LOSE YOURSELF IN 1985

FUTURE TRANSPORT?

In January, the world’s motoring, computing and news media was invited to Alexandra Palace to view what Sir Clive Sinclair had hoped would be nothing less than the total re-invention of personal transport – the batterypowered C5. Disappointingly, for the man who did so much for the home computer market with his ZX range, the C5 turned out to be a costly flop. Sales of the C5 were slow, and production in Merthyr Tydfil had ended by August 1985 with just 14,000 made, and the Sinclair Vehicles venture had well and truly bitten the dust.

‘GREAT SCOT!’

The late John Z DeLorean could never have guessed that his deadly serious sports car would become such a mainstream movie star. For while the gull-winged DMC-12 from Northern Ireland might have sunk in a steaming bog of scandal, it made the perfect time-travelling transport for Michael J Fox’s Marty McFly character in the wildly popular 1985 film Back To The Future, which is on a par with Bullitt and The

Italian Job as a cinematic motoring treat. Two further films followed in 1989 and 1990, both co-staring Christopher Lloyd as McFly’s boffin chum, ‘Doc’ Emmett Brown.

LAUGHS FOR THE NEEDY

Richard Curtis and Jane Tewson came up with the idea of using comedy to raise money for those living in poverty in the UK and in Africa. On Christmas Day, Comic Relief first aired on BBC1 from the Safawa refugee camp in Sudan during Noel Edmonds’ Late Late Breakfast Show. Three years later the very first Red Nose Day aired featuring comedian Lenny Henry. It was viewed by more than 30m people and raised £15m in total.