube) It's still used today but whereas nowadays, people would put up flock wallpaper to highlight an accent wall, people in the seventies would use it to highlight an entire room - and they say the eighties were the decade of excess! But it was very popular at that time due to it's luxurious feel and that touch of elegance. But no doubt, as with that other great dust collector, shag pile carpets, people probably look back and think, "yeah, that was probably a bit much!" But it wasn't just flock wallpaper that people were into - textured walls in general were very much the in thing during the seventies: foil, textured plaster, and everyone's favourite, woodchip paper! 5. THAT 1970S EARTHY COLOUR PALETTE When people think about popular colours of the 1970s, avocado green immediately comes to mind. It's believed that it's popularity was due not just to the increase in consumption of the creamy, pear-shaped fruit with the big pit (and you thought you were starting a trend with your avo on toast!) but also because of a desire to return to nature and concern over the environment. But avocado green wasn't the only star in the earthy tone colour palette. Harvest gold was also a pretty strong contender, closely followed by burnt umber, terracotta, chocolate brown and beige. These colours generally took over the décor of the 1970s with regards to kitchen appliances, soft furnishings, walls and flooring, furniture and paintwork. If done correctly, rooms could look quite striking with this colour scheme. But what often happened was avocado green battling it out with harvest gold for supremacy which could be a bit much for the more mainstream homeowner. By the end of the decade this earthy tone palette declined in popularity, and then the eighties rebelled and got all pastel and neon on us! Other popular colour palettes at the time included the all brown look which was a bit drab but was still very much en vogue; and the bright colour scheme for those who wanted their homes to ooze colour with its oranges, yellows, reds and greens. An indication as to what the bright 1970s home looked like ( Brussels Atomium Museum, Pixabay) And just in case you're wondering, yes - the colours of the Nostalgia Pie site are absolutely based on the 1970s earthy colour palette! 6. WICKER FURNITURE Many people in the seventies were fans of the garden-furniture-indoors look, and rattan furniture was a common feature in most people's homes. Bedframes, lampshades, coffee tables, armchairs, mirror frames... it was probably just the cooker that wasn't made of rattan! Although it was sometimes painted white, rattan, which was light yet durable, was very much in keeping in line with the 'back to nature' trend and gave the home that organic, natural feel. The down side of wicker is that it did gather dust and wasn't the easiest of materials to clean. 7. WOOD PANELING Angel Noire Yep, you've guessed it - this was all down to the brown and natural look being in. And what could be more brown and natural than... wood! Although ironically the material used to make the panels wasn't always real hard wood but rather plywood or fiberboard which was made to closely resemble real wood. One of the advantages about having wood panelled walls was that you didn't have to fret over what paint colours to choose. However nowadays modern-day homeowners sometimes paint over their wood panelled walls to get away from what is sometimes perceived to be a rather dated look. 8. DROP-DOWN LIVING ROOMS Drop-down living rooms are always that aspect of 1970s home decor that makes everyone go, "Oh yeah - I remember that! The more eagle-eyed among us, when watching films and TV shows from the 1970s, would be aware that a lot of the houses featured what could be described as drop-down living rooms. This is where the floor of the room was at different height levels. These were more commonly known as 'step-down' or 'sunken' living rooms. The two terms are often used interchangeably but a lot of people regarded a 'step-down' living room as one where there are a few steps leading from the entry i.e. - the hallway - to the living area; whereas a 'sunken' living room was generally a pit with seating in the sunken part of the floor, usually in the centre of the room. The point of such a set up was to create different spaces within a room without the need for walls. And the conversation pit of the sunken lounge created a feeling of luxury, coziness, and intimacy. This was the kind of arrangement for people who wanted to socialize rather than just watch the telly. They were actually first created in the 1920s by architect Bruce Goff and became a feature in clubs throughout the fifties and sixties (not to mention certain airports) but they took off in a big way as part of home interiors in the seventies. There are some homes where step-down/sunken living rooms still exist but on the whole they are pretty much out of fashion (except for us retro lovers) and they've also been considered impractical - not to mention a bit of a hazard! 9. GEOMETRIC DESIGNS Does anything scream seventies home interiors quite like those big bold geometric designs? (And yes, many of them can be found right here on Nostalgia Pie!) There was pattern, there was colour, and there was lots of it! The use of geometric designs was to make an impact, and this was a time when homeowners began experimenting with various patterns - and by the looks of things it sometimes seemed that the more clashing the better! These bold geometric prints could be found on walls, floors, soft furnishings, crockery... oh and tiles! Any surface that could be tiled, would be - including the sides of the bath! Though that was still better than carpet! Those geometric designs are still favoured by those who love that retro seventies look, although nowadays it's used much more sparingly and is used to accentuate not overtake! 10. VELVET Velvet was a very popular fabric back in the 1970s, especially crushed velvet. It was absolutely everywhere: couches, curtains, cushion covers, wall hangings... And when people weren't adorning their homes with it, they were wearing it! As you can probably tell, 1970s homeowners were big fans of materials that seemed to collect dust like no one's business. But we still love that seventies home decor and style. What did you like best about 1970s home interiors? What would you like to see make a comeback? Photos: Pixabay, Youtube, Unsplash and Angel's own. Word cloud: Angel Noire.

