Splash Newsletter - December 1985

It's time to pull back the curtain on Britain in the 1980s once more, and peer into into the peculiarly provincial lives of EMAP's employeess in December 1985. Then based in Peterborough, the magazine publisher churned out titles by the shelfload before being carved up and flogged off to assorted corporate venturers in the late 2000s. Back in the frosted last month of 1985, however, the staff at EMAP were proud to fly the EMAP flag as demonstrated by this company newsletter.

St Michael Dressing Gown (1985)

It's time for yet another helping of 1980s ephemera courtesy of Marks & Spencer in the form of their St Michael Brand. What can I say? St Michael was simply ubiquitous in Britain's relatively recent yet also distant past. Today, it's a rather fetching dressing gown we're looking at, and slipping into it feels like tuning a television to four channels and waiting for Channel 4 to start up.

Lacock Parish Magazine - September 1984

Sure, Ephemeral 80s will no doubt feature more ephemeral slices of 1980s Britain in the future, but this particular item hums with a conviction which will be hard to beat. Yes, it's a copy of the Parish of Lacock with Bowden Hill magazine which hails from September 1984. Have any other copies of this precious document survived the intervening 41 years since it was printed? I sincerely doubt it. Regardless, this tome of parish life from the mid-1980s must surely harbour a few gleaming curios to remind us of a more humdrum, simplistic and mostly forgotten time.

St Michael Coffee Glass (1985)

Coffee, that jittery, brown stimulant of the overworked, is the unofficial national religion of Britain. First coming to these shores in the 16th century, coffee has remained a staple in getting us through our day. Fast forward to the specialty coffee shops of East London today, and you can see just how dramatically coffee has evolved - mine's a pink bourbon carbonic maceration, thanks. Back in the mid-1980s, however, and coffee, much like us, was a simpler, less pretentious affair.

Cadbury's Wildlife Bar - Project Book Offer (1986)

One of my most treasured memories of being a very young child in the mid-1980s is the treat of receiving a Cadbury's Wildlife Bar. To this day, I'm unable to fully express, in words, the pleasure that Cadbury's chocolate delivers. Does it taste different now to 40 years ago? I have no idea, and no one really does unless they have a time machine. Anyway, if one chocolate bar from the 1980s stands out to me, it's the Cadbury's Wildlife Bar. Aside from the world-beating taste, there was also the beautiful wildlife illustrations which adorned the wrappers.

One Day Bus Pass Poster (1985)

Lockdown was a funny old time, wasn't it? Kept apart from society and overdosing on baking and introspection, it was easy to descend into an unusual brand of madness. And, naturally, people presume that this was the unbalanced lull which caused me to purchase this majestically ephemeral London bus poster. But they would be wrong. Not mistaken, but wrong. Because while this was acquired mid-pandemic, I’d have had to be entirely insane not to buy it.

St Michael Knitted Track Top (1981)

Without question, this is my most adored artefact of vintage intent: a knitted track top (or is it a zipped cardigan?) which hails from Mark & Spencer under their unmistakeable St Michael brand. It is, and I say this without hyperbole, a monumental slice of early 1980s fashion. Not simply red in the way that a fire engine, post box, or lips on Valentine's Day are, this is all of those rolled into one and multiplied by the power of ten. It also featured that iconic St Michael logo - ubiquitous in the 1980s - which instantly creates a warming rush of nostalgia and reliability.