Alwyn Brice looks back on a specific year and asks "what's the year?".

Slip back in time, with Alwyn Brice.

This year was momentous in that the Hubble space telescope was put into orbit via the shuttle Discovery, yet another advance for mankind. Orbiting about 340 miles above our planet, it has been able to record amazing images of stars and far-off galaxies for us mere mortals.

Closer to home, the rift between East and West Germany was finally healed and that infamous wall began to crumble as the unification process got underway. It wasn’t long before choice sections of concrete began to appear on auction sites…

Operation Desert Shield was another military manoeuvre that had its roots in this particular year: US troops were sent into

Saudi Arabia in preparation for active deployment. Also in the US, and perhaps less well known, was the embarrassing Martin Luther King Day Crash: in this, the telephone service in Atlanta, St. Louis and Detroit went down for nine hours because of an AT&T software bug.

But overcoming bugs and other techie problems was par for the course for those youngsters bent on gaming: the Nintendo World Championships were held within the Fair Park’s Automobile Building, initiating an almost year-long gaming competition that embraced a total of 29 American cities.

For those in the tobacco trade, the writing was on the wall: in the US, the first ban on smoking in bars was introduced in San Luis Obispo, California. What started out as a small-scale exercise would escalate around the world in due course.

In Europe, Italians were saddened because the leaning Tower of Pisa was closed through concerns over its tilt: its closure presumably didn’t do much for tourism in the area, either. But there was good news from South Africa during this year, which saw the release of civil rights activist Nelson Mandela after a lengthy term of imprisonment.

At the cinema, big Arnie was off to Mars for a Total Recall adventure; whilst below the waves, Tom Clancy’s naval novel made it to the big screen, with Sean Connery leading the cast in The Hunt for Red October. As for Kevin Costner, he was way out West and enjoying Dancing with Wolves. was definitely in Vogue while for the Spice Girls, it was case of Wannabee. Perhaps the most remembered song was the mournful dirge from Sinead O’Connor, Nothing compares to U: strangely addictive, it captured the nation’s imagination.

As for toys, electronics were in: the Tamagotchi portable digital pet was all the rage this year. Of course, woe betide the owner who failed to nurture and amuse his/her pet: many passed away to that great electronics heaven above.

Rather more down to earth (yet still relying on electronic wizardry) was the Bop It Extreme 2: if the original Bop It didn’t drive you bonkers, the second version certainly would.

So… what was the year?

LEFT The unlikely melding of Japanese warriors and turtles resulted in pizzaeating figurines: make sure all the accessories are present! And top of the pops? Madonna

Images courtesy of eBay.

LEFT A Madonna postcard was the one to have on your wall this year. BELOW Fun and games with a Bop It electronic toy. BOTTOM Find an original pocket-sized Tamagotchi and you could be looking at a three figure sum for this electronic craze of yore.