Everyone who knows me that I have a special affinity with the seventies. I love so much about that decade. But admittedly the seventies wood panelling in certain rooms in my house might be a bit much even for me! The previous owners had painted over the wood-panelled walls in the dining room, but in my kitchen, the seventies is very much alive and well, and it really does make the place look dated - and not necessarily in a good way. It's left me with something of a dilemma because on the one hand, as much as I love the seventies, I don't feel the full-on wood panel look is really me. But on the other, I feel as though I need to keep it as it is because of well, that seventies vibe! There's also a bit of nostalgia in the sense that it reminds me of my grandfather's home, where he had a wood-panelled section in the living room. The difference was that his seemed to be a more natural looking wood and it looked a lot better than the faux wood panels that I have here. He used to pin his Christmas cards to that section every year, so whenever I see a wood-panelled wall, it reminds me of my grandfather, his home and my childhood. So the panels shall stay until we make up our minds about what we want to do. But it did get me thinking about houses in the 1970s and common key elements in terms of furniture and décor that existed around that time. Check out our upcoming post That Seventies' House to see what no home in the 1970s was complete without. Photos and word cloud: Angel Noire

It has been announced that Tim Robards who plays Neighbours' Pierce Grayson has quit the show due to family commitments. Although the character was due to be leaving Ramsay Street in the foreseeable future anyway, they've decided to call in a new actor, Don Hany, to take over the role and complete Pierce's storyline, rather than write out the character immediately. It's not the first time that Neighbours - or other soaps for that matter - have had to recast a main character. But while it's quite normal for child actors to be recast as the character they portray gets older, it's not as common to recast adult members of the main cast. Sometimes it's worked to great effect - while at other times it's been a complete disaster. The bottom line is that no one knows how audiences are going to react to a character with a new head until it actually happens! Viewers are concerned as to whether or not the new actor will play the role in the same way as their predecessor; if the character will undergo a massive personality transformation, and the big question... will their screen family notice that a member of their family now has a new head, new accent and is six inches taller???? Despite all those concerns, it's odd to believe that on the whole, recasts usually do work. Initial reservations aside, viewers eventually forget that the character was originally played by a different actor, and in some cases the actor who has taken over the role has proved to be so successful that audiences are glad that the old actor moved on to other things! For our list of five recasts that worked out well, we were struggling to limit it to just five, so it's proof that sometimes a change can be a good thing. We take a look at some of the more successful recasts in soap history. 1. Pippa Fletcher Played by: Vanessa Downing (1988-90) Debra Lawrance (1990-2009) Vanessa Downing and Debra Lawrance as Home and Away's Pippa When Home and Away first began, the role of Summer Bay supermum Pippa Fletcher was played by blonde, curly-haired Vanessa Downing. So imagine our surprise when we tuned into watch Home and Away as per usual, and in the opening credits stood an auburn haired lady near the rose bushes where Pippa normally appeared. Well this lady was Pippa - the new Pippa played by Debra Lawrance. Most UK viewers were unaware that Vanessa Downing had left Home and Away and the part of Pippa had been recast. Once the shock had worn off, viewers saw that Debra did an excellent job of playing Pippa and effortlessly seemed to pick up where Vanessa had left off which isn't something that a lot of actors are able to do. So viewers felt that it was the same character - but with a brand new face! There was perhaps only a slight difference in the way the two Pippas were portrayed: Downing's Pippa was a little more trendy and fun-loving, whereas Lawrance's was more earth mother. But both actresses got the compassionate, sensitive and loving side of Summer Bay's favourite foster mum just right. Although viewers were sorry to see Vanessa go, in many ways it seemed to make sense because although she had great chemistry with Roger Oakley who played her screen husband Tom, it would have been hard to imagine her with new on-screen husband, Michael Ross, played by Dennis Coard. Dennis and Debra had a fabulous connection and played Mr. and Mrs. Ross incredibly well. So well in fact, that the actors who played them actually got hitched in real life and are still happily married today with two children. Both Debra and Vanessa did such an excellent job of playing Pippa that we couldn't possibly say who played the role better, and the recasting of this character is a great example of how recasts can be a complete success. 2. Peggy Mitchell Played by: Jo Warne (1991) Barbara Windsor (1994-2010, 2013-2016) Jo Warne and Barbara Windsor as EastEnders' Peggy Mitchell The late actress Jo Warne had originally played the role of Phil and Grant's mum Peggy for around ten episodes in the early nineties. When they decided to bring back the character three years later on a more permanent basis, the role was given to Barbara Windsor. Although Barbara was a very well established actress, more often than not, people thought of her purely as the girl from the Carry On films. But EastEnders changed all that, with Windsor helping to make Peggy Mitchell one of the most iconic characters on the Square - and she really gave Angie Watts a run for her money in the best-loved landlady stakes! When Jo Warne played Peggy, the character had a toughness to her (well, she was a Mitchell!) but you could see that her life revolved around her boys and she was quite mumsy: she never really spent much time or money on herself. But when Barbara Windsor took on the role, she didn't want Peggy to be a downtrodden, frumpy mum in cheap clothing who was always running around after her wayward sons. And it was on her suggestion that Peggy was the polished, coiffed queen of The Vic that viewers grew to know and love. Oh and she was feisty - nobody got the better of Peggy and those slaps she used to dish out were legendary! Peggy may have been tiny but she was the only person who could put the fear of God into those two big, burley Mitchell brothers. Who played Peggy best? Jo Warne did a very good job in her brief portrayal of Peggy Mitchell in the early days, but Barbara Windsor was born to play the role of the Mitchell matriarch and she did so to perfection. Now get outta my pub! 3. Scott Robinson Played by: Darius Perkins (1985) Jason Donovan (1986-1989) Darius Perkins and Jason Donovan as Scott Robinson in Neighbours If ever there was an example of a successful-beyond-belief recast, then this would be it! This recast was so successful, it gave legendary status both to the character Scott Robinson, and also to Jason Donovan who was the second actor to play him. When Neighbours first began in 1985, the role of Jim Robinson's youngest son was played by the late Darius Perkins. Then the following year, viewers saw this kid with a blond mullet lounging around the Robinson's home who was apparently the new Scott Robinson. "They could have at least picked an actor who looked a lot like the last one," most of us thought, and believed this recast to be highly unsuccessful. Ooh, how wrong we were! The new actor, Jason Donovan, although quite well known in Australia, was not familiar to British audiences, but his stunning good looks soon caught everyone's attention... and it wasn't long before the name Jason Donovan was on everyone's lips. Not only did Jason make the role his own, propelling Scott Robinson into the realm of soap legends, but Mr. Donovan became something of an icon and a teen heart-throb himself. Was there a kid in eighties' and nineties' Britain and Australia who didn't know who Jason Donovan was? Scott's chemistry with his on-screen wife, Charlene played by Kylie Minogue (which famously spilled over into real-life) was off the scale! No one else could have played Ramsay Street's iconic couple quite like Jason and Kylie did, and even today they are one of the most well-remembered of all the couples in the Aussie soap - even among viewers who were born long-after Scott and Charlene had left Erinsborough. The reason why the role of Scott Robinson was recast is unclear although it was speculated that issues had arisen between Perkins and Neighbours bosses. And there's no doubt that Darius Perkins did a great job in playing Scott - hence why it took the audience a while to warm to the new Scott - but it was Donovan who took the character to another level and made Scott Robinson the iconic character that he is. 4. Steven Carrington Played by: Al Corely (1980, 1991) Jack Coleman (1984-1990) Al Corley and Jack Coleman as Steven Carrington in Dynasty Steven Carrington is considered an iconic character as he was one of the few openly gay TV characters at a time when TV generally steered clear of introducing gay characters - and actors who were gay in real-life usually kept quiet about their sexuality. So the role of Steven Carrington was something of a breakthrough. When the soap first began, Blake Carrington's younger son Steven was played by Al Corely for two seasons. Then Al decided to leave because he wasn't happy with the direction the character was going in, so Steven was written out in a storyline which saw him go missing in a helicopter crash. When he was eventually found two years later in a hospital after having reconstructive facial surgery, he was played by Jack Coleman, who continued to play Steven until the soap was axed in 1990. However the role of Steven Carrington went back to being played by Al Corley during Dynasty: The Reunion in 1991 when Coleman was unavailable due to working on other projects. Fans of the soap opera set in Colorado, may have a 'favourite' Steven but we think both actors did a great job in playing the conflicted Carrington. 