Britain in the 1980s

Introduction
Economic, technological and social change Selfish decade showing off wealth Boom and bust Social unrest, strikes, riots and bombs Britain's first female Prime Minister Fashion - Power dressing, New Romantics

and Yuppies Big hair, big shoulders, big fashion disaster!

Riots

Riot when people gather together to disturb the peace Brixton riots - took place in Lambeth, South London on 11 April 1981. 279 injuries to police 45 injuries to members of the public Over a hundred vehicles were burned, including 56 police vehicles 150 buildings were damaged, with thirty burned. There were 82 arrests. up to 5,000 people were involved in the riot

Margaret Thatcher
Britains first and

only female Prime Minister Thatcher was a capitalist and believed you could do anything if you worked hard enough.

Video Clip 1
Watch the clip.
What is the clip advertising?

How would you describe this product? What comparisons can you make with this product and the ones we have today?

Technology
CDs and CD players
Mobile Phones Computers and computer games Fax machines Type writers were replaced by word

processors

Fashion

Fashion of the 1980s

Yuppies

New Romantics
Power dressing Sports/dancewear

Yuppie Clip

Yuppies
Yuppies was an acronym

for Young Professionals Yuppies worked in city jobs like investment banking They had lots of money and it was all about showing it off; clothes, cars and hi-tec accessories Yuppies wore designer suits, carried mobile phones and used filo-faxes or electronic organisers

The New Romantics

Big floppy hair styles Feminine frills, lace,

ruffles and waistcoats Dark, rich colours Often dressed up as romantic characters like pirates

Power dressing
More women employed

in high powered jobs Needed business-like but feminine clothes Jackets with shoulder pads Margaret Thatcher wore bright coloured tailored suits Business women copied her

Sports/dance wear

Sports/dance wear
Fame film and T.V show about

teenagers at a performing arts school Leg-warmers, leggings, over-sized Tshirts Sportswear tracksuits and trainers Importance of brand names

80s Music Clip

80s TV
Spitting Image was a very rude, TV show that used

puppets. Spitting image = the exact likeness.

E.g. Shes the spitting image of her mother = she

looks exactly like her mother.

The show made fun of famous people; one of the most

used characters was Margaret Thatcher.

80s TV Spitting Image Clip 1

 Soap operas A soap opera or a soap is an on-going work of dramatic

80s TV

fiction. We call them soaps because in the early days these programmes were often sponsored by soap manufactures. Popular soaps of the 80s that are still broadcast today include:
Eastenders Neighbours Coronation Street Emmerdale Farm

Video Clip
Eastenders most popular episode. 30.15 million people watched it. Story: Den and Angie are married. Den has lots of affairs and Angie finds out. Angie pretends she has a very serious illness so he wont leave. Feeling guilty Den decides to stay with her... Question What happens next?

Key Historical Events

John Lennon, shot dead 8th December

1980 Lady Diana Spencer marries Prince Charles 29th July 1981 Famine in Ethiopia - 1984 Miners strike 1984-85 Band Aid and Live Aid 1984-85

John Lennon

John Lennon, former member of The Beatles was shot

dead on 8th December 1980 by an obsessed fan outside his home in New York.

Charles and Lady Di

How they met....

Prince Charles met Diana in 1977
They attracted lots of attention from

the media Some of Charles relatives didnt think that he loved Diana Charles had been dating Camilla Parker-Bowels before Diana

A Fairytale Wedding
Prince Charles proposed

on 24th February 1981 Lady Dianas ring cost 30,000. It had 14 diamonds around a large sapphire Prince Charles married Lady Diana Spencer on 29th July 1981 at St. Pauls cathedral The wedding was shown on T.V and more than 750 million people watched

The Dress
Dianas wedding dress cost

9,000 with a 25 foot long train Her wedding dress influenced the style of dress for the 80s

