A 1980s Childhood by Michael A. Johnson Page A

immediately light up a cigar as consolation while the ‘Hamlet song’ was played on the piano. Gregor Fisher, better known as ‘that bloke who played Rab C. Nesbitt’, featured in one of the best-remembered Hamlet ads, taking the role of an overweight and unattractive middle-aged man with a Bobby Charlton comb-over. He takes a seat in a photo booth and arranges his wisp of hair to perfection, then he sits back and waits for the photo. Nothing happens so he leans forward to look at the machine; at that exact moment the flash goes off taking a picture of the top of his head. He tries again and the same thing happens, and on the third and final attempt the chair suddenly drops just before the photograph is taken. Cue the Hamlet music and a puff of smoke from a smiling Rab C. Nesbitt.
    Perhaps my favourite advert of the 1980s is the famous Heineken ‘water in Majorca’ ad. A well-spoken young Sloane Ranger visits the School of Street Credibility, where Bryan Pringle plays a frustrated voice coach trying to teach his pupil how to speak in a cockney accent. After several posh-sounding attempts at reciting ‘The water in Majorca don’t taste like what it ought to’, an assistant brings the young lady a can of Heineken, and says, ‘Get yer larfin’ gear around that.’ After a sip of the beer the lady tries again and this time recites the words in a strong cockney accent, which gets even stronger after a second mouthful of the drink. The advert finishes with the slogan ‘Heineken refreshes the parts wot other beers cannot reach’.
    Can you believe it’s time to leave the TV section already and move on to some of the movies of the eighties? Hey, there’s no need to yell at me, I know that I’ve barely scratched the surface of the TV shows but there really was so much good stuff in the eighties that it’s impossible to fit even a fraction of it in here. If you want to see a full list of my favourite TV shows from the eighties, skip straight to the end of the chapter. OK, ready to move on? Lights, cameras, action …
Back to the Future
    Michael J. Fox stars as teenager Marty McFly whose eccentric friend Doc Emmett Brown (Christopher Lloyd) invents a time machine which he installs in a DeLorean car. The famous flux capacitor is at the heart of the machine and is activated when the car reaches 88mph, sending the occupant through time to the date entered in the console. In this case, Marty is sent back to 1955 where he visits his home town of Hill Valley and meets his parents as teenagers.
    Marty’s young mother Lorraine rather disturbingly develops a crush on him, which leads to the possibility that she won’t fall in love with his father at the Enchantment Under the Sea dance where they are supposed to share their first kiss. Marty tries to matchmake his mother and father George while also trying to persuade the young Doc Brown to help him get back to the future that he belongs to: 1985.
    Marty hatches a plan to make George look like a hero to Lorraine by staging a confrontation in the school parking lot. However, the plan goes awry when Biff Tannen, the school bully, makes an unexpected appearance and tries to force himself on Lorraine in the car. Marty’s dad George, not knowing it is Biff in the car and thinking it is part of the plan, confronts the assailant and, after some abuse, decides that he has finally put up with enough from the bully and punches him out cold.

    Back to the Future (1985), starring Michael J. Fox and Christopher Lloyd. (Universal)
    George’s assertiveness makes Lorraine fall in love with him and secures a happy future for the McFly family. Doc Brown, in the meantime, figures out an elaborate scheme to harness the energy from a lightning bolt to send the DeLorean and Marty back to 1985.
    Not only does the film have the perfect mix of comedy, action, drama and romance, but there are some great skateboarding sequences, an unforgettable soundtrack and some memorable acting from Michael J. Fox.