5. Sam Mitchell Played by: Danniella Westbrook (1990-1993, 1995-96, 2009-2010, 2016) Kim Medcalf (2003-2005) Dannielle Westbrook and Kim Medcalf as Sam Mitchell in EastEnders Whenever people think of actress Danniella Westbrook, they often think of her EastEnders character Sam Mitchell, and the Mitchell's baby sister had been played by Westbrook since she appeared on the Square back in 1990. Westbrook had made guest appearances since leaving the cast as a regular character, but when bosses decided to bring back Sam in 2002 as a main character again, they shocked fans by not only recasting the character but by having her played by a relatively unknown actress, Kim Medcalf. Because most viewers were unfamiliar with Medcalf, they didn't know quite what she would be like in the role of Sam. Furthermore nobody could imagine Sam Mitchell being played by anyone other than Danniella Westbrook. Surely this was a recipe for disaster! Well actually it wasn't! Medcalf could easily have copied Westbrook's representation of princessy, spoilt, whiney Sam. And even though the new Sam was still a devious man-eating minx, she was more sophisticated seductress to Westbrook's teenage temptress. Medcalf's portrayal was a little edgier and more mature. This Sam was more determined and eager to prove that she was as tough as her older brothers. It was Medcalf who played Sam during the Who Killed Den plot - one of the biggest storylines in the soap's history, and she gave an outstanding performance as the tormented and guilt-ridden Mitchell for her role in the murder of the iconic pub landlord. Kim Medcalf decided to leave the show in 2005 when Sam went on the run. Since then the Mitchell sister has made a few brief returns to Walford where she has always been played by the original actress Danniella Westbrook... although fans still want to see Medcalf return. Both actresses brought something different to the table with regards to playing Sam Mitchell. Danniella Westbrook will always be closely associated with the role that made her a household name in Britain. But nobody could ever fault Kim Medcalf's perfect portrayal of the Mitchell sister. Which soap recast do you think was a complete success? Photos: YouTube Word cloud: Angel Noire

The second part of our look into one of the biggest benefit concerts ever - Live Aid! Queen: Royalty that rocked! When the band chose to call themselves Queen, they must have caught a glimpse into the future and knew that one day they would be ruling Britain. They may only have reigned for around twenty minutes but it was enough to consolidate their position as rock royalty forever. All hail the new Queen! Queen was a very late addition to the set, so late in fact they barely had time to rehearse. Many thought their performance would be a flop. But it was the complete opposite. By far! If Wembley Stadium had had a roof, forget raising the roof; Queen's electrifying performance would've blitzed it to pieces. Not only was it the highlight of the night, but Queen's performance at Live Aid has gone down as one of the best musical performances in history. Hardly anyone talks about Live Aid without mentioning that iconic performance, which included their hits Bohemian Rhapsody, Hammer to Fall, ending with We Are The Champions. There are people born long after 1985 who know all about the day Queen rocked Live Aid, and of course this performance features heavily in the film Bohemian Rhapsody. What's the betting that come 2085, people will still be hailing Queen's Live aid set as the best musical performance ever? It'll be all right on the night! Live Aid was in the days before the mighty internet and technology as we know it - and have it - today. To have a live dual-venue, transatlantic concert with a large-scale satellite link-up that was widely televised around the world with the then-existing technology and resources was wildly ambitious. And credit where credit is due - the organizers managed to pull it off successfully for the most part. But technical limitations combined with the fact that it was broadcast live meant that things weren't alway all right on the night... Mick Jagger and David Bowie were due to perform a transatlantic duet, with each artist in on either side of the pond. But due to problems with synchronisation which couldn't be fixed, that idea was scrapped and instead Jagger and Bowie filmed a video clip of Dancing in the Street which was shown on screens at both stadiums. Paul McCartney had technical difficulties when his mic failed to work for the first two minutes of his performance of Let It Be. Technical issues and a lack of synchronisation meant that the BBC had to omit the Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young performance from their broadcast. MTV provided a separate US feed for cable viewers, broadcast in stereo, and accessible for those with stereo televisions. At the time, before Multichannel television sound was enacted nationwide, very few televisions reproduced stereo signals and few television stations were able to broadcast in stereo. The BBC ran the telecast free of commercials but American broadcasts included commercials. This meant that the American viewing public missed out on performances that were going on during the commercial breaks. Duran Duran, who were playing at Philadelphia, gave a very energetic performance that got the crowd jumping... but it was one little off-key note towards the end of View To A Kill, as singer Simon Le Bon attempted a falsetto, that their set is remembered for all these years later. Whole Lotta bother! It wasn't just Queen's performance that was the most memorable that night. Rock giants Led Zeppelin also put on a show in Philadelphia that no one will ever forget. Sadly it was all for the wrong reasons... Zeppelin fans were thrilled when it was revealed that the band would be reuniting after the sad passing of their drummer John Bonham to play Live Aid. Along with session drummer Tony Thompson, Led Zeppelin were also going to be joined by Genesis drummer, Phil Collins who would be flying in from London after his Wembley performance. Two lots of musical heavyweights sharing the stage... what could possible go wrong? Well a lot actually. Fans were mortified that the performance they'd longed to see was everything that the Queen performance was not. The band appeared under-rehearsed; Robert Plant's vocals sounded rough; Jimmy Page's guitar was out of tune, and he even appeared to be having a fight with a mic stand! It also led to a spat between Page and Collins as each party blamed the other for the abysmal performance. Page felt that Collins didn't really know the numbers and that his drumming threw everybody off-course. Collins believed that the performance was a train wreck from the start, and that he wanted to walk off but didn't want to be the talk of the tabloids so just grinned and bore it. Furthermore he implied that Page had an issue with him being there because he felt that while Plant was happy for Collins to be there, Page was not. No worries, Phil - we were glad you were there. And you can take pride in being the only musician to perform live at both venues! What Live Aid Achieved Live Aid raised a total of $127 million either directly or indirectly for famine relief. Furthermore it created awareness around the world of the plight of certain African nations, and the publicity encouraged western nations to produce enough surplus grain to end the hunger crisis in Africa. There was also a vibe that went back to an earlier time - the sixties: a more carefree time intermingled with a sense of having a social conscience, which was perfectly summed by singer Joan Baez's "This is your Woodstock" statement as she opened up the show in Philadelphia. Live Aid proved to be a surreal yet tender moment of idealism, realism and altruism. Everyone became more aware of what was going on in the world around them, and it made people less selfish and more giving: businesses held collections; schools began fundraising, and people generally developed a sense of compassion and a desire to make the world a better place. And although it had never been the aim, many of the artists - all of whom had performed for free - found that their Live Aid appearance had been great for them on a professional level. That thrilling Live Aid performance had given Queen something of a boost, U2's own performance had also propelled them to the next level; and the event also proved to be a big deal for the hip-hop genre. There were many mainstream radio stations in the mid-eighties that were not keen on playing rap and hip-hop. But