LOSE YOURSELF IN 1982

THE FALKLANDS WAR

It would be fair to say that most Britons had at best a vague knowledge of the cluster of Britishowned islands in the Atlantic before 2 April 1982. But the Falkland Islands were being mentioned in every newspaper and television current affairs programme after that date. The conflict was, and remains, the largest UK air and naval combat operation since the end of World War Two. 255 British service personnel and three civilian islanders were killed and 775 wounded before Brigade General Mario Menéndez, the commander of the Argentine garrison in Port Stanley, surrendered to Major General Jeremy Moore on 14 June.

CINEMATIC DISTRACTION

There were some fine films to take our minds off the horrors of the Falklands War, including Rocky III, which had us all singing along to Survivor’s Eye of the Tiger from the soundtrack. If Sylvester Stallone trading punches with Mr T proved a hit with the public, it was Steven Spielberg’s gently sentimental sci-fi fable, ET the Extra-Terrestrial, that proved to be the real knockout at the global box office. Amazingly, Ridley Scott’s majestic Blade Runner was a costly flop that only picked up a following later on home video, even though it’s one of the most influential sci-fi films of all time.

ENCOURAGING EILEEN

It was a great year for pop music with many memorable hits, but one tune that continues to get people on the dancefloor today is the mighty fiddling on Come On Eileen by Dexys Midnight Runners. It was a revised sound and a different dungaree-wearing look for Dexys and Eileen was introduced to a wide audience on BBC TV’s Top of the Pops on 15 July, hitting the number one spot in the charts and going on to become the best-selling single of the year, going to number one in the US the following spring.