Trouble in Paradise
Both the Prince and Princess of Wales did a lot of charity work, Diana spent a lot of time with AIDS charities and Charles had his own charity, The Princes Trust
But the couple were spending less and less time together Charles continued to have an affair with his former girlfriend Camilla Parker-Bowels Diana argued with Charles friends and family and was said to be moody and temperamental

The Separation
The couple separated in the late

1980s They both spoke about the relationship on television Charles admitted to having an affair The Queen encourage Charles to get a divorce The couple officially divorced on 28 August 1996 One year later Diana was killed in a car accident in Paris Even though they were divorced, Charles insisted Diana have a royal funeral

History Repeating
Friday 29th April 2011 is the Royal Wedding of Kate Middleton and Prince William. William gave Kate his mothers ring. The Royal Wedding is now a national holiday. The couple are getting married in Westminster Abbey

Miners Strike

Miners Strike - Background

Mining was an important industry for many towns in the north of England
New technologies meant Britain was less

dependant on coal The coal industry was given lots of money from the government Margaret Thatcher wanted to close many mines that were not making money 1984 Government announced that they would close 20 coal mines. 20,000 jobs would be lost

Miners strike
The closure of the mines angered many workers and

lots of miners went on strike The strike action soon spread and the police were sent to plants to control the workers Miners who did want to work were under pressure from those who were striking and some workers were violent towards them

Violent Clashes
On the 18th June 1984 the National Union of

Minerworkers (NUM) organised a mass picket at a plant in South Yorkshire 5,000 to 6,000 picketers were met by up to 8,000 police The strike started out peacefully, but as the day continued tensions rose and violence broke out Strikers threw stones and bricks at police Police, wearing riot gear, holding batons and some on horse back fought back There were injuries on both sides

Victory for Thatcher

The strike went on for one year with miners living

in hunger and poverty Thatchers government had collected lots of coal before the strike began so the miners strike didnt have the effect on the country theyd wanted The strike officially ended on 3rd March 1985 Miners were forced to go back to work and could not stop the closures The end of mining was disastrous for many towns and still affects them today

Famine in Ethiopia

Famine in Ethiopia
During the early 80s Ethiopia suffered two

famines Close to 8 million people became victims of the famine and over 1 million died Because T.Vs were now cheaper people could watch the news and see what was happening all over the world The BBC made a documentary about the famine describing it as hell on earth The report shocked people in Britain

Band Aid
Bob Geldof - famous singer in the 1980s Upset by the famine, he called his famous friends

and asked them to record a song for charity Do They Know Its Christmas was released on 29th November 1984 It went straight to Number One in the UK and sold a million copies in the first week It stayed at No. 1 for five weeks and became easily the biggest-selling single of all time in the UK.

Live Aid
After the success of Do They Know Its Christmas Bob Geldof organised Live Aid a huge concert to raise more money Live Aid was the biggest rock concert ever staged to that date

82,000 went to Wembley in London

99,000 people went to the JFK stadium in Philadelphia

One of the largest-scale satellite link-ups and TV broadcasts of all time

Estimated 400 million viewers in 60 countries

Live Aid
Main acts included :
Queen Adam and the Ants The Boomtown Rats U2 Spandeau Ballet David Bowie

The Who
Elton John Wham! Paul McCartney

Do They Know Its Christmas?

It's Christmastime, there's no need to be afraid At Christmastime, we let in light and we banish shade And in our world of plenty we can spread a smile of joy Throw your arms around the world at Christmastime But say a prayer Pray for the other ones At Christmastime it's hard, but when you're having fun There's a world outside your window And it's a world of dread and fear Where the only water flowing is the bitter sting of tears And the Christmas bells that ring there are the Clanging chimes of doom Well tonight thank God it's them instead of you And there won't be snow in Africa this Christmastime The greatest gift they'll get this year is life (Oooh) Where nothing ever grows No rain nor rivers flow Do they know it's Christmastime at all? (Here's to you) raise a glass for everyone (Here's to them) Underneath that burning sun Do they know it's Christmastime at all? Feed the world Feed the world Feed the world Let them know it's Christmastime again Feed the world Let them know it's Christmastime again