that day in July, amidst a sea of rock bands, Run DMC took to the stage in Philadelphia with no band or instruments - just DJ Jam Master Jay with his two turntables! And the Queens' rappers did a great job of representing for the hip-hop community. Controversies For all of the great things that Live Aid achieved, there were also sadly some flaws. One of the complaints that dogged the event was the distinct lack of diversity, and as the date for the event drew nearer there was a mad rush to add more black performers. Concert promoter Bill Graham said that big name black artists had been approached to appear at Live Aid, many of them, including Diana Ross, Prince, and Michael Jackson declined the request to perform live, although Prince, as well as Kool and the Gang did contribute videos. But other artists, including Dionne Warwick, said they’d never been asked at all. Black British and American artists including Sade; The Four Tops; Tina Turner; Run DMC; Teddy Pendergrass; Ashford and Simpson, and Patti LaBelle appeared among others but it was considered a poor effort. In an interview with the Independent, Midge Ure said: “After the concert, we were lambasted for not having enough Black artists on the bill. It became this anti-colonial diatribe: ‘You whites, telling us poor Black guys what to do.' It was unfair but it happened.” Andy Kershaw, one of the Live Aid hosts also criticized the organisers for failing to understand that for an event that was dedicated to highlighting Africa and African nations, they totally overlooked the idea of including at least one African artist as part of Live Aid's line-up. And Kershaw wasn't the only one who noticed the absence of African performers, and it has been argued over the years that failing to invite any African artists to perform demonstrated something of a Western superiority complex. And there was more to come even after the concert was over. A negative long-lasting impact of Live Aid remains a far greater source of controversy - the question of how the money was used; a debate that has been raging on for years. In 1986, SPIN magazine ran a story claiming that not all the aid money raised had gone to the famine victims as intended. Some of it had been distributed to various aid agencies but a lot of it, the article claimed, had been intercepted by corrupt government officials, and that the country's dictator Mengistu had used the money to buy arms from Russia and to build up the army - a claim Geldof vehemently denies and has always defended Live Aid's use of funds. There was even a widespread belief that a lot of the food hadn't reached the starving. A great deal had either been left to rot along the docks or Mengistu had used the food to lure people into camps, allowing his regime to use brute force to relocate thousands of Ethiopians. Live Aid Legacy The legacy of Live Aid has been debated since the initiative began all those years ago. On the one hand it highlighted problems in other parts of the world, and called upon the more fortunate in society to lend a helping hand. Live Aid was also the blueprint for the ensuing high-profile musical benefits for various causes throughout the years. Twenty years later in 2005, Geldof staged Live 8, aimed at persuading G8 leaders to cancel the debts of African nations and create fairer trade laws. Live Aid also further developed the notion of 'celeb culture' in getting celebrities to promote and raise funds for worthy causes, and also the 'aid culture' - the concept of developed nations raising and donating funds to more impoverished countries. Both concepts are not without its accomplishments and drawbacks. Whether or not Live Aid was a complete success depends on the individual and how much the initiative achieved for combating famine in Ethiopia and other African regions. But if we view Live Aid as a concert and not just as a fundraiser, then it's success rate is beyond phenomenal. A very ambitious event that was the first of its kind - and in many ways was ahead of its time - that was managed to be pulled off with great success (with a few minor hitches!) People of all walks of life coming together with the common goal of helping those in need combined with legendary acts; awesome music, and great times that will leave a lasting and poignant memory in people's minds for at least another thirty five years... Photos: YouTube Word cloud: Angel Noire Banners: Angel Noire

If Charles and Di attended an event together, then you know it was a long time ago! Those famous opening words, spoken thirty five years ago by British broadcaster Richard Skinner, were heard all around the world on 13th July 1985 as the biggest, grandest and most ambitious of benefit concerts in the history of benefit concerts began, with rockers Status Quo being the first act on stage to perform. What was this Live Aid about? Tagged as the 'Global Jukebox,' Live Aid was a benefit concert held in the summer of 1985 as part of an ongoing musical fundraising scheme, held in order to raise money for relief of the famine in Ethiopia. The concert was the brainchild of Boomtown Rat Sir Bob Geldof and Ultravox's Midge Ure (Ohhhhhhhhhh Viennaaaaaaaaaa!) And they organized that huge-scale event in just ten short weeks. The show's organizers: Bob Geldof and Midge Ure So this wasn't held at the village church hall, then! Last time we checked, Wembley Stadium was no church hall! And actually this event was held on the same day at two locations. And they weren't around the corner either! The European part of Live Aid was held at the world famous Wembley Stadium in London, and was attended by around 72,000 pop and rock fans. Whereas across the Atlantic, that's right the Atlantic, in John F. Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, US, nearly 90,000 fans were eagerly awaiting performances by their musical idols. And let's not forget that on that same day, many other musical events - inspired by the initiative - were held in other countries across the world: Canada; the Soviet Union; Australia; Japan; Yugoslavia; Austria and West Germany. Clips from these other international musical events were shown on the big screens at Wembley and Philadelphia. At the time, the scale of Live Aid's satellite link-ups and television broadcasts was one of the largest EVER!!! It's believed that an estimated audience of 1.9 billion, across 150 countries, watched the live broadcast. Back then that was almost half the world's population. So how did the idea for Live Aid come about? Well everyone knows about Sir Bob and Midge Ure being key players and the organizers in the event. But a lot of people don't know that Michael Buerk and Boy George also played pivotal roles in all of this. You mean the news reporter and the bloke from Culture Club? How? Many of us who lived throughout the mid-eighties will remember all those horrific images we saw on TV of the famine in Ethiopia. The BBC News team were among the first to highlight the plight of the people in Ethiopia, and it was Michael Buerk's reports in the autumn of 1984 that broadcasted devastating images of people starving to death in Ethiopia to a horrified nation in the UK, in what Buerk described as 'the closest thing to hell on Earth." Deeply shocked by what they had seen, the British public started to dig deep into their pockets in order to donate to humanitarian aid organizations. The now Sir Bob and his then wife, Paula Yates, had also seen the reports on the Six O' Clock News, with Sir Bob saying that Paula had been in tears. Motivated to do something about the crisis, Sir Bob decided to call upon his old mate Midge Ure with whom he had previously done some charity work. So together they started to organize Live Aid? No! Together they started to organize Band Aid! When Geldof and Ure got together in the autumn of 1984, they quickly co-wrote a song of which the proceeds from sales would go towards the famine relief. Then they contacted their mates in the music industry and asked them to record the single under the name Band Aid. It's been well-documented that when it came to getting people to sing on the track, Geldof was very persistent and didn't take no for an answer. As Midge Ure explained in the BBC documentary Against All Odds: The Making of Live Aid: "I was the producer, the guy dealing with the music. He was the guy rounding up the crowd." And so began Do They Know It's Christmas? - the song where Bono had the best line and has since been played every Christmas without fail! For us eighties' kids, it was very exciting as we'd never seen a collaboration like this before which was like a who's who of eighties pop: Wham! Bananarama, Paul Young, Spandau Ballet, Kool and the Gang, Culture Club... the list went on. We had got a glimpse of Bob and Midge's phone books - and we were dead jealous! The song became a smash hit and unsurprisingly, was the Christmas number one that year, staying at the top spot for five weeks. But more importantly it raised around nine million pounds, and ultimately paved the way for Live Aid. So after they had a hit single, they decided on a sell-out concert! That's right. And funnily enough the idea to hold a concert to raise more funds for Ethiopia actually came from Culture Club's Boy George, who had been part of Band Aid. After recording Do They Know It's Christmas? Boy George went on tour with Culture Club, and on the final night of the tour in Wembley, fans saw some of the other members of Band Aid join Culture Club onstage to perform Do They Know It's Christmas? Totally moved by the performance, Boy George told Geldof that they should consider organising a one-off fundraiser concert. And so it began... But if Boy George thought Bob was considering a two-hour long gig for an audience of three thousand or so, he was very much mistaken! Bob had in his mind an idea for a dual venue concert, where they would continuously flick to either side of the Atlantic throughout the concert, and at first it seemed that, aside from Wembley, the other likely venue was going to be Madison Square Gardens in New York, although they eventually secured John F. Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia. And one by one, Bob's music industry mates agreed to perform - mainly because once again, Bob was not giving them the option of saying no! The Highlights Broadcast on the BBC, and on ABC and MTV in America, the fact that people are still talking fondly about the Live Aid gig proves that there were many great moments throughout the show, starting with Status Quo's very energetic opening to performances by musical heavyweights such as The Who, Tina Turner, George Michael, Mick Jagger and Paul McCartney - to name just a few - to that great grand finale on stage where they performed Do They Know It's Christmas? which looked a lot like a fun karaoke night at the local pub with all your mates - but sounded a million times better. How many times have you sang karaoke with David Bowie, Bono, Freddie Mercury, and Elton John? Over seventy five artists took part, not only across the two main venues but at the other international locations too. What was also amazing were Phil Collins' appearances at both the Wembley and Philadelphia venues. That's right - straight after collaborating on stage with Sting, Phil made it across to America via Concord.. and Noel Edmonds' helicopter! How rock n' roll can you get! And let's not forget that Queen performance... Check out the second part of our post The Day The Music Changed The World: 35 Years since Live Aid Photos: YouTube Word Cloud: Angel Noire Banners: Angel Noire

Forget the day the music died. This was the Day Music Changed The World... Well music and mullets! My mate Pancakes recently referred to me as a 'music buff'. Well I don't know about that but I do know that I love my music - especially live music; going to gigs and seeing my favourite bands play. That is why I'm so annoyed at having missed out on what many of us consider to be the greatest musical event to have taken place EVER - Live Aid!!! It happened thirty five years ago - and it was all for a good cause.... '35' very much seems to be the magic number for a lot of things this year. Both Neighbours and EastEnders have celebrated their thirty-fifth anniversaries; Hollywood megastar, Keira Knightly, who looks as though she drinks from the fountain of eternal youth, turned thirty five this year; the world's first successful artificial heart transplant happened back in 1985... And then there was Live Aid... I didn't miss this musical extravaganza entirely - I did get to watch Live Aid on the telly after all! Pretty much all day in fact! But of course at the time I was far too young to understand what a big deal this benefit concert was - an event held in order to raise money for the famine in Africa. I just thought it was some kind of all day Top of the Pops with a whole bunch of my fave artists. I didn't realise that via my TV set, I was witnessing musical history in the making, so I really do envy all those people who actually got to be there and experience everything for real. But then having said that - would this heatwave-hating girl have been able to stand out in the hot sun all day in that mammoth crowd? The people who were there have described the intense heat; sitting in traffic for what seemed liked eternity; feeling crushed by the crowd; dodgy bogs that weren't all in working order, and warm cans of extortionately priced coke... I more than likely would have been one of those people who had to be carried out of the crowd - but I'd still like to have been there! My memories of Live Aid are quite hazy. I just remember it being a Saturday and I was at home with my mum watching pop act after pop act appear on screen. I very much remember Paul Young being there as well as Nik Kershaw (or as my little sister called him - Nik Kassaw!) What I didn't know was that the European part of the event was being held in Wembley - the place we would be moving to less than a decade later. What I also didn't know was that my uncle was just down the road watching the event while feasting on fish and chips as well as kebabs - and didn't think to invite me! Then Dad came home in the evening, and being a pop and rock fan himself, settled down to watch the evening performances. Wouldn't It Be Good to see Nik Kershaw on stage again? It's too bad that my infant school self was too young to understand or appreciate certain key events at Live Aid. I didn't realise how awesome it was that Phil Collins was the only artist to appear at both the Wembley and Philadelphia venues; that because of Live Aid, bands who had previously disbanded, reunited once again. I didn't understand the furor over Led Zeppelin's performance - for which a hardworking Phil Collins who made a whole lotta effort was unfairly blamed (I'm a Led Zeppelin fan but seriously - LEAVE PHIL ALONE!!!) And I didn't know anything about Duran Duran's bum-note scandal! Another thing I was too young to appreciate was that for just over twenty one minutes, Britain was ruled by a new reigning monarch (wonder what Charles and Di - who were in attendance - made of that!) I'm not able to recall that iconic Queen performance. As someone who grew up listening to Queen, why it took the movie Bohemian Rhapsody to bring it to my attention again, I have no idea. Neither Mr. D nor I remembered this performance so we checked it out for the first time in years and were totally blown away by it. We didn't know the story behind Queen's appearance at Live Aid: that they hadn't performed together in years; had fallen out, and were a very late addition to the event. So late in fact, that they didn't have much rehearsal time but still managed to steal the show and give a performance that has gone down in music history. We will rock you, indeed! But why no Mercury and Bowie Under Pressure duet? Hmmm... did the organizers miss a trick there??? But I have to say that after watching Live Aid, I never really gave the event much thought. I knew what it was; I'd seen it on the telly, and whenever people mentioned it, I felt I had something to add to the conversation but it wasn't until the release of Bohemian Rhapsody - the movie not the track - that I started watching the footage and reading articles about Live Aid and I realized just how many gaps there were in my memory (well I was only little) and that I had been unaware of information and speculation (mostly behind the scenes) that seemed to be common knowledge to a lot of other people. Though what I still don't get is how one of the biggest names in music, Cher, did not know anything about the biggest gig of the year. Why did Cher not get the memo? No one knows! Had she not bumped into Phil Collins on the Concorde flight Phil was using to rush over to Philadelphia, she would never have made it to the concert finale. But seriously - how did Cher not know??? It's been great watching the performances again. Not only did I get to see an event that I had forgotten but I was instantly transported back to the eighties again and my childhood years. Plus I got reacquainted with the music of bands I hadn't listened to in years and I had totally forgotten how good it was. I say this all the time but the calibre of artists that you got back then just doesn't exist today. Everyone can say what they like about Led Zeppelin's Live Aid performance but Led Zeppelin at their worst was still a thousand times better than a lot of today's artists giving it their all. And no I will not take that back! George and Elton with Andrew and Kiki won't let the sun go down on them My good friend MJ revealed that he has the Live Aid boxset (why does that not surprise me??? It's a boxset - of course he has it!) But he's suggested that one day we get together with snacks and cider and watch it from start to finish. He might have just been messing but I like the idea. In fact I'm going to take it one step further by having Live Aid parties every year where everyone turns up in eighties gear OR as one of the performers and we just celebrate great music and all that was fab about the mid-eighties. People have cheesy Eurovision parties all the time - why not a Live Aid one? And I have to say it's been great chatting to MJ as well as other family and friends about their memories of Live Aid and just life in general at that time. A lot of us look back at the past just a little too fondly (or so I'm told) with nostalgic rose-tinted glasses. But hearing everyone talk about their memories and experiences made me super wistful for the eighties - a decade I'm already madly in love with. It's not even a case of blindly believing what I've been told - I was around in the eighties after all! But listening to them talk about life back in the day and their love of music back then only reminded me of things I had known but had long forgotten. How I would give anything to climb into a time machine and experience it all again... Thanks to all those who shared their memories. So check out our post about the world's greatest 'Musical Jukebox' peppered with memories shared by music fans and what they remembered and liked most about Live Aid. Photos: Youtube Word Cloud: Angel Noire

