Blast from the Past

Take a particular year from your own lifetime and marvel at recollections of what went on.

It may have been a significant 12 months in your own journey, the accompaniment in 365 days for a rite of passage or just a blur for those lucky or unlucky few otherwise too busy to bother with world events of tragic proportions, disasters closer to home, the fluctuations of an economy and the livelihoods of a nation.

Take 1989 in my case. I was just 26 years old in that year and in my first proper job with a regular income and a company car -of sorts. Being a thoughtful and sensitive type I was very aware of what was going on in the big wide world even before the revolution of social media and instant access to soundbites.

In my daily work I was in the car a lot and could listen to the 'on the hour' news broadcasts.

There were no gadgets such as smart phones . My Motorola mobile phone was the best available but was so big that it was permanently mounted to the dashboard, with a clunky handset In use it produced a distinct sensation when held next to the ear of something being fried and with a very hot drivers seat from the massive battery pack welded to the floorpan inches below my backside.

Those seeing this new mobile communications phenomena were well impressed. I omitted to tell them that signal coverage was at best patchy and the sound quality was abysmal.

What else was innovative and fresh in 1989?

The 486 microprocesssor emerged to facilitate greater applications and functions that we now take for granted. Microsoft brought out their Office Software which I find hard to believe as it feels like it has existed forever. Sky TV began to bring programmes into our homes through their first use of satellites. Electronic tagging was introduced.

In the UK economy the unemployment figures reduced from 2 million to 1.8 million. The newly privatised water companies made their first of many millions of profits through Stock Exchange Listing. The inflation rate was 7.8%. The average London House Price was just over £86,000. In response to strike action the armed forces manned the London Ambulance Service.

1989 was a year of many great tragedies with combined substantial loss of life in the Kegworth air crash, the sinking of the Marchioness pleasure cruiser on the Thames in London and what is still now very prominent in our minds, Hillsborough.

As they say on TV after the giving of bad news, "and on the lighter side", Wallace and Gromit were seen in their first animated feature of A Grand Day Out, Princess Anne managed to shake off that foggy Phillips guy, Salman Rushdie started his enforced holiday after widespread riots against his Satanic Verses, 250 were arrested at the summer solstice at Stonehenge and a record 27 million tuned in to see a Tram induced fatality for a major character of Coronation Street.

To make anyone feel old is mention of the births in 1989 of Daniel Radcliffe (Harry Potter), Rebecca Adlington (Olympic Gold Medallist) and Theo Walcott (sometime seen on the pitch playing footie).

There were some great travesties in that year with the removal of Dr Who from the schedules and the trapping in East Anglia of the last wild Coypu- well he would be a bit angry wouldn't he!

In world events there were iconic moments including the fall of the Berlin Wall as a catalyst to the unification of Germany, the scenes and not so seen Tianamen Square, the quashing of the Guildford 4 convictions, and the announcement of the end of The Cold War by Brezhnev, Reagan and Thatcher.

In the context of my own life ,1989 was a momentous year as I got married. I have been celebrating this milestone with my wife today, the very day of our wedding 25 years ago. We have been most blessed in that time with our three children and the support of our fantastically supportive families and friends. Times have certainly changed .We do live in a very different world but in our love and deep understanding for each other we have a constant that gives the strength to cope with anything.