Summer will soon be upon us and that can only mean one thing - hot pants! Sorry - ice-cream! And lot's of it. OK - hotpants and ice-cream, two things! When we think back to our childhood days and the summers when we used to devour ice-cream like it was going out of fashion, three flavours generally spring to mind: chocolate, strawberry, and vanilla. But the truth is there were a lot more flavours that were just as popular. In the second part of our post, we take a look at other ice-cream flavours that we loved as kids. Some are still readily available; some are a lot harder to find, while others seem to have melted away... 1. RASPBERRY RIPPLE This was another ice-cream flavour I really liked: vanilla ice-cream swirled with raspberry sauce. Once again Mum used to buy this in block form (yep, those blocks sure were popular in the eighties and nineties) which we would usually slice and serve between two wafers to make an ice-cream sandwich. I was always very fussy about which slice I got because it had to be very heavily rippled with raspberry sauce. Thankfully this delicious ice-cream is still around today but I don't think it is as consumed in such huge quantities anymore. Definitely one for the retro fanatics! Although these days you're more than likely to encounter raspberry ripple's more fancy-pants cousin, rhubarb ripple! 2. NEAPOLITAN Whoever invented Neapolitan ice-cream is right up there with Einstein! It was a great idea to put the three popular ice-cream flavours together: chocolate, vanilla and strawberry. Practical, economical, space-saving...It meant that people could buy just one tub and know it would please the whole family. For those who just simply couldn't decide which one to buy - they could just go for Neapolitan. One tub fits all! It goes without saying that a tub or block of Neapolitan was always very well received in our house where we all had our favourites. And whenever we had guests over for dinner and there was going to be ice-cream for afters, if it wasn't vanilla, it was almost guaranteed to be Neapolitan because let's face it everyone was guaranteed to like at least one of the flavours (unless they were strictly mint choc-chip in which case we were all screwed!) Neapolitan ice-cream is still around today but I wonder how many people have a tub in their freezer... 3. BROWN BREAD Although brown bread ice-cream was fairly well-known during the eighties, I don't ever recall it being available to buy in stores. Instead it seemed to be an ice-cream people were encouraged to make at home judging by the recipes I'd see in magazines and on cooking shows. At the time I remember thinking what an odd flavour it was for an ice-cream. Why on earth would anyone want to eat ice-cream made out of bread??? Well while on holiday in Ireland about five years ago, I (over)indulged in the most gorgeous brown bread ice-cream. Words really don't do it justice. Good on the ice-cream parlour for serving up brown bread ice-cream. I hope other parlours and restaurants will follow. 4. RUM N' RAISIN I may have had rum n' raisin ice-cream less than a handful of times when I was growing up, despite it being quite popular, because I wasn't keen on raisins and I was afraid I'd get drunk on the artificial rum flavour! How times have changed because now I love to get drunk on real rum... but I still have a love-hate thing going on with raisins. So good on rum n' raisin for making it into the twenty first century but I really don't think it's something I'll ever be wolfing down (it would have stood a better chance without the raisins.) My mum, on the other hand, loves raisins but will never stock the freezer with rum and raisin because she hates the taste of rum - or any alcohol for that matter! 5. TUTTI FRUTTI Meaning 'all fruits' in Italian, this ice-cream flavour containing mixed peel, dried and candied fruits was incredibly popular during the eighties and early nineties and was a huge hit with my family, especially my mum and aunts. But guess what? I HATED it! I couldn't stand the stuff. I remember one occasion during a family get together when my five year old self had cried the house down because I wanted some ice-cream. And of all the flavours they could have brought me, they brought me a bowl of horrid tutti frutti. "Now you eat that," said my aunt in a very stern tone, "you asked for it, now eat it!" I didn't dare tell her that even though I'd asked for ice-cream, I did not ask for that awful flavour. Even though my palate has changed over the years and I now like foods I once detested, I don't think I could ever get used to tutti frutti ice-cream. And I'm not sure I'll ever get the chance to find out if I'm right because I honestly can't remember the last time I saw it on sale... anywhere! In fact a lot of people I've spoken to have said the same. And despite my dislike of the flavour, I am sorry that it doesn't seem to be around now as it brings back a lot of memories of my family, childhood and the eighties... and also because my mum likes it! 6. CHOC-CHIP Chocolate chip ice-cream is an absolute classic: smooth vanilla ice-cream combined with crunchy chocolate chips. This was a very popular ice-cream flavour as I was growing up but funnily enough I don't remember us having this at home. On the rare occasions when we were fortune to sample a dish of choc chip, it was usually in a restaurant. And of course this flavour is still consumed by the truckload. Right, now I'm going to stay cool with a huge tub of olive oil and bay leaf ice-cream. Bliss! What ice-cream flavours did you like from back in the day? Images: Pixabay Word cloud Angel Noire

There's Spiderman... Batman... and...Milkman. Or Milkwoman! OK, we made the last ones up. But in recent months, those milk delivery people soon became the superheroes of the hour. And rightly so, we say! Benny Hill sang about Ernie being the fastest milkman in the west; Open All Hour's Granville was smitten with the local milkwoman, and EastEnders' Kat Slater often used to return home on a milk float after a boozy night out! Who wouldn't want to ride around on a milk float with Dennis Rickman? (EastEnders) But from being a regular fixture in British society, the trusty milkman (and woman!) and their float just seemed to vanish and no one gave them a second thought. This home-delivery milk service that started out using a horse and cart before graduating to battery-operated milk floats seemed to be consigned firmly to the file marked history. Or so we thought... Childhood memories Forget alarm clocks, you knew it was time to wake up when you heard the gentle humming of the milk float as it glided down your street. People might say that one of the main benefits of the milk float was the noise reduction - but we still managed to hear them! Not that we're complaining. Those who lived in the country may have had the dawn chorus, but the soft whirring of the milk float along with the clinking of milk bottles in the crate was our equivalent! And even now it seems like such a comforting sound. Probably the nostalgia talking! Ask anyone who grew up in the seventies, eighties, and nineties, and they will all tell you that the sight of a milkman doing the rounds on his milk float was a very familiar one during their childhood years. And all those pints of milk delivered to them played a big role in their formative years. How else did they grow up to be so big and strong? Back then a lot of people preferred to use the services of their trusty milkman (or woman!) to deliver milk to their door rather than nip out to the shops. We all remember our parents asking the milkman to deliver several pints a week, and leaving the empty bottles on the doorstep for him to collect as well as handwritten notes to the milkman which would be rolled up and popped into one of the bottles regarding new orders. This home delivery service was a huge help to elderly people and stay at home mums with very young children who perhaps couldn't pop down to the shops as often as they needed to. But over the years, we have seen the role of the milkman steadily decline as more and more people chose to purchase milk for themselves while out shopping. However the recent pandemic has meant that milkmen and women have become a familiar sight once again as they bring milk and other grocery items to people who aren't able to go out, or don't want to queue up outside the supermarket as though they're waiting to get into a nightclub! What exactly is a milk float? When the horse and cart was made redundant, milk floats were used instead to deliver milk in the 1950s: a vehicle specifically designed to deliver fresh milk, usually operated by local dairies, that were known for travelling slowly and quietly. One of the features of the milk float is that it didn't have any sides, so you could see the crates of milk stacked up. The driver's cab either had sliding doors or no doors at all. And although milk floats usually had four wheels, three wheeler versions were also available in case the milkman wanted to come over all Del Trotter! Just kidding - the three wheel model was usually a smaller sized vehicle. Were there a lot of milk floats about? Well let's put it this way - for those of us who lived in the UK, seeing a milk man doing his rounds on a milk float was as common as seeing an ice-cream van down the end of your road. Or someone yacking away loudly on their mobile phone today! So everyone used to have milk delivered to their door? It was definitely a well-used service and lots of people up until about the mid-nineties had milk delivered to them. Think about it - how convenient was it to have fresh milk brought to your door, every morning, which saved you the hassle of having to go to the supermarket? Plus your milkman would take your empties away too. Furthermore, a lot of milkmen didn't just deliver milk. They also brought cream, butter, eggs, bread and orange juice, so it was like a little grocery shop on wheels. All that was missing were the penny sweets! If they were that good, why did people stop using the milk delivery service? It wasn't the case that people had completely stopped having milk delivered to their door - in the UK at least. But as more and more supermarkets; small, independent grocery shops; petrol stations, and convenience stores started stocking up milk, many people chose to go out and purchase milk from these places rather than using a regular home delivery service - even though we live in an age where we like having things done for us. And with the advent of Sunday and twenty-four hour store openings, no one was ever really stuck for a pint of milk. Furthermore, the introduction of long life milk; adequate packaging and good refrigeration meant that it wasn't necessary for the milkman to have to deliver milk to your door every morning. There's also the possibility that food allergies and people's changing dietary habits played a role in the decline of the milk home-delivery service. But perhaps the biggest reason for the decline of the milk home delivery service was cost, and the increase of cost-effective milk being sold at supermarkets. Dairies couldn't compete with the big-name supermarkets who were selling milk a lot cheaper. Customers soon realised it made more sense to nip out and collect a bottle of milk themselves if it meant they'd make a saving. And who doesn't like a saving! But the milkman and his float are now making a comeback. Is this due to the coronavirus pandemic? We'll come onto Covid-19 in a mo but the truth is that even before the pandemic hit, there appeared to be a slight increase in doorstep deliveries; the cause attributed to environmental factors. It seems as though plastic wasn't so fantastic after all. Changes in consumer habits and lower-priced milk drove customers into the arms of the supermarkets and away from the milkman and his float! But it seems as though the milk isn't always creamier on the other side and concerns over the use of plastics in packaging both for the environment and our health has lead consumers who want their milk delivered in glass bottles to go back to placing orders with milk delivery companies. And it's because of the environmental issues that there's a desire to go back to shopping 'how Mum used to:' shopping at small independent stores; purchasing freshly baked bread or fruit in brown bags; meat from the local butcher, veggies without the unnecessary packing etc. all in an effort to cut down on waste - even if that means spending a little more. And with regards to milk, it makes sense to many people to buy milk in reusable glass bottles which can be reused a possible twenty five times, rather than having the overflowing plastics recycling bin spilling over. So is it any wonder that the milkman and woman are making a comeback? But the current pandemic has played a role in the increase in milk doorstep delivery? Indeed it has! The outbreak of Covid-19 and people having to stay at home has meant that milkmen and women have been out in full force and are busier than ever as they try to keep up with this sudden and surprising demand for their services. There has been a rapid increase in customer numbers, and many dairies have urgently needed to recruit more milkmen and women to handle the extra workload as customers attempt to reduce their shopping trips to purchase essentials. So do you think the milk deliverers are here to stay? We certainly hope so! Milkmen and women all over the country have been doing an excellent job providing a lifeline to those unable to leave their homes due to the restrictions, and many customers have felt the benefits of having milk delivered to their home. Naturally the milk delivery companies are hoping that all the new customers they have acquired will remain. This is indeed a possibility as concerns over the environment will still be there even when the pandemic crisis is over. Catching up with Modern Times There was a time, you'd have to wait in for the milkman; pay in cash only; leave rolled-up notes in one of the 'empties'... but milk delivery companies are aware of the different ways we live today, and have adapted over the years. Online orders and card payments have pretty much done away with rolled-up notes and hunting around for loose change before the milk float arrives! In the seventies and eighties, milk deliverers used to deliver milk early in the morning but now they're delivering even earlier with deliveries starting from midnight onwards which is ideal for those who are leaving/returning home in the early hours. And many companies have included tons more items to their list of grocery products, including fresh produce, pastries and the all important bog roll! So the future's looking good for milk delivers then? It looks promising but at this stage it's hard to tell. Sure there's a chance that those who have been using the milk delivery services during the pandemic will continue to do so. But according to the Dairy UK website, only 3% of the UK's fresh milk is delivered to people's houses which is pretty low when you consider what the population of the UK is. It will definitely take more than nostalgia to float people's milk floats, but now that a lot of people have experienced the benefits and practicalities of using milk home-delivery services, there should hopefully be a greater influx of customers, and the whirring of the milk float will be a familiar sound once again. Photos: YouTube and Pixabay Word cloud by Angel Noire

How many of us these days give much thought to 'at-home wear?' And by that we don't mean holey T-shirts, stained sweaters, and paint splattered jeans! Before the 1990s, at-home wear was a section of our wardrobes that bridged the gap between day clothes and sleep clothes - something seldom seen today - and was so much more than just old clothes that we shoved to the bottom of the wardrobe. As we've spent the last few months at home due to the pandemic, it's safe to say that some of us haven't given two hoots about what we're wearing. Hardly a surprise when we have way more important things to worry about. There have been confessions about throwing on 'any old thing'; working from home in PJs; having conference calls in a crisp, ironed shirt, tie and... boxer shorts, and some have admitted to wearing the same clothes for three days straight! Yikes! For decades, stay-at-home clothes - probably classified as lounge wear today - was worn for feeling comfortable while at home, but still presentable enough for visitors (which we know is a definite no-no right now!) Not necessarily worn outside the home, at-home wear consisted of clothes you could wear while working around the house, relaxing, or entertaining guests, and these garments were quite popular probably up until the beginning of the nineties when people became ultra laid-back and casual (and OK, a bit boring - maybe even sloppy!) and didn't bother so much with specific 'at-home' clothes. We take a look at some of the at-home trends of yesteryear. 1. Pajama Suits Everyone knows about sleep pajamas, but we also had daywear pajamas. Back in the 1920s, pajama suits were a super stylish fixture in the at-home wardrobe. 1920s Pajama suits consisted of wide-legged trousers, a matching or co-ordinating loose-fitting top, and sometimes a blouson or short housecoat. The overall look was very loose, unstructured and flowy. And pajama suits continued to be popular throughout the sixties and seventies. These differed from the 1920s version: one or two piece outfits, with loose-fitting, trousers or shorts and a form-fitting top, made from rayon, silk or cotton. There were lounging pajamas for, er, lounging around the house, and hostess pajamas (a term believed to have been coined in the 1960s) which were a more sophisticated version which you would wear when entertaining friends. But regardless of the type, pajama suits were for wearing at home and would not be worn outside of the house. Fashion designer Irene Galitzine (who just happened to be Georgian royalty), took the hostess pajama suit to the next level in the sixties, and gave us the palazzo pajama suit: the outfit du jour for the glitterati; worn for low-key, casual at-home entertaining. There were various styles of the palazzo pajama suit but they tended to be a more tailored and structured style; very slinky, glamourous, va-va-voom little numbers - and definitely too good to just be worn at home. If those high society ladies, thought this was at-home fashion, we wouldn't want them to see what the rest of us are wearing! 2. Housecoat Ah, housecoat...now there's a term that we haven't heard since the early nineties at least. If there is one garment that shouldn't have disappeared from our wardrobes, it's the housecoat. Comfy, pretty, and presentable, a housecoat was a long, loose, lightweight robe worn by women as informal daywear, and believed to be a nicer alternative to the pajama suit. Growing up in the 1970s and 1980s, our mums and grandmas wore something called a 'housecoat.' However in the year 2020, people are now debating exactly what a housecoat actually was! Was it: A) the same as a dressing gown? B) a cross between a long dress and a dressing gown? C) the printed, cotton snap-front garment your nan wore wear as she dusted, hoovered, and polished her ever-growing collection of ornaments? D) A very loose-fitting day-wear dress (sometimes referred to as a utility dress?) Hmm... good question! It appears that the definition of a housecoat differs from region to region, hence the confusion. In some places, a housecoat is the same as a dressing gown, worn over your PJs or nightie. In others, it's informal daywear. Some believe a housecoat shouldn't be belted or fitted at the waist, as it's supposed to be loose and unstructured - like a baggy dress. Others disagree entirely. Then there are other similar garments which fall under the 'housecoat' category: popover, breakfast coats, brunch coats, kitchen smocks, wraparounds, dusters etc. Housecoats came in a variety of styles but they were usually made of a lightweight fabric like cotton or satin, rather than a heavier, toweling-type of fabric. They were generally considered daywear, and were worn around the er, house - never for going out in. It's what your mum would have worn as she made breakfast, got the kids ready for school, did the housework, got dinner ready etc. But that said, it would be fine to answer the door to the postman or friends while wearing one. And just as there were housecoats for doing the housework in, there were also housecoats for relaxing in, and more fancier versions if you were entertaining at home. Were other clothes worn underneath a housecoat? That depended. Sometimes a housecoat was thrown over regular clothes while cleaning or just before going out to prevent them from getting grubby. But when relaxing or entertaining, it was highly unlikely that a pair of jeans and a t-shirt would be worn under a housecoat as in this case, the housecoat took the place of a dress. Those who remember housecoats have differing views about how on-trend housecoats were. For every person who thought of housecoats as elegant and alluring, there's another person who sees them as 'old lady clothes', and something only your nanna would wear. But whatever your opinion may be, housecoats were definitely practical. Bring back the housecoat we say! 3. Kaftan Elegant, practical, floaty, mystical, flowing, ethereal, luxurious, exotic, comfortable, glam, stylish, chic, bohemian... are there any more adjectives that describe the appeal, aesthetic, and allure of the kaftan? These garments have been around for centuries, right back to the time of the Ottoman Empire. But they became very fashionable in the West during the sixties and seventies, when the sixties hippies introduced clothes from other cultural backgrounds that had never been seen in the West before, after their travels along the hippie trail - Nehru jackets, kimonos, sarongs and loose-fitting, flowing kaftans. Kaftans were produced in a variety of styles and fabrics, and soon caught on in the West as at-home wear. Even though kaftans are often associated with womenswear, men wore them too and there were plenty of sleekly minimal, unisex styles available. Both men and women found kaftans to be light and easy-to-wear; comfortable to move around in; liberating, and cooling in warm weather. Plus the association with exoticism didn't hurt! They may have started out as casual at-home wear, but thanks to Hollywood icons like Elizabeth Taylor, the kaftan found it's way out of the home and on to the street; the beach, and the cocktail party! They were glammed up with elaborate patterns, glittering embroidery, and heavy beading, becoming a new style of evening dress, or a gown worn over matching trousers. And thanks to designers such as Yves St. Laurent, Halston, and Thea Porter, they soon found their way onto the catwalk. After the seventies, the kaftan faded away as at-home or evening fashion and soon became commonly considered beach wear - as it is today. Although in many hot and humid countries, various types of printed cotton kaftan style robes are the staple of most men and women's at-home wardrobes. 4. Dungarees Was there anyone who didn't own at least one pair of dungarees back in the eighties and nineties? Neighbours' Daphne Clarke loved hers so much, she famously gave birth to her son Jamie while wearing them - straps still firmly on! Dungarees took off massively in the 1990s when the lumberjack look was in for both men and women who were wearing them with plaid flannel shirts and heavy boots. Unlike the other examples of at-home wear, dungarees - like the kaftan - could be and were worn outside of the home. Hip hop stars like LL Cool J, BlackStreet, Kriss Kross, and TLC couldn't get enough of dungarees, and taught their fans to wear them the hip-hop way: one strap and/or trouser leg up and the other one down. And if you were a Kriss Kross fan - back to front! Dungarees started out life as men's work overalls - a pair of trousers held up with a bib and shoulder strap, also known as bib-and-brace overalls. They were the perfect clothing for manual laborers and factory workers that proved to be durable; comfortable; able to stay in place, and great protection against grease and grime. Plus they had extra large pockets - what more could you want! Then the advent of the First World War saw women take over the jobs that the men had traditionally done, which meant having to wear men's work overalls as there weren't any specially designed for them. And so began the evolution of modern-day unisex dungarees, which went through many incarnations before the later decades of the twentieth century, including seventies bell-bottom style, and was the inspiration behind that decade's disco jumpsuit. By now dungarees had long moved away from their heavy-duty, manual labour image, and came in an assortment of colours, styles and fabrics, and were popular due to them being easy to throw on; practical enough for doing the housework or gardening; comfortable enough to lounge around in, and were fun to wear so you didn't mind callers knocking on your door while you were rocking your dungarees! Dungarees are not as commonly worn as they once were, but you don't have to look too hard to find them, and they still feature in many people's wardrobes. 5. Sports-inspired lounge wear Towards the end of the seventies, people wanted to get in there with the gym wear! That decade brought us movies like Saturday Night Fever and Staying Alive; it was the decade of disco and where dance routines looked more like aerobics workouts - even on the dancefloor of the local discotheque! Then came the eighties where Olivia Newton-John was encouraging everyone to get Physical with a fitness themed video for a song that had nothing to do with getting into shape (well, I suppose it depends on how you look at it!) Diana 'Green Goddess' Moran was a sight for sore eyes in her emerald leotard; Jane Fonda became something of a fitness guru, and switch over to TV-AM, and you could join in with a work-out given by Lizzie Webb. And this fitness phenomenon carried on into the nineties, with the very bright and bold personal trainer, GMTV's Mr. Motivator, and was there a celebrity who didn't put out a fitness video (yes, back then it was definitely videos!) during the nineties? Marky Mark, Cindy Crawford, Elle MacPherson, Claudia Schiffer, and Neighbours' Kimberley Davies all told us that we could get a body like theirs - if we buy their video first! Fancy being able to look like that for just a tenner! So it's no surprise that during this era, at-home fashion took on something of a sporting edge. How many people did you see back then wearing cycling shorts who didn't actually have a bicycle? Yep - way too many! People weren't necessarily lounging around at home in a leotard, leggings and sweatbands but it wasn't uncommon to see women in leggings, legwarmers and oversize off-the-shoulder T-shirts, giving the impression that they'd just come back from the gym - when really they'd been watching Dallas! For both men and women, T-shirts and sweatpants, or full on tracksuits made for very comfy loungewear - including the shellsuit. Who didn't own a shellsuit back in the late eighties/early nineties? It seemed that the brighter the colour, and louder the design, the more en vogue you were! Which then brings us to the celebs' fave Juicy Couture velour trackies of the early noughties, with less expensive versions for us mere mortals. Like dungarees, the sports-inspired look - or athleisure wear - could be worn outside of the house without attracting funny looks. This was probably part of the appeal. They could be all comfy and cosy at home in their tracksuits, and then just pop their trainers on and head out the door if they felt like stepping out, without having to think about getting changed. One of the keywords of the nineties was 'unisex' and there was a definite move from styles that were overly-feminine so the athleisure look was ideal for this decade - especially if you could raid your other half's wardrobe! What are your thoughts on at-home wear? Photos: Pixabay, Littlewoods 1978 catalogue (With special shout out to MJ) Illustrations photographed fromThe Complete Family Sewing Book (Curtin, 1973) Word Cloud by Angel Noire